Six Flags

Brian went with us one time to Six Flags... and we are so glad he did! It was a blast!! Poor Xiana had a fever for a week and was fairly listless.... she didn't do much except sit in the stroller.  But she was a good sport about going anyway.  Kolton and Argenta were in heaven and Brian and I even snuck a quick ride on V2 (Brian's first time). It was a wonderful day! Brian liked the log ride the best, going on it again and again... getting drenched.  We even had to change Kolton's clothes!!! The Hills were there too, so I got to go on some coasters with them, while the dads hung with the kids. It was one of my favorite trips to the park.

Argenta Jade

Argenta continues to grow.  She has so much language, and she's fairly certain she's the boss.  My brother claims the youngest holds the rest of the family hostage.   I'm beginning to agree.

• While changing her diaper one day, she was bobbing her head and said, "my head dancing." Then she started bouncing her bum and said, "my booty dancing."
• She picks more tomatoes out of the garden than anybody else. She's ruined just about every shirt she has eating them and dripping their juices down her front. She told me, "mommy put sand on my mato (salt)"
• In the bathtub, she lays on her stomach and says, "I swimming! I a big dolphin!" and then in a high pitched voice, "I a baby dolphin." 
• She has the cutest little high pitched raspy voice.  People comment on it wherever we go!  There's a woman who babysits for me, and her mom always asks her to put Argenta on the phone because she loves her voice. 
• I couldn't find my brush one day. Weeks later, when she was goofing off in my room she said, "mommy you find your brush?! It's upstairs!"
• She told me one day, "mommy I have your eyes... you want them back?"
• Brian was getting dressed one morning after she had climbed into our bed. She said, "daddy your butt needs a haircut." hahahah
• One day while my mom was watching her, she disappeared, and later my mom found her asleep in her bed.  When I got home from work she said, "good morning mommy." I asked if she took a nap and she said, "yes, grandma yet (let) me."
• One of her best friends moved to Idaho. The next week she said, "Mom, I have a drate (great) idea! Maybe we can go to Idaho today!"
• I was yelling at her for something and said, "do you know what that means?" She replied, "kind I have not feeling what that means... it means to sit."
• She's OBSESSED with lipstick "yipstick" and puts it on all day. She started off with about 12 lip glosses... they pop up from time to time, but she's mostly lost them. She finds chapsticks and glosses everywhere and quickly commandeers them. 
• She came running out of her room yelling, "superman to the yescue (rescue) I yunning (running) fast!" I kind of hope she never masters her r's.
• In Sacrament she was pointing out all her friends, "Eva is here! and Mabel is here! and Afton is here! and that's my singing teacher!!  I know so much people here." Later, while they were passing the sacrament she asked Nic really loudly, "are you fat?!"
• While driving through some thick fog she said, "I wanna swim in the fog!
• She wrapped a blanket around her neck, marched into the living room and said, "I'm Elsa, so of course Anna broked-ed my feelings."
• She told me the other night, "mom, I'm seriousy seriousy seriousy hundy (hungry)"

Kolton James

This little boy lost two teeth right after turning five!! Xiana took way longer!!

• Right now he prides himself on being bigger than Xiana! (he weighs 50 lbs and she weighs 47).
• He went to preschool at TMCC this semester after opting to wait another year for Kindergarten (the best choice we ever made). At preschool, every day when I picked him up, the teachers marveled at how smart he is! It's true, the kid is brilliant... and obstinate.  haha.   Some of the clever things he's said and done at school include: when they were making patterns, he ran out of space, so he made an intricate 3D pattern. His teachers said they'd never seen anything like it. One day they asked if anybody knew what an engineer did. He raised his hand and gave such a perfect explanation, they couldn't even duplicate it.  Suffice it to say, he knows more about engineers than I do.  One afternoon they were learning about fiction and non-fiction. He was trying to tell his teacher that most books are fiction, but she was insisting that there are lots of books the at true stories.  He said, "oh, like the scriptures are true stories! So they're non-fiction!"
• After listening to Humpty Dumpty, he very seriously asked, how could they put an egg back together again?
• While we were with family, one of his cousins asked, "who's your worst cousin?" I sucked in my breath, about to intervene saying we don't ask those kinds of questions, but before I could he said, "I don't have a worst cousin!" Then she asked who his best one was.  He said, "you!, and all my cousins!" I love that ideology... I told him that was a wonderful way to approach friends and life.
• Although he is my most aggressive kid lacking impulse control to umpteenth degree, he also continues to be my most sensitive and introspective child. He cries when we watch Mormon Messages, they touch him so much. The most powerful one for him is an elderly man caring for his elderly sick wife.  Kolton cries and cries about how touching that is. He told me one day, "mom, when you talk nicely to me I feel the spirit and it makes me feel like crying." He's obsessed with the meanings of movies and songs.  One day, the radio was playing a song that said, "it's different for girls, when they get their hearts broke, they can't turn to a whiskey and coke." I wasn't even paying attention, but he asked, "mom, is that true? Is a heart break different for girls?" Clever kid.  After watching Zootopia, he said, "that taught me that even if you're tattooed from your head to your toes, you could still be a good person, and even if you're Mormon, you could still be a bad person!" In the middle of our Star Wars marathon, he said, "Isn't it amazing that Darth Vader still had enough light in him to save his son?" lol I hadn't noticed.  After watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he said, "that gave me that family is the most important thing and that you should always tell the truth."
• Brandon just got called to Mexico on his mission, so Kolton was playing with those beads that you melt and he made a green, white, and red heart and said, "I made this for Brandon cause it's the colors of the Mexican flag!"
• While driving he asked me, "what is the most powerful thing on earth besides God??"  I have no idea, I told him. "I think it's water" he smartly replied.  

Xiana Lee

This girl started 3rd grade this year!!!!! How can that be?! I seriously never would have believed how fast time flies with kids!! She is such a good girl. Everyone I encounter comments on how good Xiana is.  She certainly didn't get that from me! But I'm so grateful she is so good.

• Argenta had some night terrors about snakes in her bed, and it was awful. She was inconsolable, and nobody in the house slept for a week due to her staying power. Finally, Xiana asked if she could sleep in her bed with her, then on the floor in her room. Two months later, she's still there. It is so kind of her to be willing. I feel kind of bad, like I should work to put an end to it, but she insists she likes it in there.  It's very kind of her.
• I got a text from on of the moms in my carpool saying how thankful she was for Xiana waiting for her little girl every day, walking her to her class, and picking her up afterwards.  Such a sweet tribute!
• In her primary lesson one week, her teacher was asking what they could do for service. One of the kids said they could do their chores. Another kid complained that he hates doing chores.  Xiana said, "my mom said there's a study that proves kids who do chores are happy adults, and kids who don't do chores are unhappy adults." hahaha I guess she's listening.
• She's reached the age of inventing random concoctions with food in the microwave and baking. She makes all her own lunches, she picks out all her clothes (sometimes to my dismay), and she's becoming more and more a young woman every day.  My only complaint is that she and Kolton fight nonstop... but we're working on it.  Other than that, she truly is an angel.  She loves people, she's kind, she's helpful, she's smart, she's beautiful.  She's spiritual, she's brave, she's assertive, she's a remarkable human.