Things the Kids Say

The talk around our house these days are precious. There are quite interesting and funny conversations that happen to take place between my children and us. Here are a few of them that I can remember.

After reading a story to the kids about Winnie the Pooh, Tobyn was taking some time looking at the pictures. Trying to encourage his vocabulary I was pointing at things and saying their names. So, I pointed at Pooh and said "Pooh." He looks at me and points to his bum and says "Poo," and then continues to point back and forth between Winnie the Pooh and his bum and saying the word "Pooh." I couldn't correct the difference because it was just to funny!

Over hearing the girls conversation while playing (playing heaven I guess?) I heard Rayna telling Taylin, "Yeah, and the streets are golden with Pearly gates and there are jewels everywhere! It is sooo beautiful!"

I don't really remember how this conversation started, but somehow we were on the subject of heaven (I guess heaven seems to come up a lot in our house) and Rayna was very disturbed. She asked, "Mom, how will Jaden know who I am when I see him in heaven? Like how will he know that I am his sister?" Can I say I was almost brought to tears by that one.

Listening to Taylin and Rayna as they were playing dress up I overheard Rayna ask, "Taylin, is rich pretty?" Taylin, "No, rich is when you have lots of stuff." "But Taylin, all the things I have is pretty," replies Rayna. "Rich is like money and stuff," says Taylin.

An Update!

I know I'm a slacker, but here is some pictures of the kids over the last couple of months.

Escaping down to Camp Verde for the day for some sun!

Just like my dad.

Rayna just can't resist the chance to get muddy.

Me too!

Tobyn never wants to left out!

I can not keep this child out of the tub!

Enjoying a warm day at the park!

He is so full of energy!

I'm a big boy helping my dad!

Scrub hard dad, you got to get it clean!

Halloween

We try to not make Halloween a big deal with our kids, simply because it doesn't celebrate anything that we believe in or want to exalt. However, we do carve pumpkins with the kids and try to explain to them the symbolism of how yucky we are, like the inside of a pumpkin, and how Christ makes us clean and lets his light shine through us. Below is a picture of the girls carving their pumpkins and you will clearly see the differences in their personalities. It's pretty amusing to me.

Rayna is loving every minute of this.

Taylin, not so much. Daniel and I made Taylin stick her hand in the pumpkin a few times just so she could see how it feels. Her response is pretty plain to see.

The kids then got to dress up and go to one of the church's harvest festivals. Rayna was a Red Dancer, and Taylin was a ballerina.

Tobyn was our little lion! He said "Roarrr" all night long and loved the suckers!

Enjoying Summer!

We took a fun little day trip with our friends the Finney's down to Red Rock State Park to enjoy some warm weather and water. The kids had so much fun playing in the water and the mud. They could have camped out and stayed the night. We tried to up their spirits when we left with a traditional stop at DQ! Ice cream does always work!

Taylin and Isaac

Tobyn even loves it. Although his legs took a beating! He's really got to learn to walk!

My perky Rayna!

Taylin being mischievous.

Rayna was the target!

School's Out!!!

We finished up all of our school obligations on the May 24th! Yeah!! I think I'm more excited than the girls (they still think school is fun)! So, here are some pictures of our end of the year stuff, although, I did not take pictures of some of our stuff! I know, bad mom and bad blogger!

Both of the girls did AWANA's this year. They did an awesome job memorizing scripture every week. Both of them, loved the gamed time the most. It's always so fun to win! Taylin did a really awesome job in Sparky's. She was one of a handful of kids to go through and memorize her whole book! (Daddy is a very proud dad, he wanted me to let you know.) This is Taylin walking up to the front with her class.

This is the back of Rayna's head. She is getting her award from her teacher. We've never had to deal with Taylin getting in trouble with her teachers before, but this year we have been enlightened! Rayna's buds are all boys, and she happens to desire to keep up with them all!

This is our Discovery Group. We met on Wednesdays this past year and we did some of our science, art, and history together (along with several field trips). So, for our last time together, we met at the park and had a water balloon fight, played with bubbles, ate pizza and cupcakes, and simply played on the park equipment! It wasn't quite as warm as we had hoped for a May day, but the kids didn't know the difference!

The kids are trying to accomplish a water balloon toss!

Nobody ever tires of bubbles!

Taylin's a little wet and cold from being a target of a water balloon!

Toddlers and their guns.

Babies and their guns!

Girls' and their guns!

Bath Time!

The kids are loving their bath time together! Tobyn's enjoying the company, and of course the girls love to mother him! I know I'm biased, but they really are a cute bunch!

Allowance

Our latest thing lately has been to initiate an allowance for the kids. We wanted Taylin to start learning some of the principles of money and Rayna, honestly, is just along for the ride, but I do actually think she is learning a lot. We have initiated the typical plan of giving them money in return for doing some chores (making beds, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning off the table after dinner, and picking up their toys). If they whine, fight, complain, or don't finish their chores in time then they get money taken away (a nickel for each occurrence). They also have to give some of their money to God, save some of it, and then the rest is theirs. We have had some responses from the girls that have been interesting and I don't think I really expected some of them. I thought I was going to be the one teaching, but I've actually learned some things about my girls.

The first time the girls got their allowance and I explained the need to give some of it to God, Taylin was very upset. She did not want to give her money away. I tried to explain to her why we give our money to God and that it all comes from him in the first place. She was still not satisfied. This made me realize, "Wow, this really is something that we need to work on with her!" Then there was Rayna response, "I'll give God my money, he can have more."

Then, yesterday, Daniel and I took the girls to the store so that they could spend their money on what they wanted. Taylin had decided at home that she wanted to spend all of her money, $7.33. Rayna had decided that she didn't want to spend all of her money, but that she wanted to save some it. So, she left $3 at home. Once at the store, they both found some candy for about a dollar that they wanted to buy, and then they went to the toy section and looked for a while. Taylin found a princess camera with a camera case that she wanted, and that would take all of her money. Well, Rayna first thought she wanted the same thing and was about to get it and at the last minute decided she didn't want to spend her money. She did decide to get her candy, though. I thought for sure that she would be sad that she didn't end up with a new toy, but she was really happy about her decision to save her money. Taylin spent all of her money except 4 cents, and she was just as happy about her decision. I have one saver, and one with a hole in her pocket! I already knew I had at least one spender, but I didn't know I had a saver. It's interesting to see their personalities come out. I wonder what other things I will learn about my kids through this experiment with money!

First Smiles!

With all the time you give that goes into taking care of a newborn, you don't really get much back for it. From time spent nursing, burping, being spit up upon, changing diapers, getting peed on, holding, bouncing around, rocking, putting binkies back in, and singing to, your child usually gives blank stares and cries in return. Well, today the girls and I finally received our reward! He smiled! There is something amazing that happens to you when your baby smiles. It just melts your heart. That must be why when you finally get that smile, you spend the rest of day trying to get another one! It was a very sweet moment when the girls and I were singing "Beautiful Boy" to him, and he blessed us with his smile! We all got to see it and the girls were just as thrilled as I was. He must like that song, I do sing it to him often!

The girls are becoming quite good at being little mothers. Taylin was caught bouncing him to help him stop crying and Rayna wanted to sit by him and play while he was in the bouncer so that he wouldn't be alone. The only thing they really haven't figured out is how important it is to mommy to leave him alone when he is sleeping!

Snuggle Time!

Rayna loves to snuugle her brother! These are a few moments I caught of Rayna snuggling Tobyn.

Snow Castles

Today, instead of making sand castles, we made snow castles! The snow here is mostly ice, so it compacts pretty well. Its been nice 50 degree weather so the snow has been melting. The kids had fun playing with their sand toys in the snow. Its nice when toys play double duty.