Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime

So far, so good! I know there are some moms that dread summertime, but I really don't. I look forward to having the kids at home. I miss them when they are at school, and I think it is so fun to hang out together. Plus, they're my little helpers around the house.

I do miss the extra alone time I have to get my work done, and there are times of fighting and the typical "I'm BORED!" But overall, we've had a great couple of weeks. I have really stuck to my guns on a couple of things this summer that have made a huge difference in everyone's attitudes and the overall peaceful feeling in our house: We watch little to no tv. And when we do, its educational. They read and do some math and writing every day. They spend two hours each morning outside. And we have tried to go on a walk every evening. Oh, and I've tried to keep a schedule. Not crazy strict, but we function better on a schedule.

I have to brag just a little. Bubba has been reading a children's illustrated version of "Treasure Island". He started it on Tuesday, and he has been so enthralled with it, he's been wanting to read non-stop. He read over two hours yesterday, and this morning the first thing he did was get the book out. He didn't even eat breakfast until after he had read for about 45 minutes. After breakfast and getting dressed, he picked it back up and I'm proud to say he finished!! It is 188 pages and 24 chapters. Pretty good for a 7 year old, I think.

Peanut woke up with the helper bug. By the time I got out of bed (slept in a little today, darn insomnia at night!), she had gotten herself dressed, brushed her teeth, and brushed her hair. Then, she made herself breakfast, cleaned off the kitchen table and counter, vacuumed the hallway, and cleaned up some toys in Bubba's room. What a girl!! She is such a sweetheart and was really in a mood to work today, I guess.

Do I have great kids, or what?

Love my kids. Love my hubby (stay tuned for a bragging note about him later). We have challenges just like everyone, but we're so blessed and life is good.

It's NOT always sunny in Utah

I usually write posts about fun things, or pictures of the kids. Today is different. Today is not fun. And I don't think they want their pictures taken. Don't worry, we're okay. Life happens. Its just one of those days that my mood matches the gray, cloudy skies. Here's my brief post with our TOP TEN today, so far:

1. Bubba is now sick, and it looks like its probably strep. I hope the doctor will call in a prescription for us so we don't have to pay for another visit (we don't have insurance right now).
2. Peanut finished her final round of antibiotics today. She was taking them for strep. Since I was up so much with Bub last night, I didn't have the energy to get her up and ready for school and she didn't want to go anyway. She can have a lazy day.
3. Jeff has had a headache on and off for the past few days, but last night it turned into a migraine. I worry that he is getting sick as well.
4. I have almost a full load of work today, which is a good thing. But when I have all the sickies, its hard to get work done.
5. I forgot to pay our cell phone bill, so I couldn't text my sister this morning. Thankfully, I paid it online and we avoided a crisis! I would be lost if I couldn't communicate with my sis.
6. There is a kid at school who is probably the most advanced in the class. Unfortunately, he knows it and rubs it in to the other kids. Mine in particular, it seems. He's very competitive and tells them that they aren't as smart as him because they might have missed one or two math problems. Little jerk. My mean, protective side is coming out and I'd like to give him a good, hard noogie. But I won't.
7. Our house is a mess. But I don't have time to clean it right now.
8. We at least have clean underwear, but they are pretty much the only clean clothes in our house. Laundry needs to be done. I'll get there.
9. I'm really ticked off that my kids get sick because parents send their kids to school sick. The strep has been going around their class. People really need to get a clue. Think of someone besides yourself for once. This coming from the lady whining about how difficult my life is today.
10. I'm blogging instead of working on any of the million things I should be doing.


P.S. We will (hopefully) return to our regularly happy, positive programming sometime in the near future.

P.P.S. I miss my mom

So NOT a craft blog

A little over a year ago, my awesome sis-in-law Missy introduced me to the wide world of craft blogs and I have been hooked (and I mean hooked!) ever since. I can't get enough! I love to see all the different things that super-creative people make and I sometimes attempt to make something myself. I even have a wish list of stuff that I want to make. Its only about 2 pages long so far. Yeah, I'll get through that someday. I'm not an overly creative or crafty person, but I do love to try.

So even though this is so NOT a craft blog, I wanted to share what the kids and I did for Valentines Day. For the kids to pass out to their friends at school, we made heart-shaped crayons. I got the idea here: http://www.emiliehandmade.com/2010/02/make-your-own-crayons-freebie.html

It was fun, but took a lot of time! Mostly peeling the paper off of them.

Peeling the crayons:

Peanut was just getting over strep, so she's kind of pale in this picture.

Sorting - melting - in the molds - ready to be bagged:

The finished product:

And, since I get to be the room mom this year that organizes the holiday parties, I came up with an idea for all the kids to do a craft during the Valentine's party. I drew a large heart on a piece of copier paper and made a copy for each kid in the class. They first wrote a message to their teacher on the heart in crayon, like you would see on a conversation heart. They wrote things like "UR the best", "#1 Teacher", "Be Mine", "I love u", etc. Then they used watercolor paints to do a wash over the top of the message; and cut out the heart. We let them dry and then put them in this box that I made yesterday. It is a candy box just like the "Sweethearts" conversation hearts box. I made it out of a Lehi Roller Mills muffin mix box. This is the front of the box. On the back, I made an ingredient list out of all the kids' names in the class. Turned out cute, I think.

And in this corner...

Peanut told me that she had to pay one of her classmates, Bronson, a penny today. They use play pennies as behavior motivators in their class. So, this is the story of the penny. Yesterday, a few boys from her class were chasing her at recess and she didn't like it. I don't know what they planned on doing to her if they caught her. Today at school, the same group of boys were chasing her. She told the adult on recess duty about it twice, but the recess duty didn't do anything about it. Well, today they caught her. When I asked what they did to her, she said that they were grabbing her and one put his arm around her neck. She told them to stop, but they wouldn't. Now, Peanut is the sweetest, gentlest girl. And, for the most part, rather soft-spoken. So, what do you think she did?? She punched the one that was grabbing her. Socked him right in the gut! Ha! That's my girl! When they got back to class, one of the other little girls told the teacher that Peanut had punched Bronson, so Peanut had to pay him a penny. Not fair in my opinion, but I'm really proud of her for standing up for and defending herself.

It's about time

Well, it finally happened. Bubba finally let me pull out his loose tooth last night! It took about 30-45 minutes of hysterical laughing (he gets that from me, poor kid), but we finally pulled the tooth that has been loose for quite some time. He came home from school yesterday and was able to bend it almost all the way forward. Jeff about lost his lunch a couple of times watching him do it (wimp!). I'm posting a regular picture of him, and then a heat map picture because you can see the gap better.

You gotta love it, baby!

Over the holidays, we were very fortunate to be given tickets to see a Jazz game. They were great seats and we felt so lucky to get them. It was the first time that we have all gone together to a Jazz game. We had a lot of fun! The kids loved being there. They especially loved The Bear, and trying to catch whatever the cheerleaders threw out, or what the blimp dropped. We didn't catch anything, but they were giving out free t-shirts. We also received little takeout boxes filled with samples from Tuscano's. Yum!

Peanut really got into the game. She was cheering and chanting with the best of 'em! Jeff liked that a lot and was excited to see her getting so into it. Bubba...not so much. He liked being there, but he didn't get into the game as much. He would rather be playing basketball than watching, I think.

Here are some highlights:

Of course, our two favorites: D-Will and The Bear!

Holiday Fun!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We had a great time with our Hinds family! Unfortunately, Peanut and I were sick for most of the week before Christmas and part of the week after. We both had really bad cases of the flu with the whole works. Hot and cold, prickly skin, body aches, headaches, and high fever (103.9 for me, 102 for Peanut). Don't worry, we're still alive and don't seem to be any worse for wear. But we were pretty miserable for awhile. Luckily, Jeff and Bubba didn't get it, although, Jeff is going through a more mild case now. Bub woke up at 5am on Christmas morning!! Mally and I were still under the weather, so I made him wait until 7am to wake her up for presents. It was hard for him, but he did it.

Bubba wants me to add that his favorite Christmas present was a Pillow pet. He really does love it and cuddles with it all the time. Peanut says that she had a lot of favorites, but her most favorite was a pack of Zoobles that she got. For anyone that I usually send a video to, I haven't been able to put it together yet...it will get done eventually and I'll get them sent out.
For New Year's Eve this year, Peanut and Bubba were allowed to stay up until midnight. I thought that they would have been more tired that night, but they really did just fine! And they stuck their little heads out of the front door into the frigid cold to bang a couple of pots and yell "Happy New Year"! Then we all went to bed. Sounds crazy, right?

This week the kids went back to school. They were a little sad to have to go back, but I think they enjoy the schedule and seeing their friends. They had a spelling test yesterday and both got 100%. Yay for my little smarties! They're still excelling in their reading and were some of the first kids in their class to start AR (Advanced Reading). They read books that are a little bit different than the normal reading books and then they have to take a quiz the next day on the computer to test their reading comprehension.

Here are some pictures from Christmas: