Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treating

Nathan and I went on our own. Kenny and his fiends were all a lot faster walkers (I mean runners) than he was. A friend of mine went on ahead with Kenny and her kids. It was a lot of fun to go with Nathan. Everyone oohed and ahhed over him. My friend says Kenny got more candy than any of the other kids. She said he would get to the door and people would gush over him and give him extra candy. Sorry for the brag moment...but my kids are cute!


After gallivanting around the neighborhood, we went back to my friends house and ate appetizers, talked, and swapped candy.

Trunk or Treat

Saturday was our ward Trunk or Treat. It's always a lot of fun. I don't have much to write about because it was pretty much the normal, run of the mill, trunk or treat.

Here is a picture of Mr. Grouchy Pants. He didn't end up going to the activity. He stayed home with Daddy and participated in his favorite pastime as of late (screaming.) He eventually screamed himself to sleep. But he sure looked cute!!



Our resident Master Jedi. He had a blast "light sabering" with all the other little Jedi's and Darth Vadars.
Cake walk goodies.
The scariest costumes at the event (just kidding). This is Eppie and Papa.
Our trunk. Or rather, my parents trunk, but we decorate together.

Staff Development

This is probably incredibly boring to most of you, but this is our family journal and I want to record this.

Today was a district wide staff development day. And I presented a workshop for the first time. I did it with my kindergarten partner teacher. We had about 30 teachers from all over the district, all PreK-2nd grade teachers.

The name of our workshop was Stand Up For Learning. It was a collection of gross motor (moving) activities that we had either self-developed or gotten from books over the years. We had activities for all subjects areas that could easily be changed to fit your particular grade level or subject area.

I was REALLY nervous to get up in front of a group of teachers who ranged from novice to master. But everything went great. We got a lot of compliments and even had someone ask if we would like to present again because she had some co-workers who would really enjoy what we had. It was a good experience and it got me excited about developing more workshops to present in the future. I have also spent the last two years of my time in first grade writing a book of emergent literacy comprehension practices and I was thinking on my drive home about working on getting it published through Teacher Created Materials. We'll see.

Hoy Dogs Roasting On An Open Fire

I know these pictures are of marshmallows, but we did roast hot dogs first.

You see, when the tropical storm blew through here this last summer, a large piece of tree came down in the middle of the backyard. And there it remained-for several months. When all the outdoor summer stuff went on sale, we bought a fire pit. (We called the fire department and made sure we were "legal".) Now we can tell people that we left the tree laying across our backyard on purpose so we would have fire wood and not because we were just plain lazy and didn't want to get out in the heat and cut it up.

It was a lot of fun and we roasted marshmallows everyday this weekend. The best part is that my boys, the worm farm making-paint on themselves-pour dirt on their own heads boys, would not eat a roasted marshmallows. Why? Because it made their hands sticky.

I will never understand the XY species.

What Sweet Music Doth Fill The Air

If I seem a bit loopy or more insane than usual, it would be because I have spent all week listening to the most beautiful music ever to have graced this earth. It has consumed all my waking and sleeping hours. I am mesmerized by its earthly quality and I cannot seem to escape it. Let me give you a glance into our world this last week.

Ah, music to the ears. Especially for literally hours on end, day after day, night after long night.

Alas, where has my sweet baby gone and what demon has replaced him.
I PROMISE I'll be good, just send back my baby! Please! If you have any mercy at all!! I'm begging you! I'll do ANYTHING!

Sorry. See what I mean by a bit insane. I'm better now.

PS- Again, don't judge me (I seem to say that a lot). I'm sure lots of parents taunt their toddlers from behind a video camera. I'm a good mom....really.

Getting the Kids To Do Your Work

Kenny is a really smart guy. That's why he reasons his way out of things. He taught himself the ABCs at two and knew all his letter sounds at two and a half. People are under the impression that it is because I am a teacher that he gained these skills at such an early age. Could not be farther from the truth. I read to him every night, and give him educational toys and videos, but that is the extent of my involvement in his development (no judging- I have other things to do like paint my toenails, wash my hair, and eat bon-bons). Actually, I really don't do those things. I mean, I do wash my hair and I do paint my toenails and I have been known to eat a box of Dove mini-ice cream bars...so...hmmm...maybe I am... Doesn't matter, I'm digressing.

Nathan on the other hand is completely the opposite. He is capable of learning things. He will suddenly pop out with this knowledge we had no idea he had. Like counting to ten. But he is totally uninterested in learning his colors, or shapes, or letters.

Which is why I like this video. I have my teach-himself-so-I-can-eat-Dove-bars kid teach my I-just-don't-see-the-relevance-in-learning-colors-kid the letters.


Life is grand!

Sorry!

I know I haven't posted since Sunday. Nathan is sick and things have been CRAZY busy. I have about 2 posts half written that I promise to finish tomorrow.

Now it is upstairs to fins out why Nathan is wailing and screaming...again.

Interviews

We have a friend who came into town today. Jim is a doctor interviewing for match day. He had my husband helping him practice interviewing. It got us discussing some of the strange questions you get asked in interviews. One question we discussed was "If you could invite three people to dinner, dead or alive, who would it be?" We discussed what would be the most appropriate answer to such a question before diving into the realm of silly. My husband, being the man he is, said he would say people like Stalin. Another answer was, "Your mama!" Anyway, we had a great ime and it got me thinking. What is the dumbest interview question you have ever been asked. And what on earth do poeple expect to learn about you from asking such crazy questions?

Pumpkin Party 2007

Happy Halloween!

Last night we held our annual family pumpkin party. We started out by turning on the Halloween tunes and making up some pumpkin cookies. Cooking with the boys is always an adventure. Things tend to get a bit, ummm....messy. But is a great experience for them and they love doing it so much.
Next came clean out the pumpkin time. Daddy ends up doing most of that because after one handful of pumpkin guts, the boys shy away. It is a point of puzzlement to me that they will play with worms and smash bugs, but get weird when it comes to a slimy pumpkin. Anyway, I cleaned off the seeds and roasted them. Very tasty.

We got each of the boys a little pie pumpkin to decorate while Daddy worked on the big pumpkin. Nathan even glued a few foam stickers and pom-poms onto his pumpkin.
After painting, we all watched Disney's Haunted Mansion and ate cookies while Daddy finished our family jack o' lanturn. It looks AWESOME!!
Didn't he do a great job! I love this pumpkin. It looks fantastic with a candle inside.

Fun, fun, fun!

Saturday Serenade

Diagnosis

For those who don't know, Kenny has been seeing a pediatric gastro-intestinal specialist who is working on figuring out why his growth has always been so minimal. Kenny has always been in the lowest percentile for weight (I'm mean he stays between 0-3%) and the 50% range for height. He stayed the exact same weight between 1 and 2 years old and he actually lost weight between 4 and 5. After some tests, the diagnosis is that there is something wrong with how his stomach empties food into his lower digestive system. He will eat a fairly okay breakfast, a small lunch , and nothing for dinner. This is because his stomach still has food from breakfast. His case is on the less severe side, so he will not need surgery at this time. He is on medication and the doctor wants to see him in four months.

I am really grateful for this diagnosis. I have been saying for years that something was not right. He ate less that most 2 year old children and when he got sick he would throw up undigested food from 24-48 hours earlier (sorry, gotta keep it real.) We switched peditricians and the new lady took one look at his chart, then a look at Kenny, and said something wasn't right. Now we have a plan and I know why he has so little weight gain and a hard time building muscle mass. The poor boy burns up calories before he has a chance to digest them.

Guess Who Can Run?!?

Yes, life has taken on a new dimension of chaos. Now that he can effectively run, he uses it at every opportunity. My favorite is when you are shopping at the grocery store and Kenny is twirling around running into people and you are trying to get Nathan into the cart and he runs away with a happy gleeful laugh and Kenny starts taking something off the shelf and Nathan man-handles the apples then runs away again and little old ladies look at you with sour faces that say, "What a horrible mother. In my day...."

Yeah...some days are like that. But he sure looks sweet running around the backyard!

Oh Man!

I just hate it when you win a free Porsche and you forget to call the number to redeem your prize. Man...that's the worst. Especially when it is your "final notice" and I have ignored all the other notices.

Seriously...who really falls for these things?!?

Breakfast

Kenny made breakfast with me on Sunday morning. He loved it!
I have figured out the key to getting him to eat. Make everything shaped like a ghost or a pumpkin. He ate and egg and four biscuits. Nathan also ate an egg and three biscuits.

Scarecrow Festival

We went to the 31st Annual Scarecrow Festival. It was held in a little town in the middle of hill country. There were about 250 vendors- crafts, toys, food, trinkets, games. It was SO much fun! Seeing all the handmade things made me think about Mimi and Papa and their butterflies. They would have loved this festival. We played games, and shared some of the fun foods you can only get at carnivals and festivals. Enjoy the pictures!

Pony rides. Our boys have never had a pony ride. They enjoyed it, though I think Nathan was a little confused about what he was doing. He kept looking at the horse with a quizzical look.



We got the boys pop guns. The man selling them had a sign that said, "Made in my GARAGE, in **** Texas. NOT made in China." It was funny given all the toy recalls for anything made in China that have been flooding then news as of late. As you can see, Nathan is a little confused about the whole aiming process. Their really cute little toys and we were asked by about 5 different families where we had bought them.




Kenny was eying this ride about 5 minutes after we got to the festival. He waited patiently until after we had walked around and done everything else. It was a long ride. The boys were on for about 10 minutes. They had the best time! It was the perfect way to end the festivities.

After a long day in the sun, the boys watched a movie for the ride home. Daddy and I did not want to listen to Veggie-Tales, again, so we put on the wireless headphones. Unfortunately, they don't fit little man's head. So Ken asked me to find something he could use to hake his head bigger. This is how Nathan looked the whole 1 1/2 hours home.

We had a GREAT day. The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was energized, and the festival had a lot to offer!

Downtown

Kenny calls downtown a
"family of buildings."

So cute!

Photos

Here are a few photos of the boys. This is our new patio furniture. Our next door neighbors moved to Alaska and couldn't take it with them, so we got it. The boys love eating outside.
Nathan is catching up on his DaVinci Code.
Kenny playing on his Hop-A-Roo.

21st Century Learners

This is a video we watched during a staff in-service training this afternoon. I really liked it because it is about what I have been campaigning to my fellow teachers for several years. I am one of the teachers who really push the use of technology and thinking outside the box when it comes to educating children- getting away from the worksheets and rote drill and practice. Our new principal has the same ideas and our school is looking at doing some great things over the next few years.

Halloween Decorations

This is the crashing witch we have hanging on our front door. Yes, we are "that" type of people. But in our defense, we do not have a Santa Claus falling-off-roof or bending-over-with-pants-falling-down.

Lovely, isn't it. She even talks when you open the door.

Anyways, Kenny named this witch Eppie. He walks by and says, "Hi Eppie, ha, ha, ha."

Just thought that was humorous.

PS- Don't worry Mom, he decided to rename the witch "Clock" this afternoon.

PPS- We have had the kind of day where Ken has decided to give himself a vasectomy. If you have children, I'm sure you have had those thoughts as well. If not...you will. Just wait.

"Look At My New Word!!!"

So, just before bedtime, Kenny came up to with me with three foam letters in his hands and said, "Look Daddy! I can make some new words!" These were the letters "C", "F", and "R". He spent some time rearranging the letters, sounding them out, and telling me what they said. His last one was his favorite (and mine too). Here it is...


According to Kenny, it is pronounced "FOOK'R." It used to describe when your tooth is loose and falls out. Whether he's developing a bit of a Scottish accent or not, this is a great word! Grand-Dad would be proud!!!

Fragile

Packed and ready for shipment. All we need is an address.
So...who wants them?

Thanks Cassie and Jonny for the boxes!

New Title

Kindergarten teacher does NOT describe my job. I think I should be called one of the following or a combination of them:
Glue-bottle-fixer
Shoe-tying-expert
Human-Kleenex
Child-herder
Milk-carton-opener

I love teaching kinder! But these little ones are SO dependent on you at the beginning. I actually get called Mom several times a day.

We went upstairs to go to bed the other night and found this on our bed.

Nathan woke up after we put them to bed and moved his pillow into our room while we were downstairs. He must have REALLY wanted to sleep in our room. I put him on the floor next to my bed for the night.

Summer Days