Handsome

I can't believe how big my little boy is getting!  Even though I don't like the time flying by so fast, I have to say I love each and every new stage and am so excited to see where the next year will lead.

Currently his favorite color is: "All the colors in the world."  But if you ask him which is your very, very favorite it is "All of the blue colors."

Favorite toy:  "DJ" the car toy from the movie Cars

Favorite food:  "Mac and cheese, waffles, and pancakes"

This last year he has been big into Harry Potter and Star Wars.  Not because we have let him watch it or read it to him, but because he likes to play the Wii Lego games of Harry Potter and Star Wars.  He still doesn't know who the characters are. :)

He is such a great listener.  When I tell him a fact, or teach him something, he usually picks it up the first time.  Sometimes I will saying something and be surprise he already knows it.  I'll ask where he learned it and he will say from me!  I guess I was just thinking kids needed to hear things a few times to get them down, but not for Handsome. :)

He is also a great big brother and such a gentleman.  I love to see the twinkle in his eye when he decides to run ahead of people and hold open a door for them.  And I love how well he plays with his younger brother and sister.  He is always excited to try and do knew things.  Recently, he was very proud that he could pull a stool over and switch the laundry from our top load washer into our dryer.  He has been such a big helper to me and loves to see others happy from the service he does.

He loves school and LOVES to be around people.  He especially loves playing with friends.  His favorite sports to do are soccer and swimming.

He is such a sweet boy and a joy to have in our family.  I don't know what I would do without my (not so little anymore) Handsome boy!

Airplanes

One thing that Handsome loves to do it make paper airplanes.  He loves to make them and then add color to them.  He had quite a pile of airplanes that I decided to help him string them up and put them up on the wall by his bed.  I thought it was a good way to display all his work.  And he loves it. :)

Swimming Lessons

Handsome has started swimming lessons and he is loving every minute of it!

 Here he is waiting for his class to start, and sporting his new haircut. :)

After his first lesson he asked me if he was the best on out there.  And then proceeded to tell me how he is trying so hard to be the best at everything in class.  Got to love the heart he puts into it.

It cracks me up (as well as the other moms around me) when he is kicking his feet.  He is just trying so hard and loving every minute of it.



I was able to sign Handsome up for the same class as one of his friends. So he gets to have a friend in the water with him, and I get to have her mom (my friend) to sit and chat with while they swim. 

Artwork

Of course he would paint Lightning McQueen. :)  I love it!!

Handsome's Notes

Handsome has started writing us many notes, of course as his mommy they are all very precious, I just can't keep them all, but I can take pictures to remember them. 

"Mom, I will give you a surprise" left with a toy of his on my bed

This was his Christmas wish list that he wrote down.  "Harry Potter Lego set, and Harry Potter character, a Buzz Lightyear gun, and a Buzz Lightyear flashlight, a Cars 2 Movie" and the picture of the cars represent a remote control car

Since Gorgeous couldn't write her wish list, Handsome wrote for her, "[Gorgeous] likes Princess-y things"

 This note got slipped under my bedroom door once, "Thank you for being a nice mom"

Another time I got a note slipped under my bedroom door saying, "I will watch [Adorable] for you."

This note was left on our bed with a paper airplane, one of Handsome favorite things to make.

I am loving these notes, keep them coming Handsome!

Gingerbread Houses

For Grandma Cooking Class in December, Grandma Carol brought over Gingerbread house kits and LOTS of candy.  Grandma worked with Handsome on his house and Gorgeous and I worked together on hers.  Gorgeous's goal: to use every single piece of candy.  And I have to say, she did!

A little lick, just to test it out. :)

Handsome's Christmas Presents

Every morning for about 2 weeks before Christmas, Handsome would wake up and go straight to drawing.  He wanted to draw pictures as presents from him for his cousins and friends.   Thankfully, I was able to get pictures of his drawings before he gave them away. 

This one is of Harry Potter of course.  Can you see Harry? Hermione? and Ron? as well as Hagrid's Hut?

Grandma Cooking Class: Chocolate Cake Balls

In November, Grandma Carol taught Handsome and Gorgeous how to make chocolate covered cake balls.  Yum!  So apparently you bake a cake, crumbling it up, mix in frosting, make the mixture into balls, freeze, and then melt chocolate and roll the frozen cake ball in chocolate and let it harden up.  It was a hit.  (Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the finished product, sorry)  Thanks again Grandma Carol.

Handsome's Drawing

Handsome woke me up one morning to show me his drawing.  This is what he wants for Christmas from Santa.  A remote control Lightning McQueen.  I love watching as his drawing gets better and better.  He told me that the hard part was getting the flames right.  Looks good to me.  Such talent Handsome, way to go!

Leaf Turkeys

Before we are done with November I have to show off the turkeys the kids made for a Thanksgiving project.  I got the idea from here.

Basically glue leafs in a half circle.  Then I hot glued the pinecone in the middle.  We added googly eyes, and construction paper for the beak, etc.

I think they are cute! (oh, the turkeys looked good too) :)

Kid Quotes

Yesterday morning I overheard Gorgeous telling Handsome at the breakfast table;

"I wish I had a pink chair."


Later I asked Gorgeous if she had good dreams.  Her response;

"I dreamed about Cinderella, Rapunzel, pink, and ballerinas.  I had girly dreams."


After morning scriptures, Handsome asked;

"Were you alive when Christ was on the earth?"

Me: "No he was born long before I was."

Handsome: "Then was Grandma Carol alive when Christ was on the earth?"


They make me smile. :)

FINISHED!

I feel like I need to somehow celebrate.  Handsome finished the 100 lessons in "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"!!!!  Way to go Handsome, and what a reader you have become!  It is so fun to see him look through our library of kids books and pick up and read one on his own. :)

Thanksgiving Educational Website

I discovered this educational website about the first Thanksgiving, or as they call it, the Harvest Festival of 1621.  It is an interactive educational tool for children, I would guess, geared for kids in third to sixth grade.  But I LOVED it for myself, and we are using it for Handsome.  Thought I would share it with you.

It is here.  Check it out!

Trying to Raise "Accountable Kids"

So I saw a booth at the Homeschool Convention I attended months ago about raising accountable kids.  It jumped out at me as I was struggling with what to do with chores, etc with our family.  I only had a few dollars to spend and decided to spend it on their book.  I didn't even have time to attend the class.  So I came home and the book sat and sat as life sped on.

Then I got sick, and found myself having to be still.  I picked up the book and started to read.  With each new chapter I would get excited.  I was reading all about the stuff I learned about in college about shaping behavior, including the perspective of agency and God.  It was exactly what my BYU college professor had suggested for raising kids.  I had to do a double check to make sure it wasn't my college professors book! (no it was not).

As I was sick and had so little energy and very little breath to talk, it was hard to encourage chores to be done and easy to give in to TV and movies.  It made me realize how much I needed this program.

So what is it?

It is called Accountable Kids.

In their own words it is...

"a unique parenting program designed to teach accountability and responsibility in the home. It is a back-to-basics system which includes essential parenting principles and concrete stepping stones that strengthen relationships and build a foundation for success.   Children learn to balance choices and consequences in a fun, productive manner. They experience the joy of being a vital, contributing member of the family and develop confidence and self-worth."

Basically, you are implementing this program into your family routine in 4 steps.  I love that it not only has chores and rewards, but it also has one-on-one dates with a parent, as well as Family Council, although they call it "Family Forum."  It even has a way for kids to earn money for extra chores, and teaching about managing money.  So to break it down, again in their words:

"Step One: Children learn to take care of personal responsibilities without constant direction. They learn work ethics, time management, and responsibility. Children earn Tickets by completing basic chores. Tickets can then be used for activities or privileges. Tickets provide parents the ability to discipline without losing control or physical contact. Basic values are encouraged and reinforced with the Best Behavior Card.

Step Two: The Privilege Pass is introduced to eliminate specific negative behaviors. This process empowers children to predict consequences, follow rules, and redirect themselves towards positive behaviors. A Special Date Card is added to allow children to work for future rewards and enhance parent/child relationships.

Step Three: Completing basic chores provides basic privileges, but not the extras. Children earn Bonus Bucks for completing extra chores. This gives them the ability to make decisions about purchases. They experience the advantages of saving and learn to manage resources for the future.

Step four: The Family Forum presents an opportunity to discuss goals, problems, challenges, and accomplishments. It provides an opportunity to monitor progress and encourage positive behaviors. Quiet Time is introduced to refresh and recharge children and parents. It encourages the use of imagination, self-discipline, and self-entertainment."

I got a progress board for Handsome and Gorgeous.  The program is for ages 4-14, so Gorgeous is a little young, and needs a little more guidance and reminders, but so far so good.

The program encourages that the kids be part of the decoration process of their board.  So we went to the craft shop and they picked out a color to paint their board.  In the future I hope to get some vinyl lettering of their name to put on it, but for now the colors will have to do.  They really enjoyed painting the boards.

In the back of their book they have pages for you to copy and put up to help.  I decided to put them up, as a reminder for the adults and babysitters mostly. 

 We are now in step one.  So I put up the way to use tickets, (for our family 1 ticket gets 1/2 hour of an approved PBS TV show, 2 tickets can get 1/2 hour of the Wii, or 1 hour of a movie.)  how to lose tickets; and the Best Behavior characteristic we are working on (honesty right now).

So each child has a their chores on a peg, they see the chore that needs to be done, do it, and turn the chore over to see the next.  This has been such a good reminder for Handsome and Gorgeous.  Then if the chores are done by a specific time, they earn a ticket.

This has saved me so much time reminding, nagging, and threatening to take away privileges, to get chores done.

So far so good. On a scale of 1-5 I give it a 3.7, mostly because I figure to get the top score you have to be PERFECT, and I need more experience with it.  I'll give it a new score each time I blog about it.  I plan to blog about this as we go through the steps and let you REALLY know how it works and ways we have adapted it for our family of young children.

If you are interested check out their website here.

Portable Growth Chart

I saw a tutorial for a growth chart here.  And I loved it.  I loved the idea of a portable growth chart, because well, I knew we would not be in the same house forever, yet I wanted a cute way to mark how tall my little ones were getting.  So I made one up, and added it in to our social studies unit about "myself" learning about height and a little of math with measurement.  Mine is not as cute as the lady's on Whipper Berry, but I still like it, maybe the idea more than my creative talent. :)  I only did one for the family and am using key tags and writing in different colors for each kid (Handsome is blue, Gorgeous is pink, Adorable is green).  Then if/when we move I will just take it with us. :)

Bunk Beds!!

So after much saving, and poor Gorgeous and Handsome having to share one bed on the floor, we now have BUNK BEDS!!!

Yes, it wasn't easy for the sharing, there were many nights where complaints we heard about feet being in the way, blankets being pulled, etc. etc.  But the kids knew we were saving and our goal was to get them some bunk beds.

I think it was a good lesson for them as well.  That things are worth saving up for, and that at times it does take awhile to save, but then when they are finally bought, it is exciting and that we have to treat them well because we waited so long and worked so hard for them.

We knew it would only be a matter of time before the temptation of jumping on or off the beds happened.  Our punishment?  The loss of the privilege to sleep on the bed.  And yes, Handsome tried it, and that night he slept on the floor with a blanket.  Needless to say, we have not had the problem since.

Rainbow Writing

Handwriting is an important part of school, though not as much fun as some things.  Ok, well... really it is at the bottom of the fun list.  However, I have found a way to add a little more excitement to it.  I learned about it while I taught Kindergarten.  Another teacher told me her trick and I used it then, and continue with Handsome.  I call it "Rainbow Writing."  I let Handsome write with markers (a special privilege in our house) and pick a new color for each line of writing he does.  He can pick any color, yet he often chooses to make it the actual colors of the rainbow. 

Also, I have to put a little plug out there for the Handwriting curriculum I found at .... Walmart.  Yes, Walmart!  My sister-in-law told me about it.  It is the Mead Writing Fundamentals workbooks they have in their learning section.  I like that they tell fun stories for how to form the letters.  That they do all capitals first, one complete book.  Then they do the lowercase in a different book and compare them to the capital letters, plus they help the kids know where the lowercase letter goes by defining the three different areas as the "sky", "grass", and "dirt."  So I just reiterate with Handsome that the "w" has to touch the top of the grass and the bottom of the grass, but make sure it doesn't go into the sky or dirt.  We are having good success with it.  We also have the "Number Stories" which I like.  Some of the pages we have skipped, but most are good, especially the number formation lessons.

Trick-or-Treating

The night of Trick-or-Treating I was on my own with three little ones.  We did dinner, and got ready.  Gorgeous decided yet again on another costume.  She decided to be Cinderella.  Handsome was still Diego, and Adorable still my little Chunky Monkey.  I took them out leaving in the light, but soon it became dark.  We only made it to 1 and 1/2 blocks with only about every 3rd house welcome to Trick-or-Treaters, yet they still had tons of candy.  When we got home I had two that wanted candy, one that needed a feeding.  Then baths, and tuck-ins, all while I answered the door for trick-or-treaters.  It was a busy night.  But by 8pm it was done with little ones in bed, and no more door knocks.

With their loot!

Trunk-or-Treat

I LOVE the Trunk-or-Treat tradition that our church has each year.  All three wards gather together one night, usually different from Halloween night, and all the kids go from car to car of people they know from church.  This year it was at 6pm.  Perfect time for our family!

 My little monkey.  I actually couldn't help but call him a "chunky monkey" since there was so much padding around the tummy on the costume. :)

 Gorgeous decided to go as a BYU cheerleader instead of the planned Rapunzel, only an hour before leaving.  But she got LOTS of comments about her costume and more than a few times people gave her a second handful of candy saying things like "Go BYU!"

 Handsome said he wanted to be Larry Boy or Diego.  Since I had on hand things to make him like Diego and nothing I could think of that would work as Larry Boy, he became Diego!

Primary Program

Handsome did wonderful on his part in the Primary Program.  He actually had his part memorized months ago because it was July's theme and scripture.  His part was;

"The Temple is the House of God.  Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.  (The Family: A Proclamation to the World, paragraph 3)"

Our worry was that he would get scared at all the faces looking at him and freeze.  In both practices he didn't do it and let the lines be whispered to him.  But on Sunday we told him he would do great, that he knew it, and that all he had to do was look at Daddy and say his part.  And he did! 

Way to go Handsome!