Our Month in a Nutshell- March 2011

• March 1-14- Well, we are two weeks into the month, and nothing of note has happened to make me think to come on and post. We are all just going about our daily business. Afa has been working out of town, but coming home every week on Thursday nights, and staying til Sunday night. This week he is working all week. He will probably come home after work on Saturday, so that he can go to church Sunday, but he might just stay in Delta. That depends on how they all feel on Saturday. It is nice when they come home, but a pain for them to have to travel and then only be home less than 24 hours.


• The weather has been pretty nice lately, or maybe a little bi-polar! It actually snowed a week ago, and three days later it was in the 60s! It is nice that the kids have had a few opportunities to go out and play. It is great for them to get the fresh air, and get their energy out, and it is a good break for me too. I love to let them go play at the playground, and I can just sit on the bench and relax and read a book. Or I will let them play just outside our apartment and leave the back door open to keep an eye on them. That way I can get some cleaning done without them going stir crazy in the house, and driving me crazy too!


• March 21- Anela went to the far side of the room and squatted down like she needed to poo, so I asked her if she needed to go, and she put her finger to her lips and told me to be quiet, so I knew that she was going to poo. I grabbed her and ran to the bathroom and hurried and took her pants and diaper off. I put her on the toilet and she sat there for a few minutes and then said that she was done. She hadn't done anything. She has been really good about sitting on the potty several times a day for months, but has never actually gone in it. I knew that she had to poo though, so I put her little potty in the family room and let her sit on that. A little while later when no one was looking she actually went over and pooed in it for the first time! Over the course of the next week her potty training has really taken off! She has only had two messy diapers in the last 8 days! And she is doing a lot better about peeing in the potty too. Today she actually told me that she had to poo, when she had a diaper on cus we had just gotten home from my dads. So we took it off and she pooed in the potty. A little while later she was standing there naked and she grabbed her bum and ran to the potty and peed! I am so proud of her, and she is proud of herself too. I am also very excited about her being potty trained because she is my last baby, so when she is done, I will be done with diapers for good!


• March 25- Friday-My brother Kellen flew into SLC on a buddy pass from me. His wife Kathy and their son Shade had flown in the Friday before to visit her dad in the hospital. I worked all that day, but my mom had come in the day before so that she could spend time with them the day he got here. I was excited to see them all. I hadn't seen my brother for over two years, and only seen Kathy and Shade twice in that time.


• March 26- My 3 brothers who live in St. George, Camron, Jamie and William, drove up to SLC and stayed the night at my house.


• March 27- My 3 brothers, my kids and I went to my dad's house where Kellen Kathy and Shade were staying. We spent the day there visiting and the kids played together. It was a lot of fun. The kids love having a cousin to play with, and Shade loved it too. I wish they lived closer! The boys came back and slept at my house again that night.


• March 28- We went back to my dad's, and my sister Genasee had the day off so she was able to join us. We just stayed at my dad's and visited again. I love spending time with my family, especially when there are so much of us. It was a lot of fun! I just wish that we had more time, since Kellen only had a few day here. Or even better, I wish they lived closer! The 3 boys left dad's around 5 to get their stuff from my house and hit the road to go home. Kellen Kathy and Shade left dad's around 8:30 to meet her family at the hospital where her dad still is, and pick up her brother. They got to my house around 11pm, and had to get up really early and leave by 5:40 to get Kellen to the airport, so we didn't really get to spend more time together. I was glad they came over though, at least I got to see them one last time before they had to leave.


• March 29- SEP conference for Ariana. I got to go to parent teacher conference, but unfortunately Ariana's teacher's husband passed away recently, so she has been out. I did go in and meet with the sub, who has been in the class several times during the year, and every day for a little over a week now, so she knows Ariana. She had only praise for Ariana! The report card was already done by Ariana's teacher, and the sub did her assessment testing. She got 5 out of 5 in every subject on her report card, and she passed her assessments with flying colors. She is supposed to be at level 1.6 in reading, and she is at a 2.5! On her speed reading test she is supposed to be able to read 45 words in the allotted time, and she did 94! She also did really well on her addition. She's having a little harder time with subtraction, but still passed with 11 done when the minimum is 10. The teacher also said that Ariana has a lot of friends in the class and gets along with everyone. She said that she is very helpful to the teacher and other kids. (Of course this came as no surprise to me! & I did tell the teacher that she is the oldest so she is used to helping me and her younger brother and sister.) Needless to say, I was feeling like a very proud mama in that meeting and afterwards couldn't wait to tell everyone and show off her report card and tests!

Poo Poo in the Potay!!

Yesterday I noticed that Anela went off by herself to poo, so I hurried and ran her to the bathroom before she did it. She sat on the potty for a couple of minutes and then said she was done. She hadn't done anything so I asked her to stay on the potty for a bit, but she didn't want to. I took her to the family room with her little potty and told her to sit on it. She did, and a few minutes later she had pooped in it! So we made a big deal about it and I let her take the bowl out and dump the poop in the potty and flush it.
This morning I took her clothes off and put her potty out so that she could use it if she needed to. She sat on it several times, but didn't do anything. Later, I decided that we would go to the store with Kirah, so I told Anela that if she wanted to see Kirah and Kimberly she had to go pee pee before we left. A couple of minutes later she said that she had gone. She brought the bowl to me and asked if she could dump it. I looked and she had peed in it, but only a few drops. We made a big deal anyway, and I let her dump and flush again. Then I had to put a diaper on her to go out.
After the store and picking up the kids, I left the diaper on while we had dinner, and then the kids played outside for a while. When they came in, I just took her pants and diaper off again. After a while she looked like she was going to go to the other room, and I thought that she was probably going to find a private place to poop, so I told her that she had to poo in the potty. A few minutes later she had done it again!
I am so glad that she is finally moving forward with the potty training. I hope that she will be fully potty trained by her birthday in May. Once she is completely out of diapers, I will be done with them for good. I am so ready for that!

Anela-isms

I love the things that kids say when they are learning to talk. Anela has been talking for quite a while already, but is still learning how to pronounce things.

This morning she asked me "Mommy, can we go to the store and get some shubbles? Pleeeeeaaaassssee?" I asked her what was it that she wanted and she made a digging motion with her hand and said "Shubbles."

When I was getting her dressed, I said "You have to wear green today 'cus it's Saint Patrick's Day." She asked "What's Plastics Day Mommy? What's Plastics Day?"

Another thing that she did that made me laugh, wasn't that she said a word wrong, she was just being silly. I went to check on her the other night after I put her to bed and she was sitting on the bed naked. I asked her why she was naked and she threw her arms in the air and yelled "Surprise!"

She's at such a fun age right now, she makes me laugh so much. Sometimes I get a little sad that she's not a baby anymore, and I know I wont have anymore, but I love watching her grow and learn every day!

Our Month in a Nutshell- February 2011

Feb 5- Worked all day as usual. Afa had to go out to Nevada to work one day, so his sister Fa’atonu watched the kids. They were not happy with her, and some things happened that made me realize that I have to find a new babysitter before I start my new shift on the 25th working all day Friday’s instead of Saturdays. I hate looking for a babysitter!

Feb 6- Afa left for AZ early in the morning, he will be coming home Friday. The kids and I had a nice lazy day watching LOTR with the cast commentary! J

Feb 7- Kids are back on track. It’s nice for me to have a few hours during the day with one child instead of three, but a pain in the butt to have to go back and forth to the school three times a day!

Feb 8- Fa’atonu’s birthday. I made lasagna for dinner, (which she loves) and a cake, and got her a little present. She didn’t show up (no big surprise there, although disappointing since she called the day before to make sure that we were still doing it!) so the kids and I got to eat the lasagna and cake which was all very yummy.

Feb 11- Afa got home from working in AZ, around 1pm. He spent the day running errands, and at about 6pm he left with his friend Tua (who also just got home from the same job in AZ) to go to the Sevens World Series Rugby tournament in Las Vegas. He loves rugby and has always wanted to go to this tournament, but has never gone, so this was his Valentines Day/ Anniversary gift from me.

Feb 11-I took the kids over to our friends Jerry and Kuini Souifua’s house. Then spent the night there so that they could stay there while I worked all day Saturday. The kids have been upset with Fa’atonu, and get really upset if I even mention having her watch them, when I asked them if they wanted to go to Aunty Kuini’s they all got sooo excited! It makes me feel a lot better knowing that the kids are happy and with someone that I know I can trust! It’s pretty sad that we can’t really trust Fa’atonu since she’s family, but I have tried so hard for too long, and I am done!

Feb 13- Kuini had called me while I was at work on Saturday and said that she was worried about me driving so far, so late at night, (they live in Sandy, we live in Magna, I work at the airport) so that if I wanted to, I could leave the kids over night again and get them on Sunday morning. So on Sunday I went to get them, and spent some time visiting with Jerry Kuini and their 2 boys for a bit. It’s nice to see them, because I don’t get to see them that much. And it was so nice to see how happy the kids were after spending the weekend with them. They were all so happy and said they had a really good time, though Anela said she was ready to go home.

Feb 14- <3> Afa and Tua drove through the night to be home for Valentines day, which is also our 7th anniversary. We have never been big on Holidays though, so we don’t really have plans for the day. He wanted to go out, but I didn’t want to have to ask someone to baby sit for us on Valentines day! So I went and ran some errands in the morning after I took Ariana to school, and when it was time for Gerry to go to school, Afa took him, and then he ran some errands! Other than that we just spent time together at home. Not what a lot of people would call the best Valentines Day/Anniversary, but it’s good for us!

Feb 16- I went to Costco with Kirah and I stocked up big time on some everyday items. A few of the things I got will last over a year! But I got enough of everything to last at least a few months each. I figured I would sock up while things were on the coupon sale, and while I had money from my tax return.

Feb 19- Mom flew into SLC to spend a few days while she was off work. She had an interview at Primary Children’s while she was here. It was really good to see her, and spend time with her, even if it wasn’t a lot of time.

Feb 21- Monday, President’s day, kids have no school. Spent a little time with mom before she has to go to the airport. Hoped she would get on a flight, they are all busy because of the Holliday. Luckily she gets on the 3:20 flight home with no problems.

Feb 21- Spend as much time with Afa as we can too, cus he is going out of town again. He will probably be out of town most of the time, at least during the week, for the next few months. Luckily this job, that will last about 2 months, is just in the little town of Delta Utah. It’s too far for them to commute every day, but it’s nice to know that he’s not too far away.

Feb23- Went out to Kaysville to help my dad move some of his stuff from his house into a storage unit under his new apartment in Bountiful. They have to wait til the 16 of March to get the apartment, but want to be ready to be in the apartment that day. We got to walk through the model apartment while we were there, and they are soooo nice!

Feb24- Went out with sisters Jessica and Genasee. I haven’t seen Jessica for about 6 years! She has 4 kids, who I had only met 2 of before now. We met at Valley Fair Mall and had dinner and went to the movie Mega Mind. It was so fun to see her and her kids. My kids were so glad to meet their cousins and find out that they have cousins who live close by. Hopefully now we will be able to keep in touch better and spend time together on a regular basis.
February was a good month.

We have a lot planned for March, hopefully it all goes good too!

Our Month in a Nutshell- on hold

OK, just found out that my stupid computer wont let me copy and past from office works to blogger! I thought that would be a better way to do the "month in a nutshell" posts so that I would work on it all month instead of trying to remember everything and do it all at once, or when I save it on here and post it later, the post date is the day I start it, not the day that I actually post it. That messes it up if there were posts in between. Anyway, just so that anyone who cares knows, I will post the February post when I have a little more time since I will have to re-write the whole thing!

Proud Momma!

First just a few random pictures.

Anela doing what she calls "Baulelei" meaning that she, Aulelei, is doing Ballet.

Anela asking Gerry to come do "Baulelei" with her.

Taking a bow after their dance.

Afa reading from his Samoan Book of Mormon to the kids during FHE.

Gerry reading Dick and Jane. The book that he is currently reading, and his favorite book to read by himself, because he is so proud that he can read all the words.

I have been working with Gerry on his reading after school. Sometimes I can see him getting frustrated when he gets to a word that he doesn't know, and I get worried that he is going to get so upset that he will want to quit. I am so proud of him because he works out the word, most of the time with little or no help from me, and then just continues on with the story. I love seeing the look on his face, when I tell him good job for doing it on his own! He is doing so well, and feeling so proud of himself, that he always wants to read now!

Ariana is also doing really well on her reading. Yesterday when I picked them up from school, she had a new book "Goldilicious". The top three readers in her class (she's number 2) each got a new book to keep for doing so well. Sometimes I am so surprised by the things that Ariana is able to read! I am glad that they are doing so well, and they are both developing a love for reading.