First day of school - revisited

At Parent Teacher conference it was brought up that half-day kindergarten was moving up to full day if the family wanted to make the commitment. Peter enthusiastically said he wanted to go all day. We talked to him about it, made sure he understood what it all meant and that mom would miss him a lot. He made the decision that he wanted to go all day, his main reason was eating lunch at school and being with his best friend Payton more. I think that he does not want to miss out on anything that happens at school if he comes home early and it is such a novelty right now. So, we signed him up and today was the first. He woke up very excited. We packed the lunch and gave Caleb very strict instructions that he not forget to go pick up Peter at the front of the school when the day was done. I was going to meet them on the walk but Caleb was so excited to have a walking buddy. I did not want him to forget that walking buddy on his first big day.

Before school.

I went to pick them up and I waited on the other side of the crosswalk so not to get in the way of exiting children. We waited and waited and waited. Then a lady from our ward came out with her kids and she said she just saw Caleb and he was exclaiming that he almost forgot Peter as he was dashing back to the school! Crazy kid! I can just see him walking along, alone, and all of sudden he realized that he was missing someone. Arms flailing he dashed back to the school. Such cute boys!

Anyway, back to Peter. He was exhausted! I mean so tired. He was a snail coming home on that walk! But he said he had a great day. Loved his lunch and had fun at school. Only bad thing is that his friend Payton bailed on him. Payton went back to half-day kindergarten and so Peter cannot eat lunch with him. Peter is sort of bummed. And did I mention he was wasted after school!

Upon walking through the front door after school.

Look at that tired trooper! He did it though, one full day of kindergarten under his belt. And he went to bed so excited for another full day tomorrow. I think Caleb likes it just as much a Peter, Caleb is so happy he gets to walk home with him. Let's just hope he remembers to get him tomorrow.

Snow or Seuss?

This was a three day weekend for the boys and it kicked off with Dr. Seuss' birthday. Now I thought it would be fun to have some Seussical activities to entertain the boys on Friday, just so that we would not get bored. We had painting planned, making up your own Seuss type book, jumping contests; all that fun stuff. But it was all set aside the moment Haley went for a nap and we went outside in the snow. Snow forts are so much more fun than Seuss.

Also to be remembered is that on Sunday our family grew by one. William's primary teachers gave each of the Sunbeams a goldfish.

Total excitement by all of the kids and anxiety by mom. Rob says he is indifferent because as he so matter of factly stated, "I won't be here when it dies." Thanks a lot!!! I really hope this little fish, named Twilight, survives for a good while. William loves it! And he is such a sensitive kid when it comes to book characters dying, I do not like to think what will happen if anything goes wrong with this new pet adventure. Please live long little Twilight.

My solution to stuffed animal chaos

It may not be the most store-worthy/professionally done item in the boys' room but it does the job. The boys and Haley love every one of their stuffed animals yet there is no home for them. I conjured this idea to make a clear vinyl pocket hanger to go over their door and that would be home to all the loved and forgotten animals. What is seen is hopefully not forgotten. Unfortunately there are more animals that do not have a place in here, but only a few. Those can go in Haley's room, but for the most part there is a place to put the chaos and for now it is organized. Is it too dumb or is it a smart solution? You tell me.

Task #2

Catching up with documenting my children's lives through pictures - speed version.

Since I have got so many pictures to go through and so many fun things to remember I am taking the easy road and going month to month. I have a friend who takes her photos from each week and catalogs them for her family. A quick snap-shot into their life for the week. Very cool idea. But since I have over a years worth of photos to go through and I really do want to remember it all, I am going month to month, and hopefully getting caught up. So, here is my first go at it. Forgive the poor photo quality, it is late and this is not my only task at hand.

I will hopefully be able to do a sheet for each of my four children for each month. They already love looking at the picture books I have done for them in the past so my hope is this will help them enjoy their childhood, even if it is only a month at a time.

Accomplishments this weekend

For a three day weekend we were able to do some fun stuff. The big three include:

Haley played in the snow on Sunday and LOVED the whole experience. Wait, let me back up. She loved playing in the snow once we took off her shoes. That girl HATES shoes so much. The boys wanted to go play and so did she. I tried to put the shoes on her and put her down on the ground to show her that she could go and play. But she sat there and screamed! It is like putting a boot on a car's tire. She will not move when there are shoes on her feet. Well, I figured she had double socks on, she could still play. So, I took her shoes off and she was gone.

At first she stuck to the sidewalks only. But soon there was no holding her back. She followed the boys into the back yard and investigated Caleb's small snowman.

At least she will keep a hat and gloves on. She loved it all, except the shoe part.

Second task, I finally finished the Easter pillowcases for my kids. This weekend I hunkered down and did the last things I needed to have them ready for Easter time.

I think my boys will like them. In case you cannot tell, the pillow cases with bunnies are supposed to look like they have grass on them and eggs "hidden" here and there in the grass. I made the eggs out of scraps of material I had lying around, things my boys would like or are interested in. So, there are robot eggs, eggs with flames, an egg with bambi on it; random but fun stuff. If you look closely enough there are small imperfections but it was fun to make them, design them out in my head and to finally have them finished. Now I need to take a break from sewing (even though I have other projects in my head being designed) and work on a different task.

Last but not least, we built a fort/castle yesterday for the boys to play on. Do not get me wrong, we have plenty of other stuff to play with at our house. Legos, the Bat Cave, a king's castle.... but what boy does not need a cardboard fortress added to his collection?

Peter also had me make a Dersley's house (from Harry Potter) for him to play on. That is all Peter will think about, Harry Potter. The boys enjoyed playing with the boxes while I glued stuff together. Caleb even made himself a robot body out of one of the boxes. Good times were had by all.

Lego Awesomeness

So, as the boys were playing legos I set out to put together all of the people - again. They always seem to change outfits and move heads around. I decided to round them all up and call attendance. It is amazing and incredible!

The final count is 108! It would be 110 but we are missing one Hagrid and Princess Leah. Amazing! Plus the boys have at least 7 more they can earn for doing good things. Whoa. I so wish Peter's class had done a 100 day project where they had to collect 100 of something to show how far they had come in school. We totally would have done 100 lego mini-figs and it would have been the coolest!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Only a certain two of our children cooperated in this Valentine wish, but all of us want to wish you a happy day!

They wear their love proudly.

Peter was only interested in eating his Valentine candy.

Haley was not interested at all. But the message is still the same, we love you!