good intentions

Alright...here we go. I have had very good intentions in getting pictures posted of what we've been up to this month, but it seems that every time I sit down to do it something, or someone calls me away and I end up not able to get back and end up closing it. So here we go again...let's see if I can finish it this time. : )

We've had a lot of fun this month. Staying busy, etc. The first thing and greatest accomplishment comes from miss Lola. She is now fully potty- trained. Ye-haw! Oh so nice. She did really well and loves her sticker chart full of Winnie-the-pooh and princess stickers. Great job Lola! Yeah! I also started reading lessons with Dylan. We created a sticker chart for him too and gets to put up a sticker after each lesson. He has considerably less than Lola since he only has one lesson a day and she well....yeah. But he gets excited to do his lessons and he's doing really well at remembering the sounds we learn for each letter. He has Cars or super hero stickers to put on his chart. And Allen drew some fun pictures on their charts of Dylan as super hero and Lola as Cinderalla. So cute.

The kids and I have started going to the library this month. They have weekly story time on Thursdays for preschool age kids and the kids love it. They give them name tags when they arrive and they sit on small carpet squares while they listen to the books, felt board stories, finger plays and/or songs they have planned. There is usually a good size group and Dylan and Lola sit up with the kids and participate while I hang out with Meghan in the back. They also do a small craft that has to do with the books they read. Last week we made rainbows out of paper plates and colored streamers. Lola walks around the house and twirls hers around. Before leaving the library we check out a bunch of books to read during the week. We love it!

A few Saturdays ago we went to the Latah County fair. The kids love the movie Charlotte's Web and so they were really excited to see all the pigs, sheep and cows. In another barn they had chickens, geese, ducks, roosters and bunnies. They even had some baby chicks and little ducklings. Some of those bunnies were HUGE. After the animals we wondered over to the rides and they really wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel just like Fern in Charlotte's Web and Lola was just tall enough to go on with an adult but then they saw the merry-go-round and changed their minds. I stood behind their horses and they loved it. Lola was a bit sad when the ride stopped and she had to get off...she did not want to get off her horse--there were tears. So sad! Dylan really wanted to ride the spaceships and so we sat and watched it go first and they still wanted to go so we had them wait in line with their tickets and Allen got them all strapped in the green one, Dylan's favorite color, and as he walked away Lola started to cry. She didn't want to ride anymore. I think she thought that Allen would be there for the ride too, but when he walked off she got scared. But Dylan wanted to stay on and he had a lot of fun! The ship he was in went high in the air and he yelled "Look at me!" Every time he came around on our side. He has always been a bit cautious on trying new things like this so we were really excited that he wanted to do it on his own and had so much fun.

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A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine took orders from a bunch of us in the ward for peaches. I got a couple of boxes and she came over and helped me can them, Id never done peaches before and my sister Lorie and her son came and we canned peaches, grated a bunch of zucchini that she brought, made yummy home-made bread and let the kids play. I felt so domestic and my house smelled sooooo good. I love doing things like that. There's just something about 24 quarts of canned peaches and two loaves of home-made whole wheat bread cooling on your counter that makes you smile. We also went to the park while they were here and Lola and I went for a walk around the pond and she loved picking the wild flowers. She has such a sweet and fun little spirit. There always seems to be a song in her head or a story she wants to tell. 

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Meghan has changed so much over the last month or so. She is everywhere. She is cruising around moving from the piano to the couch from my legs to the rocking chair. And if she is getting into something she knows she is not supposed to she'll stop just before she gets there and turn to see if I'm watching her and if I am she'll just grin at me and keep on going to her destination as fast as she can. She just loves to cuddle. We'll be playing in the living room doing whatever and she'll come up to me and snuggle and put her thumb in her mouth for a few minutes and then something will catch her eye and she's off again. The picture below is her on our back porch. It's covered so their is a screen door before you go outside and she loves to stand and watch the kids playing outside. The pigtails are a new thing too. Good grief she's cute.
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Well, it's lunch time so I best be making something for the children to eat. But I do have more to share about the kids starting Joy school this week but I'll at least get this one posted, so I can take some more pictures to post also. We hope everyone is doing well! Loves. (Yeah! I did it!)