Sunday Best

Today we wore our Easter clothes to church. The girls had new dresses with matching bows, Brian got a new shirt and tie, Eddie got a new tie and pants, and I broke out one of my Spring dresses. Since next week is General Conference and we won't be attending church. It is also our annual tradition to take a family picture in front yard after we done the spring cleaning. It was cold outside today at 8:30am before church so we also took some indoor shots. Here are some of our best.

Spring Day

We celebrated "Spring" today and called it Easter. The Easter Bunny came, he left baskets with fun treats and toys, and he hid eggs filled with candy and money in the backyard. I borrowed this idea from my friend Jennie. I loved the idea of celebrating Spring with an egg hunt, candy and dyeing eggs. So that on Easter we could focus on Christ and the Resurrection.

Brian got a bubble gun, a Shar Pei Webkin, and some fun books.

Emily got a new Belle dress up costume, books and a Webkin, and Danielle got a purple ball.

The Easter Bunny also brought a slide for their Zhu Zhu pets.

My cute little pink bunny.

And the hunt begins...

Here is some paper mom...

No, no, no you are supposed to hunt for eggs, not eat the candy out! Danielle figured out pretty quickly that there was something inside the eggs, even though she only has six teeth, they are all sweet, just like her brothers.

Emily had to help her actually find her eggs, as she was content just to eat the candy.

Spring Break

First and most important...Happy Birthday Eddie

Yesterday, it was chilly so we went to the indoor tubes and played for several hours. Some of our friends were at the tubes too, and we all had a great time. Then lunch at the kids favorite place, Chick fil a

My mom was supposed to arrive today, but because of a freak big snowstorm in Denver, her plane got cancelled, and she can't get a flight out until tomorrow. So here is what we did instead:

We met daddy for lunch at Benihana. There was a bit of an unusual wait, perhaps because of Spring Break, but worth it. After lunch we sent daddy back to work and we were off on our adventure.

We left the car in the parking lot and took the trolley across the river. We got off a few blocks from the Riverfront park. Emily did not use the bathroom at lunch as I suggested, and so our first stop was the port o potty. I think I need to learn to stop making suggestions and just insist that she go when we have the opportunity. Brian had noticed some interesting sculptures as we headed over the bridge on the trolley that he wanted to take pictures of.

This one turns and Brian thought it would be cool, if it were spinning when we took the picture. So he gave it a twirl, and stepped back to get his picture taken with it. Ouch! Brian put his hand to his head and it was covered in blood. I had a wet wipe that I put over his head, and cleaned the blood off his hand. I called Eddie to let him know, in case he needed to come get us. I hadn't looked at it yet, but it was bleeding alot. Finally I surveyed the damage, luckily just a small nick and it had stopped bleeding. No rescue needed today. Brian calmed down after a few minutes and we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

This picture was actually taken later after the incident.

Brian and Emily discovered a new activity at the park. Sledding? Yep the kids were sledding down the the hill on cardboard boxes. It looked quite dangerous, but they were having a blast. Emily showed me a 6" gash that she had gotten on the back of her leg, probably from a rock or weed, that she said was hurting...we were just getting ready to leave anyway, but it had not slowed her down any. She is kinda tough!

There is other playground equipment at the park, this and some tunnels and slides, but sledding was apparently more fun today. All the kids were doing it.

Next, we walked over to the Peabody hotel, and watched the ducks parade from their daytime home in the lobby fountain back to their rooftop home. We rode the escalators and the glass elevators. You can read more about the Peabody Ducks here.

Danielle thought the ducks were great, she waved at them and talked to them and really didn't want to leave.

We caught the trolley and headed back over to our car in North Little Rock.

Whew...I'm tired...but we still had to get home to celebrate Eddie's birthday. We got home late, he had beat us home from work, and even called wondering if we were OK. We wrapped his present, and gave him his cards. We will do more celebrating with cake, and dinner tomorrow.

Eddie got a new grill for his birthday! Our old one had pretty much pooped out. These were advertised in the paper last week on sale and after I looked around, discovered they were a great deal. By the time I got to the store, they were sold out. I had checked online and knew they were available, with free shipping so I just went that route. I ordered this yesterday, it shipped today and will be here tomorrow. How great is that? Plus it came in a huge box that I would not have been able to lift anyway, so this actually worked out better.

Mega Gymnastics

Emily's class at Gymboree moved to a new location in North Little Rock, Mega Gymnastics. Gymboree closed it's doors at the end of February. It was sad to see, we had been attending classes there for a couple of years, and when Brian was little I would go to free play with Jenna occasionally.

A few friends did not make the move to the new location, and the drive to North Little Rock is a long one. It helps that we are carpooling, and I am glad for Emily that she has the same teachers, and friends, those things make the transition easier. It is also fun because they have a big gym, and the kids get to play there sometimes. Also on Thursdays after school there is a gymnastics class. I get half-price so Emily stays for that. I figure it is a great opportunity for Emily to continue to improve her skills. I know she is tired from all the activities by the end of the week.

Creativity

Brian made this picture in Art Class with Mrs. Manning. The assignment was just to color each horse. I love how each horse is a different color, but it gets better...they all have names, check this out.

From left to right, top row: Dark & Stormy Night Dragon, Fire Breathing Dragon, Lava Breathing Dragon, bottom row: The Water Breathing Dragon, Invisible Dragon, The Changing Dragon. He told me their names on the way home, and then later on told Eddie all their names too. I really think this is so creative.

Level 1--Check

Emily has been in the Tiny Tumblers II class at River City Gymnastics since the middle of January. We go to class on Monday mornings for an hour. She loves to hang like a monkey, jump like a kangaroo, slide like a seal, and is never out of motion. When I do her hair in the morning I have to say, "stand as still a a tree" and even that does not keep this girl from moving.

It only took her two months to complete all the requirements for level 1. She completed her chart with gold stars, got this certificate. and a picture with her coach. I am so proud of her.

Here is Emily with one of her coaches, Mary Beth. Coach Nick was sick the day they took the picture.

She is now working on her level 2 requirements, and is doing great, she may get it all done by next month.

March 17, 2010

I may or may not have dressed my children like this for St. Patrick's Day

I totally forgot that it was St. Patrick's day today when I woke up and helped Brian get ready for school. He picked out his clothes, and I can tell you it was not green. Then I got the baby dressed, her clothes had a little green in them, but not on purpose. Emily picked out her own clothes, and only by accident was her skirt green. I forgot to wear my green shirt. I took Emily to school and headed to the office. I shortly remembered that is was St. Patrick's Day, and was sad that I forgot to wear green. It wasn't until I picked Brian up from school that I realized the full impact of missing this important green day. He was so sad that he had not worn his perfectly green bug shirt. All the other kids had worn their green shirts. Mrs. Halter had given him a shamrock sticker to try to help.

Does it count if I dressed them in green on March 18th?

A Loose Tooth

I could echo this post by my friend Lara about how it feels when your baby suddenly becomes a boy. It didn't just happen overnight, it didn't happen this morning when Brian discovered that his first tooth was loose. But really how did this happen?

Busy Saturday and Mental Health Sunday

Here was yesterdays schedule which I hope will justify why I am sitting here in my recliner blogging, instead of being at church.

7:00am Get up, clean kitchen

8:45am Shower

9:30am Make up, make up Gymnastics class, Eddie and Brian went to the shooting range

10:30am Head to Duck Duck Goose Consignment sale to buy hair bows

11:30am Go downtown to pick up milk

12:00pm Lunch

12:30-2:30pm Cook casserole for baby shower, and make 7-layer dip

3:00pm Baby Shower

3:45pm Meet Jenna to go to Rhea Lana Consignment sale

4:30-7:30pm Shopping

8:00pm Meet Eddie and the kids for the Picasso's PTA Sale

9:00pm Go home and collapse in bed

This was Brian's class project for display at the Picasso Art Sale at the PTA's annual fundraiser.

Plus daylight savings time started today, so I lost an hour and could just not justify dragging sleeping kids out of bed...ya know what they say about letting sleeping dogs lie. Also, maybe subconsciously, it would have been Danielle's first day of nursery, and I am just not ready for that.

Another Milestone

My baby is 18 months today.

She is now old enough to go to nursery at church on Sunday. But I don't want her to go. She still only has a few words; mama, dada, utoh, mine, no, hi, Brian, and doggy. She will sign bath, water, milk, more, please, cold and hot. She is really not sure how to play, and sometimes her siblings model the wrong behavior, so she seems like she is a little bully. She pushes the big kids and then they laugh and she does it more. I think we need to teach her how to play better with others, especially when they are her own age. She wants to be just like her older siblings--copies what they do, tries to be a gymnast like Emily, and idolizes her big brother, I hope their special bond continues for a lifetime.

SPRING: The Good, The Bad and The Ulgy

Spring has arrived and with that comes blooming flowers and trees, and green grass.
I saw the first couple of pear trees starting to bloom as I was driving around today, ours will follow in about a week, they are a little slower.

However, it also includes Spring storms complete with thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes. Tonight was the first storm of the season. Emily, Danielle and I went to a make-up class at River City Gymnastics. We had missed class on Monday because I was recovering from being up all night with the deathly stomach virus that I got from Brian. Eddie took Brian to the Webleos den meeting with him.

Class had just started when the announcement was made about tornadoes, and to take cover. Everyone in the gym was led to foam pit for safety. Eddie called to make sure we were alright, they were sitting in the library at church. There were tons of people sitting in the pit waiting for the storm to pass. We spent almost the entire hour in the foam pit. So much for the makeup class tonight, I guess we will try again on Saturday.

Fire In The Hole

I took Brian to Joylynn's birthday party today at The Painted Pig. It was a fun party and the kids had a great time selecting their piece, and painting it. Brian immediately picked out a dog, and did a great job painting it.

I love how cute this is, and how creative Brian is getting, one ear is black, one brown and he has blue eyes.

Eddie called while I was at the party to tell me about a fire in the backyard. Wow, I miss all the fun stuff! When I left, I smelled lighter fluid in the backyard, and figured someone was getting ready to grill.

Eddie was in the bathroom, when the neighbor from behind us came knocking on our front door to tell us about the fire. Apparently, the kids had started the grass in their yard on fire messing around, and the wind was blowing in our direction. When Eddie walked outside, our next door neighbors grass was on fire, and the fence and it caught the woodpile on fire too. Behind us, the flames were as high as the roof. Eddie and our new neighbor, John got the hoses and started putting out the flames as the fire department had not arrived.

Scary! I am glad that I missed it. My girls watched safely from the deck as daddy battled the flames. Once again, I feel blessed that we were home and able to protect our property. No one was hurt, and the damage was minimal.

Clean-Up--Isle 5

Brian has been having some behavior problems at school this past week including being on red twice (mostly for silly things) and I wanted to get to the bottom of things. I thought Eddie should go to school and have lunch with him, perhaps he needed some additional attention.


Eddie called me to confirm the time and went through the Chick-fil-a drive thru to pick up lunch. He arrived at the school a few minutes late because he had to wait in the drive thru, because they had not started serving lunch. Brian eats super early, at 10:30 so the Kindergartens can have the playground to themselves.


Eddie walked into the cafeteria to find Brian cleaning up his own vomit, and being told by the aid to go get more paper towels. He told Brian to go sit down and then proceeded to clean up for him. Then another aid told Eddie that he didn't need to clean up that "they had someone to do that." Weird...they didn't have someone before Eddie arrived. Eddie checked him out in the office, collected his belongings from his classroom and took our sick son, covered in vomit home. Then he called me.


I was beyond upset. Brian is my baby, and I was scared, hurt and mad all at the same time. I made two hysterical calls to his teacher and the principal, Ms. Carter. A few hours past and I finally received a call from the principal. We met her in her office 15 minutes later. She had investigated the situation and assured us that there is a policy in place for handling sick children, and that this happens everyday. Obviously, today policy was not followed!! I believe that Ms. Bealer the aid, who also helped in Brian's classroom, was punishing Brian for something. She had worked at the school for several years, and obviously was aware of the policy and for some reason did not follow it today.


We were assured by the principal that Brian would be in a safe and secure environment and to send him back to school. Personally, I wanted the aid out of Brian's classroom, and no longer supervising him in the cafeteria or on the playground. I did not figure that would happen, so I asked for an apology. I assured Ms. Carter that Eddie and I would be dropping by frequently.


After reflecting on this incident for a few days, I now see this as a blessing. I felt prompted to check things out at school and figure out what was going on. We were in the right place at the right time. If Eddie had not walked in when he did, we may never have gotten the truth and found out there was a potential problem at school.


**Update: Ms. Bealer has not been back to school since this incident. She has been "sick." I hope she continues to be "sick" until school is out in June.