Curious George

Kai's teacher asked me to decorate a pumpkin for their class for the school's literacy night last night. I am always willing to help with whatever the kids' teachers need so I quickly agreed to do it. Like I have a creative/artistic bone in my body! Just a quick bit of history, never was able to draw a straight line with a ruler in elementary school, and the art class I took in college, NOT my idea of a good time. Talk about torture. SO thankfully I have a creative/artistic husband (although he won't admit it) who happily took on the task. I think he did a pretty good job! He did "Curious George takes a job". Our kids love Curious George and we have had our collection of Curious George stories since before they were born.

Freedom

This school year marks a new chapter in my life. Both boys went to school this fall. Kaden went to Pre K and Kai's in second grade. Kaden goes for 3 hours every morning. We have to rush out of the house every morning and I spend a lot of time on the road transporting them to and from school (they go to different schools), but it's so worth it. I can finally go to the grocery store alone, have a thought to myself, come home to QUIET house, clean something and have it stay clean temporarily. A lot of times I don't even come home though until after I pick up Kaden. It's just so nice to go shopping without needing to take someone to the bathroom, leave because someone is bored, entertain someone in the cart... Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. Eight years ago I quit a wonderful job with the State of Utah and moved from a place loved dearly so I could stay home when Kai was born, but DANG it's nice to have some time for myself again. I got my first massage this fall. It has totally helped with my back pain (I wasn't so sure at first but I've had a relatively pain free month). Both kids are happy and doing well in school. I signed up to help with the PTA this year and offered to help in Kai's class. I don't want to schedule up too much of my free time though. :) The first day of school was fun, Matt took Kaden, I took Kai and then we met for breakfast. This might have to become a yearly tradition on the first day of school.

"Faith is like a little seed..."

Matt has been begging me to post this for a couple months now. I don't know what my problem is, I think I ran out of steam for keeping the blog up. The summer came and went and I was exhausted from trying to keep the kids busy and entertained. Then school started and I got a sweet taste of freedom, something I haven't experienced in 8 years.
Anyway, in primary (church) the chorister taught the kids a song called "Faith" and one of the lines says, "faith is like a little seed, if planted it will grow". She brought a seed she had planted in a cup that had sprouted to show the kids. Kaden was intrigued by this, and "Faith" quickly became his favorite song (which he often sings at the top of his lungs). We went to a ward social this summer and someone brought watermelon that had ginormous seeds. Kaden carefully dug his out and placed them in a cup. His intent was to bring them home to plant. He had the faith they would grow. Matt looked up the growing season for watermelon on the internet and it certainly wasn't the middle of summer in Florida, but to appease Kaden he helped him plant them anyway. It wasn't long before we saw the watermelon sprouting!! We were shocked to tell you the truth. Now his watermelon plant is flowering and several feet long. I am thankful for the faith of my little 4 year old and I am thankful for a primary leader who shared her testimony with my kids.

Matt's latest project

I bought Matt this little TV for Christmas and fourth of July weekend he decided he needed a project. So he climbed up into our thousand degree attic to wire the TV (anyone who lives in FL KNOWS how hot the attics get in the middle of summer). Example, I went to put something away up there and the plastic lid of the container was HOT to the touch. You can't store candles up there, they melt. Anyway, he spent an entire evening running wires, cutting holes and voila! Now we have the luxury of watching TV while sitting on the crapper (I have yet to turn it on but I know Matt enjoys the morning news). :)

Swim Trunks and Silly Bandz

Seems these days this is all I see my kids in, swim trunks and silly bandz. We have managed to keep very busy with summer (beach, movies, swimming, bowling, library and more swimming). I haven't been the best at carrying a camera around with me however. Silly bandz are "all that" with the kids here this summer. It started just before the school year ended. Basically, jelly bracelets reinvented but in different shapes (animals, planets, letters, movie characters, etc). They are actually cool and girls AND boys wear them. They were banned from bringing them to school because the kids wouldn't stop playing with them, and I see the kids at church trading between classes and before and after primary. It has been fun for my kids, except when Kai secretly tries to add to his collection from Kaden's stash.

INTRUDER ALERT!!!

I was having a nice, peaceful Sunday morning UNTIL... I went to put a towel away in the hall closet and saw this little darlin' slither underneath the door! I jumped back screaming, woke Kaden up, jolted Matt out of a dead sleep. Snakes are one of my worst fears. I have always, always been afraid of them.
We have no idea how he got in. What's worse, Kai had seen him earlier (before I woke up) and said, "I thought it was a worm". I can't believe it didn't phase him! We think he had one thing on his mind, "Super Mario 2" and he didn't want to stop to bother with the snake.
I think Matt dislikes snakes as much as I do but he was more rational about the situation. He sat there and designed/constructed a snake noose so he could get him safely out of the house. I stood back and watched, broom in hand. I've been able to swat a lizard or two out of the house with my trusty broom and it leaves a good distance between me and the reptiles. If the vacuum hose would've worked I may have tried to suck the snake up.
Might I add our cat, Onyx, was no help, she's afraid of them too!

Kaden often walks around the house often times chanting "intruder awert, intruder awert", thus the title.

Never, Never, Never...

Never, never, never have a major injury the few days of the fiscal year. For those who don't remember, our 3 year old at the time, broke his leg on the trampoline the second day after we arrived in Oregon for Christmas break. The actual date was December 23, 2009. I have a $1000 deductible per person/per year (that's after we already pay a HUGE amount for insurance each month). Let me remind you we paid the $1000 for Kai's broken arm in 2009. Anyway, I am thinking I'm good, bills started rolling in from Oregon after we got home in January and I pay my $1000. Of course he had to have follow up in Jacksonville in January so I was thinking it'd all be covered, minus 20%, because I'd already paid my $1000, right? Last month I got ANOTHER $1100 bill from the clinic in Jacksonville. After calling the insurance they explained I hadn't met my 2010 DEDUCTIBLE for Kaden. Sick and wrong. Made me mad. I waited until I got my second notice to mail the bill in. In fact it's sitting in the mail box with a stamp on it. If anyone would like to pay it for me I will quickly go out and remove my check.
Let's pray for no broken bones in 2010.