Lucky Day

Today Claire got her first Star Reader Dog Tag from her AR program. She has been talking about getting dog tags for several weeks now and has finally gotten them. It took a while since I was only having her read a book a week for the first several months. After realizing she could do more than that she now does 3-4 books/quizzes a week. So it took longer than normal to get them but once we figured it all out she got her tags! She LOVES to read and is doing great.

In order to celebrate this milestone we went to none other than Chuck E Cheese!

She was so excited and so were Hallie and Audrey!

Her and Hallie had a blast playing all the games. They loved air hockey.

Audrey, however has recently developed a phobia for things that move which really has me stunned. She did NOT like the horse ride! Poor kid. And yes, I did get her off when I knew she really didn't like it.

While we were there the worker was making rounds from game to game making sure they all worked. He would leave the tickets in the dispenser and said we could have them. Claire was so stoked. She announced "Lucky Day" more than once and was SO excited. She walked around the place several times to look for tickets. She didn't miss one!

Here is a picture to let you know that Audrey was not traumatized from the moving rides! 

After Chuck E Cheese I took them to get a Blizzard and you would have thought is was Christmas. Claire kept talking about it being the best day of her life cause she got dog tags, tons of tickets, 3 prizes AND a blizzard. Thank goodness for coupons, the freebies made it all possible.

Good job, Claire! we are so proud of you.

Oh and Zeb takes his last final, for the whole summer, tomorrow! Hallelujah!

Make-Up Artist?

Let me just say that Hallie uses my lip gloss more than me. She LOVES the stuff and applies and reapplies seconds later. She is so funny. She loves to out on my eye shadow and ends up looking like she has a black eye....the darker the better. I will say she has gotten a lot better at applying lip gloss though. Anyway, she knows that mascara is for grown ups and will ask every so often to see if that is still the case. The other day I was on the computer doing the budget or something and she was in my bathroom a few feet away. After a few minutes I looked over to see what she was up to. She had applied mascara to her eyes and didn't do a half bad job. However, when I informed her that she wasn't supposed to be using it she tried wiping it off.  We all know what that does, SMEAR!! I couldn't help but take the picture of her lovely "black eyes" and smile when she asked me if I wanted her to put mine on. Oh goodness!

She even said that she would be really careful! :) Oh Hallie, I love you!

Fish Look-alike Meter

I didn't know this posted to my blog but oh well. I do think Claire looks more like me. When I did Hallie they actually said she looks like us equally. I think she is a duplicate of her Father (but more feminine of course!) So I didn't save the results. I think in these pictures Zeb and I look alike though. That may play into it.  Audrey looked a few percent more like me which I thought was interesting. It's fun to do though! 

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

A Day at the Zoo!

For Claire's field trip her class went to the zoo. I was so excited that I got to go and be a chaperone! She was excited all week and couldn't wait for Thursday to come. Brittany was a lifesaver and came over to my house to watch Hallie and Audrey so I could go. I am so grateful she was so willing to watch them. Hallie had a great time and didn't feel like she was missing out! Definite bonus.

I love this picture of Claire since you can see all of her adorable freckles! (Click it if you want to see them!)


This is Claire with her Kindergarten teacher Miss Kubala.


This is one of Claire's good friends. I find little notes around the house that they write to each other. They are so sweet.


You may think this picture is a little weird but it was my favorite thing at the zoo. The Tigers were nuzzling each other and I thought it was so sweet. :)

After 3 hours I was pretty much exhausted. Claire was asking me to hold her at the end. The sun really takes it out of me. Claire had a great time and got to come home early with me. Of course since it was Happy Hour at Sonic we HAD to stop and get a slushy! Man it was a tiring, but fun, day.

Forgotten Posts

There are a few posts that I have completely forgotten to do so I thought I would do them today.

A few weeks ago Zeb found out he was receiving an award at school. We were so excited! It was for excellence in corporate law. The girls and I wanted to go and support him. Of course Claire and Hallie loved getting in dresses and going to Daddy's school. Claire drew Zeb pictures of him and the law school and wrote him a note that said she couldn't wait to see him get the award and that he was the best Dad in the world. It was precious. After about 45 minutes the Academic Convocation was still going and Hallie had to go potty. At that point he had already received his award so I was going to chill in the hall with the girls. However, Claire did not want to miss any of it. After she went to the bathroom she went back in and sat down with Zeb. She stayed for the hour and 15 -30 minutes and never once complained. Heck, she asked to go back in. Hallie did great too, I just figured I'd go in the hall BEFORE she got bored! :)
Anyhow, we are so proud of Zeb and all he has accomplished. We love you!!!





Last week we went to a place called the Jumping Place. I had never heard of it before but Stephanie Colette told us about it. So for FHE we went with them and actually ran into the Hudson's. The girls had SO much fun and loved every minute. It is right off 84 and 6 and we are totally going back. The adults even had a race through a little blow up obstacle course and it was a blast. We had so much fun but my batteries ran out of juice so I only got a few pictures. Oh well! :)
So if you are looking for something to do with your kids check out the jumping place. It's a blast!




And lastly, if you see Ceb around let him know we now get applications for credit cards for him on a regular basis. Honestly. Zeb's name was wrong for a month and now he gets mail as though he is a real person. Whatever happened to not sharing names and information anyway?

Claire's Letter

During Sacrament meeting yesterday Claire write this note to Zeb. I was telling Deena about it and she told me I should scan it and put it on the blog. So I took her advice and did just that.


Over the past few months I have gotten a lot better at reading Claire's notes. I love Kindergarten and how they spell words. Here is the translation in case it is hard to understand:
Dear Dad,
I know the Godhead Lives. I know Heavenly Fathers Plan for me. Every one is in my Gospel Standards. I know Jesus Lives. And I love Him. He is the Savior of the World.
Love your daughter (dodr) :)
Claire

The picture is of Claire and the tree of life with Jesus in the Sun.

She is such a sweetheart and I am so grateful she has come to our family. She already has such a strong belief in the Plan and our Savior. I love seeing her learn and her testimony develop. She got a list of the Gospel Standards from a lesson that Tina did in sharing time. Claire LOVED it and reads them daily. She will come out of her room, when she is supposed to be asleep, and tell us, "I didn't read my gospel standards!" In fact she did that last night.

Over the weekend when we were in Denton Carol asked me if Claire says y'all a lot. I said, "No, why?" She told me Claire had been talking to some kids below the balcony and kept saying Y'all! Claire told me on the way home that the kids had been saying some things that weren't very nice. So Claire yelled down to them, "Y'all are hurting Heavenly Father's feelings!" I thought that was so great. So there you have it mom, Claire is saying Y'all!

Sweet Hallie

I woke up this morning at 2:30 with my mind completely alert. After trying for an hour to go back to sleep I have decided that since I can't seem to get this off my mind that I will do this post.

Our sweet Hallie has sucked her thumb since she was 3 months old. At 18 months she started twirling her hair at the same time she was sucking. After her teeth moving dramatically and pulling out most of her hair on the right side of her head Zeb and I tried to get her to stop. Over the 9 months we have told her to "stop twirling" and "stop sucking" constantly in an attempt to get her to stop.

When we started telling her to stop it was a habit that she wasn't cognitively aware of. She did it without even realizing it (and still does some of the time). After a few months of telling her to stop she started announcing (with the sweetest smile), "I don't suck my thumb anymore!" And then about 45 seconds later it would be back in her mouth. She really didn't know.

After telling her for so many months to stop (and her still not stopping) she now tries to do it when we aren't looking. Friends and family have also told her, "don't twirl" and "don't suck your thumb, Hallie" as well to try and help us get her to stop. I have realized many things since then. When Hallie found out her primary teacher was moving she said, "Good." I was shocked. That is so unlike her. I said, "Hallie that wasn't a very nice thing to say." Her reply was, "Now she can't tell me to stop twirling." The way she said this was so emotional that I could tell how hard it was for her. She had loved this teacher but being told to stop twirling had affected her relationship with that wonderful teacher. I hope that no one reading this that has called Hallie on sucking her thumb or twirling her hair feels bad. I know you are all just trying to help us to get her to stop. Please don't feel bad.

Anyhow, now that she has been called on it so many times she is more aware of it. We wanted her to be more aware. The difference is now she feels like she has to hide it. This is not what we wanted. I feel so bad that we have made her so aware of it that she feels shame. It breaks my heart to think it is affecting her relationships with us as well as other people. I guess this is one of those situations where we wanted to help her so much and did what we thought would, but it hasn't helped and has only made it worse. It is really hard for me that she has been so affected by this. She is such a sweet little girl and I pray we haven't created any emotional scars.

I have learned that she will suck her thumb until SHE is ready to stop. I have talked to countless people that were thumb suckers and they all said the same thing. "Kids who suck their thumb will stop when they want to." This has made me think about a lot of things. We were put on the earth with agency to choose. No one is forcing us to choose one way or another. I can't make Hallie stop. I can only teach her and love her. Right now she isn't capable of understanding the reasons she should stop and isn't old enough to decide to. I could cry (and am) thinking about her being teased in school and all the things that could happen with this habit. But the bottom line is this,
I love her so much and don't want her to feel ashamed anymore. She shouldn't feel that way for this reason, at this age. She will stop when she is ready. Even if it is a few years away.

We have told her to stop for so many months that I think we have created a habit of telling her to stop. We'll have to break ourselves of that. So if you see her at church or preschool, (or in Utah if we visit this summer) or anywhere please remember not to say anything when her thumb pops in and her little fingers start to twirl...maybe give her a high five instead! ;)

Meet the newest additions to our family!

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Green Jeans. The girls got these from story time at the Hewitt Library. Every spring the library makes the kids these little chia pets out of seed, dirt and a knee high. The girls love watering them and watching them grow. I have to admit, it was fun to do hair on something that held still the whole time and didn't complain! :)
Mr. Green Jeans is struggling a little with a bit of a hair problem. Do they sell Rogaine for chia pets?

First Time Taker

I have never taken the color personality test before and have always wondered what color I was. When I saw this on a friends blog I thought it would be fun to find out my color. It didn't take long and I thought it was fun to get the results. If you take it I'd love to know what color everyone else is. Am I lame that I think it's fun? :)

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Green

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

FYI: After you take the test the site takes you to a page where they want you to sign up for stuff. Just click on "skip all offers" at the top of the page to get to your resluts. I hate stuff like that!

Zeb took the test too and these were his results.

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Black

Your color is black. The color of night. Serene and mysterious, black conjures up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos, and gleaming limousines. Traditionally a symbol of success, black also represents power and an uncompromising demand for perfection. Not surprisingly, you tend to set challenging goals for yourself and do whatever it takes to achieve them — your strength of character is second to none. This unfaltering determination, along with your natural elegance, impresses people. But keep in mind that your personality might be intimidating to some. Try to temper your demanding side with a little softness — trust us, it won't kill you. Overall, though, black is the color of professionalism and achievement, which means it's clearly the color for you.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

I think that many of the characteristics match him to the "T."

Seldom Told Story

So I'm going to tell a story now that I seldom tell. To protect their innocence, I'm not going to reveal the names of any of my compadres that accompanied me on this bizarre excursion, but I assure you that protecting their anonymity will not diminish the story.

A few years ago, some of my friends wanted to go dancing. For those of you that haven't talked to Leah, I used to be a very "savvy" dancer. There was a single adults dance that night in Salt Lake, so the four of us decided to go up to the dance. When we arrived, we discovered that either we, or the four others in attendance, had misinterpreted the radio ad for the dance. Because we didn't think it would be wise to be getting our freak on with 12 year olds we promptly left the dance in search of "adult" single adults.

One of the guys in the car suggested that Bricks was a cool club, so we headed for the west side. When we arrived the scene was a little bizarre. Some of the people in line were dressed in weird outfits and a discussion quickly ensued. Two of us thought that the whole thing was a little too out-there. However, we were informed that this was just the club scene and it was no big deal. So, after much coaxing, we decided to give it a shot. After we were all in, we started to scan the scene. Of course we wanted to find the right room with the right ladies. After a few minutes we began working our way up a ramp into a separate room.

As we approached the top of the ramp a number of ugly occurrences unfolded simultaneously. There in the middle of the room was a stage with guests coming out in runway model fashion. But something was not right. Glancing around the room we noticed that several people were looking at us. Something wasn't right. Then we noticed that some of the decor in the room was pretty strange. It just wasn't right. And that's when we saw the ticker running across the bottom of the TV screens. "Welcome to Gay Night At Bricks!" It just wasn't right!

Now this is where I'm sure a lot of you would love to read a long detailed account of all the freaky things that were going on at Bricks' gay night. But I honestly cannot tell you one other thing that was going on. The only thing that was on my mind was getting the *%$! out of there. In fact, I was so determined to get out that I was going to head straight for the car. However, not everyone in the group was of a like mind. When we approached the exit one of the guys stopped and turned to the cashier. In order to be heard over the loud music, he yelled, "I want my money back!" The cashier refused. He yelled again, "I want my money back! This is gay night, and I'm not gay!" This is what I do remember, that final scene was really awkward. All these gay dudes staring us down as we got our money back and filed out the door.

So much for the normal club scene being a little bizarre.