Beginning of a New Year

I can't believe it's almost March! How is 2017 going by so fast?!

In January I started babysitting my niece two days a week. She is adorable and my kids absolutely LOVE having her here! It melts my heart to see them together! Marcus sings to her, "Who's the cutest baby in the world? YOU are! Baaaaby Vivian!"

And of course we love Evelyn and Carson too!


Layla lost her other top tooth! She didn't want to pull it out at home because she wanted to lose her tooth at school. Why, you ask? Well, when you lose a tooth at school you get a "tooth" necklace to keep your tooth in. She was beyond excited about this necklace! The day finally came when she was eating lunch in the school cafeteria and her tooth fell out! She said she spit her food out and searched through it to find her tooth. *crying emoji face here* Then the tooth fell on the white floor and her friends got down on their hands and knees and helped her find it. How sweet, ha! So she came home and told me all about it, only to realize that her beloved tooth necklace had fallen off! I assured her we'd find it, said a little prayer, and we set off on a walk to the school. Thankfully we found the necklace lying on the ground at the end of our street! I laughed outloud when she picked it up; the necklace she couldn't wait to have was completely underwhelming. It's funny to me how kids get excited over the simplest things! The neatest part to me though, was that Layla told me she had said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help her find her necklace and she realized that her prayer had been answered. I am so grateful for these learning opportunities because she will need daily prayer and lots of faith to make it through life! Anyways, the tooth fairy came and Layla looks adorable with her missing teeth! She looks more grown up to me, which is bittersweet. And she is so beautiful!

We loved the new Batman Lego movie!

We are also doing more swim lessons. Layla still loves it, and Marcus still likes it, put won't put his head under water. He'll blow bubbles put his his ears in the water, but he refuses to be dunked under the water. This is the complete opposite of Layla, who has always loved the water. For now we'll just have him repeat this same class, but I might have him wait until the summer to do more swim lessons. Maybe in a few more months he'll be ready to go all the way under.

Farr's ice cream and children's museum on President's day.

Lately I have been so sad as Marcus's 4th birthday gets closer. I have truly enjoyed him as a 3 year old and it makes me sad to know that he will soon lose his cute little voice! He keeps telling me that he's "going to find a way to stop getting kisses" when he turns four. So sad! I love kissing his squishy cheeks! He's also started saying his l, th, and w sounds better and while that's good, it's also a sign that he's growing up and it's bittersweet! I personally love how is says, "scares me to deaf," and "Waywah" (Layla), and "Baby Bibian" (Vivian) and so many other cute things! And he says hilarious things all the time. Last week in church I told him if he couldn't be quiet that I was going to take him out in the hall to which he responded, "I'm not going anywhere! Actually, go home, go home, go home!" As he was chanting, "go home," several adults sitting around us started laughing and smiling at us. I must admit it was funny, but we didn't go home. ;) The other day I told him to go put his shoes on by himself. He said he needed my help, I told him no he doesn't, and he said yes he did. You can imagine the conversation we were having. When I still didn't come to help him (because he really can do it himself), he started singing a song he made up all by himself that went like this, "When you help your son do things, he will learn to do them by himself." Oh my! Some days I feel like I just walk around with a perma-grin because he makes me laugh all.day.long and I can't believe some of the stuff he comes up with!

It feels like he has been sick ALL winter!
He was sick enough to fall asleep on the couch!
Thankfully, I think we are finally at the end of it.

On the other hand, he is getting in to some trouble as his curiosity increases! I let him play with some water in the bathroom sink the other day. He called to me and said, "So, the watew in the sink is going all ovew!" (He often starts sentences with "so" or "well" and it makes me laugh.) I went in there and found that he had plugged the drain in the sink and also plugged the overflow drain with a washcloth, which caused the water to overflow onto the counter and the floor. There was a lot of water everywhere. I surprised myself and didn't get mad, I just told him to grab a towel and help me clean it up, which he did. We came out and ate lunch, and then I went back in the bathroom to put a comb away and opened the drawer, only to find that it was full of water! The top two drawers had a good 6 inches of water in them! Ahhh! I was so worried that it would have ruined the wood of the cabinet, but I dried it all really well and they are fine. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of a little boy's experimental play...

Layla and Hazel.

Layla is doing well in school still. I ended up switching her into a different class. Long story short, she was showing symptoms of anxiety for a few months, and I finally figured out that it was her class at school. She was crying a lot at home, acting out, forgetting songs on the piano she'd known for months, acting abnormally shy (for her), etc. One day after school she was crying and finally told me that she felt like she didn't have any friends and didn't play with anyone at recess, etc. It broke my heart! I realized after that she had been acting different for the last few months because of how she was feeling at school! Then I felt even worse that I didn't take her seriously when she would tell me things before; they all seemed so minor at the time, but when I put them all together, it was actually a big deal. I emailed her teacher that night and asked her if she'd noticed any difference with Layla, that I was worried about Layla, and told her the things Layla had told me. She emailed me back right away and said she had noticed and was also worried about Layla. So then I cried some more, ha! Her teacher talked to her the next day and suggested that Layla play with kids from the other class at recess, at which point Layla said she just wanted to BE in the other class. Her teacher got approval, emailed me for my approval, and then made the switch! When I heard about switching Layla to the other class, I felt like a lightbulb turned on and someone slapped me across the face! THAT was the answer I had been looking for and it has indeed proved to be just what Layla needed. I am so grateful that she is happier at school! Now that several weeks have gone by, I have learned from other parents and Layla's English and Chinese teachers that the class she was originally in is a difficult class- there are some naughty students, and some who are bullies. Basically the environment isn't great in that class and my sensitive daughter had a hard time with it. I am not one that would rescue my child from every situation, but in this case I feel we made the best decision and I'm grateful that it has helped! I knew it was an answer to my prayers as soon as the teacher told me they could switch her to the other class, and that was reconfirmed to me when the very next day, her teacher had her baby and was gone for 6 weeks! We made the switch on the last possible day, and I get goosebumps when I think about how Heavenly Father truly is involved in the details of our lives, and cares about us, and is watching out for us. This was another reminder of that for me.

Layla and "Sissy" Ella Bott.

They've been having "sibling sleepovers" in ghetto forts
we build in their rooms. I love the bond these two have.

The other night someone farted during family prayer and it stunk so bad. Marcus gladly fessed up, because he's proud of his stinky farts, and we were all laughing about it when Layla said, "Maybe he has farting allergies. That's a real thing; my friend Elliot said she has it." Ba, ha, ha, ha!!!!! It took us several minutes to convince Layla that there is no such thing, but man it was funny!!!

Can't stop Snapchatting!

I love my family! They are my whole world! It was fun celebrating Valentine's Day with them this year. Mitch was actually in town (last year he was gone) and he spoiled us all with gifts. In the morning I gave the kids and Mitch each a card and candy. I made a nice dinner and dessert. Mitch brought home tulips (my fave!) for me, a rose and Legos for Layla, and a Transformer for Marcus. He knows the way to our hearts! Layla had a great time at her school party. This is the first school party I didn't help with this year; I decided that since I am volunteering in her classroom two mornings a week, I could skip the party. She had a great time and was excited about all her Valentine's. I threw two parties for Marcus's two preschool classes. It was fun to decorate sugar cookies with the kids and help them pass out their Valentine's. They sure are a cute bunch! Layla and Marcus helped me make the sugar cookies for preschool ahead of time. I tried to take a pic and it is ridiculously hard to get a good pic of these two goofballs together (Marcus!)!

Now it's off to make dinner and practice piano with Layla. She is getting so good! She finally has Minuet 2 by Bach down and I have a proud parent moment every time she plays it. This was the most difficult song she's learned, by far. It is technical, both hands play in opposite directions, it's fast-paced,long, and not to mention she learned it all by ear and has it memorized! It was such a struggle for her to learn that song, we both got so frustrated during the process, but she has learned that practice and patience pay off and I think she is proud of herself, as she should be. She's been playing for almost two years now (in April) and I think she is finally learning to love it and consider herself a pianist. It makes my heart so happy! She is playing Minuet 1 for her recital next month. We will keep perfecting Minuet 2 as it is her graduation piece for level 2. She will have to perform it in front of a panel of Suzuki judges who decide if she's ready to advance to level 3 or not ... that sounds scary, but I trust her teacher to make sure she's ready before she goes to graduation. It will probably be another 6 months to a year before she's perfected the piece enough to graduate. I used to struggle with the Suzuki program, but I love it more the longer we do it. I am hoping to have Marcus start when he turns five! $$$ well spent!

We've been listening and dancing to the Newsies soundtrack
in preparation for our annual girls' trip to Tuacahn!

The snow is melted, but we had a lot of fun in it this winter! We even had a snowball fight and built walls of snow. It was fun until Marcus pelted me in the face with a snowball! ;)