I don't know!

I'm going to do pretty lengthy updates on the kids in this post, so if you're not me, Jared, or maybe a grandparent, you may want to skip this one.

So, Nathan. He is growing more and more and it freaks me out once in a while. He gets in trouble sometimes for things like forgetting to wear his helmet, forgetting his lunchbox at school, being late for the bus, whining/throwing tantrums, and stuff like that. Nothing too serious most of the time. Once in a while he'll get in trouble for hitting or lying, though. He seems to be doing great in school. His teacher is on maternity leave (she just had a baby girl a couple of weeks ago) and they've got a few subs. He seems to get along well enough with them. One of them is a former visiting teaching companion and old friend of mine from before our ward split and I'm glad she's one of the subs. Nathan is on the level N in reading right now (it seems to be the same as level M, but whatever) and I guess that mostly means easy chapter books (think Magic Tree House), sometimes lengthy picture books, and children's information books (like All About Spiders or whatever). He does really well in everything and seems to be doing a lot better with not talking when he's supposed to be quiet in class. The only thing is I wish he were being challenged more. I'm not really qualified to help him in most areas but I try to make sure he's reading at a higher level at home. He loves to read, but he also loves to play with his friends and toys and stuff so sometimes getting him to read for more than half an hour can be challenging. He also loves to read and reread his favorite picture books, even though they are way below his level. I'm fine with him reading those because I want him to still think reading is fun, but I've also asked him to read some harder things with a notebook, pencil, and a dictionary so he can write down his questions and look up words he doesn't know. The last time I had him do this was a couple of months ago with Farmer Boy, but I'm going to have him take time doing that pretty much every day during the summer, for at least 20 minutes or so. Lately he's been reading a lot of the Paddington series. I'm trying to think of math, science, history and cultural things to teach him at home since he's fully capable and willing to learn, but isn't always getting into at school. He loves playing Monopoly and Phase 10 dice, which are sort of math-related, but I'd like to stretch him a little more and honestly, I know this is pathetic, but we're just about reaching the limits of my math skills. It won't be a couple more years before I'm going to have to either catch up or send him to his dad. :( Anyway, as for history/culture, I tend to tell the kids random stories either alone or in tandem with things we read in the scriptures and I think I'd like to help them be able to put things together chronologically in their minds more. We might do a timeline project this summer or something. I'm just wondering which region and time of the world we should pick. I was thinking either America or more recent European history, but I think there are valid points in choosing so many other parts of history. Maybe we'll do one American history one and one Book of Mormon one. I don't know... Anyway. At least we have all that butcher paper from my parents! :) Ok wow super long tangents, back to the Nathan update. So he's going to do coach pitch this summer (we had to sign up late because I almost didn't want to do it with a newborn). I told him he could pick one sport, and between that and soccer, he wanted to do that. This will be his last chance to play sports with one of his friends, who is going to be moving soon. I tried to prepare him for the fact that he may not actually be on the same team as any of his friends, but that he would still have fun and make new friends on his team. I hope he has fun. He told me he's not very good at hitting the ball when it's thrown to him but he didn't seem to brought down by that fact so I'm hoping he'll get into it more with practice. Honestly my greatest hope for him with all this is that he will develop good sportsmanship and be able to have fun even if he's not doing well. He can have such a great attitude sometimes, but then others he will start pouting and not want to try. Pretty normal, honestly, but I'm hoping this will help him. We'll see. Nathan also loves going to church but sometimes has trouble sitting still in sacrament meeting if he's not allowed to do a certain activity that he had in mind. That's pretty true of any time in his life, actually. He does great when he's prepared ahead of time, so I just need to do better about warning him about what's ahead and making sure there are one or two activities in my bag that he wants to do that day. I've told him he's old enough now to not need snacks, but I'd like to try a few different methods of getting him to listen to the speakers in sacrament meeting for at least part of the time. I'm not really sure how to go about that, honestly, but maybe I could start out with just having him listen for key words and drawing pictures to go with them or something (he loves to draw - that's actually what he and his sisters have chosen to do during sacrament meeting for the past monthish). What else about Nate? Oh, his teeth... He's going to need braces, I'm pretty sure. He's had numerous instances where his adult teeth have grown in either behind or in front of the baby teeth, and he's already got some crowding on the bottom. No surprise there, since Jared and I both have that. Obviously mine is less obvious now since I had braces, but since my retainers broke I do have one tooth that got pushed out if alignment. I had major buck teeth though, and I'm hoping none of my kids have to deal with that. But it didn't kill me so it probably wouldn't knock them off either. Kids are just mean sometimes though. Obviously I don't want that for my kids, but at least my teeth and braces weren't the worst things I got made fun of for. I guess I don't know if that's the same for everyone. Anyway, Nathan is still funny, and can be so thoughtful at times. He loves to play outside with his friends (and also loves video games but I won't hold that against him ;) and he loves to create projects and lists for activities to do with his friends or grandparents when they come to visit. He loves his building toys, like Legos, K'Nex, car tracks and Lincoln Logs. He loves balloons (lately blowing them up and watching them fly around when he lets them go) and was pretty sad when his balloon from a friend's party popped today. He still loves his blue bear and striped blanket and is pretty upset when he can't sleep with them (like because of negative consequences to his actions or something) although I think he's less so than he was, say, a year ago. Nathan also likes playing with Rylie and they seem to have fun together most of the time. Having them share a room for the past 2 1/2 ish years has been great for their relationship, I think. Lately they've had more conflicts over the closet (it's a small walk-in and I put both their dressers inside so they'd have more space to play in their room so they have to take turns getting their clothes out) but I think they're learning that they have to compromise and take turns. Oh like the plate with the hand that I drew when I was like 13 or 14... For some reason they love it and have to take turns with that one as well. Anyway, I know this was super long but I that's all I can think of for Nathan right now. Except that he's pretty good at being independent except for showers, which he takes *forever* to do. I guess that's just karma or something, since I'm sure I drove my family crazy with my long showers.

Ok! Rylie! She's in joy school right now (a neighborhood co-op preschool thing) and loves it most of the time. She will have moods once in a while where she's feeling antisocial or whatever, though not as often as before. I can't blame her though, since I'm pretty sure she got that from me. She knows most of her letters, or all of them most of the time, and her numbers, and can usually count to at least 20. She writes a lot, but it's mostly gibberish. She thinks it's hilarious to have me try and read it out loud. She sings all the time and often makes up songs when playing by herself. I want to try recording it sometime but it's hard to catch her at it without her realizing you're watching/listening and turning all silly. She likes to be read to and memorizes books so she can "read" them to herself. I'm trying to be better about teaching her sounds and how to read, but I'm also trying to keep it fun for her and not frustrate or tire her out and right now that's walking a fine line. I honestly don't know if I'm any good at it because I didn't have to try this hard with Nathan and I think that made me lazy. He knew his alphabet and several numbers by the time he was 2, and could read fairly well at 4 1/2. I don't think Rylie is behind, just more average which means I need to actually know what I'm doing. I'm going to try working with her gradually on some things this summer so she'll be more ready for kindergarten. She usually knows right from left though, and her fine motor skills are great. She colors inside the lines and cuts well. She also holds a pencil correctly, which Nathan still doesn't always do all the time, so they both have their different strengths. What else... Rylie is very helpful and sweet most of the time. Sometimes she gets in trouble for having a sort of "I don't care" kind of attitude (I don't really know how to describe it) though. She loves babies and talks about being excited for her youngest sister to be born (Nathan does too, I forgot to say, but not as often). She was excited when I told her her cousin Ellie was born, and wanted to see her. I had to explain it would probably be at least a few weeks before she would be able to. By extension, she was pretty crushed when we couldn't find her baby doll, Rachel, for a few months. It turned up in stuffed animal storage that we'd sorted last Christmas, but even a few days ago, a day before we found it, actually, she sat on my lap and cried about not being able to find her. There were several times during those months when I tried to help her cheer up by imagining what her baby Rachel could be doing out there in the world, and Rylie seemed to think it was funny to imagine her living in the mountains, but mostly she just missed her and talked about that. She also seemed to remember she was gone whenever she was sad about something else. We'd prayed for those months to find her doll but after a couple of months decided to stop since it seemed to rub it in that Rylie still didn't have her. Anyway, when I eventually did find the doll, Rylie was understandably very excited. We said a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for helping us find it and for a day or two she and the baby doll were practically inseparable. Now she will occasionally leave her on the floor while she plays with other things but still seems to come back to her often. Anyway, I thought that was pretty interesting, and definitely a learning experience for me and probably for Rylie. So yeah, Rylie can be very nice and helpful at times, but other times she just isn't interested in doing something, like picking up her toys or finishing her food, even when dessert or the privilege of having those toys is at stake. She will just say, "I don't care, you can take them." Or whatever. And she doesn't. Even days later. I just wonder if I'm doing the wrong consequences. She's content to play with something (or someone) else or read instead. It occurs to me that I could take away everything, so she can't find alternatives, but that doesn't seem to correlate closely enough to the offense of not picking up her toys or what have you. I don't know. What else about Rylie... She still loves pink, but also really, really loves purple and sometimes also blue. She surprises me with her color choices sometimes. She still loves princesses, Barbies, etc., but also loves using Nathan's Legos, Lincoln Logs and train set. She loves wearing her hair down and will rarely let me do anything to it beyond brushing it out. Which is easier for me, I guess! She loves to play with her friends but is still at the age where conflicts sometimes arise with them. She is looking forward to playing soccer this summer and going to kindergarten later. I think she's looking forward to going on the bus but it wouldn't surprise me if she changes her mind later. Perhaps it will be easier knowing that Nathan will be there on the ride home. She is definitely NOT looking forward to her pre-kindergarten doctor's visit, since she has to get a few vaccines before being admitted to school. She wishes she would never have to get shots. I told her she wouldn't have to worry about shots again for several years but she's still not swayed. I'm worried about how her appointment will go. It's in the beginning of May and I may just have to make sure I go alone with her. I can see it going badly. Not that I'm Ietting her know that! Maybe if she can get through it without throwing a fit I'll promise ice cream? Anybody think that's a bad idea? There has been an occasion or two where she didn't hold up her end and she didn't get the reward and a tantrum ensued that eerily reminded me of Nathan back in the day. Anyway...

I'm getting tired so that's all I can think of for Rylie right now. As for Maya, I don't know... Gosh I'm so sleepy now. She's hilarious, intentionally and unintentionally. She's at an adorable age, but also at the beginning of the terrible twos (which is sort of a pointless name, really, since it seems to start before age 2 and extends well into 3 and sometimes 4, at least with my kids so far). This means tantrums (mild so far, in comparison to her older siblings' current ones) and screeching when someone takes her toys or offends her in some way. I've obviously tried to discourage the screeching, and she's toned it way down in nursery (fortunately! there were a couple of times she made another kid cry) but not always so much at home. It's probably hard, with two adults and two older kids telling her what to do (I try to tell the kids not to boss her around, but obviously that's difficult, especially when she walks off with pieces from their games or something). But anyway... She loves doing hand motions for songs, and once in a while I've heard her possibly singing to herself, but I don't think she does it as much as Rylie did at this age. Perhaps it's still too soon to tell if she'll like singing later on, though. She gets attached to certain songs and wants to hear them over and over. In the past month that has included, "If I Had Words", "Rock-a-bye Baby", "Five Little Ducks", "Book of Mormon Stories", "There Was a Little House" and whatever that one primary song is called that starts out with, "Whenever I hear the song of a bird". She knows lots of words and seems to learn more every day. For months she could say Rylie's name (pronounced "Ryee") but couldn't say Nathan or Nate. That always seemed kind of backwards to me, but today she finally started saying Nate with more consistency. She pronounces it "Nake". She also started saying her own name, Maya or My-My (since Rylie will call her that once in a while) today more. We also call her My or Mize (don't know how to spell that) but she hasn't picked that up. We started calling her Mize or whatever because when she was a couple of months old or so, for some reason I got this line into my head from the 1995 Pride and Prejudice where Sir ... Oh what's his name... Charlotte's father? Anyway, he sees Elizabeth Bennet walking by as he's having a stilted conversation with Mr. Darcy and decides to try and do a good thing by setting them up to dance. He gets her attention by saying, "Oh - Miss Eliza!" So for whatever reason, I started saying, "Oh - Miss Emiza!" - probably just because I'm a dork. Anyway somehow it got shortened to Mize and the others picked it up. Now not as many of us say it, and honestly it wouldn't surprise me if Rylie calls her that the most. So what else... Maya seems to have a very similar brand of humor to Rylie, and is very goofy. She has been doing what she can for a laugh since she was only months old (6 months, maybe?). The kids often thank Heavenly Father in their prayers for her funniness. Of course that, in and of itself, is funny to me. Hmm... Oh, recently, she seems to have learned at least one color - pink. It's easy for her to say, and she seems to usually get it right when identifying it. She can (sort of) pronounce a couple of other colors, like blue, green, and purple but doesn't often identify them properly yet. I love the way she says certain words, like "glasses" (klasses, with as much tongue and spit as possible in the "kl" sound) and "balloon" (bloo, usually with much emphasis and often with a tone of question)... There was one other word but I can't think of it now.

Ok I think that's all I can think of for now, not that that wasn't a ton. At this point my back is killing me and the youngest won't leave my internal organs alone so I'm going to call it a night. Oh plus it's midnight. So there you go.

I'm putting some random pictures of the kids playing from a month or two ago to make this all worth your while.