Lindsey's First Birthday!

Lindsey turned one on Tuesday, August 21st. We celebrated on Sunday with Larry's family. We had Lindsey's favorite food- Fettucini Alfredo. I made her a castle cake with her own to tear apart (as you will see).
Lindsey was very timid about actually eating her cake, but she played with it for a while and had fun. She actually got the concept behind opening gifts, and was very interested in seeing what was under the wrapping paper. Spencer picked out some boats at the dollar store for her.

Larry picked up a last minute surprise gift- a balloon. She loves balloons. I'd have to say that her favorite toys, overall, are balls. She loves to collect them in her arms, fetch them, bounce them, and roll them around.

Our Money System

I thought some of you might find it interesting to know our new system of finances with the kids.

1. Allowance. We give Miranda and Derek $1/month for their age, once a month- so Miranda gets $6 and Derek gets $4 every month. They must pay tithing and also buy any friend Birthday presents. I think we'll start Spencer's allowance at age 4 or 5 as well.

2. Daily Chores. We have 3 wheels with pictures on them that we rotate daily (they do one chore on each wheel). Before they can watch cartoons in the morning, they must all: clean their room, make their bed, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, do hair, and do their rotated bathroom chore (sweep, clean counters and toilet, or take out the trash). The next wheel is for the afternoon (get the mail, put away the shoes, and vacuum a room). The last wheel is for the dinner chores (set the table, clear the table, and load the dishwasher). Of course, Larry and I help quite a bit, especially with Spencer. It is quite amazing how clean our house has been lately with the kids pitching in and Larry doing chores to burn calories. The reward for daily chores is a sticker chart with a goal at the end. The one they are working on now, is for ice cream bars and a bike ride at the park. I usually make the sticker chart rewards take about a week for them to finish. We've also done a trip to the dollar store, Dairy Queen, McDonald's treat, etc.

3. Money Chores. We made a little list of extra chores the kids could do to earn money- assuming their normal chores are done. For example: .50 for filling a bucket with weeds, .10 for cleaning a bathroom mirror, .25 for dusting the piano. This is how Derek earned his money for this computer game.

4. Savings. The kids have three jars each- Savings, spending, and tithing. Anything they choose to save is matched by Larry and I and put into their bank accounts.

Derek's Quirks

Here is Derek, in his typical morning routine. He loves to look at the weather and see what's going to happen in the coming week. He is an amazingly advanced reader- being 4 and still having a whole year left until Kindergarten.

Another major aspect of Derek's life is his latest acquisition- STAR WARS LEGOS! It is a computer game that Derek played at a friend's house and that has deeply impacted him ever since. He talked about it nonstop for about two months. He did extra chores every day until he earned the $17 to buy it. Since it wasn't Tuesday (our assigned day for computer games), he spent the three days before Tuesday constantly reading the manual to know which keyboard buttons to push. He also felt inclined to mention every single new discovery multiple times to me (I finally had to threaten with time outs to get him to say ANYTHING that didn't have to do with Star Wars Legos). He is still talking about it night and day, but I guess I am proud of him for earning it all by himself.

Parks and Rec Classes

Much of our summer has been spent taking Miranda and Derek to their various Parks and Rec classes. This picture is of Derek's Champs camp, where they try a different sport every day for five days. Derek really enjoyed it this year (last year he just talked to the coaches most of the time). He and Miranda have also done swim lessons, gynastics, and Miranda did a painting class.
Miranda was in a ballet class during the summer. Her performance was last week. She was so thrilled to wear makeup, do her hair up, and where her dress up clothes.

What have we been up to?

Over the past couple weeks, we've been trying to fit in some fun stuff before school starts.
The airshow had a free kid's morning, where they could see the airplanes up close (and eat donuts). They enjoyed it- the donuts, mostly.





We also went with our friends to the beach. It was exhausting, but memorable for the kids. They all had fun making a sand castle and having a picnic on the beach. We walked around Seaside, took the kids for a trainride, played games, and ate too much junk food.


Here's the evidence of our first car wreck since our marriage! Larry had the car loaded up with stuff for our ward activity and didn't see another car. He ran into their door. Luckily, no one was hurt, and only our bumper and tire were damaged. It has been weird to use only one vehicle again.

The Funny Things Kids Do

So, here are some pictures of the random things our kids do. First of all, Derek and Spencer have discovered a new game they like to play together. It's called "Tomato Chasers". They put on sunglasses, run around with guns and chase the tomatos (aka. bad guys). Why are the bad guys tomatos? I have no clue.

Spencer is a silly guy and likes to do strange things like stick grapes in both of his cheeks and ask you to "feel my cheek". He also gets great joy out of peeing standing up. He first wants me to say "Pee-pee, come out to play," before he pees. Interesting.

Lindsey discovered a new game this week. It's called, put-everything- within-reach-into-the-toilet. She is fascinated with reaching into toilets, even if someone is sitting on it. Maybe it's time to bring out the toilet lock.