October 6-19

I'm doubling up on weeks here for a couple of reasons.  One reason is that not much happened Oct 6-12.  We did try to continue to take advantage of good weather.  We got out to play basketball and ride around on the scooter and the bikes.  One of my favorite things was watching Justin pause for pics.  It cracks me up that he thinks he is some sort of awesome model or something.  He comes up with his own poses and wants to send pictures to Grandma and other people.

 

 

The boys had a good Saturday with their friend, Charlie.  He came over for a few hours in the morning and were sad when it was time to go.  I like him to go BEFORE my boys are too tired and start to have meltdowns.  Sure enough, just as his mom got here to get him, a meltdown occurred.  Sigh.  Charlie is almost 8, so just over a year older than Justin.  He is so good with both boys though.  Ryan idolizes him, kind of like an older brother, but THIS older brother is always patient and kind to him.  He's a really good influence on Justin and I wish there were more kids like him.

 

On Sunday we watched our church General Conference on TV.  Well, technically we watched it on the internet.  It was broadcast the previous week, but with the time difference we watch it a week later than church members in the United States.  My boys LOVE General Conference.  I try to make it a fun time and motivate the children  to listen.  They got to build a fort to sit in while they watched.  They got to play BINGO using words they heard and keep tally of frequent words.  Winning BINGO or getting ten tallies of a single word meant a candy reward.  Yep, they listen.  Perhaps they don't have the most spiritual reason to listen, but they listen and learn and we have some fun.

 

I did a couple of things Oct 13-19 so I actually have something to write about.  I went in to see the kindergarten at Justin's school today.  I have concerns about the math curriculum, the long school day, and a couple of other things.  I was very happy with what I saw in the classroom.  The teacher does a great job teaching what she needs to teach while making it age appropriate for the children.  She seems to have the same philosophy I do with how much children should be moving, talking, etc.  I feel if a child is learning, the teacher can teach, and other children are able to learn, the behavior is probably okay.  Ryan is a wiggler, so I was glad to see that the kids aren't expected to be still as statutes and that children are given the opportunity to move during transitions and not expected to be with any one thing for an inappropriately long period of time.  I think it is a good fit for Ryan.

 

There was also a meeting about the Fall Festival.  It will be a bit crazy to have it the day after Halloween since our family is already going to a Halloween party.  I think that the kids will have a lot of fun with it.  It is fortunate that someone stepped up to be in charge of this event so that it can take place again this year.  Justin doesn't necessarily like hanging out while I am at the meeting, but  he will enjoy the payoff of a fun evening.

 

Friday was a busy day for us.  Ryan's class had a field trip to see some farm animals and I went along.  It was also early release day for Justin so teachers could have parent teacher conferences.  I had Justin come home with Skyler.  The boys love her as a babysitter so he was thrilled that I needed her to watch him.  After the field trip, I brought Ryan back home and left him with Justin and Skyler while I went to Justin's school.

The bulls got a bit aggressive and the kids enjoyed watching them.

The cow provides milk for the family to drink and sell.

The house

I was surprised that the kids didn't try to climb the ladder.
Ryan asked me if he could.  Uh, no.

The owner went to let out the turkeys so the kids could watch them eat.

There were several turkeys.  Ryan thought it was cool that they were white.
They don't look like "Grandma's" turkeys, but they sound like them.

The owner keeping most of the animals contained as the kids chase turkeys out front.

Moving on to the next place where we can see the pigs and sheep.

Waiting for the rest of the group to catch up so we can go.

This is the trailer where the family lives.  I imagine it must be freezing in the
winter and hot in the summer.

One pig peed on the other pig's head and of course the kids thought that was hysterical.

I have no idea why they had the table covered.

Feeding the sheep.

Ryan adored the sheep.  I think he would like one for a pet.

 

 

I had a good conference with Justin's teacher.  She communicates regularly, so there were no surprises.  I know that he is doing very well academically, but I was thrilled to also hear that he is a polite, thoughtful child who is concerned about others.  Sometimes at home I wonder...  I guess it is good that he is a good human being at school, even if I don't see that all the time at home.

 

Justin and Ryan would normally be unhappy to see me return and have Skyler leave.  They didn't mind so much this time because I brought Nathan and Nael over to play for awhile.  Nathan is in Justin's class and Nael is his older brother.  They played outside, upstairs, downstairs, and in the basement.  They got along well and there were no arguments or problems. Their mother came to pick them up in time for Nael's music lessons.  Unfortunately, not too long after they left, the busy day caught up with the boys and they were quarreling with each other.  Sigh.

 

Saturday was a lazy day finished off with pizza and the movie Shrek 2.  Not a bad way to finish off the week.

 

 



July 7-13

I'm afraid that our days are probably not very exciting to hear about.  It seems like it is filled with routine tasks such as laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and the like.

Sunday started off poorly for me.  I had a killer headache and took some Excedrin about 6 am and went back to bed.  Rob woke me up at 9:00 am for church and I told him I still wasn't feeling well.  I ended up sleeping until about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I as up for a few hours, and back in bed for the night before 7:00.  I felt a lot better the next day.  Just glad that Rob was home and that he managed the boys for me.

Wednesday I took the boys to the Embassy to meet for a CLO activity to Play City.  There were only two other kids, but we had a good time.  Play City is kind of like a Chuck E Cheese without the pizza or large rat/mouse.  The main room has a variety of video games and other games, some identical to the games you find at Chuck E Cheese.  Rather than tokens, you put money on a swipe card and just swipe each time to play.  It is definitely easier than keeping track of tokens, but hard to keep track of how much more you have.  There is also a large McDonald's type play structure.  It does not take your swipe card, but rather a ticket.  You buy the ticket at the main desk and then take the ticket over to the play area.  The next room over has  bumper cars.  Once again, you buy a ticket at the main desk and then take it over to the bumper car area.  The bumper cars were fun, but the restraints were not very functional.  I was glad that I was in the car with Ryan and could keep him from flying out of the car.

The other side of the building has billiards, bowling, and a few other games.  Outside there are go-karts, paint ball, and mini golf areas.  I have no doubt that you have to buy tickets at the main desk and then take them to the designated area.  I think the reason I found that so amusing is because the employee would run over from an area to the main desk to take the money and then run back over to the area to take your ticket.  Kind of a one man show kind of thing except for the fact that there were more employees than customers.  I guess middle of the day on a weekday isn't prime Play City time.

This game was definitely Justin's favorite.  He and another boy there played it the majority of the time.

Justin and Ryan sporting the tie dye shirts they made at the Fourth of July party.

 



We had tried ordering pizza from GG's Pizza last week and they didn't speak any English.  This week I had Rob get someone from work call and order it for us so it would be delivered when he got home from work.  What we got wasn't exactly pizza.  The double cheese with stuffed crust had a generous amount of cheese and an okay crust.  Unfortunately, I don't know if they believe in tomato sauce.  It tasted more like cheese bread.  It was fine, but not what I want when I want pizza.  We also got a pepperoni and, not too surprisingly, it was not pepperoni.  We can try some other places, but we might end up having to just make our own pizza here.  I really miss being able to just order a pizza like you can in the US.  I know, what a rough life I have.