Macey Finally Talks!

Cute Macey started out shouting "Toy! Toy! Toy!" at a very young age, but then she stopped and that was the end of any understandable speech. Yeah, sure, Troy was always telling me that she was saying these full sentences and I just wasn't listening hard enough, but I didn't believe him.

Well, finally our little Macey is repeating and saying words that make sense! Hooray! Here is a little video of some of the things she can say:

And, yes, I guess she talks the most in the bathtub. Maybe because she is trapped in there for me to hear her. (And how much does she look just like Troy? Well, we think she looks a lot like her aunt Harvest.)

Incorporating the Job Charts

So, yep, once again we are trying to use the job chart system at our house. This time I set it up and told the kids that if they completed at least 6 out of 7 days on average for 4 weeks, that they would get a special treat at the end of the month.

Micah wants to watch a "big kid movie", Caleb wants the sheet music to Star Wars, Jewelia wants a little Princess Leia figurine, and Troy wants a hard drive. (Of course, I don't think the hard drive fits in with the other small rewards, so we'll see!)

Now, we have only had 1 day of the job chart, and as you can see, SOME people are doing their jobs (Daddy!!!! Ha haaa!!! You slacker!! Well, I excuse you for one day---you had to do some work from home. I still love you!), but there is one major thing that isn't getting accomplished;

LISTENING!--This isn't exactly a job, but I put this on the bottom of the kids charts to see if I could get them to listen better. Obviously this isn't working yet. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have the hardest time getting the kids to listen to anything I say. Especially when it is bed time. It literally takes over an hour to get the kids in bed from the time I start saying "get your jammas on, brush your teeth, go to bed". Or rather, anything else takes at least 2-10 times repeating before they do it. It's been driving me crazy, so I added it to the job chart.

Now, I do have chances with the listening job. I give them 3 chances, or strikes in a sense. They can ignore me, or choose to not do whatever 3 times. But after 3 strikes, that's it, and they don't get to put a star on the listening job.

So, is it working you ask? Well, by looking at the job chart it does not look very good so far! We will have to see what today and the rest of the week looks like.

Jewelia and the Non-Dancing Class

OK, so today was Jewelia's Parent Watch Day at her dance class, but there wasn't much dancing going on. It's a cute class of 2 1/2 to 3 year olds, but most of the class is spent with children crying, fighting over spots, hugging their mommies, or standing with eyes wide in fear.

Oh, it looks so fun and cute! Why don't they want to dance? Jewelia seems to love it, but most of the other girls just make me laugh by what they do or don't do!

Here's a little clip (Jewelia's the one in the back left):

So if this is how dance class goes, how is the recital going to be?

Here's a clip of their practicing:



Well, at least Jewelia will be dancing!

Dancing Micah

This week is Parent Watch Week at Micah and Jewelia's dance classes. On Mondays, Micah takes tap and ballet. He has been taking dance classes for only a year now, but he is doing pretty well and he loves it. I always tell him he is the best boy in his class! (Not just because he is the only boy!)

Here are some clips of what he's been working on:

First, tap---he is learning a new spinning move which will later be his solo in the spring recital:



Here he is practicing his tap recital song:



And here he is practicing what he'll be doing in ballet for the recital:



It's fun to watch Micah dance and see him do something that he really enjoys. He's very much always the scientist, reader, and analyst. It's nice to see him do something just for fun (although he is analyzing every dance move.....).

Are You Hungry for some Animal Crackers?

Jewelia can't stop singing yet another Shirley Temple song:

Kiss the Baby

Macey loves babies. She loves to kiss the babies. (Well, before she throws them.)

Here are some cute videos of her:

She also loves to read stories. Too bad she reads in this alien language that we can't figure out.

Happy 10th Anniversary!!!

10 years ago on March 5th, 1999, Troy and I were married.

This weekend we celebrated our anniversary by going away for 3 days without the kids. This was the first time we had ever taken a trip just the two of us since our honeymoon. We had lots of fun!

On day 1, we went to the coast:

I love lighthouses, and Troy loves the beach.

Later at night we dressed up all fancy and Troy took me out to a fancy restaurant overlooking the beautiful city lights. It is here that Troy gave me a new ring! Around 5 years ago my engagement ring broke and I haven't had anything but my wedding band to wear. Until now!!! Now I have a new sparkly ring with a special engraving. I also gave Troy back his wedding ring, in which I engraved.

Day 2, we wanted to go somewhere different. So, we decided to go to an Italian gondola.

We liked to ride in the boats, see the sights, and later we toasted each other with some flasks of chocolatey chocolate milk (my favorite!).

This day we mostly relaxed and had a day on the town shopping, eating, and we even went to a movie.

Day 3, we took it closer to home and back to the beginning. We visited the Salt Lake Temple and did some proxy sealings. It took us back to when we were married.

We had fun being together,

but we did miss our 4 wonderful children and wanted to save my mom before she went insane, so we traveled back Saturday night to relieve her. She was glad to see us, and hopefully the children were too!

We had such a wonderful time. Everything was so much fun and I'm so lucky to have married such a wonderful man. For us, who go on a real date about once a year, this was worth everything! Thanks mom for coming to watch the kids!

Caleb Goes To College

Today Caleb had his first day at college.
He had all his books packed and rode the train like a big boy even switching trains along the way.

Here he is at Gardner Hall at the University of Utah's Department of Music:

He was so small in such a big big building! No, he isn't really going to college, but he is now taking piano lessons from one of the directors. So he gets to go practice on the big pianos inside the University. He even gets to play on one all for him while his teacher plays on one next to him.

Caleb's first lesson went well. He had a very good time and loved every minute of it! Watch out Mozart, here comes Spjute!