8 and holding!

 

 

 

 

Allison is eight and holding! I can't believe my baby will be 9 in two months.  Its amazing to see the growth in her personality.  Some times she can be such a tom boy, this is her athletic side slash competitive side. Allison could play any sport she is a natural.  But her true love is soccer.  She loves to ice skate, roller blade, ride her scooter/electric scooter, and ride her bike. She is constantly active and always wants to be outdoors.


Then she can be so girly! Her love for music is very evident these days.  She love songs from kids bop, one direction, Taylor Swift, and the actresses from Shake it up.  She listens to music videos from her kindle (ones we've approved of) and she sings and copies dance moves.  Allison cares about her clothes, jewelry, and hair styles. Oh her hair!  I wore my hair up yesterday mom!  I see her look in the mirror after she's completely dressed sometime.  Allison is still totally into her monster high dolls and her American dolls.  Changing their outfits constantly. 

Allison also has a special place for her love of the piano.  She practices and watches/listens to videos of songs she like and tries to replicate them on the piano.

Then the drama queen rears her head!  It's not fair I have two brothers my life is over! Or she cries in frustration because she is trying to learn to braid her hair, and absolutely refuses for me to instruct her. Then her test anxiety comes into play.  Spring brings the time of years for the dreaded state school testing the STAR test.  The pretest was tough on my Alli-cat.  She was nervous and didn't do well.  She now has a after school tutor session for help on the STAR test.  Allison was not happy about this and complained about how embarrassing it is for her to have to go.  Allison is concerned with her eyebrows and thinks there to bushy. Allison worries about being fair and to have equally attention between her brothers, this one of her biggest concerns.   

I almost left out what an amazing big sister Allison is.  She might complain about her brothers, and she might wish there were sisters instead.  But Allison truly loves her little brothers.  I caught this one picture of Allison helping Cooper read his book, which happens on several occasions.  Allison worries about Cooper.  She constantly reminds him to behave at school, she also walks him to his class everyday.  Allison is a little mother to Beckett!  She constantly loves on him, helps him, entertains him, and watches him.  I could go on and on, Allison is such a big help with Beckett.  This picture I have of the two of them is a classic example of there relationship.  Once I was scolding Beckett for something and he ran right to Allison for comfort and love.

My little girl, my daughter, the person who made me a mother!  I love this child with out judgment. She is unique, beautiful, smart, loving, and talented in so many ways.  As my first child I have and still learn so much from you.  We chat a lot!!! We are constantly talking about our values, our faith, kindness, selflessness, and so many other important attributes.  And we have our weekly girls night!  Where we just talk about life and we giggle and eat treats without the boys.  I have no doubt you know how much I love you because I constantly remind you.  One of Allison's favorite quotes. She loves Dr. Seuss.

Today you are you
That's truer than true
There is no one alive
That is youer than you.

Dr. Seuss

Lubbock

The day after Valentines day we went to Lubbock.  After spending the morning at the temple we decided to fill the afternoon with fun things for the kids!  We first meet up with my niece (who goes to college in Lubbock) for lunch.  Good food and great company, cant believe my niece who was five when I meet her is nearly done with college!  Then we spent several hours at the science spectrum.  Last time we visited they had added this new toddler area for 5 and under.  Well this time since Beckett was bigger and could walked I was excited to let him play there.  Beckett had a blast and he and I stayed there for over an hour by ourselves playing.  We had such a fun time there, the big kids bought space toys which they played with together all weekend.  Our drive home was quiet because all three kids were passed out!

V-day 2014

Allison loves all Holidays.  Ever since she was little she has insisted we decorate and celebrate.  Growing up we really didn't celebrate unimportant holidays, really we only celebrated Christmas.  I guess I am a sucker for anything fun for my kids, and have always made all holidays no matter how small fun in some way!  Valentines Day is no exception!  My baby Alli's first Valentines day she was 9 months old and I will never forget Richard bought her her very first bouquet of flowers and a little stuffed bear.  Even when Cooper joined our brood he got a little gift, but not flowers that's just for his girls Richard says.  So every Vday the kids wake up to a little toy and candy, and every year Allison and I get flowers.  I am a sucker for flowers too, I could live with fresh flowers all over my house because I think there beautiful.  Although I usually kill all plants and my allergies can barely tolerate them but who cares they look so darn pretty!

This Valentines day I was in charge of Allison's class party being the room mom and all!  I had fun activities planned and lots of parents bringing sweet goodies for the kids!  Although I wish I would have made the connection when I agreed to be the room mom (after the other parent moved) that I would miss out on all of Cooper's parties.  My baby is in Kinder and I've missed all his parties!!  Anyway Richard has lucky been off and able to go with Cooper and we've always brought something to his parties.  The activities for Allison class were; musical hearts, heart bingo, and guess the hearts. Everything was successful that the kiddos barely had time to eat.  I call that a wrap on my party duties this year!

For Vday Richard and I went out for lunch earlier that day and to a movie a few days later.  I was also surprised when I came home from the Mary Poppins with flower, a card, and a new purse.  My Alli-cat rated me out when we were out shopping I saw a purse I liked and she insisted I take a picture of it.  We rented movies for us and the kids that night, cooked steaks and stayed in.  It was a pretty relaxing night which was exactly what I needed!!  Also excuse the lack of pictures, I didn't have a single second during the party to take pictures of Allison's class party.

Mary Poppins

 

The day before Valentine's Day I received a phone call from one of my friends from church saying she had extra tickets to see Marry Poppins at the Midland community theater and wanted to know if I could go.  I literally didn't have to think twice, but I did ask if I could bring Allison.  I knew she would want to go and I was willing to let her stay up late on a school night just for this occasion.  I decided to take Allison on a little shopping trip before hand since she had out grown her dress shoes and we also bought a new dress.  It was super fun to get dressed up and leave the boys behind for some girl time!  The play was fantastic, the actors were brilliant, and the choreography was beyond what I expected.  The play was 3 hours long, we enjoyed every second.  Allison and I sang the songs from the play all weekend together.  It was a late night together with cherished memories made.

Update on B

Last week I had an appointment to check on Beckett's speech.  The appointment went well and last about an hour.  While I was asked question's about Beckett and his development he was test by the speech therapist.  Beckett was tested on 6 different levels.  After his testing and me answer questions we discussed Beckett's breathing issues and acid reflux that he suffered with as an infant.  The speech therapist felt like his reflux could be the cause to his lack of speech.  She said the Beckett associated his reflux as a negative thing so eating, drinking, talking is foreign to him and possible negative in his mind.  Beckett eventually ate food and would drink out of the sippy cup but it took a long time for him to be comfortable.  The therapist feels like it will take Beckett time to realize the speaking is the best way to communicate his wants and needs.  Here is the results on the test, the number represents the age in months that Beckett scored.

1. Adaptive: 24 months
2. Personal-Social: 26 months
3. Communication non verbal: 20 months
4. Communication verbal: 16 months
5. Gross Motor: 32 months
6. Fine Motor: 34 months
7. Cognitive: 24 months

Basically he is slightly delayed in verbal communication by 15% he has to be over 30% to consider a candidate for speech therapy.  I was pleased with the results and surprised how ahead he was in areas.  I also received some great tips in helping Beckett speak more.  Did you know it takes 200 hundred times for a word to be said for it to become familiar to the brain?

We also got Beckett his first big boy hair cut.  We've been trimming it for a few months now, because the back was so long and the sides you could tuck behind his ear.  The top of his head hair finally came in, where it was thick enough you couldn't see his scalp.  I love his haircut!!  I did a double take all weekend looking at him!  He looks like a big boy, and a mix of my Cooper and Richard.
 

A day trip!

Our friends the Pollings were in Midland last week.  My friends hubby had training which meant mommy and toddler time with our friends.  Our son's are 4 months apart and have know each other since birth.  On the agenda was our three mile walk, mini birthday photo shoot at the Museum of the Southwest, and lunch at Chikfila.  My friend and her son were my walking buddies when we lived in Hobbs, it was so fun walking with them again!  The photo session went perfect, cant believe her little guy will be turning two next month!  Also lunch was fantastic, the boys had fun playing at Chickfila.  Beckett had so much fun that he must have been really tired because he fell asleep moments into the drive home from lunch.  So glad we got to spend time with the Polling's it was a special treat!

Time together

This post is from a couple of weekends ago..

I always plan my weekends around my kids!  I feel like there in school all week.  Homework, listening, school work, being quiet.  Weekends should be fun and relaxing and it should be family time.  We didn't do anything extraordinary.



Friday night Richard had a boy scout camping trip planned (he's a scout leader at our church troop). Richard had to be at work early the next morning so he didn't stay over night but went to help and hang out with the kids and other leaders.  Cooper was dying to go so Richard took him along.  Allison was bummed about not going and Beckett he was plan angry his daddy was gone.  So I decided to occupy these two.  We made cookies, pooped popcorn, and watched a movie together. 

Saturday was a day spent outside!!!! We literally hung out in the backyard all day!! We did stop before lunch and I took the kids to target to pick out there Valentine cards to exchange with there class.  Then we came home and Allison and Cooper painted Cooper's V-day box (Alli made hers at school).  Later that night after dinner and when Richard came home from work we went to the drive in to see the new Lego Movie!!! We brought popcorn, fruit roll ups, cookies, and drinks, pillows, and blankets. The big kids and Richard were so into the movie while I kept a wiggly Beckett busy in the back of the car.  It was such a cute movie from what I could hear.  Although it was nearly two hours long, to long for any kid under 4!

Sunday was another beautiful day and I knew we had a cold front coming in so after church and lunch I decided to take the kids to the park.  Allison rode her bike and I pulled the boys in the wagon.  Beckett is so independent these days and thinks he is way bigger then he is, that kid was all over the playground I could barely keep up.  Cooper made a few friends like always and Allison rode her bike around the playground.  Funny side not Alli brought her soccer ball and was kicking it around in the open field.  Well this maybe four year little boy was running into the field where is dad was flying a kite, Allison kicked the ball and the kid ran out and well she knock him clear off his feet!  The poor kid didn't cry at all he was laughing so hard.  I felt awful, and Allison with her dads identical laugh couldn't stop laughing!  Anyway we sure did enjoy the weekend together.

Behind

I am so behind on my blog!  I have so many blogs to post,  I hope I can make time to catch up with another busy week ahead of me. 

SOCKS AND SHOES ARE THE BAIN OF MY EXISTENCE!

With three kids that means I've got a lot of socks and shoes to keep up with!  I feel like I am constantly washing, putting up, and pulling out socks.  Not to mention some how my children's socks are always disappearing.  Or my sweet boys think socks are shoes and walk around the backyard and get there socks so filthy I contemplate throwing them away.  Oh and the holes, constantly throwing socks always because of holes!  Sometimes I seriously think about just buying a small basket and leaving it on top of the dryer to hold socks because I am tired of separating and putting socks away in three completely different areas! 

My children go through shoes like paper towels!  Beckett is growing so fast his shoes cant keep up.  Cooper too is growing like crazy but he is very rough on shoes and lace's.  But my daughter she is the worst on shoes.  Wondering why, because she thinks she can play soccer and kick a ball in any type of shoe whither it be tom's boots, or sandals.  I have just bought Allison her sixth pair of shoes since August!  There is my crazy mom rant, its a silly thing to be irritated about but had to share.  Enjoy this silly picture of my kids dancing on Allison's bed.

discipline..

This school year has been very different for me having two kids in school. Up to this point I've learned how Allison handles her teachers, her school work, friends, discipline etc.  Having Cooper at school is a whole different ball game.  Cooper is a very smart kid but still immature.  He struggles not with class work but with listening, following directions, and being to social. It's really a daily battle of conversations with Cooper to be on his best behavior, listen to your teacher, and please make good choices! This is something I never dealt with Allison. Unlike Allison Cooper catches on very quickly in any type of subject and he masters it.  This is the root to his issue. He has already grasped the lesson/instruction so he's bored!!  Last week was a hard week for my Cooper James, the teacher wrote a note home.  Now believe me if you know me at all I have a plan set up for rewards and for punishment.  The teacher expressed her concerns of Cooper tuning her out, wandering the class room after he finished his work, and disrupting his class mates. I was seriously feed up!  I let Cooper know he was in trouble and that after I thought about his actions I would add another punishment and we would chat more. I made dinner and stewed on my thoughts. Not only do I know my kid but I have a degree in early childhood education surely I could figure out a sensible solution. I think at that point I was more upset at myself, I felt like a failure as Cooper's mom. (Another important aspect about me, I am a fixer. I absolutely have to find solutions to problems, goals, life challenges.) I took a huge step back.  I said a prayer.  Cleared my head and invited Cooper to color with me.  I said nothing and enjoyed his company.  Hours later before bed I felt prompted to talk to Cooper, although feeling like I hadn't come up with an exact solution I spoke to him anyway.  The rocking chair our spot, I swooped Cooper James into my lap. "My Cooper James" I said "Mommy James" Cooper said.  I then explained to him how much I loved him and how it's my job as his mom to teach him, take care of him, drive him to school/soccer/friends house, to make his meals, buy him clothes and shoes etc.  I told Cooper that going to school is his job to learn, listen, and follow directions.  I cried as I told him how much I loved him, how proud I am of him for being such a loving/helpful big brother to Beckett, how smart he is, how I love his blue eyes, how helpful he is around the house, what a gentlemen he is to me and others.  I then told him I don't like to punish him I like rewarding him for making good choices.  Cooper was crying with me at this point. He wrapped his arms around my neck.  He told me he loved more than anybody in the world even all of Tokyo and he promised to try his hardest to be good.  The next morning he got up and got dressed with out my constant reminders.  He ate his breakfast fast and said "I am ready to go to school to be good.  "He was about thirty minutes ahead of schedule!  At the ended of the day when I picked him up, his teacher said he was perfect!  I am sure we will have more good and bad days ahead.  I am so thankful for my Heavenly Fathers love and guiding spirit that helped me with this situation.  I love being a mother and there is no where I would rather be then in the middle of the chaos of my crew.

Another..

The days have been running together.  Nothing new really happening just normal everyday things around the Sanchez household.  So I thought I would share some random moments from the last two weeks.




Beckett thinks its super fun to grab leafs from outside and throw them into the living room.

My family has eaten an entire container of peanut butter patties girl scout cookies in a few days.

Last week it was 80 degrees on Thursday and I let the kids play in the backyard for hours, we roasted hot dogs on the grill.

Allison wore all pink from head to toe to school last Friday in support of the school nurse finishing chemo treatment for breast cancer.

I have lunch with the kids at school every Thursday.  I think its hilarious how even though Beckett always eats before we go he loves to eat his siblings lunch.

I am not sure I mentioned this but Richard is going back to school.  He actually started back when we moved here in August.  School has been keeping Richard busy driving to UTPB in Odessa and homework during the weekdays we rarely see him.

Beckett had a playdate last week with two new friends.

Allison made a new friend at church and we invited there family over last week.

I drove into Hobbs earlier this week for my orthodontic appointment.  I am suppose to get my braces off in September!  I enjoy my day trip because I get to see my best friend Dana and our boys get to play together.  The only downer about my 4-6 week appointments is how soar my mouth/teeth are, and also the no hard food diet I have to do because of it for a week.  Have I every mentioned my love for crunch food, I would kill for some chips, a juicy steak, or just some ice!

Cooper celebrated the 100th day of school on Wednesday.   He must have told me three times that night "I LOVE the hundredth day of school!!!"

Allison completed her goal of reading 360 minutes and has earned a trip to Six Flags.

I've been working on Valentines décor crafts for the house, church assignments, and normal motherly duties, and planning Allison's school V-day party.

Yesterday we had more snow.  We also celebrated my father in laws birthday at our house.  Its so fun hosting family and seeing everyone chatting and having a good time. 

Gattis, Snow, and Super Bowl!

We had a fun filled weekend together as a family.  Richards schedule is hard some times when he cant be off on the weekends when we have important events.  His schedule is ten days on and four days off.  Although he is home everyday by 4, I mainly miss him on Sundays at church.  I do love having him home four days straight.  We always try to take the kids to do something fun together as a family on his weekend off and the kids choose dinner at Mr. Gattis.  We haven't visited Mr Gattis since we came back to Midland.  I am not sure Beckett's ever been, he had so much fun.  The kids ate a ton of food, play many games, and enjoyed every moment there. 

Sunday brought us cold weather and snow!  The kids were of course thrilled to see the snow, they were super disappointed that they had to go to church.  Once church was over the kids literally jumped out of there church clothes into warmer clothes, boots, and jackets.  I had to drag them in out of the snow those silly kids had so much fun.

Sunday night we hosted a Super Bowel Party at our house.  We had so much food and desserts it was unreal, lets just say we ate well!  Richard about passed out blowing up all the balloon's.  We even got to see Miss Harper Grace who we haven't seen since she was born!  I got to hold her for a long time, she is the tiniest baby I've ever held.  Beckett was very curious and kept pointing to her and asking for her.  My great nephew Connor has gotten so big playing with toys, rolling around the floors, and always dressed to impress!  We had no real team we were supporting we just enjoyed our family, watching the game, and the commercials.