Sara check-in

Sara is enjoying her Spring Break.  We are spending it at home instead of traveling. 

We recently got a new composter for the garden.  Sara's main chore besides cleaning her room, is putting all the recycling in a garbage bag and then taking it to the recycle can.  We've given her a new chore now, putting the compost waste in the compost bin, she was pretty excited about it, we'll see how long that lasts.

Our seedlings are doing well.  Sara has been helping me take care of them.

She helped me plant the peas in the garden too.  She planted them in nice neat rows, evenly spaced.

She has also been helping me water the plants outside, both she and Brennan love using the watering cans I got them.

Sara is also having fun doing lots of stuff inside.  She still has piano lessons, so we've been doing extra practicing.  She is also doing lots of arts and crafts, coloring and stamping.  She drew the picture of the butterfly and sun and colored this clover herself.

 
 She loves her snap circuits set too.  She spend a long time doing the differe arrangements that make a light bulb light up, a helicopter blade go, or a sound. 

She was also happy recently to celebrate Tutu's birthday with her.   She really loves her Tutu.

She also love playing with friends, especially her friend Nora and especially her Cupcake Race game.

 She also recently got to hang out with Cousin Benny, they had fun dancing to piano guys.

Lots of trampoline jumping too!

And flying kites!

Sara got her 6 year old check up and she is in the 50% for both height and weight.  She weighs 44lb and is 45in tall.

Proud of Sara

Dan and I have a lot to be proud of.  Sara is doing so well in school and she is such a nice pleasant person to be around.  She loves nature, music, animals, and art.  She is the perfect little person. 

 This week, we meet with her Kindergarten teacher for the third time since school started.  The teacher said that Sara is always so thoughtful and friendly and polite.  She says Sara always gives her hugs and helps the other kids.  Sara's reading skills are off the charts, she is reading 2 levels above the level she is supposed to be at right now.  She told us that she helped a friend at school read the other day when she was struggling.  The girl was upset that she couldn't read something and then Sara said she told her what her Daddy always tells her, that you can do hard things, and then helped her through the book she was reading. 

Sara is great and math too and she loves math, they do a math journal at school.  She tells us all the time that it's her favorite thing at school.  The only thing she struggles with his her writing.  She tries to write so fast and she has so many ideas that she does not take time to spell out the words or space them out.  We've been working at it at home and we will continue to work at it until she gets better at slowing down and taking the time to do it right. 

Sara is complaining that no one will play with her at school.  She says it every day when she gets home.  We always ask the teacher how Sara is doing socially and the teacher really seems to care.  She says that there are several kids that are just loners but we told her that Sara is very social and loves to play with other kids, her whole day revolves around it.  The teacher promised to help facilitate some playmates by putting her in certain groups etc.  She is also letting Sara bring toys as props to help break the ice with other kids.  We'll see how it works out. 

I'm not sure this is the whole problem, but it's been freaking me out that more and more most of the kids in her class don't speak to you if you say hi to them.  Every day when I drop Sara off or when we see her friends, Sara will always say hi but they never respond and some don't even look up.  I'm not sure what's going on but they seem like little zombies, just totally out of it.  Random kids do it at the park too, even to Brennan when he says hi to people.  Are people so busy here that they don't have time to say hi to other people, or teacher their children basic manners or to acknowledge each other.  It really makes me sad when my kids are so excited about being nice and playing with other kids and they consistently get ignored.  I find it very very creepy indeed and it's happened so much now, it's hard to just ignore it.    The jury is still out as to whether our kids will be happy here.  I think we can skate by in Elementary school but the older grades, we might have to find alternatives if it keeps happening.

Sara's piano is going really well.  She is really good at her intervals and shell chords, she got that way before anyone else in the class got it.  She always practices ever day and we've even gone to practicing 2 x's a day now.  She is making fast progress and is learning to discipline herself and do hard things.  I feel pretty proud of myself too because it's been hard to find time to practice with her every day and do all her extra piano homework such as the flash cards and the theory.  Also, I have to arrange a babysitter every week so she can go.  We lost the 2 girls next door as they started track and other activities, so we moved to the 15 year old neighbor beside them and we tried her for the first time this week.  I really hope it works out.  If not, I'm close to being out of ideas, and Dan said he can't take off work to take her every week.  We only need to make it through May, and then hopefully she'll have a different schedule next season.

Sara's skating lessons have been interesting.  I can't really tell if she likes it at all or not.  She wanted to quit a while ago, but after watching the Olympics she wanted to start up again.  I don't mind taking her to skating, so I let her start up again.  She skates very very tentatively, she says she's afraid of falling.  I don't know if it's her thing or if she will have the confidence to get any better or if it would be good to push her so she gets the confidence eventually.  I guess we'll figure it out.

She is super excited to take swimming again.  She says it's her very favorite activity.   She gets to take swimming for 2 months in April and May.  I really wish Spanish Fork had a swim team she could be on so she could swim regularly.  We've been taking her to the Provo Rec Center to go swimming, they have an amazing kids play area, with a 2 story slide.  She really loves it there, she is a water baby.

I'm hoping to get her in some fun summer camps this summer, there is a science one and an art one that I think she would like, and also a music one at her piano school.

She and her brother are really cute together and for the most part she is really nice to him, he is her best friend and she would really be lonely if he was not there.  They do almost everything together.

Sara has also drawn and colored some really great art recently.  I'll take pictures of it and post it soon.  
 Today we went back and watched a bunch of pictures and video of her when she was a baby.  It seems like so long ago now and I'm really glad I took all those videos, all of us like looking back at them.  It's neat to see everything we've been through and how we got here and how cute and sweet Sara has always been, she still hasn't changed and I hope her core personality never will.  She is just a great little person. 

6 Years Old!

Sara has been so excited about her birthday.  She starts getting excited around Valentines Day because she knows that her birthday is just around the corner. The night before her birthday, she  even slept in her clothes with a dress on even, because she didn't want to miss a minute of her birthday.

She requested to go out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then to go swimming, so that's what we did.  We went to the new Provo Rec center after her b'day and all swam in the new kids area, it was a blast and we will be going back.  I wish we had one in SF.

Then we went home to decorate her cake before she had to go to school.  Dan made her a cake because the ones at Costco had nut allergy warnings on them.  I think Dan's was way cuter anyway and it tasted fantastic.  He used a Costco copy recipe. 

We didn't let Sara see the final results of the cake, all she saw before going to school was Happy Birthday and her name written on it.  When she got home she got to see it revealed with the Frozen touches we added and she was blown away, both by the cake and the decorations.  She was just walking around looking at everything saying this is the best day of my life.

Also, before her party we let her open her present, a Rapunzel dress.  She of course wanted to wear it to the party.  It looked so cute on her.

Sara had tons of friends at the party.  Everyone who we invited came and the neighbor's kids and old neighbor was even there.

My great and amazing friend Angeline was there to help us do balloon animals and various other objects for the kids, it was a huge hit.  Also, all the kids got stick-on face jewels.  There were games and dancing and presents.  Then there was cake!

Even little brother gets cake too and neighbors:

Sara had an amazing birthday day and had a hard time going to sleep tonight because she was so wound up.  I think she will remember this birthday for sure.  It was really a dream kids birthday party and we are so thankful that she has so many friends that care about her and wanted to come to her party. 

Christmas Crafts Galore and Mega Fun

I really researched Christmas this year and came up with lots of craft activities for us.  It has been so fun and we have been doing non-stop crafts and activities to squeeze the most fun out of Christmas possible.  Here are the highlights.

One of the neatest things we made were salt dough ornaments.  We used a really simple recipe that worked great and then we even cut holes and added beads in some to melt for extra bling.  Then after they baked low and slow for a while and cooled down, we painted and glittered them, they are bright and sparkly.  Everyone took turns painting and glittering, it was lots of fun.  They turned out really awesome and I hope we can do this again next year.

Next we made snow men.  Nanna made a big one and Sara made a little one.  We put them in Sara's room for decoration.

Brennan likes putting stickers on his head.

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Next up, we made sparkly sequin ball and a ornament necklace.

Then when Brennan was otherwise occupied, we made stained glass ornaments.  Sara had fun putting the pieces in but Nanna had to help a lot.  They turned out really cute after we baked them.

Sara, Nanna, and I made 40 reindeer candy canes to give as gifts to everyone in Sara's class, the office staff and principal at her school, as well as neighbors and friends.  We also made a fun candy jar decoration for our neighborhood party that we hosted at our house.

Sara also had a fun Christmas song program at her school that Nanna and Brennan and I went to.
She was wearing turquoise sleeves on the front row.  She wasn't doing any of the arm movements because she said she was very nervous. 

Also, one night we had a fun party for all our neighbors at our house.  Dan got out his chocolate fountain, which was a big hit with all the kids that showed up.  Also, we played Christmas songs on the family chimes.  It was a huge hit, everyone had tons of fun, even the teenagers that were there.

We gave Sara a break from making ornaments by taking her to the Nut Cracker in Salt Lake.  It was fun for Mommy and Daddy too.  Nanna was nice enough to watch Brennan would probably never would have made it through the ballet.  Sara really enjoyed it, she commented and the beautiful costumes. 

Sara has talked about wanting to see what she has called the "Nut Soldiers" for a long time and this was her first ballet. 

This is a photo Nanna took of us before going to the ballet that day:

Of course there has been lots of playing going on too.

Daddy built the kids a nice snow ramp in the front yard that they have been sledding down and playing on. 

The kids have really enjoyed having Nanna here for Christmas and the face that Daddy has 2 weeks off of work.  Tonight is Christmas Eve, we plan on making reindeer food and putting it out, and then sending the kids to bed early.  They are so excited for Christmas tomorrow.  We wish everyone we know a very merry Christmas!

Ginger Bread House

Our family holiday activity tonight, according to the punch calendar, was driving or walking around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.  However since it was snowing like crazy and 3 degrees tonight, we switched to making a ginger bread house, which was supposed to be a few nights later, but we already had all the supplies.

None of us had ever made a ginger bread house before.  Actually in truth, we bought the kit at Costco, so it's not like we made one, we just did the fun part of decorating it.  We vow that next year we'll try and make one from scratch, hopefully.

Anyway, the kids didn't complain.  Dan did most of the frosting and they helped affix and eat the candy pieces.  It was pretty easy and pretty enjoyable for everyone really.

Also, while they were doing this, I made a key lime cheesecake.  I've never made a cheesecake before.  It was pretty easy and turned out really tasty.

Christmas Fare

Sara loves Christmas, she gets really excited about it.  This year, we are making the whole month of December a Christmas celebration, not just one day.  I made the kids a punch calendar/advent calendar where they punch a new hole every day to reveal a small toy, candy, and a family activity.

So far we've punched days 1-4.  Sara got to do the first punch and the first night our family activity was driving to see the city's light show.  On the second punch, Brennan got to punch it and he scored more candy and they got to write a letter to Santa.   Here is Sara's letter that she wrote.  She says it says that she wants a doll and a Nutcracker Soldier

Here is a video I shot of the day 3 punch, it was Sara's turn again.  She was so excited that she had me call Daddy at work to see when he'd be home.  Then she hardly let us eat dinner.  She punched out a snowman pez dispenser and a Santa one for Bren and our activity for that night was singing Christmas songs.  We all took turns choosing a song, Brennan picked Jingle Bells every time, it's his favorite song (he played bells while we sang).  Sara got us all books to hold like song books.  It was fun and joyous.

On day 4, it was Brennan's turn to punch, he was a little bit afraid.  One of the toys that I put in the box in a spot they haven' t punched yet has been playing loud music and flashing lights, it has kid of scared him.  I thought it would be funny. 

He was pretty reticent to punch the hole tonight but we helped him some.  They got some more great candy and the family activity was making snowflakes.  Everyone really enjoyed this activity a lot.  Brennan just go to cut random scraps of paper and he was happy doing that.  Dan is a master snowflake cutter so he cut snowflakes for and and showed Sara how to do it.  Sara didn't have the dexterity to do the scissors very well so he let her draw patterns on the paper  or suggested various shapes that he then cut out for the snowflakes.  I mounted them on colored paper and we will hang them up in Sara's window and her wall to make it look festive.

I'm really excited to do the rest of the punch calendar.  I think it's really helping us focus on family time and the season and make the most of it and I'm glad that so far it has worked and the kids like it.