Callie

 I have been meaning to write a post about Callie for quite some time.  She has become her own little person, full of life and learning new things every day.  I was going to wait until she turned 18 months (5 days) but who really cares, right?  This past week she has been sick.  Really sick.  She had croup and while that is mostly gone, she has still had a hard time with all the phlegm that goes down her throat since she doesn't know how to blow her nose or cough it out.  It has been REALLY hard on the whole family.  She is improving.  She doesn't cry as much as she did at first, and when she does hack on some mucus, she doesn't get too upset about it.  (She is crying in her bed right now after a bit of a cough, but it is night and it always get worse at night.)   Yesterday I was trying to think about what to make for dinner when I thought of green beans.  Callie LOVES green beans.  I pulled out the can and showed her what was inside and she got VERY excited.  She didn't even want to wait for me to warm them up.  She devoured about 10-15 beans and was all smiles while she did it.  She would eat a few and then come ask for "more."  It was a glorious sight.  Smiles and eating and not crying.  Today she was extra happy and since it has been exhausting for me, I was ready to give her anything to make her happy.  Even a BIG slice of water melon that probably left drips of sticky juice all over my floor.  BUT, she was happy and not crying or coughing and more important, she wasn't in my arms (not that I don't love to hold her, but a whole week of sickness wears you out!).

 Here are some other fun pictures we have taken of Callie over the past month:

 This is an avocado nut.  She LOVES avocados.  She will eat as much as I giver her.  In this case the avocado was gone and she wanted more so I let her finish it off.  She devoured it! (not the nut, just all the green on the nut)

 I am amazed at how good Callie is at using a spoon and a fork.  She gets one for herself if I forget.  She LOVES feeding herself and isn't too bad at it.

 This is a common face for Callie.  I can get her to start laughing when she does this if I tickle under her chin.  She also LOVES these babies.  We have three of them but we try to have her only holding 1 at a time.  Two or three gets a little heavy and she gets frustrated.

 Callie also loves Annabelle's Strawberry Shortcake dolls.  Luckily Annabelle is a GREAT big sister and doesn't mind that Callie always wants to play with them. 

 Callie is NOT afraid of bugs.  She will try to pick them up, dead or alive.  Here she is holding a ladybug.  Greg told me that she squished a spider the other day, with her finger.  She definitely doesn't get this from me.  Although I did help her get the lady bug. There are some bugs that just don't bother me much.

And finally, the slide.  Callie is getting so big that she likes to go down the slide on her own.  She will get to the bottom and say, "again!" and then race to the stairs.  We had to practice going to the stairs a few times (and probably will every time we go to a park) so she would not climb up the slide.  When we left this park she actually got really mad and I had to pick her up and take her away screaming.  Learning isn't always a good thing.  

We LOVE our little Callie and pray that she will keep getting better.  I can't believe how big she is and how much she knows for such a little person.  While this last week has been REALLY hard, I know it won't last forever and I can't wait to get our little happy girl back.

Scripture Counter How To

Bear in mind that this wasn't my idea, but I did get a few requests for how to make the scripture counter.
Here goes:

1. You get a piece of scrap wood, any size that will fit your numbers.  You can paint it to match a room or I just stained mine.  
2. Print out the numbers 0-9, four times.  Any font, any size. You pick what works for you.  
3. Laminate the numbers, cut them into squares or rectangles and punch a hole in the top of each one.
4. Use 4 cup hooks.  Again, they come in all different colors and sizes, you pick!  My wood was soft enough to just screw them in (after I meticulously measured where the holes should be so they would be evenly spaced).
5. The numbers go on the hooks and then you can decide how to hang it in your house, and what words to put on it, if any.  I have not done either of these things.  But am leaning toward "Scripture Power" and getting some picture hooks to place on the back so I can hang it up in our hallway.

 We haven't missed a day yet!  Good luck!

Fall Break

 On Wednesday we drew up a list of some fun things to do during our fall break.  The kids had 2 days off of school and I thought we would live it up.  Thursday morning Callie woke up extra fussy, but we pushed through.  We rode our bikes to the Legacy Center to go swimming.  It wasn't as hard as I was thinking it would be.  We all had lots of fun, and as Ryan said, "We didn't die, mom!" 

 

 That afternoon we headed over to the movie "Smurfs."  The movie broke down after just a couple minutes and we had to wait about 15 for them to get it working again.  BUT, it was a cute show and the big kids had fun.  Callie was getting fussier and fussier, but I saw at least half of the movie.

 

 On Friday we drove over to a park so Ryan could work on his Reflections entry. 

 

 

 

 That night Greg and I had a fun date planned.  We were going to dress up and go to a fancy steak house in Salt lake.  Then we were going to go to Bri's Massage school graduation and then maybe more.  BUT, Callie wasn't doing too well.  It was a tough choice to cancel the sitter and our reservation.  Sometimes having kids is REALLY hard.  Later that night Callie was doing worse and we deliberated about taking her to the hospital.  At 10P:30 I was halfway there when I decided to turn around.  I figured that if we went to the hospital we would be up all night trying to figure out what was wrong and neither of us would get any sleep.  It was a good choice.  Saturday morning I took her in and she had Croup.  We got a shot of steroids and while she definitely isn't all better, she is doing better and I am praying that we will have a better night tonight.

Ryan got to go to the BYU football game with Greg and Grandpa Ray.  He had a lot of fun and especially loved that BYU won by so much.  We have had a crazy week, with pancakes for dinner, twice, but I am hoping that we are over it all and this week will be a much better one.

Red Ribbon Week

A couple weeks ago at school was Red Ribbon Week.  I got to decorate Ryan's class door since I am his room mom this year. Thankfully my friend Mikelle has a Cricut and she was happy to help (her son is in the class, too) and make the door more professional.  Ryan was happy to have his bug on the tongue.

 

It was also spirit week.  Monday was crazy hair day.  The boys' pictures were taken after school, but Nathan had super spiky hair and Ryan had both spiky and white hair.  Annabelle had about 13 ponytails and about 13 flowers.  Surprisingly we didn't lose any at school.  Callie loves to have her hair done lately.  After Annabelle is done she plops right down on my lap and will let me do it.  The other day (before crazy hair day) she kept handing me flowers to put in her hair.  So, I think Annabelle was inspired by her to do her hair this way.

Tuesday was "support your favorite team day, wear red or blue."  Annabelle's BYU shirt is pink so she didn't even think about wearing it, but she was all set to wear red when I told her that she couldn't.  Does it really matter?  No, but luckily she was okay with wearing a Navy shirt.  Doesn't she look 80's?  Ryan wears this jersey ALL the time.  He would wear it every day if I didn't sneak it away every few days to wash it and hide it.

Annabelle had been SO excited about pajama day.  Actually we all were.  It was one less thing to do in the morning.  We just got to wake up and roll out of bed and eat breakfast and head to school.  It seriously helped with timing.  Ryan had a cool field trip to the Discovery museum in Salt Lake so he didn't wear his jammies (but he did change into them after school).

 Next we had crazy sock day.  I bought them all Halloween socks before I knew about this, so it worked out well.  Callie joined the fun again.  Ryan asked if I would buy a few more pairs of socks and sew them together, but I had to burst his cool idea with the excuse of just not having enough time.

 Finally we had "Wear the School Colors" day.  Because we all ran the 1k or 5k we had school shirts.  Annabelle doesn't love wearing shirts that are of this material or so baggy, but she was a good sport.  It was a long week and our family was full of spirit.  I was relieved when it was all done.

Scripture Counter

We have been doing REALLY well as a family at reading the scriptures.  At stake conference a few weeks ago our stake president showed us a counter like this one.  I knew it was perfect for our family.  I got the supplies and they sat on my counter for the past 2 or 3 weeks, but today I finished it.  I wish I could go back in time and start counting from the last time we missed a day (seriously, we are doing great and I can't remember when it was), but I decided that we will just start from last night.  Now I just need to come up with a cute saying to go on top.  The stake president's said something like, "Scripture Counter Club" or something and I just don't love that.  I was thinking something more like, "The F-- Family have Scripture Power" or something.  Any ideas? I know my kids are going to LOVE watching the numbers go up and up.  And having some sort of prize when we reach 50 or 100 or some other big number.  I am still thinking about that part.

Doing Hair

 While I love having little girls, the reasons have nothing to do with doing their hair.  Yes, I like the flowers and bows to put in their hair, but what is under the flower is very simple.  With Annabelle in Kindergarten now I have noticed some really cute hair-dos at the school.  I heard that you can go to YouTube and watch videos about how to do hair.  I watched a couple the other night and the next morning tried it out on my girls.

 

Don't they look adorable!!  I was pretty proud of myself.  BUT, Callie's hair was out in just a matter of minutes, ten tops.  Annabelle's was falling out when she got home from school.  OH well,  I tried.  I am just cursed to have daughters with REALLY fine, beautiful blonde hair.  I will keep trying.  Some day I may even figure out a french braid.  My clumsy fingers and their fine hair is NOT a good pair.

 Here is the video I watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqLbZRAB_bY&feature=relmfu

October 1st

I don't recall telling my kids that we had to wait until October first to start decorating for Halloween, but a week before then Annabelle told me how excited she was and how she couldn't wait until October first so we could decorate.  Every year we get a spider web.  I never do it outside because the weather here usually makes it all wet and yucky.  In the past years we have hung the web over our front staircase.  I wanted to try something different.  Here is what we came up with:

I love it.  I am not sure if it will last through the month, but for now it looks pretty cool and the kids love showing it off to their friends.  The only other decor I have for this holiday is a set of BOO blocks.  When some friends of mine invited me to do a couple other crafts I jumped on the idea.  

 

The jars were a lot trickier than the wreath, but worth it.  The only problem is now I have candy staring me in the face every day.  My face and the kids'.  The watermelons were gone in 1 day and we are getting pretty close on the other two jars.

I may not have a ton of decor for Halloween, but I have more than last year, and the kids are already getting excited.