Been A Long Time

So where was I?  Oh, yeah. Thanksgiving.  We went to MomMom's house.  Uncle Mike's family was there as well as Uncle Scott and Uncle Bryan.  The kids had fun playing and we celebrated Uncle Mike's birthday at Chuck E Cheese again. 

We went to the Evansville Children's Museum.  It was really quite nice, they had a traveling exhibit for the Magic Tree House books, which Bubba loves, so it was fun to play out the story themselves.

 

 

 

 

So, What else.  December.  I'll let the pictures do the talking (since I'm having a hard time remembering!)

 

Pictures with Santa at school, Huck would not even go near him



Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer watching party

 

 

 

Pictures with Santa at school, Huck would have NOTHING to do with him!

Cookie decorating, we started a tradition of delivering homemade treat to some of out neighbors.
 Hope the neighbors like sprinkles!

Christmas Eve

 

Headed to church

 

cookies for Santa

 

sleep over in Mom and Dad's room!

His most favorite gift, we couldn't get him to come out to open any other gifts!

 

A BIG bike!

 

Barbie Dream house, I'm a little jealous

 

He was mad we made him get out of the car...

Dressed himself to go outside, Daddy's shoes, Mommy's scarf

New covers for his toddler bed!

A surprise snowstorm the day after Christmas, Huck was not too thrilled with it.  Too cold!

 

Bubba, on the other hand, loved it.  He played outside for a long time with one of our new neighbors.

 

Dutch was kind of in the middle.  She did not like the cold but did not want to be left out
of the fun Bubba and the neighbor were having.

One supper exciting thing that happened the end of the month was that we had TWO new families move in, one right next door and one across the street.  Both families have 2 kids each, 8 year-old daughters and 3-4 year-old sons.  And one has a baby on the way :-)  So, so, so very happy to have kids close by!  It is so fun for the kids to be able to just go knock on the door to see if the kids want to come out and play.  So far everyone as gotten along well even though the genders/ ages don't match up with my kids.  

 

 

 

 

Halloween

Wrote this long ago but never published because I was waiting to add pictures...  Only a few added but putting it up anyway!

So much to catch up on!  Let's start with the Cub Scout Camp Out.  The last weekend in October Bubba and The Hubby set out for Caddo Lake State Park for a weekend of camping.  They rode out with two other families, buddies from school and their dads.  They report that they had a great time despite the freezing weather!  The temps dropped into the mid-thirties at night and the tents were pretty chilly.  Sat afternoon they all went on a steamboat tour and got a turn driving the boat.  There was a pumpkin carving contest, s'mores over the fire and skits for the pack. 
We left at home started Saturday morning at the doctor's office as Huck had an ear infection.  After, went to the school's Fall Festival.  The weather was beautiful in the sun!  It was nice for Duch to get a little more focused attention. 

Then came Halloween!  It was extra special because Grandma with the Spiky Hair arrived that day.  Duch started her day with a costume parade around the school.  Kindergartners are the only ones allowed to wear costumes! She was a mermaid.  Grandma went up to school with me in the afternoon to pass out treat bags for Bubba's class.  After school we were off to ballet.  Miss Amanda had taught them a special Halloween dance and they were allowed to wear costumes.  Dutch could not dance in her mermaid costume so she chose to wear her costume from her dance recital the year before.  Then we were home for dinner and to get ready for trick-or-treating.  Huck loved it...until he saw his first scary costume... Then he was done!  The Hubby took the kids up and down our street and then called it a night.

While Grandma was here we went to the Sea Life aquarium.  It was pretty cool.  We learned lots about sharks and sea turtles.

We had parent teacher conferences for the big kids.  Both got good reports.  Bubba is reading like a 3rd grader, which is no surprise.  He is doing well in math and science.  If there is anything to work on it is handwriting and spelling.   Oh, and not talking to his neighbors.  I'm pretty sure my mom could have gotten the exact same report from my teacher 30 years ago.  Ms.Jenkins said Bubba is one of her star students.   His special job is pencil sharpening :-).
 Dutch is also doing well. She is reading some on her own.  She has read several books with me needing only minimal help.  Her teacher told us that she has taken a special interest in one girl in her class, Vivienne.  She is Burmese and is a limited English speaker.  Miss Holford told us Dutch takes a lot of responsibility to help Vivienne with her work, to play with her at recess and to help her move around the building.  We have been encouraging Dutch to ask Vivienne to teach her some words in her language.  We are very proud of both kiddos.

We are off to MomMom's house on Wednesday for Thanksgiving.  All my brothers, sister-in-law and nephews will be there!

Glimpses of Fall

We've had some glimpses of Fall.  We have most definitely enjoyed being outside more- playing, eating lunch, walking to and from school...  all are so much more pleasant now.  Last week we did a most traditional Fall event, the State Fair of Texas!  The big kids were out of school so we could go on a weekday, also MUCH more pleasant :-)  We got out of there only spending $92.  That included $15 for parking, the kids free tickets, my $5 Dr Pepper Tuesday ticket and Huck's free admission.  So what did we get for the remaining $72?  2 hotdogs, 1 corndog, 2 Sprites, and 1 water, (sadly no funnel cake...), 3 rides each for Bubba and Dutch and 1 for Huck, 2 games each for big kids and 1 for Huck.  I think that is it.  But we did lots of free things like The Barnyard, the farm experience, saw the butter sculpture, saw Big Tex, the greenhouse...  So actually on second thought I guess it was not a ton of other things.

 

 

 But it was fun.  Except for poor Huck.  He REALLY, REALLY wanted to ride this kiddie ride.  He pointed, pulled, spoke loudly about "that, that, that!"  and fussed even louder about when I tried to talk him out of it.  So I gave in and spent $2.50 and here is what he thought of it:

He is getting much more adventurous.  He is learning to jump and can sometimes get both feet off the ground at the same time.  He also jumps from the coffee table to the couch, which gives me a heart attack every time.  He can climb up into the playset in the backyard but does not like to go down the slide.  He was doing a good job of waiting for me to get him down, but now he has decided to try to climb down the ladder.  More heart attacks for Mom.  He has decided that he wants nothing to do with his own bed.  If we try to put him in his bed (awake, near asleep, asleep) he screams and cries until you get him out.  No matter how long we let him cry, he will NOT go to sleep until he gets in our bed.  Then he'll sleep.  Uggh.  I mean I love him but I also like sleep.  So. 

 

awake at 10:30 at night...

...and 20 minutes later

We also attended the neighborhood's National Night Out again.  Bounce houses, face painting, running around with friends= fun!

School is going well for the big kids.  Bubba got his first report card and it was all good. Bubba is really enjoying the new group at church.  He is in the 2nd-3rd grade group and they start each week in large group which usually has some kind of skit.  So after church Sunday I was asking what they learned about that day.  He went on to tell me about two characters who had a cafe and cooked roadkill.  There were a lot more details that I don't recall.  I asked what roadkill has to do with the bible to which he responded "nothing, it has to do with agility."  Then the elevator came so I did not get to follow up.  I asked again later and he said "It is about agility, Mom.  Don't you know what agility means?"  I was still not getting how this was connected to a bible lesson.  Luckily later I saw a post on Facebook from church that said "Ask your kids what they learned about integrity today."  Ah, ha!  So I asked Bubba if he meant integrity instead of agility and he said "yeah, Mom.  It means do what you say and mean what you do."  So he got the point of the lesson, just not the vocabulary!  We are reading the Harry Potter books and he is loving it.  He wants to be Harry Potter for Halloween.  He is loving ballet still, most espicially partnering where he does things like assist the girls in jumps or spins.  I am very proud of him for keeping it up.  He is realizing more and more that it is unusual for boys to do and has had to answer questions about it from his friends.  He speaks openly and proudly about it and for that I am proud of him.  He has mastered bike riding and likes to ride his bike to school. 

Cub Scout Pack 890

 

 

 Dutch is doing well also.  She talks about her new friends and reports on who is misbehaving.  She has homework every night, but it is something like write the letter S five times.  She enjoys it and thinks she is so old because she has homework.  She wears 2-3 outfits everyday...  She wants to be a fairy for Halloween. 

 

The Hubby had the crazy TX-OU weekend last weekend so he worked pretty much straight from 5PM Friday till 5 PM Sunday.  He got 2 hours sleep Fri night and maybe 4 hours sleep Sat night.  But it seems to have gone well, the boss was pleased so that is good.  The Boss is taking all the staff to the fair today as a thank you. 

My work at Children's is still unclear.  I should know soon what exactly my assignment will be, but it will not be my current one in Radiology.  The whole place is in turmoil as they have announced there will be layoffs, or "workforce redesign" as they are calling it.  Right now it is confined to administrative assistants and mid-level managers.  But they won't announce exactly who will be laid-off until February.  So.  A real culture of trust around there. 

Coming up in the next few weeks:  Grandma With the Spiky Hair is coming for a visit!  She'll be here for Halloween.  Bubba and the Hubby are going on the Cub Scout fall camp out in a few weeks.  The school Fall Festival will be the Saturday they are gone.  My doula partners and I are having a family picnic at the arboretum this Saturday.  I am exited to see some of "my" babies grown up! 

Back in the Swing of Things

The big kids have been in school for two weeks now and I think we are pretty well into the swing of things.  They were very tired the first week of school but seem to be adjusting well.  We had Meet The Teacher Night last week.  It was nice to hear from the teachers and get a better feel of their personalities.
Bubba's 2nd Grade teacher has been at Wallace for many years.  She seems very kind but firm.  She expects the kids to be in charge of their own behavior, but also recognizes that they will not be perfect.  She said the math they are learning this year is the math 5th graders learned when she started teaching.  I am the room mom for Bubba's class and had my first official duty last week.  Mrs Jenkin's birthday was on Thursday.  We didn't have much time to organize anything from the other parents so I tried to keep it simple.  The grade level coordinator helped and we sent home blank cards the night before so all the kids could make her a card.  On her birthday I brought up all the fixings for yogurt parfaits- yogurt, berries and granola- and set it up in the teachers lounge for all the second grade teachers.  They have their planning period first thing in the morning.  I heard they all enjoyed it and had a nice, quiet start to their day.
 Bubba is taking ballet again this fall.  He enjoyed it so much this summer that he wanted to continue.  Last week they did partnering- while the girls stood one one foot Bubba spun them around.  He LOVED it!  In the car on the way home he said he wanted to go to ballet every day of every year.  Ms Amanda told them this week he was going to hold the girls waist while they jumped up.  I guess I'm going to have to learn the names of all these moves!
Cub Scouts has started up again and Bubba is thrilled to have his best buddy joint the pack this year.  They are super excited about camping out. 
He and I started reading the first Harry Potter book together.  He had seen some of the movie with a friend and was asking lots of questions about it so we decided to read it together and then watch the movie together.  He is enjoying it and I see it popping up in his play.  He has an imaginary pet vulcher, Vulch, that I guess comes from the pet owls in the book.  A buddy at school has an eagle named America.  I'm glad that the imaginary play is still going strong!
And Bubba finally learned to ride his bike without training wheels!  I guess it is about time since he is seven...  but honestly he has not really wanted to try before now.  And he got it down in less than an hour without any big crashes.  I was trying to decide if waiting so long was the "lazy" way of parenting, but I have decided that instead it is the "developmentally appropriate' way! There are several things that my kids have learned later than "average."  Tying shoes, riding bikes, potty training...  but by waiting the kids have mastered those skills quickly and without much stress on any of us.  I have actually decided that my approach to potty training would more appropriately be termed  diaper weaning.  Maybe I'll write a book on it :-)

Duch is doing well in school.  She tells us she is quiet and sometimes kind of shy.  I believe that her volume at home has doubled since school started.  I guess she is keeping it inside all day so when she gets home everything is L-O-U-D.  Last week she was table captain and this week she is line leader.  She talks about some friends at school and there only seems to be one boy who is having a hard time.   
She is also continuing ballet.  She has some of the same girls in her class as last year.  She says she wants to be either a ballet teacher, a doctor or a school teacher when she grows up.  "cause I like helping kids." 
We cleaned out her room and she did a decent job of chosing toys to donate instead of keep.  She is loving her new bed!
She has recovered quite nicely from her surgery.  She has her follow-up appointment tomorrow and I expect the doctor to say she looks great.  Her voice is different, a little bit higher in pitch.  I was hoping this would help with her night waking, but she is still waking up several times a week for some reason or other.

Huck is learning, learning, learning!  He has a few more "words."  Lately we can hear
"dog" He loves listening and watching for dogs when we walk to school and "buga"- bug (he thinks every black speck is a bug).  He loves playing with Duplo blocks and can stack them quite nicely.  He also loves balls, his wagon and the play kitchen.  It is fun to watch him pretend to cook, press buttons on the microwave and wash his hands.  He mimics EVERYTHING big brother and sister do and is so stinking cute.  He loves to help me- he uses the electric broom to clean up, gets a rag from the drawer to clean up spills and uses the toy vacuum along side me when I am vacuuming. He loves books- Mr Brown Can Moo is a current favorite.  So are the Llama Llama books.   He still is not a great sleeper.  Occasionally he'll sleep in his bed until 5-6 in the morning, but most nights he is up wanting to nurse.  He's not quite sure what to do with himself when the kids are in school.  He wants the Hubby and I to play with him a lot more. 

Football season has begun so that means the Hubby is working all weekend again.  We all miss him, but Bubba does especially.  He is quite tired by the time Monday rolls around.  We celebrated his birthday last week. 

We have two house up for sale right by us.  Our neighbor, Mrs Brown, has put her house up for sale because she is moving into a senior living community.  She'll be 89 this next birthday.  We'll miss her and her gentleman caller who takes her on dates.   One of the house across the street was bought by an investor earlier this summer and they are in the process of flipping it.  The rumor is they got it for a steal at $60,000!  But it does need a lot of work.  We are hoping for some families with young kids to move it!