January 2019

January is so busy with BIRTHDAYS!

Gwen's is first:

Birthday breakfast--crepes of course! 

Since Gwen got a sewing machine for Christmas, her birthday gift was fabric and learning how to make her own circle skirt.

Facts about 10 year-old Gwen:

• She is still very creative and often uses her creativity with Legos--she's the biggest LegoManiac of the house.  She often has a whole village of Lego buildings, etc. that she has built.   
• She often leads a drawing competition during sacrament meeting with whoever will play.  
• Her favorite way to participate in Home Church is by leading the family on a scavenger hunt of some sort, or by drawing a comic illustrating a principle we're learning.  
• Since she doesn't like piano, she has instead become the designated reading tutor in the house... first it was Nyle.   She'd read to him, have him read to her and drill him with his sight word flashcards.  Now she is West's tutor.
• She continues to leave loving notes for us on our pillow at night every once in a while.  Occasionally she has begun leaving notes to complain about some interfering brothers. ;)  
• She loves to stay at home, rather than be out and about like her brothers and loves a good play date with her friends, and she has a lot of them!  

Nyle's Birthday was next.  Since we have three January birthdays and we usually like to go on family outings of the birthday child's choice, we decided that only one of the outings would be expensive and the other two would be less so.  The family voted and we all decided we wanted to go to Flip 'n Out Xtreme... a trampoline place for the expensive one.  

He wanted Crepes as well!

Facts about 6 Year-Old Nyle

• Nyle is so fun and continues to be full of great energy!  
• He is also very creative in a different way than Gwen...His gift seems to be in seeing things that  others can't see. He's the first to tell us what a cloud might look like, or a shape he may see in the rocks at Redstone.  He must just be very observant visually.  
• He's great at making friends and continues to be someone everyone his age wants to play with. 
• He forgives easily.
• He's very bright and does well in school, even though it's a little challenging for him to sit still and focus on reading for too long. He still does it and does it well.  
• He's a bit of an acrobat... He taught himself to do cartwheels and is really good at them. He also is working on handstands.  

Ned's birthday usually falls around MLK Jr. Birthday so we typically go to RedStone for a family picnic.

He was most excited about this alarm clock for his bedside.

Ned is a little adult.  His request for his birthday dinner: Chicken Parmesan.  

Facts about 8 Year-Old Ned

• He's such a great helper in the house.  Whenever West needs help with something like getting dressed or finding something, Ned will usually volunteer or is very willing if I ask.  
• He's a peacemaker-- he doesn't ever seek out a fight, although he does enjoy wrestling with his brothers.  
• He's very goal oriented and is consistent with accomplishing his many tasks.  
• I have started the oldest three children on a chore chart that they get paid for and will subsequently use to buy themselves clothes.  I don't think Ned has ever slacked in a single chore and received less than his full week's wages. 
• He's a good friend and was voted as such in his class.
• He played Soccer last fall and was the star player of his team... he's very fast and quick-thinking.  

The school has the kids participating in a program called Accelerated Reader (AR).  They read books on their reading level, then take quizzes on them.  After reading and passing quizzes on a  certain number of books, they pass their level off and receive their award.  Ned and Gwen received theirs in January, I believe Nyle already had earned one of his.   The lower levels take less time to pass off, than the higher ones.  

Nyle has just passed off Math Facts in a Flash, a math facts program similar to AR.