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.

 

 



August 18, 2013

This week at church we learned that some of our friends will be returning back home to the Philippines.  While this is good news for them, we will miss them.  The Hansens decided to host a little get together for them on Monday so we could have a chance to spend some time together and say goodbye.  Justin and Ryan were thrilled with the news that they would get to go over to Cyrus' house to play.

Monday morning I received a call from Sienna.  She had caught the stomach bug and was not feeling up to having people over at her house.  She asked if we would be willing to have it at our house instead.  We have a big enough house and live across the street, so it made sense and I could see no reason why we couldn't have it here.  Sure the boys would be going to bed a bit later than usual, but no big deal.

It was nice to have everyone over and have the chance to talk.  The Reeses decided to wow us with their mind reading ability.  We put out nine DVDs on the table and had Elder Reese leave the room.  We choose which DVD we wanted to be "it" and called him back in.  His wife would point to different DVDs and he would have to say when we got to the chosen DVD.  I knew how it was done, so I went out next.  As people caught on, they would go out and take a turn reading her mind to determine which was the chosen DVD.  Finally, Justin shouted out that he knew how it was done.  People were pretty impressed with him until he explained.  He told everyone that it wasn't really mind reading, but some kind of trick like a magic trick.  Everyone laughed and laughed and he didn't get what was so funny.

Next we played fruit basket and the boys had so much fun.  Justin had such an expression of joy and triumph on his face when he would get a seat ahead of someone else.  He also enjoyed being it, so really he couldn't lose.  Ryan laughed and had fun too.  In fact, the next day he asked if our family could play the game.  I told him that four people really wasn't a big enough group for that game and that he could find a different game that we could play instead.

On Tuesday I got up early when Ryan came in to get me at about 4 AM.  He said that his stomach hurt.  Sure enough, later that day he was puking.  Joy.  At least he seems to know when it is coming and was able to get in into something rather than all over the floor like Justin does.  He needed a lot of extra cuddles that day.  He seemed back to normal by evening except he wasn't hungry. 

Wednesday Cyrus came over to play for a couple of hours.  The boys had a good time, but Justin sometimes gets frustrated with some of the things Cyrus does.  Cyrus is often guilty of the offense which boils down to the fact that he acts like a three year old.  Since he IS a three year old, there really isn't much to do about it.  After about 2 1/2 hours they were getting to the point where there was going to be a meltdown soon. I called Sienna to come get Cyrus so they could part on good terms.  Of course when she came Cyrus did not want to go and my boys did not want him to go.

The rest of the week was pretty much routine.  We aren't very exciting people.  We spent time playing outside in the back and riding bikes and scooters in the front.  I can often get yard work done while the boys entertain themselves.

Friday I got a call from a woman who just moved here with her family.  She said that she has a 10 and a 7 year old and wanted to know if my kids were interested in meeting her boys.  Well of course they are!  Justin heard me talking on the phone, so even though we weren't getting together until Saturday, he wanted to walk to find their house.  I wasn't exactly sure where it was, so we ended up walking the long way.  It was about a ten minute walk and you would think that I was torturing my children.  It was in the 90s, but there was a nice breeze.  We were able to walk back in just over half of that time because I knew where we lived and had no trouble getting back.

Saturday morning the boys were anxious to meet their new friends.  I was a bit less optimistic because of the age difference of the ten year old.  Can I just say that the four of them had a blast!  The boys are going over there on Monday, we will see them at the Embassy kids' outing next Wednesday, and then they will come here again on Friday.  Once school starts the older boy will likely find friends his own age, but I think that at least Justin will still spend time with them at school and probably at other times too.  I sure hope so.  It is nice for the kids to have other people to play with.

Saturday afternoon I told the boys to show Rob how they have gotten better on bikes and the scooter.  Justin rode the balance bike and I was able to convince him to let me take the training wheels off of his bike.  Guess who rode down the hill and then back up!  I was so excited.  He has a ways to go before he can do it without having to think about it so much, but I am just thrilled that he can do it.  I didn't think he would ever learn because he doesn't like to take risks in front of other people.  Both boys are getting better on the scooter too.  Yay!

Ryan was in desperate need of a haircut.  Rob assured me that even if I really messed up that Ryan is only four years old and would not be scarred for life.  I got off a lot of hair and think that he will feel much better.  I am still not brave enough to just shave it off like Justin's.  I think with his big forehead he would look strange.  I also worry that it would make him look even older.  Ryan's hair isn't bad enough that people will stop and stare, but Rob said that he would be really upset if he had paid money for a cut like that.  I agree.  Maybe next month when it has grown out a bit I will take him to the Embassy for a haircut.  I got a picture of the hair I cut off, but I forgot to take a pic of him before bed.

August 11, 2013

 Last week I didn't write because Rob was kind enough to share his stomach bug with me and I wasn't feeling well.  I will try to catch up and write for both weeks.

August 1st marked the last day of summer camp for the boys.  Justin always seemed to enjoy his time once he got there, but he was never very excited to go.  Ryan, on the other hand, was always excited to go.  It was good for them to get out of the house a bit and quite a nice break for me.  Ryan is on the waiting list to go to the preschool there in the Fall.  I think that he is going to miss Justin once school starts and it would be nice for him to have a chance to have something special for him as well.  Keep your fingers crossed that an opening comes up.

On August 2nd, Justin decided that it was his time for the stomach bug.  He didn't have much diarrhea, but he managed to vomit many times.  Unfortunately, one of the locations was my freshly cleaned floor.  Sigh.  At least it wasn't the rug.  I cleaned up and then mopped the floor yet again.  He didn't eat for the rest of that day or much the next.  I always worry about my skinny little J Man when he doesn't eat.  He doesn't have a lot of weight to lose.  Fortunately, he was feeling better by the 3rd, just not eating quite yet.

Saturday the 3rd we had a BBQ here with employees and families from Rob's section at work.  He works with some neat people.  We had gotten together with them at the beginning of July and I knew that they are a pretty laid back group so it wouldn't be a lot of work.  Everyone brought something so we just supplied the place, the paper products, potato salad, and a few drinks.  The weather was perfect and we were able to sit out on the patio, out on the lawn, or inside the house.  There was more than enough food and it was a nice get together.  Ryan really enjoyed all of the outdoor time.  The pictures aren't very exciting, but at least my mom can see a little of our yard.

 

 

And then Sunday came and it was my turn with the stomach bug.  That pretty much sums up Sunday through Tuesday for me.  Rob and the boys went to church on Sunday.  The boys were pretty good on Monday and Tuesday.  They got a lot of extra time on the ipad, ipod, etc.

 

Wednesday was our 11th anniversary. The boys tried to make it extra special by creating "fun" games for me to play.  They also managed to pull out just about every toy they owned to help decorate.  Joy.  Evidently it wasn't hot enough for them, so they had lots of blankets for me too so I could be comfy.  Ryan combed his own hair without complaint.  I was feeling much better, but not 100%.  I envied Rob being able to go to work and miss out on the celebration.  I guess it was sweet of them though to want to do special things to make it the best anniversary ever.

 

 

On Thursday I had an exciting outing to the Embassy for my health briefing and to get my picture taken for my diplomatic id.  I had the boys with me, of course, but they were hooked up to the ipod and the iphone and headphones so they were angels.  It's nice to be able to keep them quiet when needed.  When we got home, we spent time outside.  They enjoyed riding their bikes outside in our cul de sac.  I hate to watch because sometimes they get going pretty fast and they are not nearly as skilled as they believe they are.

 

 

Friday brought more time outside.  This week I was able to pull quite a few weeds while I was out watching the boys.

 

The weekend was pretty routine.  Saturday the boys wanted to show off their bike skills for Daddy.  I pulled out a scooter that I had purchased for them last month and they got to try that as well.

 

Somewhere along the way, Justin managed to lose his tooth.  Then, when he was cleaning it, he really lost it.  Luckily, the tooth fairy is quite understanding.