Scaring Landon

Last week I scared Landon. Like really scared him. I actually made him scream. :)

I had fallen asleep but didn't realize I was sleeping. I thought I was laying in my bed almost asleep and through half closed eyes I "looked" and thought someone was standing over me. I screamed. In real life I sat straight up and screamed. Which made Landon sit up in bed and scream because he had been asleep and had no idea why I was screaming. When he realized what had happened he started to laugh. I on the other hand was still trying to calm down. He laughed and laughed and laughed. Afterwards he told me to never do that again. :) Like I did it on purpose. :)

Courage

I have taught alot of kids in my career. There are many that have touched my life in wonderful ways. There is one student (and his family) that I always looked up to. He was never in any of my classes (actually he is gifted) but I had the chance to be around him at school. I was able to help support him and a group at school (with their parents) fundraise to go to an international competition. He was always so positive. He had survived a tumor behind his eye when he was a child, even granted a wish from the Make a Wish Foundation. He had beat the tumor and was a great kid to be around. His parents were so friendly and kind. I recently found out that he had been diagnosed with another brain tumor. He is a freshman this year in high school. The town has been supporting fundraisers to help with costs. He made the following video to let those who didn't know him get to know him. Being far away, it was nice to hear and see him again. It brought tears to my eyes to watch him laugh, joke, sing and say thank-you. I just wanted to share a video that helped me put life into perspective. Watch, and let it change you. I know that I am going to work at being more positive and happy. And if you want you can donate at Scotia Bank to help him out.

Jasper's Video

Emmy turns 5!

Emily came into our room this mornig at 8 am to let us know that it was her birthday. She kept casually looking at her presents next to the bed. I told her we needed to wait until Collin was up. I asked if she wanted to hear the story of how she got her name. She listened carefully through the whole story. She was so excited. THen she told me she wanted to get her "baby" book. It was a freebie online book I made that has about 10 pages and covers the first year of her life. She love it! Landon, Emiy and I went page by page and Landon and I would tell her the stories behind the pictures. She has heard them all a million times but was excited to hear them again. Collin came wandering in and so we opened gifts. The lalaloopsy little sister that she wanted for her birthday finally showed up in a store a week ago and it was on sale. We had already bought her presents so I grabbed her birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Hull and Matt's family and bought it for her from them. She had been snooping in my room the night before and found it so she wasn't surprised but was super excited. Next was the lalaloopsy from her dad, a lalaloopsy costume from me and a lalaloopsy purse with chapstcks from Collin. I quickly got ready so that I could finish all the last minute preparations for her party at 10:30 am. Landon helped out too so it went really fast. My brother Matt called and Emily talked with him and his kids on speaker phone. Then I got to chat with my brother for awhile. A big thanks to the moms who stayed behind to help out with the 20 kids running around my house. (Thanks Lorilee, Janie, Suzie, Kierra and Cami). Also a big thank-you to Emily's regular babysitter who came because Emily invited her and helped out with the cupcake decorating. The party was a huge success. Only two kids did not come. For future reference the kids who came were: Cassie, Maggie, Zerric, Audrey, Dreyden, Isaac, Annabelle, Caden (and his baby sister), Madi, Bodi, Berkley, Hallie, Carter, Caleb (and Emmett for half an hour), Abby, Anna, Emma, Stella, and my two kids. Emily invited her friends and their younger siblings. I divided the kids into four groups and they rotated through the activities. (Yes I am a school teacher.) One was "Pin the Eye/Eye Patch on the Lalaloopsy". Emily and I had made them a week before when she had come to work with me. Hilarious results. (All I will say is Zerric takes after his dad) Another activity was decorating a cupcake and then picking a lalaloopsy pencil topper to go on top. Then they got to take the topper home. The third activity was a modified basketball. They used the lalaloopsy pets I had made and tried to "shoot" them into the laundry basket on the other side of the room. The fourth activity was to play in the toy room. They stayed at each activity for 10 minutes. Then they all went down to the play room while the moms and Kestrel got the finger food on the table. Then the kids ate picnic style on the living room floor. Afterwards we opened presents (Emily was spoiled.) The lalaloopsy ferris wheel stole the day. (Thank-you Caden!) We blew out the candles and handed out button sugar cookies to everyone. Everyone then headed home with a pencil, pencil topper, colouring book (lalaloopsy for girls, individualized Story Studio for boys) and a lalaloopsy pet. Great time was had by all! Kaylene and Cami stayed behind to help clean up. It was nice to visit with them. Emily received two more phone calls in the afternoon from my dad (who shares her birthday) and from Aunt Nomi. Emily is feeling very spoiled. :) We are waiting for the arrival of my inlaws. A great birthday!

We are so blest to have Emily in our lives. We love her and the joy she shares with us. She is loving and kind. She thinks of those around her. She is so smart and I can't believe the growth that she has made this last year. She is so excited to go to "big kids" school. I grateful for the blessing she is to us. We Love our Emmy!

The slideshow of her birthday is below!

Free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

Love my Kids

Emily
- Emily and I had doctor appointments last Wednesday and Emily has to have her last immunization shot before school. We had talked about it on the way there and the nurse talked to her as well. She dutifully went through her well child checkup and sat back down. The doctor and I talked as he went through the priliminary questions for my yearly check up (since I was a new patient to him.) Emily politely asked me to let the doctor know she was ready for her needle. I passed on the message and he went out to get the nurse. She came in and Emily climbed up on the table. The shot went into her thigh. I was hugging her which stopped her from sitting up when the shot went in. Emily instantly started to cry. I handed her the sucker from the nurse. She put it into her mouth and stopped crying within seconds. On the way home she told me that the nurse gave her a shot so the disgusting flu virus would not get her sick. I explained it wasn't for the flu virus but that now she can go to the big kid school in September. She then informed me that the shot hurts a little but big kids know that suckers take the pain away and so now it doesn't hurt.

- Emily has trouble calming down once she has become upset. (Just like her mother.) So for the fast 3 years she and I have been working on calm down strategies. It can take almost half an hour to calm her down and it can test my patience. The other night I was in bed and could hear Emily crying. I asked what was wrong and she told me she didn't want me to go downstairs but to stay upstairs. I informed her that I was in bed and planned to stay there (which is upstairs.) Suddenly she is in my room and sobbing. Almost hysterical. She gasping told me that she wanted a drink. I told her that I wasn't getting her a drink until she had calmed down and was back in bed. (I know, mean mom.) She headed back to bed and this is what I heard:
"It's ok Emmy. You can do it. Deep breath. Stop crying. *sob*sob* Deep breath. In through your nose and out your mouth. Blow through a straw. You can do it Emmy. That's it! That's it! Deep breath. You can do it Emmy!"
Over and over she repeated these type of statements. I actually started to giggle. (I know, mean mom) I was so proud of her though. It took less than 5 minutes for her to calm herself down. I told her how wonderful she was and gave her the cup. :) Love my little girl!

Collin
- He has taken some steps backward in his toilet training. He sleeps with a diaper at night because he is not able to make it through the night dry. The other night when I was cleaning a poopy diaper he told me that when he is big and strong like Emily that he will use the potty again. I told him it wasn't an option and that he was strong enough now. He thought about it and said maybe. I love him but there are days..... :)

- Every night before Collin goes to bed he tells me he loves me. It never gets old.

Iron On Transfer Fun

Last Saturday Rita called to let me know that Cassie wanted to have a playdate with Emily but that she was sick and would be unable to have her come over. I was excited to offer to have Cassie and Maggie come over to my house for the playdate. Rita does a lot for us and I wish I could do more for her. The girls came over and my kids were really excited. I had to run out to the store so Landon babysat the kids. My friend Lorilee came with me as I searched for the last things I needed for Emily's birthday party. I decided to pick up some white tanktops to do a craft with the kids when I got back. I had thought that Collin wouldn't be interested so I only grabbed a package of three. The girls gathered around the laptop to tell me what they wanted on their shirts. Cassie - Barbie Princess Charm School, Emily - Lalaloopsy, Maggie - Disney Princesses. None of these came as a surprise to me. Collin thought it was cool so he asked for Spiderman. I printed them as 5x7 onto Iron on Transfer paper. I couldn't find a blank t-shirt for Collin so his Spiderman has not found a home yet. Each girl helped me prep their shirt and iron the transfer on. They were so excited to finish them. It was a lot of fun. :) The photo was taken on my cell phone because I forgot to take the picture before I took the girls home. So it is not the best picture. :)

Collin and his Pound Puppy

Santa came to visit my parents house a few days before Christmas. He skyped with Collin and Emily and told them that he had brought stuffed animals for them but he would send them home with Aunt Rita. My kids were so excited. When Collin received his new puppy he was so excited. His mom was excited that it was a pound puppy. :) Collin showed it to his dad who told him that he would have to make sure to take good care of his new friend. Collin has taken this job very seriously. His puppy goes everywhere with him. (Accompanied by either Batman or Spiderman) Every night he curls up with him under his arm to go to sleep. It is really cute. Last night we all curled up on our new couch (another post topic) to watch an episode of the BBC Planet Earth. (My Christmas present) Collin does not usually join us as Emily and Landon take the show very seriously and Collin likes to chat during shows. :) Collin came downstairs with his puppy and crawled up next to me. He told me his puppy was cold and wanted to snuggle with mommy. We grabbed a blanket and Emily, Collin, the pound puppy and I snuggled up under it. Collin patiently explained to me the proper way to pet his puppy. "Pet him softly. Not like this." And he proceeded to mimic smacking the puppy. I agreed that was a good idea and so the two of us sat and petted his puppy. More than once he reminded me to be soft. At times he would instruct me to scratch the puppy's head. He told me that puppies like us to be soft and so do cats. He told me if you aren't soft with cats they scratch you. (He would know.) Then he whispered into the puppy's ear. Then very softly he said, "I wuv you puppy." Then he looked up at me and said, "I wuv you mommy. You wuv me and wuv you. I wuv daddy too." I will admit I teared up. The dad had been a little frustrating at work and so to have my little boy repeat this sentence three times touched my heart. I WUV being a mom!

New Years Resolutions

Basically I didn't make any. They are the same every year. Instead I decided to just start living the way I should. Thanks to some encouragement from two wonderful friends I have gotten up at 5:30 am every morning this week and worked out up at the university at some aerobic classes that start at 6am. I am sore but feeling great. I had forgotten how much exercise makes my day go so much better. I better lose these last 10 pounds but even if I don't it is nice to start my day off exercising with two wonderful people. :) Peer pressure can be a good thing. Five days a week. And if I leave 15 minutes early (so I get a 45 minute workout) I have enough time to go home, get dressed, put on makeup and make it to carpool by 7:05.So I am having a good start to a year that I haven't set any goals for. Who would have thought?!

Emily's Dance Recital Part 2

Emily's Medal. She wrote her name on the back.
Emily was done having her picture taken. This was after tap and receiving her medal.



Isabel, Emily, Caitlyn, and Cassie

Cassie and Emily

On our way! This was the best I could get with her hair done and makeup. Can you see her 1 inch long chunk of bangs?

Emily is on the right and Cassie on the left. For your information. The little girls in black are in their first year of dance. They get to gether to go in a circle and the little girls wouldn't turn. Eventually the older girls (in white) get them to twirl. Sadly I missed the last 20 seconds of their dance as my memory card filled up. Oops.

Emily's Dance Recital

Emily's dance recital was last night. Since Emily cut her bangs off a few days ago (another story) I creatively did her hair for the night. The teacher had asked for two pony tails and lots of volume and curl. I accomplished volume and pulled back with two bobby pins. But she looked very pretty. I was impressed that she sat there long enough to do her hair and her makeup. She is growing up so fast. We arrived a half an hour early, as requested by the teacher. When we got there we discovered that Emily's dance class was number 34 and 38 out of 40 dance numbers. Usually they are in the first 15. Landon headed home due to the large number of people crammed in and his growing claustrophobia. Emily, Collin and I sat with Cassie, Russell, Maggie and Rita's in laws. Rita wasn't able to be there due to prior commitments until just before Cassie and Emily went on. Nic and Tyson had to leave for an hour for Tyson's basketball practice. Maggie was really cute during her dance number. Emily and Cassie were really well behaved while we waited. Collin not so much. He wanted to be in bed. He survived the night due to the grace of God. :) Landon was on his way to the recital when I called frantic that I had forgotten Emily's tap costume. He turned around, picked it up, and made it back in time to watch the last 40 sec of Emily's ballet number. I videotaped it for him. :) There tap number was to "Animal Crackers" sung by Shirley Temple. She held a stuffed animal during it. Soooo cute. Emily did such a wonderful job. She will be with a different dance teacher this next session for tap and ballet. It was sad to say good bye to Caitlyn. I have included the videos and few pictures. They give out medals to all the performers if you are still there at the end of the recital. This was the first time Emily has ever gotten a medal. She was so proud of her self. Enjoy!

Creche Exhibit

At ISU tonight, at the Stevens Performing Arts Center, there was an exhibit of nativity scenes and original Greg Olsen paintings. Rita had told us about it and I thought that it would be a good way to get the kids out of Landon's hair as he was studying for his two finals tomorrow. Emily brought along the sacrament quiet book I made her to show Cassie. (We had hoped to run into Rita's family but they weren't there before we left. In the quiet book there are small pictures of Greg Olsen's paintings with quotes on the back along with pictures of different temples. Collin has one as well but he didn't bring his. I did not know the paintings would be there and Emily was so excited to see them. Right away she remembered which ones were in her book and which were in Collin's book. She would flip through her book at each new painting to find its "match." She was so excited. It was her favorite part. She and Collin got a kick out of the nativity's that used bears for the people. She saw a nativty that was carved out of yellow wax. She giggled and told me that baby Jesus was yellow like cheese. We left when Collin started getting out of control and almost knocked a couple of people over as I tried to catch him. It was a beautiful exhibit that showed the meaning for this season.