utah

During Matt's week off in February, we took Willa out of school and drove to Utah for a week.  It's a long drive, but it's nice to actually be able to do it in a day.  When we lived in Ohio and Memphis our closest family was more than a day's drive away.

We spent a night in SLC visiting Matt's Salt Lake siblings (Kristy, Stephen, Kazia, and Kelsey) on the way down.  We spent a night in Provo visiting Bryan and his family on the way back.  And the rest of the time we spent in Richfield with his parents.  We like Great Falls, but I hate that it's far from family.  It's so fun to spend time with family.  I really wish we lived closer to my family or Matt's.

We took the kids hiking one morning with Marcia, Stephen, and Millhouse along a creek in Monroe Canyon.  We took Clark and Willa on this same hike a few years ago.  It brought back memories.  Matt carried Clark in the same blue carrier that he carried Oliver in this time.

 



Here we are in Provo with Bryan and his family.  We have twin families.  We are quite the bunch going to dinner and ice cream with six little kids.  But the kids were good and we all had fun.  Willa and Clark loved seeing their cousins (and their aunts and uncles and grandparents!).  I guess Clark forgot he had boy cousins. He only has girls on my side.  He was thrilled and talked about it for a few days afterwards.

Preschool and Kindergarten

I wrote this post back in October or so.  I'm not sure why I never posted it.  I guess I was going to add something and now I can't remember what that was.

CLARK - age 3



first day of school

Clark started school on September 4 at the Peak.  He attends two days a week for 4 hours.  Matt and I were worried about Clark starting school.  I knew he needed some sort of school, but I was worried how he would do.  He wasn't completely potty trained even though his school requires the students be potty trained (and even though we had been diligently working on it for 8 months!!!).  He hadn't attended any sort of class other than nursery at church.  And Matt was one of his nursery teachers in Albuquerque so I wasn't sure if he'd have separation issues. He has swim lessons at school and Clark completely relied on me to dress and undress him.  I was hoping preschool would be a success, but I also feared that he would be kicked out.  All of my fears were for nothing.  Clark is doing really well.  It has been easy to drop him off from day one.  He hasn't had any accidents (and most of his accidents at home have stopped. He still sleeps in a diaper.)  He has learned to take his clothes off for swim lessons and then put them back on.  He's making friends, learning other kids' names, and talking so much more.  Preschool has been so good for Clark - it is amazing to see how much he has matured in the past few months.

Oh, and a little about his school...
It's at the Peak Heath and Wellness Center in Great Falls which is basically a big fancy gym.  They do really cool things like swim lessons and kidsercise and kid Pilates. His teachers have master's degrees in early ed and reading and they are so sweet and smart and kind and creative.  Clark loves his teachers.  It's a very active program with academics hidden in hands-on activities.  I have yet to see a worksheet come home.  

second day of school

 

WILLA - age 5

 

Willa started kindergarten on September 4. I learn the lesson over and over again as a mom that I worry about the wrong things.  I need to stop worrying because whatever I think is going to happen doesn't.  I wasn't a bit worried about Willa starting school.  (It was Clark I was worried about.) Willa has always been friendly and adaptable and easy going.  I thought the transition of starting school full time would be a breeze.  Willa was excited the first day and went the first two weeks without hesitation or complaint.  She loved school.  The third full week of school took a little turn.  Willa started to protest and complain about going to school.  She came home happy and chatty, but every morning we had tears and she begged to stay home.  She had tears at school everyday the third week as well.  Tears because she left her backpack at home (even though I told her a million times to grab it before we left the house).  Tears from falling on the playground and cutting her knee.  Tears because she didn't get to say bye to me the way she wanted.  Tears because she was supposed to take the bus home but forgot and went to parent pick up.  One morning the tears were so bad she called me from the principal's office to say hello.  Some of those tears were for understandable reasons and others not so much.  But regardless, it made me sad that she was getting upset at school everyday.  I knew she'd get over it.  I knew she had just hit that third week exhaustion.  Willa napped every day up until the first day of school.  I knew she was missing me and the boys.  Willa attended preschool two mornings a week for 4 hours in Albuquerque.  So going five days a week, all day was a big change. 

 

Willa is doing better now.  I don't think she has had tears at school since that third week.  And she doesn't whine about school in the morning nearly as much.  She worked for rewards for awhile, but she doesn't need them anymore.  If she went to school cheerfully, then she earned a sticker. Seven stickers earned a prize.  She earned some mail order caterpillars that changed into butterflies.

 

I am thrilled with Willa's school as well.  She has the best teacher - Miss Martinich.  She is a new grad so I had some reservations, but she has turned out to be very talented.  I volunteer twice a week in her class and I am amazed at the control Willa's teacher has over the kids.  She uses so many little rhymes and songs to keep the kids on task and transition.  For example, Miss Martinich says, "Class, Class". And immediately the kids respond. "Yes, Yes."  Or she'll say "Macaroni Cheese" and the kids say "Everybody Freeze."  Her teacher has tons of little things like that.  She doesn't raise her voice and she is always down on the carpet helping the kids learn. 

 

Willa has already learned so much.  She hadn't started reading on her own when school started despite hours and hours and hours of time with me working on letters and sounds and reading.  I was starting to get a little worried.  But since starting school everything clicked and she can now sound out words, read short stories, sound out words in her head and write them down.  It is fun to see her read little books and see the pride in her eyes and smile. 



 

first day of school



fourth day of school

And I have to jot a few words down about the first day of school...
Willa and Clark started on the same day.  It was such a crazy hectic morning.  Willa's school starts at 8:25 and Clark's starts at 8:30.  Of course everything in the morning took way longer than I intended (punctuality and time management when getting ready to go somewhere are my biggest weaknesses).  When we arrived, we had to park a mile away and walk since all the street parking was full by the school.  I didn't have a stroller so I had to carry Oliver and drag Clark along.  There isn't really a parent parking lot, just a staff parking lot.  It was a crazy morning and I forgot to get emotional. I don't think I shed any tears.  I missed Clark and Willa and the day seemed long.  I was really excited to pick them up and see how school went.

frozen Missouri

It's fun and beautiful living on the river.  It has frozen and thawed twice this winter.  Whenever I download our pictures onto my computer, I always find a bunch of the river.  Matt is the photographer of the family.  Here are a few from January when the river was frozen.

We all enjoy watching the deer cross the river.

a visit from JoJo - a birthday, some snow, and the rodeo

My mom flew to Montana for a long weekend earlier this month.  She wanted to have a little bit of snowy weather.  She lucked out.  Great Falls was covered in snow while she was here.  It didn't actually snow, but she came right after several big snowstorms.

She was here for Willa's birthday and birthday party.  It was fun getting ready for the party with her.  Matt was off so he watched the boys, and Willa was in school.  It was lovely to shop with just my mom for the food and a few last minute things for Willa's party.  We also went on a little lunch date to Wheat Montana.  Then on our way home, we surprised Willa at lunch and sat with her while she ate.

Willa's Tea Party

 

We spent an afternoon playing in the snow in our yard. 

We built a snowman, painted the snow with squirt bottles filled with colored water, and went sledding.

new boots for JoJo

 

The rodeo was in town so we hit that up as well.  It was quite the experience.  My mom and I had never been to a rodeo before.  I was a little uncomfortable.  No one was hurt, but I thought for sure someone was going to get stepped on.  My allergies did NOT like the rodeo. I was a mess - sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, itchy throat, wheezing, etc.  It was awful.  Everyone else had a good time.  I have no desire to attend another rodeo any time soon.

 

 

Willa and Clark wanted to dress up for the rodeo so we raided our costumes and came up with these fabulous cowboy and cowgirl costumes.  They actually fit right in.  Kids as well as adults were decked out.  People were super into the rodeo and were making bets and keeping score.

 

My allergies turned right into a bad cold for me.  On my mom's last day she had to take care of me and my kids because I felt awful.  Even in my 30's, it is so nice to have my momma take care of me when I'm sick.

The Christmas Season

Merry Christmas!

Christmas and the whole month of December were great.  This year we were all relatively healthy all month which is so much better than the past two years when we had the flu.

Montana provided a very white Christmas holiday season.  I sort of missed getting big snowstorms while we lived in Memphis and Albuquerque.  There is no missing the snow here.  We've been dumped on so much and the temperatures have been so cold.  It's funny.  When we lived in Memphis and Albuquerque, anytime we had snow, I bundled the kids up and pushed them out the door to play in it because I wasn't sure how much snow we'd get each winter.  I think it was the third snowstorm here that I finally bundled Oliver up and let him crawl around in the snow.  I knew we'd have more snow then we knew what to do with by the end of winter.



 

 

Willa has discovered sledding.  We have a little hill in the yard that she loves.  And one evening, Matt pulled out the riding lawn mower and towed them around.  Good times.

 

Our Tree

In Montana you can chop down a Christmas tree in the forest for $5.  We planned on doing that, but December started to pass us by before we had time to get out into the woods. The sun sets by 4:40 in Great Falls this time of year so going to the mountains after school isn't an option.  We ended up with a live, local tree but bought it from a stand on the side of the road.

 

It's big and beautiful and obviously not from a tree farm.  I love that you can see the trunk through the branches.

putting the star on top

Holiday Concerts

The week of school before winter break was so busy.  Oh, my gosh.  It was filled with holiday parties, Christmas concerts, the making and delivering of teacher gifts, and doctor visits (I naïvely scheduled well visits for my kids that week and Clark's new lenses came in so I had to drop off his glasses and then pick them up.  We visited the medical plaza on 4 different days.)

Willa's concert:
We won front row seats in a PTA drawing.  I never win anything.  It was so nice.  We didn't have to show up early and we got to go right up to the front row.  Willa is such a ham during performances.  She sings loud and does all the motions supersize.  She loves for us to watch her and take pictures.

top row. far right.

Clark's concert:
Willa's concert was a short 20 minutes and Matt was able to go.  Oliver was entertained.  Clark's concert was a different story.  It was much longer and I was on my own - hence, the one blurry cell phone picture.  Oliver ran up to the front to give Clark a hug and refused to sit still.  I wrestled Oliver most of the time and ended up behind the set for most of the show.  Behind the scenes was much more fun to watch apparently. 
Clark sang all the words and did the motions, but he was a little more reserved than Willa - not shy, just not over the top.  Clark was really proud to have his own holiday concert.

Clark far left. Oliver is in front of him.

Santa

We have true believers again this year... two of them.  Santa visited Clark's preschool.  Clark loved him.  Willa never sat on Santa's lap this year, but someone from the ward surprised us at our front door dressed as Santa bearing cookies.  Willa loved that and felt really special.  They both absolutely think they saw and talked to the real Santa.

Christmas Eve

Matt was on call Christmas Eve.  We ate Café Rio with Matt at the hospital.  It started snowing early in the day and by the time we were ready to leave the hospital, it was getting dark and the snow was sticking.  We had an exciting drive home with lots of slipping, a very near rear-ending moment, and twice we almost didn't make it up a hill.  But we made it home.  The kids put on their matching jammies and left cookies for Santa.  Clark and Willa crawled into Willa's bed and were sound asleep before 8:30.

after Santa visited

Christmas Day

The kids slept in until 7:00.  Matt had the day off.  We spent the day home enjoying our new presents and playing in the snow.  Matt made a big breakfast and we had chicken fondue for our Christmas meal.