Aleeya and Hailey Curtin

Aleeya and Hailey really seem to enjoy each other. Hailey flaps her arms like she is trying to fly when she sees Aleeya.

Aleeya enjoys having someone down on her level to play with!

Preschool Coloring Page

The preschool theme for April 23 was Creative Movement. Carter had a great time dancing and displayed some moves that were hilarious, if not slightly disturbing!

For the craft the children were listening to music and drawing what they heard. The song was ocean sounds and Carter REALLY got into it. He drew on both sides of his paper and then wasn't ready to finish and come and tell the group about it. This is by far the most detailed picture he has done.

How we spend our days..

For the sake of keeping a history, this is a run down of how we usually spend our days. Carter likes to know what is going on so we talk about each day of the week and this is how we label them: Monday-Family Home Evening, Tuesday-Relief Society (this means he will have friends over to play with while I have a meeting or he will play with Dad at night while I go on visits), Wednesday-Playgroup, Thursday-Preschool, Friday-Free Day, Saturday-Soccer, Sunday-Church.

We seem to have the opportunity to have friends over often. I always enjoy having kids come and play because I think it is easier to watch my own kids when they are playing with others. They don't need me to be a part of the play and I can just observe.

Our next door neighbor, Olivia, comes over several times a week and she is a joy to have. Olivia is six, so she is a good role model for Carter about how to be a good friend. She also is really loving towards Serena and Aleeya.

I enjoy having a clean house, so I have enlisted the help of the kids in this endeavor. Carter and Serena help with garbage, cleaning the floor, picking up toys and Serena likes to help set the table. Both of them also really like to help me cook. I want to give them this opportunity, but I do think my stress level is always higher when we are cooking, due to the fact that they both WILL NOT stay off the counter and they are a little to eager to measure and dump ingredients with or without direction.

We try to do homework everyday, which consists of doing a coloring page from letter or number books or doing an art project. Basically, "homework" is a fancy way of saying coloring or craft time.

Music is also a big part of our day, I like to have the radio on during the day and so the kids know a lot of country songs. Both of them really love to perform and sing and dance. Our friend, Jamie Smith, loaned us a karaoke machine and they love to sing into the microphone. I will play primary songs on the piano and they will sing. They also love to play quiz show where I ask a question and they answer into the microphone.

Now that it is nicer weather we can play outside to release energy, but during the winter we did a lot of dancing. I have the tape "See Me Run" from when I was a child and we listened to it and did the actions at least once a day for many weeks.

I dream of being able to say that we don't watch television. But for the sake of sanity we do have a quiet time everyday and the kids watch cartoons. Curious George and Backyardigans are favorites, but so is SpongeBob Square Pants(I wish they didn't like this one).

Overall, I think we have a pretty fun schedule and we stay busy!

Carter thinks he is Adam Lambert

Lynette took some videos of the kids. I have no idea what Carter is saying or where he learned to dance. I am assuming that this video will come in handy when he is dating age.

For future reference, Adam Lambert is a contestant on the TV show American Idol.

Serena doing the peach punch dance

This is the video that Lynette took of Serena. She is holding peach punch packets and container.

We got a van!

2007 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT
Aleeya enjoying a nice spacious ride!

We finally broke down and spent the money and got a van. I am really excited that we were able to find one with relatively low miles, power doors and stow-in-go seats. We looked for what seemed like forever, but that way we knew when we were getting a decent deal.

Aleeya exploring the wonders of rice cereal

Aleeya is starting to eat rice cereal. She is not an expert by any means, and more ends up on her face and clothes than in her belly! She also really thinks it is funny to spit it out all over. I can't wait for foods that stain, like carrots!

Serena's crib closet

Serena is a true girl and she has a shoe fetish. It all started when she got snow boots from her Aunt Kimmie for Christmas. She went for at least 3 months with these being the ONLY shoes she would wear AND she had to have them in her crib at night.

She is now starting to branch out to other shoes, but they also now have to be added to the crib each night. She has her pink "butterfly" shoes, her "white" shoes, and her "soccer" slippers. She also has to have a book and her frog with her.

Don't even think about trying to get her to go to bed without one of these important items. She has a powerful set of lungs and knows how to use them!

We are currently in the process of looking for a big girl bed for her and I can only wonder what she will decide has to be in that bed with her!

Carter the Master Gardener

Carter with his amazing trees. He "planted" about twenty.

Carter with Serena, Aunt Staci and Aleeya

I have been participating in a garden group and I was trying to decide if I was going to go on Thursday. I asked Carter if he would like to go to garden group or to scoot outside while I worked on our yard of weeds. He said that he is a master gardener and that he had to go to garden group because some people are experts and he is an expert. I am sometimes amazed at the words he knows, as well as, his incredible sense of self-worth!

He really is the master gardener at our house, he took the branches that were pruned from our fruit trees and planted them in the garden. Apparently, he is tired of me not getting around to planting anything so he took the task into his own hands.

The power of Carter's prayers

Our lesson in Relief Society was about prayer and Bonnie Whitlock asked for examples of prayer we remember being answered when we were children, it reminded me about an experience with Carter's prayers.

We had an Oldsmobile that the transmission was going out on, one day I decided to risk it and drive to the store (I knew a ward member was going to be selling Girl Scout cookies there and I really wanted some, I was pregnant, so that is my excuse). Well, of course, after we got our cookies, the car wouldn't start. I decided to go to another store there in the complex and then try again. I asked Carter to say a prayer that our car would work so we could get home. He gave a great prayer and when we tried again it started.

So... Carter knew that when he prayed the car would work. Well, Taylor drove the car to work one day and it officially died for good. We tried many things to get it started, but it was done. At one point we did say a prayer, but it was time for the Olds. to be donated to charity.

The cute thing is that several weeks later Carter was saying that he missed the white car and that if we would have let him get inside the car and he had prayed, that it would have been fixed. I love that in his mind, since we were not in the car when we prayed that it didn't work. Who knows he might have enough faith that if we had put him inside the car, it would still be running!

Hopefully this will be funny someday...

So it is official, the Dearden children are the most disruptive at church. Carter had such a hard time being reverent in Primary that after they moved him several times, and he still refused to be good, they brought him to us in Sunday School. When I played the piano in Primary, I don't remember any kids getting kicked out, so he must have really been trouble! So, Taylor took him for awhile until he was ready to apologize and be good.

Then after Relief Society I was busy talking with people and Serena was in the Relief Society room wandering around. She climbed on a chair and pulled the fire alarm! I was so embarrassed! Luckily, Bishop Dearden was able to quickly use his key to turn it off, but then it went off twice more as they reset it, so the whole thing was very disruptive!!!!

I don't know if it is possible to have enough Family Home Evenings on reverence to get our kids to practice the principle!

On a happy note, Aleeya was smiling through the whole thing! There is still hope for her reverence!

I always thought I lived in a Zoo....

Most days it feels like I am living in a zoo, but this day it officially was one! Carter and Serena were playing with Jackie and Emily Larsen, children of my friend and former mission companion, Stephanie Larsen. This is the tiger cage they built and I was VERY impressed with the growls and faces the tigers could make!

Just a note on the amazing tiger hair that Serena has; I have decided to grow her bangs out (too much time and money to keep cutting them), but she is constantly pulling the elastic band out of her hair and then the hood on her sweatshirt adds a nice static effect.

Aleeya is six months old!

Yes, that is my foot, clear up by my chin!

So cute!

Serena at six months old

Carter at six months old

I can't believe my baby girl is six months. She had her immunizations and she is still small, but growing fine, so no worries! She rolls all over the place and gets up on her hands and knees like she is trying to crawl. I added pictures of Carter and Serena at the same age, I thought it would be fun to compare!

What happens while I am blogging..

This is what happens when I am not paying attention to the children because I am typing a blog post!! Those are raisins all over the floor! Carter said Serena did it, but he sure didn't come and tell me or stop her!

Easter

Easter was pretty low key for us. Sunday after church Carter and Serena played "Hot or Cold" to find their Easter pails. Thanks to the fact that I didn't shop for Easter candy until Saturday night, they had Teddy Grahams in their plastic eggs. The bonus is they are less messy than chocolate!

We went to Logan for Sunday dinner and then they looked for more Easter presents(cute books) from Grandpa and Grandma Hoppie. Grandma Hoppie had bags of jelly beans or M&M's for the adults so we hid those and let Carter and Serena find them. They had such a good time that we kept hiding the bags of candy so they found them multiple times. When they found a bag we told them to give them to a grown-up. Aunt Jen got the most bags of M&M's.

So Cute!

My room is a disaster!

Carter loves to play computer games and he loves to get in bed with us at night. So to solve the problem of getting into our bed, he can't play computer games the next day if he doesn't sleep in his bed.

Last night I came home from an American Idol party and he was asleep with Dad. When he asked to play computer today I told him no. Never one to take no for an answer he said what can I do to earn computer back. I told him he could play on the computer if he picked up his room, to which he replied "But my room is a disaster!"

Now that I am becoming "blog" minded I thought that would be a cute picture. Thankfully, he was able to conquer the disaster, and he loved posing for pictures.

Update on Carter Bruce

Carter is 4 1/2 years old and very active! He is playing soccer and is getting ready to start t-ball. Sports are his thing! He loves basketball and bowling and football etc.

Carter has been participating in a neighborhood preschool and he is very good at remembering what each lesson is about. He does "homework" everyday and if he has missed doing it, he loves to use that as an excuse as to why he can't go to bed.

Carter is very helpful with his two sisters and talks in the cutest voice to Aleeya. He and Serena do everything together and most of the time they get along well.

Carter speaks like he is an adult and often tries to negotiate other options when he is told what to do, he could have a future as a lawyer.

Update on Serena Lynn

I am such an angel!

Loves and Kisses for Grandma Hoppie

Serena is 2 1/2 years old. Serena is a loving, hugging, and kissing child, with everyone. She loves people and is not shy!

She is thrilled to have her own baby "doll," Aleeya. She often says, "hold eeya." And if you don't listen she will make sure she says it loud enough you hear! No concerns with her vocal chords.

Serena has no fear and is always climbing on things and getting into everything.

Serena is a big helper in the kitchen and loves cleaning. Basically, she follows mom around all day and imitates.

Update on Aleeya Cecil

Aleeya was born October 4, 2008, and is the best baby ever! She is so easygoing, and endures the love of her brother and sister well.

Aleeya has always been a good eater and sleeper and wakes mom up less often in the night than her siblings. Aleeya rolls all over the place and can sit up on her own. She is trying to crawl, but basically ends up scooting herself backwards and then gets mad that the toys are farther away.

If you need to feel happy inside just pick up Aleeya and her beautiful smile will make your day!

Thanks Lynette!

I am now joining the world of blogging. Thanks to Lynette for holding my hand!

Aleeya Six Months Pictures!