Today

I've been thinking for awhile that I need to better job at recording our family history. The word history doesn't seem to fit what I want to write about (amongst the homework, dance and swimming lessons, coaxing to do chores), but someday it will be a history and I don't want to forget it.

Yesterday morning, I got upset with Abby before school. She had been climbing on the counter (which has been a big issue at our house lately and has put a bee in my bonnet) and knocked over a chair. The chairs at the bar are on the verge of biting the dust, so we are trying to preserve them for as long as possible.

There could have been a much better way to take care of the situation, but I got upset with her. Which made her start to cry and NOT want to go to school. She cried and held onto my leg while we walked over to the neighbors to catch the carpool. Urhhh....I was so frustrated with that little spirit...just go to school because it will be much better for both of us! Plus, my neighbor has to put up with another sad Barlow kid. Why couldn't have I spoken to her kindly and asked her to just get off the counter and pick up the chair? It would've made her day better and my day better.

After that incident, I was late dropping Peach off at preschool. One of my errands to run during that free time was to go to Desert Industries (like a Savers or Goodwill) to pick up some clothes for our 72 hour kits. I found some great things and of course, everything was super cheap. On my way out the door, I got a phone call from Georgia's preschool teacher.

They were learning about the letter P and a classmate had brought peppermints to share. Georgia decided to swallow the thing WHOLE! It got stuck in her throat. The teacher gave her some water and she was able to swallow. But the peppermint was burning in her mouth.

So, we made a quick trip to the doctors office to make sure it all was well. We are in the clear!

We had swim lessons last night (Carter and Georgia), Abby had dance (which conveniently takes place upstairs at the rec center), Carter and Annie had tutoring, and Tim had Young Mens. Wednesdays are always busy nights.

I was talking with a friend the other night at a baby shower about school. She was saying how much time she spends with her daughter on homework. She asked how do we get all the homework done.

It is one of those areas in life that I really worry about. But if I think about it too much, I know I will never get it done like I want too. I have 3 kids that I need to spend a lot of time with doing regular homework, speech therapy homework, tutoring homework, and reading. It is that prayer as a mother that I hope Heavenly Father makes up for where I lack!

Little Miss....

After being lugged around to all her siblings activities, Peachy finally has a few fun things of her own. She just started taking gymnastics or 'nastics as she calls it! She and our neighbor friend go together and boy howdy, are those two little peas in a pod. They run and fly and twirl and wear themselves out!
One of her favorite saying lately has been "I can't know" when she doesn't know something. She also hates to clean up her room right now and it is MESSY!

Someone has really gotten into "posing" for pictures....funny her big sisters love to pose too!
She also started taking swimming lessons. It was so convenient since Carter is taking them! BUT it is the middle of winter (lately the temperature has been in the low 20's) and someone doesn't want to wear a coat or pants into the indoor pool. But she will wear her boots. Love the fashion statement Peach!

Christmas Festivities

We had lots going on over the Christmas season. Here are a few of our favorites:

Making gingerbread houses (this is a kid favorite, not always a mom favorite):

Watching Annie at her dance recital (she is taking ballet and tap):

Elementary school Christmas sing:

Family Christmas party (the kids were singing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and the 3 year old in our house knew all the words and sang loudly!!):






An awesome visit from family and a quick trip to Temple Square to see the lights:

Whew...it all went by too fast!

Christmas...yep it is the middle of January

So I am bit behind in life right now! I'm not so sure how that happened, but I am trying to catch up.

We had such a wonderful Christmas season. There was a talk given at church (back in December) about remember the true meaning of Christmas. It was hard for me to remember amongst the neighbor gifts, Christmas cards, school programs, cooking, cleaning, and life. It made me really sad that Sunday as I sat and listened that I wasn't feeling that true spirit. From then on, I tried to soak in all the moments with my kids. Live and learn!

We had Christmas Eve at our house. We started the day by going swimming. We needed to relieve a serious case of the 6-year old wiggles and swimming did the trick! All the local family came and ate lots of yummy treats.

The kids did a great job going to bed despite the anticipation of Santa. Their prayers on Christmas Eve night were as follows:

Abby: Please bless Santa in the fog that he can bring toys.
Carter: Please bless us that we can sit on the top of the stairs so Mom can take a picture.


Whew...we made the picture!

Christmas morning is truly magical with children. The excitement..the anticipation...the discovery! We spent the morning and early afternoon at home with Grandma Jenny and then headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Barlow's for more Christmas celebration!

A few of our favorite Christmas gifts were:

Annie: A Blizzard Maker
Abby: Go Go Walkin' Pup
Carter: A Double Light Sabar and a BYU sweat shirt (he wears it night and day)
Georgia: Several new Dora dolls.

What a wonderful day!

Holes in our Head

We have had quite of few "holes in our head" lately!

The first hole goes to:

ABBY (she lost her first tooth and was tickled pink to have her hole and get some cash from the tooth fairy):

The second hole goes to:

CARTER (he lost his first tooth too and was very excited to get a dollar from the tooth fairy!!):

 Then, we had three girls get their ears pierced.  The big girls concocted the plan by themselves and then asked me. 

They wanted to do their Super Saturday together (this never happens...they always want their special day alone).  When I asked why, they said they wanted to get their ears pierced.  I think they were expecting me to say no, so sounds of joy were heard through the neighborhood when I said yes!

I told the girls, the piercing would feel like a shot from the doctor and we were only allowed to wear small earring (nothing dangling).  They said they still wanted to do it!



Before:

Georgia (hooray for the double piercing guns):

Sorry for the blurry picture...Dad was a bit nervous!

 Annie (we told Annie if she counted to 60, the stinging would go away...as soon as she was done, I could hear her counting):

Abby...oh our sweet Abby!  She got a little nervous when it was her turn.  So she took a potty break, got a piece of gum and ended up sitting on dad's lap:

 

Everyone was very pleased with the sparkling bling in their ears:

Beautiful Dresses!

While I was volunteering at the school yesterday, the teacher gave each the students an opportunity to stand in from of the class and share something exciting that happened over the weekend.

During Carter's turn, he proclaimed the next time he goes to Disneyland he was going to fight all the bad Star Wars guys.  There was a collective "oooooooo" from all the 1st grade boys.

During Abby's turn, she announced that she had to go to the dentist tomorrow and gets to leave 5 MINUTES EARLY! Whew...don't want to miss that 5 minutes!

During Annie's turn, she said that her mom makes really beautiful dresses and she got to wear one to church.  "I was the most beautiful girl there".  I'm glad we are not shy about our beauty!

This could be a whole other post...but I did my first large holiday boutique this past weekend.  Wowzer!  What a fun experience!  It was a long and tiring two days, but I sold lots of my skirts and dresses, lots of Scentsy products and met lots of wonderful ladies!  My girls were hoping these dresses wouldn't sell so they could keep them!

Friendship Braids

My girlies have been trying to grow their hair out (much to their mother's dismay)!  We are finally to the point of pigtails and sometimes ponytails. 

Abby asked me the other day if her hair was long enough for "friendship braids".  "You mean French Braids, right"..."Right Mom...Friendship braids".

So a few nights ago, I "Friendshipped Braided" (is that even a word??) 3 little sets of hair. 

It took me an hour to do (this is definitely not a school-day hair-do).

We were sure excited about our new 'do!