3! 3! 3!

Well little girl, you turned 3. How time flies when you're having fun, and you are a lot of fun! Your Grandma Wilkes says you have a lot of personality. This is absolutely true, as anyone will agree while they watch you imagine you're the star on a stage impressing your audience as you sing and dance. You are smart, creative, curious, stubborn, and wonderful.

You are starting to become somewhat of a stinker, because you are growing up. You are in a stage where you scream, don't listen, and are testing every single rule we try to create. However, punishment doesn't really work with you. You kind of remind me of a mule! The story goes that a mule can't be lead to water. However, if you walk beside the mule, she will follow you wherever you go. I can't force you to do anything. However, if I walk beside you, talk to you, reason with you, and tell you why I want you to do things, you will listen.

You are getting ready to start preschool, and you simply cannot wait. It will be neat to watch you grow, learn new things, find new friends, and become your own person.

My daughter, you sparkle, and I love you.

Mouth Fetish

Now that James is WALKING (more to come on that later!), James is now hands-free. You'd think that he would want to carry things in his hands because he's now an upright biped.

Nope. You thought wrong.

He still carries things in his mouth. All. The. Time.

Super cute!

Grand Performers

Sariah is always dancing and singing.

Like...always. She is very musical, very rhythmical and is in perpetual motion. She makes up songs as she goes, too!

Here's a cute little video of Sariah and Emerson singing while they dance on the piano. This is a small snippet of what our day is like - singing and dancing galore!

Prescott Recap

WARNING: Long, Boring post with lots of pictures. Purely for journaling. But read away!

For the 4th of July weekend, we went on up to Prescott. Well, Iron Springs, actually, where my parents have acquired a cabin. It is truly amazing, and reminds me of the cabin I grew up with on Mt. Lemon. Hard wood floors, old sinks, and really rustic. And, my mom has it decorated SO CUTE! Linda, myself, and my 2 kiddos plus Courtney and her Peanut all went up on Thursday morning. The boys (my dad, Jared, and Matt) came up on Friday evening.

We did lots of fun things, but one of the best traditions we accomplished was attending the Prescott 4th of July parade. No great pictures other than these (and please excuse the no make-up look):




Just about 15 minutes from the cabin is this GORGEOUS little lake. It was cool, breezy, and just perfect to walk around in:


And before I knew it, Sariah had STRIPPED down to her underwear and was splashing around and having the greatest time of her life!! Why am I not surprised? The problem was, we didn't bring any towels, so she was freezing when she climbed out.





My sweet sister and baby peanut (Makenzie) at the BBQ!


The funny thing is, right after this picture was taken, the bench that Courtney, Matt, and Jared on totally COLLAPSED! Yeah. Embarrassing. So, Courtney and peanut spent the rest of the evening eating like this:


Because we're not in Phoenix that often, which is where Courtney lives, Sariah and Makenzie haven't been able to foster a friendship quite yet. It was so nice to be able to be with them for several days, and watch these two girls just have a blast!


I actually feel kind of bad that I didn't get any pictures of James. We'll be back up there next week, and I'll be sure to take more then! But until then, the only 2 I have of him are with me. Sweet little boy!



Thank you, Mom and Dad, for feeding us and entertaining us for several days. I'm sure it's not easy to have a bunch of small children running and toddling around. Your cabin was always messy, you were always stepping on crumbs, but you always had smiles on your faces! I hope that the cabin will become the source of many wonderful memories in the coming years.

I also didn't take any pictures of Jared, but he had fun playing with the settings. This is my favorite picture he took. I think the contrast of the two flags is very powerful, especially on the 4th of July:


Can't wait to go back next week!

Happy Tracker

The wall entering our kitchen now looks like this:



Our calendar, and birthdays/anniversaries.

But on the wall are also our Franklin Family Rules chart, and something new.

You see, Sariah has become a pill lately. A Pill with a capital "P"! She's mouthy (like...really mouthy), not sharing, taking toys, and is entering a stage that I know will make or break my parenting skills. I know that this is a stage. But how I deal with it is what will shape her into the young adult she will become. The problem is, I'm AT MY WITS END!

I was laying in bed one night just praying and praying and praying about what to do with this girl. Lots of thoughts came to my mind, but one in particular really stuck. And it was, "Catch her doing good, and recognize it." Wow. Alright. If you say so!

So one morning, Sariah and I had a talk. We talked about these things:



Sharing
Saying please and thank you
Being patient with her younger brother
Being kind
And doing things the first time I ask (rather than looking at me and giving me the stink eye as I ask her 3, 4 times to do something)

We talked about each one on the list while she colored them and decorated the paper. We called it "Sariah's Happy Tracker."

So for the last 2 days, we've made a big deal out of each one of these things when done without reminding.

Now, don't misread this. It's NOT A REWARD CHART. I'm not a fan of those. She doesn't get something at the end of the day, or week, or the like, for getting a certain number of checks/dots. But what she does get is the biggest smile on her face, at the end of the day, when she celebrates her amazing day by looking at her chart and seeing how many dots she has!

The last 2 days have been amazing. So for Sariah - recognizing the good is going to be the key. Of course, she still has time outs when I've asked her for the 3rd time of anything: snatching something out of Emerson's hands, being snotty, etc. That's normal. She gets 3 "tries" and on the 3rd, she's out. But what's changed is her attitude about being nice. Amazing, smart girl!

Hopefully, it will last. And let's face it - it's a good reminder for me to not let the attitude get to me, but celebrate the good that's in her.

You know someone has the flu when...

Your counter top looks like this.



Jared was sick.

No one else got it.

He's all better now.

Back to life.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

No matter what happens, you will always be my baby boy.

Even if Baby #3 is another boy, you will always be my baby boy.

I remember this day 1 year ago so well.

You were born in 3 1/2 hours! And you have been easy ever since.




And now you are one year old. You are loving, busy, curious, and almost walking. You are cautious, and always check to make sure your mama is right by your side.

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy, even though you didn't want to eat your cupcake. You only wanted to tear it apart!




Can't wait to see what this year brings!

"Life is busy, and I love it."

I haven't posted in a few weeks! I feel like I've let my electronic journaling skills slack off, so it's time to catch up.

What have we been doing lately?

1. To be honest, we've been forgetting to do the essentials, and the very basics such as family prayer, family scripture study, and no real FHE. To help us remember to do this, I created a chart for us! It's called "Franklin Family Strength." I know as we remember to do these things, our family will be strengthened. I laminated it so we can easily check the items off with a dry-erase marker, and wipe it clean each day!



2. I figured while I was at it, might as well make a few more! We made Sariah a "Sariah's Jobs" chart, a weekly menu, and a place to make our grocery and Target/drug store lists. Pretty cute, if I do say so myself!




3. I also saw this idea on a crafty blog, but I can't remember where! I made our family a Rule Chart.


Think of Others
Floss
Share
Ask First
Be Your Best
Listen
Flush
Tell the Truth
Keep Your Promises
Forgive and Forget
Chew * Swallow * Speak
Clean up your own stuff
Say Your Prayers
Stick Up For Each Other
Say I LOVE YOU
Be Kind
Practice Manners
Laugh
Do the Right Thing
Mom and Dad Are Always On the Same Side (my favorite!)


4. We have visited McDonald's a time or two, where Sariah fell in love with Donkey. She takes this little toy everywhere, and even makes a bed on the living room floor for the two of them to sleep on.





5. We have decided that painting the back door is a lot of fun, especially when done in our underwear!



6. We've taken lots of good naps.



7. Grandma Franklin has arrived for the summer! Walks, parks, and ducks, oh my!



8. James is busy learning how to walk. Pictures and video of that coming real soon!


9. I'm still busy teaching online, writing an online science curriculum, and babysitting.


10. Loving life, loving each other, and loving being busy!

What does your evening look like?

Ours usually consists of dinner, baths, and then playing with daddy.

James is a serious mountain climber! Anything that he can climb, he does. But his favorite part is climbing all over daddy!



NOTE: At the end of this video, you can slightly hear the doorbell ring. The missionaries showed up at our door! We read scriptures and had a great time with them. Unexpected, but fun! I love having my children be around the missionaries because they are such a great influence. Sariah always talks about when she gets to go on a mission so she can be just like them.

Funk

I've been in a little bit of a funk lately, and I'm not quite sure why. I just was...unsettled.

Frustrated that we haven't bought a house yet, while everyone else around us (younger, mind you...a lot younger) is taking advantage of this fantastic market.

Frustrated that my body has reached yet another weight-loss plateau. Time to try something new, I guess!

A little overwhelmed with all that I have on my plate.

Nothing in particular other than that, but just in a funk, you know?

And then a thought came to me. "Appreciate what you have." I was suddenly overwhelmed with thoughts of things that I should be thrilled about: health, 2 kids, my jobs that I can do from home, my husband's stable job, this wonderful home we have to live in while we continue to save, the ability to save, and the list went on and on.

Appreciate what you have. Miraculously, I'm now out of my funk.