Cow Girl!

What a great week!
Ethan is talking in complete sentences and every day is crying less and talking more and asking for what he wants instead of crying for what he wants. I love it and it is so much easier to help him now. My baby is definitely not a baby anymore!

Julia is a total cow girl and has been feeding our smallest calf all by herself every day. She loves it and so does the cow. It is so cute. She helps grandma make the milk, get it in the bottles, carry the bottles out to the paddock, and feeds. The cows are starting to learn to graze and eat grain too. Julia also loves the chickens. She will often be in the chicken coop just hanging out with the hens.

JC is doing awesome. Sally gave him a insect/animal habitat for his birthday and he went out and spent the entire day at the watering hole/pond on our property getting inhabitants for his habitat. He had a bad sunburn that night, but loved exploring. He found several very small tadpoles and a leech! We killed the leech promptly, and placed the tadpoles in the habitat. They died a few days later. He was really bummed about that and tried to get some more today without luck. He has loved having something so cool to do!

The house is finally moving a long! We have a foundation and the base flooring is going in now. It is almost done too. The framing should start late this week or next! We all can't wait to see it going up. I will include some more pictures next week!

Baptism

JC was baptized this past weekend and it was such a special experience for him and us. Jamey and his parents were able to come out and visit and we are so grateful to them for coming out. The children loved seeing their dad and Sitto and Poppy.

JC lost one of his teeth on Sunday, that was a relief to him. He had a good week enjoying his various activities and also getting to see Sally. It was so nice to be able to see Sally and have her come and enjoy this weekend with JC.

Julia is doing fantastic. She continues to be a big helper to Grandma and Grandpa and daily finds mud puddles to play in.

Ethan seems to get taller each day. He is loving becoming more independent. He is starting in the testing 2 year old stage.

We have 4 brand new calves! We named them Tom Braum, Milky Way, Whodini, and Teddy. They are super sweet and we have enjoyed feeding them. As you can see by the photo Julia and Ethan pretend they are calves too.

Frost!

It has been another great week. It has also been very cold and rainy/snowy. If you remember a few weeks ago I was talking about how beautiful and green it was, we had 70 degree weather, with the flowering trees being so pretty, well they were all frosted and all the pretty flowers are gone and the grass turned brown too, so we lost a few weeks of spring, but I am sure it will come back. The kids miss pointing out the purple, pink and white trees that were all around us.

JC started Cub Scouts this week and absolutely loved it. He got the handshake down immediately and is working on memorizing the pact so that he can pass off Bobcat at Pack meeting at the end of this month. He is really excited to be involved with Cubs finally. He also enjoyed his art class again and is so glad to be able to do that. He told me this week that he doesn't like recess anymore, at first I was concerned and then he went on to tell me that he doesn't like recess because it is time away from his classroom that he could be learning and he loves to learn now. He really has just taken off at school and this week was even elected as the caring kid of the week in his class. That is a major compliment in the class and he has only been there for three weeks. He has two very loose teeth that are bothering him, but he is handling it well, he can't wait for them to come out. We attended our Branch's baptism preview this week and JC is so excited to finally be baptized. He can't wait for this weekend. He really wants to be a member of God's church and he wants to be clean and get the Holy Ghost. He has such a strong testimony of the gospel, I am very proud of him. He was invited to a birthday party and attended yesterday and the only option for a drink was Coke and he knew that it had caffeine in it and he told them he didn't drink Caffeine and opted to not have anything to drink. I was very proud of him to keep his standards, what a great example he is.

Julia is doing great, she loves playing in the dirt and puddles and is in heaven with the animals and helping feeding the pigs and watching the chickens grow. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the pigs yet. The pigs are named Hot Dog and Pork Chop. She decided to help Gracie paint my parents bedroom walls which are a deep red color. Julia chose light blue and Gracie chose yellow! Needless to say the girls got in big trouble, fortunately most of the paint came off and was easily repainted. The things 3 year olds do! Julia's hair is growing in pretty well from the chopping it received from JC and it is still so curly and beautiful.

Ethan is doing well, his teeth are still bothering him but it is getting less. He is running all over the place now. His vocabulary has soared and he is talking in complete sentences asking for the things he wants. He also says Thank you, which sounds like tak ooo, it is super cute. He says wa wa for water and tanky for Blanket. Otherwise his words are pretty clear. He favorite word is juice still but he is branching out in his liquid choices to milk which is great. He isn't real fond of it but at least he is tasting it since he hasn't done that before. I can truly say that he is sleeping through the night for real now. I love that. He is also starting to become aware of the potty, we are still a long way off, but he is getting ready. What would life be like without diapers? I don't dare to imagine! :)

I have been able to find a very good doctor for the children, that is something that is really important for me. We are all feeling settled now, know our way around places and a part of the community which is great.

Happy Easter!

We all love this wonderful time of the year! Easter is such a great time to reflect on the Ressurection of our Savior. The children loved celebrating Easter this year and sharing why they were grateful for the ressurection. Julia was grateful that Jesus came back to life and JC was grateful that Jesus made it possible for him to be able to be baptized and to be able to repent to live with Him again.
The children were beautiful in their Easter outfits. We all enjoyed a wonderful Sacrament Meeting and a yummy ham dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house afterwards.
We have had another great week! Ethan has found out about nursery rhymes and absolutely loves Ring around the Rosey and will sing the Ashes, Ashes part all day long. He will just be sitting or playing and break out in song, "Ashes, Ashes, Ashes, Ashes, Ashes" It is really cute and silly. He has a great voice already, so who knows he may be a great bass singer later on! He is talking more and more and is using complete sentences too. He will tell you, "I want juice" or "I want this" He also today told me, "Look at this" He speaks pretty clearly too which is great because I can understand him. I think he has grown an inch in the last week, he just looks taller.
Julia found the joys of pethood this week. She found her first pet, an earthworm, she called it Wormy, she loved it and bathed it and petted it. Then it was time for dinner so Wormy was placed in the dirt again. She was sad and wishs that Wormy would come back but is glad he is home with his family. She so loves animals and asks me to tell her all about bugs while we are driving. I rack my brains to think of something fun to share about bugs that I haven't already told her. She likes the new pigs that are on the farm now, sorry I don't have a photo yet, but is staying a healthy distance from them. We should be getting calves pretty soon. Julia loves to hold the baby chickens still and they are half grown now. She just scoops one up and holds it on her lap. The chickens are really tame and sweet which is nice.
JC started art lessons this week and is hooked. He looks forward to each Monday now. He is doing well in school and is loving learning and being challenged. He wants to read now and doesn't try to get out of reading like he did before. He had a lot of fun at his friend birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. He had 4 school friends come which I thought was great because we had such short time to send out invitations. I met the parents and we should be able to have some nice play dates over the summer for JC. The kids had a blast playing arcade games and doing rides and getting tickets! Chuck E Cheese is the best!
I have been able to find a very good psychiatrist for JC and he has recommended very good therapists and family practioners so the children are in good hands medically for which I am very grateful.
We were able to pump up tires and pull out bikes this week and took a great bike ride exploring our street and the ponds nearby. The kids really enjoyed relaxing and JC loves to race me and win, of course, I can't even try to compete with his energy! The ponds have bullfrogs that we can hear, but as soon as we get up close the frogs stop croaking so we have yet to see a frog, they blend in too well for us, and we have seen turtle heads poking up out of the water, JC enjoyed seeing that they weren't floating sticks, but were in fact moving and swimming.
JC is getting more and more excited for his baptism and is looking forward to seeing his Dad and Sitto and Poppy.

Happy Birthday JC!

I can't seem to get the photo to upload correctly sorry about the sideways.

Happy Birthday to JC! He was so excited to finally be 8 years old today! He loves having his birthday on April Fools Day too! The photo shows some of the presents he got today. He is growing up so fast!

JC has had a great week at his new school. His new teacher's name is Mrs Brock and she is wonderful. He has made two great friends already, but will tell you that his whole class are his friends. He only has 16 kids in his class which means better attention from the teacher, plus the education he has gotten this week is far better than anything he was getting in Utah in a month. He loves the challenge too, he says it is perfect learning. They are currently working on Fractions in math. He is reading now willingly too! He gets to do art, music and PE throughout the week too. The district is very well organized and has money to fund nice things. There will be a spring carnival which we are all looking forward to as well. I am very impressed and grateful to be in such a positive learning environment for the children.

We were able to go to the circus last weekend and JC and Julia loved it. We enjoyed cotton candy and popcorn. The elephants and horses were the big hits of the day but the motorcycles in the steel ball were amazing! I didn't take Ethan and it was a good thing I didn't it was too loud and crowded, but I am sure in a few years he will enjoy it too.

JC has been a good help around the farm already. He has picked up the cut grass in the front 2 acres, helped stretch fencing and fill mud puddles. He has loved every minute of it. He just beams when he is done with working on the farm. He is getting quite the tan too and his hair is lightening up.

Julia has loved playing outside even more as she has discovered that rubber boots let her go in all the puddles she can find. She loves making mud pies and squishing in the water and then climbing up to the top of the topsoil that has been mounded for construction. It is about 12 feet tall so she feels like the queen of the world. JC and Julia play hide and seek around the mountains of dirt. Ethan follows behind them as much as he can, but he isn't able to climb up the mountains and he doesn't like that much. Julia also loves Grandma and Grandpa's play room upstairs in the barn. Grandma has pulled out all of her Kindergarten school toys and the kids will play happily exploring and learning during play.

Julia has forgotten about TV and movies and still hasn't watched one, what a change for her that has been. Her imagination is taking off. She is such a good girl, but every once in a while I hear her tease JC, so she has some firecracker in her too! She loves seeing all the horses in the fields when we drive. Today we met the neighbor on the corner and they have 3 horses and 30 calves, Julia was in heaven. The calves suck on your fingers still, Julia was laughing and loving that, the horses they had were so sweet and gentle, Julia just hugged them. It was the highlight of the day for her.

Ethan is doing great, now! He cut 3 molars in 2 days!! All four 2 year molars are now cut and out, he is still uncomfortable but is feeling less pain. So this week was hard for him, but he still found time to play and enjoy being outside. He wants to be outside constantly, he also loves to play in the car, which I don't let him do, but he wants to. The buttons are too cool and he wants to push them all. He is using more and more words when he wants to. He is working on his throwing arm still and has thrown the ball up to the ceiling several times. He landed it on the table today right in the middle. He will have to work on aim, but the strength is there. He loves to sit on the tractor and drive it.

We went on a walk today and found a bird nest and enjoyed the beautiful blooms of a dogwood tree. (See photos) We all love how much wildlife there is around us. We haven't seen any yet, but there are wild turkey living in the woods in the back and the birds are all the colors of the rainbow. JC and I love looking out for beautiful birds. The meadowlarks are all over and they are pretty and have a pretty song too. I have seen some turtles trying to cross the roads, but JC hasn't yet and he is hoping to see one soon.

This week we will be celebrating JC's birthday with his classmates at Chuck E Cheese and JC will start private art lessons.