Kids are Growing Up!

 Here's a few highlights from the last week. Nikki finished her 2nd sewing project, the owl skirt. It even has pockets and she loves it! She did most of the sewing but Grandma Butterfield (Gaya) helped her with some of it. I know Nikki likes it because on Sunday we were watching general conference at home. I had put my Sunday clothes on because I felt like it and then next thing you know Nikki comes out wearing her new Sunday outfit too. That's a big deal for someone who doesn't like to wear dresses or skirts!

Nikki also made her first big purchases after saving some money. She bought her own computer and drawing tablet, after getting advice from her uncle Colby. She now has a nicer laptop than either Curtis or myself! It's pretty nice.

Her first little doodle on her new drawing tablet.

Sunday morning we woke up to a surprise by our back door. This adorable little puppy was huddled up in the corner. It seemed so scared. I contacted a couple of neighbors to see if they recognized it and sure enough one of our next door neighbors had brought it home the night before after finding it on a dirt road some where in the Nampa/Caldwell/Middleton area I think. They had given the puppy a bath but somehow the puppy got away from them at some point and went through our gate that was accidentally left open that night. Anyway, the neighbor by the name of Heather came and got the puppy and said they were going to take it to the Humane Society. I thought they had taken care of it that day but then Monday evening I got a message from Heather asking if I knew anyone who wanted the puppy. Long story short the gal who has found the puppy took off with her boyfriend and hasn't come back and they couldn't keep the dog because they already have 3 dogs. Because Heather didn't have transportation to the Humane Society I offered to give her a ride Tuesday morning since I was taking a load of stuff to Deseret Industries anyway. Part of me wanted to keep the puppy but I decided it would be best to take the puppy in to the animal shelter in case someone was looking for it. 

One of our traditions every time we watch general conference is to get this big bag of blocks down from the kid's closet and they build temples or other structures while watching and listening to conference. So the 3 younger kids played with the blocks while the rest of us played with our cat, Sage. It was a great conference with many wonderful and inspiring talks, which is what we needed right now.

Most of the time the girls just want their hair down but Sunday I was able to get Alice in a ponytail for a least half the day and then I put Charlotte's hair up later after Alice took her hair out. 

I decided the next day I would do Alice's hair again for preschool. We went with pigtails this time and I even got her to wear her cute "school" dress. I had bought this dress a couple years ago for family pictures at Bear Lake for Charlotte to wear. I made her wear it then but she never wanted to wear it after. Alice was more willing and thankfully I had a pair of white shorts this time that were made for wearing under dresses so I think that made it more comfortable for Alice. She also happened to get to go pick a pumpkin at preschool today. She is loving preschool!

Yesterday I was able to let Charlotte let me braid her hair. Then of course Alice wants to do it with her hair because she always wants to do what her big sister is doing.

I also made the decision to start letting Alice use a booster seat instead of her car seat. She just looked like she was getting too big for it anyway. Now she's excited to be able to sit in the very back of the van with Charlotte. Charlotte will be done with booster seats by her next birthday. It will be so nice!

Garrett recently has gotten really excited to learn to play the guitar. I think part of that was because of watching Back to the Future, Freaky Friday (the newer one) and seeing a video on Facebook of my cousin's son who loves music and plays many instruments (Lara's son). I took him over to Grandma Norton's Tuesday night so he could look at Grandma's guitar and play on it a little. He really wants to buy an electric guitar and learn to play Johnny B. Goode like Marty McFly. Grandma didn't want Garrett to borrow it at first but changed her mind the next morning after talking to Diane about it. I wasn't planning on letting Garrett borrow it either but she was sure that she wanted him to borrow it and learn to play until he could get his own guitar. He's turning into our music man, which I love! He spent a lot of time yesterday teaching himself with the books grandma sent with him. He also had me purchase a new strap that comes with picks and a digital tuner. I ordered them for him online and then he paid me the cash that was owed. Some things we will buy for him but the guitar stuff I decided he would buy with his own money. I don't want him thinking he can just get what he wants because mom and dad will pay for it. I told him he's going to have to save money for buying his own guitar as well. It will be a good learning opportunity for him to learn to save up for something he really wants.

I'm also proud to say that this young man has improved on his mowing job for the lady in our ward and for the first time yesterday I didn't help do any of it. I dropped him off with all of the tools he would need. I did help him unload and load stuff but that was it. I left him there until he called me to say he was finished. He's growing up and learning to work! I love it!