Report Cards

Madison and Ally both came home with report cards last week.  They are both doing really well.  I feel like this is the first year that Madison is having to try a little harder to do well.  Madison and Ally both had almost all E's. M's mean "meeting expectations" or "at grade level".  E's mean that they are excelling.  Pretty much if they have a  hundred percent they are excelling.  They are both smart little cookies and are doing very well.

Matthew may not live to see his next birthday

Matthew has turned into a little tornado lately.  I got out of the shower the other day and found that he had pushed the computer chair over to my dresser.  He covered himself in bag balm and then proceded to cover a statue of Christ also with bag balm.  He was so happy with himself and that the statue had sheep on it.  

He also can't sit on my lap at the computer any more because he won't stop pushing buttons and trying to do taxes with him yesterday was fun. Not only does he want to push buttons, but to throw papers around and then write on some.  I put him down and told him to go find Emily while I finished.  It took me another 20 minutes and I came down and found that he had dumped the entire sugar bucket on the floor.  Emily was standing on her head on the couch and I asked her if she knew what he was doing.  She simply said, "Yes."

Some days I think I need a vacation ...

ETA:  I left Matthew and Emily home while I took Madison and Ally to a baptism last night.  When I got home Charlie just looked at me and said Matthew really is as crazy as I said.  He just wants to see and touch EVERYTHING and know how everything works.  Last week he put the dust pan in the microwave and started it.  Thankfully I was close and caught that one!

Gingerbread and Friends

It's simple, but does the job.

From Soccer in the Fall

 


Scrapbook pages I did tonight from the girls playing soccer in the fall.  I don't do double pages very often, but this seemed to work well.

After school

This is what happens after school around here.

First Madison and Ally have their 20 minutes of reading to do.  Madison has been taking it up on my bed lately.

 Ally is apparently loving this book:

 Emily gets off the school bus about 10 minutes after the other girls get home and although she wants to just turn the tv on, she has to wait.  Today she decided to build a castle.

Matthew also liked the castle and had a hard time staying off the table.

Madison and Matthew are great little friends.

Matthew cooking

Monday night, I was making Chicken and Dumplings for dinner and had the soup part cooking on the stove. I went upstairs for a few minutes and when I came back downstairs, Matthew had pulled a chair over to the pot. At first I was mostly concerned that he would get burned, so I got him down and I turned around to stir it.  He decided to add a couple items including a matchbox car, pencil, hair elastic, paint chip color, Popsicle stick, a friendship bracelet that I picked up the day before behind the toilet, and doorstop from the funeral home. The doorstop and friendship bracelet are the ones that really got me. 

Charlie picked up pizza for dinner.

New Years Resolutions

Last week I came across this talk by Elder Ballard.  I knew that I wanted to do a Family Home Evening lesson on it since it was the beginning of the new year.  I firmly believe that if we aren't working on something then we are floating through life.  I love this quote: "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential."


We decided to make some family and individual goals:


Family Goals:
Work on paying off student loans
Read scriptures everyday and have morning and evening prayers everyday.
Make our beds everyday.  


Charlie has his goals


Mom:
Work 13+ hours each week.
Exercise 3 times per week.
Read scriptures daily.
Clean something everyday.
Scrapbook 2 pages per month and finish 2 quilts this year (I'm totally counting Ally's that I'm almost done with!).  


Madison:
Practice multiplication.
Do at least 2 miles at run/walk.
Ride bikes, jumping jacks, treadmill.
Help other if they are hurt, be kind, Choose the Right Story.
Say prayers, read scriptures.
Keep room clean, Take baths Sat., Thurs., Tues.
Learn new hobbies like checkers, soccer, running, reading.  Learn to sew.


Ally:
Do 7 laps during each run/walk.
Learn more math.
Make new friends and play with them.
Read 1 chapter from the scripture every day.
Keep my room clean.
Learn a new dance like the waltz.


Emily:
Learn to read.
Learn to ride her bike.
Go to Primary each week.
Play a game every day.