Family Letter -- 1/23/12-1/29/12

Well look at me getting this letter done early!  It has been quite a week.  The first half of the week was very difficult for me.  Ada and Kate have been fighting a lot and I just couldn't handle it.  Kate has been especially difficult.  She is quite the crazy 3-year-old.  I was almost at a breaking point on Tuesday night.  I was ready to kick this healthy living stuff to the curb.  Somehow I resisted temptation.  On Wednesday night I told Tyler that I really needed a break from the kids or I was going to go crazy.  I was seriously about to have a mental breakdown.  Well, Korrin was a Godsend.  The next day she called me and said that her girls really wanted to play with Ada and Kate.  She invited them over on Friday afternoon.  She totally saved the day!  Even though the fighting didn't really stop, the last half of the week was much more bearable for me.

Kate had to stay home from school on Monday because she was sick.  That night we had a lot of errands to run so we decided to eat dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Ada had been begging to go on a Monday night because they have a magician do magic tricks for the kids.  To her disappointment, there was no magician but we still enjoyed ourselves and our food.   

The next few days were the toughest for me.  I don't really have much else to say about them.

I'd been putting it off, but on Thursday I had to go to Target for some errands and I had to take all three kids.  Lyla was an angel but the other two struggled, especially Kate.  I was starting to get really annoyed when we all noticed a (not-so-) little girl on the floor throwing a huge tantrum.  Ada and Kate quieted down and just stared.  This girl was seriously screaming and flailing.  Her poor mom was trying to ignore her but then finally picked her up.  The girl continued to scream for several minutes and my girls kept quiet on their own accord after that.  I must say that I felt much better!  Things can always be worse.  I went visiting teaching for an hour before and an hour after Target, so it was a long day away from home.  It would have been a nice break except that Kate was not nice to my companion's poor little 1-year-old girl.  She does not do well with kids younger than she is.

Friday was a good day.  I got to go to Ada's kindergarten class to spotlight her.  My sweet friend Vanessa stayed with the little girls at home while I went.  Since Ada's birthday is in July, she got to be the Star of the Week this week.  She got to be the line leader all week and was very proud of that.  I made a poster about Ada and talked to her class about her.  We read her favorite book, Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog by Dr. Seuss.  We also handed out treats to the class.  She wanted Skittles, but the only fun-size ones at the store came in a bag with Starbursts also.  Well, every single kid wanted Skittles and there were only about six packs in the whole bag!  I felt bad turning them all down.  I hope they enjoyed their Starbursts.  That afternoon is when Korrin watched the kids and Lyla and I ended up sleeping the entire three hours that they were there!  It was wonderful.  That night Tyler picked up Chinese food for dinner and got a movie for us all to watch.  I think this is only about the second time we watched a movie together as a family.  The girls wanted The Smurfs.  We popped some corn and watched away.  It was pretty lame but Ada and Kate enjoyed it.  They thought it was hilarious.

Ada was invited to another birthday party on Saturday.  This was her first party of someone that she met at school.  She had a great time with all her school friends.  I forced Kate to take a nap that afternoon because she had been waking up way too early and was not pleasant to be around.  Luckily she obliged and it made the rest of the day much better.  We all went to our niece Reese's birthday party at Jungle Jim's in Midvale.  It was lots of fun for the girls.  I got to sneak away for a bit to use up an Old Navy Groupon that expired that day.  I wish I could go shopping by myself more often!  A little retail therapy is always good for the soul.  After the party we decided to go to IKEA to get stuff for the toy room.  Morgan and Jordan joined us.  We ate dinner there and made some good purchases.  I could spend all day in that place!  I was originally planning in watching the BYU/St. Mary's game that night but after hearing the outcome I wasn't sad I missed it.  Tyler and I were originally planning on staying up until midnight like we did the week before so we could enjoy some sweets (Sunday is our free day for the healthy living contest) but I was just too tired to do it.  Kate actually stayed in her bed all night but Lyla had a bad night and kept me up a lot.  I'm actually not minding 1:00 church because I was able to sleep in until 10:30 or so today.

Church was good, but it's hard with a baby.  Lyla was struggling.  She's loud even when she isn't crying.  I have a feeling that it will only get worse as she gets older.  Dinner was fun at Mom and Dad's tonight though.  I made black bottom cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert and they were delish.  Dad had found lots of our old books and had us sort through them and take the ones we wanted.  It was fun looking through them.  I grabbed a bunch and tonight I started reading Ramona the Pest to Ada.  I can't wait to read them all!  Oh, the memories.

This week looks to be another busy one with the Petersons coming to town.  I can't wait! 

Little Ly

Family Letter -- 1/16/12-1/22/12

Oh, another week has come and gone.  I'm getting better at this letter thing--I'm actually documenting a few days earlier than I normally do!  Not much happened last week.  On Tuesday night I went to a Relief Society activity while Tyler watched kids in the nursery.  There was one other guy helping him and there were 19 kids in there!  It was a popular activity because a former contestant from The Biggest Loser came to talk to us.  She was really cool and said lots of good things.  If you want to be healthy and/or lose weight, a diet isn't going to cut it.  You need to change your lifestyle.  She lost 125 pounds from the show but she still exercises for two hours a day and consumes around 1200 calories to maintain her new weight.  She has completely changed her eating habits and is healthier and happier than ever.  She looks great! 

I actually got out of the house a few times on Wednesday during the day.  Lyla and I went to Target while the girls were at school.  After they got home, we all went to pick up some prescriptions and to the library.  The kids had fun picking out lots of books and I picked up some books for book club.  It was nice to get away and the girls were actually really good, even though Ada didn't want to go.  She is a total homebody. 

On Thursday night, Tyler took Ada and Kate to a Utah basketball game while Ly and I went to book club.  I love book club.  There are eight of us and we meet once a month to hang out and discuss a book.  We discussed 'Mrs. Mike' and then it was my turn to pick the next book.  I chose 'Mrs. Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf.  I've never read it, so I hope it's good.  I stayed out way too late but had lots of fun with my friends.

Ada went to a birthday party on Friday evening so the rest of us decided to get out.  We decided to eat dinner at Village Inn since Kate loves pancakes so much.  Ada has been invited to so many birthday parties but Kate hasn't been invited to any without Ada also being invited.  We thought we better do something special for Kate so she wouldn't feel bad about not getting to go.  I would have preferred to get ice cream or something, but Tyler and I aren't eating sweets during the week.  The food was okay (really, what can you expect from Village Inn, right?).  Kate started getting sick that night, so she really didn't have the best time.  Ada had fun at her party, though.  They all wore pajamas and had their nails and makeup done, ate dinner, decorated cupcakes, and watched a movie.  Something monumental happened that night: all three kids slept through the night!  It was glorious.  It hasn't happened since, but it gave me a little bit of hope.  Kate was doing pretty well at staying in her bed until she got sick.  I hope Lyla starts sleeping through the night again soon.

Tyler got a lot of painting done on Saturday.  The toy room is coming along slowly but surely.  I can't wait until it's all finished.  I pretty much sat around and watched basketball most of the day.  I did get the bathroom cleaned at least.

Kate informed us on Sunday morning that her ear hurt.  While Ada, Lyla, and I went to church, Tyler took Kate to an Instacare-type place to get her checked out.  Sure enough, she has an ear infection and is on antibiotics.  Besides her ear, she's had a fever and a cough.  I really hope nobody else get this, especially Lyla.  Kate and Ada can't keep their hands off of her despite the fact that I tell them to a million times a day.  I always end up getting mad at them and then they get their feelings hurt.  Anyway, we watched some football and were sad at the outcomes of both games.  I'm not excited about the Patriots and Giants playing in the Superbowl.  I wish they could both lose!

Tyler and I are going strong with our healthy lifestyles challenge, though I've had a harder time doing it this week.  I've stayed strong, though.  I even turned down pie at book club. 

Lyla has always wanted to eat at least every two hours.  Last week I started feeding her about 2 1/2 hours and it's gone pretty well.  She still cries a lot.  She won't take a binky.  She likes to use me as one instead or suck on her fist.  I tried a few different kinds of them last week but it was to no avail.  Ada and Kate were obsessed with their binkies, so this is new to me.  At least I won't have to worry about weaning her from one when she's older.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable week.  Ciao.

Family Letter -- 1/9/12-1/15/12

Last week was a pretty uneventful week. Tyler worked on the toy room as much as he could and I did my usual mom stuff. On Monday we watched Alabama kick LSU's butts. I'll miss college football. I did do one thing out of the ordinary, though—I went and played church basketball! Our ward had eight people show up and the other ward had zero, so we did a little 4-on-4 scrimmage. I am sorely out of shape and not very good, but it was fun to run around. I think I'll plan on going again!

Tyler and I have been doing very well on our healthy lifestyle challenge. All of us have been eating much healthier for the most part. The girls have been enjoying lots of fruit. The other day I found Ada and Kate eating handfuls of spinach and lettuce. This isn't uncommon for Ada, but for Kate it's monumental! I have really embraced this thing. For lunches, I usually eat salad with lots of veggies, beans, cottage cheese, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. They're really good! Thanks to Ang for introducing me to them. I made up a muffin recipe by throwing a bunch of stuff together. I didn't measure any ingredients, so I hope I can recreate them sometime. I used a little canola oil, brown sugar, honey, eggs, baking soda, salt, whole wheat flour, cinnamon, oats, applesauce, shredded zucchini, walnuts, and raisins. They were good! Kate ate five the next day! They were good for snacks. I've also been eating fruit or nuts instead of treats for snacks. For breakfast I've been eating either oatmeal or Kashi cereal. A lot less crap is being consumed by the Squire family! I hope we can all continue these habits.

Kate's nights of not sleeping with Tyler were short lived. She started climbing in bed with him again. Lyla still wakes up in the night too, so between the two of them we haven't been getting the best sleep!

On Saturday we enjoyed watching some NFL games (well, at least one game was enjoyable). Tyler kept giving up on the 49ers but I kept telling them that there was plenty of time to come back. That night we went to eat at Five Guys (not healthy, but not against the rules either). It was fun to spend the whole day together.

I taught my first Relief Society lesson on Sunday. The lesson was 'Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself' from the George Albert Smith manual. I was able to use a story from Grandpa Dickson's journal in the lesson. It was from a time he met Pres. Smith. I think the lesson went pretty well. Tyler came to listen and gave me a few pointers that I hope will help. It's nice that I only have to worry about this calling once a month! Sunday night we ate dinner at Mom & Dad's and we brought dessert. Since we only eat dessert once a week now we wanted it to be good. I made Fudgy Cocoa Brownies and hot fudge sauce and Tyler helped me make peppermint ice cream. It was all so good but I felt so sick after I ate it! I guess my body is getting used to less sugar. Perhaps I'll have to eat smaller portions next time.

Kate has taken a new interest in drawing, just like her sister. She can now draw people and draws them all the time. It's the cutest thing! I keep trying to help her learn to write her name but she doesn't seem interested. I think it will come soon. She has a pretty easy name.

I think I jumped the gun when I said that Ada's tantrums were over. She's had some bad moments lately, but at least they're milder and shorter than her former ones. She's a good helper, though. She's been really good about cleaning up after herself.

Lyla is still sweet but fussy. She's sleeping a little bit longer when I set her down at least. I am loving her name more and more. It always takes me a while to feel like I picked the right name, but Lyla's is feeling good! Maybe it's because it's so easy to use nicknames with her. I love calling her Ly, Lyla Ly, Little Ly, My Ly, and Lysqui. I just love her.

Well, it's adieu for another week. Peace out.

Birthdays

I've been meaning to make this post for MONTHS. So, we all have summer birthdays (except, now, Lyla) and I thought I'd put them all into one big post.

It was a big year for us. It started off with me turning the big 3-0 in June. I actually had a hard time with this! The night before was especially difficult. Well, Tyler decided to plan a surprise party with our families a few days before. I thought I was going to the temple with the Primary presidency. Margo picked me up and on the way, asked me to run into Lorena's to pick up a quesadilla for her because she didn't have time to eat dinner. She gave me money, I ran in, and the lady lead me to the back. I thought that was strange, but suddenly there was a loud 'SURPRISE' and there were all these people I knew staring at me! It was the weirdest feeling! Tyler (and Margo) did a great job. We ate, I opened presents (including a Kindle from Tyler), and Tyler whipped out some cupcakes from Mini's. My favorite! It was a pleasant evening.



The next night we went to dinner with just our little family, and the day after that was my actual birthday. We ate breakfast at Kneaders, went bowling, and went to a family reunion for the Squire family, where we swam and ate pizza. On the way home, we stopped for some Red Mango. Then, to top it all off, Tyler made a delicious (and beautiful) chocolate cake for Sunday dinner the next night. Everything turned out great!

Now, to the girls. Their birthdays are both in July. We decided that they can't have a friend party every year, so we planned a combined family party for them. My grandpa happened to pass away on Kate's birthday, so all my family members were in town and able to join us for the festivities. All the kids went to Kangaroo Zoo and then everyone came to our house for pizza and treats. We decided on a Candy Land theme. I really only had a table full of candy for everyone, but everything else was colorful, from the tablecloths and plates to the rainbow cupcakes and ice cream cones. It was really windy, but fun to have everyone there.






















Tyler turned 30 in August. He didn't want a big deal made out of his birthday, especially since I had a small surprise party for him at The Pizza Factory the year before. I made his traditional carrot cake, we ate at Texas Roadhouse with his parents, and he opened gifts. Pretty low key, but fun nonetheless.


Since our anniversary is also in July, our summers are always full of celebrations! Can't wait for this summer!