On learning to read, and other educational matters

Every time I see a "look what my kids can do" video I cringe a little. Not because I don't love to watch what all my friends cute little kids can do, I do. I smile and giggle and congratulate along with all the rest. I cringe a little because I know somewhere there is a mommy watching that video who feels like she is not enough. Maybe she has a 3 year old who can't name a single letter and has no interest in learning them. Maybe she has noticed at the weekly play dates that her little 4 year old is not nearly as articulate as the other children. Maybe she has already seen two other "My 3 year old can read!!" posts and her 5 year old can't or perhaps no matter what the color her child always emphatically says "BROWN!".  Regardless of the reason, somewhere along the way she has decided it must be something she is doing wrong. Somehow she didn't teach enough, or maybe she isn't monitoring screen time closely enough. Perhaps she should have invested in some early learning materials and started the moment her baby could speak. Whatever the case, her child is different and it is her fault.

To you mommy I say, it's a lie. I have 4 kids, I have a daughter who was reading by 3 and another daughter who is currently 4 and has no interested in letters or words or the sounds that they make. Same mom, same learning environment, just different kids. That is the beauty of kids, they are different. They learn things differently and at different speeds. Not because you did 3 hours of preschool work a day with them from the age of 2 up, just because we are all divinely designed to be different, and that is ok. Actually, it's not just ok, it is wonderful! It is absolutely no indication of the quality of parent you are or your child's future potential. Did you know Thomas Edison  was pulled out of school as a young child because his teacher found him difficult? The precise word she used was "addled" (confused, or having lost the power of development). Yet I currently am typing on my electric powered computer with lights on in my house. Thanks Thomas.  These kids are just that, kids! They deserve time to play and learn at their own pace. I don't mean to say that parents shouldn't attempt to teach at all. As you can see from the video above we do lots of teaching and learning in our house but most of it comes through play. My perfect sweet little 4 year old who has no interest in sit down learning, usually quietly observes and I don't push it. I know when she is ready she will learn all the things she needs to know, in her own way, on her own time. In fact, there are many studies that suggest that pushing education so early is having negative long term effects. (GASP!) But that is another topic for another day.

My main point is this, yes, my two year old knows all the letters in and can recognize her name, but if your two (or three or four or five) year old can't. That's totally okay, he just might invent the worlds first flying car.

Christmas Card 2015

    Chris enjoyed his job at Afton Chemical in Virginia as a Sr. Research Engineer. He also enjoyed scrubbing the bathrooms on weekends and watching his Utes play football. He spent a glorious week in Hawaii with his beautiful wife and got to do some surfing for the first time. He enjoyed Hawaii so much he decided to take a job on the west coast so flying there wouldn’t have to be an all day affair. He has been working at PNNL in Washington for a month and has enjoyed the lack of spiders.  Jill continued running her craft boutique and driving her family batty with her unending picture taking.  She turned the big 30 and found herself slightly more wrinkled and saggy by doing so. She packed approximately 297 school lunches and continues to cook the most delicious broccoli.  Kaden is now in 3rd grade. He started his first year of baseball. He loved playing and found left field to be a place of quiet serenity. He was also baptized on June 13th and tore the knee open in his brand new suit while running in the gym. It was a very hole-y day indeed.  Taycee started 1st grade. She has approximately 17 boyfriends and is already turning her dad’s hair grey.  She loves any footwear that has a heel, lipstick, monkey bars, and pogo sticks. The only thing that matches the beauty of her face is the stench of her feet. She lost 4 teeth this year 2 of them being her front teeth, which has helped calm down the boyfriend situation.  Addison started her first year of preschool and got to take her first school bus ride.  She continues to be the loudest eater on the block. She loves Dora the explorer and it is quite possible she is more fluent in Spanish than English. Brielle spends her days at home playing in mom’s makeup and eating cheese. She mastered the toilet in October and rewards herself by changing her pants and underwear 8 times a day. She loves to sing songs, especially when her sister is telling her to be quiet.

We are loving our new home and neighborhood in Washington and feel so blessed to have each of you in our lives even from far away. It has been a year full of laughs mingled with tears, ripped pants and stinky feet. Sending our love to you and yours this year,

XOXO- The Claytons

Short years

The days are long but the years are short. Someone said that to me once, before I was a mom. I thought I understood it then, I didn't. As with most things in my life I didn't really grasp the full meaning of that phrase until I became a mother. It wasn't until my days were stretched out with dirty diapers, and tantrums, perpetual messes, and middle of the night visits that I understood how long the days could be and then my first little baby turned 8 and was baptized and I felt a little cheated at how short the years had been.

Life right now is so good, 2015 picked us up and whirled us around but it landed us right back on our feet and it is all just so good. Washington has quickly felt like home to us. More than once Chris and I have looked at each other and said "this was right" and after the painful process of debating and deciding and doing that brought us here I can't begin to say how good that feels.

I think that in 20 years from now I will look back at this time and say "That was the best time" because it truly feels like it is. This stage, the kids ages, it is the most golden of times.

Kaden is still such a kind hearted kid full of so much joy. He is smart and witty and makes us laugh constantly. At the age of 8 he thinks he knows a whole lot about everything and to be honest, he kind of does. He will still talk to anyone and everyone and quickly made a classroom of friends the first week at school. He is always willing to help out and has finally come of age to be on trash duty. Chris is especially happy about that part. (and to be honest so am I, because Chris forgot about the garbages at least 65% of the time) He is always the first to rise at our house and we have had to set a 6:00am rule before he can come out of his bedroom in the morning. Sometimes I worry that he isn't getting enough sleep at night but he still has boundless energy through the day. When he started class here we quickly realized his VA class was quite a ways behind. He didn't seem to mind though and has quickly caught up without much effort at all. He is always up for a game of anything and still jumps up and down with pure glee over the smallest of things. He is the happy in every situation. (unless he is losing to dad at Skylanders)

Taycee is the best big sister anyone could ask for.  She is nurturing and so sweet with her sisters. She is also full of spunk and sass which is almost always directed at her brother and dad. Chris and Taycee are constantly teasing each other and it only occasionally ends in tears on her part. She is so smart, she picks up on anything within minutes. She starts her first gymnastics class next week and I am sure she will be a natural. She loves school, and learning. She has a new best friend Keyne who she makes sure to tell me is NOT a boyfriend just a friend that's a boy. She is so beautiful, inside and out. She is my best little friend, which I wasn't sure would ever happen when she was 3, but it did and I am ever so glad. We paint toes and put on face masks and watch dancing shows, and because she is 7 she thinks being with me is the greatest thing in the world. I am certain that won't always be true so I am trying to hold on to these long days that are making up such short years.

Addison melts my heart on the daily. There is something so pure and innocent about that little one. She is about half way through her first year of pre-school and I think it has been a good experience for her. She is starting to express herself more with words and carried on at least a 5 minute conversation last night at the dinner table all about Axel, and Victoria and the fun they have a school. I still question myself when it comes to her and what is best, but I also feel a peace and I am ever aware that Heavenly Father knows her best and will guide us in the decisions we make. She is sweet and gentle and has a smile that lights up her whole face. She loves to color and draw, we go through a lot of paper with all of her artwork. She has a few phrases that always make me laugh like whenever we are asking her to do something she doesn't like and she holds her palm out to us and says "calm down, calm down" It is impossible to hear her say the word "slippery" without smiling. Because is sounds more like "swip-der-lee" Chris puts footie jammies on her and tells her to run around the kitchen just so he can hear her say "woah it's slippery" over and over. Whenever she is relieved over something she wipes her hand over her forehead and says "oh FLEW, that was close". The other day after running and flapping her arms up and down she said in a most annoyed voice "I CAN'T FLY"

Brielle is equal parts adorable and exasperating. She rules my life, and she knows it. She has me laughing one moment and clenching my jaw the next. She is TWO in full force and she is taking the world by storm. We went to the library yesterday and between her fur boots, jean jacket, pink purse and green binoculars she has most everyone smiling. There is something so refreshing about little kids and their unabashed determination to be just exactly who they are. She has the BEST kissy lips and isn't afraid to lay a kiss (or 5) on your cheek, or lips, depending on her mood. She talks constantly and the majority of it is understandable. She LOVE to eat and sometimes clenches her fists and squeals in excitement when she sees food on the table. Her new favorite thing is to tell knock jokes, and not matter what the joke is she ends it with "don't cry it's just a joke." Usually it is something along the lines of knock knock...who's there... banana...banana who... don't cry it's just a joke! After which she fake laughs for a few seconds and then says "I'm funny" She is full of personality, and naughty, but she is quick to say "sorry mom" and she is pretty good at cleaning up her own messes. Actually a lot of times she comes to tell me she made a mess, and then cleans it up. I can live with that.

My days are still long, and the hours during which I sleep never seem to be quite long enough, but they are just so full of good. I wish I could bottle up the giggles in the morning and the kisses on the cheek, the nights playing games around the table and the "tricky" dancing in the living room, so that when I am 60 and my kids are gone I could pull them back out and relive these days. We have so much fun. Of course it is intermixed with tears, and tantrums and spilled cups of milk but the happy moments far outweigh the sad and they make my life so full.

The days are long but the years are short so I am doing my best to hold on and take it all in.

That's Christmas to me

Christmas came in a blur. I guess that happens when you spend most of November and December unpacking boxes and setting up house. Luckily I have kids who make sure the important things happen, like putting up a Christmas tree and carrying out all of our family Christmas traditions.
Christmas Eve started bright and early with our North Pole breakfast made by our little elf Jimmy. He made us delicious red and green apple french toast and the highly requested snowman milk. Kids at our house are early risers so Jimmy has to be up before the sun to have his breakfast ready. I'm guessing that leaves Jimmy fairly tired for the rest of the day. (Actually I am not guessing. It does. Very tired.)
Chris and I really try keep our family's focus on Christ through the Christmas season. When the kids wanted to throw Jesus a birthday party I was more than happy to oblige. The kids did all the planning. They made invitations and decorated a special birthday chair. We made and decorated birthday cupcakes and each wrote down our special gifts for the Savior this year then wrapped them. I spent a lot of time asking the kids what it would be like if the Savior was really coming to His party. What would they wear? What would they want to be doing, or saying? It let us all reflect on what we want our home to be. I came to the realization that if the Savior was going to walk into my home I would care a lot more about what it felt like than what it looked like. (Although the clean OCD side of me would take care of that as well I am sure)

After the birthday party we played our traditional Christmas Olympics. I think the kids like that part of Christmas Eve just as much as they like opening presents on Christmas day. We ended Christmas Eve with a special birthday dinner and made sure to set a place for the Savior. After opening new Christmas jammies and whipping up a batch of Santa cookies the kids were off to bed.

We told the kids they couldn't wake us up until 6:00am however at 5:00 they were all awake and walking around upstairs which meant we were up as well so Christmas morning also started bright and early. I was tired, like can't see straight tired, but I would do it all again (and I will in about 12 months). Watching these little people that I love burst with happiness at each new surprise makes my heart so happy.  These are the best years. I know it. So I'll take early mornings, late nights, and too tired to see days because they come with excited squeals, and beaming faces and so many happy memories.

Brielle playing our hang the ornament game. She has THE BEST kissy lips.

Clayton Christmas from Jill Clayton on Vimeo.

There's no place like home...

...beacuse wherever home is, so are these blue eyes.