As Rare As a 4 Leaf Clover!

Recently I read an article about blue eyed/red headed individuals-Tavin is blue eyed and red headed. This is some of what I found:

"The majority of natural redheads have brown eyes, with others likely to have hazel or green shades. But like red hair, blue eye colour is a recessive trait, meaning that both parents must carry the gene for a child to be blessed with it. This makes those with red hair and blue eyes the rarest minority in the world, with only 1% having both.

So, each one is about as rare as a four-leaf clover."

How handsome is this kid! He is the full package, sweet, funny, kind, smart, and so sincerely good. How did I get so lucky? People always come up to me and comment on  what a good job I do on raising my son...but i always tell them, it isn't me-he came that way:) I just hope I don't screw him up! 

Words I have had to analyse to figure out what he was talking about:

"Mom look that tree has a lot of porcupines on it" = pine cones

"Katie here are the constructions to it-have mom read them"= instructions

"We learned about pili-grams today in class" = pilgrims 

"I can't figure out which governments are yours and which are dads when I sorted the laundry so they are all in one pile"=garments

On our drive home from picking him up from school: "Mom today we learned about Americans. And we are Americans, I am American, you are American Katie, and the person in the car right there next to us is American" Then he broke into song: "I'm proud to be an American" :)

Tavin has a very strong spirit about him and expresses it often in prayers at night. Dan and I had to glance at each other as Tavin said: "thank you for the babies that grow up to be parents" :) this coming from a six year old. He also is very aware of those who are sick or having a hard time in some way and need our prayers...he often tells me about his prayers that have been answered. "Mom we prayed that I would feel better today and I woke up and I am feeling better-Heavenly Father heard us! He gets it at such a young age.

Tavin has no fear when it comes to expressing himself and his testimony in front of others. He often asks us if it is testimony meeting at church so that he can go up and bare his testimony. One particular time I recall he talked about how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us ANYWHERE we may be. And that he was happy that he would be able to live with them again. On another time he talked about a family home evening that Dan and I gave-how we need to be careful with the things we watch because it can be bad for our minds. 

Tavin is doing so well in Kindergarten and can now read the "bob" books to me. He is an eager learner and wants to excel. He surprises us with knack for Math-which was definitely not my strong point growing up-and can often do addition and subtraction problems we give him in his head. 

He loves the Salt Lake Soccer Team RSL and often sings their fight song around the house and pretends to be them when he plays soccer with us. He is currently playing indoor soccer in a program called Soccer Shots. They teach skills to the kids and teach them "key words" such as being good sports, team work, honsesty, etc. Tavin has done very well and we are impressed with the way the classes are run. One night while I was watching, the other team scored and a boy came up to Tavin-pointing in his face and said: HA HA WE SCORED. (demonstrating poor sportsmanship) It was a topic they had recently discussed in one of their classes and I was so proud of how tavin reacted....he simply put his hand up for the boy to high five and said: good job! that was a great goal! His coach made sure to recognize Tavin's good behavior and my heart was happy in that moment. What a good boy!

Tavin also enjoys baseball and is looking forward to playing again this summer

 He was a big help when picking the raspberries. He wanted to make sure to find the ripest ones and was willing to be patient to find them:)

 Tavin the very first Dragon( his school's mascot) award for his kindergarten class. They do this a couple times during the year and one person from each class is chosen for being an excellent leader, example, friend, and being determined in academics. This fits Tavin perfect. He was very proud and excited and we all made sure to be there when he high fived the principal as she handed him his award:) His teachers note read: "Tavin is always excited and ready to learn when he comes to class every day. He always has a smile on his face and does his best on all his work. He is a great friend and a great leader!" We got a nice breakfast as well.

 Tavin always has creative ideas and it doesn't take much for him to convince his sisters to join him in putting it to action. He loves to plan out treasure hunts, and make obstacle courses for us. We even had an indoor snowball fight with crumpled up paper as the snowballs all planned by Tavin. This particular night, he wanted to sleep on the shelves of the closet. We didn't know this so when Dan went up to check on the kids, he called down to me to come and see where he found them:) 

Tavin turned six this year and asked to have a pirate party. His wish was my command and this was the cake Dan and I came up with. It started to slide to one side so Daniel had to come up with a way to even out the weight using a cutting board propped up on an angle. It made it till cake cutting time, thank goodness!

Tavin and his serious pirate face, this was one of the only times that I didn't see him smiling from ear to ear, and that made everything worth it for me. We had a treasure hunt for a treasure chest, made pirate hats out of newspaper, popped balloon cannon balls, had a pirate ship battle at sea, and walked the plank! It was a great success and he was excited to have 2 of his best friends this year in kindergarten attend along with all his cousins!

 Tavin walking the plank, with Dan as an alligator to get him if he falls:)

 Tavin and his cousins dressed up as some of the characters from Star Wars and he was very proud to be apart of the group. They had a great time! we had a little bit of a "scare" this Halloween we for about 45 minutes we lost Tavin. The area we live in fills up quickly with kids and their families trick or treating. And add our entire family and some friends all out together but sometimes not at the same house-and you end up with lots of people thinking that one person has a kid when that person is thinking someone else has a kid with them. Thus, we got home to sort and trade candy and no Tavin. We set out in groups to find him and it was Daniel who spotted Tavin. There is one particular house in our area that really goes all out for Halloween and has a huge line of people who come to see it, take pictures, and get candy. Daniel found Tavin at the house next door on top of a "dad's" shoulders. 

When Dan came up...was Tavin scared and crying, worried that he would never be found?? NOPE he was happy and talking to this man and his family as they patiently waited for us to find them. Tavin: "DAD FINALLY-YOU FOUND ME! I looked around and didn't see anyone I knew and THEN I felt someone looking at me....so I turned and there was this Dad who asked if I was lost, I said yes, so he put me on his shoulders to see if I could see anyone and I didn't. Then he said he would stay with me until someone came to get me. The mom called the police to tell them about me and help me find u but u came before the got here." I am grateful our prayers were answered and that we were able to find our sweet boy, that someone kind and caring came to help and wait with him while we searched, and that he was not scared or worried.

Tavin playing paintball with his cousins at our yearly visit to Cornbelly's this past fall. He loved it and I am sure this will be a must for them to do on our next visit. He is so entertaining to watch and so animated about everything!

KATIE BEGINS WITH K

Update on our Katie Girl:

She is 4 years old now and  as spunky, mischievous and beautiful as ever!

She has been attending a preschool close to our house and loves it-her speech has come a long way in the past few months and she is learning how to express herself better.

She is really good at giving compliments to others, the definite ARTIST of our house and loves to do anything crafty-especially making gifts for other people. She can now do a handstand against the wall without any help. She loves to cut things out and is a big helper when it comes to cutting out my coupons:) A very big help around the house, Katie is always willing to sort laundry, clean the bathroom, or do dishes with mom or dad. 

She is one to learn by experimenting unfortunately... and has learned that it isn't good to sneak up stairs under hear bed and eat a whole bag of milk chocolate chips. Mom and dad will find out when Liv brings some to us and she is no where to be heard or found...plus later she will have a horrible tummy ache and will end up throwing up the chocolate chips in the toilet!

 She also found out the hard way that using mommy and daddy's food to make a "potion" isn't a good idea either. After the third time of mom catching her doing it, mom made her and her accomplice brother-eat the whole bowl of "potion" (consisting of raw oats, oranges, bananas, cooked shredded chicken, and peanut butter). They ate it, but she got car sick on the way to a gymnastics show and she barfed it before we went into the gym. (don't worry after she barfed, she felt much better and was running, skipping, and jumping again:) Not much keeps her down for long, although I bet her and brother will think twice before making potions again!

She loves to party and with any good party comes confetti right! Katie can often be found filling up a big mixing bowl with cut up news paper to throw up in the air with her siblings. Christmas is one of her favorite times to party and she especially loves to sing the song "U Better Watch Out!" If her siblings are acting up-she will remind them who is watching:) She is working on saying prayer when it is her turn-all by herself and recently helped her unicorn stuffed animal say the prayer by telling it what to say in its ear and then repeating it in a "unicorn" voice:) Things got off to a good start until she ran out of things to say... then she helped the unicorn break into song. It wasn't just any song, it was "the song" U BETTER WATCH OUT! We are learning right:)

We also had to have a talk with her about what is OK to say to people and what is probably better not to say to people-especially people we don't know....we were out grocery shopping the other day and Katie felt it was important to go up to a lady and tell her that her hair looked pretty crazy! Luckily the woman was a good sport. she also informed our pediatrician when we went in for a check up that his hair also looked ... "weird" on top. (he is going bald:) I guess she is being honest right?

Katie is very brave, probably the bravest of our children thus far. She is usually the first to try something and if she gets hurt, doesn't usually cry for very long. While we were at the doc. for check ups, we got flu shots. She was the first to go and as I explained that she was about to get a shot in the leg, she slowly and knowingly nodded her head as she said, "ok mom". Then the shot...her reaction: a body shudder and "That hurt mom!" that was it, she was excited about the pink band aid and she got down. 

She often uses the phrase: "you broke my heart" to tell someone when they have hurt hear feelings. We aren't sure where she learned the expression from. She also remembers and uses a lesson we taught one night for family home evening about making peoples hearts rise or sink when we say nice or mean things. It makes me happy to know that she understands that we can influence how others feel and to be careful with the things we say. 

She loves it when her dad calls her "princess" for that is what she truly is:) 

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 First day of Puddle Jumpers Preschool with her Dora Backpack-can you tell she put her shoes on all by herself:)

 We are very pleased with the preschool we decided to enroll Katie in-each class day they move through a series of 5 rooms that each have their own theme and activity that they do in them. She knows the letter K, X, and O, all of her colors, and most of her shapes. She LOVES to do anything artsy or crafty-coloring, painting, gluing, cutting.

 For her 4th birthday party this year she chose a princess tea party with her aunts, cousin Maddie, and her special guest-great grandma Lee! We had such a fun time and Katie was a beautiful princess! She got a belle dress as a surprise before the party and mommy did her nails and makeup so she would be ready for her guests. Maddie wore her snow white dress as well. 

 Mommy served some of Katie's favorite foods at the tea party: grapes, chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, energy balls, chocolate covered bananas, and pink lemonade-and decorated the table in her favorite color: pink!

 We were so happy to have Grandma Lee and Grandpa Dick come spend the day with us and join in the fun. Katie has a special love for her great grandma.

 Katie is quite adventurous and daring-she saw this tractor at the pumpkin patch we went to and climbed up on it to take a ride!

 We are so lucky to have family come and visit us often in our new house and have room for them to stay as long as they would like-we love them all and enjoy the time spent and memories made with them. Parker is also one of Katie's favorite people-can you guess why?:) He plays barbies with her. This made my heart melt. She had so much fun that night with him and he was such a good sport. What a good dad you will make one day Parker! Katie definitely loves her dolls and barbies-she is a good mom to them.

 Katie came with a love for animals like her mommy. She enjoys playing with them and taking care of them. When we watched a parrot for a week-Katie was Zoey's biggest fan. She would sing to him, talk to him, and let him sit on her head:) She is eating one of our yummy fruit smoothies. 

Katie was a Nome for Halloween and she rocked it! We even found a boy Nome for her to pose with at one of the houses we went to. She is serious about anything that involves candy and raced to each house. She also is a sneaky one...I heard one of the boys handing out candy say: "That Nome, she knows what she is doing, she just reached right in and took a handful of candy!" We had to have a little talk with her about saving candy for other kids after that:) Her favorite candy: M&Ms and pretty much anything chocolate. She isn't a fan of fruity, or chewy candy-especially sour things-she says they are too "spicy".