Whoooo Am I?

Royal and I had a parent/teacher conference tonight for Jayden.  Jayden is doing really well in school, he meets all their benchmarks, and scores above average or average in their national norms comparison.  Yay Jayden!  He is also the kid in class who is very concerned with the one kid who doesn't seem to fit in.  Jayden has befriended him and tried to help him in and around the class, and he even stood up to his friends (friends that live on our street) for him, when they were teasing him and throwing wood chips.  He has great empathy and I am so proud of him for being brave and standing up for what is right.

In the hallway, while we were waiting for our turn to talk to Jayden's teacher, they had all these owls with 4 descriptors on them.  You were suppose to try and guess which "owl" was your child.  I picked the right owl the first time!  Although, there were just a few things that gave it away.  Dinosaurs being #1.  :)

My favorite description, behind the "I like when my mom hugs me" was the "I am crazy!"  ha ha ha

Race for the Cure 2011

This is the 4th year we've participated in Race for the Cure.  It is a fun 5K to run, the course is flat and fast and meanders through an old neighborhood.  However the race is getting really crowded and is hard to maneuver a stroller through, even when doing the untimed start (non-competative), starting at the front of the line, and having Royal run right in front of the stroller to "make a hole" for us through the people who decide that running 5 wide across the road is best for everyone.

The first year, 2008, I was big and pregnant with Willow and I waddled my way across the finish line.  In 2009, Willow was almost a year old, I had lost all of my baby weight and then some, and running felt good, and I remember listening to Royal complain that we were going to fast and could we please slow down some.  To which he got a big fat no, and in turn, he made sure he crossed the finish line before me.  :)  In 2010, we signed up for the race, fought the kids all the way to the start line - Jayden did not want to be there, only to realize that I had a flat tire on the stroller, and we had to pull out at the last minute.  This year the kids and I made sure the stroller tires were fully inflated. With Jayden and Willow's combined weight, plus all the gear we bring along and pick up in freebies at the booths, the stroller weighs a good 100+ pounds, and I need all the air in the tires I can get.  This is, I'm sure, the last year I will be able to get Jayden to ride in the stroller, he is getting a little old and quite big.  Royal had class on Saturday this year so he couldn't come with us, and if I was going to participate I needed to be able to push the munchkins.  I finished this year's race somewhere between 26 and 27 minutes.  It helped to have Jayden in the stroller telling me to "go a little faster", "pass that person up there", "Oh, look, there's our neighbor, catch up to her so I can say hi", "Oh, look, there's another stroller, let's go beat them"

Here we are crossing the finish line.

And here we are with a few of our stroller buddies that we used to go work out with.  (I had made a deal with Jayden that once he started kindergarten I wouldn't make him sit in the stroller in the mornings anymore, however I was secretly hoping he'd get put in morning kindergarten and Willow and I could keep going.  Sadly, he was put in afternoon kindergarten, so no more strollers in motion for me)

Spider

The bugs and insects here never cease to amaze me, and gross me out.  They are always so huge and always seem to be all over the place.  One of the things I like about winter here is the fact there are no bugs around.  They could congregate around our house and yard because we don't spray our house like most people here do, so the bugs and insects find a safe haven around our place from poisonous chemicals.

The kids and I were sitting outside on the front porch when I glanced over to my right and saw this :

and fought back the urge to scream.  I've never seen a spider like this before, so the kids and I sat and stared at it for awhile and I was completely impressed by the zig-zag doing down the middle of the web!  Then we went inside and I googled it to make sure it wasn't poisonous or anything, if it was it would have died.  Well, it would have died when Royal came home.

I found out it is just a black and yellow garden spider and is quite common in the lower half of the 48 states, which would also explain why I never saw one in Washington.  It's a non aggressive spider, but I guess will bite if they feel attacked.  So, the kids and I have decided to adopt the spider and they check on it all the time, but from a bit of a distance.  This spider is most likely a female since it's body is about an inch long and the males don't get that big.  The males have a bit of a tough life.  They roam around looking for a girl and when they find one, they slowly approach their web, but always have a drop line ready in case the female attacks it.  Then once they mate, the male dies, and the female eats it.  Nice.

Swimming Machine

Willow is a swimming machine.  Ever since we put her in lessons at 16 months, she hasn't wanted to stop.  In the summer, we do lessons 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, and during the 2 weeks off, almost every day, she asks if we are going to the pool.  She knows most of the teachers by name and goes into the pool yelling, 'Hi Victoria!  Hi Jane!  Hi Rachel!  Hi Wanda!' to whoever happens to be out on the pool deck.

Willow is one step away from moving up to Level 3.  She's been able to complete all of the Level 2 skills for quite awhile now, except for one thing, backstroke.  She is suppose to be able to swim across the pool using backstroke, however, what Willow normally does is push off the wall and then coasts on her back.  She is very good at floating on her back and sees no reason to propel herself through the water.  She'd float in the middle of the pool for the whole class if they'd let her.  However, yesterday when I was taking pictures, she did do her backstroke, so I'm guessing if she keeps doing it consistently she'll probably get moved up after the next session.

Swimming across the pool, freestyle

And backstroke.  Ready, Set, Go!

What Willow Wears :: 15

I got Willow dressed 2 different times today.  She promptly went back into her room and put on a pair of pajamas.  Guess it's just that kind of day.  The funny thing was when she found her her Tinkerbell costume.  Royal's mom bought this for her almost 2 years ago, it was on sale, and anybody who knows Royals mom knows that she doesn't pass up a good deal.  It's just been hanging out in her dress up pile waiting for her to notice it and put it on.  Well, today was that day.  And then she was digging around in her sock drawer to find the right pair of socks.  It ended up being a red pair, not the white pair in her hands.  :)

Jayden was pretty funny when he saw Willow wearing her tinkerbell dress.  He said, 'What the heck?  How did you shrink her dress?'  I said, 'I didn't shrink it, Willow grew'.  He said, 'Huh?'

And if Jayden keeps rockin' outfits like this, he's gonna need his own post series...

Pumpkin Paintings

This evening after dinner, while Royal was doing the dishes, I set the kids up outside to create a little art.  I got canvases for them and thought it would be fun to paint some pumpkins to hang on the wall.  I totally didn't expect Willow's to turn out anything like a pumpkin, but I figured Jayden could paint one.  I lightly drew a pumpkin on their canvases, then set the kids loose outside with their easels and acrylic paints.

Jayden loved his pumpkin so much and the color orange, he decided he was going to make a camouflage pumpkin.   I get that, sometimes it's hard to stop painting.

And camouflaged it is!  The finished masterpiece!  "The Camouflaged Pumpkin"

Willow wasn't as concerned about camouflaging her pumpkin, as she was about making sure she used ALL of her paint.  Her canvas has so much paint on it, I'm pretty sure it's going to take about a week to dry.  It's gonna have great texture though!  "The Textured Pumpkin"

I'm totally hanging these up on my wall!

Bench Games

This semester, Royal is working and going to school A. Lot.  He isn't home until 7 on two days of the week, and then he has class for 4-6 hours on Saturday.  The kids are missing him something fierce.  So am I, as I can't and don't wrestle like he does, and they get bored really easily especially when I'm cooking dinner.  For me, tv just isn't an option every day of the week.  There are definitely some days when I need a break and they watch a movie while I'm cooking dinner, but I've found tv makes for cranky and bored and non-creative kids who whine and complain more than usual.

One day last week, while they were sitting in the kitchen area on the window bench, asking for the millionth time if Royal was going to be home soon, I suggested they pull some of the puzzles out of the bench cupboards and put one together.  (and I asked if I could take their picture because they were sitting so nicely next to each other.  this is what they gave me....)

So, they pulled the puzzles out.  But they didn't put any together, they came up with a better game.  Let's see if we can squeeze Willow in one of these cupboards.

And even with a pillow, she still managed to fit in it!

Jayden took the bigger side so he could stretch out.

And then Willow wanted to be in Jayden's cupboard, so since he couldn't really fight her off, she crawled through the door by his feet, up his legs, and then laid her head on his stomach.

And they waited in there for almost a half an hour, waiting for Royal to come home so they could hide from him.  Sadly, it was a day that Royal was in class until late, and they had to come out to eat dinner, but they now have a really great new place to hide when they play hide and seek with Royal!

Farmer's Market

Today was the best day to go to the farmer's market!  It did not start out very well, the kids slept in and didn't get up until close to 8:30.  And the farmer's market is a good 30 minute drive away, fills up quickly, and all the good stuff goes fast, and then even on the drive to the market, I had to go to 2 different ATMs to get cash because the first one was out of money, so that really set me back!   But anyway, I quickly shoved some cereal down the kid's throats, packed them a cup of orange juice for the ride, and got them dressed - rain coats and rain boots and umbrellas in hand.  It was a wet, and rainy, and stormy morning, and I didn't really want to go to the farmer's market, but I needed to get on the list for our organic, free-range, happy (well, happy until he gets his head chopped off) turkey for Thanksgiving, and I have been on the hunt for my rumba squash to puree up for the freezer for all our pumpkin breads and muffins and pies the rest of the year, so off we went, kids grumbling the whole way.  The farmer's market isn't their favorite place to go, but I promised them we'd stop by Troubles the clown and get them some balloons.

Thanks to the bad weather, nobody was at the market this morning.  I mean nobody!  We parked in the front row, when usually we're like in the way back, and there was nobody walking around, so I had no trouble pushing my double stroller, a.k.a. my shopping cart, through market and being able to shop at the same time.  We hit the jackpot today, well at least for us, we found everything we were looking for.  I found a gigantic bag of basil to make Willow more pesto to freeze up - the girl eats pesto on just about everything, we found a great stash of sweet potatoes for sweet potato chips, some local honey for our allergies (the honey guy has been missing for weeks now), I found my rumba squash (yes! finally!), our turkey farmer was there today too so we got on the list to get a turkey, AND we had enough money left over to get ourselves some Kansas grown flowers!  We also stopped by Troubles the clown and the kids got pirate hats and swords.  It was a great day to go to the market!

Muffins with Mommy

I got to go to Jayden's class today for Muffins with Mommy, where I got to spend about an hour with him doing center work.  When I first got to his class, he gave me a button with his picture on it to wear, but he got too excited about it and decided he wanted to wear it first.

We started our center work at the 'Reading with Mommy' table and read a bunch of books.  Then we moved onto the 'Muffins with Mommy' table and I know this is hard to believe, but we ate muffins!  Next up, was the 'Mommy and Me' table.

Jayden made me some bath salts, poured them into a jar, and tied a ribbon (or 2 or 3) around it.

Our final center work was at the 'Massage' table.  Jayden took a bottle of lotion....

...and gave me a hand and arm massage! He kept telling me how good of a massager he was and then he offered to give the other moms at the table with us a massage too, because he was 'just so good at it.  I really am!'

Willow's Chariot and Computer

The majority of the week, Jayden, Willow, and I walk Jayden to school.  He rides his razor scooter, Willow walks for about 5 minutes, then jumps in the stroller for the rest of the way.  Once Jayden is at school, I fold up his razor scooter, tuck it under the stroller and Willow and I walk back.  Ever since Jayden took the training wheels off his bike, he has been begging me to ride bikes to school.  The problem was my bike trailer has been broken and Willow can't ride more than 100 feet without getting off her bike.  So, Royal to the rescue!  He finally fixed the trailer and it is now safe and operational!  And today, we rode bikes to school!  I said to Willow, 'Hey Willow, jump in the trailer so we can leave!'  She said, 'No!  I no like trailer!'.  I said, 'You don't like the bike trailer?  Well, it's not really a trailer, it's more like your chariot.  Like a princess chariot.'  That won her over.  She got right in and put on her 'helmet crown'.

And on the ride to school, I heard a few, 'I'm the queen!  I'm the queen!' coming from the chariot I was pulling.

Then, while cooking dinner tonight, Willow told me it was time for me to go to work, because she had things she needed to do on her computer while I was gone.  Guess she thinks that's all I do while Royal's at work.  :)

Fall Suncatchers

Royal and I undertook a gigantic project yesterday.  I have been battling a ridiculous moth infestation in my pantry, pretty much, all summer.  They make me so mad, and Royal has squished them all over the walls, which also infuriates me.  But I haven't been able to find where exactly they are coming from, and my pantry is gigantic.  It's bigger than my closet.  It has a window in it, it is so big, and I need a stool to get anything off the top shelf.  It's big.  Finally, yesterday, I'd had it.  I started taking everything out of the pantry, all 6 huge corner shelves, emptied.  It took me a good hour or two.  Then I made Royal go in and kill all the moths, and wipe down all the shelves, and all the squished moths on the walls.  Then it took me another 2 hours to reorganize the whole thing, and wipe down any can or box or anything that the moths might be hiding in.  I actually put 2 moth jackpots back in the pantry without even know it.  Luckily Royal found them later that night and got rid of them, and so far, we have been moth free!  Hallelujah!   But with all the work I was doing in the kitchen, the kids felt a tad ignored, so after dinner, I decided we should do an art project.  An art project I found while cleaning out the pantry!

Snoopy sun catchers!  I had forgotten all about these little suckers.  I found them marked down like 80% last year when we were out doing our Christmas shopping and had gotten them thinking they would be so much fun to do in the fall.  And if I hadn't had to clean out the pantry, I might not have remembered them at all!  Thank you little moths!

This was a really good project for Royal and I.  We are both, very definitely, color inside the lines kind of people.  And kids, well, they just don't color in the lines.  Sometimes, they make Snoopy's head orange.

Both of us had to keep reminding the other person to just let the kids color them however they wanted.  And that if they squeezed too much colored glue in one area, it really didn't matter.

Sometimes, I really need to just give up a bit of control.  What's the big deal anyway?  I control so much of the kid's lives, why in the world do I need to control how they create something.  And I'm sure the kid's probably enjoyed themselves more without me trying to hover over their shoulders "helping" them.  All I did was put tips on the color of the glue they wanted next, and use a toothpick to help spread glue piles that got a little too high.  I think they turned out great!

Jayden Sings :: A Fish Song

It has been almost a year since I posted a video of Jayden singing!  He sings all the time, at home, in the grocery story, in the bathroom, standing in the street, riding his bike down the road, swinging in the backyard...I think you get the idea.  He sings songs he knows and lots of songs he makes up.  I get funny looks from people when we are in stores, but my response back to them is, "Life's a musical when your 5!"

Here is a song he picked up at school.  He is coming home with lots of new material to belt around the house!

Riding on 2 Wheels

The hot weather has finally broken!  You could feel a change real early in the morning, mostly before the sun came up, there was a slight coolness in the wind, but it was still crankin' above 100 during the day.  We endured 54 days over 100, the first being in April, the majority of them in July and August, and the last of them in September.  It has been. So. Hot.  But it looks like it's finally over!  Saturday was 105, then a thunder storm came in the evening and when we woke up Sunday morning, it was 65 degrees outside. 65!  I wore pants to church!  And since then we've just been hanging out in the low to mid 80's.  It feels so good!

We have been playing outside pretty much non-stop for the past 3 days with all the kids on our street, and Jayden decided it was time to take the training wheels off his bike.  He actually learned how to ride a bike without training wheels last Christmas when we were in Washington, but hasn't been ready to commit to it on his bike here, until this weekend.  I wasn't even around when the wheels actually came off, but Royal said he only crashed once and then he was off and riding around everywhere!

And I give the nice weather about 2 weeks, and then I figure things will start to ice over..... :)

Kid Quote :: 16

Willow : Hey Dad, give me fifty dollars.

Royal : **silence** and looks at me with eyebrows raised.

Willow : You say, "Yes, ma'am".

There are going to be some long and expensive years until Willow is out on her own....