Movie and a black eye

The preschool arranged for the movie Rio to be shown at church last night. It was fun, we wore pj's and brought pillows and blankets and they provided popcorn, snacks and drinks.


All was fine until Grant came running to me crying. He and another little boy apparently collided. He had his head buried in my chest crying for a long time so I decided we better go home. When he stood up, I got my first glimpse if the injury. He already had a black bruise on his cheek and a HUGE bump under his eye. I really had never seem anything like it. I promptly found a nurse at the movie to check him out and we went home with ice and still crying. This is Grant's shiner this morning:





It is bruised clear around his cheek. That other kid must have a head made of rock because he wasn't even crying...

Lullaby

Grant fell asleep yesterday on the couch listening to music.


Look at that smile on his face and don't look at the hole in his sock!

Science project

Dylan and two classmates had to create a model of a cell for science class. They chose to bake a cake and it turned out great. The cake was baked in a circle pan and they halved it and decorated it with different candies.






(Notice Grant in the background? He was banned from the kitchen and so he listened to music on his touch with headphones and sang really loud the whole time).

Happy mess

This was what I saw when I climbed the stairs yesterday night to put some clothes away.


I started out the afternoon by making some of the 'mess' with Grant, we built castles. When Jack got home, Grant invited him up to play and I didn't see them again until dinner! I love it when the boys can get along and play for hours. I love seeing the playroom a mess (most of the time), that is what we designed it for. I just asked Matt a few days ago if we needed to change anything in the playroom around because it seemed like the kids weren't up there often playing with their millions of toys and today the boys proved me wrong.

Compliments

Compliments, all too often, are far and few between. My sister and I joke that we can always depend on each other for some compliments, "cute hair, love that sweater, cool earrings." You know, that stuff you love to hear, that you need to hear once in awhile. It gives you a little boost and puts a smile on your face. Well, this week, three compliments were given around here. The first was from my friend's mother in law who, when she was leaving a party we attended, told my friend that I was cute. Do you know how long it has been since someone has called me cute? A LONG time! It made me happy. Next up was Dylan. His gym teacher was talking to Matt this weekend and telling Matt what a great kid Dylan was! Yea! That gave a big (needed) boost to Matt and I and our parenting skills (Dylan too). And the third compliment came today from Jack's teacher at conferences. She is pregnant with her third child and has two little girls already. She will find out the sex of the baby at the end of this month and was telling me how nervous she will be if she finds out it is a boy. She said if she is having a boy then she will start praying that minute that he turns out just like Jack! Wow. We are on a roll around here and it sure is a nice way to start off the week.

Bedtime

I read a quote on a blog not too long ago and it has stuck in my head like glue. It was by Harold B. Lee.

Parents, remember that now is your opportunity,
You may feel yourself harassed as you struggle
through the days with children
But you are living the happiest, most golden days of your life
As you tuck them into their beds at night,
Please be kind to them.
Let them hear a kind voice amid all the
Angry voices they will hear throughout life.
Let there be a anchor to which these
Little ones can turn when all else fails
The Lord help you so to do...

I'm finding these words a great reminder. At bedtime around here, all too often there is crying and yelling. Boys get tired and refuse to admit it, they argue with each other about drinking water and who goes to the bathroom first and who walks up the stairs first and this and that and everything in between. It is so hard not to yell and get frustrated because mommy and daddy are tired too. But this verse is there, reminding me to speak kindly. Tonight was a little rough and boy did I feel guilty when I got downstairs. I thought about the last words the boys heard before they slept and they weren't very kind ones. It was really bugging me so I went upstairs and apologized and kissed my three wonderful little blessings and whispered a kind word in their ears. This quote was something I needed and won't soon be forgotten.

Skiing

I tried skiing for the first time Sunday night. It was hard and I think it is safe to say, I am not a good skier. I did get down the little hill a few times without falling, but a few times were pretty ugly. Matt was working so hard helping Grant and Jack that I just kind of tumbled down the hill behind them without a clue. It was fun though. The boys did awesome and ended the night riding the lift and skiing fast and fearless. They loved it. Me, well, the jury is still out....

Perfect spot on a cold night

We dropped Jack off at a party tonight and went out for dinner. We got a table right in front of the fireplace:-) Perfect, especially because it got Matt off the hook from making me a fire tonight at home.


I'm backtracking a bit now. We had a snow day today so I declared a sweatpants day. We played a wii game, built with Legos, had some hot chocolate, watched Black Stallion with popcorn and of course played games on our I touches and phones. At one point the boys and I were all lined up on the couch with our apple devices. It was a pretty good day, it didn't go without some yelling and sending to rooms, but overall a pretty good snow day.

Today

While I worked on a sewing project for Jack's school, Grant typed on our old typewriter right beside me.





He typed and typed. He typed our names over and over until he could spell them by himself. Then he typed things like 'red ranger slice sword' and 'baseball' and then he had to highlight the words, of course. Oh the best part was that he was dressed up like a ninja the whole time.

For Jack's homework today he had to draw a picture of our family and list some adjectives about us.





When I looked closely at the picture, he drew roller skates on Dylan's shirt (Dylan recently discovered roller skating), a batman helicopter on Grant's shirt (one of his birthday toys), and on his shirt he drew a person skiing which made me a little sad because Dylan had his first ski trip on Monday and loved it and now I realize that Jack really wants to ski too. I think he was tired of drawing by the time he came to me because not only did I not get a picture shirt, but I don't have feet either :-(. Anyway, he puts a lot of thought into everything he does and I love that about him.


I'm loving the adjectives too, sort of a little ego boost for our family, yea!

And the last picture is of visitors we had for dinner...


Dash and Spiderman!

90 years old

My Grandma turned 90 on January 4th and we celebrated with an open house.











I think she looks amazing for 90. I can't imagine how she felt looking around at a room full of people that wouldn't be there (literally) if it weren't for her; 4 daughters,4 sons-in-law, 9 grandchildren and their 7 spouses and 1 girlfriend, 13 great grandchildren! I really feel so lucky to have grown up so close to her. I have many wonderful memories of being at her house playing hotel and restaurant with her, hanging sheets on the line, making beds, ironing, sitting on the arm of her chair and doing crossword puzzles, helping her cook, and I may or may not have packed a suitcase (or 2) to run away to live at her house:-) It sounds funny that I enjoyed so many housekeeping chores with her, but I did. I think of her every time I make beds or hang something out to dry and I would say every time I iron a handkerchief, but those times have changed. Oh, I also spent hours with her while her hair was drying in the drying chair that used to be in my bedroom (my mom was a hairdresser). We played trouble and I modeled clothes and God only knows what that poor woman had to endure in my Holly Hobby bedroom while she was held captive under the dryer...And, every year before school would start she would come pick me up and we would go to Lazarus downtown and she would buy me my 'first day of school' dress and we would go to lunch...good times. I just liked being with her, it didn't matter if we were doing dishes or shopping. Happy Birthday Grandma, love you 'bushels'!

Checklist

The afternoon started off with the always scary lice note from Grant's preschool class, so home for the precautionary procedures.

Strip Grant 's bed- check

Wash bedding- check

Wash Grant's coat, hat, pajamas, clothes -check

Sweep couch and pillows- check

Head check- check

Then for some odd reason I decided to bath the dog...

Give Lily a bath in the tub - check

Blow dry Lily in the garage -check

Brush Lily and trim hair-check

Well might as well cut the boys hair, right?

Cut boys' hair- check

Do fifteen more loads of laundry - check (in progress)

Clean up dishes- check

Listen to 12 year old son ask for skinny jeans?????-check????

Cover myself in warm blanket from the dryer and post on the blog-check:-)

There's a new month in town

Today at preschool during calendar we were introducing the new month, January. The kids know to check the first letter of the month for the clue. After some deliberation, they yelled out, "It's Jacember!" You know, the month between December and January...

Headbandz

Jack got the game Headbandz for Christmas and it is so fun! We played it on New Years Eve at the farm and I laughed so hard I cried.


You wear a headband with a picture card attached to the front and the picture faces out. You have to ask yes or no questions to figure out what the picture is. Some people cheated by looking at their reflection in the windows or even tried to take picture of themselves with their phones! The nerve!


We stumped grandpa on this one :-)


Grant's guess was a bowl of juice, almost...


We nearly died when grandma farmer chose the cow card! We had our Christmas at the farm this past weekend and then a party at Aunt Mary and Uncle John's house too where we witnessed a 'chemical reaction'.

















Grant received a shaving kit and he and Jack tried it out that night after they begged (?) for a bath.








It is serious work ;-) We are now officially done with the holidays (even though the boys will not let me take down the tree). Now back to the grind... On a side note, please keep the Taylor family from my church in your prayers. They lost their little six year boy to cancer last Friday. So, so sad. I just don't have words.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! We are off to our last Christmas party and our little champ is catching a few zzzz's on the way.


What a great way to start off a new year...with a little nap:-)