Swim Lesson Success

Reese was SOOOO excited when she got to do a class and be a "big girl just like Emma". Emma gets to do preschool, dance and soccer so when Reese got her chance to do a class, she ate it all up. Well….after the first 3 days :).

I had heard about "survival swim" from lots of friends and decided since we were going to Lake Chelan in June that I really wanted them to take some lessons so we could be more safe around the lake. The first 2 days Reese cried and cried and begged the teacher not to make her go in the water. However, after day 3, she started loving it and really looked forward to taking swim lessons. She still talks about them and begs me to do them again. Pam and Mindy Young are amazing. It's quite a commitment driving all the way to south Orem for 10 minute lessons but so worth what they learn in such a short amount of time.

I purposefully didn't take Emma with me for Reese's first week of classes. Emma started taking them on week 2 when another spot opened up. It worked out PERFECTLY. Emma had a not-so-good experience the first time around taking swim lessons (more like play in the pool with a teacher and pay them for it) when she was 2 and 1/2. So after Emma saw how brave Reese was in the water and how much she loved it, she wanted to be brave too. It was great and we will definitely be taking them again before next summer!

Emma's a Little Dancing Queen!

Emma's first year of dance was so much fun to be a part of. The first couple months she really didn't enjoy going very much and each week I had to push her to get her there, but after class she would be so happy she went. Finally by the Christmas concert she LOVED being on stage and performing in front of so many people and decided she liked dance class :). Then Nora was born in January and when it was time to go back Emma had a hard time with it again for only a few weeks. Then her final concert in June was AMAZING. She was definitely one of the very best in the class. She did so well following her teacher, staying on beat, and remembering all the moves. Ms. Andrea says that she wants to see her in comp teams when she's older. I'm glad Emma had a great first year! We'll see it she wants to continue every year. Love my beautiful dancer!


Emma and Brielle have become really good friends. Brielle's dad, Trevor works with Emma's dad at Fishbowl. Our families have become closer and it's been fun to get to know the Tooke family!

Emma LOVES getting dressed up and loved that she got to wear "mommy's" make-up for the first time ever.

First year of Preschool Finished…….AND a new one began...

I started this post months ago when Emma finished her first year :). A lot of time passed and now she has begun her second year of preschool! Ooops!

Emma loved her preschool class at Learning Dynamics. Her teacher, Mrs. Holmes was such a wonderful teacher and Emma just loved getting to know her. Mrs. Holmes said Emma was so friendly to everyone and really knew how to resolve conflict in class. She listened really well and loved learning. Emma knows how to write her name really well- first and last name. She can write most of her alphabet and numbers. She learned a lot of fun songs which we got to hear in her Christmas and Mother's Day programs. Some of her friends she made this year are: Wynn Strate, Gwenevere, and Dade. It was such a wonderful preschool and sad that since we don't live very close to it anymore that she may not return. Learning Dynamics was so great!

Wynn, Emma and Gwen

Emma has started her second year of preschool now at Little Redd Preschool. Her teacher is Mrs. Redd and the preschool is in her basement in Cedar Hills. Emma was so excited to go back to preschool. She is so friendly and has no problem going into new situations. The first day she wanted to run in all by herself and was sad I followed along to meet the new teacher :). She is very confident and loves new people to get to know!

Nora is 6 months old!

I never posted Nora's 4 month update and stats so here's a quick review:

At her 4 month appointment she weighed 15 lbs 7 oz
Weight: 79%
Height: 89%
Head: 76%

I wish I remembered details about what she was like/doing at 4 months old because my memory isn't great :). At least I will update at six months so not too much time escapes me.

Her six month appt she weighed 17 lbs 6 oz

Weight: 76%
Height: 85%
Head: 70%

Now at six months old she is such a darling, fun, smiley, very content baby. She keeps getting more and more fun all the time and I call her "angel baby". I could not have asked for a better baby and she came at the right time. I am still able to get sleep and give attention to her two older sisters because she is so content with laying on the floor and playing by herself and watching everything around her.

Nora sleeps 12-13 hours at night and takes 3 naps a day. She absolutely LOVES tummy time and always wants to be on her tummy. She can't quite sit up by herself yet but she is almost crawling :). She gets up on all fours and then lunges forward on her belly. It's so cute to watch how she gets around.
She started eating rice cereal and loves it. At first her tongue kept getting in the way as she tried and tried to get food into her mouth.

I am grateful for her blessing our family and her sweet, sweet spirit she brings.

Kids Say the Cutest Things!

I keep a Quote Board on my phone of the funny things our girls say. They sure can be cute. 

1/2014
I had just gotten done telling Reese that is she spit on Emma one more time she would have to go to time out. Well, she did it one more time and quickly turned to me with a scared look and said, "Mom…….look…I'm a horsey!!!" and made a horse noise as if that's exactly what she was doing to Emma. She was so witty to come up with that so quickly at two years old!

2/2014
Nora sneezed in Emma's face and Emma said, "Nora just bless-you'd in my face!"

3/2014
We had recently moved to our new house and my next door neighbor, Jill, wanted to take me around and show me some fun places to take our kids. Jill was getting her little 3 year old in the car and I said, "Dean, you can come over and play any time."
Jill: "Yeah, Dean likes friends."
Me: "Emma likes friends too" I paused and looked at Reese and before I could say anything else Reese leaned over to me a whispered: "Mom, I no like friends!"
Haha well, there you go!

3/2014
Emma and Reese were playing pretend. They were switching off being different members of the family. It was hilarious as I listened to them and their interpretation of us: 

Emma said, "I'm the grandma, you're the baby. Oh, baby it's okay. I love you!"

Reese said, "Now I'm the mama, you the baby. YOU GO BACK TO BED!!!! RIGHT NOW!!!"

5/2014
I was running and dancing around the house singing a song from Frozen. Reese yells, "Mom!!! You are NOT a princess!" at the top of her lungs. Soooorrry. Didn't know only princesses can sing songs….

4/2014

We were driving in the van and Reese spotted a white streak in the sky.
Reese: Mom!! Look at that!!! (Pointing to the sky)

Mom: yeah that's a jet

Reese: No!!! That right there!!!

Mom: that white line in the sky?

Reese: yes! 

Mom: yeah, thats a jet.

Reese: it's not a jet! It's an angel!

6/2014
After Reese sat on the potty for a while she exclaimed to me that she "got a little bit of pee-pee out". I explained to her that she needs to get all her pee out in the potty and not most of it in her pull-up if she wants a treat. As they were walking away, Emma so sincerely said to her, "I'm SO sorry your pee pee doesn't work!"

Easter Fun

Easter! We love this holiday and once again continued our Sunrise and waffle breakfast! We love being able to start the morning by talking about Christ and the reason we have the Easter holiday. It's great that we live so close to the mountain as well cause the sun doesn't come up on our house until 8:00! I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of Him I get to be with my family for eternity. Because of Him I can be forgiven for my many weaknesses and try to become better. Because of Him, I can pray and be comforted in times of need. Because of Him I have purpose in this life and can look forward to the life to come.

 

A couple days before Easter, we invited some friends over for an Easter Egg hunt in our backyard. It was really fun. However, Reese and I got a "fun" Easter surprise...
Reese went to go after an egg in some rocks when she all of a sudden started screaming! Well, she screams the same whether her hand got cut off or she dropped a favorite stuffed animal so I didn't think anything of it. I walked over to her and I screamed too when a snake slithered right past my bare feet! It was pretty funny :).

Thank Heaven for "Frozen" (Emma's potty update)

Well, after TWO AND A HALF YEARS we can finally say Emma doesn't have accidents and always goes poo in the potty. Even better than that, we can say that Emma no longer has constipation issues and is a healthy little girl now!!! BLESSINGS I TELL YOU! Last fall we got her body under control with lots of fruits and veggies, myralax, fiber gummies and prune juice and she was finally choosing to go in the potty!!! We were so happy! And....then baby Nora was born :). Emma needing some attention and so she started going in her pants again :(. So another couple months of accidents and Cade and I finally sat down and talked to her about consequences and going potty. We told her that it was fine if she chose to go in her pants, and it was fine if she chose to go on the potty, but there would be a consequence either way. That consequence was TV and movies (which Emma absolutely loves). A few times of Reese being able to watch something and Emma not was almost enough to turn the tables, but not quite. We mentioned to her that the following week, Disney's "Frozen" was coming out on DVD and we were going to have the entire family over for a party but she needed to choose to go in the potty all week if she wanted to join us.

Well, she decided that was enough and we haven't had an accident since! Hallelujah! We are so happy that she no longer is in pain- so so so so so so happy! I can't even explain. And we are very proud of our Emma for making that choice. It has helped the happy feelings to stay more easily in the home :).