Rain, Rain Go Away....At Least On Field Trip Day!

Today I went on a field trip with Kendall's grade. They were going to these really cool gardens and for 3rd and 4th graders, they take them in the foothills above the formal gardens and you go on a 2 mile, 2 hour hike (natural area, no paved trails). I checked the weather report right before I left and it said a slight chance of showers, but mainly north of us. We started loading the buses (another story--they only ordered one bus for 3 classes, so the parent volunteers had to drive separately at the last minute) and noticed it was black to the West. Right as we got to the gardens, it started pouring and hailing and thundering and lightning. They do this hike no matter what the weather, but after an hour, when we were hiking in slippery mud and STILL out there in the lightning, they cut it short. The problem is, most of the kids were in shorts and had no jackets. The staff did hand out rain jackets, but we were still soaking wet where they didn't cover (mainly feet) and freezing! The plan was to go to a park and eat lunch and let the kids play, but it was still raining, so I guess the teachers finally got permission to go back to the school and let the kids eat in the gym. I'd really like to go back up there sometime and see it without the lightning--it's really pretty!

Happy Birthday Jarren!

Today is Jarren's 5th birthday! I really can't believe how fast these 5 years have flown by! He'll be starting Kindergarten in about 2 months and then we only have Jenna left at home. It's kind of a weird feeling to know that when I blink, she'll be in school too.

Anyway...back to the birthday boy. I felt so bad for him--everyone was in such a hurry to get to school and work this morning, so he didn't get to open ANY presents until Jon got home. Jon had to work a little bit late and then stopped to get some pizza for dinner, so it was about 7 pm before he got to open anything. He was soooo patient (for the most part). Kendall and Kristen made a cute treasure hunt for him to go on to find his gifts and he loved that.He got some fun Indiana Jones things (whip, Legos, action figure), a rocket, a couple of Star Wars things, and some treats (thanks Grandma!). He was kind of weird about it all. He'd just rip open present after present with hardly a smile on his face and then after a little while, started playing with things. I don't know if he was disappointed or overwhelmed. I thought it was a good day for him overall.
I don't know what it is with my kids and candles, but before I could get the cake frosted, Jarren stuck 20 candles in it. But I thought his cake turned out cute! I didn't really know how to make an Indiana Jones cake--but it worked. He was happy with it and that's all that matters.I apologize for these pictures--I didn't realize until I was loading them onto the computer (and Jon pointed it out) that the camera lens was dirty and that's why everything looks kind of fuzzy.

Birthday Party!

Today was had Jarren's 5th birthday party--three days early. He wanted an Indiana Jones party (his new obsession). We had 7 friends here and played animal charades, duck-duck-goose, freeze dance, musical towels (had them sit on towels instead of chairs), and the big thing--a treasure hunt! They had to go and find different "artifacts" and when they got to the last one, Kendall was hiding and sent a huge boulder down after them (an exercise ball)! According to most of them, they thought that was the best part. After all the artifacts were found, they pieced together a treasure map and had to dig in the sandbox for it--it was a cool gold box that held all of their goody bags--a squirt gun, yo-gos, chocolate gold coins. We had cupcakes, opened gifts, and then the kids all ran around squirting each other. I think they had a really good time!

New England Trip

Just in case anyone wanted to see pictures of Jon and Kendall's trip, here's a link to the photo album that Jon made. Sure looks like fun!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jwatkins.riverton/NewEngland?authkey=34V2btTRXfA

And an update on the tick attack....So far Kendall seems fine. The site was sore for a bit, but we haven't noticed any infection or anything. On Monday, he had a headache and stomachache, but he was fine later, so we don't think it was a Lyme disease symptom. We just need to watch him for another 2 weeks, but I think he'll be fine.

Only 12 more days until we leave for Germany!!

Preschool Graduation

Jarren graduated from preschool today!! He just decided last week that he actually likes preschool and doesn't want to move on.

He sang most of the songs and had a little speaking part. I think Jarren's favorite song is one about a dinosaur. They start out quiet and get louder. I could hear him above everyone else. ;)

I wouldn't let him take Hooie, but we brought Hooie (his raggedy blanket) to "watch" Jarren graduate and he was pretty thrilled.

Miss Ann is his favorite teacher because "she used to have braces and she loves Star Wars."

I can't believe he'll be starting Kindergarten in 2 1/2 more months.

Kendall's Souvenir

We picked Jon and Kendall up last night from the airport just before midnight. And then we headed straight for the Emergency Room, since all the Instacares and doctor's offices were closed. We went to the ER because....Kendall decided to bring a souvenir home from their trip--a deer tick (those are the ones that about 50% of them carry Lyme disease).

I guess there were lots of ticks and he didn't get checked well enough--it was on his back, kind of behind his armpit, and in there deep. Jon tried to get it out and the head broke off. He called me (during their layover) to ask me to look up on the Internet on what we needed to do). A lot of things were saying to call or go to a doctor, night or day. I called the doctor and they said he needed to be seen immediately. I asked if we could wait until morning and they made it sound like it couldn't wait. So...in we went. They got it out and said he probably won't get Lyme disease because it usually has to be in there for more than 72 hours and to the best of their knowledge, it was only about 30-36 hours. Phew! So we actually didn't get home until almost 2 am.

They had a good time and I'm sure I'll be writing more later about their trip and posting pictures.

Bedtime Battles

I have no idea why bedtime is so hard. My kids (and I'm sure mine aren't the only ones) think that it's illegal to go to bed when it's still light outside. If that's the case, and they have to go to sleep when it's dark, I guess they should go to bed when it's 5:30 pm in the winter. Hahaha--wouldn't that be nice?

I guess after 12 nights in a row of me putting the kids to bed on my own, I've just had it. Jarren gets overly tired (again, it's illegal for him to go to bed before anyone else) and does anything to stall bedtime. And Jenna will NOT go to bed on her own for me--Jon can just lay her down and she's fine and asleep in minutes, but me? No. I have to sing, snuggle, and rock her.

I used to wish that kids ran on batteries and you could just flip the switch at night (or remove the batteries) and they'd "shut down" and go to sleep immediately. Wait a minute?! Used to wish? I still do. :)

**Jon and Kendall come home very, very late tomorrow night AND only 18 (almost 17) more days until Germany!! Guten Abend!**

Probably Orange

Our backyard borders the elementary school and a few weeks ago, their big lawn mower came out to mow that big field. I asked Jarren, "Do you think that color [of the lawn mower] is red or orange?" Jarren looked at it and said, "Probably orange." Now, every time Jenna sees a lawn mower, she calls it "probably orange."

Speaking of lawn mowers, I was mowing last week and almost mowed over a SNAKE!!! I was screaming and I'm sure the neighbors thought I hurt myself. Luckily, the ambulance didn't show up. It slithered (really creepily) through the fence--maybe it sensed it wasn't welcome here. :)

And last of all, for all of you Backyardigan fans, Jarren and Jenna now call worms "wormans."

My Little Bird

Yesterday, Jenna came up with a new plan to try and catch the wild birds outside. She got a small handful of bird seeds and ran around after them saying, "C'mere birdie! Come eat your dinner!" Of course they'd fly away, but she sure did try hard to get one to come to her hand. She tried for about 10 minutes. Silly girl!

Guess what we will probably be doing this summer?? Potty training! Jenna asked 3 times this weekend to sit on the toilet, but of course she didn't actually go in it. Maybe soon.....

I'm Not Going After All

My days have gotten better, so therefore, I'm not going to Australia. :) I managed to take all 4 kids swimming (by myself) the other day and none of us drowned. The kids have been helpful and good--for the most part.

JON AND KENDALL left this morning for their trip to New England. Poor Jon!! He missed his flight last night (luckily they had another flight later), so he got home around 10:15 pm. We had to leave at 4:30 am to drop them off at the airport. By the time we got his laundry done and his suitcase packed, it was midnight--he got less than 4 hours of sleep!

JARREN has been super into Star Wars for about a year now and just this morning decided that he's obsessed with Jinny-auna Jones (Indiana Jones). He now wants an Indiana Jones birthday party--good thing I haven't even done one thing to plan his party yet.

KRISTEN has dance pictures today and her last competition is next week. She has her recital June 2 and we're done for the "year." She's always wanting to help cook lately. That's exciting!

JENNA loves Hello Bunny right now (it's really Hello Kitty--I'm not sure why she thinks it's a bunny). She'll be off playing and then come and find me and say, "Mama! I missed you!" So cute...

Maybe I'll Move to Australia

My life since Monday makes me think of the children's story "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," but my "day" is lasting all week.

I took Jenna to the doctor for her 2 year checkup on Monday and she was perfectly healthy. She's 27 lbs. 9 ozs. (78%) and 35 inches (81%)! Yes, a big girl! She woke up from her nap later that day and had a fever--100.5 degrees. How in the world did she get that if she was perfectly healthy? And she didn't even have a shot! The next day, she was fine.

Later that night, I asked Jarren to go and get his pajamas on and he forgot that he left a little dinosaur outside, so he ran outside in only his underwear. Apparently at this age, clothes aren't too important.

I needed to go grocery shopping yesterday and everything went wrong. I couldn't find the keys, Jarren's shoes, my list, etc. We finally went and three of the four kids were HORRIBLE!! Jenna wouldn't stay in the cart. Jarren and Kristen wanted me to buy everything they saw and kept trying to throw things in the cart. They started fighting and crying and screaming. I guess I'm mean because I'm not going to fill up the cart with junk food. I managed to get a couple of things in the cart, but had to get a neighbor girl to come and babysit later so I could finish. And I lost the keys again. Kendall was sweet--he asked if he could choose a few things to cook for us for lunch. He chose Italian sausage with cheese and strawberries.

Last night, Jarren and Kristen went over to the neighbors. They have a wooden skate ramp and Jarren decided to slide down on his tummy and got tons of little slivers all over one part of his stomach. I heard if you put glue on and let it dry, you can just peel it and they'll come out. I tried it, but not all of them came out. Poor kid! I need to try some other things, because the needle and tweezers aren't working either--too traumatic I guess.

Just before bed, I went to open the pantry and the door fell off. It's big and heavy and almost fell on me. I'm just so glad it didn't fall on one of the kids.

We all slept in until 9:10 this morning and Jarren has preschool at 9:30! He was a little bit late, but we made it! Jon's out of town on business and I swear when he leaves, everything falls apart. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. If not, maybe I'll move to Australia.

Dancing Queen

I almost forgot to put these pictures of our dancing queen on here! Kristen had a dance competition last Saturday. She was in two dances--a cute one to "Wishin' and Hopin'" (in the purple dress) and her whole dance school did a production number set to Peter Pan--she was a crocodile.

The production number took 1st place. The older girl who leads the crocodiles out broke her arm and the girl who took her place didn't know where to put them and so they danced off in the corner at first and then spread out, but it was still cute. Just me and a few other moms were having a cow, trying to figure out how to get them to move to the center.

The other dance took 2nd. This was the first competition for some of the girls and one poor girl got confused and didn't know where to go. But it was still just so cute! If I can figure out how to put video on here, I'll put a clip. But don't hold your breath....

Kristen had a lot of fun, but it sure was a long day for me. :)

Update on School--Maybe There's Hope...

Jarren still says he HATES preschool. He only has 5 more times and then he's done and he always seems to have had fun, but it's so hard to get him there. I've been dreading Kindergarten because it's like preschool, but it's every day and they obviously learn more. I've been feeling like I'll be fighting him with school until he graduates from high school.

We had a Kindergarten orientation last Friday morning at the Elementary school. They divided the kids into three groups, based off of the color of their name tag, and they went with one of the teachers while the parents sat in a meeting. They were gone for about 45 minutes and Jarren will NOT talk about what they did. After they brought them back, they got a packet of Keebler Elf cookies and we went home. But he came running up to me and said, "Mom!!! That was AWESOME!!!" and he keeps asking when he gets to start going to Kindergarten. Now I have hope that things will get better.

Happy Birthday Jenna!

It happened yesterday--my baby turned two years old!! Jenna woke up and saw the balloons, so we sang the happy birthday song to her. All day long at odd times she'd burst out into song (even inserting the "happy birthday dear Jenna" part).

After we dropped Jarren off at preschool, Kendall, Kristen, and I took her in for her birthday pictures. They gave her a flower to hold and it fascinated her for a long time. I was expecting to get maybe one picture, but they let her sit on my lap for several of them, so we got more than I thought we would.

Kristen had a mandatory dance practice and Jenna had so much fun running around chasing this little boy and climbing up and down the stairs with Jarren.

I think the older three kids had more fun opening gifts than Jenna did. She loved what was inside and wanted to sit and play with it, but someone would rip open another gift for her. She got some fun gifts!

Now for the cake....Jenna has a bee toy that used to be Jarren's, but she loves it! She talks to it and treats it like a baby. I was trying to think of what kind of cake to make her when I thought of a bee cake. I showed her some pictures online of bee cakes and she got excited. The night before her birthday, I was looking to decide which one to make and she started saying, "Bee cake. No yellow. I don't. I want pink cake." So after a few seconds of questioning, I think she was trying to tell me that she wanted a pink and brown bee cake. Hey, it's her birthday, so that's what I made--just in case anyone's wondering why it looks like a blushing bee. :)

Of course, it all tasted better with her dancing around on the top of the table. Jenna was thought it was kind of neat to have candles in the cake, so she got ALL of the candles and put them in her piece of cake.

I think she had a fun day--it's hard to believe how fast the time went--two already!