Baby Steps

I checked Colleen's homework folder when she got home from school today and found this little gem.  It is going in my "I'm keeping this forever" box.  It requires translation and backstory.  Backstory first: I volunteer in Colleen's classroom on Thursday afternoons while Wes is in preschool.  I know almost all of the kids in her class and pretty much have a terrific time while I am there.  Yesterday was no exception, a great time was had by all.  :D

 

So when it came time for Colleen to write a story today, this is what came to her mind:

 

It says: I am sad at school because mine mom isn't at school.

 

The picture is amazingly accurate, that is just what her classroom looks like, and those are decent liknesses of her teacher and classmates.  The only thing that I am not understanding is the identity of the girl crying.  Presumably, it is Colleen, because she is sad that I wasn't at school today, but typically when Colleen draws herself, she is dressed as a princess, and besides she never draws herself with brown hair.  I think it is her fellow student, Angie, who is crying in the picture, but Colleen didn't want to talk about it this afternoon so I haven't figured it all out yet. 

 

Thanks again to Shawn for having the foresight to buy a printer with a scanner built in.  It's coming in handy, dearheart, and I am sorry I was bratty when you brought it home.  :D

I am in a terrific mood this morning.  Seems like so many things are going right today!

 

First, getting ready for school this morning was easy, both kids woke up quickly and in good moods, there were no fights about clothes (even though it is PE day, wonders!), a warm breakfast was had by all and we got to school with plenty of time for socialising before the bell rang.  It was wonderful. 

 

I also got the Santa picture booked for the kids.  I am really looking forward to it.  This is a place that has their own Santa come in and the kids will have 15 minutes with him.  Plus, it's a professional studio with great equipment, so the picture will be of better quality as well.  No waiting at the mall for hours and hoping the one picture taken is good enough.  No dozens and dozens of kids (and their germs and flu cooties) to contaminate my kids right before Christmas.  I am thrilled that we got a good appointment time.  We missed Santa pictures last year because of the threat of snow (I can't remember if I blogged about it or not, I was quite dissappointed), but I'm not letting anything stop me this time!!!  Yay for Santa pictures!

 

The absolute topper, the thing that promted me to write this post, was that I managed a very difficult printing task on a small strip of paper in only one try.  Perfection!  It had the potential to be very frustrating and just end up in failure, and yet, it came out just right, smooth sailing.  I accept partial credit for my awesome printer skills, and I give some credit to Shawn for buying a good printer and setting it up for me the other night.  Thank you, hon.  I'm printing up a part of the packaging for my tap shoe ties / pony tail holders.  I am going to sell them at the Holiday Bazaar Coco's school is putting on.  The packaging is turing out cute and highlights the product well, I think.  I'll have to post pictures one of these days.

 

OK, my sunny smile and I are going to sign off and get lunch taken care of before Wes heads off to preschool and I head off to volunteer in Coco's class.  Hurray for Thursdays!  :D

 

Love, Jen

The Christmas Toy catalogs are pouring in from retailers far and wide and Wesley's excitement is reaching epic proportions.  Just now he came across the Target book, grabbed a red marker, and set about circling every toy meant for boys.  Towards the end of the book (after the coupon insert) he abandonned circling each thing individually in favor of the more-effecient circling of the entire page.  This is the first year he has really been into it, I guess 4 years is the magical "fun" age.  Either that, or having live TV (and being bombarded by commercials) is having the advertiser's desired effect.

 

I just hope he will be happy with what he does get.  Unfortunately he has a mind like a steel trap and I can see him mentally checking things off his list as he opens his gifts on Christmas morning and I hope his delight with what he does receive outweighs the disappointment he may feel when he does not get "My Talkin' Tonka Truck" or that giant stomping and roaring dinosaur. 

 

I am willing to bet money or housechores that the toy executives responsible for those migraine-inducing gems don't have children of their own.  :D

It's that time of year again, when the Christmas presents I buy for my kids online start trickling in via the UPS and FedEx men...  and yet they STILL haven't caught on.  For instance, I just received my 4th package today (no worries, I didn't buy a ton of stuff, the retailer just decided to ship in lots of little boxes instead of one big one), and get this - Wesley totally believes that it is another super secret Christmas present for Grandma.

 

Hee hee hee hee!

 

I'll have to write about the kids presents sometime.  I am aiming to spend less than $100 a kid and still give them multiple things to open. things they will be happy to get and actually use.  I think I just might accomplish it, guys.  :D

OK guys, since we've been in Washington we've endured hard times together as a family, just the four of us, against hardships that have brought us closer together.

 

First, there was The Great Snow In, where the streets here never were plowed and we sat in our house for nearly 3 weeks, assuming that everyone else was in the same boat.  That right there should have been a clue that we were living in "unicorporated county" instead of "city limits".  Anyways, we made it through just fine, had enough food, got lots of pretty snowy pictures, power never went out, etc.  Cabin fever did start to set in towards the end, but we made it.

 

Next, there was The Awful Heat Wave, where there was not a fan to be found and we sufferred through triple-digit temperatures inside the house and a cold shower could not be had.  Plus side?  Our water heater got a well deserved break that week and no one broke into our house while all the windows were wide open.  Probably all the criminals were too hot to bother.  At any rate, we all slept down in the lowest level of the house and when the seasonal markdowns hit, I bought up enough fans to keep us comfortable next year.

 

Now for this past weekend.  Easily THE SINCLE WORST TIME SINCE WE'VE MOVED HERE.  The worst time of all time (I hope).  Wesley got sick THursday late afternoon.  We had a loaner car because ours was at the beauty salon, getting a mani/pedi and a shiney new Mass Air Flow Sensor.  We stop at Safeway to fill up SHawn's water cooler jugs and head down to pick him up.  Poor barfing Wes barfs off and on the whole drive down.  Shawn lost track of time and didn't come out of work for 2 hours.  By this time we have missed dinner and Coco's homework time, and the car smells BAD.  At least Wes was a trooper and kept the barf in the bucket.  Shawn finally comes out and we get home.  Shawn pulls Wes out of the loaner car and his pants are wet... and it wasn't urine.  The poor kid threw up a few more times that night, but by then it had mostly tapered off to water-poo.  So that was our Thursday.  It was Not. Fun.  Then Friday was kind of a blur.  I know I got our car back (and by some miracle Wes did not get a drop of bodily fluid in the loaner).  I can't remember much about Friday except that Colleen woke up in the middle of the night throwing up.  Her aim is not so good and she threw up everywhere.  All over her bedding, all over the fresh bedding, all over the last set of clean bedding, all over her floor.  I just shuddered at the memory.  She finally stopped throwing up I'd say around sunrise?  I'm not sure, looking at the clock wasn't a big priority for me at that point.  Needless to say, she didn't go to ballet on Saturday.  At about noon on Saturday it hit me.  I am a bigger wimp than either kid and my aim is better than Colleen's, but not as good as Wesley's.  Wesley was such a tough little man about it all, so stoic and uncomplaining.  I am very impressed with how well he handled it.  It took me longer to get through the "violently ill" part and it is taking me longer to bounce back.  Every muscle is sore and I am exhausted.

 

We all got through it somehow, we pulled together as a family and toughed it out.  Shawn isn't feeling great, but so far (knock on wood) he hasn't gotten the stomach flu that the rest of us had.

 

Colleen went to school this morning, she was fine when I dropped her off.  A few minutes after I got home the school called saying that Colleen told them she threw up last night and this morning and that she didn't know why I brought her to school.  WHAT?!?!?!  Her temperature was a slightly below normal 97.3 and I assurred the school that she hadn't thrown up since Saturday morning.  Be that as it may, they still wanted me to come get her.  I have no idea why she said that, and she is acting fine, except she is refusing to eat.  I guess one more day home won't hurt her.  I am going to take Wes to preschool though, I think he is fine now. 

 

Wes had an appointment with his club foot doctor this morning, I'll write a post about that soon.  Long story short, his foot is doing great and he doesn't have to wear his sleeping boots any more.  The doc also said we are now on yearly check ups instead of every 6 months.  Good job, Wes!