Monday, September 12, 2011

Family Update

Ivan: Teaches Algebra and Special Ed at Poston Butte High School. We love his new job. Its a lot closer and the kids and I try and take him lunch at least three times a week since its only about 10 mins form our house. The girls LOVE to see him at lunch time!! He continues to work on our irrigation port and fencing so we can have grass soon. He cares for our goats and milks them daily. Serves in the Elders Quorum Pres. He recently finished his Masters. He ran in a track meet recently and did AWESOME!! I love watching him with the kids and they love any minute they can have with their daddy!

Me: Having child number three has been a bit of a challenge. Less sleep, outnumbered, etc. But I am absolutely loving motherhood. I love having Ivan close and not doing homework all hours of the night. I started teaching preschool again this year and have a fun, small sized class. I am serving as YW President and love it. I went to girls camp this summer and thoroughly enjoyed the girls and felling the Spirit. I went to Utah and had a great weekend with my sisters at my Grandma's bed and Breakfast. It was a much needed bonding/relaxing time!

Marlee: She LOVES to swim. She wants to get better each time. Jumping off the diving board/rocks- She won't come up for air until she runs out which scares us... She is the BEST big sister to Brandtson and helps me out so much through out the day. She is super friendly and enjoys playing with pretty much anyone. She is the oldest kid in my preschool and is such a good helper. She is starting to write some letters and we are beginning to understand what she is drawing. She loves calling and talking to people on the phone and is pretty much a good kid. We got a second opinion (other than my own) about her being allergic to milk and it is confirmed. She also has enlarged tonsils which we are trying to heal naturally for a couple of months before having to remove them or not. Part of the natural way is to avoid sugar, dairy, etc. So in church on Sunday, her primary teacher told me how she was offered Skittles. She said, 'Does that have sugar in it?" And of course the teacher said yes so Marlee responded, "My mommy said I can't have sugar." I feel bad but know that it would be worth it in the long run if we can save her tonsils. She is really into playing babies, barbies and pretend.

Josie: Josie is a little sneaky thing. She gets into my make-up, Daddy's tools, my necklaces and cooking utensils-pretty much anything that is off limits. But we still love her. She is a a water lover. She will go and put herself in the bathtub any time of day to play in the water. She enjoys swimming too, but is a little apprehensive. She is a great nap taker! She loves when Brandtson wakes up and loves waking him up if she wants to play with him while he is napping. She is a cuddler. She likes to tease and get a reaction out of Marlee and loves to wrestle with Anyone and won't stop when her opponent taps out! She is a follower to whatever everyone else is doing as long as its fun and but yet she is totally okay with playing by herself while other are playing. She loves the Toy story characters as well as the Rapunzel characters.
 
Brandston: He is on a roll this month....He is six months old. He started crawling last week. Started pulling himself up on furniture and walking along the furniture as well as his first tooth broke threw skin last night. He is growing up WAY too fast. He is a great little baby. He loves all of the attention his sisters will give him. He chases them around the house at a slow crawling speed, but still loves it! He is starting to become a mama's boy and says, "mama" when he is stuck, super sad, etc.(Thanks to his sisters and dad who think its funny and taught him how to say "mama.") I'm a little nervous he is going to start walking soon!


 Overall, we feel completely blessed to have such wonderful kids and for Ivan to have a family orients job. LIFE IS GOOD!!!