Adventures in reading

Haley is so excited about learning to read. This short clip was caught as she was waiting to go to school. It is unrehearsed and you can tell there are a couple words that aren't quite right but I love how you can hear her mind thinking as she tries to sound it out. She is on the road to many adventures and we are so proud of her!

The next Rambo..

...Or maybe Tonto?

Addison at 5 months

I took Addison in today for her "ouwwies" (aka shots) and she is 25 inches long (70% for kids her age) and is 14 lb. and 12 oz (49%). It is really hard to believe that today she is 5 months old. She has definitely become more active lately. Two nights ago I was playing music and dancing with the girls in the kitchen. We danced to cotton-eye joe. I've also been teaching Haley the electric slide (haha-so fun)Anyway the next day Haley was playing the song again and when it came on Addie totally lit up like she recognized it(no I'm serious) and then I said you wanta dance? and wiggled her and out came a real squeal! It was so cute. I probably wouldn't have believe it myself if I hadn't been there but it was.

An Embarrassing Mom Moment

You want a good laugh? Here's one:
So I am driving home from picking up the kids from school and some guy ahead of me gets out of his truck and motions to me that I have something on top of my van. I think Oh my gosh--the diaper!" So to explain why it was up there--a friend mentioned she didn't put dirty ones in her van because it stinks it up. I think that is a great idea and of course planned to get rid of it but obviously forgot. My first thought is that I couldn't believe it was still there---it's like a 10 min. drive and I go 60 mph in some places. Amazing....and then AHHHHHH--I've just been waiting in the parent lane at school getting my kids...yes, meaning that all the other parents, principal, teacher, etc.....has seen my diaper. Oh the shame. I think I want to go get my van painted tonight so they won't recognize me tomorrow!!!

Some things you can't live without

Okay so maybe this isn't one of them for real, but seriously I wouldn't have wanted to make the applesauce, apple bread, and apple pie filing today if I didn't have the apple peeler/slicer/corer and my little helpers, of course:)!

Time Out for Women

This weekend I attended my first Time Out For Women with my mom and two sisters. We have never done anything like this before and I hope I never say it was the only time. Of course it was great to have a time out from day to day living, but it was great to be uplifted and reminded about having a "joyful life" and laughing about so many things. Hilary Weeks had a little ditty to the song "these are a few of my favorite things" and it was so funny: "bedtime and naptime...and bedtime and naptime" and it finished with "eating ice cream out of the freezer and then I don't feel so bad". Really it was so funny and yes, so true!!!
After this nice tutorial on how to fold a towel:)...

.... I had to laugh at the start of my "time out". Of course I had Addie and so we head off to get a snack before the start of the conference and Addie totally blows out her diaper on the elevator down--big smile. Okay to the changing room and I'll catch up. Now this was a nice hotel....no diaper areas so poor Addie on the hard counter. I just knew if there were cameras they were dying seeing me attempting to change a diaper on their nice counters. I say attempting because after I got her cleaned up I realized there was not a new diaper to put on her (ha!) So glad that we hadn't gotten too far I used a burpie to hopefully help me till I got back up to the 7th floor, which gratefully I can say it did work. Was superwoman diaper changer and we were off again...hit the elevator button and yep---she did it again...back to the room:)

After the evening session, we went back to our rooms and played Loaded Questions. We didn't get the funnier questions I've heard before, but I did learn a lot about my girls I didn't know. And sad to say.. I didn't win;)

Lunch was another surprise as I had carefully packed a variety of delicious ingredients for the best sub sandwiches only to find out we remembered everything---but the bread! hahaha. They were the best lettuce or ham roll ups ever despite that!

I got to also see many old friends from just a short time to many years and that was really fun. It's fun to watch women "find one another".:) The presenters we got to listen to included: Hilary Weeks (I really liked a lot of the "real life" stories she shared, Michael McLean (have seen him before as a teenager but learned new things about him)and the other guy;), Cherie Call, S. Michael Wilcox, Jane Clayson Johnson (learned things about her and enjoyed her analogies-looking forward to reading her book), Pam Hansen (Running with Angels), Jason F. Wright (author of the Christmas Jars (the one I did the book club) and Wednesday Letters (enjoyed) and his new book comes out Tues.!) I could share many insights that I gained but that wouldn't be like me and a little t.m.i. for here so I'll save that for my other journal.:) but seriously it was what I needed---thank you so much mom!!!

Spriggs Systems: Part 4 Grocery Shopping

Each month I try to compile a menu list and then make a grocery shopping list from that, hoping it is saving me some money for all the effort and time;) I thought that was pretty good. Then a friend of mine told me she has a grocery list that has listed which aisles are what. Now isn't that awesome or what? Why? a couple reasons: 1) Obviously I go to the store regularly, but have you ever gotten home and realized "man, I forgot ...." so frustrating because I hate going in the first place but then to have to go back again? It's like torture! And I even try to keep like things on my list by each other so I'm not running around the store which saves me time as well as money because I'm faster and not looking at things I don't have on the list and now: my favorite---it is easier now for Dave to go:) and this is a pretty sure way of making it impossible for him to say "I couldn't find..." so my amazing husband went shopping late Saturday night for me and unfortunately I did not have this "amazing list" done yet so he was going from aisle a to aisle d to aisle f (you know) and he didn't get everything because he was beating the clock!haha but while he was there he wrote done the numbers by the items we normally buy so now---whaaaalaaa...we have the amazing list! (I know you think I'm crazy, but seriously who doesn't want to save time and money? And who wants to take 4 kids to the grocery store? And if you did want to take the 4 kids and you have two in the cart and 2 walking where are your groceries going to fit? So---go ahead, try it...you know you want too!)

Spriggs Systems: Part 3 Chores

Here are a few ideas on chores/clean up:

Chore idea #1: Room Rescue

This is where they rescue their room from the disaster that has hit. We do this every night before bed. Sometimes we do it as a whole family going from room to room ***advantage is you don't get the "I didn't make this mess" because everyone is cleaning all the rooms. Also it helps equal things out if you have one room really messy and one not, otherwise someone is done really fast and someone else is working for a long time. I hope this is teaching helping others and building teamwork effort.

Chore idea #2: Make believe

Someone gave me this idea: play Cinderella and clean. Disadvantage: doesn't work so well with boys;)
I did a different make believe this week with Haley playing cashier. For example I had to go to the laundry mat and pay for my cleaning, then for hangers so I could put clothes away. Then I had to pay for my lunch at the "restaraunt". So I was doing my tasks but playing with Haley at the same time. We had fun that morning.

Chore idea #3: Timer

This is where you set the timer and they have to have an assignment done before the timer goes off. Advantages...it gets done in a timely fashion. Disadvantage...can cause anxiety in a child (would have to know your kids)

Chore idea #4: Music

An alteration to the "timer" in that you use a song to "clean up". Not the "clean up" song but a fast beat groovey tune to get you and your kids moving and things picked up quickly. Let kids take turns choosing the music or put together a cd of your favorites and turn it up and let it play.

Chore idea #5: Charts

Oh yeah....there are a million of these our there huh? I've seen some really cute ones and I've tried a variety and there is more I would try but for right now this is a chart I've put together that works well for our family. I like it because it has pictures for those not reading yet. I also like it because it still faciliates teamwork in that we all are working on one room a day.

Someone gave me this idea a couple years back and I made a chart and a friend of mine added some and now I've added a couple more. I used to do Saturday morning chores. But as my kids have gotten older and that is one day Dave doesn't work we decided that we didn't want to be spending that time just cleaning...but of course the house needs to be clean. So the solution was that you pick up everyday (room rescue) but the deep cleaning gets done once a week (okay...more than that you know because I have 4 kids but "officially" once a week) by doing one room a day. So your house ideally is clean all week but you don't clean the entire house all in one day. Does that make sense? If you take a peek at the chart you will see what I mean. Then I use clear magnets with their names on it to put over what chore they have that day. Now, the exception is the kitchen...that stays the same for a week because the kitchen has to be done everyday (3 times right?) This really seems to work well for our family because it doesn't take that long to do and the house gets cleaned. For me it's a win-win.

Spriggs Systems: Part 2 Bedtime

All I have to say that if your children haven't asked for a drink or had to go to the bathroom (even though they just went) or need to be re-tucked in, etc etc,...then you are in the lucky abnormal category and missing out on a very patient building parental experience we like to call bedtime. We have had the same routine for years, read ideas/ books, etc....and still have not conquered this one. Actually we will go through a period of doing great, but lately, ...we have slipped into the "bad zone". Someone told us they do a similar thing as our table manners but they use pennies and they get 3 pennies if they stay in bed, but each time they get out they lose one. We haven't tried that yet. But we are open to any suggestions and ideas on this one:). In the past we have read each child a story in their bed. However lately I have tried reading in the hallway so everyone can lay down and listen to a good story. It's my idealist idea that they will have to stay laying down because I can see them:) and that if I animate my voice and keep their attention they will lay still and magically fall asleep:)hahaha--yeah right. I really don't think that it will happen...but like I said trying....

Spriggs Systems: Part 1 Table Manners

So I thought I would do a few posts on some things I have learned from being a mom. Some of these are original ideas but a lot of them I have stolen from other amazing mom's. This will be a good journal for my kids to look back when they have these wonderful experiences;) and see what we tried. I'd love to hear any new ideas/suggestions as I have learned that what works for one family or one particular stage in life, does not always mean it will work forever and so changing it up a bit helps. And probably the most important thing is consistency, right? (hahaha) All this probably tells me is that I'm not perfect, but I AM trying:).


At dinner I place 3 pieces of candy (m&m's or skittles work well) by everyone's plate. We then proceed with dinner. If someone is caught not having their manners, one of the pieces is taken away. At the end of dinner they get to eat however many pieces are left. My kids really actually like this game and are so sad when I haven't re-stocked the candy for it. Yes, it does take some training for Megan not to grab them and eat them at first but she has caught on that she has to eat her dinner to get hers:).

It is finished...well for now

Okay so it has been 5 weeks and I can FINALLY say I'm done with the unpacking, organizing etc. Now it is not perfect and we haven't even begun on the decorating side since we will be painting etc.(and the fact we had to put in the 2nd transmission in 6 mo:( in our minivan, etc etc) but I can say that I feel like I am as organized as I can be (for now---there's always more you could do I guess. Dave told Jordan I have the "never-ending-list":)) and I can't tell you how nice it feels even at 1:30 in the morning. Probably because in a few hours it will all start all over again:) So I'll enjoy it even at this time. I've debated even posting this but since it is my journal I will because I'll remember the "writing between the lines". Why did it take so long? I have asked that to myself many times.I decided after talking to friends and family that August wasn't such a great month for many people. As much as I don't want to be the complainy type, I'd be a liar to say that this month has been an easy one but things could be much worse so I'll remember that. It's amazing what organization can do for me. It really makes your life so much easier...saves time and money...who doesn't want that? I've been reminded at how wonderful "systems" are if they are thoughtfully planned and carried out well. One nice thing about moving is that it gives the opportunity for you to form new or start old-but-needed habits again. So we are going back to basics and looking forward to September, fall and the wonderful things that lie ahead. (mostly I'm excited I feel like I can finally work on some of my fun "to-do" lists;)haha

Do you want to play?

When it's raining outside...

It's great to have an unfinished basement where the kids can skate out some energy!!:)



Addie on her wheels too.

Labor Day Jr. Olympics

Today our ward had a picnic and a Jr. Olympic games. Here are a few highlights:

Megan trying out horseshoes.

Jordan going for the goal in hockey.

Soccer maneuvering

Look at that form and the biceps these guys have! Whoo--I wouldn't want at em!

And they had to run the trail around the park to finish for the Gold, even little Megan made it around. (It's a lot longer than it looks) Way to go team Spriggs!!

Look-alikes