Breathing treatment

C went to the dr today with J. J usually hates going to the dr, but she was coughing so he made an appt. Went in and she is ok, but wheezing. So, we get to use a breathing machine with her for a few days to see if that helps. I got to make some interesting phone calls with insurance to make sure that we went about it so insurance would cover it. Gotta love counting every penny! Think J might have been annoyed by all my questions about the dr visit. Wish I could be 20 places at once! One nice thing is she isn't acting sick, or contagious so we still get to go to the apple farm tomorrow with other kids from church and their parents. Should be a good time, but we'll be bundled up - it is really fall around here now!

A conversation with C

So here is a conversation I had last night with C.
Mom: "C what is your favorite song?"
C: "Temple" (I love to see the temple - a primary song)
M: We sing it and I point out a picture of the Mesa temple on the wall of her bedroom and say "That is where daddy and mommy got married".
C: "Did you wear white slippers?"
M: "Yes" (I am a little perplexed how she knew that).
C: "Did you wear all white?"
M: "Yes" (A little more perplexed)
C: "I bet you looked pretty."
Ahhhh, so sweet. I asked her nursery leader, who is now in YW with me if they talked about this in nursery. No, they sing I love to see the temple, but no business about the white. C is always amazing me with her spunk, questions, and sweetness. What a fun girl to raise. Shouldn't ever be boring around our house!

Oh wow!

I have been wanting to post this for a while, but couldn't until it was official. I was just sustained as the new Young Women's President in our ward today. I have to admit I felt overwhelmed at first, but I have had a few weeks to get used to the idea. The girls are great in our ward and I have a great team of women to work with, so that will help a lot! This will be my first time in YW (except when I was there as a youth - 11 years ago). If anyone has words of wisdom I'd love to hear them. Love you all.

he finally came...

not Santa, no that's not who...the ice cream man! H has been waiting for his arrival all summer, and now that fall is here he worried that he would never actually come down our street. Believe me there were lots of tears over this disappointment. Well worry no more he made it our way today. H raided his piggy bank and got a Spiderman pop for him and Dora pop for C for dessert. They are going to make a mess, but the kids are thrilled. I will post a photo of the event just for you!

the kiddos

H brought home a nice book from school. I guess he was highlighted in class or something because the book was all about him and had illustrations from the entire class about what he shared. He told the kids he has a dog named Master Yoda, a sister, likes to ride a bike, play with his remote control car (got new batteries the day before he shared this mind you), and his favorite animal is a lion. Pretty much knew all of that except the lion part. He says he likes that they roar. Crazy kid. Anyway this sparked in me that I should jot down some of the things the kids like to do at this stage.
H likes:
to ride his bike
to make art
to swing (He just learned to pump. After several failed attempts at teaching the skill, I finally told him to try and hit me while I stood slightly out of range. That worked great, a day later he was doing it perfectly.)
to play with neighbor friends
to play little Lego's (he keeps asking for Lego starwars)
to read
to play sports with dad
superheros, pirates, dinosaurs
cartoons: Scooby doo, superhero kinds, Tom & Jerry, etc.
sweets (what kid doesn't?)
Claire
C likes:
to dress up
to knock on neighbors doors and find people (and dogs) to play with
cartoons: Dora, Diego, Max & Ruby, and pretty much every other Noggin show!
to turn on movies on our mini-dvd player
to make messes
to tell fibs (this week she told me she had a carrot in her ear, and that she hugs squirrels)
to play on the slide
to TALK (NONSTOP)
to look at books
most foods - I think she views apples and candy about equally
Harrison

parent night

Tonight was parent night at school. J stayed home with the kids since they weren't supposed to come, and I went to meet H's teacher and see the school. Because of my short visit the first day of classes (see previous post), I was a little surprised by how small the school is. There is really only one hallway of classes, and the gym which is also the cafeteria. There are maybe 20 rooms in the whole school. I also realized that H is the only kid who is LDS in his school. This is a bit different from last year where we had one other LDS family at his school. At church he finally has one other kid in his grade, but as luck would have it he is in a different primary class, argggh. Anyway, back on topic. The teacher seems great, he is doing well, and has been described as a sweet kid. No real surprise there. The one surprise was that there is only one recess. H had told me this, but I figured he wasn't counting the one after lunch or something. They have on recess in the morning (for only about 15-20 min), and none after lunch. I think this is a bit weird (especially since they only have PE every 6 school days and all you ever hear is about childhood obesity). I have mixed feelings...more time for academics, but really at 6 years you need to run around periodically. Time will tell how this one plays out. Hope your school year is moving along nicely.

Fly trap

We have had lots of flies hanging out in our house. I think it is from the beautiful weather and opened doors, but they just pester us. I have tried the fly swatter, but all the smart ones must be left now. Occasionally one will fly to an open window, but get stuck because there is a screen. When they do this I like to close the window and trap the fly. Not sure I should admit this, but the kids think it is great fun too. What do you for cheap entertainment?

school starts

I know some of you have been in school for almost a month now, but H just started today. He was very excited this morning, and up before I could wake him. Then he spent the rest of the morning trying to get me ready (bringing me shoes, telling me when my bagel was done, etc.). I drove him to the school since he is at a new school this year. We checked out he playground first. When we walked in the front door the hallway was blocked off and guarded by the principal. My first thought was "yeah that is really going to foster parent participation in the education process." We preceded into the cafeteria (the only place left to go unless we wanted to leave the school) where all the kids were being "stored" before the bell rang. I waited since he was a little hesitant, and then his teacher came and things were dandy. Thank heavens he likes her! Who wouldn't though? She has cool pointer sticks to point at the board. Lunch went well. According to H he didn't make any friends, but there are nice kids in his class. This reminds me how different C and H look at the world. Around 2:15 I got a call from the school with confusion about how he was getting home. I had placed a notecard in his bag with information in case he couldn't remember his bus number, our phone numbers, etc. Well I guess this card was taken out of his bag and they thought it was instructions for after school plans. I cleared up confusion, and noted how funny it was that the automatically called mom (even though dad was the first number listed). He came home on the bus, and ran off to greet us. C was very happy to have her playmate back!

2 wheeler

H had a goal to learn to ride his bike without training wheels this summer. He learned to ride C's bike without them (since it took a while to get hers on), but her bike is a bit smaller than his and it took until today for us to finally get his training wheels off. So just in the nick of time (since school starts tomorrow) he did it. He is a real bike rider. Best part is he taught himself. Way to go! Keep posted for back to school photos.

I almost died today!

I was sitting in class enjoying an undergraduate lecture about literacy instruction for kids with disabilities for my assistantship assignment when I looked down and saw this:

I immediately feel ill and wonder is this a nightmare? Where in the world did my diamond go?!?!?!?!?!?!?! In my mind I retraced my day trying to remember the last time I knew it was there. Ok, noticed it when I was putting my ring on after applying lotion this morning, think I saw it later in a meeting this morning. Don't remember after that. Oh no. I have been so many places today (the library, walking around campus, my office, etc.) Then I mouth to a fellow doctoral student in the class, that my diamond is gone! Panic comes over her face too (later she admits to me that she had a nightmare about losing the diamond in her ring the night before.) Do I interrupt the class to ask everyone to look? When a change in pace occurred I got up searched the floor around me, spoke with the professor, and mentioned to some students that if they see a diamond they should let me know (I know that sounds silly, but they all became very concerned when they realized what I was looking for). Then I retraced my steps to the bathroom since I had been there just before class. On the way there I say a little prayer, the kind a child would say when they can't find a favorite toy. When I got to the bathroom, I looked in the sink I washed my hands in. The sink had no drain cover just an empty hole! Oh no! I can't believe it, it probably went down that drain. How will I ever get it back? Ok, now I am really panicking. We can't afford a replacement! How will I tell J? Do we have insurance on this thing? I can't even remember! I start feeling even more ill. I return to the classroom. Others are looking around, I am trying not to cry about all of this (I mean do the undergrad students I supervise really need to see me cry right now?) Then I search around the floor, back where I was sitting when I went to class. I start looking in my bags. I empty my purse and there it is! A sparkling princess cut diamond!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can I even be that lucky, that blessed? I can't believe it! I found it! I make an announcement to the class. I go from ill, to happy in .23 seconds. My heart is still racing from all of this and I think....there must be a moral to all of this. What am I to learn from this experience? So here are some of the morals I came up with (in no particular order):

1- Prayer works! I already knew that, but this reaffirms it once again. One of the students even mentioned that she said a prayer for me as well.

2- Insure your jewlery, especially a ring you wear everyday.

3- My marriage has outlasted the workmanship of my ring. I am so lucky to be married to a wonderful husband - who didn't panic when I started sharing this story with him.

4- My diamond is less important than having a house for my kids, food on the table, my health, a wonderful husband, and so on. Perspective! I need that now and again.

5- Good thing I have a friend who is married to a jeweler. Maybe he will fix it for me!

So for now I am sporting the promise ring J gave me before we were engaged. I hope to have my ring back before too long.