Q.1 Kid Dates

David and I are trying to be really intentional about raising our children. We try to be kind, use positive parenting tools, and try to give our children the things that they need (including boundaries and opportunities to work and serve). We try to have fun with our kids and spend time with them. 

One of the things that we have been trying to be intentional about is spending one-on-one time with each child on a regular basis. To help with that, we decided to structure "Kid Dates" into our lifestyle. When we sat down at the beginning of the year, we put together an excel spreadsheet (we love a good excel spreadsheet) for who is taking which child which month including budget and ideas. 

We aren't perfect at it and aren't expecting to be, but we hope that by being intentional about spending one-on-one time with our kids we will be able to develop healthy and deep relationships with them on an individual basis. These were the dates for the first quarter of the year: 

Mom: 

Caleb-Ice Cream Date with Mom for Caleb. 

Lydia -Hamburgers at JCW (after a rock-star-awesome performance by Lydia at the Children and Youth Goals Stake Training Meeting) 

Dad: 

Austin- Buy a lego set at the store and then build it together. 

We love these kids and are grateful to be able to spend this one-on-one time with them. 

Austin's Half Birthday: 7.5

Well, Austin is officially 7.5! He's the sweetest brother and most wonderful Austin we know. He's strong, he's kind, he's funny. He loves games. He loves candy. He likes lighting birthday candles. When he's motivated to do something, he focuses in and he gets it done. We are so happy to have Austin in our family. 

Here are some things he's been up to lately:

-Rotations with his two friends for a homeschool Science and PE

-Climbing on the roof with Dad after putting up/taking down the Christmas lights. 

-A date with mom and dad for his birthday to the new Paw Patrol Movie

-Fall Field trips and Homeschool successes



-Hanging with the Haderlies, 

-Making Pancakes (he's the best at this and will happily make breakfast for our family while I clean the kitchen on pancake day). 

-He LOVES playing games. Any kind of game. I would say games are his love language. 




-He was the most darling African Safari driver for Halloween 




-He decided that he wants to read the Book of Mormon before he turns 8. He was able to write his own part in the Primary program this year and this is what he said "I would like to read the Book of Mormon before I turn 8 so I can know how to have the Spirit in my heart." 

I've been reading the Book of Mormon with him each night (he reminds me every night) and he sometimes asks me to listen to the audio of the Book of Mormon at bedtime. He's ahead of schedule and is absolutely going to make his goal (he's already 67% and still motivated!) - and I'm so proud of him. 

-Winter/Christmas and being SUCH a great big brother. He loves Lydia, plays so well with Caleb, and loves snuggling with Lucy.

-He likes projects - leather working with grandpa and finally making his airplane blanket with me. 

-Austin has been playing on a rec basketball team for the past little while and he's really enjoyed it. I'm grateful for Jeff Young, his coach, for always making Austin feel great and helping him progress.

Our Science Fair was a GREAT experience for him this year. Austin worked hard to complete a project called "The Fire Snake". He decided that he wanted to make a carbon snakes using baking soda and powdered sugar. His question was "Does the type of lighting fluid matter when making a carbon fire snake?" He tested hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, and lighter fluid. It was a great experiment and he enjoyed the scientific method process. He tied for second place in our homeschool science fair! We also submitted a video of his project to the Wasatch Home Educators Network Science Fair and he won the "Best in Class" award! 

This Austin boy is so special to our family. I'm so proud of all that he is learning and doing. Truly, I'm so grateful that I get to spend my days with him. 

State FCCLA & thoughts

I was going to post these photos on Instagram, but then I could never find the right words, because the photos are pretty simple but I have SO many thoughts and feelings that this experience brought to mind. I'm not sure I'll even be able to get them all out here, but this is a better place for my wordiness. 

Every year my old co-teacher, Candace Wilson, from Westlake High School reaches out to me to see if I would be able to come and help judge at the state FCCLA competition. (Remember that I taught high school at Westlake before Lydia was born?) 

This is Candance and I in 2011 with our School's FCCLA chapter leadership. (I'm on the far right - looking JUST like one of the other students, ha. No wonder I would always get asked for my hall pass when I walked through the halls during class.) 

I've never been able to make it work before, but this year when she asked, I thought about it for a minute and then thought YES! My kids are at such a great stage right now and I'm feeling a huge shift in my ability to do things like this. Lucy is 2.5. I've never had a 2.5-year-old before without also having a tiny baby! Not only am I feeling more energy than I have for years, but it's just not as hard to ask someone to watch the kids for several hours because even Lucy is pretty independent. 

David and I were just talking about how we are basically 1/3 of the way through the raising of our children. (If you add up their ages it equals 24, which is 1/3 of 72. 18x4=72). It absolutely feels like we've just exited that first stage, the baby/toddler stage. While thinking about that too hard makes my heart twinge with sadness, I am also SO excited for this new stage that we are entering - the early childhood/pre-tween stage. I see so many fun things on the horizon and am loving interacting with my kids right now. This is empowering for us as a family because we are going to be able to DO so many things together! It's also empowering for me as a mother because I, individually, am able to do so many more things now that I'm not needed quite as intensely as before. 

This day is a great example of that. We drove up the night before and stayed at my mom and dad's house, then I woke up and drove to the Davis conference center. I only spent a couple of hours judging the "Job Interview" event, but I was able to step into an old valued role for a day and it was really rewarding. 

My kids, of course, had the best time with grandma and grandpa and it ended up being a really nice day for all of us. 

I have more thoughts about FCCLA from a homeschool perspective, but I'm not sure that I have the words to explain my feelings right now. The first is a slight sadness that my kids are on a different path than the kids I judged in my event. The second is a sincere relief that my kids are on a different path than the kids I judged in my event. The third is a determination to make sure that my kids still have the opportunities to help them learn, grow, and experience different things. The fourth is a decision to not worry about what my kids schooling will look like in high school because that's a long way away and we will make the best decisions for our family as we come to them.