So Cinderella is now 4. Her birthday was on Saturday. Saturday morning she got up, and I wished her a happy birthday, then commented on what a big girl she was getting to be. She then had me stand up, stood beside me and said something about still only being as tall as my belly. Then she said, "I think I must still be 3."
Guy gave her a Disney's Cinderella doll for her birthday. She had not been playing with the doll for very long, before she became frustrated that the dolls shoes were constantly falling off. She then said to me, "these are cheap shoes." A while later she as frustrated about something else about the doll being "cheap", and told me she wanted a new princess because this one is "cheap".
At Church on Sunday Cinderella was given a little goody bag for her birthday. When I saw her after church she told me she had had a sucker that had "goo" in the middle. I assumed it was a tootsie roll pop, and let it go at that. A minute later she was telling another adult that she had goo in her mouth. I explained about the sucker, and someone told me that some of those suckers have gum in them. I still didn't expect that to be the case. But when she asked me a few minutes later when the goo was going to be gone, I realized it probably was gum. Something she had never had before. I asked her to open her mouth so I could see the goo. Sure enough it was gum. I told her that for that goo to go away she was going to need to spit it in the garbage. I told her it is something that is fun to chew for a little bit, but when we are done with it, we need to put it in the garbage, because it is really sticky and can stick to different things if we put it somewhere other than the garbage. Thankfully she accepted my telling her to throw it away and spit it in the garbage, when we found one.
We recently got some new family pictures taken. With the family picture we also got new single portrait shots of each of the kids, and one with them together. These are the pictures that are on my blog right now. I put the new pictures in the frame last night after the kids had gone to sleep. This morning Cinderella came out and noticed the new pictures. She made a comment about how she preferred the old ones, and I shouldn't have changed it. I then told her that these pictures show what we look like now. She then said, "no they don't. I was three in that dress. Now I am four."
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Do you understand?
So lately Guy has been trying to communicate more and more. And most of the time he is successful. He is doing pretty good for his age. But there are still times that I don't understand what he is wanting or tying to say. And I wonder how much of that time it is my own fault.
For example, last night he woke me up in the middle of the night standing by my bed. I was tired and impatient and didn't really want to know why he was awake in the middle of the night and didn't really think about it too hard. I just handed him off to my husband, who then took him crying back to his bed, and shut the door so he would stay there. I didn't think anything more about the situation until this morning I noticed that one of his blankets was on the floor next to my bed. It appears he brought it in with him. I then started wondering why he was coming in in the middle of the night. Was he cold? Not feeling well? Just couldn't sleep? I don't know, and I won't ever know, and it is all because I didn't take the time to find out. At this point I felt bad. I need to try to do a better job to understand what he is needing.
The other time recently that I didn't understand his needs or wants was on Saturday. He was sitting on the kitchen floor. He only had one sock on, and his pants had come off and were on the floor beside him. His other sock had come off at meal time, and I had previously found it by the table and put it in the wash. Well he pulled at his one sock and was saying "sock" so I thought he wanted it off. I took it off, and then he held up his pants, and said "pants". I told him to take his pants to Daddy, and then proceeded to take his sock, and put it in the dirty clothes. Well he picked up his pants and started crying coming after me. I figured he was trying to say that he wanted Mom to put on his pants. So I put on his pants, and he continued crying and pointing at the laundry room door. I then realized that he had been telling me he wanted his other sock on. So we fished both socks out of the laundry and put them on and then he was happy.
For example, last night he woke me up in the middle of the night standing by my bed. I was tired and impatient and didn't really want to know why he was awake in the middle of the night and didn't really think about it too hard. I just handed him off to my husband, who then took him crying back to his bed, and shut the door so he would stay there. I didn't think anything more about the situation until this morning I noticed that one of his blankets was on the floor next to my bed. It appears he brought it in with him. I then started wondering why he was coming in in the middle of the night. Was he cold? Not feeling well? Just couldn't sleep? I don't know, and I won't ever know, and it is all because I didn't take the time to find out. At this point I felt bad. I need to try to do a better job to understand what he is needing.
The other time recently that I didn't understand his needs or wants was on Saturday. He was sitting on the kitchen floor. He only had one sock on, and his pants had come off and were on the floor beside him. His other sock had come off at meal time, and I had previously found it by the table and put it in the wash. Well he pulled at his one sock and was saying "sock" so I thought he wanted it off. I took it off, and then he held up his pants, and said "pants". I told him to take his pants to Daddy, and then proceeded to take his sock, and put it in the dirty clothes. Well he picked up his pants and started crying coming after me. I figured he was trying to say that he wanted Mom to put on his pants. So I put on his pants, and he continued crying and pointing at the laundry room door. I then realized that he had been telling me he wanted his other sock on. So we fished both socks out of the laundry and put them on and then he was happy.
Monday, December 29, 2008
My blog goal for this comming year
So as 2008 is coming to a close, I have been thinking of things I can do better or differently in 2009. One thing that I have decided to try to do is to put posts on my blog more often. I have been quite busy the last little bit, and have neglected the blog. I'm going to try to do better, I am going to try to make more posts, shorter in length, so that I have time to write them, and you have time to read them (if you are interested).
However this may mean that when I post there might be a few new posts that show up about the same time, because that is when I have a block of time to sit down and post. So if you are a regular reader of my blog, make sure you take a quick look to see if there are more than one unread post, when you find new posts on my blog.
I may still have some long posts, due to the subject nature of what I may be discussing, but I will try to keep them short and sweet. Hope you enjoy reading my blog this coming year.
However this may mean that when I post there might be a few new posts that show up about the same time, because that is when I have a block of time to sit down and post. So if you are a regular reader of my blog, make sure you take a quick look to see if there are more than one unread post, when you find new posts on my blog.
I may still have some long posts, due to the subject nature of what I may be discussing, but I will try to keep them short and sweet. Hope you enjoy reading my blog this coming year.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
When she responds like this, it makes it worth it.
About September I decided to make blankets for my kids for Christmas. For Guy I found a car print fleece, and decided to make a fleece blanket for him, which wasn't too hard. 
Cinderella's blanket however was a different story. I found a Disney Princess print, that I knew she would love, and decided to use my new sewing machine to quilt it. 
I have done some machine quilting before, but it was on a very small object (a child size coat), and a long time ago. But I figured I could do it. So I bought my fabric, and had my supplies. However I couldn't work on it while she was around and I was feeling nauseous and exhausted being in my first trimester, so I didn't make any progress on it. I kept telling myself I needed to work on it, but never seemed to find the time or energy.
The last preschool lesson I was scheduled to teach before Christmas was the week of Thanksgiving. I figured I would get that out of the way, and then devote my attentions to her blanket. However my kids health, and the schedules of the other mom's involved in preschool kind of foiled that plan. So it wasn't until about 2 weeks before Christmas that I even started on the blanket.
I started on a Saturday, when my husband was home. I locked myself in my bedroom, where my sewing machine is and started sewing. I got the front put together that day, but realized that my fabrics were different widths, and so then I had to figure out how to trim it down to size and not mess up the pattern.
Through the next week I worked on it every possible evening when I had the energy to do so. However I reached a point that I couldn't go on in my room. I needed to baste the front, back, and batting together. I had read somewhere that if you use a basting spray it is a good idea. And I for one would highly recommend it. It was definitely the easiest and time effective way. However this blanket was huge, and I needed to lay it all out flat to baste it together, which meant that Cinderella had to be sleeping, or gone. But I needed my husbands help to move the couch and stuff, so I couldn't have him take her anywhere.
I had a friend come to the rescue the Saturday before Christmas, when I told her of my plight. She offered to watch my kids for a few hours while I got that part taken care of. Thankfully within an hour we had it all put together. We retrieved the kids and I sewed for the rest of the day. By the end of Saturday I had all of my strait lines quilted. However, I still needed to quilt around all the princesses and their names in the squares. I had no idea how long that would take.
On Monday night, after we finished family home evening, and put the kids in bed, I once again retired to my room, locked the door and started sewing. I sewed until about 11:00 that night, and finished the quilting part. I just needed to make my binding and sew it on.
I figured I could make the binding during the day on Tuesday, and then sew it on Tuesday night. That way I wouldn't have to worry about it on Christmas Eve. However the kids had other plans for me on Tuesday. In the morning we spent some time playing on the computer together. I had turned it on hoping to distract them, so I could work. Unfortunately for the quilt, they wanted Mommy to play with them. So I did. When we were done, I took them to the library. I had a movie on hold that I was hoping to turn on in the afternoon and to get their attention, so I could work. We got home from the library, had lunch, and I got them down for quiet time.
While they were having their quiet time, Cinderella started coughing. She had been coughing earlier that morning on the way to the library. It was a scary sounding cough, and I had stopped at the store to get some Vic's VapoRub. It helped some, but not enough. The problem with her cough was that it was accompanied by a wheezing sound. I was afraid the problem we had experienced in November was back, and didn't want her to have to suffer through Christmas if not necessary. So I called the Dr.'s office and was able to get her in that afternoon. However she wanted to watch the movie that we got from the library, and I knew that if I started it right then, and left as soon as it was over, we should be able to get to the Dr's office on time.
However I had forgotten about yucky icy roads, that hadn't been properly plowed. We arrived at the Dr's office about 15 min. late. And had to wait another 30 min. before we could see the Dr. Thankfully he was still able to see us that day. He diagnosed Cinderella with a type of asthma that happens in children, and prescribed some meds. We then had to drive to Fred Meyer to pick up the meds. Let me tell you, Fred Meyer, with an icy, snowy parking lot at 5 pm on December 22, is not really a place you want to be. At least I didn't want to be there. Thankfully we got home by 6, where Daddy had dinner waiting for us. By this time I was tired and ornery, and had no desire to do any sewing that night. Thankfully my husband took pity on me, and helped me make the binding. Unfortunately we didn't have the binding all the way made, and ready to go on the quilt until about 11:00. Which meant it was time to stop.
Well due to yucky weather, my husband worked from home on Christmas Eve, which I used as a means of getting some sewing done during the day. I decided that I could spend some an hour with the kids, then go and sew for an hour. My time with the kids ended up being more than an hour a lot of the time, but that was OK. But I did get the binding sewn on the front of the quilt during the day. Then after we got the kids to bed, my hubby took care of most of the Christmas Eve stuff for me, while I continued to sew. I finally had the whole thing finished about 11:00. So we wrapped it and got it under the tree.
I was just glad we got it done in time. I wanted to make sure she really appreciated this gift, as much as she would, so we had her open it first. Her reaction made all the work and stress totally worth it.
Some quilting tips for anyone who is thinking of doing a machine quilting project and hasn't done any or much before:
Cinderella's blanket however was a different story. I found a Disney Princess print, that I knew she would love, and decided to use my new sewing machine to quilt it. 
I have done some machine quilting before, but it was on a very small object (a child size coat), and a long time ago. But I figured I could do it. So I bought my fabric, and had my supplies. However I couldn't work on it while she was around and I was feeling nauseous and exhausted being in my first trimester, so I didn't make any progress on it. I kept telling myself I needed to work on it, but never seemed to find the time or energy.The last preschool lesson I was scheduled to teach before Christmas was the week of Thanksgiving. I figured I would get that out of the way, and then devote my attentions to her blanket. However my kids health, and the schedules of the other mom's involved in preschool kind of foiled that plan. So it wasn't until about 2 weeks before Christmas that I even started on the blanket.
I started on a Saturday, when my husband was home. I locked myself in my bedroom, where my sewing machine is and started sewing. I got the front put together that day, but realized that my fabrics were different widths, and so then I had to figure out how to trim it down to size and not mess up the pattern.
Through the next week I worked on it every possible evening when I had the energy to do so. However I reached a point that I couldn't go on in my room. I needed to baste the front, back, and batting together. I had read somewhere that if you use a basting spray it is a good idea. And I for one would highly recommend it. It was definitely the easiest and time effective way. However this blanket was huge, and I needed to lay it all out flat to baste it together, which meant that Cinderella had to be sleeping, or gone. But I needed my husbands help to move the couch and stuff, so I couldn't have him take her anywhere.
I had a friend come to the rescue the Saturday before Christmas, when I told her of my plight. She offered to watch my kids for a few hours while I got that part taken care of. Thankfully within an hour we had it all put together. We retrieved the kids and I sewed for the rest of the day. By the end of Saturday I had all of my strait lines quilted. However, I still needed to quilt around all the princesses and their names in the squares. I had no idea how long that would take.
On Monday night, after we finished family home evening, and put the kids in bed, I once again retired to my room, locked the door and started sewing. I sewed until about 11:00 that night, and finished the quilting part. I just needed to make my binding and sew it on.
I figured I could make the binding during the day on Tuesday, and then sew it on Tuesday night. That way I wouldn't have to worry about it on Christmas Eve. However the kids had other plans for me on Tuesday. In the morning we spent some time playing on the computer together. I had turned it on hoping to distract them, so I could work. Unfortunately for the quilt, they wanted Mommy to play with them. So I did. When we were done, I took them to the library. I had a movie on hold that I was hoping to turn on in the afternoon and to get their attention, so I could work. We got home from the library, had lunch, and I got them down for quiet time.
While they were having their quiet time, Cinderella started coughing. She had been coughing earlier that morning on the way to the library. It was a scary sounding cough, and I had stopped at the store to get some Vic's VapoRub. It helped some, but not enough. The problem with her cough was that it was accompanied by a wheezing sound. I was afraid the problem we had experienced in November was back, and didn't want her to have to suffer through Christmas if not necessary. So I called the Dr.'s office and was able to get her in that afternoon. However she wanted to watch the movie that we got from the library, and I knew that if I started it right then, and left as soon as it was over, we should be able to get to the Dr's office on time.
However I had forgotten about yucky icy roads, that hadn't been properly plowed. We arrived at the Dr's office about 15 min. late. And had to wait another 30 min. before we could see the Dr. Thankfully he was still able to see us that day. He diagnosed Cinderella with a type of asthma that happens in children, and prescribed some meds. We then had to drive to Fred Meyer to pick up the meds. Let me tell you, Fred Meyer, with an icy, snowy parking lot at 5 pm on December 22, is not really a place you want to be. At least I didn't want to be there. Thankfully we got home by 6, where Daddy had dinner waiting for us. By this time I was tired and ornery, and had no desire to do any sewing that night. Thankfully my husband took pity on me, and helped me make the binding. Unfortunately we didn't have the binding all the way made, and ready to go on the quilt until about 11:00. Which meant it was time to stop.
Well due to yucky weather, my husband worked from home on Christmas Eve, which I used as a means of getting some sewing done during the day. I decided that I could spend some an hour with the kids, then go and sew for an hour. My time with the kids ended up being more than an hour a lot of the time, but that was OK. But I did get the binding sewn on the front of the quilt during the day. Then after we got the kids to bed, my hubby took care of most of the Christmas Eve stuff for me, while I continued to sew. I finally had the whole thing finished about 11:00. So we wrapped it and got it under the tree.
I was just glad we got it done in time. I wanted to make sure she really appreciated this gift, as much as she would, so we had her open it first. Her reaction made all the work and stress totally worth it.
Some quilting tips for anyone who is thinking of doing a machine quilting project and hasn't done any or much before:
- Make something small first. Like a wall hanging or a table runner. The biggest problem I had with this quilt was the weight of all the extra fabric. I extended my table as much as possible, and tried to keep as much fabric on the table as I could. But having so much fabric, and not having really quilted on that machine before, made it more difficult.
- Use a basting spray. If you don't make sure you baste really well no matter how you choose to do it. The basting spray was really quick and easy and did a really good job of holding my fabric together.
- Make a separate binding for the quilt, but make sure that your width on your binding is uniform. Mine ended up very uneven, which made it so that I needed to fold the whole binding to the back to cover all my seams.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Meet Moosey
Moosey, was the first toy Cinderella ever got. In fact I think we got it while I was still pregnant with her. One of my husband's sisters had been a tour bus driver in Alaska that summer, and had gotten it for our baby.
As Cinderella got to the age that she could play with it, we had it as our diaper bag toy. It was the toy pulled out on car trips, or when we were at church. Cinderella loved that toy, but I don't know that it was any more of a favorite than any other toy was.
Until now. About 3 years later, a strange attachment has occurred between Cinderella and "Moosey" the name it has been dubbed recently. One night she decided she needed to take the moose to bed with her. A few nights later, we couldn't find it, and suddenly it was "I need Moosey!" I think there has only been one night since that time that she hasn't slept with it. One day a couple weeks ago "Moosey" along with her stuffed bear that she sleeps with, disappeared.
We could not find it anywhere. It was late and she needed to go to bed. But she couldn't go without Moosey. Unfortunately we were not able to find it that night. The next evening however, Guy decided he wanted to play in the dish cupboard. One of the kids favorite places to play. He opened the door, and low and behold there was Bear and Moosey. And since that day, if I can help it, Moosey never leaves her bed.
Isn't it funny the attachments children can make to toys?
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Beep
Our alarm clock goes off to a CD every morning, and when you turn it off it makes a "beep". Ever since we moved Guy to a bed, he gets up every morning pretty close to when his Daddy does. I've wondered if he listens for the alarm. My question was answered.
Saturday night about 1:30, I was awakened to hear Guy's little footsteps running into our room. Then I heard a groan, and turned to see him climbing up on the bed right over Daddy. It was clear from the look on Daddy's face, that he had not heard the footsteps. Guy ended up in the middle of our bed. I picked him up, and felt that his face and hands were cold. I asked him if he was cold in his bed. He said "cold bed". So I put him in our bed for a few minutes to warm up. He laid down next to me, and stayed that way for about a minute. Then he sat up, and pointed to the alarm clock and said "beep."
I told him, "No, Guy it isn't time to get up yet." He then started to sing the ABC's in his Guy fashion. He doesn't say the actual letters, but you can tell what he is singing. He stopped right about where G should be and said "Beep, beep" pointing at the alarm clock. I thought that was so funny. He knew the alarm clock played music then said "beep" so he was singing a song and then stopping mid song, like the alarm clock does, and said "beep".
I told Daddy, that Guy was ready to get up, and what Guy had done. Daddy looked at the clock, and told Guy he needed to go back to bed. So he took him and put him in his bed, gave him his pacifier and blankets, and shut the door. Thankfully we didn't hear from him for the rest of the night.
Saturday night about 1:30, I was awakened to hear Guy's little footsteps running into our room. Then I heard a groan, and turned to see him climbing up on the bed right over Daddy. It was clear from the look on Daddy's face, that he had not heard the footsteps. Guy ended up in the middle of our bed. I picked him up, and felt that his face and hands were cold. I asked him if he was cold in his bed. He said "cold bed". So I put him in our bed for a few minutes to warm up. He laid down next to me, and stayed that way for about a minute. Then he sat up, and pointed to the alarm clock and said "beep."
I told him, "No, Guy it isn't time to get up yet." He then started to sing the ABC's in his Guy fashion. He doesn't say the actual letters, but you can tell what he is singing. He stopped right about where G should be and said "Beep, beep" pointing at the alarm clock. I thought that was so funny. He knew the alarm clock played music then said "beep" so he was singing a song and then stopping mid song, like the alarm clock does, and said "beep".
I told Daddy, that Guy was ready to get up, and what Guy had done. Daddy looked at the clock, and told Guy he needed to go back to bed. So he took him and put him in his bed, gave him his pacifier and blankets, and shut the door. Thankfully we didn't hear from him for the rest of the night.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Our Ultrasound
We are having a girl. Cinderella is super excited. She wants to call the baby Sleeping Beauty. This however will not work to my standards of a name. But it will work for a blog name. So now we will have Cinderella, Guy Smiley and Sleeping Beauty.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
What do you think?
So I go in for my ultrasound this evening. Hopefully we will find out the babies gender. I put a poll on guess the gender up on my blog. But forgot to announce it. So if you would like to vote, you have about 5 more hours to get your votes in. I'll probably let you know tomorrow what I find out.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Christmas edition of getting to know your friends
OK, so I am not one to forward e-mails. I received this in an e-mail and not wanting to forward it, I would normally just delete it. However I noticed something like this posted on one of my friends blogs, and thought I could maybe put this on my blog. If you want to put it on your blog, or forward it in an e-mail feel free to do so. If you don't that is fine too.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I do wrapping paper for Christmas gifts. That way kids have a harder time seeing what is under the tree for them. I use gift bags for most birthday presents.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Ever since I got married, we have only lived in apartments, and some apartments don't let you have real trees. Plus, it is a one time expense. I don't have to spend money every year on a tree. My tree is also only 4 feet tall. It was cheaper, and that way, we can put it up on something and get it out of the kids reach if we want to.
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving. This year we were out of town, so we put it up yesterday.
4. When do you take the tree down? Around New Years Day
5. Do you like eggnog? I don't know that I have had it enough to say.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I got a doll one time, that was one that you didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, until you open the package, and dissolve it's vest in water. Then there would be a package that had a card that told you the baby's gender, and had an outfit for the baby. That was pretty fun. Mine was a girl.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Mostly the people in my husband's family. I don't know them well enough to know what they would like.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids. It is easy to know what they like, and would be happy with.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? We have 3. One that is a small one with just Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. One that is the Little People Nativity, and one that my husband had. It has been at his Dad's house until this year, so I am excited to use it for the first time.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't usually send Christmas cards.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't know. I try to appreciate all the gifts I am given.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? When I was little my parents recorded "Today's Special Christmas" It is still one of my favorites to watch.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Last year I started in July. This year I wasn't as organized, and started in November.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't know.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes
17. Favorite Christmas song? Carrol of the bells.
18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Sometimes we travel, sometimes we stay home. This year we are staying home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have an angel, because our star is too heavy for the top of our little tree.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? All the commercialism that you see in the stores any time you go out.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Blue
.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We always did our big dinner on Christmas Eve, and then had the left overs for dinner on Christmas. Made Christmas Day more relaxing.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A bread maker
26. Have you been naughty or nice this year? It depends on how much sleep I got the night before. But overall nice.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I do wrapping paper for Christmas gifts. That way kids have a harder time seeing what is under the tree for them. I use gift bags for most birthday presents.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Ever since I got married, we have only lived in apartments, and some apartments don't let you have real trees. Plus, it is a one time expense. I don't have to spend money every year on a tree. My tree is also only 4 feet tall. It was cheaper, and that way, we can put it up on something and get it out of the kids reach if we want to.
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving. This year we were out of town, so we put it up yesterday.
4. When do you take the tree down? Around New Years Day
5. Do you like eggnog? I don't know that I have had it enough to say.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I got a doll one time, that was one that you didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, until you open the package, and dissolve it's vest in water. Then there would be a package that had a card that told you the baby's gender, and had an outfit for the baby. That was pretty fun. Mine was a girl.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Mostly the people in my husband's family. I don't know them well enough to know what they would like.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids. It is easy to know what they like, and would be happy with.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? We have 3. One that is a small one with just Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. One that is the Little People Nativity, and one that my husband had. It has been at his Dad's house until this year, so I am excited to use it for the first time.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't usually send Christmas cards.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't know. I try to appreciate all the gifts I am given.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? When I was little my parents recorded "Today's Special Christmas" It is still one of my favorites to watch.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Last year I started in July. This year I wasn't as organized, and started in November.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't know.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes
17. Favorite Christmas song? Carrol of the bells.
18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Sometimes we travel, sometimes we stay home. This year we are staying home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have an angel, because our star is too heavy for the top of our little tree.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? All the commercialism that you see in the stores any time you go out.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Blue
.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We always did our big dinner on Christmas Eve, and then had the left overs for dinner on Christmas. Made Christmas Day more relaxing.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A bread maker
26. Have you been naughty or nice this year? It depends on how much sleep I got the night before. But overall nice.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Guy and the Pack-n-play
So this post is for any of you wondering how our vacation went with Guy being able to climb out of the pack-n-play.
Our first day there was Thanksgiving. That night, we put the kids to bed, and I grabbed a book and settled on the other bed, until they fell asleep. Guy wasn't in his bed 5 minutes, before I heard Cinderella call "Mom". I looked up, and saw him straddling the edge of the play yard. I told him to get back in bed. So he did. Then looked at me and cried. I told him to lay down. It took a while of me repeating that, before he finally laid down. Then we repeated this process about 3 times, and then I decided to just start telling him to lay down every time he stood up. I think he was asleep within 30 min.
The next day, he was acting really tired. So we put him down for a nap. He laid right down and went to sleep. So I was a little over confident that evening. My husbands Aunt and Uncle were visiting, and Cinderella didn't want to go to bed. Guy was getting tired however and asked to go "night-night". So I took him down, got him his blankets, and stuffed animals, put him in bed and left him there. Less than 5 min. later he was crying at the bottom of the stairs. (we were sleeping downstairs, but everyone else was upstairs.) Daddy went and got him, and after that it was a battle all night to get him to go to bed. I still ended up down there reading my book telling him to lie down, but he was really unhappy about the whole thing and I spent probably about an hour or so down there.
Saturday, my kids spent the day at the house of a family friend. He didn't get a nap all day, and when we took him back to Grandpa's house, he fell asleep in the car. He would not be roused. I debated as to weather or not I should just put him down right then and there, in his clothes and everything. I decided not to, because it was earlier than I wanted him to go to bed, and he hadn't had dinner yet. I was afraid he would wake up in the middle of the night and be really hungry. So we let him take a short nap, until we had dinner ready. Unfortunately, by the time we got him to bed, he was over tired. And I was wiped out. I had finished my book the night before, so I decided to read my scriptures while I waited for him to fall asleep. I don't know how long it finally took, because I fell asleep before he did. My husband had been waiting up stairs with his brothers for me to come and join them in a game. He finally called it a night, and came down to find me asleep.
On Sunday, I really wanted to spend this last night interacting with family, instead of putting my kids to bed. I'm sure my selfish decision made this night a lot longer than it needed to be. We put the kids to bed, and shut the door tight, so that Guy couldn't come out on his own. We decided to see what he would do. Well, we started a game of Taboo, when my brother-in-law thought he heard someone slam into the door down stairs. So he went to check on the kids. He found both kid sitting on the twin bed looking at books. We decided that was an acceptable option. The door was once again firmly closed. Well about 2 min. later, both kids came trudging up the stairs. I let the men handle them this night. And they were taken back down stairs. This battle went on for quite a while. Sometimes we would let the kids stay up for a few minutes. Other times they were taken promptly back to bed. This lack of consistency probably also made it a bigger issue. Finally about 9:00 I realized it was going to take Mom stepping in for anything to happen. I took them downstairs, and sang to Cinderella, and continuously told Guy to get back in bed, or lay down, until Cinderella finally went to sleep. Guy kept crying that he wanted to be in bed with Cin, I finally decided to ignore him. He finally climbed out of his bed. But didn't really want to be in bed with Cin, or lay on my bed. He was over tired, and didn't really know what he wanted. I finally took him back upstairs, where they had finished their game, and were getting ready to go to bed. He rocked with Daddy for a while, and looked at a book, until he settled down. Then we took him back down, put him in bed, and got ourselves ready for bed. After a while he decided to just lay down and go to sleep.
So, I'm not too excited to put him in a bed that he can easily get out of. But I guess we will see what happens. Maybe being able to climb back in on his own, won't make it as big of an issue.
Our first day there was Thanksgiving. That night, we put the kids to bed, and I grabbed a book and settled on the other bed, until they fell asleep. Guy wasn't in his bed 5 minutes, before I heard Cinderella call "Mom". I looked up, and saw him straddling the edge of the play yard. I told him to get back in bed. So he did. Then looked at me and cried. I told him to lay down. It took a while of me repeating that, before he finally laid down. Then we repeated this process about 3 times, and then I decided to just start telling him to lay down every time he stood up. I think he was asleep within 30 min.
The next day, he was acting really tired. So we put him down for a nap. He laid right down and went to sleep. So I was a little over confident that evening. My husbands Aunt and Uncle were visiting, and Cinderella didn't want to go to bed. Guy was getting tired however and asked to go "night-night". So I took him down, got him his blankets, and stuffed animals, put him in bed and left him there. Less than 5 min. later he was crying at the bottom of the stairs. (we were sleeping downstairs, but everyone else was upstairs.) Daddy went and got him, and after that it was a battle all night to get him to go to bed. I still ended up down there reading my book telling him to lie down, but he was really unhappy about the whole thing and I spent probably about an hour or so down there.
Saturday, my kids spent the day at the house of a family friend. He didn't get a nap all day, and when we took him back to Grandpa's house, he fell asleep in the car. He would not be roused. I debated as to weather or not I should just put him down right then and there, in his clothes and everything. I decided not to, because it was earlier than I wanted him to go to bed, and he hadn't had dinner yet. I was afraid he would wake up in the middle of the night and be really hungry. So we let him take a short nap, until we had dinner ready. Unfortunately, by the time we got him to bed, he was over tired. And I was wiped out. I had finished my book the night before, so I decided to read my scriptures while I waited for him to fall asleep. I don't know how long it finally took, because I fell asleep before he did. My husband had been waiting up stairs with his brothers for me to come and join them in a game. He finally called it a night, and came down to find me asleep.
On Sunday, I really wanted to spend this last night interacting with family, instead of putting my kids to bed. I'm sure my selfish decision made this night a lot longer than it needed to be. We put the kids to bed, and shut the door tight, so that Guy couldn't come out on his own. We decided to see what he would do. Well, we started a game of Taboo, when my brother-in-law thought he heard someone slam into the door down stairs. So he went to check on the kids. He found both kid sitting on the twin bed looking at books. We decided that was an acceptable option. The door was once again firmly closed. Well about 2 min. later, both kids came trudging up the stairs. I let the men handle them this night. And they were taken back down stairs. This battle went on for quite a while. Sometimes we would let the kids stay up for a few minutes. Other times they were taken promptly back to bed. This lack of consistency probably also made it a bigger issue. Finally about 9:00 I realized it was going to take Mom stepping in for anything to happen. I took them downstairs, and sang to Cinderella, and continuously told Guy to get back in bed, or lay down, until Cinderella finally went to sleep. Guy kept crying that he wanted to be in bed with Cin, I finally decided to ignore him. He finally climbed out of his bed. But didn't really want to be in bed with Cin, or lay on my bed. He was over tired, and didn't really know what he wanted. I finally took him back upstairs, where they had finished their game, and were getting ready to go to bed. He rocked with Daddy for a while, and looked at a book, until he settled down. Then we took him back down, put him in bed, and got ourselves ready for bed. After a while he decided to just lay down and go to sleep.
So, I'm not too excited to put him in a bed that he can easily get out of. But I guess we will see what happens. Maybe being able to climb back in on his own, won't make it as big of an issue.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
It's quite the timing.
At my house we have a quiet time. It is something that I feel the need to enforce because it gives me a much needed break time, and the kids some alone time.
My apartment is a 3 bedroom. In the current set up we have a master bedroom; the kids room, which has a toddler bed, crib and dresser in it; and the guest room/playroom, which has a twin size day bed (do they come in any other size?), the toys and a pack-n-play.
Up until today this worked fine. I put Guy down for a nap in the pack-n-play, and let Cinderella have her "quiet time" that usually isn't all that quiet, in her room. Cinderella hasn't taken an afternoon nap on a regular basis for quite a while. Guy however takes, and needs them, daily. Hence why I put them in separate rooms for this hour of the day.
Well today, I put them down for quiet time, then I sat down to the computer. They were down for probably about 40 min. when Guy came marching out of the playroom, dragging his blankets behind him looking so proud of himself. At first I figured that Cinderella had snuck in there and pulled him out so they could play. I asked her where she was, and she came out of her room. So I figured out that he had climbed out of the pack-n-play all on his own. I had it at the end of the day bed, so I guessed that he had somehow used the daybed to climb out. So I moved the pack-n-play and put him back inside. Not too much longer I heard a thud, and the sound of him moving around the room. Now his timing is terrible, because we are planning on going to my Father-in-law's house for Thanksgiving. Always when we go, Guy sleeps in the pack-n-play. Now I'm wondering what is going to happen when we put him down for bed, and he decides to climb out, in a place he isn't as familiar with.
The other thing is our regular bed situation. Guy sleeps in the crib, and Cinderella sleeps in the toddler bed. I am afraid that my little climber, now that he knows he can climb out of the pack-n-play, isn't going to give up until he figures out how to climb out of the crib too. And it is a lot higher up.
We have been planning on moving the kids to the next size bed anyway, but the timing is off. Cinderella hates change. And by her choice, she doesn't want to give up "her" bed. So the plan was, I am making her a Disney Princess quilt for the twin size bed for Christmas, and she is getting a set of Disney Princess Sheets that are twin size for her birthday, which is right after Christmas. I was hoping those things would make her excited to switch beds. Well now I'm wondering if I can wait a month, or if that will be too risky for Guy.
Oh and the other part of the equation is trying to figure out which beds go in which rooms, when the kids upgrade. I'm not sure what will fit together. So I need to get on the ball, and figure out a solution.
Any suggestions? Would you wait a month? Is there some way you would try to convince Cinderella to switch beds without some way to identify it as hers? Oh and how would you handle quiet time without the pack-n-play? I know your kids (if you have kids) are not my kids, and respond in different ways, but I would welcome any ideas right now.
My apartment is a 3 bedroom. In the current set up we have a master bedroom; the kids room, which has a toddler bed, crib and dresser in it; and the guest room/playroom, which has a twin size day bed (do they come in any other size?), the toys and a pack-n-play.
Up until today this worked fine. I put Guy down for a nap in the pack-n-play, and let Cinderella have her "quiet time" that usually isn't all that quiet, in her room. Cinderella hasn't taken an afternoon nap on a regular basis for quite a while. Guy however takes, and needs them, daily. Hence why I put them in separate rooms for this hour of the day.
Well today, I put them down for quiet time, then I sat down to the computer. They were down for probably about 40 min. when Guy came marching out of the playroom, dragging his blankets behind him looking so proud of himself. At first I figured that Cinderella had snuck in there and pulled him out so they could play. I asked her where she was, and she came out of her room. So I figured out that he had climbed out of the pack-n-play all on his own. I had it at the end of the day bed, so I guessed that he had somehow used the daybed to climb out. So I moved the pack-n-play and put him back inside. Not too much longer I heard a thud, and the sound of him moving around the room. Now his timing is terrible, because we are planning on going to my Father-in-law's house for Thanksgiving. Always when we go, Guy sleeps in the pack-n-play. Now I'm wondering what is going to happen when we put him down for bed, and he decides to climb out, in a place he isn't as familiar with.
The other thing is our regular bed situation. Guy sleeps in the crib, and Cinderella sleeps in the toddler bed. I am afraid that my little climber, now that he knows he can climb out of the pack-n-play, isn't going to give up until he figures out how to climb out of the crib too. And it is a lot higher up.
We have been planning on moving the kids to the next size bed anyway, but the timing is off. Cinderella hates change. And by her choice, she doesn't want to give up "her" bed. So the plan was, I am making her a Disney Princess quilt for the twin size bed for Christmas, and she is getting a set of Disney Princess Sheets that are twin size for her birthday, which is right after Christmas. I was hoping those things would make her excited to switch beds. Well now I'm wondering if I can wait a month, or if that will be too risky for Guy.
Oh and the other part of the equation is trying to figure out which beds go in which rooms, when the kids upgrade. I'm not sure what will fit together. So I need to get on the ball, and figure out a solution.
Any suggestions? Would you wait a month? Is there some way you would try to convince Cinderella to switch beds without some way to identify it as hers? Oh and how would you handle quiet time without the pack-n-play? I know your kids (if you have kids) are not my kids, and respond in different ways, but I would welcome any ideas right now.
Long Nights
About mid September Cinderella came down with a cough. I figured she had a cold, and didn't worry too much about it. This cough was one that sounded to me, one that she would try to clear her throat and start coughing. It was a loud and disruptive cough, but not one that the Dr. seemed concerned about. She was even removed from her children's class in church one week, because she was causing too much of a disruption with her cough.
Well the cough has been pretty consistent since then. She has had other colds, that have built upon it, at times. But those pass, and the cough remains. Last week, I took her into the Dr. to have him check it again, and make sure it wasn't something serious. He didn't seem concerned. When I asked if it could be allergies, she said that was a possibility, and I could try children's Claritin, and see if it helped at all. Benadryl was another option, but not his preference. So on my way home from the Dr.'s office, I stopped by the store and bought some Claritin. That night, when we went to give her some however, we discovered that the bottom of the bottle had busted open. So that night we gave her Benadryl, and exchanged the Claritin the next day. The Benadryl seemed to help, and she slept well. The Claritin, however did nothing. About that time, both Cinderella and Guy came down with runny noses. I figured that the Claritin wasn't doing much because she maybe had a cold on top of the allergies. We tried one more night of Claritin, but still received no results.
On Friday, Cinderella's cough, changed to a loud barking one, with some wheezing. I was concerned about this, but because it was about lunch time when I really noticed the change, I didn't think we could get into the Dr. that day. I put Cinderella down for quiet time. Hoping she would maybe take a nap, and it would help her feel better. When I went in a few minutes later however, she told me she was going to throw up. So we went to the bathroom, where she coughed a few times, then told me, she wasn't going to throw up, just needed to cough a lot.
I still had some children's cold and cough, that I had purchased before that kind of medicine was pulled off the shelves for children under 6. I'm not big on using meds that are recalled. But because the main reason for the recall, as far as I understand was parents overdosing their kids, and this bottle had a written dosage for children 2-6. I figured I would risk it, and see if it helped.
Well this medication didn't do anything either. When Cinderella finished her quiet time, which unfortunately didn't include a nap, she had a low grade fever. And the cough was as prevalent as ever. I was really concerned, because I couldn't think of anything I could do for this cough. That night I asked my husband if he could give her a blessing. (Using the priesthood, which we believe is God's authority, to say a special prayer for the individual. We believe that priesthood blessings, is a way for God to speak through the person giving the blessing, to pronounce His blessings on that individual. The man giving the blessing, has to be ordained in the priesthood (given the priesthood by someone with proper authority), and has to be worthy). He called a friend who also has the priesthood to assist him, and they gave her a blessing. After the blessing she seemed to do a lot better. We gave her some more Benadryl that night, and it seemed to help, and she slept pretty good. We just took it easy and stayed home on Saturday, hoping to give her some rest. On Sunday we just went to church, but spent the rest of the day at home.
Well Sunday night as my husband and I were getting ready for bed, Cinderella came in. She had woken up, and said her ear hurt. We gave her some Motrin, and put her back to bed. She then came in one more time early in the morning, when the Motrin had worn off, hurting again.
So Monday morning, we headed to the Dr.s . Sure enough she has an ear infection. Plus the Dr. noticed her wheezing and put her on an oral hormone that is supposed to help open up her air ways and help her breath better. Yesterday it seemed to work really well. After I gave it to her, she didn't cough at all until about midnight. Today, she hasn't responded so quickly. I gave it to her at breakfast, and she is still coughing now. But we will see how she does after the week that is prescribed for the treatment.
Last night was another long night. When Cinderella started coughing again, Guy was coughing as well. Cinderella came into our room requesting a drink for Guy, because he was coughing. Daddy got up and gave both kids a drink and put them back to bed.
I however was not able to go back to sleep. For some reason, at that point, my hips wanted to scream at me, and not be comfortable no matter what position I lay in. Guy was having a hard time settling down as well.
I finally got up with him, and rocked for a little while. He cuddled up to me for a little while, and he is so small, and I don't spend time rocking with him much anymore. I kind of forgot he was as old as he is. At one point, it clicked into my mind that he didn't seem to be sucking very hard on his pacifier. And I had the thought that he might be teething. I took the pacifier from his mouth and told him to say "ah" so I could feel in his mouth and see if there were any teeth coming in. It totally took me by surprise, and reminded me how old he really is, when he opened his mouth wide and said, "Ahhhhh" . :) Well he did have a tender spot, so I asked if he had an owie in his mouth. He seemed to agree, and I put some Orajel on that spot. I asked if the owie was better, and he said "owie ber". So I gave him a dose of Tylenol and we put him back to bed. I tried to go back to bed then, but my hips still didn't like me, so I took some Tylenol myself, and once it kicked in, I was able to go back to sleep.
Maybe before too much longer we can all be better, and get the sleep we need without too much effort.
Well the cough has been pretty consistent since then. She has had other colds, that have built upon it, at times. But those pass, and the cough remains. Last week, I took her into the Dr. to have him check it again, and make sure it wasn't something serious. He didn't seem concerned. When I asked if it could be allergies, she said that was a possibility, and I could try children's Claritin, and see if it helped at all. Benadryl was another option, but not his preference. So on my way home from the Dr.'s office, I stopped by the store and bought some Claritin. That night, when we went to give her some however, we discovered that the bottom of the bottle had busted open. So that night we gave her Benadryl, and exchanged the Claritin the next day. The Benadryl seemed to help, and she slept well. The Claritin, however did nothing. About that time, both Cinderella and Guy came down with runny noses. I figured that the Claritin wasn't doing much because she maybe had a cold on top of the allergies. We tried one more night of Claritin, but still received no results.
On Friday, Cinderella's cough, changed to a loud barking one, with some wheezing. I was concerned about this, but because it was about lunch time when I really noticed the change, I didn't think we could get into the Dr. that day. I put Cinderella down for quiet time. Hoping she would maybe take a nap, and it would help her feel better. When I went in a few minutes later however, she told me she was going to throw up. So we went to the bathroom, where she coughed a few times, then told me, she wasn't going to throw up, just needed to cough a lot.
I still had some children's cold and cough, that I had purchased before that kind of medicine was pulled off the shelves for children under 6. I'm not big on using meds that are recalled. But because the main reason for the recall, as far as I understand was parents overdosing their kids, and this bottle had a written dosage for children 2-6. I figured I would risk it, and see if it helped.
Well this medication didn't do anything either. When Cinderella finished her quiet time, which unfortunately didn't include a nap, she had a low grade fever. And the cough was as prevalent as ever. I was really concerned, because I couldn't think of anything I could do for this cough. That night I asked my husband if he could give her a blessing. (Using the priesthood, which we believe is God's authority, to say a special prayer for the individual. We believe that priesthood blessings, is a way for God to speak through the person giving the blessing, to pronounce His blessings on that individual. The man giving the blessing, has to be ordained in the priesthood (given the priesthood by someone with proper authority), and has to be worthy). He called a friend who also has the priesthood to assist him, and they gave her a blessing. After the blessing she seemed to do a lot better. We gave her some more Benadryl that night, and it seemed to help, and she slept pretty good. We just took it easy and stayed home on Saturday, hoping to give her some rest. On Sunday we just went to church, but spent the rest of the day at home.
Well Sunday night as my husband and I were getting ready for bed, Cinderella came in. She had woken up, and said her ear hurt. We gave her some Motrin, and put her back to bed. She then came in one more time early in the morning, when the Motrin had worn off, hurting again.
So Monday morning, we headed to the Dr.s . Sure enough she has an ear infection. Plus the Dr. noticed her wheezing and put her on an oral hormone that is supposed to help open up her air ways and help her breath better. Yesterday it seemed to work really well. After I gave it to her, she didn't cough at all until about midnight. Today, she hasn't responded so quickly. I gave it to her at breakfast, and she is still coughing now. But we will see how she does after the week that is prescribed for the treatment.
Last night was another long night. When Cinderella started coughing again, Guy was coughing as well. Cinderella came into our room requesting a drink for Guy, because he was coughing. Daddy got up and gave both kids a drink and put them back to bed.
I however was not able to go back to sleep. For some reason, at that point, my hips wanted to scream at me, and not be comfortable no matter what position I lay in. Guy was having a hard time settling down as well.
I finally got up with him, and rocked for a little while. He cuddled up to me for a little while, and he is so small, and I don't spend time rocking with him much anymore. I kind of forgot he was as old as he is. At one point, it clicked into my mind that he didn't seem to be sucking very hard on his pacifier. And I had the thought that he might be teething. I took the pacifier from his mouth and told him to say "ah" so I could feel in his mouth and see if there were any teeth coming in. It totally took me by surprise, and reminded me how old he really is, when he opened his mouth wide and said, "Ahhhhh" . :) Well he did have a tender spot, so I asked if he had an owie in his mouth. He seemed to agree, and I put some Orajel on that spot. I asked if the owie was better, and he said "owie ber". So I gave him a dose of Tylenol and we put him back to bed. I tried to go back to bed then, but my hips still didn't like me, so I took some Tylenol myself, and once it kicked in, I was able to go back to sleep.
Maybe before too much longer we can all be better, and get the sleep we need without too much effort.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Ice
Because we decided to visit family for Thanksgiving, we had a mini Thanksgiving dinner tonight. We chose to add some sparkling apple juice to our meal. This isn't something that we have very often at all, and our children aren't familiar with it. We also don't drink soda pop regularly, so our kids don't drink much carbonation.
When Daddy was pouring drinks, he poured Guy a drink of water. Then as he was pouring Cinderella's drink, he asked her if she wanted some ice. She said yes, and then Daddy put some ice and juice in her cup. Guy took all this in, pushed his sippy cup towards Daddy, and said "ice". I figured he was referring to the juice. So Daddy gave him some juice, and an ice cube. As soon as he finished his drink he pushed it across the table again, saying "ice, ice". Silly boy.
When Daddy was pouring drinks, he poured Guy a drink of water. Then as he was pouring Cinderella's drink, he asked her if she wanted some ice. She said yes, and then Daddy put some ice and juice in her cup. Guy took all this in, pushed his sippy cup towards Daddy, and said "ice". I figured he was referring to the juice. So Daddy gave him some juice, and an ice cube. As soon as he finished his drink he pushed it across the table again, saying "ice, ice". Silly boy.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
It makes me wonder what she is thinking....
Yesterday, I was cooking dinner when Cinderella came in and wanted to know if she could help me. I was making lasagna, and I needed cheese grated, so I let her help with that. Well I moved over to the other counter where I was putting together the layers. She had finished with the cheese, and remained on her stool. I don't know why I didn't wonder what she was doing. But I really gave it no thought.
A little while later she told me she was eating an apple. Well a problem we have had with her recently is she gets hungry and comes and grabs something easy to find, with out asking. And it isn't that uncommon to find her with an apple, chomping away. Now she knows she isn't supposed to do that, but true to her age and stage at the moment, does it anyway.
Anyway, I said something to her about how she isn't supposed to be eating apple without asking, and she isn't supposed to get something to eat while Mama is making dinner. I asked her to put the apple down. She said OK. It was still a while before I turned around, and when I did, I found 3 apples with bites taken out of them. And her putting them back in the fruit bowl. I was really frustrated, and didn't know how to handle it.
Anyway, later that night, I discovered two pears that also had bites taken out of them. Turned bite side down, so that you couldn't see them.
It just makes me wonder. Why did she take one or two bites out of each fruit, instead of just munching on one? I guess I'll never know.
A little while later she told me she was eating an apple. Well a problem we have had with her recently is she gets hungry and comes and grabs something easy to find, with out asking. And it isn't that uncommon to find her with an apple, chomping away. Now she knows she isn't supposed to do that, but true to her age and stage at the moment, does it anyway.
Anyway, I said something to her about how she isn't supposed to be eating apple without asking, and she isn't supposed to get something to eat while Mama is making dinner. I asked her to put the apple down. She said OK. It was still a while before I turned around, and when I did, I found 3 apples with bites taken out of them. And her putting them back in the fruit bowl. I was really frustrated, and didn't know how to handle it.
Anyway, later that night, I discovered two pears that also had bites taken out of them. Turned bite side down, so that you couldn't see them.
It just makes me wonder. Why did she take one or two bites out of each fruit, instead of just munching on one? I guess I'll never know.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Oh, the things we do for our kids.
I have a fear of heights. I really don't like things that are tall. Once when we were visiting Washington DC we had taken the metro into town. We were meeting my husbands sister, and her husband. They had given us directions on how to get to their hotel, from the metro. And part of these instructions included the escalator. Now I'm not sure how tall this escalator is, and my fear might have made it seem bigger than it was, but I would say that thing was 4 or 5 stories at least. It was huge. And it was shaky, and I was holding a squirming toddler in my arms, terrified that I would fall backward down this huge stairway. Anyway, we survived, and it wasn't really that big of a deal. But it was a scary experience none the less, and from that point on when ever we took the metro, I made sure we used the elevators, when our stop was underground. Having a stroller, worked in my favor this way.
Well in the area we now live their is a business, that is filled with large inflatable toys. You know the kind you see at fairs, and carnivals. Well today I took my kids there for the second time. One of the things they have is a giant slide. It is probably 15-20 tall. Once again this could be exaggerated because of my fear. But if you have ever seen the giant blowup slides you know what I am talking about. Well this was one of my children's favorites. And Guy is still too little to climb up on his own, which means Mama has to come too.
Now the climb up is a steep one. Made steeper, by the fact that each step you take pushes down a little because it is just filled with air. Each time I would climb I would feel like I was about to fall backward, and it didn't help that I was trying to carry Guy at the same time. But we did it! And every time we would get to the top, Guy would say "reay (ready) et (set) doe (go)" and we would head down the slide. As soon as we would get to the bottom, he would scoot all the way off, and run back to the area where you climb up. We probably went down that thing somewhere between 10-20 times. But it was fun.
I'm glad I have my kids to talk me into doing things that I would never have any desire to do on my own. It helps me to get more enjoyment out of life.
Well in the area we now live their is a business, that is filled with large inflatable toys. You know the kind you see at fairs, and carnivals. Well today I took my kids there for the second time. One of the things they have is a giant slide. It is probably 15-20 tall. Once again this could be exaggerated because of my fear. But if you have ever seen the giant blowup slides you know what I am talking about. Well this was one of my children's favorites. And Guy is still too little to climb up on his own, which means Mama has to come too.
Now the climb up is a steep one. Made steeper, by the fact that each step you take pushes down a little because it is just filled with air. Each time I would climb I would feel like I was about to fall backward, and it didn't help that I was trying to carry Guy at the same time. But we did it! And every time we would get to the top, Guy would say "reay (ready) et (set) doe (go)" and we would head down the slide. As soon as we would get to the bottom, he would scoot all the way off, and run back to the area where you climb up. We probably went down that thing somewhere between 10-20 times. But it was fun.
I'm glad I have my kids to talk me into doing things that I would never have any desire to do on my own. It helps me to get more enjoyment out of life.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
It's that $5 in your pocket kind of feeling.
So you may or may not know, but I hate to spend money. And I hate to shop. I know I'm not a typical girl.
Lately I've been finding all kinds of things that I need to buy. I go in fazes. I don't buy anything for a long time, and then suddenly there is a ton I need to get.
Last week I learned that I need some more maternity clothes. I have been feeling really uncomfortable in my maternity clothes and wondered why. Then last Saturday, I put on a pair of maternity jeans I hadn't worn yet in this pregnancy. I had put off wearing them, because the last time I was pregnant they were really big, and didn't really fit until later in my pregnancy. But they were the only maternity pants I had clean, so I put them on. And guess what? They fit! It suddenly made sense to me, why nothing esle was comfortable. It was all too small. And if they are too small at 4 months, I can only imagine how they will fit at 9 months. And let me tell you, on average, maternity clothes are not cheap.
Cinderella has out grown her tennis shoes. She has been wearing crock type shoes all summer. But it is getting a bit cold and wet for those kind of shoes to be practical anymore.
My children have outgrown or lost their winter accessories. So we need new gloves and hats.
And last but not least. Guy. He is almost 21 months old, and is still small enough to wear size 12 month clothes. However, I know he has got to be on the verge of needing the next size up.
When we visited my family in August, my parents neighbor was getting rid of a bunch of little boy clothes, and so I came home with a box full of 18 month size clothes. I took them and I washed them, along with the clothing from a box in the closet that was labeled 18 month boy clothes. After they were washed and I was sorting through them, I had a large pile of shirts, and a large pile of pants.
Then I noticed that all of the stuff that had come out of the box in the closet wasn't 18 month size. It was 24 month or 2T size. So I gathered all the 2T and 24 month stuff, and put it back in the closet. Then I didn't have a lot of time or energy for a while, so the piles of 18 month clothes, that were not needed right away, stayed in piles on top of the kids dresser.
Well, time went by, and I had a friend request 9-12 month size boy clothes. So I pulled those out of the closet, and made some piles of those, on a different spot, on the top of the dresser. However I never remembered to get them to her. So they stayed there. Also I started to get lazy, and stopped hanging Guy's clothes in the closet. Most of them made it into the drawer, but a good portion of them ended up (you guessed it) on top of the dresser. So by this time, the top of the dresser was a big mess of clothes, and none of it was really organized anymore.
One day I kind of looked through it, and realized I only had 2 shirts that were 18 month size there. "What happened to all of those shirts I had?" I wondered. I wasn't sure if they had been misplaced in all of the time it took me to get back to the clothes, or if they had all been the larger size that had been put back in the closet.
Also since that time, Guy has started showing interest in potty training. We aren't seriously doing anything about it right now, but I am wanting to get it so that he is not wearing so many shirts that snap over the diaper. So I felt like I also needed to buy a bunch of 18 month shirts for Guy. And I knew that could cost a fortune.
Well yesterday we were getting ready to go shopping for some of these things that we needed, and I decided I should take an inventory of what colors and styles of pants we have for Guy in the 18 month size so that I can get shirts to match. To do so, I decided I needed to clean up the whole mess on top of the dresser. So I started putting things away. When I got to the 9-12 month size clothes, I decided it has probably been long enough that my friend has probably already gotten clothes that size and doesn't need these ones. So I needed to put them away.
But before I could put them away, I needed to find a place to put them. So I started pulling boxes out of the closet, to see if I had any that had clothing too small for Guy, and room in the box for more. Well while I was cleaning out, I discovered a treasure. I opened a large Rubbermaid type tote, and found it half full of 18 month boy clothes. Pants, shirts, PJ's. Some of it was even brand new stuff, that I had received for baby shower presents and forgotten about.
It was a wonderful feeling to discover this box. It was like putting on a pair of pants you haven't worn for a while, and when you reach your hand in the pocket, you discover a $5 bill that you put there forever ago and forgot about. It was so nice to realize that I didn't need to buy those clothes. I still had a lot I did need to get, and we got that taken care of. But I didn't need to buy any 18 month size clothes, and that is great!
Now we just have to see how long it takes him to actually fit into that size.
Lately I've been finding all kinds of things that I need to buy. I go in fazes. I don't buy anything for a long time, and then suddenly there is a ton I need to get.
Last week I learned that I need some more maternity clothes. I have been feeling really uncomfortable in my maternity clothes and wondered why. Then last Saturday, I put on a pair of maternity jeans I hadn't worn yet in this pregnancy. I had put off wearing them, because the last time I was pregnant they were really big, and didn't really fit until later in my pregnancy. But they were the only maternity pants I had clean, so I put them on. And guess what? They fit! It suddenly made sense to me, why nothing esle was comfortable. It was all too small. And if they are too small at 4 months, I can only imagine how they will fit at 9 months. And let me tell you, on average, maternity clothes are not cheap.
Cinderella has out grown her tennis shoes. She has been wearing crock type shoes all summer. But it is getting a bit cold and wet for those kind of shoes to be practical anymore.
My children have outgrown or lost their winter accessories. So we need new gloves and hats.
And last but not least. Guy. He is almost 21 months old, and is still small enough to wear size 12 month clothes. However, I know he has got to be on the verge of needing the next size up.
When we visited my family in August, my parents neighbor was getting rid of a bunch of little boy clothes, and so I came home with a box full of 18 month size clothes. I took them and I washed them, along with the clothing from a box in the closet that was labeled 18 month boy clothes. After they were washed and I was sorting through them, I had a large pile of shirts, and a large pile of pants.
Then I noticed that all of the stuff that had come out of the box in the closet wasn't 18 month size. It was 24 month or 2T size. So I gathered all the 2T and 24 month stuff, and put it back in the closet. Then I didn't have a lot of time or energy for a while, so the piles of 18 month clothes, that were not needed right away, stayed in piles on top of the kids dresser.
Well, time went by, and I had a friend request 9-12 month size boy clothes. So I pulled those out of the closet, and made some piles of those, on a different spot, on the top of the dresser. However I never remembered to get them to her. So they stayed there. Also I started to get lazy, and stopped hanging Guy's clothes in the closet. Most of them made it into the drawer, but a good portion of them ended up (you guessed it) on top of the dresser. So by this time, the top of the dresser was a big mess of clothes, and none of it was really organized anymore.
One day I kind of looked through it, and realized I only had 2 shirts that were 18 month size there. "What happened to all of those shirts I had?" I wondered. I wasn't sure if they had been misplaced in all of the time it took me to get back to the clothes, or if they had all been the larger size that had been put back in the closet.
Also since that time, Guy has started showing interest in potty training. We aren't seriously doing anything about it right now, but I am wanting to get it so that he is not wearing so many shirts that snap over the diaper. So I felt like I also needed to buy a bunch of 18 month shirts for Guy. And I knew that could cost a fortune.
Well yesterday we were getting ready to go shopping for some of these things that we needed, and I decided I should take an inventory of what colors and styles of pants we have for Guy in the 18 month size so that I can get shirts to match. To do so, I decided I needed to clean up the whole mess on top of the dresser. So I started putting things away. When I got to the 9-12 month size clothes, I decided it has probably been long enough that my friend has probably already gotten clothes that size and doesn't need these ones. So I needed to put them away.
But before I could put them away, I needed to find a place to put them. So I started pulling boxes out of the closet, to see if I had any that had clothing too small for Guy, and room in the box for more. Well while I was cleaning out, I discovered a treasure. I opened a large Rubbermaid type tote, and found it half full of 18 month boy clothes. Pants, shirts, PJ's. Some of it was even brand new stuff, that I had received for baby shower presents and forgotten about.
It was a wonderful feeling to discover this box. It was like putting on a pair of pants you haven't worn for a while, and when you reach your hand in the pocket, you discover a $5 bill that you put there forever ago and forgot about. It was so nice to realize that I didn't need to buy those clothes. I still had a lot I did need to get, and we got that taken care of. But I didn't need to buy any 18 month size clothes, and that is great!
Now we just have to see how long it takes him to actually fit into that size.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Cars, Trains, Boats, and Planes
Plus any other kind of vehicle you can imagine. This has become a major focus in my life lately, and all because of one little boy.
I don't know if all little boys are this way. My brothers are too close in age for me to remember what they were like when they were little. But this kid loves things that go.
I also used to wonder, before becoming a parent of both genders, if part of gender differences in young children come from parent expectations, and what toys parents give the kids to play with. Well that might be part of it, but not entirely. At least in our case.
Guy loves the Little People bus and plane, which belong to Cinderella. He also loves the Little People digger, which belongs to him. He takes the three of them all over the house. He drives them along the floor, along the window sills, along me, along the couch, and if he can get away with it, along the table. He also likes to fill the plane and bus with other various vehicle type toys. A bike, smaller cars, etc. We don't really have a lot of vehicle toys, but those that we do have, are usually being played with by Guy.
One of Guy's favorite things to do, is to look out the windows of our apartment that face our parking lot, and point to all of the cars, and say "ar" (car), or "tru" (truck) and sometimes even "bu" (bus). When we are out walking or driving down the road his dialog is usually the same.
I never knew the difference between different types of tractors. And to tell you the truth, I never really cared. Well now I am learning. We have found library board books all about different tractors. (Those have been some of his favorites). By name right now I can only identify a standard tractor, and a digger. But I've heard the names of many more, and am sure I will know them before too much longer.
It is definitely fun to have a kid whose interests are so different from what mine have ever been. It is a great opportunity to learn more about what is out there.
I don't know if all little boys are this way. My brothers are too close in age for me to remember what they were like when they were little. But this kid loves things that go.
I also used to wonder, before becoming a parent of both genders, if part of gender differences in young children come from parent expectations, and what toys parents give the kids to play with. Well that might be part of it, but not entirely. At least in our case.
Guy loves the Little People bus and plane, which belong to Cinderella. He also loves the Little People digger, which belongs to him. He takes the three of them all over the house. He drives them along the floor, along the window sills, along me, along the couch, and if he can get away with it, along the table. He also likes to fill the plane and bus with other various vehicle type toys. A bike, smaller cars, etc. We don't really have a lot of vehicle toys, but those that we do have, are usually being played with by Guy.
One of Guy's favorite things to do, is to look out the windows of our apartment that face our parking lot, and point to all of the cars, and say "ar" (car), or "tru" (truck) and sometimes even "bu" (bus). When we are out walking or driving down the road his dialog is usually the same.
I never knew the difference between different types of tractors. And to tell you the truth, I never really cared. Well now I am learning. We have found library board books all about different tractors. (Those have been some of his favorites). By name right now I can only identify a standard tractor, and a digger. But I've heard the names of many more, and am sure I will know them before too much longer.
It is definitely fun to have a kid whose interests are so different from what mine have ever been. It is a great opportunity to learn more about what is out there.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
When We're Helping We're Happy
The is a children's song, that is taught in our church that goes, "When we're helping we're happy, and we sing as we go. For we love to help Mother for we all love her so." It has a series of tra la la's, and then repeats the verse only inserting Father instead of Mother.
Anyway, Cinderella has taken to singing this song lately. She will see her father or I doing a task, such as the dishes, or cooking dinner decide she is going to help, get her stool out and come sing the song.
I have to admit, that even though some times are not he most convenient to have a 3 year old help with, it is kind of hard to turn her down when she is singing a song such as that.
I am learning, that there is value to allowing her to help instead of shooing her away and doing it myself.
For example, yesterday at the grocery store. When we go grocery shopping we use two carts. Daddy takes one, with one child and I take another with the other child. Yesterday, Cinderella insisted on being my shopping buddy, and that she wanted to walk. This is an OK step, because when JR. arrives, we will need the space in the cart for him/her.
Well because she was walking, she felt like it was her responsibility to help pick out all of the items that we purchased. We started with bell peppers. Last week she "helped" her daddy pick one out, and insisted on one that had a large bad spot. He couldn't think of anyway to convince her to get another one, so we took it home, and used it as quickly as we could. Anyway, I was a little hesitant to let her pick it out this time, until I had the thought. "Teach her the way to tell if a pepper is good." So I let her pick a pepper, then we looked it over, and I pointed out the bad spots. I told her, "it is OK if the pepper is green, yellow, red, or orange. But we don't really want to see any other colors. What color is this?" She responded with brown. So I told her we should probably look for another one. We continued this process until we found a pepper that was in pretty good shape.
Anyway, she and I continued through the store, with me allowing her to pick up items off of low shelves. I then taught her about dented cans. And we reselected when we needed to. It took me a lot longer to get our groceries, but Cinderella felt like she helped, and it was a learning process for both her and me. So I would say it is worth it.
Anyway, Cinderella has taken to singing this song lately. She will see her father or I doing a task, such as the dishes, or cooking dinner decide she is going to help, get her stool out and come sing the song.
I have to admit, that even though some times are not he most convenient to have a 3 year old help with, it is kind of hard to turn her down when she is singing a song such as that.
I am learning, that there is value to allowing her to help instead of shooing her away and doing it myself.
For example, yesterday at the grocery store. When we go grocery shopping we use two carts. Daddy takes one, with one child and I take another with the other child. Yesterday, Cinderella insisted on being my shopping buddy, and that she wanted to walk. This is an OK step, because when JR. arrives, we will need the space in the cart for him/her.
Well because she was walking, she felt like it was her responsibility to help pick out all of the items that we purchased. We started with bell peppers. Last week she "helped" her daddy pick one out, and insisted on one that had a large bad spot. He couldn't think of anyway to convince her to get another one, so we took it home, and used it as quickly as we could. Anyway, I was a little hesitant to let her pick it out this time, until I had the thought. "Teach her the way to tell if a pepper is good." So I let her pick a pepper, then we looked it over, and I pointed out the bad spots. I told her, "it is OK if the pepper is green, yellow, red, or orange. But we don't really want to see any other colors. What color is this?" She responded with brown. So I told her we should probably look for another one. We continued this process until we found a pepper that was in pretty good shape.
Anyway, she and I continued through the store, with me allowing her to pick up items off of low shelves. I then taught her about dented cans. And we reselected when we needed to. It took me a lot longer to get our groceries, but Cinderella felt like she helped, and it was a learning process for both her and me. So I would say it is worth it.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Cranberries
I remember as I was growing up, Thanksgiving time was the only time that I ever really saw cranberries other than the dried kind or juice kind. And I never really gave cranberry sauce a chance.
In my mind jellied cranberry sauce that had been dumped out of a can, and sliced (how it was served at our dinner), seemed awfully similar to pickled beets. Now I never gave the beets a try either. But pickled beets, were one of those foods that I just figured from the way my cousins would talk about them, that they had to be nasty.
Well last year, my husband wanted to bring sweet potatoes to the Thanksgiving feast we were attending. Well I've never been a big fan of sweet potatoes either. I have a hard time with something that looks like it should taste like a dessert, but doesn't. Anyway I told him I wanted to try a different sweet potato recipe and see how I liked it. We found a recipe that was a crock pot recipe, that had orange juice, cranberries and brown sugar in it. I think it might have had apples too. Well I like cranberry juice, and I like dried cranberries, so I decided I would give the recipe a chance. It turned out pretty good. But only used a small part of the bag of cranberries I bought. Then I noticed a recipe on the bag. Cranberry Orange Bread.
That sounded pretty good, so I decided I would make it. It was yummy. However it called for a cup and a half of chopped cranberries. I started out with the cutting board, and decided that wasn't practical, so I put the in the blender. That did a much better job, except it reached a point that it would just push everything to the outside, and not chop any more. Which left me with some whole berries. I've decided that I need to get a chopper to more effectively make this dish. Then I forgot about the hard part of making it, and just remembered how good it tasted. So when I saw cranberries on sale at Costco, I bought a 3 pound bad, and made my bread yesterday. It still tasted yummy, but was definitely a lot of work. So I'm writing this post to let you know, 1 1/2 cups of chopped cranberries without the right kind of equipment, is a crazy task. It is possible, but quite time consuming. Now that I've written it, maybe I'll remember that little fact myself.
In my mind jellied cranberry sauce that had been dumped out of a can, and sliced (how it was served at our dinner), seemed awfully similar to pickled beets. Now I never gave the beets a try either. But pickled beets, were one of those foods that I just figured from the way my cousins would talk about them, that they had to be nasty.
Well last year, my husband wanted to bring sweet potatoes to the Thanksgiving feast we were attending. Well I've never been a big fan of sweet potatoes either. I have a hard time with something that looks like it should taste like a dessert, but doesn't. Anyway I told him I wanted to try a different sweet potato recipe and see how I liked it. We found a recipe that was a crock pot recipe, that had orange juice, cranberries and brown sugar in it. I think it might have had apples too. Well I like cranberry juice, and I like dried cranberries, so I decided I would give the recipe a chance. It turned out pretty good. But only used a small part of the bag of cranberries I bought. Then I noticed a recipe on the bag. Cranberry Orange Bread.
That sounded pretty good, so I decided I would make it. It was yummy. However it called for a cup and a half of chopped cranberries. I started out with the cutting board, and decided that wasn't practical, so I put the in the blender. That did a much better job, except it reached a point that it would just push everything to the outside, and not chop any more. Which left me with some whole berries. I've decided that I need to get a chopper to more effectively make this dish. Then I forgot about the hard part of making it, and just remembered how good it tasted. So when I saw cranberries on sale at Costco, I bought a 3 pound bad, and made my bread yesterday. It still tasted yummy, but was definitely a lot of work. So I'm writing this post to let you know, 1 1/2 cups of chopped cranberries without the right kind of equipment, is a crazy task. It is possible, but quite time consuming. Now that I've written it, maybe I'll remember that little fact myself.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Preschool F is for fish
So I taught my second lesson in preschool today. I was assigned the letter F, and the number 4. Last time I kind of neglected the number and I didn't want that to happen today too. So ever since my last lesson I've been trying to figure out just how to teach today's lesson.
When I taught my first lesson, I discovered this really cool series that our library carries, called "The Sound Box Library" by Jane Belk Moncure. There are books for most of the letters in the alphabet, plus some other sounds that come into play with reading. Anyway I highly recommend them. Ever since I discovered them, I have been checking out the letter of the week, to read over with Cinderella to reinforce what she learned in preschool that week. And I plan to use them in my lessons.
Well when I checked the library system, a week an a half ago, for the F book, there was only one copy and it was checked out. I figured the chances of me having it for today were slim, so I looked for an alternative. I came across a book called "Four Fish, the Sound of F" by Alice K. Flanagan. That gave me an idea, because I was still wondering what to do, to teach the number 4. I hoped the book would all tie it in, so I reserved it. When it came, I noticed it didn't really talk much about the number four. It just concentrated on the F sound. But that was fine. And it gave me an idea.
I would do my preschool lesson, about fish. As soon as I decided that, I remembered a time when I was in college. I was taking a preschool class, where we taught preschool. The teachers were divided up into teaching two separate classes. One day afterwards, I noticed the children in the other class going home with little clear plastic cups with blue jello, and gummy fish in them. When I recalled this, I thought it might be a fun activity, and could add to our snack.
So I did some research trying to find the instructions on this activity. I found instructions from the Kraft Foods Jello website. I also found a lot of blog posts and other Internet listings of people messing this idea up. I was kind of concerned, about weather or not it would work. One of the tips someone gave, was not to use Swedish Fish, because they "melt". Well, I was looking for ingredients on Monday, and didn't want to rush to a million stores looking for gummy fish that aren't Swedish Fish. I ran over to Albertson's because it is our closest grocery store, and I needed to get some groceries for dinner that night any way. Well Albertson's had two choices. Swedish Fish, and their name brand "gummy fish." I decided to take my chances with the Albertson's brand that looked suspiciously an awful lot like Swedish Fish. But I got enough supplies to do a trial run for our Family Night treat that night.
It took about a half an hour to make up the jello and get it to the right consistency. I left out the fruit on the bottom, so it was just jello with fish in it. It seemed to turn out OK. The fish were starting to dissolve on the outside, which made for, in my opinion, an unfavorable texture. But the kids didn't seem to mind. So I decided that for this time, what I had would work.
The girls were supposed to show up about 9:30. And I didn't want to waste time making the jello while they were here. But I wanted the girls to be able to put their own fish in their jello. This jello ended up being the trickiest part of today. And it was all on timing. After I made the jello, I only needed to refrigerate it about 5 min for it to be the right consistency. So I started the jello, so that it would be ready, about 9:30, maybe a little after. Thankfully it ended up being a little after, because the girls weren't here at 9:30 on the dot. So we were able to get it to work. The girls stuck their fish in, then we put it back in the fridge to set up the rest of the way.
Then we talked about the Letter F, and what sound it makes. Then I had a tracing paper, with upper and lower case F, and some fish on it, for the girls to trace. When they were done tracing, we read the book "Four Fish".
Then we "went fishing." I had printed some fish onto card stock from my computer yesterday, and had them all cut out. I made a "fishing pole" for each girl, with a bamboo skewer (I cut the pointed end off), some yarn, and a clothes pin. Then I had them stand behind the couch and put their strings over the couch. I then sat on the couch and had a fish "swim along, and bite" a hook. Then I would have the girl pull her pull up, and add the fish to her collection. Each girl caught 4 fish.
At this point I knew the girls needed a change of pace. The jello wasn't quite all the way set up yet, but it was soft set. So we had snack. We had gold fish crackers, and our jello fish bowls. Guy enjoyed his just as much as the girls did.
I still had one more activity for the girls, but I got the feeling that the needed a little less structure for a while, so I let them have their play time.
When there was about 15 min. left I had the girls clean up the toys, and then they came and made fish bowls. This was an activity that I printed up off the Internet. It had 5 fish that were numbered for children to paste onto a picture of a fish bowl. Because I was focusing on the number 4, I got rid of the 5th fish, and let them have 4 fish to put in their bowls. They colored the bowls, and fish, and then glued the fish on the bowls.
Over all I think it turned out pretty good. It was a bit of work, but I made sure I was all ready last night before I went to bed, so I didn't have to worry about it, and not sleep. :)
When I taught my first lesson, I discovered this really cool series that our library carries, called "The Sound Box Library" by Jane Belk Moncure. There are books for most of the letters in the alphabet, plus some other sounds that come into play with reading. Anyway I highly recommend them. Ever since I discovered them, I have been checking out the letter of the week, to read over with Cinderella to reinforce what she learned in preschool that week. And I plan to use them in my lessons.
Well when I checked the library system, a week an a half ago, for the F book, there was only one copy and it was checked out. I figured the chances of me having it for today were slim, so I looked for an alternative. I came across a book called "Four Fish, the Sound of F" by Alice K. Flanagan. That gave me an idea, because I was still wondering what to do, to teach the number 4. I hoped the book would all tie it in, so I reserved it. When it came, I noticed it didn't really talk much about the number four. It just concentrated on the F sound. But that was fine. And it gave me an idea.
I would do my preschool lesson, about fish. As soon as I decided that, I remembered a time when I was in college. I was taking a preschool class, where we taught preschool. The teachers were divided up into teaching two separate classes. One day afterwards, I noticed the children in the other class going home with little clear plastic cups with blue jello, and gummy fish in them. When I recalled this, I thought it might be a fun activity, and could add to our snack.
So I did some research trying to find the instructions on this activity. I found instructions from the Kraft Foods Jello website. I also found a lot of blog posts and other Internet listings of people messing this idea up. I was kind of concerned, about weather or not it would work. One of the tips someone gave, was not to use Swedish Fish, because they "melt". Well, I was looking for ingredients on Monday, and didn't want to rush to a million stores looking for gummy fish that aren't Swedish Fish. I ran over to Albertson's because it is our closest grocery store, and I needed to get some groceries for dinner that night any way. Well Albertson's had two choices. Swedish Fish, and their name brand "gummy fish." I decided to take my chances with the Albertson's brand that looked suspiciously an awful lot like Swedish Fish. But I got enough supplies to do a trial run for our Family Night treat that night.
It took about a half an hour to make up the jello and get it to the right consistency. I left out the fruit on the bottom, so it was just jello with fish in it. It seemed to turn out OK. The fish were starting to dissolve on the outside, which made for, in my opinion, an unfavorable texture. But the kids didn't seem to mind. So I decided that for this time, what I had would work.
The girls were supposed to show up about 9:30. And I didn't want to waste time making the jello while they were here. But I wanted the girls to be able to put their own fish in their jello. This jello ended up being the trickiest part of today. And it was all on timing. After I made the jello, I only needed to refrigerate it about 5 min for it to be the right consistency. So I started the jello, so that it would be ready, about 9:30, maybe a little after. Thankfully it ended up being a little after, because the girls weren't here at 9:30 on the dot. So we were able to get it to work. The girls stuck their fish in, then we put it back in the fridge to set up the rest of the way.
Then we talked about the Letter F, and what sound it makes. Then I had a tracing paper, with upper and lower case F, and some fish on it, for the girls to trace. When they were done tracing, we read the book "Four Fish".
Then we "went fishing." I had printed some fish onto card stock from my computer yesterday, and had them all cut out. I made a "fishing pole" for each girl, with a bamboo skewer (I cut the pointed end off), some yarn, and a clothes pin. Then I had them stand behind the couch and put their strings over the couch. I then sat on the couch and had a fish "swim along, and bite" a hook. Then I would have the girl pull her pull up, and add the fish to her collection. Each girl caught 4 fish.
At this point I knew the girls needed a change of pace. The jello wasn't quite all the way set up yet, but it was soft set. So we had snack. We had gold fish crackers, and our jello fish bowls. Guy enjoyed his just as much as the girls did.
I still had one more activity for the girls, but I got the feeling that the needed a little less structure for a while, so I let them have their play time.
When there was about 15 min. left I had the girls clean up the toys, and then they came and made fish bowls. This was an activity that I printed up off the Internet. It had 5 fish that were numbered for children to paste onto a picture of a fish bowl. Because I was focusing on the number 4, I got rid of the 5th fish, and let them have 4 fish to put in their bowls. They colored the bowls, and fish, and then glued the fish on the bowls.
Over all I think it turned out pretty good. It was a bit of work, but I made sure I was all ready last night before I went to bed, so I didn't have to worry about it, and not sleep. :)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Do you care?
OK so I know I am totally having one of those moments that Satan is taking advantage of me, and my pregnancy hormones. But right now I am feeling a bit insignificant. I haven't had a lot of time to post things on my blog lately. And I am kind of curious as to weather or not people even read it.
So this is a call to all of you lurkers. (If there are any. And for those of you who don't know what that term means it means reading and not commenting). I don't mind if you lurk. But right now I want to know if anyone actually reads this. So if you could just take a minuet to let me know if you actually take the time to read my blog, and would appreciate it if I continue it, I would appreciate it. Lurkers and non-lurkers alike.
Thanks.
Oh and you don't need a Google account to leave a comment. If you don't have one, if you could click on the name/URL link and at least enter your name so I know who you are. You don't have to enter a URL. Then it will let you post a comment.
So this is a call to all of you lurkers. (If there are any. And for those of you who don't know what that term means it means reading and not commenting). I don't mind if you lurk. But right now I want to know if anyone actually reads this. So if you could just take a minuet to let me know if you actually take the time to read my blog, and would appreciate it if I continue it, I would appreciate it. Lurkers and non-lurkers alike.
Thanks.
Oh and you don't need a Google account to leave a comment. If you don't have one, if you could click on the name/URL link and at least enter your name so I know who you are. You don't have to enter a URL. Then it will let you post a comment.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Frustrating
So does anyone have any tips on potty training a child who doesn't seem to care if she wet her pants and doesn't seem to mind wearing wet pants. And won't even own up to having wet her pants? I just don't know what to do with this child.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Potty training
So we are potty training this week.
On Sunday I told Cinderella to say good-bye to pull-ups. I told her she could wear a diaper or panties. Since then, she has worn panties every day. I don't know how long this is going to take. I just pray that I have the stamina to hold out until it works.
On Sunday I told Cinderella to say good-bye to pull-ups. I told her she could wear a diaper or panties. Since then, she has worn panties every day. I don't know how long this is going to take. I just pray that I have the stamina to hold out until it works.
Are you voting? Do you know what you are voting for?
I am really concerned about this up coming election. I am concerned about what choices there are to make, because, we are the ones who have made those choices available.
I have to honestly say, that I'm not really in favor of either presidential candidate. However I do tend to favor Palin as a VP candidate.
I'm not really in favor of either of the candidates that are running for Governor in my state. I don't know a whole lot about the people running for the other positions in my state.
My state is a state that pretty much always carries the Democratic vote on Presidential elections, and one that the media has stated is already decided.
Because I side with the Republican candidate, should that mean I just stay home, because "my vote won't count for anything anyway?" And anyway, I don't know what to vote for on anything else?
Or do I go and vote, and just vote for the person who seems the most appealing to the senses or carnal self, just because I don't really know anything about them?
I don't know about you, but I want my vote to count for something. So what am I going to do? I am going to take what time I have left, research my options, and make my voice heard. Even if it might not be heard very far.
There are a lot of crazy things on many ballots this November. Do you know what's on yours? Do you understand what your vote means? If not I highly suggest that you do some research. Learn what it really is you are voting for, and vote. And if you don't vote, don't gripe that you don't like the way things turn out.
I have to honestly say, that I'm not really in favor of either presidential candidate. However I do tend to favor Palin as a VP candidate.
I'm not really in favor of either of the candidates that are running for Governor in my state. I don't know a whole lot about the people running for the other positions in my state.
My state is a state that pretty much always carries the Democratic vote on Presidential elections, and one that the media has stated is already decided.
Because I side with the Republican candidate, should that mean I just stay home, because "my vote won't count for anything anyway?" And anyway, I don't know what to vote for on anything else?
Or do I go and vote, and just vote for the person who seems the most appealing to the senses or carnal self, just because I don't really know anything about them?
I don't know about you, but I want my vote to count for something. So what am I going to do? I am going to take what time I have left, research my options, and make my voice heard. Even if it might not be heard very far.
There are a lot of crazy things on many ballots this November. Do you know what's on yours? Do you understand what your vote means? If not I highly suggest that you do some research. Learn what it really is you are voting for, and vote. And if you don't vote, don't gripe that you don't like the way things turn out.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
8 things tag
8 things I am passionate about:
8 things I have learned from my past:
8 places I would love to go or see:
8 things I currently need or want:
People I tag:
- my husband
- my daughter
- my son
- my religion and my God
- my family
- my friends
- sewing when I find the energy and time
- cooking, when I don't have to
- I love you
- various things (when I'm making a list, but can't thing of any of them.)
- I don't feel good, or blah (lately)
- yeah or uh huh
- please share with (fill in child's name that is complaining)
- Did you go boom?
- Cinderella, Is that a nice thing to say or do?
- No
- Raise my children
- Serve a mission with my husband
- buy a house
- live closer to family
- finish my education
- An LDS Church history tour
- Get out of debt
- make lots of friends
8 things I have learned from my past:
- Even when we don't understand it, the Lord has a reason for the things he has us do.
- Yelling is not the answer.
- Happiness in life comes from serving others, not worrying about yourself.
- Anger is a secondary emotion. It always is hiding a primary emotion.
- It's not about me.
- Heartaches will pass.
- You will make it through hard times.
- You are stronger than you think.
8 places I would love to go or see:
- Utah. I have this burning desire to live closer to family. Maybe one day it will happen.
- Virginia. I have a lot of good friends there that I miss, and would love to see again.
- Nauvoo, Illinois
- San Antonio Texas. This is where my husband served his mission. I would love to see it.
- Palmyra New York
- Alaska. I have a sister-in-law who lives there, and I've heard it is beautiful.
- Denmark. I have a lot of ancestors from there, and I have recently become fascinated with that country.
- Vermont. I'm not sure why, except White Christmas and the story about the Trapp Family Singers intrigued me about that area.
8 things I currently need or want:
- To live closer to family.
- A back yard would be nice.
- A minivan or car that is big enough that it isn't a squish to put 3 kids in back.
- To reach my 2nd trimester so that I have more energy, am less emotional, and don't feel sick all the time (hopefully).
- Our own home.
- To be out of debt. We are almost there.
- A family that is completely healthy.
- Furniture and decor that go together and look nice.
People I tag:
- Brandi
- Mike
- Charity
- Shamaine
- Denice
- Shannon
- Kirsten
- Courtney
Preschool Letter B
A couple of mom's from my ward (church congregation) decided to do a mom run preschool co-op this year. They invited me to join them. There are three of us involved in this co-op, and we all have girls who are close in age. I get to teach every 3 weeks, and today was my first time.
I was so nervous. I wasn't sure if I would have enough things to keep the girls busy for the required amount of time, or if I was being to structured. I didn't sleep very well last night, and I'm guessing it was because of nerves. Well it turned out great. Hopefully that means I don't need to stress so much next time.
I was assigned to teach about the letter B and the number 2. I focused most of my attention on the letter, and because of attention spans didn't even get to the number, but I think that is probably OK.
We started off reviewing what they had learned last week. About the letter A and the sound it makes. Then I showed them our letter for the day and asked if they knew what it was. They responded that it was a B, I asked if they knew what sound it makes. One of the girls knew right off. We then talked a little about the sound it makes. Then I had the girls trace the letter, while I read them a book about B sounds.
When they started to loose interest in coloring and tracing we had our snack. Bananas and Blueberry Bagels.
After that the girls were anxious to start playtime. Part of preschool is about 1 hr of free play. But I knew if they started it too soon, I would have a hard time getting them back into structure. So we did our activity. I blew up a balloon for each kid, including Guy. They then ran around the living room playing with their balloons. I could tell they were all loving it.
While they played I measured a piece of plastic cording on each girl to determine the right length to make necklaces. Then I had them come back to the table and let them string beads on their cording. They were having a lot of fun, and talked about making bracelets when they were done. I wasn't sure if we would have enough beads for that, or if their attention would hold that long. Well the attention didn't hold, so they just made necklaces.
Then they went and played dress ups, even Guy got in on the act.
Guy handled the whole thing pretty well. He started wanting more of mommy towards the end, so I let the girls keep playing in the playroom, while Guy and I went and sat in the living room and looked at books for about 5 min. Then it was time to clean up. We cleaned up all the toys, and then we all went and read one more B book while we waited for the girls moms to come. I have to say all in all, it turned out pretty well.
I was so nervous. I wasn't sure if I would have enough things to keep the girls busy for the required amount of time, or if I was being to structured. I didn't sleep very well last night, and I'm guessing it was because of nerves. Well it turned out great. Hopefully that means I don't need to stress so much next time.
I was assigned to teach about the letter B and the number 2. I focused most of my attention on the letter, and because of attention spans didn't even get to the number, but I think that is probably OK.
We started off reviewing what they had learned last week. About the letter A and the sound it makes. Then I showed them our letter for the day and asked if they knew what it was. They responded that it was a B, I asked if they knew what sound it makes. One of the girls knew right off. We then talked a little about the sound it makes. Then I had the girls trace the letter, while I read them a book about B sounds.
When they started to loose interest in coloring and tracing we had our snack. Bananas and Blueberry Bagels.
After that the girls were anxious to start playtime. Part of preschool is about 1 hr of free play. But I knew if they started it too soon, I would have a hard time getting them back into structure. So we did our activity. I blew up a balloon for each kid, including Guy. They then ran around the living room playing with their balloons. I could tell they were all loving it.
While they played I measured a piece of plastic cording on each girl to determine the right length to make necklaces. Then I had them come back to the table and let them string beads on their cording. They were having a lot of fun, and talked about making bracelets when they were done. I wasn't sure if we would have enough beads for that, or if their attention would hold that long. Well the attention didn't hold, so they just made necklaces.
Then they went and played dress ups, even Guy got in on the act.
Guy handled the whole thing pretty well. He started wanting more of mommy towards the end, so I let the girls keep playing in the playroom, while Guy and I went and sat in the living room and looked at books for about 5 min. Then it was time to clean up. We cleaned up all the toys, and then we all went and read one more B book while we waited for the girls moms to come. I have to say all in all, it turned out pretty well.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Follow Up
So for those of you who were guessing, yes I am pregnant. This isn't quite how I planned to announce it, but oh well. I was really unsure about my due date, so I didn't really want to mention anything until I had a better idea of when I was due.
I had previously tried to make an appointment with my OB. However because I wasn't certain of my due date, and because of our insurance, they needed me to get my PCP to authorize an ultrasound for verification before they would make an appointment for me. I had seen my PCP on Monday, and had an ultrasound scheduled for the following Monday.
So after my fainting episode, I decided to call the doctors office, to get checked out just in case something was wrong. Because of the before mentioned issue of making an appointment with my OB, I called my PCP's office. He wasn't in that day, but his nurse strongly suggested that I come into the walk in clinic.
I was assuming I was somewhere between 5-7 weeks pregnant. The doctor at the walk in clinic was concerned that my fainting might be connected to an ectopic pregnancy (a tubal pregnancy). That was her first concern. So she ran a bunch of tests, and determined that I was dehydrated and starved. Go figure. I'm pregnant and it was dinner time. She also determined that my hormone levels were high enough that I was either farther along in my pregnancy that I believed myself to be, or I was expecting twins. She also discovered that I had a lot of wax in my ears that could have contributed to me being dizzy.
So she scheduled an ultrasound for the next day. At the ultrasound, we learned it was not ectopic, I am not expecting twins, and the baby is just over 8 weeks along. Which puts me due the beginning of May.
So over all, we aren't sure why I fainted, but we do know that everything is now appearing to be the way is should.
Thank you for your concern.
I had previously tried to make an appointment with my OB. However because I wasn't certain of my due date, and because of our insurance, they needed me to get my PCP to authorize an ultrasound for verification before they would make an appointment for me. I had seen my PCP on Monday, and had an ultrasound scheduled for the following Monday.
So after my fainting episode, I decided to call the doctors office, to get checked out just in case something was wrong. Because of the before mentioned issue of making an appointment with my OB, I called my PCP's office. He wasn't in that day, but his nurse strongly suggested that I come into the walk in clinic.
I was assuming I was somewhere between 5-7 weeks pregnant. The doctor at the walk in clinic was concerned that my fainting might be connected to an ectopic pregnancy (a tubal pregnancy). That was her first concern. So she ran a bunch of tests, and determined that I was dehydrated and starved. Go figure. I'm pregnant and it was dinner time. She also determined that my hormone levels were high enough that I was either farther along in my pregnancy that I believed myself to be, or I was expecting twins. She also discovered that I had a lot of wax in my ears that could have contributed to me being dizzy.
So she scheduled an ultrasound for the next day. At the ultrasound, we learned it was not ectopic, I am not expecting twins, and the baby is just over 8 weeks along. Which puts me due the beginning of May.
So over all, we aren't sure why I fainted, but we do know that everything is now appearing to be the way is should.
Thank you for your concern.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Blackout
So this morning, as we were getting ready for Breakfast, Cinderella announced that she needed to use the potty. Yes we are still potty-training, and so I went with her to the bathroom. I squatted by her on the floor, and then stood up. Well I guess I stood up to fast, because the room started spinning. Now for me this is a common thing. If I stand up to fast, the room starts spinning and starts to go back. I usually just lean back against a wall, until my head clears. So I leaned back against the open bathroom door.
The next thing I knew I heard Daddy saying "Mama?" my head really hurt on one side, and my face was pressed up against some carpet. I was really confused wondering where I was and how I got there. I told him my head hurt, and asked where I was. It started to come back to me, that I had been in the bathroom with Cinderella, so I was trying to figure out the carpet thing. Do I have a rug like this in the bathroom? Why am I laying down? Why does my head hurt?
My husband told me I had hit my head on something, and had me try to move. I moved back, and realized that I had fallen into the hallway, and saw blood on the carpet. At this point I started freaking out. And got really emotional. I think I scared my husband, because he asked if I needed him to call an ambulance. I asked if it was that bad. So he got a damp wash cloth and took a look at my head. He told me it looked like I had just skinned part of it, so we pressed the cloth against my head to try to stop the bleeding.
I kept the cloth on my head for a couple hours, while I ate breakfast and then laid down on the couch. I felt terrible. Not so much physically, as emotionally. I felt like it was all my fault. I felt bad that my husband felt like he had to work from home today to help me until I was back on my feet. I felt bad, because I couldn't meet the needs of my kids. It is a terrible feeling.
Thankfully the bleeding stopped, and now I just have a slight headache in the spot that I hit. It comes and goes, and I think is getting better. It just made for a crazy morning.
The next thing I knew I heard Daddy saying "Mama?" my head really hurt on one side, and my face was pressed up against some carpet. I was really confused wondering where I was and how I got there. I told him my head hurt, and asked where I was. It started to come back to me, that I had been in the bathroom with Cinderella, so I was trying to figure out the carpet thing. Do I have a rug like this in the bathroom? Why am I laying down? Why does my head hurt?
My husband told me I had hit my head on something, and had me try to move. I moved back, and realized that I had fallen into the hallway, and saw blood on the carpet. At this point I started freaking out. And got really emotional. I think I scared my husband, because he asked if I needed him to call an ambulance. I asked if it was that bad. So he got a damp wash cloth and took a look at my head. He told me it looked like I had just skinned part of it, so we pressed the cloth against my head to try to stop the bleeding.
I kept the cloth on my head for a couple hours, while I ate breakfast and then laid down on the couch. I felt terrible. Not so much physically, as emotionally. I felt like it was all my fault. I felt bad that my husband felt like he had to work from home today to help me until I was back on my feet. I felt bad, because I couldn't meet the needs of my kids. It is a terrible feeling.
Thankfully the bleeding stopped, and now I just have a slight headache in the spot that I hit. It comes and goes, and I think is getting better. It just made for a crazy morning.
Monday, September 22, 2008
What am I supposed to learn?
Do you ever have one of those times in life, when it seems like the same kind of thing just keeps happening to you, and you wonder "what am I supposed to learn from this?"
Lately, we have been dealing with illness in our house. And it definitely makes things harder.
The weekend after Labor day weekend, Cinderella's eyes started bothering her. She would rub and rub, and so they would puff up. She would wake up crying in the middle of the night because her eyes were bothering her. And I have no clue as to why this was happening. She did have a runny nose, and I thought maybe she had some allergies. But couldn't figure out what allergens were in the air, that wouldn't have been around before. I was stumped.
Well a few days later, Guy started coming down with a runny nose of his own, and my nose was a little runny too. I figured it was probably just a cold, but wasn't sure what that had to do with her eyes. By the next weekend, Guy was sick. On Thursday he had started to run a fever, and on Saturday his eyes started to get goopy. They weren't pink or red, so I didn't think it was pink eye, but I wasn't sure. When he still had a small fever Monday morning, I took him to the doctor. It turned out that he had a double ear infection. They got him on an antibiotic and all of his symptoms cleared up in about a day.
So by mid week last week we were doing good. Or so I thought. I had no idea what was lurking around the corner. First Daddy came down with a cold too. Then on Friday, Cinderella started to develop a headache. By dinner time her tummy was hurting too, and she had a fever. We gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. At about 1:00 that night she came into my room to tell me she had spilled something on her bed. I went to see what had happened, and noticed she had vomited all over her bed. She spent the rest of the night with me in my bed, and Daddy moved to the guest bed. After she was sick 5 or 6 more times that night, I decided we should take her into the walk in clinic on Saturday morning. They did a strep culture and a urine analysis. I haven't heard back with complete analysis yet. But she is acting like she is feeling much better.
Then today, right before lunch, she started rubbing her eyes again. Which makes me wonder, "what is bothering her eyes, and what, if anything, is coming next?"
Lately, we have been dealing with illness in our house. And it definitely makes things harder.
The weekend after Labor day weekend, Cinderella's eyes started bothering her. She would rub and rub, and so they would puff up. She would wake up crying in the middle of the night because her eyes were bothering her. And I have no clue as to why this was happening. She did have a runny nose, and I thought maybe she had some allergies. But couldn't figure out what allergens were in the air, that wouldn't have been around before. I was stumped.
Well a few days later, Guy started coming down with a runny nose of his own, and my nose was a little runny too. I figured it was probably just a cold, but wasn't sure what that had to do with her eyes. By the next weekend, Guy was sick. On Thursday he had started to run a fever, and on Saturday his eyes started to get goopy. They weren't pink or red, so I didn't think it was pink eye, but I wasn't sure. When he still had a small fever Monday morning, I took him to the doctor. It turned out that he had a double ear infection. They got him on an antibiotic and all of his symptoms cleared up in about a day.
So by mid week last week we were doing good. Or so I thought. I had no idea what was lurking around the corner. First Daddy came down with a cold too. Then on Friday, Cinderella started to develop a headache. By dinner time her tummy was hurting too, and she had a fever. We gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. At about 1:00 that night she came into my room to tell me she had spilled something on her bed. I went to see what had happened, and noticed she had vomited all over her bed. She spent the rest of the night with me in my bed, and Daddy moved to the guest bed. After she was sick 5 or 6 more times that night, I decided we should take her into the walk in clinic on Saturday morning. They did a strep culture and a urine analysis. I haven't heard back with complete analysis yet. But she is acting like she is feeling much better.
Then today, right before lunch, she started rubbing her eyes again. Which makes me wonder, "what is bothering her eyes, and what, if anything, is coming next?"
Friday, September 19, 2008
My Utah Trip: Family Week Day 6, Five Men and an Air Mattress
So my brother P got this brilliant idea for something to be done during family week. Buy an air mattress. The kind you sleep on. Some life jackets, some sailor hats and some oars. And take them all out on a lake.
This adventure involved my three brothers, my brother-in-law W, and my husband.
So they put on all their sailor duds. W decided to not have the life jacket. He felt like it would hamper his swimming ability.
Which left a jacket for Cinderella.
The grumpy face is because I told her she couldn't go in the water. I didn't find out until later, that her daddy had told her she could wade along the shore, with Aunt N.
Guy also had fun playing in the sand.
My dad used his pump to blow up the air mattress.
That is a full sized mattress by the way.
Then the boys hauled it into the water. I was trying to video this event, but my battery died before they got very far.
They all sat down, and started to sink.
So they redistributed their weight, and tried again.
This time they were able to stay afloat. And paddled far enough away, that they were just a small speck in the pictures I was taking. 
My dad was getting nervous because W didn't have a life jacket. He didn't want them to get so far out that he wouldn't be able to get back. We tried yelling at them to come back, but they didn't hear us. They also had a hard time steering the thing. They were finally able to bring it back with most of them swimming.
It wore them all out, but I think I remember them asking who wanted to go again. So I know they had fun.
This adventure involved my three brothers, my brother-in-law W, and my husband.
So they put on all their sailor duds. W decided to not have the life jacket. He felt like it would hamper his swimming ability.Which left a jacket for Cinderella.
The grumpy face is because I told her she couldn't go in the water. I didn't find out until later, that her daddy had told her she could wade along the shore, with Aunt N.Guy also had fun playing in the sand.
My dad used his pump to blow up the air mattress.
That is a full sized mattress by the way.Then the boys hauled it into the water. I was trying to video this event, but my battery died before they got very far.
They all sat down, and started to sink.So they redistributed their weight, and tried again.This time they were able to stay afloat. And paddled far enough away, that they were just a small speck in the pictures I was taking. My dad was getting nervous because W didn't have a life jacket. He didn't want them to get so far out that he wouldn't be able to get back. We tried yelling at them to come back, but they didn't hear us. They also had a hard time steering the thing. They were finally able to bring it back with most of them swimming.It wore them all out, but I think I remember them asking who wanted to go again. So I know they had fun.
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