Sibling Presents

This is the first year we have had our kids give presents officially to each other. I have taken each one individually to the store to help them pick out something for another brother or sister. The girls are buying gifts for each other and the boys are, too.

I took Betsy first. She chose a bird pet that repeats what you say in a birdie voice. It was so cute because when she saw what it did she was laughing so hard in the store and was excited to share it with Ruby. That was the best part of each trip was seeing how excited they felt about giving the gift. We headed home and our plan was to take it into dad's office to wrap it. We put it in a bag and Betsy went in before me. She went right into the family room and announced, "Ruby here is your present, but don't look! And I can't tell you what it is!"

Then when I went with Gavin he had a few ideas of what Gabriel might like. We looked at legos, nerf guns, an army base, and helicopter. He held onto the army base while we went to look at one more thing - Pokemon. Once we got to the Pokemon section Gavin was going back and forth about which EX set, what was in it, and all the different products. He finally chose a Dragonite EX set with other stuff in it that I don't remember. We came home and wrapped it and he put it under the tree. But on the way home from the store he had said to me, "Has Gabriel already bought a present for me?" No. "When you go to the store with him could you show him the Pokemon section, but don't say anything about already being there with me?" 

Ruby was pretty malleable. She liked every toy she saw and carried a few things around, but then eventually decided on a few items I pointed her to - some doll hair accessories, little dog pets, and candy inside a candy cane shape. We wrapped it the next day and she hasn't told Betsy yet. 

Gabriel went with me tonight. He didn't have any idea of what Gavin might want, even though I was trying to brainstorm with him. We walked up a few aisles of toys looking at legos (nexo knights) and board games. Then we saw drones and remote-control cars. I tried making a case for the drones, but Gabriel picked out a remote-control ATV with a rider on it. And handcuffs. In the store he made a comment like, "I bet dad is going to want to play with this right away." Then tonight we wrapped it after everyone had gone to bed. While wrapping it he said, "I saw a jealous look on dad's face because I told him what it was."

So glad we did this this year. A very enjoyable experience for me as the mom.

Snow Day in...Camas?

I have to laugh. Everyone started talking about a snow storm yesterday. School was cancelled last night at 6 p.m. Lots of thing were closed or called off. Not to offend my Washington friends, but the light dusting at the noon hour does not worry me. I heard there were cars sliding and tonight might be freezing rain, so I am open to correction.

Regardless, it was good to have a snow day. Things happened slowly in the morning and it was a nice change of pace. Chris made breakfast - ham and egg croissants. Then the kids started school with Betsy being the teacher. The boys got into this adding thing where they started with 1+1=2, 2+2=4, 4+4=8, and so on. They got up to 16 million and 33 million. It was really surprising how much they stuck with it, and did it all mental math. No writing, carrying the tens over, anything like that. They asked me to check their work sometimes, which took me a little bit. Betsy and Ruby (and Abby) worked on Betsy's Star of the Week Poster. It's cute to see Betsy want to have things a certain way. She told me exactly what she wanted written for the captions.

Then we did a Christmas devotional about giving gifts and I had an early Christmas gift to give them. It was a hat and gloves for all of them, and scarves for the girls. They put them on and went outside because they saw Keane and Lily outside. The Gillespies came out, too. It was super windy and cold so the girls didn't last long. The boys were outside a little longer and did some sledding down the cul-de-sac with the Cooper's sleds. But even they came in freezing.

Betsy did her reading lesson. Gavin read a choose-your-own adventure. Then they got to watch some PBS kids and Frosty the Snowman. While I was turning on PBS kids I noticed that Ruby had cut her hair. :( Such beautiful hair and I would have loved to have taken her to get a cute haircut, which we have talked about many times. She cried when I noticed and said sorry. I think she knew I was sad, too. Abby was already waking up, so Chris offered to play with her for a minute so I could take a break. I really don't know why making it through an entire day is so difficult for me, but I do a lot better when I get a break, which is much more possible on non-snow days.

We recently were visiting with some new friends in our ward about chores. They used to have each kid do one chore of kitchen clean-up after dinner. But there was always fighting, so they changed it to assigning the entire kitchen clean-up to one kid each night and they rotate nights. We have discussed recently that our kids need some more responsibilities. And with a larger house, I can't do all the clean-up after they go to bed or while the girls are napping anymore. It's way too much for one person anymore.

Anyway, new chores approach - everyone has one chore in the morning and evening assigned to them for the entire week and then we rotate. And when I say everyone, I mean the older three children.

The boys are learning a duet on the piano for Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and Jingle Bells. Gavin is also learning We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Gabriel is learning Away in a Manger and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Betsy practices on her glockenspiel and plays Jingle Bells and Star Light, Star Bright. She gets really into it.

Gavin and Gabriel first wrestling tournament

Gavin and Gabriel participated in their first wrestling tournament. Both won all their matches and won the respective weight division.