This quote from Mother Teresa inspires me.  I find that it is easy for me to act this way towards children, I need to work on applying it to my interactions with peers and elders.

 

Love, Jen

...for the adorable-ness contained in this post!

 

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at Wesley's preschool.  The children sang us several cute songs, then we went to the big room and had "Friendship Salad" and Pumpkin Bread.  The 2s and 3s classes made us butter from scratch.  The texture was different and it was very sweet, so of course I loved it!

 

Colleen came with me because her school has half days all week to allow for teacher conferences and because of the Thanksgiving holiday.  We sat with the family of Wesley's best friend and we all had a terrific time!

 

Love, Jen

 

 

Wesley is second from the right, bottom row, blue plaid shirt.  He got a big kick out of his pilgrim hat.  His best friend is the little girl sitting to the right of him, talking to the teacher.

 

 

 

By this point in the day, Coco's "knee" socks had migrated into "shin" socks.  LOL

 

 

 

In this picture Colleen is showing off the space from the tooth she lost on Friday afternoon.  It was her 2nd lost tooth and it is *really* lost, she dropped it in the car and we haven't found it yet!  Wesley's smile in this picture looks EXACTLY like Shawn's mom's smile. 

 

 

 

This just in: Shawn is playing Lodi Dodi on his computer and we are both cracking up remembering how he used to torture me by singing snippets from it.  "Don't cry, dry your eye, here comes your mom with those two little guys".  I don't remember why it drives me crazy, maybe it was because he sang it SO DANG-GONE MUCH, now whenever we hear it I have to make a big production over not wanting to hear it and he makes a big deal out of singing it to me.  And now you all know one of our inside jokes!

I'm not sure what to write, the words aren't coming to me on this one, but it is too important an occasion not to mention it in a forum I use to chronical my life.

 

Mrs. J has known me my whole life, and my dad for most of his.  She lived next door to my dad's parents while he was growing up.  After my grandfather passed away, we moved into the house and she saw my three sisters and I grow up as well.

 

Every Halloween she had a little bag of candy made up for each of us, it always made me feel special to get it.

 

She always bought something from our school fundraisers.

 

Her house was always so clean and tidy.

 

She had a special "rec room" in her basement with a sign over it that said the names of her and her husband. 

 

I grew up and moved away and kept in touch by writing letters.  We became pen pals.  I sent her pictures of my kids every time I had them taken, which was usually once a month in the beginning.  She always wrote a nice long letter back to me.  I never had to look up her address, I knew it by heart.  One day she moved away to live with her daughter, I memorized the new address because it felt weird having to looking it up.  Then she and her daughter had a falling out and she moved in with her grandson and his wife.  I didn't memorize that address and for some reason that isn't sitting well with me right now.

 

In one of her letters she told me to call her by her first name and I found that I couldn't, it just didn't seem respectful to me.  Every so often she would remind me to call her by her first name and she always signed her letters back to me with her first name.  Looking back, I wonder if this was her way of honoring our friendship, specifically, the relationship we forged upon my adulthood.  I think of her fondly when the students at my kids' schools call me by my last name. 

 

I haven't seen her since Colleen was an infant.  I haven't had a letter from her since she got sick.  I had advance warning that her time on earth was waning, and yet hearing the news of her passing was still a shock.  Her time of illness was relatively short, and I hope she didn't have to suffer the indignities that cancer often imposes.

 

She lived a long and full life.  It was a life that had it's fair share of both ups and downs, she quickly reported the downs and celebrated the ups at legnth.  I admire that about her.  She was lucky enough to know her great grandson and boy was she proud of him.

 

I am glad to have known her; having her for a neighbor is one of my cherished childhood memories.  My heart hurts knowing that I will never receive another letter from her. 

 

You will be missed, Mrs. J, and you will always be fondly remembered.

 

Love, Jen

 

Mrs J and Colleen, Christmas 2003

This one's for mom, Hi Mom!

 

A few weeks ago I got Colleen a new bed, in part because she was getting too tall for the toddler bed, in part because my sister is coming out soon to visit and I need a decent place for her to sleep.  Since the crib is going in Colleen's room, it made sense.

 

I knew I wanted an eyelet bedskirt but WHEW are they pricey.  I found one on eBay that was listed at 99cents for a full sized bedskirt, two pillow shams and a pillow case.  Shipping was just over $11, when it was all said and done I paid $12-something.  I got it so cheap because it was ecru instead of white and the pictures didn't do it justice.  Actually, when I got it, I was unimpressed.  It looked dingy and old instead of "ecru".  At first I thought "maybe I'll bleach it", but then I decided to dye it.  I got the dye at Michael's yesterday and got myself good and intimidated by reading up on tips for doing a good job.  This afternoon I told myself "now or never" because I figured if I waited too long it would just get put on my mental "to do" list and I'd never quite get around to doing it.  I decided that it wasn't a big deal if it didn't turn out good, the set was cheap and I could always bleach it later.

 

Well, let me tell you that using powdered RIT dye couldn't be easier.  I used a 5 gallon bucket in the kitchen sink and did the pillow cases first, then changed the water and did the bed skirt.  It went fast, the dye didn't stain a thing except the fabric and the color turned out great.

 

And here is Coco's new bed!  The two eyelet pillows along the back of the bed were dyed, along with the pillow in the front of the stack of 3 at the "head" of the bed.

 

The Ballerina quilt was another eBay find, along with a lavedar floral quilt that isn't in the picture.  The daybed is Craigslist, of course.  :D

 

Mom, I hope you like it.  Becky, it is really comfortable!

 

Love, Jen

 

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!

 

 

I want to write a blog about hoodies, turns out I have something to say on the subject.  (Who knew?)

 

I can't right now because Wes is a very sick little boy and I need to try to get him stable enough so that we can drive Shawn to work and hopefull Wes will not throw up or poo in the rental car.  Come to think of it, I am going to go line the back of the car with a big blanket.  That should help mitigate the carnage.

 

The rental car is a whole 'nother story.  Our faithful old "Choo Choo Thomas" has some mechanical difficulty (after 6 years and 130K miles) and is in the shop.   I'm  happy the dealer gave us the loaner while ours in the shop.

 

Wesley's fish appears to have pulled through his rough spot.  I am pretty sure the fin rot was caused by the pink eye bacteria.  I can't remember if I wrote about this already or not.  Wes and I had pink eye last week and on Halloween Wes was playing in his fish tank.  I think he rubbed his eye and then stuck his hand in the water, infecting the fish.  At any rate, quick treatment appears to have saved the life of Pony The Fish, and the fins that rotted off should grow back in time.  I hope.

 

Love, Jen

My blog these days seems to be one post after the other about cute things the kids said or cute pictures I took of the kids.  I will endeavor to write something with more substance soon.  But for now... cute Halloween pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coco slept through dinner tonight and she just woke up hungry.  She decided on a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich.  She was joking that she was so hungry she could eat two sandwiches, or three, or... and I interrupted and said "One Meeeelllion Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhiches", like how Dr. Evil would in the Austin Powers movies.  Without missing a beat, Coco deadpanned, "One THOUsand Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhiches."

 

God, I love that kid.  :D

Wes was staring at the microwave waiting for his popcorn to finish popping and he didn't see me walk into the kitchen behind him.  He was startled when he heard me open a cabinet door to get the popcorn out and he quickly looked at the dining room chair I had been sititng in moments before.  He was clearly disoriented and was muttering to himself about how I was sitting in the chair and now getting a bowl and there must be two of me.  He frowned, then triumphantly delcared, "My mommy is a shape shifting super hero!"

 

Folks, I think I have my Halloween costume figured out.  :D

I was just looking at my blog's viewership statistics.  I don't get very many comments any more, but I get a fair amount of page views.  The bulk of my page views come from club foot related searches. 

 

I just went back and looked at a couple of my entries that people who searched looked at.  I can't believe how LITTLE and INNOCENT Wesley looked.  I am also so far away from what I was feeling then that it surprised me how agonized I was over his club foot correction.

 

So many good things happened over the course of his treatment that we wouldn't have been privy to otherwise, the wonderful people we got to know, the special bond Wes and I have from going through it together.  I'm not sure that I'll ever feel like Wesley's birth defect was a blessing and I don't know that I'll ever let go of the guilt I feel - for not taking my prenatal vitamins, for having my gall bladder removed before I knew I was pregnant, and for not researching and getting him to the best doctor sooner - but I am GRATEFUL for all the good things and I'm ever thankful that the bad things were not worse. 

 

It is commonly said that once you've had a child with clubfoot, the chances of having another child with club foot are 1 in 17.  I don't want any more children for a variety of reasons, but one of the most promenient in my mind is the chance of another clubfoot.  Now that we are very nearly through the "correction" phase of Wesley's treatment, I find that the possibility of the next child also having clubfoot isn't nearly so daunting.

 

My biggest concern now?  Another with Wesley's energy!  LOL

 

January 2007    at physical therapy 

 

 

October 2009     helping me change the front door handle

My kiddos were so cute this morning, I had to take pictures!

 

 

 

Courdory Pillows are making headlines.

I had a terrific day today.  I'm exhausted now, but it's a good kind of tired. 

 

I got Coco up and out the door in great time this morning, she even had enough time to bring her baby doll, Pretend Aerilyn, to school in her stroller AND eat school breakfast.  School breakfast usually consists of the exact same cereal we have here at home, apple juice (not like at home because it comes half frozen and in a little plastic container), and 1/3 a banana.  Today we were in for a treat that somehow managed to be more special: a cinnamon roll, half frozen apple juice, and 1/3 a banana.  LOL   At breakfast the music teacher played patriotic music (You're a Grand Ole Flag and Yankee Doodle) and sang and danced on the stage while the kdis ate.  The music was up really loud, I mean REALLY LOUD.  I couldn't decide if I would be getting a headache or getting up on stage to perform with the teacher.  I was torn.  I met a classmate of Colleen's, named Isabella.  She is a total sweetheart and such a cutie.  Very well spoken for her age.

 

After breakfast-and-a-show, it was time to head back out to the playground so that Colleen could line up with her class.  The bell rang, her teacher came out to collect the students, Colleen was off for another day of learning and I was headed back to home and my boys, Shawn and Wes.

 

Shawn has been home sick all week, we are pretty sure it is not any kind of flu, seems to be more of a stomach bug.  He thought scrambled eggs would be ok this morning, so I whipped some up for him.  They didn't sit well.  :( 

 

I can't remember what I did between then and time to take Wes to school.  I have no clue.  Probably spent most of the time playing around on the computer.  I'm on a quest to find an inexpensive twin sized daybed dust ruffle / bed skirt.  It's harder than I thought it would be.  I may try my hand at making one, but materials are quite expensive as well.  Stay tuned for how this one plays out, LOL

 

The it was time to take Wes to school.  I forgot show and tell AGAIN.  I have forgotten every time except once.  At least I remembered the $20 for teacher's gift.  I was probably the last one to pay, but forgive me my lack of urgency... the teachers get their gift at the end of the school year in MAY 2010!

 

After I dropped Wes off, it was back to Colleen's school for my first "in class" volunteer session.  I wasn't sure what to expect and I was kind of nervous.  Naturally, I had a BLAST.  There were only a couple of children that I didn't already know.  Colleen's class has only 16 children in it.  Isn't that amazing?  I am impressed.  My first task was to walk around the tables and help children spell words as they wrote stories in their journals.  They were writing about Halloween and today's story was supposed to have a beginning, middle, and end.  I was impressed with the stories the kids were coming up with and how many words they could spell independently.  And my Colleen is a wonderful illustrator.  Journal time came to an end and then it was time for the kids to line up to go to Music.  I heard several of them talk about how "Colleen's Mom" is fun and nice.  I am grinning from ear to ear just remembering it.  I love those kids and it is important to me that their interactions with me are positive.  While the kids were in music I wrote their names on paper pumpkins and then made copies.  It has been a long time since I've stood at a copy machine, I didn't realize until today that I miss collating.  LOL  It was cool to see the worksheets that the kids are going to be doing this coming week, as the copier was running I imagined how Colleen would color hers.

 

Then I wrote how each child leaves school (walk, car, bus, or daycare van) on a special poster that a substitute teacher would refer to if Miss H was out.  It was pretty cool that I already knew how most of them went.  Next, I took down the display of their Mayflower Math papers and put up their paintings of Autumn Trees and the falling leaves.

 

A little kindergartener girl that is a sister to one of Colleen's classmates fell on the playground and had a bloody nose.  Miss H asked how I was with blood and I said fine and she asked if I would check in on the little girl.  Her nose was still bleeding and she was sitting in one of the sick rooms all alone crying.  I am comfortable enough with her and her family that I felt OK hugging her for a little while and then we talked about her birthday party that we went to and she invited me to her birthday party this year and I accepted.  Then we discussed possible birthday presents and settled on doll clothes for the doll we got her this past summer.  Then we remembered Colleen's birthday party and the candy in the "glass slippers" and I invited her to Colleen's party this coming summer.  Somewhere amongst all the memories and the social planning, she stopped crying and her nose stopped bleeding.  She was able to go back to class for the last 1/2 hour of school.  I'm so glad I was there, a right place at the right time sort of thing.  I hope that if Colleen needed a hug and a fun memory to distract her that another caring parent would be there for her.

 

Then it was 2:50 and my first volunteer time was over.  It felt like it went in the blink of an eye.  I told Miss H that I had a lot of fun and was looking forward to next week.  I'll probably follow up with an email to her, I am very grateful for the opportunity. 

 

I smiled the whole walk over to Wesley's preschool (which is next door to the elementry school).  Wesley had a decent day at preschool.  He got another award for cleaning up, a big deal because he has problems with cleaning up - he doesn't like to do it.  Unfortunately, he also had to sit in the "thinking chair" during show and tell, which is a bummer.  We are trying to get to a point where he does not have to sit in the thinking chair at all.

 

Wesley and his little best friend, Lianna, were playing in the parking lot after school and Wes fell down and scraped his knee.  We usually just play at Colleen's school until her dismissal time (Wes gets out 30 minutes before Colleen), but since his knee was bleeding, we hobbled home for a band aid first.  Then we headed back to Coco's school.  The kids played for a few minutes on "Big Toy", the large piece of playground equipment, and then it was time to head home.

 

When we got here I decided to start putting Colleen's new daybed together.  First, I completely took apart her castle toddler bed and put all the pieces in Wesley's room.  Then I started laying out the pieces to the daybed and it was then that I realized that I was missing 2 nuts and bolts and the 2 long screws were both bent and not aligning so that I could use them.  A trip to Home Depot was in order, but first I had to feed the family and go to Coco's Safety Net Curriculum Night.

 

I took the easy route for dinner and popped alphabet letter shaped french fries and chicken nuggets in the oven and then it was back to Colleen's school.  I was surprised at how few people were there.  I don't know why, but I had it in my head that lots of kids were in the Safety Net program.  It could be that some parents just didn't come.  I know Colleen's reading specialist teacher mentioned that she has 8 kids this year, but only myself and one other parent were there.  I feel like I understand more about the program and the teacher has offered to lend me books to understand the research and science behind teaching children how to read.  I understand how Colleen was identified to be part of the program and that it is not a reflection of her over-all intelligence and that it's not because of a failure on my part.  It was an informative and worthwhile evening.  Part of me wishes that the meeting was when we were first told that our children would be in Safety Net, but because it has been over a month now, the teacher had examples of their work to show us and had gotten to know each of our kids personally and was able to give us specific examples instead of just talking in general.  I came home from the meeting very happy and peaceful and feeling like we are exactly in the right place for our family at this point in our lives.  I promise you Colleen wouldn't be in a 16 student class room with individualized reading attention twice a day if we were back in NC schools.

 

When I got back home Shawn mentioned that Dad had called, so I called him back and we chatted for a little while.  Then I talked Colleen into coming with me when I ran errands.  First we went to Home Depot and got the nuts, bolts, and screws that we needed.  Easy Peasy.  I felt so smart and just like a handyman when I knew how to measure the screws and go directly to the bins that had what I needed.  I'm my father's daughter, Hi Dad!  :D

 

Then we were off to Target for a mattress protector and pad for Coco's new bed.  I found just what I was looking for.  Then I found some adorable sheets but showed amazing self restraint in not buying them because they were $30 and I already had a set of perfectly good sheets at home.  I'm going to check and see if I can get them cheaper online, they were white with pale pink rosebuds.  Just beautiful.  We'll see.  Maybe they'll go on sale, or I'll convince myself that I need two sets in case she gets sick or has a night time accident.  What else did we get at Target?  Oh!  Two car pillows on clearance for $4.24 each, I'm not sure if I'll put them in Wesley's room or the TV / Play room downstairs.  What else?  Oh yeah, LYSOL!!!  I'm bound and determined to keep sickness at a minimum here, so I am going to add Lysol to my daily routine and spray door, faucet, and toilet handles, telephones, keyboards, and anything else I can think of.  One day soon I should write a blog on my flu-avoidance plans and see if anyone else has good ideas that I haven't thought of.

 

Then we came home at it was already 9:20.  Crap!  Coco's supposed to be in bed an hour earlier!  So I got Coco's bed put together (I am woman, hear me roar!), hauled up that twin mattress from the garage, put the plastic protector and the mattress pad on it, got it on the bed and then all made up.  SO DARN CUTE!!!  I would have taken pictures but I really had to get Coco off to dream land.  She loves it, she says it is so soft and also bouncey.  The castle bed just had a bunkee board for mattress support, this new daybed has a metal spring support.

 

Well, that is all for tonight.  I just wanted to write about my day because it was a very good one for me, full of feelings of accomplishment and love.  And Target had my favorite flavor of Combos on clearance - Pizzaria Pretzel.  Today rocked.

 

Love, Jen

Today started off hectic because I stayed up past 2am Monday night and had a hard time getting out of bed.  Finally got going and got Coco ready for school.  I was so worried that we would be late for school that we were actually early and I felt bad about making her eat her cereal while we walked there.  :D

 

I brought along Wesley's old Yoda costume for a mom of one of Colleen's classmates.  She has a 10 week old little boy and the whole trick or treating gang that they go around with is dressing up as Star Wars characters.  This way the little baby can match with the rest.  I hope the costume fits him, it is the cutest little costume.  That mom and I ended up talking until 10:15am (school starts at 9, we were talking for a while!)

 

I headed home and made Shawn some cream of wheat, he's home sick.  Called dentists to make sure Children's Dental Clinic sent our regular dentist the treatment notes and x-rays from when Coco saw them while our dentist was on vacation.  Messed around on the computer, then it was time to get Wes ready for preschool.

 

Took Wes to preschool and stayed for Rainbow Reading Time.  It was awesome and I am so glad I got to do it.  The teachers have a special rainbow umbrella with little rainbow striped pillows in it and a book in a rainbow tote bag.  I got the book and each child got a rainbow pillow and we went to the fellowship hall.  The children sat on their pillows and I read them the book, which was County Fair.  Here is a summary: It’s an exciting day for Almanzo as the Wilder family visits the county fair in this second My First Little House Book adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic Farmer Boy. There are contests, races, and good things to eat, and Almanzo can’t wait to see what the judges think of his special pumpkin. Jody Wheeler’s luminous illustrations bring Laura’s beloved farmer boy to life.

 

After Rainbow Reading Time was over, Wes and I went to Coco's school to pick her up and then it was off to the dentist.

 

We made it there with time to spare, which was nice.  We had a few minutes downtime before heading back to get the kids teeth cleaned.  Both kids had wonderful check ups, strong teeth and healthy gums.  Dentist said to keep up with whatever we are doing! I said "Battery powered toothbrushes!"  Coco is going back soon to have sealants put on her back teeth.  The dental assistant gave Colleen a little pink hourglass for her to use to time her tooth brushing.  She is very excited to use it.

 

After that we came back home and I made arrangements to go check out a daybed that I saw on Craigslist.  This evening I went to go check it out and I ended up buying it and bringing it home.  It is a very nice daybed and it will work great in Colleen's room.  I am thinking about repainting it.  It looks great the way it is, the finish is in perfect condition, but it is cream colored and brass.  I am thinking of maybe painting it white with pale pink accents or maybe very light green with pale lavendar accents.  I am going to bring it in the living room and stare at it until the answer comes to me.  Probably it is a pain in the butt to repaint wrought iron, I don't know.  Decisions, decisions.  Oh, here is a pic from the craigslist ad.  The bedding didn't come with it, which was fine with me.  The color and pattern of the linens is not exactly my cup of tea.  :D

 

 

Ok it is super late (8:46pm) and way past time to get these little rug rats into bed.  Sweet dreams, my little cavity-free munchins.

 

 

The doctor that pioneered non-surgical club foot correction, which is the method we used to correct Wesley's foot, passed away yesterday at the age of 95.

 

Earlier this year Colleen was identified as a "high risk" reader and placed in a program at her school called Safety Net.  I haven't blogged about it until now because I have been trying to wrap my head around it.  We had her vision tested and she was fine.  I've been told that there is a wide range of "normal" for reading at her age and that the extra reading help is nothing but a proactive measure and a good thing for her.  The school doesn't make the high risk readers feel "dumb", Colleen doesn't think anything at all of leaving her classroom for the Safety Net reading group each day.  I'm relieved because I don't want her doubting her intelligence.  Anyways, I'm rambling.  The point of this post is to share a story I wrote for her.  Colleen does best when her reading is all on one page.  She freezes up when she has to read books or turn pages.  I am trying to get her over that "freezing up" by writing one page stories and then maybe stapling them together into a "book".

I modeled my story after the ones that the Safety Net teacher sends home for her to read as homework.  I think Colleen will be thrilled with her stories.  I am going to ask her to illustrate them for me as I write them.  I think she will get a kick out of it because she loves drawing and they are all about her.

 

So, without further ado, A Story for Colleen:

 

"I am Colleen"

 

Page One:

"I am Colleen," said Colleen.

See me?  I am Colleen.

I am a princess.

Princess Colleen.

 

Page Two:

"I am Princess Colleen," said Colleen.

I love ballet.

See me dance?

Princess Colleen loves to dance.

 

Page Three:

"I am a dinosaur," said Colleen.

See me?  I am a leaf eater.

"Grrr," said Colleen the Dinosaur

I am a big dinosaur.

 

OK that is all I have for now.  They are harder to write than it would seem, because I am trying to stick to only words that the school has already taught her.  Believe it or not, "Grrr" is one of those words.  Struck me as odd, but hey, it fits in my dinosaur story, so works for me!  I think the next story in the line will be about dinosaur eggs in a nest.  She is fascinated by them.  She keeps checking out books about dinosaurs and skipping straight to the part that talks about dino babies.  It will fit nicely with her Safety Net reading group homework, too, because right now "Sam" and "Nan" are seeing lots of eagles in nests and trees.  LOL