Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Eat my bubbles!
That is the kind of trash talk you hear at swim meets these days. My kids thought it was funny. It was fun to hear them learn all the team cheers and have some team spirit. After 8 weeks we have a lot of stories and a million pictures. Here is the recap...Swim Team.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
I think it came with a warning?
A few years ago I bought the coolest slicer from Pampered Chef with my birthday money. I was so excited! My sister in-law had one and I loved it. Can you guess the first thing it cut? My thumb- I guess I wasn't holding it right and my thumb slipped over the blade cutting a diagonal line from the top middle down to my corner of my nail. Luckily back then we lived .2 miles from the ER, but 6 hours and a few stitches later I returned home. No dinner was served that night. I thought I would always have a lopsided thumb, but now you I don't even notice it. My thumb has grown back nicely, although I have no feeling on that side.
The next Thanksgiving it took out Scott's thumb. Well who wants to spend Thanksgiving in the ER, so we just did our best to bandage it tight to stop the bleeding and Scott managed and suffered for the next few weeks.
Since it has been years since either of these incidents, I am sure you can guess where this is going. We had a third incident this week. Joshua has acquired the new job of unloading the dishwasher once a week (minus the glass and now anything sharp). 
A sharp blade was tucked underneath and he held it just right and whacked half his nail off. I thought for sure it would be another ER trip, but after a Popsicle, we got a good look. Then we put pressure on it for a while as Josh ate a bowl of ice-cream. Then after consulting with the family Doctor (aka Uncle Craig) and sending him a photo I used my rusty nursing skills to bandage the thumb up. Joshua got a piece of gum for that procedure.
Now that we have digressed to just a band aide it doesn't seem that big of a deal. But he was glad to have a no-swim pass for a day. He is getting better at the swimming, but 8 weeks of swimming 5-6 days a week has not been his favorite. We are on the count down. One more practice and one more meet, then swim team will be over.
On a side note-- At first I went to the Pampered Chef site to get a picture and they have made some cool improvements. I also noted that all extra blades are now stored in their own enclosed casings. I guess our warning only applies to the older models.
**Here is the first installment of our family vacation...The Beach.**
The next Thanksgiving it took out Scott's thumb. Well who wants to spend Thanksgiving in the ER, so we just did our best to bandage it tight to stop the bleeding and Scott managed and suffered for the next few weeks.
Since it has been years since either of these incidents, I am sure you can guess where this is going. We had a third incident this week. Joshua has acquired the new job of unloading the dishwasher once a week (minus the glass and now anything sharp). 
A sharp blade was tucked underneath and he held it just right and whacked half his nail off. I thought for sure it would be another ER trip, but after a Popsicle, we got a good look. Then we put pressure on it for a while as Josh ate a bowl of ice-cream. Then after consulting with the family Doctor (aka Uncle Craig) and sending him a photo I used my rusty nursing skills to bandage the thumb up. Joshua got a piece of gum for that procedure. Now that we have digressed to just a band aide it doesn't seem that big of a deal. But he was glad to have a no-swim pass for a day. He is getting better at the swimming, but 8 weeks of swimming 5-6 days a week has not been his favorite. We are on the count down. One more practice and one more meet, then swim team will be over.
On a side note-- At first I went to the Pampered Chef site to get a picture and they have made some cool improvements. I also noted that all extra blades are now stored in their own enclosed casings. I guess our warning only applies to the older models.
**Here is the first installment of our family vacation...The Beach.**
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Mr. Personality
A month ago today I was in Epcot enjoying fireworks! Where are my pictures you may ask? Well, I put a little teaser up on the family page and played around with some video, but it is a huge project that has hit a major complication.
Meet Mr. Personality.
This little guy who has been flying under the radar as the sweetest baby in the world is approaching his 2nd birthday and finding his place in our family. This past week he mastered escaping the play pen. He has gotten out before, but usually only when he was really mad or when the play pen was close to something that could give him leverage. This week I tried to set up a little schedule of school time/reading time with the older group and that became playpen time. Alex lasted two days and realized he was not where the action was.
Normally his nap time is my work time since I don’t get much done with him either in my arms/or hanging on my legs. This is really a fun phase. :) But with kids at home we are still adjusting, so it took me a little bit longer to clean up morning stuff and lunch before I sat down for me time. However with his new skill nap times are taking a hit because he realized that if he can climb out of the play pen why not try the crib. It is a little bit higher but really all you have to do is lower yourself down.
So I am going to have to find a different time to work on those photos that haven’t been touched recently. In the meantime at least I processed Preschool Graduation, and the Triathlon that I participated in a few weeks back.
Those will have to do for now; in addition to the little clip that I uploaded of Alexander’s new favorite word. It is actually more of an expression. Alex makes the best face- but it is so unpredictable that I had a very hard time capturing it. He will purse his lips together and say “OOUUU” when he hears or sees something that surprises him. He really likes rumble noises like the other day when a tractor when by cutting the grass. I was finally able to catch him because we had a thunder storm and that noise at least became a little predictable. This little kid is talking in 4-5 word sentences now, of course I don’t catch 75% of it, but he knows what he is saying and he can repeat it syllable for syllable.
Meet Mr. Personality.
This little guy who has been flying under the radar as the sweetest baby in the world is approaching his 2nd birthday and finding his place in our family. This past week he mastered escaping the play pen. He has gotten out before, but usually only when he was really mad or when the play pen was close to something that could give him leverage. This week I tried to set up a little schedule of school time/reading time with the older group and that became playpen time. Alex lasted two days and realized he was not where the action was.
Normally his nap time is my work time since I don’t get much done with him either in my arms/or hanging on my legs. This is really a fun phase. :) But with kids at home we are still adjusting, so it took me a little bit longer to clean up morning stuff and lunch before I sat down for me time. However with his new skill nap times are taking a hit because he realized that if he can climb out of the play pen why not try the crib. It is a little bit higher but really all you have to do is lower yourself down.
So I am going to have to find a different time to work on those photos that haven’t been touched recently. In the meantime at least I processed Preschool Graduation, and the Triathlon that I participated in a few weeks back.
Those will have to do for now; in addition to the little clip that I uploaded of Alexander’s new favorite word. It is actually more of an expression. Alex makes the best face- but it is so unpredictable that I had a very hard time capturing it. He will purse his lips together and say “OOUUU” when he hears or sees something that surprises him. He really likes rumble noises like the other day when a tractor when by cutting the grass. I was finally able to catch him because we had a thunder storm and that noise at least became a little predictable. This little kid is talking in 4-5 word sentences now, of course I don’t catch 75% of it, but he knows what he is saying and he can repeat it syllable for syllable.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Today was a Big Day
Today was a big day! Besides the fact that Samantha and Jacob are finishing up their last hour of school for the year, today I submitted all the paper work and registered the twins for Kindergarten. I can't believe they are done with preschool. We missed the round-up when our family was out of town, so they gave me a folder to take home a week ago.
It was a lot of fun riding to school today with Samantha and Jacob. We escorted them inside and then went to the office. I talked to the counselors and introduce the twins to some of the staff. Some were surprised, they know me from volunteering but had never realized I had twins (that's because I only volunteer when they were at school).
On one of the forms they left two lines for you to provide any extra information to take into consideration when placing the child. Only two lines! The last two years, for their preschool, I have been required to write an essay and now all I get is two lines. It was one thing to send my oldest to kindergarten, but this is going to be a whole new game. Samantha was ready for kindergarten at three, we were both happy when that day came. Matthew and Joshua have never been separated from each other for more than a few hours. How are they going to handle being in separate classrooms with all new kids and teachers.
Today starts our summer but we have 11 weeks to get them ready to go. Samantha told me this morning that she has mixed feelings about the end of school. She has always had wonderful teachers, but this year her teacher was exceptional. I loved to go visit their classroom because I loved her teacher too. She was a great example to me on how you can always take the opportunity to teach. I loved how she handled her students and her enthusiasm and interest for what they had to say. Samantha would always tell me about days where they would have group discussions and just sit and talk as a class. Samantha has always loved reading and learning, but this year she really has learned to love Math and Science too.
Last week their class put on a poetry program. Everyone was to choose a poem and memorize it for the program. Samantha was so excited she had her poem memorized even before we left on our trip. This year she has pulled excellent grades, passed the TAKS tests and in the 3rd term she was named Coyote Champion of her class.
Jacob is really excited for summer. He too has had a good teacher this year. I got to know the students in his class each week as I would take them and have them read to me. I was surprised at the improvement that all the students made over the year. He doesn't quite have the love of learning that Samantha has, but he knows how to get his stuff done so that he can play. He pulled "All A's" every term this year. I was really proud of him and his progress. He thinks he is going to have a fun summer full of x-box and friends but he won't get it for free. I know how to motivate him and he will may have to earn some of those privileges.
I don't think I have heard him practice the piano for a while...
It was a lot of fun riding to school today with Samantha and Jacob. We escorted them inside and then went to the office. I talked to the counselors and introduce the twins to some of the staff. Some were surprised, they know me from volunteering but had never realized I had twins (that's because I only volunteer when they were at school). On one of the forms they left two lines for you to provide any extra information to take into consideration when placing the child. Only two lines! The last two years, for their preschool, I have been required to write an essay and now all I get is two lines. It was one thing to send my oldest to kindergarten, but this is going to be a whole new game. Samantha was ready for kindergarten at three, we were both happy when that day came. Matthew and Joshua have never been separated from each other for more than a few hours. How are they going to handle being in separate classrooms with all new kids and teachers.
Today starts our summer but we have 11 weeks to get them ready to go. Samantha told me this morning that she has mixed feelings about the end of school. She has always had wonderful teachers, but this year her teacher was exceptional. I loved to go visit their classroom because I loved her teacher too. She was a great example to me on how you can always take the opportunity to teach. I loved how she handled her students and her enthusiasm and interest for what they had to say. Samantha would always tell me about days where they would have group discussions and just sit and talk as a class. Samantha has always loved reading and learning, but this year she really has learned to love Math and Science too.
Last week their class put on a poetry program. Everyone was to choose a poem and memorize it for the program. Samantha was so excited she had her poem memorized even before we left on our trip. This year she has pulled excellent grades, passed the TAKS tests and in the 3rd term she was named Coyote Champion of her class.
Jacob is really excited for summer. He too has had a good teacher this year. I got to know the students in his class each week as I would take them and have them read to me. I was surprised at the improvement that all the students made over the year. He doesn't quite have the love of learning that Samantha has, but he knows how to get his stuff done so that he can play. He pulled "All A's" every term this year. I was really proud of him and his progress. He thinks he is going to have a fun summer full of x-box and friends but he won't get it for free. I know how to motivate him and he will may have to earn some of those privileges. I don't think I have heard him practice the piano for a while...
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