Jon & Emmalee Day Family

My little girl is growing up! It is so hard to believe and yet it is so fun to watch her grow, and learn, and develop her personality and interests. Katie is a smart little girl and, so far, is excelling at school. Her preschool teachers, her Davenport Kindergarten teacher, and her new Ankeny Kindergarten teacher have all expressed how good Katie is in class. They have all pointed out how well she listens and gets along with others, picks up on things they are learning, and participates in class. In her most recent parent teacher conference her teacher said, "We really couldn't have asked for a better fit for a new student. She gets along with everyone, she is a natural leader and problem solver, she is either right where she needs to be or ahead of the norm in every subject, and she is just wonderful to have in class!" Sometimes, when she is struggling at home, I wonder if she just uses up all her "being good" at school! Haha, but really she is a good girl both at school and at home (most of the time :) )

Katie has quickly become a very good reader and writer this year! She is always writing letters and cards and anything else she can think of. It is fun to watch as she has learned to read as well! She loves sitting down with me and reading and reading as long as I will let her. She also loves to draw/color and has gotten quite good at that as well. Katie has a strong desire to please and is very helpful with chores and helping with the younger kiddos at home. She still loves princesses and pretty much anything girly (unicorns, sequins, flowers, glitter, etc.) She loves going to school and spending time with friends!

For her birthday, she requested sloppy joes for the 3rd year in a row. I paid a friend to make a fun cake for her birthday and another friend for another cake for her birthday party a few days later. It was a bit of overkill but I really didn't want to deal with the mess of trying to make and store a birthday cake while I was working about it with the limited space we have right now. We also had a mommy-daughter date for her birthday where we went and got her hair cut at a salon, went shopping where she picked out a new sequined purple sweater and a swimsuit for our upcoming spring break, and then we went and got smoothies. It was a lot of fun! It really made me realize how grown up she is getting in a lot of ways!

Katie requested a Little Mermaid party but I didn't know how to do a bunch of activities or decorations in our small apartment without a lot of stress so we just had a Little Mermaid movie party. She invited over 7 friends from church and school and the girls had a great time!

Favorites

Food: Sloppy Joes
Treat: Icecream
Restaurant: Chick-Fil-A
Color: Purple & Pink
Movie: The Little Mermaid
TV Show: Full House
Activity: Swimming

Dislikes

Pizza, anything spicy, broccoli,

When She Grows Up: She wants to be a teacher :)

As you all know, we moved from Davenport, IA to Ankeny, IA at the beginning of the year. We have heard great things about the Des Moines area (Ankeny is about 15 min North of Des Moines), and we are excited for it’s potential, but it’s been a bit of a rough transition for us. I was not exactly excited about leaving Davenport. The Quad Cities have felt like my home away from home more than anywhere else we’ve lived since being married. As we were looking for a new home in the Ankeny area, we weren’t finding much that we liked and that didn’t help. Through a series of events, that we felt were guiding us where to go, we were given the idea and inspiration to try building our house this time. We even felt that we were guided to the specific neighborhood and lot we ended up purchasing. It has been a bit of a headache, especially in the beginning phases, but it has also been very exciting. This biggest challenge this presented, though, was that we weren’t going to be able to move into a home right away when we moved, we would have to move into an apartment for 3 months while our house was being built. More than anything, I think it’s just the feeling of “not being settled” that makes the apartment phase hard. We want to be able to settle into our new home here but we still feel like we are transitioning so it is difficult to put down any roots.

It was also a weird time to move with the changes in the church schedule. With two hour church and RS/Preisthood only every other week, Jon and I have both felt like it’s been hard getting to know anyone in our ward. I don’t know how everyone else’s wards are handling the changes but we feel like our ward is all business. No songs, welcoming guests, good news minutes, etc. at the beginning of class- just straight to lesson! I think the Come Follow Me program is great , but I miss the songs in RS, and having time to get to know other people in the ward.

The weather has definitely been a challenge as well. This winter has been long and hard and very snowy for us! We have had a lot of school and church cancellations and delays. It’s been kind of crazy! We spent pretty much the entire month of January, it seems, being stuck in our apartment with sick kids. We went through a bout with a really bad cough that Katie, Zach, and Madison all got (Madison twice) that turned into RSV with both Zach and Madison. Then ear infections, Roseola, random fevers, etc. Being in an apartment on the second floor also adds a whole new fun element to this frigid snowy winter with carrying the carseat up and down the icy stairs, car doors freezing shut frequently, and having to scrape off the car before I go anywhere each day.

That being said, our apartment is fairly nice, and if we are going to have historic snowfall, it’s nice that there is a hill directly behind our apartment so that the kids have been able to enjoy lots of sledding fun this winter! Things could definitely be worse, and we are grateful they’re not. We have a lot to be grateful for and a lot to look forward to and we continue to remind ourselves of that!

Katie and Colton both seem to like their new school and teachers. Katie has made a lot of new friends at school and seems to be doing very well. Colton has struggled a bit on that account. He hasn’t been able to make any real friends yet at school or church so we are working (and praying) on helping him with that! Katie is excited for her birthday party coming up! She really wanted a party but I didn’t want to spend hundreds on some venue, it’s too cold to be outside, and we don’t really have room in our apartment. She wanted a Little Mermaid party so I told her she could invite 4 friends (which has turned into 7 and will probably be 10 by time her birthday gets here) and we would have a Little Mermaid movie party. We are just going to watch the movie, wear pjs, and eat chic fil a and cake. Pretty simple, but she is excited so that’s all that matters I guess!

Jon is the gospel doctrine teacher in our ward. He really likes that calling and it’s even nicer that he only teaches twice a month. We do have some interesting characters in our ward that make some interesting comments he needs to redirect but I guess that just makes it more fun J I am an activity days leader, working with the 7 year old girls. So far I like it! It’s pretty low-key and low-stress but still gets me out of the house a couple times a month!

Zach is my little buddy. He gets to tag along with me as I do housework, run errands, etc. His favorite things to do are help me with the dishes, do puzzles or read stories together, and play on the ipad while I exercise. He has a bit of a 3 year old “destroy” mode I’m not a huge fan of right now where he likes to just go from room to room and find things to ruin somehow. It’s a bit obnoxious. However, he also has a really sweet side and loves to sit in my lap and read stories, give big hugs, and is the best and giving puppy dog eyed “sorry”’s.

Madi is such a sweet addition to our family. She is crawling all over the place now and pulling herself up to everything. We have to put all our other kids on constant “choking hazard watch” to make sure she doesn’t get small things in her mouth. In our apartment, we have her sleeping in a crib in our closet. The unfortunate side-effect of apartment life on her sleep habits is that she no longer has them. She is up several times at night and I can’t let her self-soothe because she wakes us and probably the neighbors up. I am excited to be in a house again and HOPEFULLY she will learn to sleep through the night!