"Thank you for filling my Bucket!"

I love Kindergarten!  It is so fun to experience Kindergarten and see the things that a child learns when they are beginning their educational journey.  Since we bypassed this step with Kimball I'm experiencing it for the first time with Rebecah.  Not only does she learn academic things, but she is learning all about feelings and emotions and working and interacting with others.

Our school has an occupational therapist that works with the kids weekly and the school psychologist does as well.  I know my school didn't have an OT and the school counselor didn't come to our class on a weekly basis.

One thing that Rebecah has learned and in turn, taught our family is the concept of an emotional bucket.  She learned that we all have a bucket that is filled when we say nice things about each other or do nice things for them and it is emptied when we are unkind or say rude things.  In class Rebecah and her classmates practiced giving compliments and then acknowledging the compliment.  An encounter would go something like this:

Rebecah:  Sophie, I like your dress.
Sophie:  Thank you for filling my bucket.

I love how Rebecah's teacher uses the bucket filling all of the time with her students.  It wasn't just a one time lesson, but something that they experience daily.

After Rebecah learned about the bucket she met me one morning and said that I looked nice and I thanked her.  She then proceeded to correct me and told me that I was supposed to say:  "Thank you for filling my bucket."

I have thought about my bucket a lot over the last few months.  The smallest acts really DO fill my bucket.

A few weeks ago we had a really rough week...it was mainly Rebecah, but I took my fair share since I'm her mom.  Within 1 week she had head lice, a UTI, and a broken finger.  Anyway during this week I saw Rebecah's teacher and she thanked me for the bread I had given her the week before and told me how much her family enjoyed it, etc.  She filled my bucket.  I wished I would have remembered to say "Thank you for filling my bucket" because I was happy all day thinking of her compliment.  The other experience came from one of my nephews.  Sadly, my sister's family lives across the country from me so I don't know her boys very well.  My sister is awesome though about teaching her boys to pray for people in need.  Anyway, one of her boys asked when he was going to see his aunt and after talking about it Kristin realized he meant me.  I guess he has been praying for me and my babies for months--almost years--and feels ownership of me and the babies.  It just touched my heart that he wanted to see me and he filled my bucket.

It doesn't take much, but THANK YOU FOR FILLING MY BUCKET!!

And to think that I learned it from Kindergarten.  Have you filled anyone's bucket today?

15 Months

The babies hit the 15 month mark last Saturday.  I can't believe how big they are getting.  Annika climbs on every thing.  She is like a cat stuck in a tree, sometimes she can get up but can't figure out how to get down.  Just this week I caught her on the windowsill.  She had managed to get up but was scared to get down.  This cute girl also LOVES oranges.  She would choose to eat an orange, peel and all over just about anything else, even a cookie.  We have to watch her like a hawk so she doesn't dig in the garage looking for orange peels.  She doesn't need as much sleep as Lincoln does so she sometimes keeps me company during my morning scriptures and exercise.  At the doctor yesterday she was only 17 lbs 1 oz.  I'm really starting to wonder if she'll be 20 pounds by the time she is 2.  She will break out into a huge grin when we cheer for her or tell her how beautiful she is.  

 

Lincoln started walking about a month ago.  We can just tell that he is so excited with the freedom walking brings.  Lincoln loves to snuggle.  He is getting very good at following directions.  I know he understands most of what I say to him.  Both he and Annika are taking their time saying words, but we are getting there.  Now that Lincoln walks he likes to be in on the action in the basement so Joseph is kept busy with two babies helping him work on projects.  At the doctor appointment Lincoln weighed 18 lbs 13 oz.  

The babies love to cram their bodies into little buckets, baskets, trucks, anything that has an opening. Lincoln in the picture above actually found a large basket to crawl inside.  Annika also likes to relax in the car seat.  It's her little recliner. 

 

 
;
Joseph is currently working on putting hardwood flooring in our dining room.  The babies love it when they are allowed in to help.

We had a nasty case of head lice at our house--gotta love school--and Lincoln was one of the victims so he got a hair cut.  It instantly aged him, but I'm getting used to it.  You can see his haircut in the picture below.

Happy Birthday, Rebecah!

Rebecah's 6th birthday was January 7th.  It is hard for me to believe she has now lived more of her life in New York than in Arkansas.  When we moved to Syracuse she was 2 months shy of turning 3.  Where does the time go?  Rebecah was very excited for her birthday and she was counting the days.  

Joseph had to work at 2:00 in the afternoon so we opened some of the birthday presents before school so Joseph wouldn't miss out on all of the fun.  Rebecah was glad she didn't have to wait for the end of the day to open all of her presents.

Rebecah changed her mind a few times when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner and treat, but she decided on "kale pizza" and cheesecake--"plain, the white kind".  Kale pizza is just alfredo sauce, chicken, lots of sauteed kale and cheese.  Everyone loves it even the babies.  

The rest of these pictures aren't the best, but I was holding Lincoln and trying to be photographer all at the same time.

Rebecah said that this picture is her favorite.

 

Happy birthday to a great girl who is a lot of fun and a big help. 

O Captain! My Captain!

Annika LOVES to climb things.  If it is possible to climb on it, she does it.  Yesterday, Lincoln decided to follow suit and he climbed up on a chair and stood so straight and tall.  It instantly reminded me of the movie, Dead Poets Society, which is a great movie.  Growing up we watched that movie a lot.  I had to snap a few pictures of the babies standing on chairs and showing that they are free thinkers.  Now, don't you want to go watch that movie again?

 

 

Christmas 2015

We had a great Christmas.  I love celebrating the holiday with just our family so we can keep our own traditions alive.   We did our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and as we ate we watched Christmas Mormon Messages.  After we finished eating we watch A Christmas Carol--I love how the big kids are big enough to watch an adult movie and enjoy it.  After our movie we acted out the Nativity.  I think this is Rebecah's favorite part of the evening because she gets to play Mary.  I'm not sure what she'll do when Annika is big enough to express her desire to be Mary as well.

Christmas morning was wonderful.  The girls woke up about 6:45 and we helped Kimball wake up around 7.  We let Lincoln sleep as late as he wanted, about 8:15.  Lincoln missed most of the present opening, but he didn't care and we saved his presents for him.  The big kids wanted to open them since Lincoln was still asleep.  The kids were happy with their gifts.   It is always a relief when I see how happy the kids are.  Kimball really wanted some expensive LeBron James shoes, but we just kept telling him that Santa doesn't give expensive shoes to boys when they will out grow them in a year.

Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus.  The kids were disappointed that
Lincoln was too big to play Baby Jesus this year.

A happy Mary.

Santa came!

Skates from Santa.

Annika was all over the candy that Santa left and the cookies that he didn't finish.
Who needs presents when treats are out for breakfast?

One of my favorite gifts was the Shepherd and animals to round out my Willow Tree Nativity.  Joseph has given me parts of the set over the last year and I'm so excited to have the set complete.  I have always wanted a nice Nativity.

Not the best picture, but Annika and Lincoln LOVE this toy.
The big kids do too, for that matter.

I had to get 1 shot of Lincoln.  Here he is playing with Annika's
new vacuum.  This is another toy that both babies love.

I love the Christmas season and celebrating the birth of Christ.  We always try to remind our kids that we celebrate Christmas because we celebrate Christ.  We are so blessed to have a Savior.

A Visit to Palmyra

On December 23rd we decided to take advantage of the absence of snow so we took a trip to Palmyra in honor of Joseph Smith's birthday.  The Smith Farm is my favorite site to visit in Palmyra.  Even though we visit Palmyra regularly I don't feel like we take many pictures when we visit so we tried to take a few more pictures.  Having Stanley along for the trip encouraged us to take more pictures.  

In front of a Nativity in the Visitor's Center

 

Rebecah and Stanley by an old family bible from the early 1800s.

Rebecah and Stanley in the Smith Cabin.  

Upstairs: Bedrooms in the Smith Cabin

The Frame Home, which is 85% original.  

Stanley on the hearth where Joseph Smith hid the gold plates for a time.

 

Big building on the left is the threshing barn and the smaller building on the right is the Cooper's shop.

 

One last picture.  We had to get our red-headed beauty in a picture.