pre-school for aimee

Aimee is a social learner, and that is really why I decided to put her in pre-school. Every time I would try to sit down and work on letters or colors, she shut down and tuned out. This was an effort to make sure she is ready for kindergarten. Several months ago I went and toured the facility. It is actually an old fire station that has since been converted into her pre-school. It is called Catholic Charities Learning Center, but it is not a Catholic school. I asked a lot of questions, and decided that this would give my baby girl a great environment to learn and see what school is all about. She goes three days a week for three hours, and loves it! We missed the whole first week while we were in Idaho, so her first day was actually a field trip to the zoo. Since we go there a lot the exciting thing was getting to ride the bus. She was a little disappointed when that wasn't a normal part of things, but has since learned lot of other things to love. I for one love that she loves it! I am also able to run a few errands on school morning, and get through the grocery store a little quicker. I have decided that while I think it is a good thing, she won't be going to pre-school next year. This year will help her get the jump start she needed, but I miss her so much! I need next year for me, before she starts kindergarten, and I lose having her around as much!

grandpa darrell

We have managed to get all three grandparents out to our house in the last six months. Grandma Alice came to help out when Pratt was born. Grandpa Williams came when Chad was ordained, and we guilted my dad into coming by me whining about having to drive 1000 miles with all three of my kiddos alone. I didn't do it alone. My dad made the drive with us, and then stayed a couple of days before he flew home. One of those days was a Sunday, so we just enjoyed a relaxing Sabbath.

On Monday grandpa got so see Aimee go to her first day of pre-school! Then we headed off to the zoo. We went to the jungle, the desert dome, and caught the 3D movie at the IMAX there before it was time to go get my big girl.

After lunch and naps we hit of the zoo a second time so that Aimee could show grandpa some of her favorite things there- the budgies, and the goats. Then we bribed the kids to leave by going for ice cream. I am pretty sure we were entertainment for everyone else at Zesto's. We had ice cream everywhere, but we also had a great time.

The kids played outside for a bit before it was time for dinner and family home evening. Grandpa left the next morning. I think we tuckered him right out in just one big day of play (oh, and a sacrament meeting) but we sure had a lot of fun doing it!

idaho

I admit I was hesitant to be away from home so long. Call me a bit of a control freak, but I just like to do things my way. Yes, I have an incredibly patient husband. But, as it turns out, we had a great time during our nearly four week long stay in the great state of Idaho! Chad did his second externship at University of Utah. Since I was released as primary president, I didn't feel the need to stick around Omaha when there was a chance for me and the kiddos to see our family. We even got lucky and saw Chad a couple of times! Here is a photo-with-a-brief-explanation view of the trip.

Pratt had lots of relatives to meet during his first trip to the Gem State. Great Grandpa King had a great time getting to know the little guy.


Aunt Torj was very patient with all of the little people that wanted to explore her stuff. She was also great to take time to make them feel special.

I loved helping my mom cook as a kid, and I was glad my kiddos got to enjoy doing that with Grandma Alice.

What a cool Aunt to hang out in the kiddie pool!

Gardening was not one of my favorite things to do with my mom, but my kids liked it. I think Chad has a lot to do with that.

Taessia did her fair share of babysitting while I was in Preston. There were several mornings that she watched the kiddos so that I could go on a walk with my mom. Thanks Torj!

My parents use this wagon behind their four-wheeler to garden with. It became known as the Grandma Wagon, and was a favorite activity during our stay.

My mom would haul the kiddos all over the neighborhood in the wagon, but my grandpa's old farm was a favorite stop. It is now run by someone else, but they were kind enough to let the kids come see the animals, and even feed a calf a bottle.

One of the highlights of the trip was finally blessing our little guy. We got permission to bless him at my Dad's house one Sunday afternoon. Chad had that weekend off, and both grandpa's and a few other special family members were able to be there. It was a really neat and personal experience.

Aunt Tubbs was so sweet to come to Preston every day she had off from work to spend time with us, and the kiddos loved every second!

Uncle Cubby also came home several times, and did a good job making sure the kids got teased and squished.

This picture will be one to show the kids when they are my age, and I am telling them about their grandpa that served in WWII. I have such a cute little grandpa!

We were lucky enough to have our visit correspond with Melissa and her kids being in town. Aimee had talked for weeks about getting to see her cousins, and had a marvelous time with them. I only wish I had gotten a picture with Ellie in the wagon too.

Did I mention how much these kids love their Aunt Tubbs? It's pretty easy to see why!

Grandpa Williams always worries that we are going to have enough to do at his house. Well, we had a great time, and Grandpa was so cute to watch playing with his mini fan club.

For Family Home Evening in Pocatello we made a trip up to Scout Mountain for a hot dog roast. Aimee and Porter had a great time with their big cousins, and it was so cute to see those big boys be so cute with my little people.

I was pretty glad that Aunt Shauna helped out with tubby time after this night. The kids were filthy, but they sure had a great time!

Grandpa busted out his four wheelers too, and we zipped up and down the streets of the Pocatello metropolis.

Pratt has two little boy cousins that were born a month and 3 months after him. Hopefully someday they will be a little band of buddies when we all hang out at Grandpa Williams house. This one is Carter. They rolled into each other and spit up on each other. It was a pretty good start of making mischief.

This is what Aimee looks forward to all year! Grandpa makes a special effort to take us to the ranch and ride Poco. Every time Aimee gets a little more confident. She did a lot of leading the horses around, although grandpa had to make sure the horses long legs didn't get going faster than Aimee's little legs could go.

Someday I need to arrange all of these grandpa and Aimee photos in sequential order so I can see change from year to year.

Aim has no fear of these huge animals, she just adores them. She is a little cowgirl that only gets to get out a couple of times a year.

Grandpa is getting Pratt ready to go for his first ride next time we get to visit.

Porter is a little scared of riding. When he rode with me or Chad he was done in a matter of minutes. He later went with grandpa and cried when we took him off.

Grandpa took the tree out of his back yard, and he painted the play house. It made for lots of fun hours for Aimee and Porter. These are Uncle Mikey and Aunt Saundra's goggles that they stole for a few of those hours.

Fun grandpa in action.

Aunt Tubbs playing in the sprinklers with the cousins.

The grandma wagon in action.

aunt tubbs

My little sister Taylee is the coolest! She flew all the way out to Omaha to be my driving buddy. I had just under 1000 miles to drive with three kiddos, and Taylee made sure I didn't have to do it alone! My babies were glued to her from the second we picked her up at the airport. She came a few days before we made our voyage, so we tried to make the most of it. We went to the zoo twice and to a big water park. Aunt Tubbs painted nails, helped with tubby time, and read a LOT of books. We had a n the way to Idaho I did all of the driving, and Taylee crawled into the back seat close to a million times to change diapers, feed bottles, and pass out food. Truthfully it was the easiest drive I have ever had, because I had the easy job. Thanks Aunt Tubbs, we heart you!

4 months

Well, he is actually 4 and a half months now, but who is counting? I took him in for his well-baby check up and learned that he is our monster! This baby boy is now in the 67th percentile for height at 25.5 inches and 44th for weight at 14 lbs 11 ounces. That is pretty promising for a family of pudlies! I actually went back and looked in Aimee and Porters baby books and learned that Pratt is approximately the same size as Porter was at 7 months, and Aimee at 9 months. What has it taught me? Don't buy too many things ahead of time until you know how closely your baby follows the sizes. Just when I thought I had it figured out... So Pratt continues to be a super happy little guy. Although, he recently learned to roll over in both directions, but sometimes gets stuck on his tummy. He handles it pretty well for a few minutes, and then he starts to get testy. Lucky for him, Aimee is quick to answer is distress calls. When he gets up in the morning I nearly have to beat her off to keep her from mauling him to death! She likes to help undo his diapers when I change them, and is a pro at feeding him, if I need her help. Last night he did about 13 and a half hours. Don't worry, that isn't the norm. Usually it is about 11 hours, and I am not complaining! He has had a couple of little growth spurts where he got me up in the night, but for the most part my little Pratt man is super sweet to his mommy. One thing that is not perfectly pleasant about Pratt is his drooling. I have had people ask me if he is an early theether. Nope, he is just very well hydrated and wants the world to know. He loves to sit or stand up, and that means a wet ring from the top of his clothes to his belly button. If I am holding him, I too either have a wet shoulder, or spit streaming down my arm. It isn't my favorite thing about him, but it is a defining characteristic at this point. While I hate to see each phase end, I am loving watching my little Pratt man grow!

independence day 2011

Thanks to our good friends, this was such a fun day for the kiddos! Really the only thing I did that was festive was let Aimee watch the General George Washington animated movie while I did her hair. However, she has been saying "thank you for America," every time it is her turn to say the prayer. After lunch we went to the giant slip and slide. It was actually a huge roll of plastic that our friends the Bullock's set up on the hill across the street from VG. They strung about 15 hoses from two hydrants together to keep sprinklers on it. It was pretty enginuitive! Aimee's preferred method of getting to the bottom was riding on my back. It took a few tries to figure out how to stay in the middle, and how to slow down at the bottom enough to not get all scraped up when the slide ended and the grass started, but Aimee and I had a blast! Porter was more a fan of the kiddie pool at the bottom. My friend Ashley got several of us to put on a little carnival for the kids. We all came up with a simple little booth. The kids were given tickets to use to play at each booth. We had face painting (Aimee got a princess crown on her forehead), bubbles, photos, a bean bag toss, pin the pan on Flynn Rider and a fishing pond. We even had a snow cone stand and cake. It was so cute! It was a pretty hot day, so the boys were pretty worn out by bed time. Aimee was too, but somehow she managed to find the energy to stay up and play until the fireworks went off. This was the first year that fireworks weren't lit at Rosenblatt stadium. Lucky for us, all of the flooding at Harrah's casino caused them to have to move their fireworks show to Horseshoe casino. This is just across the river from us, and was visible from the lawn across the street from Village Green. I'm not sure how much of the fireworks the Jacobsen's were able to see, since Aimee was crawling all over them during the show, but it was pretty fun. Aimee and I were also able to come home and have a quick Skype with Chad before calling it a night. It was a wonderful day to remember how very blest we are!

mahoney park

We had planned to go to the water park as a family before Chad left, but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead I went the day he left. I decided it would be a good distraction from worrying about Chad driving to Phoenix. Luckily for me I had my good friends around to help me. In fact, if you didn't read my last post, you should. It was the highlight of the trip! It made me extra glad to other people I knew around me. Once we got in and unloaded, I got the kids slathered in sunscreen. This was the only thing Pratt fussed about. Then we were off. Aimee and Porter had very different ideas of what would be fun, which was a little tricky at first. Aimee was ready to dive right in and get wet. Porter, as usual was much more cautious, and just wanted to roam on dry ground. After being forced to watch Aimee for a while he finally warmed up to the water, and the two of them had a great time. I only wish I could have got a picture of them going down the frog slide. This turned out to be the main attraction for the two. They did have to lean about taking turns, and not crowding in line, but it eventually sunk in. Pratt was content to just let me hold him on my hip, and be partially covered with a nursing cover to avoid full sun exposure. A couple of times my friends took Aim to do some more adventurous things since Porter and Pratt just weren't up for that, and also sat with Pratt while he slept for a bit so that I could be a fun Mommy. The kids could have stayed all day, and it was great to watch them have so much fun!