Sensory play

The children have really been into sensory type play lately.

We recently expanded Hyrum's ball pit from Christmas to the swimming pool- adding two more bags of balls. It's not quiet enough to fill the pool, but they sure have fun with it anyway and they can all fit at the same time which solves a lot of problems.(The extra legs in the pictures belong to a little friend.)

They also have been very interested in playing with some old, expired beans. I pulled these out and set them on the floor with a few measuring cups and bowls and they were content while I made breakfast.

Hyrum is so excited about the beans, the ball pit, and also play dough. That he's constantly asking to play with one of them. It's nice to have him interested in something other than getting into my things. This morning he asked to play with the beans and I told he needed to wash the table and then put his blankets on his bed - then he could play with the beans. So, he promptly washed the table, put the cloth away and then ran (without prompting) to the living room, gathered his blankets and put them on his bed, and before I knew it he was back in the kitchen asking for the beans. I was very impressed that he remembered all those steps and got them done so fast!

Great imaginations!

The children are developing some amazing imaginations. They love to play together and are each other's best friends. One day, after we got back from grocery shopping (I had gotten a good deal on some cereal) I was putting groceries away and they started a game with the cereal boxes.

They turned them into a fort and were hiding from a bear- if I recall correctly.

They had a great time until I had to stop the fun becasue Hyrum was starting to get hungry (apparently) and was tearing the boxes to try to get at the cereal.

Learning to Trust

These last few weeks have been very interesting for me. Lately I have been feeling the need to be more in-tune with the promptings of the Holy Ghost and to follow every single prompting and personal revelation I receive. It has been an amazing adventure. First, the promptings were small- call this person, take dinner to that person, etc. Those were very rewarding experiences as I found I was answering the prayers of others. As I continued to follow the promptings the Lord was able to trust me more- or more accurately- I was learning to trust HIM. The promptings kept coming- faster - harder tasks - greater responsibilities.

One night as I was praying the thought came to mind that I needed to do this "master cleanse" that my friend had been talking to me about. The master cleanse is a process of fasting for 7-10 days and drinking only this awful tasting lemonade. (Awful because of the amount of cayenne pepper in it.) I didn't want to do it and I was worried I would loose too much weight (as I don't have any to spare.) I was worried I wouldn't be able to take care of my children if I wasn't eating. And the list of worries could go on. But, I kept having the confirming witness that this was something I needed to do- for my physical health and for my spiritual health. So I researched the idea more and asked several questions of my friend who had done it. Finally, the second week of February, I decided it was time to start. I went for 10 days without eating - 7 days on the lemonade and water only. As I was finishing, I felt great! My body felt cleansed. I had enough energy through out to take care of all my responsibilities. (Except one Saturday evening- I had the most awful headache and didn't function very well.) I am so glad that I was able to do this, and that I received that inspiration to do it -because I would never have made the decision to do it on my own.

The physical benefits were great, but the spiritual benefits are of the most value to me. I learned to trust God to a greater extent. I learned greater self-control. I learned that I can do anything with the Lord's help. But most of all I learned to Trust.

Guess who's learning to READ?!?!

Brigham has been very interested in letters and letter sounds and Timothy and I have been fostering that interest. Finally, this week I check out a set of early readers from the library called Bob Books. I pulled them out and he picked up on them so fast it amazed us both. Rebekah is also trying to give reading a fair shot and is only a step behind Brigham. She will likely begin reading in the next couple of months as well! CRAZY! I never expected my children would learn to read at 3 and 4 years old, but they are just so interested and have the desire to do it, that I can't stop them from learning! Brigham has read the first three BOB books by himself and is very excited to read more!

Three sets of twins

Bet you didn't know I had six children, huh?

Just kidding. We were having some mirror fun today.

Not much has been happening at our house lately that has seemed "post-worthy". That's why things have been a bit stagnant. Lots has been happening for us personally and financially, but it's not stuff one usually shares with the world. We've been struggling (still) with our children attaching to us as their parents, but we've been doing some research and are finding that most adopted children-even those adopted as newborns have a hard time fully accepting their adoptive parents because they are trying to grieve over the loss of a mother. Anyway, Timothy and I are taking a 10 week class on attachment and are hoping to learn ways to strengthen our relationships with each of our children.

Hyrum's gotee

Guess who has been playing in the sandbox?

Christmas Back-log #7: Jessica's Family

We were able to get my mom, all her children, and grandchildren into her tiny little house. There are 17 of us now. This family has really exploded. When Katherine came home form her mission was the last time we had family pictures taken and there were 7 of us. 4 years later there are 17!
My mom went from having no grandchildren two years ago to having 7. (3 adopted, 2 brought in by marriage, and 2 biological.)

Christmas Back-log #6: Christmas Again

(I just love this picture)

We traveled from Timothy's parents to my Mom's the day after Christmas. We were able to visit with all of our family there also!4 Cousins in Christmas clothes


Grandma with 2 grand-daughters

Poor Emma

On Monday, the 27th we had Christmas again with my family.

My sister, Katherine, crocheted stuffed animals for the children. They are so cute and the children really like them. Hyrum got a lion

Rebekah got an elephant

Brigham got a snake

My niece, Mikayla, got a baby and she just loved it!

Christmas Back-log #5: Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning we woke bright and early...so bright we could hardly open our eyes Mom was flashing the camera so bright in the darkness.

Then, we went up stairs at Gram-Gram's house to see what Santa brought the children.Hyrum a wooden bus with a pull string. Brigham a set of "Ring-a-majigs". And Rebekah a little baby plus accessories.

I think Bekah was the most excited!

Hyrum's favorite present was ball-pit balls that we dumped into a storage bin. He played in there for two hours on Christmas morning.

Of course cuddling with Daddy was a highlight of Christmas morning too.

While Bekah and Hyrum ate their stocking candy, Brigham found it fun to check out his cousins' presents.Brigham with Sierra

We had a good Christmas at Timothy's parents.

Christmas Back-log #4: Timothy's Family

Our first stop was to see Timothy's family. The children were really looking forward to seeing their cousins again. WE all had a great time visiting and playing games and trying to keep too many hands out of trouble. :) (The kids only managed to knock over three of Gram-Gram's plants this time and they all seemed to have survived!)

On Christmas we actually had all of the family together so we took advantage of that and got family a family picture. The family is definitely multiplying. When I joined the family in 2001 there were 11 of us, just two years ago there were 15 of us, now there are 20.



More on Christmas day next time...

Christmas Back-log #3: Traveling in Snow

We wanted to be with our extended family for Christmas this year so we decided to brave the snowy roads to do so. We were going along just fine when we hit a patch of packed snow on the freeway. We slowed down, as did most people around us. When we started seeing vehilces off the side of the road we slowed down even more. When we started to slide we started to worry and slowed down to about 30 mph. Even going that speed was too much with the slick road for our rear wheel drive mini van and we fish tailed a bit and then spun out and landed with our rear tires in the median. (Doing almost a 180 in the process.) Luckily there weren't any vehicles too close to us so we didn't hit anything, but I (Jessica) was driving and was shaking after we slid to a stop . A nice man and his son had also slid into the median from the other side of the road, only they were very deep in and were quite stuck. So, they trudged through the snow and pushed us out of the median, and we were able to continue on our way. We only went a few miles before we decided to put chains on even though not many others were, but we were still sliding and only going 25 mph. So, Timothy put the chains on and we were able to make it through the rest of the slick roads safely.

We did run into other patches of slick roads, but they weren't nearly so bad and we didn't slide again. For which we were very grateful.

Christmas Back-log #2: Broken Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas decorations set up during the first week of December, but between rambunctious preschoolers and a two-year old who's phase is pushing, the tree didn't last very long. It was only up two days before it was broken beyond Mommy's ability to repair. So, it went to the garage to await the fate of Daddy. After a few weeks Daddy devised a tree stand that was preschooler proof and toddler proof. And the tree was back up for the last few days before we left on our vacation to visit family. (more on that to come.)

Christmas Back-log #1: Graham Cracker Houses

Brigham's preschool hosted a "Sugar Plumb Cottage" night. Where the whole family got to go and make a Graham Cracker House. So Mommy and Bekah made one and Brigham and Daddy made one, and Hyrum just ate the crackers and candy.

Bekah and Mommy made a traditional house and had fun decorating it. Bekah also found a hole in the roof support piece and stuffed larger pieces of candy inside. So,when she ate her house, there was a surprise when she took off the roof-more candy!Brigham and Daddy made a non-traditional house (note the inverted roof) They piled a bunch of candy and coconut in the crevice.
We had a good time and it was good to spend some time working as a family.

Rebekah

I just noticed I haven't posted much about Rebekah lately. She is a mostly happy little 3 year old who is trying very hard to keep up with Brigham. She recognizes about 20 letters of the alphabet and talks like she's four. She told a lady in the grocery store today (with a very stern face) "Those are our eggs." :) The lady only looked at them. She likes to help me with my work and is beginning to actually help more than hinder. She has FINALLY learned to stay in her bed and go to sleep at night!! (It only took 14 months.) She recently got a new bed. We got her a twin when Hyrum grew out of the crib and gave her toddler bed to him.

Rebekah is such a blessing in our lives. She has a very strong will, so we are trying to teach her as much as we can while she's little so that she can be a strong force for good when she grows up.

Catching up

This past week has been catching up time for me. I've been trying to catch up on spending time with my children, catching up on house work and organizing that has been put off for 6 months, catching up on lost sleep.

I had forgotten how nicely my children can play together without Marc around to disrupt their play constantly. They will go and play for 30-60 minutes at a time and I am able to get so much of my work done, that I'm catching up on 6 months of neglected work rather quickly. Before, I was having to stop what I was doing every 30-90 seconds in order to keep the children from destroying things or hurting each other. Well, after all our behavior intervention, by the end, I was able to work for sometimes up to 5 minutes at a time, but never even close to 30!

As for the reaction of the children to Marc leaving, they are glad he's gone. Every once in a while Brigham will cry that Marc took _____ home with him. (a shirt, or a toy) I think Hyrum misses Marc the most and just doesn't know how to express it, but he's been doing well too. I am so glad that Marc going home hasn't seemed to damage the children emotionally as I was afraid it would.

Catching up on everything has been nice.