Family Pictures 2010

Monday night, we got our family pictures taken! I met a new friend, Jodi, over the summer during our kids' swim lessons and she is starting up a photography business. She was looking for guinea pigs and we gladly volunteered! We went to the Flynn's orchard--the most magical place in Nebraska! Jodi had her work cut out for her--getting three kids to smile (or at least in Kari's case, not cry when put down) all at the same time wasn't easy! But, thankfully, quite a few turned out really great. Here are some of my favorites...Oh, and I'm working on getting some of the "bloopers" (Christian's, not Cubby's, nose-picking, etc...) from her as well to post as those are always fun to remember too! Thank you, again, Jodi! We love them!

Yeehaw, Cowboy!

Last Thursday was Western Day at preschool. It's one of my favorite "days" b/c the kids all look just sooo darling all dressed up like little cowboys (and cowgirls)! AND, of course, the kiddos have a lot of fun pretending too! This Sheriff Woody costume has gotten soooo much wear out of it--Emily has worn it (or pieces of it) for two Halloweens and two Western Days; not to mention just using it for dress up. I highly recommend investing in any western-wear if you've got young children; they'll definitely get some use out of it!

Preschool has gotten better for Christian--today was the first day that he hasn't told me "me no touch the puzzles today, Mommy!" when I asked him how school was! (Today I got a typical boy response of "Good, Mommy"...it sooo reminds me of the "Fine" that I get whenever I ask Cubby how his day went!)

I think some of his reluctance to go was simply the fact that he would get so into whatever he's doing just before we would have to leave that it was hard for him to put it down to go do something else. (We get similar results at bedtime!) However, now that he's getting to know some of the kids, one of whom we now carpool with, it's helping a lot more in the motivation department. I miss him too (some mornings) but I can see how good it is for him to be doing this and how happy he now is to have preschool as a part of his week.

Giddy up to all ya'll out there--it's only Tuesday! Ha!

BOOOIIINNNGGG

I don't know about your kiddos, but mine just LOVE door stoppers. It never fails; once they start moving, they seem to migrate toward them automatically. Like a moth to a flame. Kari is no different and as she is a very busy little crawler these days, a whole new world has opened up to her. She is no longer restricted to whichever room I set her down in! She had been getting into her diaper bag and then something else caught her eye. Yup, it was the door stopper. Naturally, she was very proud of herself for making a funny noise. This is a fun age.

Being A Golden Friend

Emily colored this picture from our church's Friend magazine a couple of Sundays ago and I am so impressed with how she puts the motto "Be a Golden Friend" into action throughout her day. Here are the different ways to be a Golden Friend:

1. Notice when someone around you feels left out. Invite him or her to participate in your activity. Emily works so hard to include Christian in her "play" when she has her friends over. She knows how good it feels to be included.

2. Introduce yourself to two new children you don't know in Primary or at school. Emily has taken this a step further and introduced two friends of hers to each other so that they could be friends too.

3. Teach a younger friend or sibling something he or she wants to learn from you. Emily taught Kari to clap the other week and is constantly teaching Christian (and his little friends) how to do "big kid" stuff!

4. Ask an older friend to teach you something new that he or she is good at. Emily enjoys her time with her 5th grade buddy, Emma, who teaches her to draw new things.

5. Think of something nice to do for a friend. You could draw a picture, write a note, make a craft or just say something nice to your friend. Emily has a new friend from school who also recently moved into our ward at church! (Needless to say, this was BIG exciting news for Emily!) Emily draws her pictures and makes her little friend crafts to help her feel loved and accepted.

6. Offer to help a friend with homework, chores, or other responsibilities. Emily helps me dust the living room and is working very hard to earn check marks on her chart for completing her daily responsibilities with a cheerful attitude.

7. Speak nicely about your friends. Encourage them to speak kindly about others too. Maybe she's too young, but Emily doesn't say mean things about her friends. She's very loyal.

8. Remember what you learn about your new friends. Call them by their names and follow up on something they told you. You could ask, "How did your test go?" "Are you feeling better?" or "How was your soccer game?" Emily has a memory like an elephant--and she never forgets...anything. She is very empathetic too and is always quick to ask how one of us is feeling if she knows or can tell we're not feeling good or have gotten hurt.

In so many ways, I have a lot to learn from my little girl! I hope that by taking the time to write out these 8 simple ways to be a better friend, that I can work on becoming one myself. Thank, Emily, for your awesome example!

Uncle "Wob"

This past weekend we got a special visit from my Uncle Rob (the kids' Great-Uncle). He is my Dad's next oldest brother and was also his closest friend. He lives up in Minnesota and the last time I saw him I was pregnant with Christian. He had met Emily when we drove up to Grand Lake (in Minnesota), but she was only 18 months old at the time. So, it had been awhile! Business brought him down for a short visit and it was so fun to have him around and to meet Christian and Kari.

We all gathered for a delicious dinner courtesy of my mom (really, does she make anything that's NOT delicious??). It was good to catch up a bit and Rob got to see the kiddos in action!
My Uncle is special b/c much like my Grandma Carolyn, he's always been a part of our lives. When we were little, we'd get to go over to his house and we'd go out for blueberry pancakes, or after he got married to my Aunt Barb, she'd make us all the BEST French Toast. (I've tried to duplicate it and I just can't do it!) Even now, they still continue to show their love and support by sending the kids gifts and cards at Christmas and on their birthdays.

For me, Rob has also provided a link to my Dad since he's been gone. As brothers, they both have very similar mannerisms, voices, even the way that they talk and laugh. When he and my brother get together, I swear it's like I'm watching Rob and my Dad interact all over again!

I was so glad that he could come down for a bit--it's such a short plane ride, I hope he'll want to venture back down again soon! (We can take the kiddos to the zoo and other fun places, Rob!! :-) )

(The "funny faces" pictures always turn out the best!)

Christian's First Day of Preschool

Some highlights from Christian's first day at the YMCA preschool:

1. It was finally HIS TURN! We've been dropping his big sister off there for 2 yrs and it was finally time for Christian to stay and play!

2. His new Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle backpack--he wore it around until it was time to go to school.

3. The mohawk was in full effect--and he got lots' of compliments on it!

4. SNACK TIME. Enough said.

5. Playing with the dinosaurs and making a new friend named Jacob.

Overall, Christian had a good first day. Not quite the "dream come true" that school is in Emily's eyes, but still, he is almost 9 months younger than she was when she started preschool 2 yrs ago.

Christian is in Ms. Sandi's class--the "young ones". Although it is her first year teaching, she has been working with kids through the various YMCA programs now for many years and, it turns out that 8 of the 12 children in his class knew her from those classes. No tears from the little ones--a first!

Christian is a very sensitive little boy though and when I picked him up, he was rather quiet. I asked what was wrong and he told me "Ms. Sandi got mad at me." Hmmm...I went back into the school and asked her what had happened. At first, she couldn't think of why he'd say that...but then she remembered that in the math station she had told the whole class not to touch the puzzles. So, what does Christian do? He walks over, pulls out three puzzles and dumps them on the floor. (Christian loves puzzles and so I'm sure he just wanted to play with them.) Ms. Sandi told him that he wasn't supposed to have touched the puzzles and that was it. Most kids wouldn't have thought twice about it. But, apparently, Christian is rather sensitive.

We both explained to Christian that Ms. Sandi wasn't mad, but it was just important to listen to the teacher. Sweet boy. I don't think there was any permanent damage done though b/c later when Emily asked him how school was, he said "good". We'll see how tomorrow goes...

Oh, and just for the record--this is our third year w/a GREEN shirt! (Each class is distinguished by a different color shirt.) We were going to have Christian wear one of Emily's old ones, but at the orientation meeting, they were handing out the t-shirts and Christian looked up at me and said, "where's my shirt?" every so sweetly. So, what the heck, it was worth having ONE more green shirt...with any luck, we'll get green again when it's Kari's turn!

Labor Day 2010

Labor Day was so much fun! We just kinda' "went with the flow" of the day and it turned out great. First up, Cubby made a rope swing for the kids out front! It turned out great and Emily and Christian really enjoyed it! Thanks, Daddy--you're becoming quite the handyman!

After lunch and when Kari woke up from her nap, we decided to try and make it down to the zoo b/c we figured the pool would be pretty crowded, being the last day it was open and all. WELL, let me tell you, the rest of Omaha must've had the exact same idea! I have NEVER seen the zoo so packed. It was IN-SANE. Funny thing happened though, just as we had parked and were walking in when we started to hear these large booms...followed by huge cracks of lightening! Needless to say, we turned right back around and got back into the car! (The picture above is us walking AWAY from the zoo--check out the sky!) As we were pulling out, it looked as though many others had the same plan to leave as we did and did not want to be stuck inside the Desert Dome (or other indoor attractions) with 10,000 other people!

So we didn't disappoint the kiddos, we drove over to Fontenelle Forest--thinking that we'd just play indoors in their exploratory area downstairs. It must've been meant to be that we end up there b/c the weather cleared enough for us to go outside a bit too! We had a lot of fun seeing the "bugs" (big statues of bugs on display) and playing in their outdoor adventure place too.

Kari did wondefully--this big girl has gotten not one but FOUR teeth this week!!! Yes, the bottom front two came in last Tuesday and the top front two broke through today--YIKES! As of today also, she is CRAWLING! Not just army crawling (that was soooo last week) but up-on-all-fours crawling! Such a big girl.

We finished off the day with a BBQ dinner at my mom's house. It was super delicious and the kids had a great time playing with Grandma and Harvey.

We hope everyone's Labor Day was as happy as ours! Look out, world, Christian starts preschool tomorrow!!!

Growing Pains

So, today I did what I do every season--go through the kids' clothes and take out what doesn't fit anymore. It's always a time when I get a bit nostalgic and it just reminds me of how quickly they grow! (Especially Christian--my goodness, he's grown, like, 2 inches in the last month! Yeah, I'm so not kidding either.) So, (sigh) I pack away the favorite dress that Emily wore just last spring, and, all but 3 pairs of Christian's pants go into a bin as well. The days get so busy and hectic at times and this whole process of clothes sorting really makes me step back and realize how grateful I am for this reminder that helps me to appreciate where my children have been, where they're at now, and where they're going!