Preparing for Christmas

I'll admit it, I strongly dislike putting up Christmas decorations.  Growing up I loved doing it with my mom and my grandma, but as the mom, I don't care for it because I don't like putting it all out and then cleaning it all up.  It just seems like so much work just to take down.  We only started putting ornaments on the tree a few years ago when the kids got old enough to notice. 

While I have that mind frame about decorations, I wouldn't trade the time I have to put them up with my kids.  They love it and their joy and excitement makes it worth it for me.  It was nice to decorate as a family and while I pulled out ornaments to make them "tree ready," and Kris serves as the programmable ladder to lift them to those hard to reach areas.  I'm so glad he's so strong.

 

Counting by 2's

Kyson is determined to shoot his star into outer space.  He's been practicing and just passed off counting to 200 by 2s. I'm so stinking proud of the boy!

Kodi's Christmas Program

Working at Challenger definitely has its benefits.  One significant perk is that the school will send a substitute to my class so I can attend my children's programs.  As a parent, that is a huge bonus.  Unfortunately, there was a glitch in their scheduling and a substitute came to relieve me late.  I missed a few of the songs in Kodi's program, which was extremely disappointing to me.  However, Kodi cried or just sat there through most of it after I walked in.

I loved what I saw of the program, but Kodi is still perplexing.  I don't know if she expects to get attention for her behaviors because it doesn't work.  I usually just ignore her when she does that.  I was able to talk to her after though, which was nice.  Santa also made an appearance for the kids and gave them candy canes.  I don't know how much she loved it - she was too into her "sadness" to pay much attention.

Challenger is a great school for my kids and I'm so grateful that they're there this year.  What they are providing for my children is invaluable. 

In the pictures of the class, Kodi is the second to the end on the left on the front row.

 

 

Bug Hunting Officials

For as long as I can remember, Kyson has loved bugs.  That love for bugs has now influenced his litter sister.  She seems to love bugs too and the two together are quite the bug-loving duo.  Because Kyson has so much big stuff, the two geared up to go bug hunting.  When they came downstairs with all their gear, I had to take a picture.  At least there is never a dull moment as a parent.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was great.  We had more people than we normally do because Chelsie, Carol, and Danny came.  Since we went to Bear Lake last summer, things have been wonderful between all the family members. But I wanted to do something unique for the holiday since we don't do a whole lot.

We ate dinner as a family and it was a gorgeous meal that tasted really good.  After that we went downstairs and watched slides from when we were younger.  I really enjoy seeing the old pictures, but I have to admit, everyone perks up the most when one of the kids is in the picture, instead of it being scenery or things happening before we were born.

We had the second course of Thanksgiving and then went outside for some classic Thanksgiving fun - a piñata.  Nothing says peace between Natives and Pilgrims like a piñata.  Unfortunately, my camera doesn't take pictures well in the dark, but the piñata was broken by the third person - Danny.  Kodi went first, Kyson went second, and Danny went third, and that was it.  I think the kids enjoyed it a lot, but I think they would live to have had more turns hitting it. 

Holidays with the family seem to be getting better and better and I'm grateful for a family that still gets together in this world where the family takes second place to so many things.

Swimming Lessons

I'm trying to get the kids to be fluent swimmers since we spend so much time at Bear Lake.  I think it's important for safety reasons and it gives the kids more exposure to other sports.  Kyson has done swim lessons before, but nothing for a long time.  I had him tested before registering him and he skipped a level from just going to the pool and playing around.  It's been great for him.  He really  seems to love swimming.  We'll see what happens with him and swimming.

Kodi, on the other hand, has been able to cross off another sport from her list of possibilities.  She cried every day, every class.  her teacher was a good sport and I'm grateful there are people out there who are willing to put up with crazy children like mine.

Counting by 10's

Even though Kyson just made it into the 200 Club, he's already counting to 200 by 10's.  So exciting!  The kid won't stop until he shoots his star into outer space!

Babysitting for Friends

We have some friends that are angels.  They watch Kodi twice a week and are some of the most giving and selfless people I've ever met.  Because they re expecting their second child, Kris and I wanted to try and do something nice for them, especially since they've been so nice to us.  So without giving them an option, we told them we were taking their sweet boy for the evening so they could have a night out without children.

The kids loved it!!  We tried to go see Despicable Me 2, but it was sold out, so we drove all the way to Sandy, only to turn around.  The kids didn't seem to mind though.  We came back to the house and let them watch a movie upstairs in sleeping bags.  It was like a little slumber party even though their fun would end before bedtime.  Then the fun moved downstairs where they had a little coloring party.  I think all three of them enjoyed the evening. 

The only thing that is hard when there are three is that each argue over whose friend Jason is.  "Jason is both of your friends," is what I say repeatedly.

I'm so grateful that were able to do something to help out friends.  They're too nice to ask, so we just need to tell them we'll take the kids more often.  Good friends are hard to find, and these people are gold.

200 Club

At Challenger, they have a challenge for the kindergarteners to count to 200 by 1's, 2's, 5's, 10's and 25's.  The first time they count to 200 without mistakes, they join the 200 club and each time they are able to count to 200 by one of those numbers they get a new shooting star.  After they complete all numbers, they get to "shoot their star to outer space." 

Kyson has been extremely dedicated in trying to get into the 200 Club.  Every day while driving to and from school, Kyson practices  counting.  He's been writing 1-200 on paper to practice counting.  He would call his Grandma Bodily and count to her on the phone.  So when Kyson made it into the 200 Club, this was so exciting and such an accomplishment for him.  He received a certificate and then this evening, he called all his family to tell them of his exciting news. 

I'm so excited that from such a young age Kyson is learning that with hard work, he can achieve his goals. I'm incredibly proud of my little man.

So silly!

Because we weren't able to make it to our families' houses on Halloween to show off the kids' costumes, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Bodily's the weekend after.  As usual, Grandma Bodily had all sorts off fun goodies for the kids and one thing was silly glasses with a mustache.  The kids had a lot of fun posing in their glasses and Kodi just looked hilarious!

  

Halloween

Halloween was fun as usual, but this year, I dressed up as well.  Because I teach 4th graders, they want teachers to dress up.  I understand why.   So, I decided to dress up as a "lady in waiting" or at least that's what the costume packaging said.  I told my class I was the Queen of Kingdom 18 (My classroom number is 18).  All day long the kids addressed me as "her majesty" and they bowed at me when I walked by them during their lunch recess.  I have to admit, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the kids.  They had some great costumes too.

Kyson dressed up as a vampire and Kodi was Rapunzel.  Kyson has had an obsession about vampires for some time now and so when he was able to dress up as one for Halloween, that was so cool for him.  He was very excited.  I was even able to go to his school parade to see the kindergarten costumes.  That is a great benefit of working at Challenger.  I'm able to go to all of my kids' events because Challenger will get someone to cover me while I do.

Kodi's costume was pretty cool and even came with a wig.  I've had to hide it from her since I bought it because if she had her way, she'd sleep in the whole costume.  Because she goes to school at two different schools, she would have had two different Halloween parties.  Instead, she got sick and was throwing up for both of them.  I was worried Kyson would miss his day too, but we got lucky and he was able to go on that day.

Trick-or-treating that night was a little crazy.  I always buy a lot of candy, and this year I bought a lot, but not as much as usual.  We ran out.  This was the first year we ran out of candy.  We typically have about 300 trick-or treaters, and this year was no exception.  We have a lot of kids in the neighborhood.