Knives

Weird title for a post, eh?

I was chatting with Jordan yesterday and I told him he was playing nice. He said, with wide eyes, and in complete shock, "Mom! I am not playing with knives! Knives can hurt you-you have to go to the hospital if you play with knives!" I said, "No Jordan, I said you are being NICE." Jordan says, "Oh. Yes." Glad we got that confusion cleared up, and glad Jordan has gotten the message about knives!

Sorry

Karianna got very frustrated tonite at the boys, and I'll grant her that I was observing a teacher online so I wasn't totaly paying her the attention she probably deserved. She made the decision to yell some pretty improper things at the boys, so I asked her to stay inside until she could use kinder words. About 5 minutes later, she came to me with a wrapped graham cracker and a wrapped granola bar. She said she made them for the boys to say she was sorry. Her exact words? "I made these for the stinkers because they made me mad and I'm sorry I called them stinkbombs." Okay, still makes me laugh. She was actually pretty sincere, which made it funnier. They really annoyed her, as they kept messing up her resteraunt!

I should also add that I don't help the situation as I playfully call the kids "stinkbombs" all the time....

Karianna's Place

Karianna undertake the making of a restaraunt tonite. She set up her seating area, added decorations, and made a sign proclaiming the name of her eatery: Karianna's Place. She picked out a CD for background music and then made dinner, pretty much on her own. The menu? cheese crisp; oranges, apples, or bananas; corn; and chopped chicken for Sara. She called the boys and Sara to the table, which was set outisde, and served them as their waitress. My favorite part of the entire process, other than the creativity. As she was plating the food, she kept nibbling little pieces off the kids' plates. I told her to stop eating the food-her job was the chef! She replied, in all her 6 year old prowress, "I actually have 2 jobs: I'm the chef and the food taster. It is my JOB to taste all the food!" Hee hee, great rationale to explain your questionable decisions!

I hope Karianna's Place is open tomorrow night; I'm making a reservation.

Cousins

My favorite time of the day is right before bedtime when I snuggle with each kiddo in bed and talk with them about anything and everything. JD and I were talking about family and I asked him who his cousin friends were. He said, "You mean the one with all the star wars stuff?" I laughed and said, "Sure". He said, "That's Jarom. And Makayla, Amber, and baby Chloe." I asked him who else his cousin friends were. He said, "You mean the one with the trampoline and the surgery?" Sure, why not? "Oh, that's Lizzie, Kaitlynne, and Logan [sorry Tyler, you were left out]". Anyone else JD? "Ummmmmm......I think there's a Sam, but I don't know her too much". Ah, Sam, we miss seeing you! Regardless, they are all cousin friends, and I love the relationships our cousins have!

MLK Lesson

Pretend you are in my classroom listening to this...Pretend you sit in row 3.

Before we do social studies today, I need to tell you guys about some new class rules that Mr. Minarcik has set for us. I know some of these rules are going to sound very serious to you, and that's because they are-we need to make some changes here at school and I need for everyone to pay attention so you know what is expected of you.

The first rule is about recess time (written on the board). Here's how it will work: Row 1 and Row 2 will still get 20 minutes of recess, but row 3 and row 4 will only get 5 minutes. We'll just have rows 3 and 4 do extra homework while everyone else finishes their recess time.

The next rule is for when we are walking in line in the halls. Mr. Minacik wants us to put everyone in a certain order, so please remember where you are supposed to stand: Row 1 and Row 2 are in the front, and Row 3 and Row 4 are in the back. I guess that means we'll need line leaders only from Rows 1 and 2 from now on, so I'll make sure not to call line leaders from Rows 3 and 4 anymore.

Rule three is for the cafeteria, we only have a limited number of seats now, so listen to where you will need to sit: Row 1 and Row 2 will stay on our regular tables, and Row 3 and Row 4 will be sitting on the floor....I think they said you will be on the wall behind the garbage cans. I know it probably isn't going to smell too nice, but that's the rule.

There is also a bathroom rule. We can't have kids crowing the bathrooms anymore, so Row 1 and Row 2 can still go to the bathrooms when they need to with the pass, but Row 3 and Row 4 wil need to just go to the bathroom before or after school. I can't send you during the day with a pass-please remember that, and I'll send home letters to mom and dad so thye know.

Last rule is about school days. Some of you will have to come on different days, and this starts this week, so listen carefully-Row 1 and Row 2 will still come to school Monday through Friday. Row 3 and Row 4, you have to come on Saturday as well. Not all the teachers will be here, so you'll just be doing dictionary work and math facts all day. The aides won't be here either so plan on no recesses.

Now, I know those are pretty serious rules, but that's what Mr. Minarcik says we are doing now, so Row 3 and Row 4, be prepared for the rule changes starting tomorrow. If you can't follow those rules, we'e been told to give out after school detentions, so please make sure you know what is expected of you.
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Here's a sampling of the comments I got:

• That is completely not fair, why do we (rows 3 and 4) have to do all the awful stuff and the other rows get to do all the good stuff?
• If we have to sit by the garbage cans during lunch, we are going to start to smell and I don't want people to think I stink.
• So are we just supposed to watch people playing? Isn't that kind of like owing you recess? Why do I have to owe you recess every single day when I did nothing wrong?
• I don't want to sit in row 4 anymore; this stinks.

My favorite comments from a student in Row 1:

• How bout this, how bout if some kids in row 1 switch places with kids in row 3 for a couple days of the week, and how bout if some kids in row 2 switch places with kids in row 3 for a couple days a week? That way we can take turns doing the awful stuff and then nobody has to do all the awful stuff all the time?
• I don't want "Tim" to have to do all that awful stuff-he's my best friend.

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After listening to the discussion, I finally gave it up: I told them this is not actually happening, that it is not true. Nobody spoke. They were al speechless. I told them that everything was staying the same at our school because those rules were not fair at all. I then told them that even though these rules are not real for our school, this situation did happen for real, though not exactly the same. They were speechless. Nobody spoke. It seemed completely unreal to them that rules this ridiculous could have existed for anyone. Complete and utter silence from a shocked room.

That is pretty abnormal for my class.

Thus-I made my point.

We spiraled into the lesson about MLK, and they were into it and excited and boy did they learn a lot. I did pull a few kids back at the end of the class to chat with them because they were so overwhelmed by the class scenario. One kiddo was crying because of those unfair rules he thought he would have to follow; another kid put his jacket over his head and remained that way for half an hour. I called those parents as well so they could follow up at home to distinguish between the scenario and what really happened 50 years ago. It was a powerful lesson, and I highly doubt anyone is going to forget why we celebrate MLK day. They got a glimpse into history today-and that made me feel so cool. Its days like these where I absolutely, positively love my job.

Happy MLK Day.

Biker Kids

Jared and I have made it a goal this year to get the kids out of the house more. Nothing huge or way unusual, just out of the house. One simple way-just to go bike riding every day. It sounds so easy, but it is a bit more complicated when you are on a somewhat busy street (surprisingly so!) and you have to monitor little kids as well as kids who want to be (but are not all the way ready to be) independent. Jared has gotten into the routine of doing PE with the boys every day (one of our strategies to get JD ready for kindergarten next year). I have also gotten in the habit of going on a bike ride after work with all the kids. Today we wove in and out of the neighborhood and popped onto the main street for a while. It was a ton of fun and it was great to see JD and Karianna racing each other on their bikes, riding up and down driveways with ease, and standing up to pedal (that one is still somewhat shakey....that word does not look right). I think both kids are ready to lose their training wheels, maybe this weekend. I love our rides together, we get to talk and just enjoy each other's company. When Jordan's birthday rolls around next month, we'll proabbly add a bike to our garage for him so he can start riding with us-then Sara will rule the bike trailor all by herself!

I"m just so proud of the kids' progress, and its encouraging to see when I struggle not being home with them all day. JD has started to sound out words and that is always such a cool step to see in a kid. Sara learned how to blow kisses the other day and understands more every day. Karianna brought home an amazing report card with zero concerns; we were so proud of her. And Jordan-bless his little heart, he can be such a stinkbomb (that's a popular word in our house right now). But he is also such a sponge and is soaking up everything we tell him-and he remains so happy all the time. Oh, my kids...it can be so easy to get frustrated at little things they do, which really is a result of having a hard long day rather than actual things the kids are doing. They really are the light of my life and the reason Jared and I do everything we do.

Huh. Didn't mean for this post to end this way, but there it is!

Heaven and Lunchables

How's this for getting in a spiritual moment with the boys: We were reading "Clifford's Day with Dad". We talked about all kinds of Dad's and JD asked me where my Dad lived. So I told him my Dad died and he lives in Heaven now. JD got very excited because he apparently knows all about Heaven. He went on and on about families living in heaven with Jesus and then they get resurrected...it was pretty fun to see his viewpoint. I told JD that if we all make good choices and do our best, then we can live in Heaven together as a family forever! I asked JD if he would like that. His comment was thus:

"Yes...can we bring lunchables too?"

I busted up laughing, Karianna came running in and we explained the conversation to her-and then she was busting up laughing. I told JD how cute he was, and how much I Loved him. I tucked the boys in, still wiping tears of laughter from my eyes and as I was leaning over to kiss JD good night one last time, he whispered:

"But mom, can we really bring lunchables to heaven? You can buy some from Walmart. Do you want me to go with you? I like the peanut butter ones. We can get one for Grandpa Erickson too. And for Sara so she won't cry."

He was so utterly serious, I could help but assure him that yes, we will make sure to have lunchables in heaven. Guess I'm going to have to add something to my prayers tonite!

One Cool Tent!

Sara got this uber cool tent for Christmas, however its the other kids that insist on sitting in it 24 hours a day! I never thought this thing would incite so much excitement! Sara loves crawling in it as well, but once the other kids come in and start treating it like a WWF ring, she opts to crawl out until the match is over.

Goldfield Ghost Town

Our family really wanted to go up North to play in the snow while we are on Winter Break. Unfortuneately we didn't have the funds to do that, so we compromised: we took a 30 minute drive to the Goldfield Ghost Town, toured the area for free, and passed a few signs for the Lost Dutchman's Mine (state park). That last element? Made the trip totally worth it for our kids, who love to visit the ghost who haunts the mine at the dinosaur museum. :) Goldfield Ghost Town was pretty terrific actually, we really built it up to be haunted, thus every structure we visited had a ghost hiding somewhere. That kinda freaked Jordan out, but he was still game enough to explore every part of the town. We got to see a gunfight between cowboys (and one lady in non-distress); the blanks were pretty darn loud and for a bunch of elderly gents, the acting was pretty realistic, thus we got to do some good explaining to the kids about playing with guns, etc. Jordan said, "Those guys are mean, they can hurt you with guns!" JD said, "Lets go home mom, I don't want to see that ever again". Karianna said, "Grow up JD, it wasn't real-they were just actors! There's nothing scary about that except you don't ever act with guns!" Ah, dialogue with kids. :) A bt more commentary complete with pics:

You can see the superstition mountains a bit in the back; they are hidden under a misty blanket of rain and fog-it was actually quite breathtaking in real life!

Checking out the *haunted* chapel (which still holds services on Sundays).

The kids were yelling, "Let me out!" at the top of their lungs. :) My comment? "I wish we had one of these in our house!" On second thought-I'd have to adjust the bar width for it to work in our home... ;)

Walking through the *haunted* cemetary. There were some pretty funny headstones with some pretty weird decorations. In any case, this part was pretty *spooky* for the kids!

Karianna determined that this here wagon thing carried all the wood to this town to make all the buildings. No wonder its broken.

We decided we'll probably come back to Goldfield on a sunny day to catch the mine tour (via train) and to tour the reptile exhibit that they had. It started raining as we were finishing up, so we opted to leave and come back another day. On another bright note, we got to try out our new DVD players for the car and they worked awesome!

POOF!

I don't know what it was. Maybe its all the milk she's been drinking, maybe its her new forward facing carseat, maybe its her growing vocabulary or her lack of daytime binkies. Whatever it was, Sara went to take a nap today and when she woke up...

POOF!

She started to walk.

Of course, Sara has been walking some, she's been stuck in the 5-6 steps-land for months now. We always figured she was more than capable of walking full time and every now and then, we'd see her walking somewhere and then sit down as soon as she caught our eyes. We think our theory was proven right today, as Sara literally woke up from her nap and just started walking everywhere. And not just walking-turning directions, walking in a full circle before deciding where to go, walking in shoes or barefoot, and even taking a few running steps before plummeting downwards. Its almost as if she just opted to observe, take it easy on all fours for a while before she finally relented to conform to society and just walk. Or maybe she's just a baby who is developing on her own timeline. Either way, she's a walker, and thus, a troublemaker. :)

In other Sara news, while I'm at it, Sara seems to have blossomed over the last few weeks. Her vocabulary is growing very quickly; she loves to say "uh-oh" at all the right moments, she says hi, bye, mama, dada, nana, and something that sounds like a J for Jordan and JD. She even started saying cheese whenever anyone points a camera at her. She loves to point to body parts right now, and she likes to try and put on her own shoes and diapers. Her favorite pastime right now is singing to her baby doll and rocking her. It is SO adorable! She gives fives all the time, of course waves hi and bye, and will come up to you, throw her head back and laugh for no reason at all-other than she's just happy.

Sara is defnitely a bit of a drama queen in that, when she wants something, she lets you know. Especially milk. She can also be the most content baby in the world-she is such an observer, just staring at people with this tight lipped smile. She has a full complement of teeth, including her 4 molars, and the binky is now gone during the day-she just uses it for sleep now. Sara has really gotten attached to oranges lately, though she won't turn down a ring pop if you offer that as well. She loves to dance when I sing Michael Jackson to her and she tries to sing during church, as well as copy the conductor. Her other favorite thing to do at church-squirm. She is so ready for nursery and I still have 3 months to go!!!!

All in all, Sara is developing such a personality and is still as adorable as can be! I have taken to calling her Grace or Gracie a lot lately, and the kids still adore her-she hangs in so well with stampeding feet, grabbing hands, and loud voices! We sure do love you Sara Gracie! Thanks for being our baby girl!

Welcome to our Home Santa!

Our Christmas Eve tradition has always been to write letters/draw pictures to Santa, and lay out his Christmas treats. Our Christmas treats always go beyond the normal milk and cookies. For example, on this Christmas Eve, the kids chose milk, a brownie, Activia yoghurt, and grapes. For the reindeer it was celery (we had no carrots!) and a bowl of water. Which was very thoughtful of the kids, in myopinion! We also always put out a blanket with a note (hand written by Karianna) inviting Santa to take a cat nap before heading out again. The kids were so cute working together to lay this all out, watching them carefully balance the water and milk on the chair, positioning the blanket just right, and carefully packing their letters into their stockings. We watched the beginning of the Polar Express with hot chocolate and then it was time to tuck everyone in to bed. It was such a fun, enjoyable part of our Christmas traditions! I love this part of Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Festivities!

As has been foretold (hee hee), we spent the first part of our Christmas Eve hanging out with the Erickson side of the family. We headed over to Daniel and Carly's ward building for dinner, a play, the famous candy bar game, and a pinata. The kiddos were pretty excited for every single part of it, particularly the nativity scene play. All in all, it ended up being a really fun night and a good tradition I think our family would like to maintain, even if just in our own family units.

We started off the evening eating dinner with everyone; the food was terrific, and it was fun watching Sara try and eat off of everyone else's plates! Right after dinner we started getting the kids ready for the fun nativity scene. Carly made some adorable sheep ears for the babies, including little Sara Grace! She looked too cute!

The rest of the cast from our family looked equally adorable: Karianna as the angel, JD as Joseph, and Jordan as a shep-oops, I mean a wiseman. I thought he was supposed to be a shepherd, but turns out we needed an extra wiseman. Good thing his shepherd costume was flexible!

The Nativity started off with Joseph leading Mary on their donkey to the City of David. JD looks very protective of Kaitlynn, who is obviously carrying a child! Great donkey work Steven!

The most adorable picture of the evening, Mary and Joseph holding hands over the baby Jesus!

Elizabeth leading her flocks in! Sara is obviously taking Steven's lead!

Karianna gave her angel speech to the shepherds in the field; she did a great reciting it! She did have it memorized, but ended up relying on her paper. Either way, she did a wonderful job!

I am sure the sheep regularly played with ladybugs.

The 3 Wisemen! I love this picture!

Jordan presenting his gift to the baby Jesus. He ended up laying his gift on top of the baby, blanke style. Not sure if that's considered blasphemous or what....

After the Nativity scene, we watched a short video on Luke 2, which was actually quite moving having just acted it out. The whole time, the kids whispered, "Look that's me!" or just narrated what they had just acted out; it was adorable. We played the candy bar game afterwards, which the kids did surprisingly well at, and opened Carly and Daniel's traditional poppers. We ended the evening by breaking open the homemade pinata-a regular box wrapped in wrapping paper!

We let the kids each take two turns first; I think they managed to shred some of the paper off that indestructable box...

The box was finaly broken by one of the adults, and as expected, the kids came running. I actually got a turn before the boys stepped up to bat, and although I didn't bust the thing open, I am proud to say I hit it hard enough to break the "bat". Hee hee. I look like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Such a fun evening for Christmas Eve! We certainly missed those who couldn't come; it would have been fun to have all the cousins participate in the nativity! I am sure we'll keep these traditions up in years to come though, and I am already excited about those opportunities! Merry Christmas Eve!

Nativity Scene Preview

As part of our Christmas Eve festivities, the kids are going to take part in a cousins nativity scene. I had the kids put together their costumes today-well, Karianna put together her costume while I cut up the boys' costumes for them. Karianna is playing the angel; she has done a great job memorizing her part and she is very excited to play an angel! She brought me two sheets and a gold necklace for her costume. She wanted one sheet for her "dress" and the other for a "shawl". She then wanted the necklace to act as a belt; thankfully, the necklace cooperated!

JD is playing Joseph and Jordan is playing a Shepherd; their costumes were pretty easy to make, we just used some old pillowcases and towels that have been doubling as cleaning cloths and poof! We all of the sudden were standing in the presence of Joseph and a Shepherd!

Look at that face! Makes me smile every time!

Epilogue: Cookies and Crafts

I forgot to mention how lovely JD looked after he finished eating his cookie and after he finished cleaning up all the leftoever sprinkles on his plate...with his tongue...and apparently the entire bottom half of his face.

The kid's got talent! Who else can sport a red beard during the Christmas season? He's even got Santa beat: top that, big jolly guy!

Cookies and Crafts

We had Elizabeth and Kaitlynn come over for a play date today, all in the name of cookies and crafts. We started off by making a few dozen Christmas cookies with our cook cookie cutters, frosting, and sprinkles galore.

We then made these cute little Christmas tree made out of pine cones, pipe cleaners, pony beads, and cotton balls. When I did this with my 3rd graders, I had them add glitter as well, but I couldn't find my glitter today so we sacked that idea. Regardless, the trees turned out cute and all the kids-even Jordan-did a great job following directions! I was very proud of them (plus my floor wasn't coverd with glitter....my classroom carpet was not so lucky.)

It sure was fun enjoying the Christmas season with family and friends! I can't believe Christmas is in 3 days!

Christmas Sunday

Our ward had our "official" Christmas Sunday program this past week, thus we got to dress everyone up in their Christmas outfits-and thanks to coupons, discounts, and gift cards, I paid very little for it all! Woohoo! Always makes it a ton sweeter!

The sacrament meeting program was very well done, I got to sing with the choir and Jared got to take 3 kids out to the hall to maintain reverence ;) Afterwards, I discovered that Sara's dress had come completely unravelled and I had to take her home to change-it was that bad. I was so sad, I loved her dress! I returned it today as I thought it highly inapropriate for an hour old dress to fall apart.

JD got to give a prayer in primary and it was the first time he did so without crying or refusing to speak into the microphone. He doesn't throw tantrums, just refuses to say anything and gets very sad! But on this day, he didn't even wait for me to prompt him, he said a great prayer and he did NOT bless Santa or the reindeer to come to his house on Christmas. For that, I am grateful. :)

We got to visit Jared's family later that night and visit the Christmas lights at the temple. Karianna and I had some very deep conversations about baptisms for the dead, temple work, and the plan of salvation, particularly resurrection. I love those conversations with her, she believes so easily, and has such perfect faith. At this time of year, it is so easy to get caught up in the busy-ness, and then one conversation like that with my daughter reminds me of the deeper meaning of the holiday. I love Christmas time, and I am set on making this week one of joy, spirit, and gratitude. Merry Christmas!

Karianna's beautiful dress-I think my favorite ever. She said she felt like a princess!

My grown up BOYS!!! Holy crow, when did they get so tall and big???

Best friends too!

Jordan's GQ pose with his hand in his pocket.

My girls who have such similar coloring! Sara's hair is starting to curl up as its getting long enough to do so!

Beautiful baby.

And posing for Sara lasted 2 frames-then she was off to find some sort of trouble to get into!

Bangs

On Saturday all the kids got haircuts with my great clips coupons that were about to expire. After we got home, I found myself looking at Karianna's hair and thinking, "taking an inch off didn't help with the whole hair-in-your-eyes phenomenon". Then I found myself with the answer: bangs. And thus-I cut her some bangs.

The cutest part is that when I was done and I had styled her hair, Karianna put on some blush that was lying on my counter, she dabbed her lips with vaseline, peered in the mirror, and said, "I just feel so grown up now!" And she looks it, beautiful lady that she is! We had a reminder conversation about beauty on the inside and beauty on the outside, as I feel that's very important. Overall, bangs-awesome choice and one Karianna has fallen in love with!

The 3D Christmas Tree!

Tonite's Christmas Countdown craft was a 3D tree complete with glitter, stickers, and more stickers! The kids loved putting these together and afterwards we had our own version of Christmas caroling. This consisted of each kid taking the "stage" and singing a loud, very physical rendition of Jingle Bells or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was pretty adorable and a fun way to spend family home evening. Getting in the Christmas spirit!!!

Christmas Treats

This week my third graders and I travelled to France to learn about winter holiday traditions as compared to US holiday traditions. One of our favorite traditions was the Buche de Nol, which is a log-shaped cake that literally means "Christmas Log". After learning about this tradition, we used swiss cake roles, frosting, powdered sugar (snow) and m&ms (holly) to make our own mini buche de nols. It was such a hit!

So of course, I had no choice but to do the same activity with Karianna, JD, and Jordan. They didn't care so much about the tradition as I've been talking about making these for a few days, but they can tell you what a buche do nol is, so at least they absorbed something other than sugar!