New Job

Next month is will be six months since Aaron started his job. So far we love it. He works four 10's normally, and an outage twice a year. He just finished his first outage yesterday. 

I think we are both glad that he is done with six 12's for a while. Getting up at 4:00 a.m. and getting home a 7:00 p.m. everyday makes for some long days. Although, we are definitely not new to long days. 

I was a little worried what I would do with Aaron gone so much,

then I remember that he used to usually be gone that much all the time anyway. So it really wasn't that bad. We did miss him though. I love Aaron and am so proud of him. Every year that passes, I am more impressed with his capabilities. I am glad I chose him, and I am glad he chose me. I am glad we love and like each other.

New House

I love my house. It smells good, its clean, its big. I am so happy to be here. I will say it now and say it again, I am so thankful for our first home, but I was so ready to leave. So ready. I am a home body. I like to be home, but I didn't really like to be stuck in our other house all day. It was smaller and heated up like an oven in the summer. It was also older, so even though I would clean and clean, the years of previous renters wear on the house had taken its toll, and it was hard to make it feel clean.

We have been in this out just over a month, and it already feels more like home than our other house ever did. I am still really enthusiastic about keeping it tidy. We didn't pull out all of the toys either and the ones that we did leave out mostly stay up stairs and out of site. I love our neighborhood, it so clean and there is a park about a 100 yard from our house. I am just so happy and thankful to be hear. I know that the Lord's hand is in all things, and I am so thankful this is where we ended up.

One of my favorite things about being here is that I get to decorate a new house. I had stopped having any desire to do anything to our old house because I knew that our time there was limited, and I didn't want to spend money on it. Aaron was so nice to let me buy a few bigger items to help make this house a little more homey. I still have a long way to go for what I want to do, but I am excited to have a hobby again.

The main things I wanted were curtains, and thanks to Target now I have cute ones. However, I wanted long ones, and thought I had measured correctly, but I didn't, of course. So, I had to add a stripe at the bottom to make them the length I needed them to be. I did not want to do that. I tried two panels and they looked bad...really bad. So my wonderful sister Heidi did them for me. I am still super grateful she did that. She also helped me figure out how and where to put things up on the walls. It was fun to shop and decorate, I am saving my money for round two.

Easter

This year our new ward held an Easter event at the church over the Easter weekend. I was glad we got to go. They did such a good job, and they share a sweet message about the real reason for Easter.

 Rocky wasn't too interested in everything they had going. He just wanted to run around the halls, so after 45 min, I took him home. He didn't know any different.

Dad started his first day of working the outage on Easter Sunday, so he missed the morning excitement. These two planted jelly beans in the backyard, and only on Easter night would they grow into suckers. Unfortunately, Daisy saw "Aunt Heidi" helping the Easter Bunny plant the suckers. Luckily that magical mind of my sweet four year old didn't get too hung up on that fact. 

They both got their baskets and found the eggs. Well, Daisy found the eggs. Rocky found one and then found the chocolate inside. He was more interested in that.

We spend Easter with the Brooks side this year. Grandma Rena's backyard is perfect for an egg hunt. After conference finished, all the kids excitedly found all of the eggs. Rocky still needed some help, so I stuck with him. Sadly, he fell over. Aunt Heidi was happy to capture the moment. 

Luckily, Dad did get to do some festivities with us on Saturday. We all dyed the eggs. Aren't those colors beautiful? :)

Hair Cuts

 I normally cut my kids hair. They don't need anything fancy and I am too cheap to spend money every month to trim their hair when I can do it myself. However, Daisy no longer wants me to touch her hair with scissors and it was looking pretty bad. Plus, Rocky was in need of some professional lines around his ears and neck. So we did it; we went to the hair dresser for the first time. It took 15 minutes and they were both awesome. The place we went to is perfect. They turn on a movie and let you sit in a cool seat. Then they give the kids suckers. I thought Rocky's turned out great! Made him look like a little stud.

Zoo Day

Daisy's preschool had a field trip to the zoo a few weeks ago. It was typical trip to the zoo, but they had fun. 

Daisy & Rockwell

I am glad these two are close in age. As hard as that was for me to have them closer together, I think their friendship is worth it. They have started to become buddy. They still fight and tattle-tale, but overall they have started to play together most everyday. I love it. I hope they will always be friends and there for each other.

I got them both to take a nap one day. It was amazing. Its been months and month since that has happened. It took Rocky a good hour to finally fall asleep. He was just talking to himself, and I dare not open the door to check on him for fear he would want to come out. When I finally went to check on them both I found him diaperless. So funny, and so glad he hadn't peed.

Not A Baby Anymore

I think this little boy has been deceiving me for a while. He is so little, that he has been getting away with pretending to be a baby, but I think the gig is up. He is a little boy, not a baby! He may still be small, but he is so active and rough. He is still my cuddler, but lately he is too busy to sit and snuggle with me. He loves to play outside, tackle Daisy, look through seek and find books, and is just a happy boy. He likes to tease Daisy, to which she is happy to tattle-tale. So, that's been new and fun...

His favorite movie is Cars. He loves "McQueen" and I love the way he says it. Even though he has little legs he is fast and likes to run every where. When we go to the park he likes to test me and how far I will let him wander away. This is one of my least favorite games. He is one of those kids that would just go and go and go. He loves slides and balls. If I let him, he would watch shows all day. He has finally started to throw a fit when he doesn't get to pick the show. 

He loves Daisy. Lately, he has been the first to wake up, even before Daisy. One morning, I heard him open and shut his door. I waiting for him to come to me, but after a few minutes he never came. So, I got out of bed and and he was lying in front of Daisy's door waiting for her to wake up. 

He is a stinker during sacrament. I have been having to take him out every week. He is still a piece of cake compared to Daisy, he has been easy to break. He is not as stubborn. He will eventually lie on the floor with his face down until I ask him if he is okay, then he pops up with a smile and says yeah. 

He learns new words all the time. Yesterday, he and Daisy were talking. She told him he needs to learn to use the potty, to which he said, yeah I need potty. (If only he were ready!)

Still likes to get loves. Some days all he does is follow me around just so I will hold him and give him a love. Also, every time I come home and walk through the door, he smiles, yells mom, and runs to give me a hug. Its usually one of the best parts of my day.

He really does love being outside. We will miss the beautiful spring.

He is still a picky eater. He will willing eat crackers and candy. Eventually I do get him to eat whatever we are, but it takes effort.

He is finally in his big boy bed. It was an extremely smooth transition. He never even missed his crib. He has even been staying in his bed to take nap. There are no toys in his room, so that may be why. 

This kid and his Bs. He loves them! He has two, but seems to favor the green one. He chews on it all day. Its kind of gross and I hope not bad for his little mouth. I don't know what we would do with out his Bs. They are what calm him down in almost every situation. He likes toys, but is content to play with his Bs all day. They are his capes, his tents, his bed. They are his favorite things.

He also like to rub his little finger on the fibers. Its his little quark. I remember Daisy would dab the corner of her blanket in her eye. Once I asked her why she did that, to which she said, "I like it". So, I guess maybe he just likes it.

I think he is the cutest little boy ever. I love having a boy. He makes my heart swell with love and happiness every time I look at him.

Fabulous Four

My sister sent me a little photo the other day and on it, it said that the average four year old asks over 400 questions a day. I think that is an underestimate. Daisy is so very inquisitive! I am glad she has so much curiosity about life. I read somewhere that if you don't listen and talk to your kids when they are little, then why would then when they are teenagers? So, I do my best to answer questions and talk with Daisy. She says funny stuff. It is interesting to see how her four year old brain tries to logically put things together. She is smart and doesn't really miss anything. Her and I went on an outing, just the two of us, this week to see Cinderella. It was just a bit over her head, but she was happy to spend the day with me and go to the movies. She was very curious about the "mom-step". Made me chuckle every time she said it.

I like four. She is still little enough that she needs her mom, but is also starting to be very independent. We have been working on little chores. Every day in the morning (when we are on our game), Daisy dresses herself, makes her bed, brushes her teeth, and says her own prayers (with a bit of help from me). She is so proud of herself and how she can do big girl things. I am glad she came first. She loves to be in charge. I can already see this as a blessing and a curse. She likes to take care of Rocky, get him his blankets, fillS up his sippy cups, and finds him shows to watch. However, she also likes to control everything Rocky does. Luckily, Rocky is a pretty easy going kid and takes his bossy sister in stride, but even he has his limits.

Daisy likes to play with friends. Her best little friend is still Allie, they can spend hours a day playing together. Its great for everybody. They have even started to let Rocky play with them. It makes me happy to see Daisy play with her brother.

Some days are very drama filled, I am not going lie. She is very "spirited". I am glad though, we help each other grow. The first week or two in our new house, every morning Daisy would have a massive melt down. One morning we couldn't find her Elsa sock, and no other sock would do! She cried and screamed. Another day, a fly flew near her cup, you would have thought a spider the size of bird was in the house (we all would have a massive freak out if that happened)! 

I have been trying a new approach with helping Daisy handler her big feelings. Instead of timeouts and mean Mom, I have been letting her cry it out and letting it fizzle, then I scoop her up and just hold her. Then we talk about what happened. So far I feel that it is more effective. One morning, I was at the bottom of the steps and she was at the top refusing to come down. I let her cry for about 15 minutes. Finally, I went up stairs scooped her up and took her to my room. I asked her if there had been a lot of changes and she cried, "yes". Then she told me she didn't like stairs or not being aloud to have sippy cups on the carpet. It made me laugh, but also helped me realize that sometimes she just needs me to understand that sometimes its just hard to be four and deal with big changes.

 A few weeks ago, I was having an "interesting" week, and by that I mean I got my IUD out and was feeling a bit hormonal. I swear that Daisy picks up on my hormones. Her and I were having a rough week. The nice Mom who had been so good to just hold her and talk it through, was not present. Anyway, one afternoon she was mad at something and throwing a fit, and I was done. I went in my room to have a few moments of peace, so I could recompose myself and take on the rest of the day. I then heard Daisy slam her door.  I hate when this is the main feeling in my house, so I went in to her room and she was sitting in her closet. I looked at her and asked if she wanted to go and get a piece of chocolate cake. She immediately stopped crying and we all went and got cake. It made the day about a thousand times better.

I hope weeks like that are just preparation for the teen years, so her and I can just breeze through them?! I love her so much. I am glad she helps me be a better person and mother.  Even when have an off week, I am so thankful she is all mine.

Dance

This January I finally felt like Daisy was old enough to take a class of some kind, and since she loves to dance and often refers to herself as a ballerina, so she got to take a ballet and tap class. Piper was her class buddy, but wasn't too enthusiastic about actually going to class. Daisy however, was so excited! Class was once a week on Mondays for an hour. This class was only a few weeks, but she is still talking about it. We will sign her up again after the summer. 

Parents weren't aloud to watch classes, but we did get to sit through the last class. All the little girls did a short little number and showed off their skills. I don't know if it was because I was there or if Daisy was like this every class, but she wasn't very interested in dancing. I am sad to say she may have inherited my dance ability. Which means she can't dance. Regardless, she had fun and we will do this again.