Good Morning Grins

 Absolute eye candy, if you ask me.

This is the sweetest way to greet the morning.

 Alina has started working her way out of her swaddled blankets, which presents a small problem. She seems to sleep best when she's in a swaddle, but with her kicking and rolling over, she tends to unravel everything. I'll have to help her transition into getting used to sleeping without the swaddle, so our growing girl can still be comfy in her deep sleep. 

See that soft pink blanket under her? Alina turns her head from side to side to rub both cheeks with its softness before she falls asleep. And as a final reassurance, she'll stick her little tongue out and lick the blanket. She's funny with that tongue--she puts it to use as one of her five senses in experiencing the world around her, that's for sure!

Easter Dinner

We gathered a few friends and our only family (second cousins are great!) in town for Easter Dinner together. It was so fun! I didn't host a meal with our Easter Egg Hunt this year, so it was easier to put on a nice Easter dinner. Usually the party on Saturday wipes me out, but this year, I put my energy into our celebration on Sunday. I liked it very much.

I've mentioned that I am trying to better manage my time--especially around hosting. I love having people come into my home, but more times than I can count, they come for dinner and I am still in the kitchen scurrying around, and rarely is the table set when my guests arrive. I'm trying to fine tune my hosting skills in this regard. So I was absolutely pleased when I went to bed on Saturday night, and we had the tables all set up.

 We had a house full, with 17 dinner guests. We had the Westons over--Kenny, Lindsay, Tyler, Brynlee, Madison and Kelsey. Then we had the other Westons over--Andy, Shalee, Skyler, Jeremy and KateLee. Kenny and Lindsay are about to move out of our ward (boo hoo--but they'll love their new home with more space!) and Kenny's brother's family is just moving in to our ward with his family. So it was natural for me to host everyone, since I was the only one who wasn't packing or unpacking a kitchen. We also had the Petersens over--Joshua and Shasta, as well as Brother Later from the ward. 

 After dinner, we cleared the food off the table and did our tradition of salt tombs. It was fun all around--we had 4 groups building their garden tomb scene. Here's Kenny, Lindsay, Tyler and Alina:

 Shasta (or Petersen as we know and love her) is a champ at engaging busy little boys. Jeremy is a firecracker, and he cuddled right up to Shasta for this activity!

 So fun to have a full house! Brother Later is in the background there--he was good to help two little girls make their salt dough tomb.

 And our Daddy attempted to get this group going--but the dough was stiff. Actually, I realized late Saturday night that I didn't have any salt, so I couldn't make the salt dough. I found another recipe online with two ingredients: hand soap and flour. It worked in a pinch, but I wouldn't recommend it because it was unpredictable with its stiffness.

 Our creations--they turned out great! (I keep the tree and rock props in my Easter bin and they only come out for this activity each year.)

 Woops--Jeremy finished this one off before I snapped a picture, but this one was quite the masterpiece!

 At the last minute, we decided to not use our basement to entertain the kids around dinner time (long story). So our deck was their fun. Luckily, it was just warm enough and it wasn't raining. Uncle Andy was a champ at giving anyone rides who wanted one. 

 The kids ran around in circles on our deck--with lots of energy! The next day we met our back yard neighbors for the first time (they moved in a few months ago, and now everyone is emerging from our houses with the warmer weather, so we had never met them before.) They asked how many kids we had over for Easter. I told them 8, to which they replied "Wow! It seemed like a lot more than eight!" I think everyone had a good time.

I'm grateful for the gathering of friends and family. Our feast was ham, rolls, cheesy potato casserole, ice cream salad, frog eye salad, sweet potatoes, roasted carrots, carrot cake, and special krispy birds nests for the kids, made by none other then Petersen. We had a good time! Happy Easter.

Easter Egg Hunt 2014

 We did our annual easter egg hunt on Saturday--this is our 4th year of hosting this tradition. We did an open invite, and I didn't ask for RSVP's because I wasn't planning a meal. No food, no decorations, no stress--but plenty of fun! We just met at a park, hid the eggs, and had the kids find them. The entire event lasted exactly an hour. It was a lot less stressful than previous years of preparing food for an unknown number of friends. I think it still accomplished the same purpose--easter egg hunt on Saturday, gathered friends together, and the kids had fun.

There were a few differences this year. The biggest one was that this was the first year that we didn't hide easter eggs in the snow. The park was a wet, muddy mess. The only place we could find that was dry enough was a small hill on the edge of the field and a line of stickery bushes--which unfortunately was next to the road. See one of the daddys stationed as our "bouncer?" I thought it was funny--but a few of the daddys manned their post well to keep the kids a safe distance from the road.

 David is trading in his snow boots for rubber boots these days. (I'm always happy to get rid of boots after a season. By this time, they are usually smelly and they need to be retired anyway. We are happy to pass on other winter gear, but boots get a one-time use in our house.) We've had an incredibly mild spring--usually we are still getting snow dumps at this time, but this year my trees starting sprouting new buds in February. They were confused. We've had a few cold spells and snow dumps, but overall the winter has been mild. So the combination of a late Easter and a warm spring made it so it was a muddy egg hunt in Alaska--instead of a snowy one.

 See the giant field behind the egg hunters? It was full of standing water, so we didn't hide anything in there at all. There's another "bouncer"--Brother Everett--keeping the children away from the road. There were lots of eggs in the bushes, but the bushes were scratchy, and I think that deterred some of the kids from reaching in to get them.

 In true Alina form, she was happy to watch everything going on. But as soon as she got an egg of her own to hold, she was over the moon happy. I'm going to have to be careful to always offer this little girl experiences--her personality is to not ask for them on her own. But when she gets to be part of it all, she lights up.

Treasures--Daddy holds his treasure, Alina holds hers.

 It was in the 50's and sunny--we couldn't have asked for better weather!

 The Elders showed up, and this Elder was put to work with the crank attached to this little tram. The kids had fun! I think we wore out Elder Owen.

 Each year it seems that we come up with a few eggs short for all the kids to take home their share. We ask each family to bring 10 eggs per child, then each child is supposed to find 10 eggs. It should work out, but last year I found out that the same families seem to come up short each year. So we provided an extra 30 eggs to make sure everyone got the 10 eggs. I was planning to turn the kids loose for any extra eggs at the end, so we didn't leave any treats lying around for the moose or bears. Anyway, since we were at a park this time, there were 3 other kids at the park that were not part of our activity. Long story, but in the end, these three kids joined us in our hunt (Brother Everett was happy to invite them) so the eggs worked out just right. However, the same family came up short this year. They took it all in stride, but I was sorry that it happened again. I'm glad we did the extras, so we felt like we could invite the other kids to join us!

Sitting Up

 Alina has finally figured out how to look around her world without doing crunches while she lays down.

In this picture, she must be smiling for her brother David. Oh, how she loves that boy! 

For the most part, Alina has a very solemn look. She's a happy baby, very peaceful and content. But she's not always smiley. She saves her smiles for the ones she loves. And occasionally for a perfect stranger who will attempt to help her lift those cheeks with silly antics--but even that's not a guarantee. She can watch someone being silly right in front of her, and keep a completely straight face. I hope I never have to go into a stare-down with her. She'd win, hands down.

When she gives in to a smile, her eyes sparkle and the happiness emerges from the depths of her heart.

Alpha Land

 On my last day of kindergarten in Mrs. Fullmer's class at Sundance Elementary (circa 1983), the teacher let us choose books that the school would no longer be using in the classroom. I was so surprised that Alpha Land was in the pile of books. Because each week during kindergarten, a different inflated letter would show up at our door to introduce their sound to us. These letter-people were about 3 feet tall, and clearly they left an impression on my little mind. So when the opportunity presented itself to take home a forever copy of Alpha Land, I snatched it up. I don't remember if there were enough copies for any other kids, or if they got to choose different books--but I remember feeling so happy that I got this book, and so sad for next year's kindergarteners that they didn't get to learn from Alpha Land.

So. We had this book called Alpha Land at our house. It went through seven younger siblings in my family. It went through a number of nieces and nephews. Finally, when I became a mother, my mom sent me the treasured Alpha Land book. The corners have been chewed on by a baby or two, and an entire page is ripped out in the middle of it. I have checked, and there are other copies for sale on Amazon--but this is the one with all the memories, so I love it.

David and I have worked on reading with a few different programs. I'm about to dive into a phonetics based program with him so all of the bases are covered, but in the lead-up, we've enjoyed a few different resources for beginning reading. This book is one of them. It has only been in the last week that David has figured out that he can pick up and read the book without me. He's reading the words and the story, and it was such a rewarding moment to look over and see him lost in the pages of a book, all of his own doing.

 I clicked a few pictures before he realized that I was there, so David was really lost in the thrill of reading.

Perhaps the most consistent we've been in his reading aloud has been at the end of our nightly scripture study as a family. I watched my sister do this with her kids about 10 years ago--since David could talk, we have given him a verse to "read." At first, for a few years, he was just repeating the words we told him to say. Then I held his finger pointing to the words while I told him what to say. Finally, he started to read the 2 and 3 letter words on his own. Now he reads at least 75% of each verse he is assigned all by himself. If I am not patient enough, and I prompt him when he seems stuck, he gets upset. He gives each difficult word his best shot at sounding it out before he asks for help. He uses a mixture of sight words and sounding out the key letters in each word to figure out what the words are in his verse. So on a nightly basis, David is stretching himself into reading words with up to 8 letters in them, simply because he recognizes them as familiar words in the scriptures.

Recently I heard my Aunt Launette say, "Teaching a child to read is one of the greatest pleasures for a mother. Don't you dare turn that pleasure over to a teacher!" It's true. I love watching the letters turn to sounds turn to words turn to sentences turn to stories for my boy. I am a strong believer that the mother is the first and most important teacher for a child. Besides, the moments when David is learning something new with me right there have been some of the best moments for strengthening our relationship.

Putting Together Engineer

We have a slight problem at our house with things being dismantled. Three months ago, we had 5 working remote control cars. We now have one car in tact, without a working remote. All of the others have been dismantled. The list could go on. I have tried to provide David with ample opportunities to take things apart, but alas, a little boy's curiosity is greater than his 5-year old discipline. We have not yet found boundaries that stop him. He'll go for a few weeks without any incidents of taking something apart, then all within a few days, I will find several items dissembled and stashed somewhere. Once I find one, I ask him to go get any others that he's hidden, and he usually can produce 2 or 3 more. 

We've tried taking away his tools--he goes and finds Daddy's toolbox.

I've tried eliminating his "alone time" in the basement--but that's his most creative play time, so by doing that, I am pushing both of our buttons. This has not resulted in happiness at our home.

We've tried providing him with items to take apart from the "broken store" (Value Village) but those only last a few minutes.

Of course we have been upset with him and tried to set a suitable consequence. He knows it's wrong to take things apart, but he told me the other day, "Sometimes my mind wants to do it stronger than I want to obey." How's that for honesty?

I don't know what else to do, and I don't want it to be a point of contention in our home, or a reason that he feels he has to "sneak" behind our backs. I try to remember that it is his curiosity driving this, and who can fault a little boy for such strong curiosity?

So. I've stopped reacting to his taking things apart, and I am hoping that he matures into more discipline soon so this stops. For the most part, he has dissembled his toys and a few of Alina's. Only once has he dissembled something belonging to me. I have to remember that things are things, and they can be replaced. This little boy needs as much positive reinforcement as we can give him, so I try to keep it all in perspective.

In the meantime, one approach is that if I find him in the act of taking something apart, I tell him he needs to put it back together.

The first time I told him this, David's face grew red, and his bottom lip started to quiver. Trying his best to control his emotions, he declared, "But I'm a taking apart engineer. I'm not a putting together engineer! I don't know how to put things together!" It was so funny I had to stifle my laugh. And I found something that he could successfully reassemble.

Turns out he had just as much satisfaction in this "Putting together" project as he does with his "taking apart" projects. Now if only it was just as easy to reassemble the electronics. This particular piece just had screws, and it went back together nicely. But I don't know how to help him reassemble little wires, chip boards and small motors.

I'll admit that I don't like to see things taken apart when they are in perfectly good working order.

BUT--I absolutely love seeing my boy in his element. He gets excited and chatty about his work. He feels strong and capable, and he gets astonished at the tiniest details of these machines. All I can think is that this is a season of learning for David, and I want to encourage his enthusiasm.

 We've picked up some snap circuits so he can start to learn the building side of electronics, but that's the best I can offer so far.

Like one wise mother said, "I can laugh about it now, or I can cry over it for a few years and laugh about it later. What's the point of wasting all those tears?"

Biggest Fan

Whenever David starts tickling the ivories, he has one little fan that will twist and turn and roll and arch her back until she arrives at a front row seat of the concert offered by her big brother. Sometimes she hugs the piano legs while he plays--I think she likes the vibrations she feels through the wood and the floor. Alina is taking to the sound of the piano quite favorably--and I think David has a big role in that.

In other news, I finally decorated one corner of my house. It feels so good to look at this particular area that I'm thinking about continuing the trend and decorating more walls/areas.

The misplaced toys atop the cabinet on the left? Well, we have an agreement with David. If he notices screws on one of his toys, and he feels like it will be too hard to keep himself from taking it apart, he can bring the toy up and put it in this area. 

Unfortunately, my massage pillow was not deposited in the "Safe from the screwdriver" zone.