Last Days of Preschool!!!!

I finished out our last week of preschool for our co-op group.

Tuesday, we did a whole alphabet review. I decorated up my door to celebrate the occasion. :) We practiced writing all the letters in the alphabet. Read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, then did a project in conjunction with the book. I didn't get pictures of the process because I had to help so this didn't get too messy. You can't really tell behind the alpha foamies, but the trunk of the coconut tree was stamped with the kids' forearms, then the leaves are the kids' hands. We played a memory game with upper case and lower case letters. Snack consisted of homemade jumbo soft pretzels in the shape of each kiddo's initial. :)Thursday, we had a water fun day. I set up a kiddie pool in the backyard, had the water table and a cute sprinkler for the kids to play with. And what would a water party be without water balloons?? Popsicles were a perfect treat to end the day.~~~~

This whole preschool experience has been pretty positive overall. I'm so glad that we participated with this group of mom's and kids. We've built good relationships with each other and the kids have become friends. I tend to stress myself out and get really worked up about the whole thing when it's my turn to teach, but it's been fun coming up with ways to teach the kids each time. I know Gavin has really enjoyed going to preschool and that has made it all worth it. :)

The cost of a #2 pencil

Well this sweet little one has cost us several hundred dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Monday, the 9th, I had dropped Brooklyn off at dance (after her complaining of a stomachache, should've listened...) and came back home to practice Blake's poem with him before heading to baseball practice. I was sitting on the couch in the family room and he was standing up, shuffling his bare foot on the ground when all of a sudden he screamed and lifted his foot. The above mentioned pencil had stabbed into the bottom of his foot!!! After Blake yanked it out, it was bleeding pretty good and the lead was gone from the pencil so I knew it was in his foot. Thank heavens Matt was only 5 minutes away from getting home, so he was able to assess the damage immediately.

Not even joking, in that very moment, the dance studio called to say that Brooklyn was vomitting in the bathroom and that I needed to come get her. Aaaahhhhh! As soon as I got back with Brooklyn, Matt & Blake headed off to urgent care to get his foot looked at.
The physician's assistant tried getting the lead out and was unsuccessful, then called in the MD, who wasn't able to get it out either. So they stitched his foot and wrapped it up and referred us to a podiatrist the next day. After the podiatrist dug around for awhile, he gave up too. No need to cause unnecessary damage to the foot, I guess. Poor Blakey!!! Matt said he was such a trooper through all these processes. He just ended up being stitched up again and had to wear a shoe-boot thingie until our follow-up with the podiatrist today, a week later.

His foot is healING, but not completely healED, so the stitches stay in, but he can wear a normal shoe again and we have to come back in a week. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching!!!

We've joked that Blake will always have a "lead foot" now. ;)

Both Brooklyn and Blake HAD whined that they didn't want to go to baseball practice that day, so I think they did this on purpose. LOL!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun ~ Lindsay's story

Brooklyn had been anticipating this weekend for WEEKS!!! This was the FIRST time that Brooklyn and I had the weekend to ourselves while the boys were away on Father's & Sons. I asked her what she wanted to do, just me and her, so we made our grand plans. The boys left Thursday night for their campout and after sending them off, we went to Subway for dinner. She gets so excited about Subway, love it!! :) Friday morning I got her out the door for school (just a half day) and it was SO quiet in the house!!! I got some cleaning done, showered and got myself ready, picked her up from school and we were gone for the rest of the day!!!

First, we had lunch at Paradise Bakery & Cafe, another place she loves! Such a stinker, giving me bunny ears in this pic!!
We did some shopping at Kohls, Justice and Old Navy. I was hoping to be able to find a cute outfit for Brooklyn at Justice, but I was sooooo disappointed! Aside from a lot of stuff just being plain immodest, too "old" looking for her age, or EXPENSIVE ($25 for a tank top???!), the things I *thought* might work just didn't even fit her remotely right! Even with 1/2 sizes and slims, the capris and bermuda shorts bagged all over her like they are expecting girls her age to have hips and a booty!!!! So she turned her search toward non-clothing items and ended up with a blue sequin-y purse, some ballerina earrings and a sparkly pink lip gloss. She was happy enough. We'll just stick with Old Navy, Gap and Children's Place for clothing for awhile longer. ;)

This is where it got more fun.... we went and picked up Aunt Brittney (my sis) and headed to the nail salon to get pedicures!!! Brooklyn has been DYING to get a pedicure for awhile, and although she didn't really get a "pedicure," she loved every second of getting her fingernails and toenails painted by a professional. ;)

We went to dinner at On the Border then saw Rio at the movie theater. By the time we dropped Brittney off, Brooklyn was O-U-T!! It was an incredibly long day and I was quite exhausted myself! On the drive back home, she slumped over in her booster and I had no idea how she could've been comfortable like this???! haha! I let her sleep in my bed, which has kinda been a tradition.

The next morning, we slept in til 8:30, ate a quick breakfast then went out on a bike ride. I was hoping for a nice refreshing ride, but it turned into stopping every 4 minutes, so we didn't make it very far before returning home. ;)

We got changed and headed to the ballfield for her baseball game. It was a stinkin' hot day so we just HAD to try out a new self-serve frozen yogurt place that just opened near our house.

We showered and got cleaned up to go to baptisms of a couple of Brooklyn's friends/Primary classmates in our ward. Alyssa Carrasco and Brooklyn are in the same class and really enjoy playing together. :)

By the time we got home, our "boys" were back from Father's & Sons. I think it's safe to say that everyone had a good time this weekend!!!

Fathers & Sons 2011 ~ Matt's story

As this is my first post on the Blog I thought it was appropriate for it to be about Fathers and Sons. In the past I have wanted the boys to be out of diapers before going to Fathers and Sons, which has been 3 years old for Blake and Gavin. Preston on the other hand has done real well with his potty training and I took the gamble and brought him along as well(only a few accidents). It was nice to have the three of them with me. I brought Cody and Joshua which was a lot of fun and my dad came up Friday afternoon as well.

The last few years our ward had gone to a few different areas trying to find a camping place that is close, so as to not consume so much time and gas money, and also a place that is in the pines and cooler than the valley. When a few locations fell through I suggested the camp site next to the Palmer Cabin. Bishop Slade had been up there in January and loved the area. I am completely biased to the area because I grew up running around those hills and playing in the creek.

To make sure we reserved the campsite we left Thursday night. It was late and the kids were exhausted so they slept very well.(thanks to the 0 degree sleeping bags we had for the kids) I on the other hand was trying out a new backpacking sleeping bag. I am slightly claustrophobic and do not do well with small sleeping bags. In fact, I usually sleep in a gigantic one that would fill up my entire 65L backpack. This compact semi rectangular sleeping bag weighs less than 3 lbs and with a liner goes down to 25 degrees. I only had a few panic attacks from the claustrophobia the first night, but the second night was better. I realized I will need to remember my wool socks for the cold mornings and a beanie to keep my balding head warm.(When I sleep I start off extremely hot, but end up cold in the mornings.)

In the Backpacking theme I used an MSR Pocket Rocket stove to make breakfast. We had Eggs Sausage, Yogurt and Bananas. The kids are good eaters and even in the slightly cold weather they were ready to explore. Because Blake had his foot surgery earlier in the week he had to keep it "Clean and Dry." That is near impossible for an 8 year old while wearing a silly walking boot to do as he plays in the forest next to a creek littered with Crawdads. Fortunately he did fairly well and only got his toes wet once. Preston had enough room to roam, but he stayed by me most of the time. He was in heaven as were the rest of the boys! No one was asking to play the Wii or watch TV. The forest had plenty to entertain them.

We caught crawdads and threw rocks in the creek, but one thing the boys will probably remember the most was that we put together a wooden pocket knife kit. It is just a craft and useless as a knife, but it gave me the opportunity to teach them how to hold and use a knife in a safe manner. Blake, now that he is in Cub Scouts and getting his Bobcat, got his first knife. He had fun sharpening sticks. he can only have it when I am with him and giving him my undivided attention. He did well and I feel he will continue to earn more freedoms with using a knife soon.Heading up on Thursday night made Fathers and Sons a much more rich experience. We had some time to ourself, but the kids also enjoyed their friends as they came up later on Friday. We didn't have as good of a turn out this year from our ward and we suspect it is due to unemployment, under employment and gasoline prices that are about $3.70/gal.We were tired when we got home on Saturday. Preston was the most tired as he would wake up at 6:30 am and go to sleep at 9:30pm without a nap. It was a wonderful trip and I love the opportunity to develop close relationships with my kids.

Our attempt at becoming Self-Reliant

Playing a bit of blog catch-up again....

Our garden is up in full swing for the season! We didn't plant as many plants this year because we always end up with crowding issues. We have strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes (early girls, romas and cherries), zucchini, green bell peppers, peas and cantaloupe. Planted a few watermelon plants but just like last year, they shriveled up! So bummed about that. :( We're already seeing good results and have picked lots of peas so far. Our first zucchini should be ready to come off the plant any day now!Handful of peas picked a couple days ago. Preston and Gavin love eating them right off the vine!Our blackberry plants have kinda vined out of control and it's hard to keep them tame, plus there is grass/weeds growing in the rocks where they are planted so it kinda looks like a mess. But we DO have lots of little berries on the plants!!
We've been talking about an idea for awhile and finally decided to bite the bullet and do it. We bought ChIcKeNs to raise in our very own backyard!! Lately it seems like it has become a more popular thing to do around here and I love the idea of being able to get fresh eggs right out the back door. :)

We didn't tell the kids anything about this and took them a couple weekends ago to pick out our chicks and get all their necessities. We ended up with five fuzzy babies ~ Goldie (Preston's), Rosie (Blake's), Olivia (Gavin's), Matilda (Brooklyn's) and Maizy (mine).
Last weekend, Matt decided that he wanted a couple more of a different variety and he stopped by a feed store and picked up two more baby chickens and a baby TURKEY!!!! Oh my, was I a little peeved! haha! Matt told the kids straight away that this turkey would be our Thanksgiving dinner! We'll see how traumatizing THAT will be to their poor little souls! The turkey's name is Tiny, because he's huge in comparison to the chickens. ;) The other two new chicks are Brownie and Leopard.

Tiny the Turkey (below)All our "babies" in their home for now

The kids don't leave the poor things alone and want to hold them all the time!!! I think it'll be a good test at responsibility for them and I'm already getting anxious for the chickens to hurry up and lay eggs, although that won't be for another 4-5 months!! We're already looking at coop designs for when we can move them outside. I'm hoping that this will be a great experience for us! *fingers crossed*