February stuff

This blog was supposed to be posted a few weeks ago. I had been putting my thoughts down and wanting to get it posted, but then forgot about it. So here it is a month late. I'll put some pictures on here because I like to share some things that work for us during this long and hard to deal with winter. Hopefully someone will see these ideas and use them and not have kids be bored all the time.

Jaxon’s voice is changing. It kind of has been happening just in the last month or two. It’s weird to have a deep voice in the house and it is not Andre.

We sent Jaxon and Tanner on a bus up to Brighton ski resort for snowboarding lessons. That was scary. There were plenty of adults and plenty of structure to keep them safe- but it was hard for me to not be worried for them the whole 6 hours they were gone. It should be easier the next three times right? Update: It was a lot easier to send them the next times because they loved, loved, loved it! They came home and couldn’t stop smiling. They had so many adventures and it was good to see how they can do things on their own and survive. 

“I lov you because you help me do mi landre”  a note for Valentines day from Chase to Mom

Did it seem like there were tons of events this February? We have had a lot of fun with the Super bowl (one of the 2 sporting events my kids will watch), my mom’s birthday (yea for moms!), the Olympics (each kid picked a country to follow so there has been a lot of cheering for random athletes), Valentine’s day (I help with Tanner’s class party), Presidents day (yea, no school)

, and we had the blue and gold banquet for our cub scout pack. This all happened within 2 weeks. I guess it helps us to not get bored during this cold and dreary winter.

Have you ever had this soup? It is so good and easy. Just add all the ingredients below and a large can or water. It would be even better if our kids liked it. It is even better with a rotisserie chicken instead of canned chicken. Or I have used leftover turkey after Thanksgiving.

I had a lot of fun learning about love languages. Some people already learned about this because it has been around forever, but I hadn’t even heard about it.  Basically, it is how do you show your love for others, or how do you like to be loved by others. I never really thought about it but it makes a lot of sense. For example, they talked about a common problem in marriages. A lot of men have service for their love language. They do a lot of stuff, like clean up, remodel, take care of the house/yard, etc… A lot of Women have quality time as their love language (which includes talking). The man is working hard to show his love for his wife, but all she feels is lonely because she wants to spend time with him and have someone to talk to.  They also talked about finding your kids love language so you can relate to them better. Maybe your kid’s love language is “words of affirmation” but you are not very good at saying words that show love, you just do things for them. If you change by adding those words into your daily life, your relationship will change for the better. I know this is just weird, but I enjoyed it and thought I would share. One of my kids likes to cuddle and hold hands and I thought it was weird. But I figured out that that is how I can show him love. I give him more back rubs, and more hugs then before because I can see that he needs it. It does not change that I am not a huge physical touch person, but I am doing it for him.   The 5 languages are: Service, Quality Time, Words of affirmation, Gifts, and Physical touch. You should look it up if you are interested.

We had another fencing tournament. Jaxon is getting really good.

I went to the grocery store. As a walked up to the check out line a man was bagging his groceries and then his wife came and they left. Then as my checker was finishing up with my groceries, the man came back and started taking my food. I starting to tell him that that was my milk. He seemed a little slow, so I thought he came back for something he thought he had forgotten. NO, I was the slow person. He was the bagger, he came back to bag my groceries. Why am I like this? I don't mean to be so clueless.

Alex said, “I can’t wait until my birthday! It’s like my whole life is waiting to start until then.” We asked him why. “Because, I get to start cub scouts, I get my scriptures, I get baptized, everything!”

Alex has been coloring every country’s flag on separate cards. He then gives us a “flag quiz”. I only know like 5 flags. It has been rough on me because I just do not know them. Jaxon is also into flags and colored them onto little wooden figures. I’m not sure what he is going to do with them. 

Alex had fun with marshmallows and toothpicks. I thought all the kids would like it. But really it was an Alex thing.

I was chatting with Chase about what he was doing in school. I asked him if he had gone to the library that day. He was amazed that I guessed it (he goes every Tuesday). He asked me how I knew, I answered that I was super smart. He said, but mom, you didn’t go to Hawthorn academy, so you are not as smart as me. And later that week, he told Andre the same thing. I guess we need to chat about not boasting or something. I like our kids school, but I have never said it was better than any other school so I’m not sure where he is getting this. (I mostly like that it is not year round and that they wear uniforms)

This is a fun winter activity. I found these little trucks years ago in a dollar store or something. I keep them in the pantry so they are always cleanish. I dump a bag of brown sugar on a cookie sheet and instant sand box. We use little measuring cups, pack it and make castles- then knock them down. After we are done, it is also fun to add water a little at a time and watch everything melt. The 3 younger boys like this...

 Tanner likes it because of of this...

Tanner had his maturation program at school. He came home with a free sample of deodorant. I told him that was cool that he got free deodorant. He said, “I’m not using it!” and he threw it in the garbage. I told him that he didn’t have to use it now, but he should save it to use it later. He was mad and said he would not ever want to.  OK, what happened to traumatize my child about deodorant? 

Chase was sick a lot of February. He had an ear infection that took forever to go away, then just as that was getting over, he had a mystery rash and overall not feeling good that has turned into a nasty weeks long cough. BUT, since he was home a lot, we read a lot. He has become such a great reader. 

Jaxon climbed into the back or the van at church and thought that I would drive him home like that. I explained that we do not do stuff like that, that he needs to be in a seat with a seat belt (this has always always been a rule). He told me that a certain friends mom allowed him to do it (I'm not happy about that). I made him get out, he grumpily got in his seat. Then on the way home it turns out that he was watching my every move. The instant I was a tiny bit over the speed limit. He yelled at me that if I was such a “rule follower” why did I break the law? So snotty.  I have learned that I can not get mad at him in the heat of the moment, so I waited until he calmed down and talked to him about how that was sooo not ok. I love teenagers!