Thanksgiving Pre-school

Today was my last turn to teach pre-school until next year--and I survived! Today was actually a pretty easy day because I only had 5 of the 9 kids here. We did some fun, cute Thanksgiving crafts and I thought I would show them off. The kids had a lot of fun doing these.


I wish I could take credit for the ideas, but I got them from familyfun.com The pilgrim hats were super easy. It's just a marshmallow dipped in chocolate (using a toothpick) and then set on an upside-down shortbread cookie. (like the Keebler ones with the fudge stripes) Then you use frosting to draw a buckle. The turkey hats were a big hit too.

This little girl of mine. This morning she asked, "where are we going today?"

Me: "We are going to a baby shower today and you are going to come with me because daddy's not here to watch you."

Natalie: "A baby shower? Is it naked!?"

I'm still laughing about this one.

Complex workings of the TV

Natalie hit the TV so Kelton went up and hit the TV.

Me: "Natalie, don't hit the TV. If you do it Kelton is going to do it too and he won't stop if you keep doing it." (I can't tell you how many times each day I say something like this)

Natalie: "Why? What will happen?"

Me: "You could break the TV."

Natalie: "Yeah, the glass would break and then all of the people will come out!"

I'm sure most kids think the same thing (even if it makes no sense) but it's still funny. Hey we still do have a tube TV so I guess you could maybe fit some people in there. I wonder what her explanation would be if we had a flatscreen...

Halloween

After about a month of asking I was finally able to tell Natalie that yes, today was Halloween. We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat last night and the kids had a lot of fun. Natalie was Tinker Bell (Bee Bell as Kelton would say) and Kelton was Peter Pan. Although the consensus was that Kelton was Robin Hood. I admit that his costume was very multifunctional. I realized after I made it that people would think he was Robin Hood. But come on....Tinker Bell and Robin Hood? Yeah, that doesn't really work. Oh well, he was really cute anyway. Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Link from the Zelda games...he really could have been almost anything!

We carved pumpkins yesterday. I was at a meeting while Nate and the kids cleaned out the pumkins, but how cute is this picture? I guess they were supposed to be taking turns pulling out the seeds. Yeah, we all know how well that works. Nate said they had a ball. They probably couldn't believe they were being allowed to make such a mess.
And here is the finished product. Nate did the one on the left and I did the one on the right. It's a web. Get it? Yeah, nevermind... (we had one little girl get the joke at the trunk-or-treat)And here are the costumes. I put some better pictures from the Halloween story time below because this year, for the first time ever, I actually had to put clothes on underneath my kids costumes! It was actually cold outside--very different. We probably should have put jackets on them as well, but then Natalie wouldn't have been able to wear her wings, which you can't see anyway because they kept turning sideways.Beautiful little Tinker Bell dancing to a song at storytime. Robin Hood, I mean Peter Pan inspecting his treats.

So sleepy

Time: about 10:20 this morning (naptime is around 12:00)

Where: family room floor

What: Kelton fast asleep midway through his snack (string cheese in his left hand) and possibly intending to play with the block in his right hand.

Why do they insist on waking up so early in the morning when they are clearly still SO SLEEPY!

Fun Weekend

We had just about the entire Burgess family here for the weekend for Tina's baptism. (Erica, this post can be for you guys--we missed having you here!) On Friday night we had a lot of fun going to Disney on Ice. Our original intent was to leave Kelton home with a babysitter because the show started at 7:30--after bedtime. But we ended up taking him and I was really glad because he loved the whole thing. Along with seeing Mickey and his gang, we saw scenes from the movies Cars, Little Mermaid, Lion King, and just about the whole new Tinker Bell movie. All the kids had a blast and I think the adults enjoyed it more than we expected. Very fun. However, a 2 hour Disney production geared toward little kids shouldn't start at 7:30. We had some tired kids by the end.

This was right before the show started. You can see how excited Natalie is.Tinker Bell Lightning McQueen. They used real cars for this part. They looked just like in the movie. The windshield was some kind of computer screen so the eyes could move around and blink.

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Emily at Pump it Up--which is an indoor inflateable jumping castle type place. Again, the kids had a lot of fun. And so did some of the adults--Nate and Tennyson raced each other through the kid sized obstacle course. Sad to say that Nate got his trashed kicked. Tennyson launched himself headfirst like a madman through the whole thing. Nate was laughing too hard to ever gain any ground. They both literally fell out of it at the end and just layed there. Pretty funny.

The first picture is Natalie going down the slide and the second one is Kelton. Nate is at the top of the slide in both pictures. This slide is a little steeper than it looks in the picture. Kelton would go down it all by himself. It was funny because he would look terrified on the way down but as soon as he stopped, he would get the biggest smile on his face and want to go again.

This is right after the three of them went down the slide together.

Then that night we went to Tina's baptism. (For friends who might be wondering, Tina is my brother Rob's wife.) As you can see, Nate baptized her. They didn't fill the font very full and Nate just about had to go in with her to get her under all the way.

Despite the craziness of a ton of people, Rob getting kidney stones, and a sick baby, we all had a fun weekend.

For Contact Lens wearers

So I love getting a good deal. And I got one today I thought I would share with all you contact wearers. I got an eye exam today because I needed to buy more contacts and new glasses (my children were kind enough to break my old ones for me). We don't have any vision insurance so contacts can add up. I always buy my contacts online because it is so much cheaper. Anyway, the place I buy them from is visiondirect.com. I had been wearing Acuvue Advance but decided to try the newer Acuvue Oasys--which is basically the same thing but a bit better and only a few dollars more per box. So here's my amazing deal. I got them for $162 (for 8 boxes) and Acuvue has a $100 rebate for people buying Oasys for the first time! So I am getting my years worth of contacts for $62. Not bad at all considering EyeMasters wanted $350! (I would have then still gotten the $100 rebate, but still.) So if any of you are needing new contacts soon and don't have insurance... Even if you don't wear that particular kind of contact lens, I have found that visiondirect just has the overall lowest prices on contacts of anywhere online or otherwise. Like way lower. So check it out if you need contacts. Okay, PSA all done. I just really don't like it when people I know end up spending way more than they have to on something that's already so expensive. :)

I promise I don't abuse my kids

So here is my cute little boy... (by the way, it's way too hot for what he's wearing. I was just trying new clothes on him. Someday it will cool off, maybe.)

And here is my cute little boy with a nice black eye. (Purple, if you ask Natalie)

So it doesn't show up quite as well in the pictures and it's actually already getting better. It happened two days ago. What happened? He fell off the trampoline. But, he didn't fall off by way of the giant hole, he fell out through the opening in the enclosure. So it could/would have happened even if our trampoline wasn't half dead. Anyway, I heard him screaming and when I went out his whole face was covered in blood. I had to spray him off with the hose to even be able to tell where he was bleeding from. Turns out that he must have landed on or somehow hit the existing scar he had up by his eye and popped it open. He got the scar about two months ago. I didn't even know that could happen! He had a little bruise and a bump which then turned into a black eye by morning. It's just funny how little boys bleed a lot more than girls. Natalie also fell off the trampoline through the opening in the enclosure when she was about three. But did she bleed? Nope.

I give in

So our trampoline has issues. The southern Arizona sun has fried it. We've only had this trampoline for a little over 2 years and it's already destroyed. What's happened is that the pieces of material that are sewn onto the mat and then wrap around the metal triangular pieces the springs attach to have been vaporized by the sun. So about half of the mat is hanging off and not connected to anything. I've been keeping the kids away, telling them they can't jump anymore. I've caught Natalie on there a few times and as soon as she hears my voice, she makes a hurried exit. But then Kelton figured out how to get on the other day and he was having so much fun. Natalie has a ton of fun on there to. So Nate and I figured, oh well. When you watch them jump you can tell that they have it under control--it's not quite as imminently dangerous as it looks. But I still hold my breath a bit. Take a look...

This is how they get on now.

This is how they get off. They just sit down and slide right off. Well, Natalie sits. Kelton goes on his belly.

I know this is probably so dangerous. But what can I do? My kids think they have the greatest trampoline in the world! It a trampoline and a slide all in one. Hopefully my next post won't be about yet another trip to the ER. We've been there twice since June. I think that's more than enough.

Kids at the store

So I know all small children are a bit of a pain at the store, but these kids of mine... So Kelton just started doing something that Natalie did when she was his age. He will let out this very loud, piercing scream/shriek at the top of his lungs. Oh, he's not upset or anything. He does it because he likes the way it echoes in the vastness of the store. He lets a new one out at about 5 second intervals. Most people usually ignore grumpy kids in the store, but when Kelton does this, everyone stares at me with a horrified look or gives me the evil eye. To make matters worse, if I try to do anything to make him stop or acknowledge him in any way, he just does it more and even louder. Crazy boy! So I ignore him and people glare. So is this just some genetic thing with my kids or do your kids do stuff like this at the store? Someone please tell me your kids do something like this too. :)

Natalie says

I just love the funny things that little kids say, whether its my own kids or someone else's. It's interresting to see how their little minds work. So here's a funny one from Natalie. Part of what makes the things she says funny is her personality. She is just so expressive. We were eating lunch and and I was asking Natalie about preschool. I told her preschool is going to be at Sister Smith's next week and she looked at me a bit funny. So I started explaining who Sister Smith is because I could tell she was confused by the name, even though she knows who she is.

Me: " You know how you were at Sister Parry's house? Well, Lila's (she is one of the little kids in the preschool) name is Lila Parry. So her momma's name is Sister Parry. And Edison's last name is Smith. His name is Edison Smith. So his mom's name is Sister Smith."

Natalie: her eyes get real big and she starts to smile

Me: "And the next week preschool is at our house. Your name is Natalie Webb. So my name is Sister Webb. So when all your friends come over here, they will call me Sister Webb."

Natalie: "Yeah! And I will call you Sister Momma!!"

Makes sense right?

Should've seen it coming...

So take a look at these pictures. Look closely. Do you notice anything? (besides the cute little boy) :)

Okay, so did you get it? Nate and I have been observing over the last few weeks and we are now pretty much sure...Kelton is left handed! We really shouldn't be shocked. My grandfather and little sister are both left handed (along with some cousins) and Nate has a left handed brother. But it's still a bit of a surprise. Now before any of you think, "now wait a minute, he's way to young to make that judgement. Kids that young switch back and forth all the time before they decide on a dominant hand," just hear me out. Natalie did that. She would sometimes use her left hand, sometimes her right. A lot of times she would switch back and forth during one sitting. But, here's what we've noticed with Kelton. He never uses his right hand. Seriously, never. When he does things like eat or color, it's always his left hand. We've tried putting the crayon right next to his right hand. He will pick it up with his right hand, but only to put it in his left. We have put the crayon in his right hand and no deal. He just moves it to the left. No matter what we do to try to get him to use his right hand, even if only for a moment, it doesn't work. The kid is left handed. Not that this is a bad thing, but how on earth do I teach him to do things completely opposite?

Softball is supposed to be fun, right?

Okay, so I had quite the adventure last night. Some friends in my ward decided to put a team together to play in a softball co-ed city league. I was a little nervous to participate with it being co-ed. In my experience, men are generally much stronger when it comes to hitting things with a bat. Anyway, they thought they might be short handed on women for the game on Tuesday night so I decided to play so they wouldn't forfeit. So we are playing and its getting late and the game is almost over. I get up to bat and I hit it. I can see that it is going toward either the short stop or third baseman--both of which are men. So I realize that if I am going to be safe I need to look straight ahead and just sprint as fast as I can to first. As soon as I hit the bag I feel this crushing blow hit the side/back of my head. I instantly knew that the throw to first had been off and I was in perfectly the wrong place. All I knew after that was that I had no control over my movements and I was falling. The blow had actually paralized me for a short time. I guess what actually happened, so I was told, was that I kept going for a few steps before my head and upper body fell forward and I rolled over and landed on my neck. Everyone was really worried and was telling me not to move--not that I could have anyway. After a minute or so I could tell that I could move if I wanted to. Oddly enough, my head didn't hurt but my left knee was killing me. So I layed there flat out on my back for over 20 minutes waiting for the paramedics. Then I had the pleasure of being strapped to a backboard. I tell you what, over the next hour and a half or so, I grew to hate that thing more than should be possible for an inanimate object. I then rode to the hospital in the back of an ambulance--no sirens. Nate followed us there. I then waited forever for a doctor to come in. I was still straped to the backboard and the thing was causing more pain to my head and neck than I would have ever dreamed was possible. I am not lying when I say that for me, it was much worse than being in labor. I'm not sure I've ever been in that much pain before. It was amazing how instant the relief was when they took it off. By this point, a new problem has come up. The doctor was wanting me to tell him what had happened. I for the life of me could not speak coherently. I knew exactly what had happened but I couldn't get my brain to form the words. At one point the doctor even asked me if I had been drinking! Nice, huh? After he left, Nate started talking to me. He asked me what his name was. My first thought was, wow that's a stupid question, of course I know who you are. Then he repeated, "what's my name?" I went to answer and...nothing. I couldn't come up with it. After a struggle, I finally got it. He then asked my name, our kids names, middle names, friends and other famliy members. Initially, I came up blank every time. Sometimes he had to tell me because I just couldn't get it. It was wierd because even after I would get the name right, I had to have reassurance that it was correct. If he would have lied and said no, I would have believed him. It was so crazy. And incredibly frusterating. I knew who every one of these people were but there were just no names. Thankfully, that only lasted about 40 minutes. After that it started coming back to me much quicker. Anyway, they didn't seem to think anything was really wrong. My knee seems to be messed up pretty bad. They gave me a brace thing and some crutches. I can't walk on it. Also, my whole upper back feels completely out of place. That makes it hard to use the crutches to walk. I have a pretty sore spot on my head and neck and I have a nice scratch on my back. Other than that, I am great! Nate has been so helpful. He's cleaned the house and taken care of the kids and gotten me anything I have needed. I am so thankful to have him around for the rest of the week before school starts. There is no way I could take care of anything around here without him. Thanks Nate. I love you!

So I guess I learned a few lessons. Softballs are not soft. And don't play softball with men. There is no way most girls on the field could have thrown that dang ball that hard.

Sorry about the lovely picture, but this is about all I have to show for my troubles. What's funny is that this is the least of my troubles. But all of the things that really hurt look totally normal. My knee isn't even swollen.

Pre-School

Natalie went to her very first day of pre-school today! She was so excited and had so much fun. I am doing a pre-school co-op with a bunch of other moms from church. There are 8 kids total and we all take turns teaching. The pre-school is on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2 1/2 hours in the morning. So we each teach the class once every 8 weeks! It's great--I'm really excited too. It will give me some time to get stuff done and spend some alone time with Kelton--which he rarely gets from me. It was strange not having Natalie here at home, but it was nice to only have to keep track of one child.

So in these pictures you can see Natalie all ready to go to her first day of pre-school. She fished out that backpack from the toybox and was very excited to take it with her. You can't tell in the picture, but she actually has it on upside down and it is STUFFED full of her favorite toys. Of course I had to dump them all out back in her room and have her choose just one to take for show and tell. She chose her Sleeping Beauty Barbie--not a big surprise.

And here are some pictures of Kelton. I just wanted to put them on here because they are cute. Babies and toddlers are so cute right after they come out of the bath. I think it has something to do with the hooded towel. Plus right after the bath when Kelton is wrapped in a towel is about the only time when he will actually just cuddle and let you hold him.

Vacation Fun

Last Thursday we went to Snowflake to visit family. We just got back last night and we had so much fun. We got to see a lot of family on both sides. Chad and Erica's family and also Rob, Tina, and Christian were at my parents house. Natalie was so excited to be able to play with her cousins, especially Callie. Callie is only four months younger than Natalie so they have a lot of fun together.

It was fun to see baby (6 months old) Kira for the first time. It was really cute to see the two babies together. While at my parents house, Nate and I played Bocce ball for the first time. We played against Mel and Sean, Rob and Tina, and Chad and Erica. It was a really fun game. We are definitely going to have to get Nate's parents to buy a set so we can play over there too.

On Friday night, Nate had his 10 year high school reunion. He had a good time visiting with old friends from high school. Nate even won a prize for being the youngest classmate there. On Saturday we took Natalie and Kelton to see the parade. Natalie had tons of fun collecting all the candy thrown our way. The parade was a bit long and boring, but at least we were in the shade. And afterwards, I got to visit with some of my friends from high school, Ashley and Valerie, who happened to be right across the street from us. That night we let Natalie stay up so we could take her to the fireworks. We ended up watching them from a spot that was only about 150 yards away from where they were shooting them off. Natalie had a blast--she loves fireworks! Then she fell fast asleep on the way back home.

We spent all day Monday out at Lyman Lake just past St. Johns at our first Webb family reunion. It was just Nate's parents and all of their children. Everyone was there with the exception of one grandchild. I rode/drove a sea doo for the first time. It was a blast. Maybe someday in the distant future we will buy a couple of them. Natalie really liked riding on the boats. We got her to sit on the sea doo to take this picture, but we couldn't get her to ride it with us. I later got her to go with me, but after a few minutes, she told me she wanted to ride the boats again. I don't think she was too fond of the noise the sea doo makes.So, do you think Natalie likes the water? I've known that she loves water since about the first day she was born. Just look at that face! She loved swimming in the lake. We'd drop her off the dock, and she'd swim back to shore. She loved her lifejacket.

There's some of the family sitting on the shore watching those out on the water. Tiny picture, I know, but Nate and Natalie are both right about in the middle of the picture. In the picture above, you can see one of the two boats we had there and the tube/raft things we would pull people on behind the boats. Those were pretty fun to ride on too. If you are wondering if we still have another child...we do. His name is Kelton and he was asleep in the camper most of the time. He did go swimming with me for a little bit, shortly before we left. He loves, loves, loves the water too. In fact, he fell and got a cut near his eye and the only way I could make him stop crying was by putting him in the water. Who needs medicine when you've got a lake?

Yesterday we basically abandoned our kids (and probably wore out Grandma and Grandpa Burgess) and went to the temple and then went to see Harry Potter. It was nice to get out. And this Harry Potter movie was probably my favorite in a while. I was kinda disappointed by the last two movies. But I thought they did a pretty good job on this one. However, it helps that book #6 was probably my favorite of the series.

So now we are back home and I have a monstrous mess in my house to clean. Why is it that we seem to need a vacation from our vacation?