What we've been up to...

Here I am...always playing catch up.  I've found that if I really want to get anything done besides laundry and keeping my house livable, I have to get up really early or stay up really late...neither of which I'm really great at.  The thing is I know there are millions of people out there that have more children than I do and yet they seem to accomplish so much more...do they sleep?  Someday I'll get it figured out but in the meantime, I sure am having a lot of fun with my kiddos.  My house may not be spotless, but I'm trying to remember that this stage won't last forever...and something tells me I'm going to miss it when it's over...anyway, here's what we've been up to the last couple of months:

This adorable little girl was blessed on April 15 and it was a wonderful day.  Her dad gave her a very sweet blessing and it was fun to see so many family members who were there for her.  She didn't make a peep through the blessing (she has been my most vocal baby:)) and really has been doing so well since then. She now sleeps through the night, has been so pleasant, and gives the very best smiles.  We love her determined but sweet little personality and can't get enough of her!

Her big brother and sister just adore her:

And she officially has the best mullet of all my babies:  

But oh look at this adorable face:

Chillin' with daddy:

We love our Lyddi!

This cutie patootie below turned three in April and is getting so grown up.  She is very tender hearted and such a little peacemaker in our family.  Lately she has loved playing with her baby dolls that she lovingly named Ella and Janie.   She loves going on "dates" with mom or dad and always asks for pink bubble gum or pink ice cream when we take her out.  She is SO excited to start dance in the fall.  We love our sweet little Kam!

She loves to put on make-up, especially any type of "lipstick":

She LOVES her daddy:

She falls asleep in random places and in the cutest positions:

And she is such a kind and caring sister and truly loves her siblings:

She and Parker, although they have their moments, have been having so much fun together.  This is a picture we took on Easter...and I just have to say that I made Kam's Easter dress...I thought it turned out cute:)...at least cuter than some of my other projects:)

Speaking of Parker, he has been a busy boy!  He graduated from his little neighborhood preschool:

He just finished his 4th season of soccer.  He LOVED it, loved playing on a team with his neighbor friends, and really did well:

Let me just mention just for the sake of remembering, Parker is SO VERY competitive right now.  We are working with him to have good sportsmanship and hope we can help channel this determination to accomplish great things.  He loves to compete in everything from soccer to finishing a meal before his sister to getting into the van first to being the first to say hi to Dave when he gets home from work...and the list goes on.  When we play games as a family we have to weigh carefully what to do if it appears that someone else besides him will win.  If we feel like having a teaching moment, we go ahead and let him lose.  I will admit I sometimes go to extra effort to make sure he wins just to keep the peace:)...but he has made great progress and has been remembering to tell the winner "good job" even if he is holding back tears in the process.  We love love love his personality and determination.  He is such a social and happy little boy.

Other things to remember...

Since I have failed miserably at being a gardener, we are trying one more tactic this year.  We let each of the kids have a garden box.  They got to pick what they planted and they get to water and weed through the summer...so far, so good.

For some reason, when we tell the kids a scripture story at night, lately they ALWAYS want to hear the story about Samson and Delilah...they can both tell the story perfectly.   Don't get me wrong, it's a great story but not one that lends itself to lots of application to my little kids.  If nothing else, maybe they'll remember not to tell secrets to girls, especially pretty ones...I don't know.   Since they like it so much, my song-loving husband Dave (who has been so very helpful to put the kids to bed every night) has started playing Neil Sedaka's song, "Run, Samson, Run" for them when they get into bed.  Yesterday Kambri started singing it word for word at Wal-Mart at the top of her lungs...and Parker believes that there is a little bit of Delilah "in each and every gal."  Awesome. 

And finally, if you've made it through this post, I quickly wanted to share two things that have been LIFE-SAVING for me lately.  The first is this chore/activity chart that I put together for the kids.  I got the idea from Studio Five (a daily Utah show):

The kids know what to expect every day...we do a fun activity every day, then they have an activity during "quiet time" so I can attempt to get something done...or take a nap:)

And they have chore cards that they can flip over each day when they accomplish their chores...I printed the cards from here.

They get a "chore buck" for every day they complete their chores.  When they get five chore bucks, they can exchange them for a real buck.

Anyway, if you need an idea to keep your kids busy and get some structure, this really has made all the difference for us lately!

And lastly, my kids BEG for food all day...and I got tired of saying no when they asked for treats and tired of listening to them upset when I did say no.

So now...

they each have a snack basket and I put three snacks in it each morning...and that's all they get for snacks each day.  I love it because I get to choose what they eat (I can put in healthy stuff plus a treat here and there) and they get to make choices as to when they eat their snacks.  If they eat them all at once right when they wake up, that's fine, but they know they don't get any more snacks for the rest of the day.  This really has cut down on the whining at our house:)

And that's it....congrats if you made it to the end of this!