Chore chart

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been struggling with Addison's behavior some.  For months now we've had this chore chart idea but I just got around to creating it.  This is what I did:

Most of these "chores" on here are things I have a hard time getting her to do.  When she does them she gets a sticker.  When she gets five stickers in a row she gets to pick from the treasure box (stuff from the $1 store).  It's only in the beginning stages but it has worked great so far!  She just picked up her room this morning with a good attitude!  She was whipping Lexi with her blankie and Lexi started to complain so I told Addy she doesn't get a sticker for "no fighting" and that stopped her.  Later, she told me she stopped fighting and wanted to put a sticker on "no fighting" and she said this as she whipped Lexi again LOL!

Addy always wants me to do things for her, like get her dressed, put her shoes on, and take her to the bathroom.  She is capable of doing these things mostly on her own.  She struggles putting shirts on and some of her shoes on, etc.  But to get her to start being independent I've had to offer her twizzlers.  I tell her if she can get dressed on her own with just a little help from me with her shirt she can have a twizzler and this has been working too!  Hallelujah! I'm feeling a little sense of relief.  I'm very grateful that this is working.  I hope it keeps working.

I need to create a chore chart for Lexi now because she likes stickers and prizes and I don't think she's too young to learn things like brushing her teeth, combing her hair and helping pick up.

I love the way she says yes

I really don't like getting in bed & feeling the callous' on my feet rub against the sheets (another joy of getting older-dry feet). I didn't have this problem when I was younger. 

Anyways, this morning I had reached my limit - I was going to make time to soak my feet & get the callous' off. At 6 am this morning Addison was already awake so I asked her if she wanted to join me. Of course she did!!

Once we got our feet soaking in the bowl she said "This is what Jesus does." Then she asked if she could wash my feet like Jesus does! So sweet!

At church, in our foyer, there is a big painting of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. I know at least once I have pointed the painting out to Addison & I'm pretty sure that's where her knowledge of it came from. I guess taking her out of sacrament meeting to sit in the foyer when she was not being reverent hasn't been all negative. :)

While we were soaking our feet she said in her deep, serious voice "I really love this" lol. 

More catching up

My 31st birthday.  I can't believe I'm that old!  Sometimes it seems like I'm still in my mid-twenties.  But when I feel odd body aches I know I'm getting older :( Aging for that reason is not cool.

My so yummy birthday cake Steve made for me.  You can see why this only gets made once a year :) There's not enough people to help eat it.  This is called Deep Dark Chocolate cake.  It is so moist and yummy. I had this all growing up.  Steve said it's the best chocolate cake he's ever had.  If you want the recipe let me know :)

Addy's new chore - putting away the clean silverware.  Leave it to her to find a fun way to do it!

Both of them wanted a slice of cheese.  When I gave it to them they both plopped on the floor to eat it

Pumpkin patch

From the looks of her hair it looks like she caught some air

Halloween

We went trick-or-treating a few days before Halloween at the grocery store

Then we went trick-or-treating at Steve's work

Grandma and Grandpa Reed came for a visit

At Great-Grandma Reed's 89th birthday party.  I think they were lighting all her candles off to the right and that's why Addison's face is all lit up haha.  That's a lot of candles!

Steve was holding his cousin's baby, Violet.  When Lexi saw she got upset and said "Share".  She wanted to hold the baby!

I'm trying to get caught up on pictures so here are a bunch of random ones from the past few months

Makup fun with Meg

Steve's work BBQ.  Sorry for the quality of the picture.  The sun was not in a good spot for pictures

Aw, Lexi loves her sister!

Lexi is talking a lot now and she's always willing to say words we teach her.  I think this stage is my favorite.  She is the cutest.  She talks gibberish too and then we'll hear actual words mixed in with her gibberish.  She has also started saying "K".  It makes me laugh every time.  She'll do the sign language for bottle and I"ll ask her if she wants a bottle.  She just says "K" like it was my idea and she has agreed LOL.  Sometimes when she's eating she'll say "Pay" for play.  I'll ask her "You want to get down and play?" She says "K".

Last night she woke up crying so Steve went in to give her a bottle.  He saw she had thrown up a little so as he was cleaning it up Lexi was pointing to it and talking gibberish as if to tell Steve "Look, there's some more".  She pointed to some on the floor and said some gibberish, then "Uh-oh".  From my bed I kept hearing her say "Uh-oh". Afterwards Steve told me she kept pointing to the different spots she had thrown up, saying gibberish, then "Uh-oh", and then "K". LOL.

I'm babysitting Beth's 7 kids today. So add my two kids & that makes 9 kids I'm watching. The ages are 14, 14, 12, 10, 9, 4, 3, 1.5, & 1.5!  For one reason or another all of them were home from school this morning. Then the oldest three went to school for the afternoon. Thomas is playing quietly in his room & the rest of the kids are down for a nap!! Am I good, or what?! Lol, just kidding. I don't think this silence will last long :) But I am pretty amazed at this. I should be trying to nap myself right now since Steve &/or I were up just about every hour last night with Addy. I don't think she felt well so she didn't sleep much last night.....and so neither did we.

Aw, these two aren't feeling well. I'm babysitting my sister, Beth's kids while their out of town so we came over in our jammies. It turns out Beth's kids are sick or have been sick this week too. So all her kids are home from school today.  It's a party haha

I've been reading the Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual along with the D&C.  What I read this morning made me stop to think.  In the manual it says "President Spencer W. Kimball provided the following instruction:
"Never hesitate to gather your family around you for your prayers, especially in those times when more than morning and evening family prayer is needed.  Extra needs require extra prayers."
"Your little ones will learn how to talk to their Father in Heaven by listening to you as parents. They will soon see how heartfelt and honest your prayers are.  If your prayers are a hurried and thoughtless ritual, they will see this too."

I needed to be reminded that "Extra needs require extra prayers" - that it's ok to pray often if needed.  I've been struggling with Addison's behavior lately.  I've been wondering if I'm not recognizing some of her needs and that is making her act the way she's acting.  I've been quite overwhelmed with her, to be honest.  I've recently felt that I needed to be more consistent with her in saying morning family prayer with her, even though it's just her and I usually since Steve leaves for work before she gets up.  After reading this this morning I'm reminded that if in the middle of the day things aren't going well, we can stop to pray together.

The other night as I was putting Addison to bed she said to me "Jesus loves us.  He is watching us."  She is getting older and understanding the Gospel more.  I love to see how much she's learning and maturing.  I love the Gospel so much!  I KNOW The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true!  The peace, comfort, and happiness it gives me is a treasure.  It is because of this Gospel that I found such an amazing husband and that we have two amazing daughters.  Years ago I longed for this family I have.  It is only because of my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ that I'm living my dream.

Primary

Our ward does a pre-sunbeam class for all the kids who turned 3 this year or are going to turn 3 by the end of the year.  They started the class yesterday so that was Addison's first day in primary.  There are 20 kids on the roll for that class!!  That's huge!  Not all of them come but I think there were at least 12 there yesterday.  I thought it would be kind of noisy and chaotic trying to keep that many 3 year olds quiet and paying attention and sitting in their seats when they are used to playing with toys in nursery. But they did amazing!  They were actually quieter than all the other kids haha.  I'm sure that won't last though.  Once it's not new to them they'll probably be a little noisier but it was a good start at least :)  I was surprised that Addison sat quite still in her seat and paid attention!

So it was Lexi's first Sunday in nursery without Addison and Lexi did amazing too!  We put Lexi in nursery a little early so she could have a few Sundays with Addison in the same class and she has done so well every time.  She is completely content in there and doesn't cry when we leave.  It's so weird to me since Lexi has had such bad separation anxiety and stranger anxiety for months now!  It took Addison 6 months to be ok with us leaving her in nursery.  Lexi was the complete opposite.  She was fine from day one.  These kids keep surprising me.  Lexi's nursery teacher told me yesterday that she was wondering too how Lexi would do without Addy.  I said every time I checked on the girls in the previous weeks they were never playing together anyways.  She said yes, but when Lexi would get sad she would go to Addison and lay her head down on her.  And Lexi would want to sit by Addy during snack time too.  I'm so glad she told me that.  That melts my heart!

Funny things Addy has said

Addison had a funny weekend recently.  She kept saying cute things.

We ate roast for dinner one night but Addy was being picky.  She wanted to eat off my plate so she sat on my lap.  She put a bite of meat in her mouth and a little while later she was off playing.  I noticed her chewed up wad of meat on the table – she had spit it out.  I pointed to the wad and asked Addy “What is this?”  Addy said “It’s meat.  You can have it”.  LOL, gross

Addison climbed into bed with me one morning with her Nerds candy.  She spilled them in the bed and said “Oh! I’m a whole lot of messy.”

I ran errands one night so Steve put Addy to bed while I was gone.  She got up to go to the bathroom at 2am and when she saw me in my bed she said “Oh Mom!  You came home!” and laid her head down on me and gave me a hug.  Her reaction was so dramatic for the middle of the night and it was as if she didn't think I would come home.

We were at a middle school football game one Saturday & flocks of birds kept flying overhead. So I pointed them out to Addy and told her they were flocks of birds.  Addy spotted an airplane & said "Look Mom, that one isn't flocking".

Sometimes Addison says she has crumbs in her nose.  You can guess what she's referring to.