Riverview Park Reel

Crazy weather for May-nice, somewhat cool, and overcast!  Perfect day for Riverview Park-maybe a little cool for the splash pad, but that didn't seem to stop the crazier of the kids (ie, Jordan). I'll just post the reel below :)

Another Day for Recognition!

 These pics aren't great, and I completely neglected to take one of Karianna here at home, but I'll post this now.  Karianna was invited to the end-of-the-year awards assembly at Bush and was honored four times.  She received a writing award, a reading award, and was recognized for her service on student council and for participating in Battle of the Books.  She has had a fantastic year in 5th grade and already has big plans for 6th grade!  :)

A Special Recognition Night

We had a special recognition night for all of our activity day girls today. We have never done one of these before in our ward (at least, not that I am aware of), and I thought this was a great way to honor the girls and all the goals they have accomplished.

 It's hard to see, but Karianna has four little cards/baggies on this table, which represent the goals she has done in each of the four categories. She has finished all the goals in the book alongside memorizing the articles of faith; she just has the preparing for young women's section to go, which she will start as soon as she turns 11.  She earned 5 charms to go on a charm bracelet, each representing a section in the Faith in God book; she will earn 2 more once she finished the YW section, and officially graduates primary.  The bracelet is lovely!

We are so proud of Karianna and her dedication to goals and Faith in God. She really takes command over her own goal-making, and has done a lot of neat projects through this program. She is a talented young lady who is progressing beautifully in her friendships, family relationships, and personal testimony.  I can't believe she is turning 11 soon!

All the activity day girls together!

Potential Asthma

My sweet, sweet James.  He loves flowers.  He picks them all the time for me, and takes good care of them.  

Jared was gone doing a sleep study last night, and James woke up around 2am having a hard time breathing.  This is the third time it has happened, and while I initially thought it was just croop, I think it may be asthma. he doesn't have a barking cough with it, and he gets so agitated and panicked that he can't breathe.  In each case, I have given him some albuterol that we had on hand.  within 30 minutes, his breathing will calm, though it takes much longer to get him him to emotionally calm down.  I was very close to taking him to an urgent care/ER last night because his breathing was so labored.  

As such, we went to the doctor today.  She gave us a new breathing machine and a new prescription for albuterol. She referred James on to a pulmonologist to get checked for asthma.  I will be calling on Monday to schedule a consultation.  James seems fine now, but I am glad to have a few back up plans in case he has a similar attach again.  

Sweet boy.

Culvers

These are not great pictures, but I'll post them anyway....well, the latter two are good, Jordan just looks funny in this first one!  We took the kids over to Culvers for an end of the year treat, and we indulged in some amazing concrete mixers.  This is a rare occasion for the kids, but they always, always love coming here and indulging in the ice cream!

Jordan Graduates First Grade!

 Jordan's teacher, Mrs. Cawood, always does a scrapbook party where she presents each kiddo with a certificate of achievement and a huge scrapbook filled with their work from the year.  I always love seeing this because it is an instant portfolio-you can see where he started in so many areas and where he ended.  Jordan has loved first grade and has had great report cards all year.  He always had straight 4's for behavior, which he was particularly proud of.  Jordan can be a spitfire at home, but his behavior at school-perfect.  He LOVES to learn, and I hope with all my heart he never loses that desire.

On the speech front, Jordan's main goal this year was to master L's in each word position, in isolation, with prompts, and in standard conversation.  He met the first two goals and is not quite consistent with the last.  If you ask him to really think about the word, he will say the L sound.  But if he is just talking to JD or something, he leaves the L's off still. We have more work to do on this front, but so far, i don't see it affecting his spelling, writing, or reading, so that is a huge plus!

Great job this year Jordan!  On to second grade!

Jackson: 18 months!

Jackson doesn't actually turn 18 months for 5 more days, but he started going to nursery a few weeks ago, and is loving it!  He usually has a moment or two where he looks around, realizes he doesn't see anyone super familiar, and gets fussy.  But as soon as one of the leaders holds him, he typically calms down pretty quick and just goes back to playing.  He is doing great with that, as we figured he would!

Just a few observations about Jackson at this point:

• Jackson has a handful of words, and another handful that we can't quite clarify yet.  He loves to say hi to each sibling and to Jared and I-combining those two words is super cute.  He yells "whoa!" at anything that looks cool and loves identifying dogs, cats, birds, trees, Jesus, and people (in pictures).  
• If you tell Jackson to go to sleep, he'll run to the nearest pillow or blanket and lay down.  He is a belly sleeper through and through.  He is also extremely attached to his blanket-thankfully, only for sleeping, but he has to have it, otherwise, he will be super sad.  He drinks whatever type of drink someone gives him and does great with a cup/water bottle as long as someone is helping moderate the flow.  He uses a spoon to eat applesauce and yoghurt all the time-still makes a decent mess, but uses the utensil pretty well.  He is my pickiest eater:  bananas, grapes, apples, raisins, sometimes bread, applesauce, yoghurt, string cheese.....and that's about it other than crackers/pretzels, and some cereal.  
• You can tell Jackson is sensitive to weird textures.  I see it in his eating patterns, and in other weird instances.  the other day, we were in Frys and he was trying to climb out of the cart, so despite his bare feet, I got him out and let him walk by me.  He took about 4 steps, froze, and refused to walk any further, holding on to the shelf next to him.  This has happened before, and it finally clicked-he didn't like the feel/temp of the floor!  I'm curious to see how long this sticks around.  
• Jackson is so adorable when Jared leaves for work.  He runs out with me and james, stands right in front of the garage door, and waits expectantly. As soon as Jared starts the ignition, he laughs maniacally and then starts to wave just as frantically while yelling, "Bye Dada!  Bye Dada! over and over again.  As an aside, James also waves too, and as soon as Jared pulls out of the driveway, he will smile, and say, very proudly, "Well, that's my Dad."  He says it every. single. morning.  This morning he added, "My Dad is really special."  Love it!
• Back to Jackson.  He can point to pretty much any body part.  His favorites right now are diaper and owie.  He will search on his arms and his legs to find some sort of scratch or scab (and blast it, active kid that he is-he always has one!).
• Jackson climbs absolutely everything EXCEPT his pack and play.  He is very good at knowing his pack and play means bed.  Other than that, he knows no bounds.  He moved a chair yesterday to climb up on the table; I found him sitting in the middle of it calmly taking marbles out of a vase.  A few days back, he pulled our little blue kids table to the counter and climbed up onto it to pull all the crayons out of the crayon bucket on the counter.  He mastered couches and chairs a long time ago, climbs onto the play structure in the backyard, and has figured out how to move the kid chairs next to the picnic table outside so he can climb on that as well-that one is dangerous to some degree, as it is just too close to him scaling the pool fence all together.  The boy is just becoming a monkey!  His upper body strength is clearly not as strong as his lower body strength....that's probably a blessing right now.
• Jackson gets mad.  Right now, it is so cute! I probably need to stop laughing when he does it though and start shaping his behavior a little more.  If you tell him no or take something from him, he will cry out, but then run away throw himself on the floor or on a pillow and cry for about 10 seconds.  He will reach down, pick something up, and throw it, or slam his hand against a door/wall before checking for a reaction from an adult.  Today, he snatched a pack of graham crackers, and got one out before I took the package from him.  He kept trying to reach for it, and when he couldn't get it, he threw the cracker that already in his hand.  I just laughed, and asked him if he thought that was wise?  Cracks me up!  I'll take these kids of fits compared to the ones Sara threw any day!

Jackson is such a joy, and I absolutely love snuggling with him as these baby days just fly by.  He gains so much independence every day-it is totally endearing to me.  

A Kissing Conversation

This conversation is not going to be for everyone. However, if you know Jared, you will probably get a kick out of this, especially if you can picture Jared's perfectly stoic face while he is talking to our 8 year old son, JD.

Jared: JD, do you know what french kissing is?
JD: No.
Jared: Okay, that's good. Let me explain it to you a little bit. What's the name of Grandma's dog?
JD: Uh, Bella.
Jared: Okay. Well, imagine Bella sticking out her furry, slobbery tongue right in front of your face. And imagine you sticking out your tongue in front of her face. And then imagine licking tongues together.
JD: EWWWWWW! That's gross!
Jared: Uh huh. Well, that's what french kissing is. Do you think you ever want to do that?
JD: No way.
Jared: Okay. Well, that's good. Glad we had this conversation.

I was in a really crummy mood all night. Needless to say, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Jared said that was the best part of his day-seeing me smile and laugh. So one very odd, weird conversation had a major silver lining. Granted, we've just scarred our son for life.....  

Music = Reading

This is one of Sara's favorite activities to do, and it is a great way for her to practice reading! She sits with all my piano music open, and just starts reading the songs.  She'll find one she relatively knows, or one that just sounds "cute" and read it, while occasionally plunking out some notes on the piano.  I taught her how to read the verses in order and repeat the chorus.  She'll occasionally break out into actual song, but most of the time, she just reads.  It is super cute, and a neat way to combine music and reading!

A Keeper

You know you have a keeper when your husband focuses on gratitude during family scripture study, and phrases the post-discussion like this: "So gratitude is important, like when your mom helps you do big school projects, or when your mom cleans up all your messy socks and underwear that you leave laying around, or when your mom makes you lunch every single day, or when your mom finds your shoes that you actually lost, and it wasn't even her job to find them...." My husband is awesome.  

A Special Mother's Day Program

One of my favorite things about Sara's kindergarten teacher is the Mother's Day program she puts together.  I literally look forward to it the entire year!  I just love hearing all the songs the kids perform, having them serve the Moms treats, and presenting us with beautiful beaded necklaces.  Grandmas get to come as well, and that makes it even more special.  

It was my pleasure to go to what may be the last Mother's Day program, given that Mrs. Davis is retiring...so sad!  I sure do hope the other kinder teachers will revitalize this tradition once James gets in school!

Sara was such a doll during the program-at times seeming shy, at other times singing with all her heart.  She presented the song "I Can't Spell Hippopatomos" (which I just misspelled), and her little art projects were beautiful.  overall, I am super thankful for this little girl, and for her starting my Mother's Day weekend in such a special way! 

Seriously-such a beautiful girlie! She reminds me SO much of Karianna!

The whole class all together!

Not the best picture, but I wanted to get one of Mrs. Davis.

A three generation shot of Sara, Me, and My Mom.  Notice our cool necklaces! 

Thank you Sara, for sharing such special memories with me!

School Bulletin Boards

While at school this week for special events, I wandered around the bulletin boards to see if I could find some of the kids' work.  I didn't get around to all the halls, but here's what I found:

Karianna, Bailey, and Aubrey getting ready for Battle of the Books!  Bailey wasn't able to be at the final battle, pictured below.  

 Sara's bulletin boards were full of Mother's Day stuff, and her little poem below made my day!

"My Mom is as pretty as a flower.  She is as sweet as Jesus.  She is as smart as my Dad.  But most of all she is as special as the temple!"

 This is the Honor Roll board for 4th-6th Grade.  Karianna's name is right at the top of the Stars category, meaning she has straight A's.  She's so proud of herself for being an honor roll student!

 Going back to Sara's bulletin boards, this is me, apparently!  I have such a lovely, huge dress and multi-colored hair-so awesome!

 "If Mothers were flowers, I'd pick my Mom!"

5th Grade Wax Museum

I have really been looking forward to this event, as I think it is such a cool project!  The fifth grade does a wax museum each year, where students pick a historical figure, dress up like him or her, and prepare a speech, which they deliver anytime someone walks up to them in the psuedo-wax museum. Neat right?

I was just a little surprised when Karianna decided to select Harriet Tubman.  Great historical figure given her history and impact on slavery.....but tricky to dress Karianna up in a way that would make her look authentic as an African American heroine!  I briefly considered playing around with make up to darken Karianna's complexion, but didn't feel comfortable doing that-I felt it would be more insulting than anything.  At the end of the day, we created a costume to emulate Harriet's clothes, adopted a severe look, and called it a day.  Here's the comparison:

 I realize i am biased, but I thought it turned out really good!  Karianna ended up using a different skirt that was fuller on the day of the museum, which you can see below.  Her speech was fantastic and delivered flawlessly-and she never lost that severe look on her face, except for when I forced her to smile for one picture!  So proud of Karianna for her dedication to academics-she really gets into things like this, and I love seeing her accomplishments!

 Sara, Jordan, and JD all came with their classes to peruse the wax museum.  Here's Sara listening to Karianna's speech.

 I played around with an online photo editor just for kicks.  This was my favorite image (although I would have liked her face a bit more in focus):

Under the Bed

Things I just pulled out from under my bed: 2 spoons, Sara's church shoes, a frying pan, JD's church shoe with 4 pieces of play food stuffed in it, a dead phone, a dead cockroach (ew!), headphones, 4 crayons, an umbrella, a measuring tape, 3 diapers, and 17 legos.

I realize that the "ew" could have been applied to a few other things....by all looks and appearances, the frying pan and spoons were clean, as were the diapers.....why any of these things were under my bed--I have no clue. Sigh. My room is not my own. 

Out of Town

This is an odd post for our family because this just does not happen frequently.  But, for what I think is the first time ever, Jared is out of town on a business trip.  He left on Wednesday morning-around 4am-to go to a residency for Walden in Atlanta, Georgia.  He gets back tonight, thank heavens.  Since this is such an odd occurrence for us, it has been tricky for me to handle everything in his absence.  It reminded me of the time he was working for sonora labs, and was gone from 8:30 am until 4am the next morning.  This time around, I had to figure out how to balance everything with the kids and the house, while working 40 hours.  I certainly do not envy the daily challenges of being a single mother.  This week has gone well, overall, but I am definitely ready for Jared to get home in a few hours!  

We were able to skype with Jared at least once a day, and he and I kept in touch throughout the day via IM and text.  He is working with students pretty consistently each day and hasn't gotten a ton of time to sight see at all. He does find the southern hospitality quite endearing, and his hotel is pretty awesome!   He told me earlier today that while he likes the idea of travelling, he didn't see any real benefits of going on this trip because he missed us too much.  I can definitely say I agree wholeheartedly.  It will be nice to have him home.

I never sleep well when Jared isn't here, and didn't nod off until 3-4am each night/morning.  I got a lot of work done, needless to say!  Last night, I decided to take a shower around 2 in the morning, hoping it would relax me a bit.  However, scaredy cat that I am, I didn't like the idea of taking a shower with no one else in the house awake.  So, I got James up and settled him in my bed to watch his favorite movie, The Rescuers.  He thought it was so cool!  I realize this probably the best parenting decision of my life, but it was actually kind of fun.  We snuggled for a while after I got back into my jammies, and then he drifted off within minutes of being back in his bed.  Special boy right there!