Homework Continued...

so ... homework has gone better, each day a tiny bit better.  Then yesterday - A HUGE SUCCESS!-
 I am SO GRATEFUL!

First day of School Photo

what made yesterday SO GOOD!.......

1. Repetition - she knew it was coming, dang consistency :)
2. Snacks- she ate the whole time
3.Timer, seriously has been an idea sent from Heaven.  She has to do her homework in 30 min. if she doesn't finish she doesn't get, a star or a fun activity homework.
4. Little Sister Occupied. (Need I say more?)
5.  Fun Activity Afterward- yesterday she chose to play outside with friends, the day before painting.


So yesterday in one hour we accomplished...
Homework, snack time, her chore (to vacuum) and her reading practice.  It was truly amazing.  She really is motivated by that fun thing afterward. the other fabulous thing about yesterday is that we had nothing else planned after school.  so then she had all evening to play and unwind.

The rest of the week was something everyday that added stress to both of us. And NO time for the good stuff of relaxing and getting all the wiggles out.  Yesterday on the grass across the street Miss E ran and ran and ran some more.  She was literally doing circles around her friends.  She has SO MUCH ENERGY TO BURN!

First grader, is such a big adjustment, they are still so little, gone from home from 8:30-4:30 and then expected to do more work.  yucky.  thats why I hate saturday chores, so I decided (yesterday) we would do friday chore.  She has to help out everyday with mealtimes, so for now at least, one chore on friday is sufficent.

Obviously I am grateful for yesterdays success.  So thrilled, So grateful.  I  just loved how fun & smooth it went yesterday.  Her and I were laughing and just enjoying, that is how it needs to be.  I was having these dreadful thoughts of the next 12 years of her school life where her and I fought everyday.  NOT GOOD!
I am sure that there will be good & bad days, but yesterday just gave me 10,000,000,000 lbs of hope :)

I am so proud of my little growing up Miss E.

Homework: Help Wanted !!!

Hey homework crazy moms....

So yesterday was our first day of school & first day of homework!! We have done homework pages during the summer, but real live homework is a bit different Ive discovered.

Homework time took 1 1/2 hours yesterday!!!(and that doesn't include reading) For first grade. Now she wasn't assigned too much work, nope. She just didn't want to do it. And I (equally strong willed) wasn't about to give in. I am in charge after all, that's why I'm called Mom.

I want my amazing daughter to succeed in school & so she has to learn to do homework. But I am not willing to spend an hour and a half fighting with my precious girl. So day two of homework is going to be quite different.

I am changing lots of things.

First off, a timer 30min. And that's all folks!

I got many ideas from my sister (the timer idea for instance) but I also found a TON of useful ideas on www.family-homework-answers.com

Wow!!!

The second change is that my 3year old is going to have a paper activity as well since she was the cause of so much distraction. (I'm glad they missed each other!!)

If you have any tips, please let me know! And I will tell you if anything works tonight!

Wish me luck :)

Summertime is bliss

So I haven't written.

Call me crazy, summer is just too fun to spend any time blogging! We have enjoyed boating, lake Powell, a cave adventure, hiking, and swimming.

Lots of swimming!

So I have a lot of pictures to post but it might be a bit yet.

Oh and this summer, Miss E has caught a few flies, many MANY grasshoppers, 2 frogs, a fish and a baby bird. Whoa.

And we spent a week hiking in Utah and spent lots of time canning salsa, boulenease, apricot jam and the girls got a playset for their birthdays.

I LOVE SUMMER!

I'm not ready for school to start :( only 2 more weeks of this bliss. But September will be busy so we'll be alright. Miss E is VERY excited for 1st grade, so that's good!

Soul Restoration 2

So if any of you gals out there want to enhance - lift up- be a little more focused or enjoy your life more than you do now. Even if you love your life deeply right now but want to get it to that next goal or step- If you need a serious face lift to your days, feel like your in a rut, need a little TLC or just want to do something special for yourself this summer- then you need to do this:




Copy and paste this into your address bar...

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c5c2253ef015432c126b5970c

It will take you to a post about this great class she's teaching!

You need to visit
Melody Ross




at BraveGirlsClub.com




and take her class "soul restoration 2" class

I promise you will love it!!!!

I got a little sneak peak of what's coming up in her class... It was lovely. The best thing I could describe it as- artsy, fun, very deep, helpful, true, lovely.

Brit

Ps- melody didn't ask me to post this- I doubt she will even know but she has a beautiful soul & Mind and so much to offer and I think every girl can use a little bit of love for the good hard things we do every day....so that's why I'm linking to her- just you know- FYI :)


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Water FIGHT!!

It all started with an innocent flick of water during dinner - it ended in all out water fight!! It was a blast!

Miss E






And Miss H







-
And I









Loved every second of it!

Then we cleaned up- Miss E pretending she was a dog...










And they wanted their crazy faces on the blog...














Loving my girls and my life (and my man for starting the fight!)

8 years of goodness!!

I can't believe I have been married to this amazing man for 8 years!!!!



I just think he is SO good looking!!

He is a rock in my life. He knows me and loves me. I can't believe I'm old enough to be married so long. I still feel the same (better actually) than I did in high school!

In our 8 years we have survived:

2 bed rest pregnancies
2 failed business ventures (still surviving the after affects of this)
Jobless times
Pneumonia
5 moves
6 different jobs
Asthma in me & Miss E
2 babies in NICU
remodeled 4 homes
One Broken collarbone
A few near death moments of me (I don't think I was near death but ask Kyle and he'd say it was certain)
Potty training 2 children
And a stubbed toe :)

Kyle can't believe he's survived being married to me!! Oh the stress!!- (I have found 2 grey hair in his 31 year old head & he likes to say my [pathetic weak & wimpy] body has given them to him) sorry babe!!

We have loved every moment that we spend together- grateful for the bad times N all we learned and grew through them-

Also fabulously grateful for the good times....

Graduated College
Hawaii (3 times!!!!!!!!!!)
Owned 3 fun fun fun fun boats
Lake Powell adventures
Lake McClure houseboat tips
Camping
2 girls camps
Tons of snow skiing
Thousands of BBQ time
Ran Red Rock Relay
Scuba diving in Cozumel
(got our scuba diving certs)
Enjoys many of sand dunes trips
Picnic lunches & dinners
Many many a date nights


What we love to do together-

Boating (and all that involves)
Snow skiing
Watching movies
Dirt biking
Playing with our girls
house hunting
Cooking
Traveling
Brainstorming
Pretty much if we are together- Im good!
DREAMING- speaking of dreaming- we LOVE to dream!!!!

What do we love to dream about??

Fulfilling people's bucket list dreams all around the world
Going on a mission together
Traveling
Building a ski Lake community
Teaching our kids through service
Hosting benefit concerts
Adding to our family

Those are the big ones...

We are also big on our own hobbies-

--Kyle's hobbies--
Mountain biking
Helping others
Making up ideas
Ultimate frisbee
Soccer
Watching wakeboard videos
Researching- boats, Homes, how to do stuff, benefit organizations, church missions, sand rails, etc

••Brits hobbies••
Home decorating
Glass paintings
Road biking- I'm trying
Cooking
Art
Photography
Dancing in the rain
Really anything fun & creative


I love it when Kyle reaches out to hold my hand.

Kyle loves it when I tickle his back.

So long to short- I just wanted to say YAY!!!!! WE ARE MARRIED!!

I am so glad we have each other :)

I love this guy...


Brit


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Another step...

Yesterday Kyle and I had our first "interview" with our case worker - we really didn't know what to expect.
-
And I guessed wrong. Really it was just saying what the next steps are - and guess what?!? It's more paperwork! So just stuff like birth certificates - yep we are alive
Marriage cerificates- yep we are married
Background check- no skeletons here!
Divorce certificates- yep still married!
And such stuff- easy peasy!

And guess what? I'm still very VERY excited!!




Brit

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

School year ends

I cannot believe this is the end of the school year. I still can't believe i am sort of old enough to have a daughter in school. And next year she will be gone all day








I love my little big girl. She is so grown up. This week she has her first real field trip & I'm missing it :( that makes me even more sad. It's miss H's last week of swimming lessons and she can't miss them...

I seriously wish that time could pause and I could savor these moments even longer. I could be a young mom forever.

I know that many young mom days are hard but when I realize that the times are a changing- real school days are coming with homework and quick evenings- I'm sad that this daughter won't be home with me as much.

I don't want her to be out there in the works with mean people. I want to protect her forever. But that's not right. She has to learn and grow. I wonder if this is how heavenly father feels when he knows we are about to go through hard things. I like to think so.

Dance recital!!

Miss E and her cousin had their ballet recital- it was beautiful. They were kites! And they did a wonderful job up on stage, remembering their counts and step. I loved watching!






- miss E with her flowers and "Cat in the Hat" guy- that was the theme for the recital.

Of course we got icecream on the way home. It was pretty late coming home so sadly we couldn't go to an icecream shop. But the girls were still thrilled!




Have a great weekend!

Brave Girls Camp!!!!

Check out where I am going this week!!!!  This is my second time as staff.  I feel so honored!!!



http://www.bravegirlsclub.com/aboutbravegirlcamp-main.html