Winter Blues

What's new at the Pratt household? Not much, unless you consider the snow. Wait a second, that's not new! I must say in the defense of Roosevelt, this winter has been the easiest we've had so far. It didn't start snowing until after our California trip for Thanksgiving (Thank GOODNESS!) and we really only had one major snowfall. It's gotten to sub zero temps, BUT they only lasted a few weeks. In fact this week was mainly in the teens! I sure am hoping this is an upward trend we can look forward to (so I can get out and RUN!)

Despite this however, 3/4 of my kiddos still love finding things to do inside.

I'm still afterschooling Hailey and informally preschooling the two babies, and whenever Luke is around.

They LOVE working on math. When we are talking about tens and ones, etc we use the unifix math cubes and if the kids can listen to my whole lesson they get to play with the cubes. Not sure why they are so much more exciting than legos, but these sure are a hit with the kids!

Hailey is doing really well in school and lately her teacher has been having her read in front of the class instead of the teacher. This gives Hailey a fun way to link social skills (her least favorite thing) and reading (her most favorite thing.) She hates the snow as much as mom and she even began crying when PE at school was a snowball fight because "it will just freeze my hands out there in the cold."

She is getting SO great about her allergy. She knows the kinds of things that normally carry wheat and she will ask "Does that have wheat in it?" I feel bad sometimes, cause most treats contain some form of flour, but we have found some of her favorite treats we always make sure to have on hand, like these gluten free doughnuts! I have to be careful around her because she sure reminds me of the way I act sometimes. I've been known to get frustrated with the kids and say "I give up, I need a timeout" and walk into the other room. She reminded me of this one day she was reading to Luke who kept turning the pages prematurely. She throws her hands in the air (apparently what I look like) and says "I give up, I need a time out" and then walks into the other room. We've implemented a new you can't eat dinner (or lunch) until the toys are cleaned up. One day they were being particularly slow and as Bella and I entered the kitchen she says,

"Mom are you and Bella going to eat dinner?" I told her yes, since Bella and I had cleaned up our part. She responded with "Mom, that is selfish. You shouldn't eat in front of the hungry." She teaches me more and more everyday and she sure is such an amazing blessing!

Little Peanut is tiny as ever. She is SO messy all the time! Hailey had so much more hair than her, I never remember the constant bedhead look with her, but Bella sure has it. It is a rare occurrence you will find Bella without 2 fistfuls of what she considers food (sometimes edible, sometimes not). Despite all her frequent

binging she hasn't gained a pound. She will be two years old before she turns 20 pounds I'm sure. She is, however, meeting all her milestones. She is now potty trained (still the occasional accident) except for bedtime, however she stays dry upon waking up, mom's a little concerned with jumping that hurdle yet. She still loves her "puppy" which consists of almost any stuffed animal. She LOVES to cuddle and as long as she's not eating she has a blankie and either a "puppy" or baby in her arms. My little sweetheart is counting (out of order) "1, 2, 6, 4, 8" and speaking TONS! Even though size way she remains tiny she sure is growing in so many other ways.

My little man, sure has hit the 2's stage. His tantrums are quite dramatic (such the drama king!) But he's the quickest to change and always gives a HUGE toothy grin and asks me "Mom this make you happy?" He LOVES getting caught being good (which gets a reward... find out about that HERE), and still adores helping mom in the kitchen. He doesn't mind if it's cleaning or putting away dishes but his FAVORITE is cooking. Treats particularly and his joy in life seems to be licking the beaters or spoons while waiting for things to bake. He is trying so hard to be like Luke and some days cries when he can't follow him to school. He is a tad bit obsessed with TV, and since we only watch on the weekends for a show or two at a time, he gets pretty bothered when it goes off. But as I said before he changes his mood almost instantaneously. He loves getting his picture taken... what a HAM! Love it!

The reason I said 3/4 of the kiddos hate the snow like Mom, is because of Luke!

He LOVES the snow. Kicking at it with his boots, making foot prints, hiding things in it, even playing baseball with daddy in it. He's always asking to go outside, and because Mom is way more chicken than her 4 year old when it comes to being cold, he usually has to wait for daddy to get home to do it. He's been doing great in school and from what I hear is quite the social butterfly. He's "the cool kid" as his teacher says. He's doing much better focusing his attention and when something catches his interest he sure hangs on. He still LOVES the scriptures and Jesus stories. We were reading the story of Jesus being tempted by satan and Luke says when he goes to heaven he's "gonna help Heavenly Father and throw oranges at that big fat fat satan and the hit him with a stick so he leaves for good." After yelling prayer because "heaven is so far far away" and he "wants Heavenly Father to be able to hear" him, he tells me, "Mom, when we go to heaven it is so far all the boys and girls better stay with their mommies and daddies so they don't get lost." I told him that's right, most mommies and daddies know the way and he says "Mom, when I go to heaven, we will hold hands. I want to go to heaven with you."

*tear* What an angel. He has such an amazing sweet spirit and even though he seems all full of fighting and wildness (what little boy doesn't?) he is all fluffy and soft inside.

Matt's still working crazy, and I'm doing all the mom stuff, really hoping for it to get warm so I can get in race "shape" for this year. Trying to keep busy with crafts and entertaining the children.

Until next time ♥ Kimberly

...and that's a wrap!

so it hasn't been an entire year since I've blogged.... only 4 months :) I'm getting better! Still better than Steph! :) hehe (jk sis)

So 2010 is now over and I still can't believe it flew by so fast. I would love to tell you all we have an exciting announcement, but the truth is, we don't.

(you can breathe now mom ;) Still taking a break, but we do want a couple more little pratt kiddos (don't worry nana, more to spoil).

We have enjoyed this year a little more than most because I think we've all grown closer than we ever have before. I can't really say exactly what it was, perhaps my near brush with death :0 and being in a coma, or our monthly trips to the temple but we have definitely grown

stronger as a family. In so many ways Matthew & I are such polar opposites, but there are certain unflattering traits that we equally share, such as our stubbornness. BUT this year we have both worked hard on giving a little and it has really made such a difference in our homelife. The kids have joined the band wagon, Hailey and Luke have become the best of friends.

When Hailey goes to school on Monday I often get the following from Luke, "Mooooommmm, when's Hailey coming home, I want to play with her."

Matthew is busy with the same ol same ol life of a cop. Working his life away but now when he comes home he enjoys spending time with us instead of running out to do "boy things." We are getting closer to paying off our debt (our LONG term goal) and once we do, he will get to spend even more time at home (**JUMP FOR JOY**). When we were in Cali in November he got to ride along with LAPD Air Unit and had a blast (other than the motion sickness) he even made it to the ground without losing his lunch ;)

He was just called as the Teacher's Advisor in the Young Men's for church and is so excited for his new calling. Being a convert Matthew didn't get to do all the fun stuff I did as a teenager like stake dances and summer camp and now he gets to! (Better be on your best behavior boys!) He's had his transfer request for St George for quite some time now and it doesn't look like it's going through anytime soon. We have spent a lot of time praying on this (since as you all know, I REALLY struggle living out here) and have decided we are meant to stay here for now. Not quite sure why, but I don't always know best (Yes, Matthew I did just say that). So we will continue where we are (with happy hearts ;) until it feels like its time. Did I mention Matthew got trooper of the year? He couldn't really enjoy the party since he had gotten his wisdom teeth removed the morning of, but we have the plaque to hang on our wall as a reminder (as if we need it). He's a great cop, willing to help the public and coworkers as much as he can and of course stop those lawbreakers! :)

Having the kids in school has actually made things even busier for me (I thought I'd be getting a break - HA!). I joined the PTA and signed up to do Red Ribbon Week for the Elementary school. I thought, 1 week and then nothing what an easy gig. Again, HA! Lol. It turned out to be quite the project but with Matthew, his work friends and North Eastern Counseling Center out here I think we pulled off a pretty great week. We even made it in the local paper twice!

And now Matthew is on a committee for drug prevention for the Basin. I've been getting back into running (this was before it was -20 outside) and up til Christmas probably going between 3-6 miles at least 4x a week. It's not as far as I'd like, but my time is limited since I can't take the kids with me when it's so cold. I am training for race season next year. I blame my brother Rob, we watched him run the St George Marathon this year and I was hooked,

I need to run my own.

I am planning on 3 10ks and a half marathon starting memorial day and the last in august. Other than that, I'm still babysitting during the week and busy with all my crafts and projects (always something new, you know me ;) I get so excited, I can never nail down 1 hobby and as Matthew always says, "I could open my own craft store with all the stuff I have." Don't forget to check out my other blogs for crochet and cooking (mycrochetivity.blogspot.com and 5starfavorites.blogspot.com) .

Hailey is soaring in school (did we really expect otherwise?). Some things take her a little longer, she's still struggling on fine motor skills (it would help if she'd pick a hand and focus - she is amidextrous ;) but her reading is off the charts. She likes to sit down next to me while I'm reading a novel and usually finishes the page before me. (I better be careful what I read now!) The biggest improvement is her social skills. She's making friends and asking for playdates (I often don't know who the kids are that she asks to playdate with so those have been limited) and just the asking is an amazing leap on her part. It's for this reason we have decided to continue in public school for now.

After she ran away the first day of school we were almost ready to pull her out! It was quite the decision for us, because IQ & reading level wise she is at at least a 3rd grade level and the school doesn't offer anything other than kindergarten because of her age (shes the youngest in her class) and her social skills. At home I have been working with her and she absorbs anything we study, often remembering facts we talked about way after I've forgotten. So we are doing an "afterschool" program. Ever heard of it? It's a mix of public school and homeschool. Since she's half day at kindergarten and her learning need isn't filled in so few hours I work with her after she gets home. We learn about whatever she wants.

Mostly science (she LOVES anatomy and astronomy) and self help skills (hygiene and cooking) and of course she joins in when mom does crafts ;) She still gets plenty of time to read and I often catch her reading at 10:00 at night when I'm going to bed! :0 She's had a few meltdowns but overall school has been a great blessing, and she loves her teacher who really gives Hailey the extra love she needs.

Luke is loving school and really getting awesome at writing his name and drawing me pictures. Usually of soldiers or robots or cars. He has a best friend Stockton who lives just around the corner and if a day goes by where I don't hear "Mom, I wanna go play with Stockton" then I'll know something is wrong. Thankfully Stockton and his mom seem to love playing with Luke so this happens often :) Sometimes I have to remind myself that not all kids get as into school work as Hailey and when Luke doesn't want to work anymore I gotta let him run and be a boy. He is going to be quite the scriptorian (sp?) when he grows up because his favorite part of the day is scripture reading. Of all our books, this is what he chooses to read in bed every night. He LOVES watching the living scriptures and his absolute favorite story in all 4 books is when Jesus is crucified and he reminds me it's because Jesus did this so we can all go to heaven and be together forever. He loves saying prayer and really talks to Heavenly Father like they are good friends.

Hunter thinks Luke is the coolest boy ever and tries to act like him, unless of course Luke is watching and then Hunter tries to argue (is this a man thing or a 2yo thing?). Bella and Hunter have become much closer. Oh, they still need to work on sharing but they love being nice to each other. Hunter is all about copying everything we do. Talking on the phone, using camera, typing on computer. Hunter still loves cooking, but his time is mostly filled with trains, cars, balls and warriors. Whenever I make cookies though, he's first one in the kitchen asking to "dump" ingredients and always lick the spoon ;)

He's become quite attached to movies, and of all my kids, he will zone out for an entire movie before moving an inch. We don't watch tv during the week so we movie night Friday night and then a cartoon on Saturday and a church movie on Sunday. He doesn't quite get why we don't watch TV all day long and when it's time to turn it off the tantrum ensues. The terrible twos have hit hunter harder than any of our other kids but he is also my most cuddly kiddo loving to climb up next to mom or dad on the couch and cuddle for hours.

Baby is still a teeny thing. Still fitting into 6 mo stuff we are trying to put her into 12 and 18 mo clothes. She is completely potty trained and 6mo onesies no longer work for a potty trainee. She eats a ton and has developed a new love for the words "cookie" and "cracker". Bella's new best friend is her "puppy," (THANKS RPD ;) She carries this thing with her everywhere! And when it's time for meals and puppy needs to stay in the other room she gets hysterical. We've compromised so that puppy sits behind her chair during meals (and I'm washing puppy probably 3x a week!) She has also adopted Hailey's present a kitty and calls it puppy too but

knows it says "meow." If she can she carries both around, although they are probably the size of her.

She loves to do everything the big kids do from wrestling to coloring and wants to use the big potty and big chair not her tiny ones. (which is hard cause her tiny bum just isn't big enough). Her and Hunter keep me on my toes while the big kids are at school and we sure have a blast. Every day is a new experience and a new love. They are all growing so fast I hope I don't miss a thing! (And remember to document it all!)

♥ from the Pratts ;)