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

I'm home right now, listening to the rain on the skylight.  Wesley is upstairs resting, so all is peacefull.  We have been so busy lately that I'm not even sure where to start!  Since I have my October calendar handy, I'll just start there.  October 2nd was nice, both kids were off from school so it felt like a 3 day weekend for me.  If I remember right, Shawn may have worked from hom that Friday as well.  I think that was also the day that I went over and helped clean Mo's car.

 

Things were a little crazy the week of the 5th, but not too bad.  On the 9th it was Colleen's picture day, I think I wrote a blog about that.  Then on Saturday the 10th Colleen had two dance classes - her regular morning ballet/tap and then in the afternoon she had a ballet class to audition for the role of Clara in her school's performance of The Nutcracker.  She did not get Clara, but she is going to be in the performance as a "ribbon girl", which is the part she was more excited about anyways.  :D

 

Then Monday we had a playdate with a little girl in Wesley's class, then Tuesday Shawn worked from home and it was Father's Night at Wesley's preschool, then Wednesday it was Wesley's picture day and I was a helper at his school, combing the kid's hair, straightening their outfits.  Then after preschool, Wesley's friend and her mom came over to our house for another playdate.  Yesterday Wes didn't have school because his teachers are at an early education conference, so he and I went with his friend and her mom to a pumpkin patch so that they could learn about seeds and beans and have a hay ride.  Then we went back to their house and painted pumpkins.  Then I had to dash home to get molded crayons ready for the "Harvest festival" party planning meeting at Colleen's school.  Good thing I went home when I did, because her school called me and asked me to pick her up because she was feeling sick.  I took the crayons in when I picked Colleen up since I was going to be missing the meeting.  Colleen has a slight case of the sniffles, it's not enough to keep her out of school, so she went back today. 

 

Wesley and I went with Colleen to school today and the kids had breakfast there.  Wesley and I were volunteer vision screeners.  We were there from 8:30am until 12:30pm and Wesley did TERRIFIC.  I am so proud of his patient and quiet behavior.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many children in the school I already know by name or recognize by the activities they participate in.  Colleen wanted to be in my row, but I was teamed up with a friend of mine who is bilingual (Spanish) and our line was fairly long when Coco came in with students who preferred to be screened in Spanish, so she had to go to another line.  She got 20/30 in one eye and 20/20 in the other eye.  When we took her to the eye doctor she tested at 20/40, but the eye doctor used letters.  This test used the letter "E" oriented four different ways and the students pointed their fingers the way the three lines were pointing.  The eye doctor had told us that Colleen's vision was fine, I think her words were "Perfectly healthy for her age".  The kids did hearing after vision, so I don't know how she did for hearing yet, but at her well child check up over the summer she tested fine.  :D

 

During a break between classes, Wesley tested my vision.  I got down to 20/15 in my left eye, I could only "barely" read the top line in the right eye and even that was super blurry.  When both eyes were open I could read to 20/20.  Weird huh?

 

It's now 1:45 and I have to get Coco at 3:30.  Hopefully the rest of today can be peaceful and productive.  Tommorrow and Sunday it's back to the grind, full of activities, straight on through next week.  So I had better get off of here and get cleaning my house because today's the only day for it.  LOL

 

Love, Jen

 

 

I'm just back from taking Coco to school.  Today is picture day.  This morning got off to a rough start.  First of all, I had a hard time getting out of bed, so 7:!0 turned into 7:50.  Then Colleen didn't want to get out of bed.  If I had the time and presence of mind, I should have taken a picture of her.  She was laying on her tummy, spread eagle, with her head under her pillow and her feet sticking out of the blanket at odd places.  I'm pretty sure that was a preview of her teen years.

 

Finally got her out of bed by threatening that there wouldn't be time for hair and makeup.  She reluctantly got out of bed, but she wasn't happy about it.  Then she refused to wear the outfit I bought specifically for picture day.  The one that I coordinated the picture background with on the already-completed order form.  *sigh*  She wanted a DRESS not a skirt.

 

Luckily I did all the laundry the day before yesterday and yesterday was PE (she had to wear pants), so she had all of her dresses to choose from.  Got her to agree on one that was a similar color pink to the skirt set she wouldn't wear.  She made me dress her like a little baby and then we were off to the bathroom for hair and makeup.  She brushed her teeth with no toothpaste because I could just see a big glob of paste falling on her dress.

 

Once I sat her on the counter and started brushing and spraying her hair the metamorphasis began.  She went from grumpy and spiteful 6 year old to excited and accomodating beauty queen.  Her hair is naturally wavy, but she likes big fat ringlets.  I did her whole head and pinned her almost-grown-out bangs back with a big bow.  I let her wear her purple "homework incentive" eye shadow to school along with a touch of vaseline on her lips.  She was smiling and prancing around and mugging for the huge mirror in our upstairs hallway.

 

She quickly ate her Trix and bounced happily to school.  As we got close she broke into a run, her hair dancing prettily around her shoulders.  Her friends exclaimed, "Colleen you look SO BEAUTIFUL!".  Colleen patted her curls and replied, "I know!"

 

Love, Jen

 

PS "homework incentive" eye shadow sits on her desk and after she does her Safety Net reading she gets one eye done and after she does her Book Bears reading she gets the other eye done.  So she has to finish all her reading homework or she'll look funny.  I don't look at it as bribery... it's motivation.  :P

Saw this picture on ICanHasCheezburger.com the other day and immediately made it my new desktop photo.  I chuckle every time I see it.

 

I had a few minutes between dropping Wesley at preschool and picking Colleen up to take her to her eye exam, so I returned some library books and checked out a few more.  I went over to the kid section because I saw a book with a T-Rex in a tutu on the front cover.  If there was ever a book for Colleen it is this one.  It is called T-Rex in Swan Lake and it is just right for a budding ballerina princess on a dinosaur kick.  Right next to that book was one called I Remember Miss Perry.  The title caught my eye so I read it while I was standing there.  It is a book about a kind-hearted teacher who dies in a car accident on the way to school and how the children deal with her loss by remembering all of the wonderful things she did.  There are tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I am typing this, but I LOST IT in the library.  I was full on blubbering.  I'm glad our library is automated so that I could check out the books myself without interacting with the librarians.

 

Coco's eye exam went very well, she used her listening ears and cooperated with the nurse and the doctor.  She has "perfectly healthy 6 year old eyes".

 

And Wes had a great day at preschool, it was finally his turn to bring home Tuffi the Dog, but that's another blog post. 

 

Love, Jen

Colleen came home from school yesterday and couldn't wait to show me the story she wrote in class.

 

She's in the 1st grade and the paper they use has a space for a picture on top and lines on the bottom for the words.

 

I'll try to take pictures of the work and post them later, but for now I'll just describe it.

 

The first one has her name and the date at the top and the picture is all black with "hollywood" style lights across the top and a very flattering picture of me in the center.  She writes, "I see min mom Jen"  (She meant "I see mine mom Jen"

 

The next page is all white for the background and has a picture of our family inside a hastily drawn house.  We are all waving our hands as if to say hi.  She wrote, "I see min femle.  brd mom DaD. sisdr."  (She meant "I see mine family, brother, mom, dad, sister", referring to herself as the sister.)

 

The last page is just lines for words, no space for a picture.  It says, "Jen shon. (lots of erase marks around his name) Colleen. wseleY."  She spelled out the names herself and I think she did a terrific job.

 

I was bursting with pride for her and she was happy and maybe a little bashful over how excited I got.  I'm keeping this one forever and ever.  I may even go put it in the fireproof safe.  :D

Wesley was looking at a magnet I have on the fridge, the one that is in the shape of a castle and has the picture of Shawn, his mother, and I at Disney World.  Wes remembers bits and pieces of the last time we went and he wants to go again.  I told him that it is very expensive to go there and that we did not have enough money to go right now.  As I was about to reassure him that we would go again when we had saved enough money he interrupted me and said, "We could just use someone else's money."

 

Spice, I have to agree with you that this kid is destined for a career in banking.  Or maybe the US Government.