September 2008

We had a fun visit from Mom and Dad. They came after Alysia's farewell. The kids had loads of fun reading books and playing around with them. Emma and Camille loved the dolls Grandma gave them. Erick continually plays with the Halloween toys and Ben and I are still working on the Star Wars Lego toy.

Jill baked bread, cookies, roast beef and lots of goodies while they were here. Her bread was Dad's favorite ... we could tell he was in heaven with Jill's bread.

Dad and I went golfing. The weather was perfect. We got on the links around 8:30am and enjoyed the most perfect North Texas fall weather. Dad, as usual, did great. We hammered the par 3's. Dad had par on a few other holes. I just tried to keep up. Dad gave me some timely advice as well as another golfer who was behind us. Honestly, it was the most fun I've ever had golfing. I will never forget that day of golf with Dad.

One evening, we got a babysitter and Mom and Dad took us to Outback. The last time they were here, we ate there. Dad loved the Victoria steak so much, he wanted to go back! So we had a wonderful visit without the kids.

Mom was the hit with the kids. She read lots of books with them. Erick and Camille got to spend lots of time with Mom.

We tried to get some pictures while they were here. We got a few. I've also added some other pictures that I've taken of the kids recently.

Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for the wonderful visit.

The Fire Drill

I have total sympathy for Ben.

When I was in 1st grade, I hated the loud fire alarm. I would be scared to death going to the bathroom because I always thought the fire alarm would sound while I was in the bathroom and I would be stuck in there while the school burned down. I was petrified ... I remember really being afraid ... so I would always try to get a friend to go to the bathroom with me so I wouldn't be so anxioius. One particular time I remember well is when I asked Sally Guyer to go to the restroom at the same time I did. She was nice enough to go along. Of course she went to the girls' room and I went to the boys'.

Today, on his way to class, Ben over heard a girl say that there was going to be a fire drill. He too is frightened to death of the loud fire alarm. After class started, the anxiety was too much. He broke down into a bucket of tears. His teacher calmed him and found out the reason behind the tears. She reassured him there was nothing to be afraid of. She told him that every time there was going to be a fire drill she would whisper into his ear before so he could prepare. This did the trick. He was great the rest of the day.

Is it a Trend?

As stated in other posts, I work at the gym. I work in member activities and do birthday parties and teach classes and so on. I usually only work once a week, if that for a couple of hours. It is a great job for me as I get a free membership and other perks! I started teaching a class last week called "Toddler Tornadoes". My two little tornadoes can attend the class too and it is really fun with lots of activities and jumping and bouncing around.

So, last week for class, my boss suggested we do a coloring craft. She handed me a box of 800 crayons, yes, 800 crayons that were neatly sorted into colors. Clearly, she has no children of her own. When my boss left the room, I promptly put the 800 crayons where the kids could not reach them. Later, after class Erick and Cami were "helping me" clean up all the equiptment. I reached for the crayons and tripped over my little tornado toddler and out spilled all 800 crayons onto the floor. They did not fall in their little organized groups of 100, I can assure you of that. I quickly checked Erick and Camille into the child center and spent about 30 minutes on my hands and knees sorting crayons back into the box.

Today, exactly 1 week later I had another little mis-hap. This did not happen at the tornado class, but here at home. I make homemade wheat bread every week and my least favorite part is grinding the wheat. I grind the wheat outside as it tends to get very messy. It is not fun to stand out there for an hour sweating and getting wheat dust all over you. Our weather this week has been GORGEOUS thanks to Ike so I thought today would be a perfect day to grind wheat in the cool morning air while the kids and dog frolic outside.

I went to retrieve the bucket of wheat and found it empty. So, I went to Camille's closet where we keep the wheat and hefted a 50 lb. bag and headed toward the kitchen where I noticed a few kernels were spilling out the bottom. I thought if I hurried and got it outside and into the bucket I'd be ok. WRONG, 50 pounds of wheat all over the cement later and this is what we had instead of frolicking in the grass.

Needless to say, this added sort of a suprise element to our day and made for an interesting morning trying to get everything ready to go for the tornado class. Oh, but guess who was in heaven?

This guy. . .



Fritz loves wheat. He LOVES my wheat bread. When I make it, he stands at the ready. He likes most food and is pretty much a beggar whenever we eat, but with my wheat bread, he goes crazy, seriously! So, when the wheat all fell, he enjoyed cleaning up by eating the kernels. I guess I can sleep better at night knowing that my dog is getting whole grains.

A few other things, I know this is getting very long. Don and I started watching all the downloaded seasons of the show 24 in July. It was a mistake because it sucks you up and you can't stop, it is an addiction! So, I would stay up until midnight or 1 am for several nights in a row watching until I would just crash and have to sleep for a few days. I am happy to say that I have finished all 6 seasons of 24 and now when 7 comes out in January, we will be ready. Go Jack Bauer! It has been nice going to bed at a normal hour this week.

Emma is now going by Rose. It is her middle name if you didn't know. There are three Emma's in her class and so they started calling her Rose. Now, whenever we go anywhere or meet someone new she introduces herself as Rose. She asked me if it was ok and I told her of course. I think it is beautiful, just a little strange to hear her called something different than what I'm used to. Emma Rose started Girl Scouts, so if you need any cookies, you know who to call. She and Ben have also started swim team at the gym. It is once a week and has only one swim meet at the end of the 2 month season. We can re-sign up every 2 months. It is great and they are loving it! I am especially proud of Ben as he was the last one (slowest) but still kept going and had a good attitude about it.

I think that is all for now. I will keep you updated on my weekly Wednesday mis-haps or, hopefully not.

Alarm Clock

Ben is my 6:45 alarm clock. Every morning, I can count on him coming in right at that time! This morning he came in and said "Mom, I had the coolest dream." "It started off scary because guess what? I was in a big ship in the ocean and guess what? the ship sunk but then the dream got really cool because guess what? (big breath), I called out to a dolphin and I rode him all the way to shore and I was safe." Cool dream. I love the stories he has to tell me every morning. I am always very groggy and saying "(yawn), that is great Ben, really cool."

As soon as the kids get off to school each morning, Erick looks at me with a big smile and says "ok mom, time to play the wii." I try to put him off for as long as I can and he continues to ask me like a broken record. So, after several minutes, he came and brought the wii sports disc and asked me to put it in so he could box. He is major into boxing and wants us to buy him boxing gloves so bad. Anyway, I told him to put the disc away and that we had to read books and do morning chores before we could box on the wii. So, he waited a minute but then brought it again and said "mom, the disc is so cold, it needs to go into the wii so it can be warm!" What a smart kid!

First Day of Preschool





Little Erick was so excited to have his own backpack and his orange folder in it (orange is his favorite color!). 6 of my friends are doing a preschool co-op with our children this year. We will take turns teaching each week. It was really fun yesterday and I think it will be a good group of kids. Next year Erick will go to a "real" preschool. Honestly, it all goes so fast from here on out. These two years of pre k will flash by and before I know it I will be sending my little Erick off to Kindergarten! Don and I realized that in 4 short years, all of our children will be in school and life at home will be very different! I am trying to enjoy each moment as they come. It has been fun to be with Erick and Millie this last week as the two oldest are at school!

I wanted to pass on a conversation that I had the other day with this little guy:



I was sitting in my room having a quiet moment and in comes Ben and he says:

Ben: "Mom, what is the North Pole like?"

Me: "Well, I have never been there, but I am sure it is white!"

Ben: "Are the houses white?" but before I could answer he said, "hey, maybe I can go on my mission there!"

Me: "Well, Ben, if that is where Heavenly Father wants you to go then yes, you will go to the North Pole."

Ben: "Wow, I hope I can go there, I just really want to meet Santa Clause!"

He then proceeded to tell me his plans to stay up all night this Christmas so he can meet Santa. I told him tho that if he stayed up, Santa would not leave presents for him and he quickly changed his mind!

A few days later we were all sitting at the dinner table (Don was not there, he was working the night shift.) Out of the blue, Emma asked me if I was nervous when I got married. I told her that no, I was not nervous, I was happy and knew that I was doing the right thing. Then Ben asked "well mom, how do you find a wife and how do you know that you want to marry her?" Wow, these were deep questions!

I told Ben that when he is much older, he will think a girl is cute and want to take her on a date much like Dad takes me on dates each month. From there, he will get to know her better and see if he thinks she would be a good wife and a good mother. Then, if Dad and I said it was ok, he could get married to her!

Ben never ceases to amaze me with his questions.

This morning, Erick told me he did not want to go anywhere today, he just wants to stay home and be a little pirate all day. He had his cowboy boots on and his pirate hat and sword. We got a good laugh out of that one.

I wanted to share the power our two year old Camille has over the family.



We had family home afternoon on Monday (Don had to work night shift so we could not have the normal family home evening). Each child has a different job for family nights (or afternoons)and they like to stand on the fireplace mantle to read the scripture or conduct the music or what have you. Well, Camille gets up there and would not let anyone else up to do their job, I wish I had recorded it, she screamed and pointed and told everyone exactly where they could and could not go. She directed the family like a cop directs traffic. It was hilarious, you just had to laugh! It is amazing how much control our two year old has over each of us! No one said family home evening has to be perfect right?

Finally, we have Emma who has the newly and coveted decorated room. The kids try to break in and spend a few minutes in her room and she added a nice little sign to her doorway. I thought it was so funny!



It says "closed" altho in her haste to get the "customers" out of her room she left out the "e" and spelled "closd" instead!

Kids are great arent't they?