What to do...

Thad and I are struggling with some decisions lately regarding our sweet Kate. I have had a nagging concern about her readiness for Kindergarten this fall. She is a bright, fun, and witty child--in the right situation. But in new situations & at preschool, she is very quiet, and downright scared sometimes. We have discussed with her teachers whether or not they think she is ready to go off into the world of grade school. No one is able to give us a confident YES!
Many people don't understand our concern. Neighbors and friends view her as a confident child. At school, however, she likes to hang out with the helpers or even sit on their laps. If there is a change at school or dance, she won't participate. She is too frightened.
Ninety percent of the advice we have received is, "Wait....You will never regret it." So many coworkers have told me they regreat not waiting. Others say it was the best thing they could have done for their child to wait. We are just not sure what the right decision is for Kate. Thad and I want what's best for her. That is much easier said than done!
Needless to say, any advice is greatly appreciated!

Winter Weekend

We have been graced with lots of snow this weekend! That didn't stop the neighborhood boys from playing hockey!

Video of Olivia

Now you too can see our silly Olivia! The first one is from when she had strep throat. The other is from today.....Enjoy!
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1st grade program

Ryan had a first grade program today. Grandma, Grandpa, Thad, and I went to see Ryan's class sing some Mother Goose songs. He was pretty embarrased to have his mom and dad watching him....
Most of my pictures are blurry, but you can get an idea of what a handsome boy we have!

Our toddler....

Olivia is emerging into quite the toddler. She loves to read, sing, and dance. Her favorite song to sing is "Dora the Explorer." Her version of dance is twirling around until she is too dizzy to stand up.

Olivia also talks and giggles all the time. I could write many tales of things this little girl does, but any of you who have children get what I am talking about. Needless to say, we love her (& her siblings) like crazy!

Kate's turn...

Poor miss Kate is the latest victim of strep
throat in our house. Apparently, when you snuggle up to your baby sister to make her feel better while she is infected, you are bound to get it.
Kate's version of strep wasn't like Ryan's tummy ache or Olivia's bad cough. This time it struck with a bad rash that was terribly itchy. Who knew that it's a classic sign of the infection?
Big apologies go out to cousin Grant for having Kate over to play today too....oops!

Disastrous Dinner

For those of you who read this just to laugh at my life...this one's for you.
Erin, Kris, Grant, Ross, Thad, Ryan, Kate, Olivia, and I went out for supper tonight at Doolittle's. We got there early hoping to avoid the rush. That didn't happen. After waiting for quite awhile--which got a little embarrasing--we were seated in the center of the restaraunt, so that everyone could see our crew. We ordered right away. Our food arrived about forty minutes later. During that time, Olivia & Ross screamed. Now, this isn't crying-type screaming, but more like yelling-screaming. This is a loud restaraunt, but you could hear them quite well! After forty minutes of screaming and eight packs of saltines, we were ready to pull our hair out.
Then came the food. The kids were starving by this point so we were just glad to get it. Kate and Grant hated their food. To be nice, Olivia would eat half of her grilled cheese and then pass it to Kate. If anyone noticed it they would have been disgusted, but too bad! Then came the fork dropping.....I believe between Grant and Ryan we lost four or five forks. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal huh?
As supper was coming to a close, we let Olivia out of her highchair. She bolted from our grasp and ran toward some strangers. Suddenly I see her dive into their booth. Thad ran over to get her while we are all shaking our heads in embarassment. Olivia had so much fun that she just kept running all over the place. To top it off, as I got up to leave, I tripped over my coat and almost wiped out. Oh well.
On the drive home, we took Grant with us. Imagine four screaming, yelling, and singing kids. I take that back. Imagine four screaming kids singing to "I'm Too Sexy." Grant sure can belt his little heart out! Thad looked at me and said that any thoughts of more kids is now permanently on the backburner.
We hope you had a relaxing night. I will say that although ours wasn't relaxing, it sure was fun!

On the mend

Last night was a bit rough for Olivia. Thad and Ryan were at hockey, so Kate & I tried to keep Olivia happy. It seems the only thing she wanted was Elmo. I have no idea when this love for Elmo developed, but she repeatedly cried for an Elmo video. After awhile she just cried & cried. Poor thing....

She is still sleeping this morning. Hopefully when she wakes up, she will feel better!

PS: Notice she is not in a child bed? We have a little 'problem' with this child...she won't sleep anywhere else. We have tried everything and have had little success. At least we have a king size bed right Thad?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! It is such a fun day. Thad sent flowers to me at school. Many of my students brought treats for me to enjoy. I have two girls from Somalia. Today they each brought me Somalian-style cake. How sweet! Okay so I hinted to the kids that they could bring treats, but who cares?
During my prep today, I brought Olivia in to the clinic. She has had a few nights of poor sleep and has an ugly cough. She has strep! That was a surprise. She seemed to feel okay, but this evening she is So instead of a special dinner at my mom and dad's tonight, Grandpa Wayne delivered it to us. We had shrimp, hash browns, corn on the cob, oreo salad, and Valentine's cookies. Thanks mom!




Here are a few pictues from the day. Note the cute item "Olivia" (read: Ryan) made for me.
Enjoy the day!

Typical Monday

Some mornings in our house run more smoothly than others. While today might be described as a good day, I woke up in a bad mood. I slept horribly--which is never a good way to kick off a work week.
Ryan took Olivia's clothes off because he wants to potty train her. She peed all over herself and the carpet. Then he tried to dress her....that was a disaster too. Kate came out in several different sundresses. I guess the fact that it's freezing out wasn't enough for her to realize that you can't go to preschool like that. Because Ryan was helping Olivia, he wasn't ready. So although we all made it out with out too much scolding & drama, by the time I got to work I was crabby. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!

Thad: It's not to late to book a surprise vacation for us to go somewhere warm........:(

Influenza & other stuff

It's here: winter and the flu. Two kids from daycare have been diagnosed as having the "official" influenza. There have been many high schoolers out as well with fevers, coughs, sore throats, etc. It sounds like it's lasting a long time. Let's hope those shots that the kids and I had really work! Thad opted out....he better not get sick either!

It sounds like my recent posted generated some thought. Imagine what life in the 1950s would have been like?!?! Women really had to put out the perception that life was great while being the perfect wife and mother. Thank goodness I can tell Thad how I really feel, go to Target without showering (although I usually run into students which stinks), and tell people if one of my kids had some rough behavior.

I am a firm believer in being honest about that stuff. A pet peeve of mine is people who make out their life to be perfect and always say life is GREAT! There is no perfect family. Kids act up & throw tantrums. Moms get irritated about stuff. Husbands and wives don't always get along. We all feel fat at some point. I happen to feel it 98% of the time. It's life, and it's allright to vent a little. So keep releasing girls!

Not enough time...

Do you see this backward clock? I think it's a representation of my life these days. As more and more of you are posting your own blogs, I get a feel for your hobbies, passions, etc. The problem? I have no hobbies. Sure I sell jewelry, but it's not the same. My friend Jenay (at least I think) must be a master scrapbooker. Ria takes awesome photos and has an eye for decorating. Tami loves to paint. My sister in law Stacy can do anything she puts her mind to. Me? Uh...yeah no creativity or any of that whatsoever.
I used to regularly do my scrapbooking. I haven't touched it since Olivia was probably two months old. The kids love to look at it so what's my problem? I don't seem to have enough "free time" to do what my heart desires. Between work, family-time, activities, and exercise, I can't seem to get caught up on anything. If I have an hour or two, I want to read, go online & plan our trip to Florida this summer, or god forbid take a nap. Hmm....not real darn productive is it?
I have no idea what the answer is for my dilemma. But I tell you what, venting does help a bit!

Hockey game

Ryan got to play during the Spud hockey game tonight. They have about three or four minutes to play. He scored a goal and had some awesome saves! A bunch of HS students were cheering for him too which was fun.

Let's hope the Spuds keep up the good work. We have a hotel room booked for the State Hockey tournament & are pumped to go!!