Cute Kate

Some fun Kate phrases that I have been needing to write down...

"Wook at me!" (if she is doing something cool or tricky)
"Ta-da!"
"Happy you-you a cake!" (Happy birthday song that we sing over cake) :)
"Mommy help!" (She says this when she wants me to help her--not anyone else. She say this a lot!)
"Margles" (Kate's word for marbles. She loves playing with and sorting marbles. Luckly she doesn't ever put them in her mouth.)
"Brown bear, Brown bear, wook-a-mug-a-me!" (Her version of brown bear, brown bear, what do you see. It's kind of garbled, but she can say it!)
"More, please!" (Kate always says please when asking for more food. Pretty cool!)
A couple of weeks ago during Sacrament Meeting, Kate drank her cup of water and loudly announced, "Tasty. Very tasty!" That got a lot of grins from the families around us.

Kate loves playing with her siblings, especially Tommy. They are buddies during the day when Jared and Allison are at school. I often hear Kate urging Tommy with, "C'mon, Tommy! Follow me, Tommy!"
Kate also loves music. She has a good sense of rhythm and enjoys playing her toddler instruments while listening to music, dancing, and running wildly around the house if the music is dramatic (as with the kids' latest favorite song--Greig's "In the Hall of the Mountain King")

Kate Turns Two!

Today our Sweet Baby Kate is no longer a baby. She is two! We will be celebrating with a dinner of hot dogs and cantaloupe, followed by a Blues Clues cake and presents. Can't beat that!

Here are some things we love about Kate:

• Kate has an ever-happy disposition. She loves to smile and laugh!
• Kate is our family clown. She likes to act silly and gets excited if her brothers and sister join in the fun.
• Kate is so good at sleeping and taking naps. She loves to cuddle up with her pink and white blankies, and a plethora of animal friends. She calls most animals by the sound they make: duck=quack, quack; sheep=ba, ba; horse=neigh, neigh; rabbit=hop, hop. Dogs are "puppy" and she likes sleeping with her little pink puppy (and any other puppy she can find.) 
• Right now Kate is known in our house as the animal swiper. She is always scouting for stuffed animals to adopt and take into her crib (like Jared's rabbit and puppy, Allison's rabbit Sam, etc.)
• When Kate finishes a task she often finishes with an enthusiastic, "Ta-Da!"
• Lately when someone suggests something that Kate thinks is a little ridiculous, she will respond with a shake of her head and, in her best mommy tone of voice, "Nooooooo." (This is always her reaction when we remind her that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy) :)
• Kate loves Blues Clues lately. She calls it "Blue Puppy!"
• Kate is a music girl. Play her some music with a good beat, and she will rock out.
• Kate's favorite activity is biking on the driveway. She scoots along on our Plasma Car (she has to wear a designated pair of old shoes since her feet drag and wear away the toe). Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Washburn are getting her a new bike for her birthday!
•  Kate does NOT like riding in the car or going shopping. She is quick to let out her screams of disapproval... and equally quick to start giggling again once Mommy pulls a silly face at her. (Yes, she is a bit of a faker sometimes!)
• Kate likes sucking on hair, like little Jared did (weird, I know!) She calls it "bleh," because that's what we say when she is sucking on one. When she has lost a hair that she had been secretly stashing, she'll look around her in puzzlement, shrug her shoulders, and say, "Bleh go? Bleh go?" (Where'd the bleh go?)
• Our nickname for Kate: Sweet Pea
• For her birthday, she enjoyed playing "Blues Clues" with the family to figure out what we would be doing next (opening presents). She loves her new bouncie horse, scooter bike, and BIG stuffed bear. Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes and for helping her feel special on her birthday!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Tommy Turns Four!

Today is Tommy's birthday. He woke up to the best present ever--4 inches of snow! School had a 2-hour delay, so he got to play dominoes with Allison AND build a snow fort with Jared. All before the early hour of 8am!

Tommy is a cheerful, smiley, independent child with big ideas. His favorite activities are coloring, cutting, and taping things (once I found a nursery handout thoroughly taped to his bedroom door, using about 30 3-inch pieces of tape).

Tommy likes playing the piano and singing. He is good at reading and can sound out most any phonetic word. Several times I have caught him in his bedroom with his early reader books, carefully reading the books out loud to himself. It looks like we have another little reader in the making!

Tommy also LOVES Puppy and all his other stuffed dogs. He sometimes sleeps with 5 or more of them in his bed. Puppy is his favorite, though, and he always woofs at us when Tommy first wakes up in the morning (Puppy's woofs and whines is how Tommy communicates with us when he is feeling sleepy).

When the weather is warm, Tommy loves to bike outside. He also enjoys our big sandbox. His best friend is Alex Switzer, who we swap playdates with every Wednesday. Tommy and Alex just moved up into Junior Primary to join the Sunbeam class! Tommy is the oldest sunbeam, and we got to sing Happy Birthday to him during his first official Sunday in Primary. He is giving a Primary talk in two weeks, as well. Tommy is getting to be so big!

Tommy's dimpled grin and smiling eyes always makes my day. He is so fun to have at home, and he loves playing with his baby sister, Kate. Happy Birthday, Tommy. You are a wonderful part of our family!

Kate is 1 year old!

Last Tuesday our sweet Baby Kate turned one! It has been a wonderful year watching her learn and grow. Here are some fun things she is doing:

• She is a fast crawler! She started rolling at 3 months old, and hasn't stopped moving since.
• She loves it when you chase her She makes growling noises while crawling away as fast as she can. Before she could crawl, she got a kick out of Mom holding her and "chasing" Jared around the house. Jared is a fun big brother!
• She is now pulling to a stand and will probably learn to walk before long.
• Kate loves music. Her favorite CD is Treblemakers folk songs. The first song is "Mama Lama," so she often requests, "Mama! Mama!" when we are near the CD player. When the music comes on, a grin spreads across her face and she starts bouncing to the beat.
• Kate loves the piano too, and tries to play some notes while her siblings are practicing.
• If you ask, "What sound does a doggie make?" Kate will pant like a dog.
• Kate's favorite trick is "How big is Kate? SO big!" (She raises both arms in the air)
• Kate loves peek-a-boo and can do it herself.
• Kate's least favorite things is getting dressed. She used to cry and howl every night when we put her in pajamas. She doesn't scream quite as much now, so she's getting better.
• So, as you might imagine, one of Kate's favorite things is being bare! Her spunk and enthusiasm seem to double whenever we let her crawl around the house in only a diaper. 
• Probably Kate's VERY favorite thing is her siblings. She wakes up from her afternoon nap practically bouncing and has a big grin on as we go downstairs to greet Jared and Allison, who have just arrived home from school. During the day Kate and Tommy enjoy playing together. Sometimes when Kate is napping, Tommy will ask me, "Is her nap over yet? Can I get her out?"
• Kate has many admirers! Her #1 local fans (besides her family) are Brandt and Lindsay Adams, a couple in our ward who take care of her during the 2nd and 3rd hours of church while Adam and I serve in the Primary. Lindsay is the only person who can get Kate to sleep during church (not even Mom can do it!).  We are very grateful for the Adams!
• Kate also makes new friends during piano time. Four days a week after school I teach an hour of piano lessons, during which she gets to play in the basement with toys and the piano families, and usually ends up charming all of our guests. 
• Kate loves swinging at the park and getting pushed around on her toddler bike on our driveway. She also does really well in the sandbox (and only samples a bit of sand every once in a while) :)
• On Halloween Kate finally got her first tooth! (top right) her second tooth emerged right next to the first, just a day or two ago. 
• Kate's first word was "Uh-oh!" She says it whenever she drops something. She has also learned to imitate these words: Bye-bye, hi, Mamma, Dadda, more
• Kate is cute, happy, and very social. We love this little girl!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

January 30

Allison came downstairs this morning fully dressed, and announced that she had brushed her hair and made her bed and was ready for breakfast. You go, girl!

Pulled out the three-month clothes today. Look at these cute new outfits--all from friends! A lot of people love you, Kate.

Starfall with Tommy

But the biggest adventure of the day was getting new carpet!!

 It has been a month and three days since our sewer backup, and our basement is now finally restored! I LOVE our basement, and the kids do too! Counting our blessings today...

 Run, kids, run!

My Glad Game

Last Monday, as part of my Family Home Evening lesson, our family started a "Glad Jar." We had been having problems lately with too much complaining from the kids (one kid in particular, but we won't name names). So for FHE I gave a lesson about having a positive attitude. I showed the "glad game" clip from Polyanna and challenged our family to start playing the game. Whenever something bad happens (which is quite frequent--between daily chores, Jared's daily bus ride, and the inevitable dinner time when most meals are met with Ewwww's), if the victim can think of something to be glad about in the situation, he or she gets to add a puff ball to our "Glad Jar." And so far, it seems to be working!

Just this morning, I realized that I need my own version of the Glad Game. With four young kids, a houseful of housework, a demanding church calling, and other responsibilities, it is easy to become discouraged at all I'm NOT able to accomplish.

So my new goal is to focus on the little things worth celebrating in my life. I am so blessed to live in this city; have the friends and neighbors that I do; have a great church family; a wonderful husband; four sweet, healthy children; a beautiful home; and the chance to stay at home each day and enjoy it all.

So forget the mountains of dirty laundry, the sinkfull of dirty dishes, and the living room cluttered with toys. Today is a day worth celebrating.


I had an epic medieval battle with Tommy and Allison.

I found Adam's daily note to me. What a thoughtful husband!

Celebrating a clutter-free upstairs hallway!

Clean sheets on TWO beds.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. :)

What I Learned in Primary

"My challenge to you," the bishop smiled, pointing toward the forty primary children in front of him, "Is to share something you learned today in Primary with one of your friends."

I love when the bishop visits our Primary. He towers over the children and wins them over with his genuine smile and his simple testimony. (And it's always interesting to hear the remarks from his nine-year-old daughter in Senior Primary; she is a sweet girl and quite the character!) After his message, I got up to teach the lesson, and then Renee Priddis stood to lead the children in Singing Time.

After I sat down from teaching, I found I was still thinking about the Bishop's invitation--to share something we learned in Primary with one of our friends. If he had asked the kids to do it, well, I should probably do it too.

So here is what I learned. I learned that all of us--even, and perhaps especially, children--have the capacity to influence others for good. Their attitudes and actions can make a big difference in the lives of their siblings, parents, friends, and neighbors. A scripture I had studied for my lesson, and which the Bishop had shared in his message, is 1 Timothy 4:12: "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (emphasis added).

I remember being encouraged by this scripture six years ago, when I was called to be Young Womens president in our Illinois ward. I was just 22 years old--closer in age to some of the young women than than I was to their parents! This scripture reminded me that age didn't really matter. I could contribute my service and skills and testimony regardless of my age or experience. "Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind" (Doctrine and Covenants 64:34). That's all he asks, and I found that when I worked diligently and prayed sincerely, He made up the rest.

I'm continuing to appreciate this scripture now that I am a new Primary president. I may not have a lot of prior experience working in Primary, but I love the children and I love my Heavenly Father. I am continually amazed at the wisdom and understanding of these children. During my lesson, I asked if any of them could share a time when they had served someone else, or when they had shared their testimony with a friend. A dozen children responded, each telling a story of how they had helped a friend or a classmate or a sibling. These children know who they are, why they are here, and where they are going. Most adults in our world today don't have half the direction and confidence that my young Primary children have. It is inspiring to me, and I am so grateful for the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ in my own life. I too know who I am and what Heavenly Father's plan is for me. I hope that I can always be an example of the believers--"in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."