FHE Activity

This past week, Aubree and Sydney have discovered their baby books.  They have loved looking through the things I have kept for them.  Syd has asked a couple of times why nothing is written in it and I have told her to just be glad she has a book, JC  doesn't even have a book.  I have a folder that I keep things for them in but poor 3rd child.  I thought about buying one but he's already 13 months.  I guess I'm a little late.

So, after seeing how excited they were about reading anything about them as a baby I had an idea for FHE.  I was the activity this week.  You would think this would be one of the more popular things in our family to plan but actually the prayer is the coveted position because that person gets to conduct as well.  The girls love the power of conducting. 

For my activity, I had each person choose a name of a family member from a bowl and then they had to talk about that person while I wrote it down so I could post if here and we could remember something about each person.

We'll start with Sydney.

Syd had Mom's name.
She had me (Mom).  A couple of things Syd loves about Mom is when she lets her have a late night with friends.  She also likes when Mom combs her hair (which is surprising because it usually ends up in tears, but I haven't hit her on the head with the brush like my mom did).  Sydney also loves when Mom sings and reads stories with her and when they read together.

Aubree had JC's name.
Aubree likes it when JC plays the Dog xylophone and when he does funny things like bite his bowl so it covers his face.  She loves it when JC does something funny and everyone laughs at him and so he does it again, even if we just give him a fake laugh.  Aubree likes when she tickles him and he laughs.  She also likes hearing him talk in the play microphone and seeing his smiley.

Dad had Sydney's name.
Dad likes hearing Sydney play pretend upstairs for hours at a time.  He likes it when she listens to Mom and Dad.  Dad likes to hear Syd and Chloe sing karaoke or when Sydney sings in church, especially Sacrament Meeting.  He likes her smile and remembers the day she was born and he got to cut the umbilical cord that was very small.

JC had Dad's name.
He likes to look like Dad on Sundays with his white shirt and tie.  JC loves to see Dad in the morning when he gets him out of his crib.  He always gives Dad a big smile to show him how excited he is.  He likes to play ball with Dad.   JC loves when Dad gives him graham crackers and milk.  JC recognizes Scott and loves to be with his Dad.  A few weeks ago Scott was teaching Sunday School and JC kept pointing and saying Da Da and wanted to crawl up to him.

Mom had Aubree's name.
Mom likes playing Skip-bo and dominoes with Aubree.  She likes that Aubree is old enough to play games other than Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.  Mom likes reading chapter books with Aubree, especially when they snuggle up together.  Aubree likes to read all the signs as we drive around now and Mom likes to hear the progress Aubree is making in her reading that way.  Mom likes listening to Aubree and Sydney when they are playing together.  Lately she hears a lot about Princess Celestia from My Little Ponies and the Last Airbender with Ang.

Hopefully this will jog our memories in a few years so we an remember was life was like in 2012.

Cheer Camp

This is an old post I found but maybe I never posted it because it was in my drafts.  Anyway, the date this was written was June 8, 2010.

We signed Aubree up for Cheer Camp this week so she can follow in her Aunt Heather's footsteps. The camp is run by one of the neighbor girls who charges a few bucks to run the week long camp to earn herself a little money. It's not really a professional camp by any stretch of the imagination.

The girl running the camp has let the power of being the "coach" go to her head. When Becky went to pick up Aubree on the first day of camp she was able to catch some of the following comments. Keep in mind that the girl has no idea that Becky is off to the side listening to her.

The girls are all sitting down while the "coach" gives a stern lecture.

Said in the stern voice of a coach: "You all need to bring treats. There's 11 of you plus two coaches so you have to bring 13 treats." Or "You need to make sure that your hair stays out of your face while doing your routine."

Plus, my favorite: "Chloe, you need to come prepared to work harder tomorrow."

Chloe is 3 and is in Syd's Sunbeam class.

Life Saver

The older Aub and Syd get the more they tend to fight with each other.  They know what buttons to push and how to get on each other's nerves.  Despite this, I realized today how much they really do love each other.

Aubree and Sydney ended up being in the same swim level so they got to be in the same class.  They have had so much fun being together in the same class.  The other day was "deep end" day where they were going to begin learning to dive.  I knew this wouldn't be a problem for Aubree but Syd isn't quite as advanced as Aubree.

They were each taking turns diving into the 11ft water.  Aubree was doing fine and loving it but Syd was a little nervous.  On her second dive, she dove in and the teacher wasn't right there to help her back.  As Aubree saw this she immediately jumped in to "save" Syd.  The teacher saw this and quickly grabbed Syd as Aubree was going under trying to help Sydney.

All the way home Aubree kept telling me how she would save JC or Sydney if they ever were in trouble in the water.  She said all she thought about was helping Syd get back even though it was making her go under.  I thought it was very sweet to see how much she really does love her sister even if she does fight with her.