Coontz Visit

Cat in the Hat Field Trip

I got to be a chaperone at Miles's first grade field trip to see The Cat in the Hat at The Smith Center. I said I was willing to chaperone but would have to rearrange my work shedule a bit if they needed me. Well, when my name was drawn out of a hat to be one of two chaperones, I had to make it happen! 

I think he was happy to have me there and he sat by me for most of the time. The bus ride was craaaazy. These kids were EXCITED! 

We pulled up to The Smith Center only to be told we had to wait on the bus for 40 minutes. An eternity! I thought we were doomed but the teachers did some math and spelling  competitions to keep them busy (Miles was the only one from his class begging to go up again to challenge the other kids at their Math Facts). With five minutes to kill, I got out my Frozen soundtrack on my phone and we (eh, the girls at least) had a sing-a-long to Let it Go. I was instantly popular. :) 

The show itself was slow and a bit boring- though the premise to use your imagination for play was cool, it meant little to no props or background art and not a lot of dialogue. 

At one point I heard Miles say to the girl next to him, "This is boring!" And she said, "Yeah, this should have been for the  kindergarteners." 

But I was glad I went - unpaid time off and all. I just can't seem to catch up and accrue any time off after maternity leave and Christmas break. 

I haven't been able to do any classroom volunteering so this was a great way to finally meet these kids I've been hearing about. Like now I know that Jewel is a boy and Alex is a girl. And Fershad is really a boy's name, not a way Miles was mispronouncing Rashad. And that now I can see why Miles's teacher Mrs. Garrett told me she wishes she had a classroom full of kids just like Miles. She has some characters this year! 

Bubba

Oh this boy! I think he knows his name is Henry but we are probably making it hard for him to know for sure, what with all the nicknames he has. 

Hank

Bubba

Mr. Sir

Bubbtastic

Bubs

Toad

Toadie

Bubbalicious 

Bangs!

Penelope wanted me to send Uncle Kenny some photos of her new bangs. We got them trimmed again- I think she looks adorable! 

Kid Quotes

I said, "Penelope it's time to get off the iPad." She said, "Oh man! Can I just watch it for five more hours??"

P's new catch phrases are "Oh come ON!" and "I did NOT see that coming!"

Claire wasn't feeling well (her eye was irritated) and had stayed home from school. The next day she said, "My friends are going to ask why I wasn't there and I don't want to say why." Miles said, "Just tell them 'it's a long story' - that will work."

Penelope got some new apple flavored gum. She started chewing the first piece and said, "This is delightful!" 

Someday I Will Sleep Again...

Sleep!! I think about it way too much and get way too little of it. A child other than Henry woke me up four nights in a row this week.

Claire woke me up with a stuffy nose. She said it was so bad she "just had to tell someone." Thank you for choosing me, Claire. The one who is already up with a baby at least once a night... 

Then Miles had a dream that he was sent to prison for eating something he wasn't supposed to. He said, "I didn't know you could go to jail forever!" and started crying, which kept me from laughing about his real life troubles showing up in his dreams. He is ALWAYS eating!

Another night, Penelope woke me up at 2:55 am to tell me she wants to me to sing her a bedtime song, with a tone of "you forgot my song Mom!" I had in fact sung many songs earlier that night at her actual bedtime... Can't catch a break!

And then the next night, Miles got out of his bed, walked down the hall, up the stairs and into our bedroom to tell me he is afraid of the dark. The dark that he just bravely walked through... Sometimes, I'm not super nice in the middle of the night. Sorry buddy.

Here is a chart of my sleep one night in November - I crash hard, then wake up a lot. I stopped using this app on my phone because seeing my lack of sleep graphed every night was making me more stressed about it. 

So, life goals - get sleep! When that happens, then I can exercise in the morning again... or that's my excuse this week.

Winter Break

The gift of playing together - my goal for the next year! Play more- move more!

New karaoke machine! 

So many fun childhood memories with our tetherball came back to me watching them play! I am happy to see my kids carrying on the tradition. Claire gave me a big compliment - she said, "Playing against you is like playing a FIFTH grader!" Oh yeah, still got my skillz!

Shark Reef

We finally went and used the free Shark Reef tickets the kids earned through the library summer reading program. Week of New Year's Eve in Las Vegas = 1.5 hour wait. But the kids were patient and had a great time. Our favorite was the shark ray. Never seen one of those before!

Henry!

Henry and Uncle Nick

Henry meeting my friend Sophie for the first time. 

Company Christmas Party

All you can eat Brazilian grill! So good! And it was my choice, of course. We had about 90 people there and I haven't heard any major complaints so in my book that's a win. It was nice having a night out! 

Flashback Friday

Maybe I'm looking for some weight loss motivation or something but its just been fun to find and receive these old photos lately.

New Year's Eve Party

Our annual New  Year's party with the Neel Family. Got a little crazy making the snowman but give kids a bunch of toilet paper and they are in heaven!

Note Penelope making a "snow angel" on the floor... 

Henry - Nine Months!

Everyone should have someone look at them with as much happiness and love as this baby looks at me, at least once in their life. He melts my heart and I am grateful every day that he came to our family.

Henry is such a happy baby and though he is doing a bit better with sleeping at night in his own crib, he is not a great napper. He is so stinkin' happy though that it doesn't matter. The other kids were good sleepers but when they were grouchy, I knew they needed a nap. Henry sleeps in his carseat a lot thanks to busy schedules with the older kids, which is pretty common with babies with older siblings, I'm finding out.

He has four teeth - two in the bottom middle and two on the top, but just outside the middle two teeth. He is going to look like a little hippo. He is nursing twice a day and taking formula the rest of the time, eating more food - mostly fruit, cereal and some of our food now and again, and pulling himself up on the couch and ottoman. He isn't cruising around just yet, but he's getting close.

His baby talk consists mostly of da-da-da though I have heard a few ma-ma-mas in there recently... wishful thinking? None of our kids have said mom or dad as their first word so why should Henry be any different?

Three short months away from turning one year old already - I get sad thinking about it... so I won't. :)