Monday, August 25, 2008

First Day of School


Here are a few pictures of the girls this morning before they left for school. Thanks Greg for taking them! I love the first day of school. I always have. It almost has the same anticipation for me as Christmas. I love the new school clothes, backpacks, crayons, and pencils. I also love the excitement of meeting the teachers, and the clean slate so to speak that comes with the beginning of a school year.

The girls were great this morning as we headed off to school. They each took an apple to their teacher, and were excited to be on their way. When we got to the front doors of the school, Ellie saw a friend she went to preschool with, and asked if she could just go with her rather than having to walk to Becca's class, too. I couldn't bear to leave her, though, so we dropped her off first. She walked right in, found the spot for her backpack, found her desk, and was ready to go. No anxiety whatsoever.

Then, we went to Becca's class, where Becca handed her teacher the apple, and walked right past her while her teacher was still talking to her. I had to tell her to stop and listen because she was so mesmerized by the classroom she couldn't focus on what was happening right then.

I love Ellie's teacher, and Becca's seems great, too, so I was a happy mom letting my kiddos off on the first day of school.

By the way, if you look in the pictures you will notice Ellie's broken arm--the left wrist, fortunately, so she should still be able to write without a problem.


We Love A-Fair!

Here are a couple of pictures from the Davis County Fair. The girls had so much fun...they rode the ponies, saw a magician, "milked cows" went to the petting zoo, held a tarantula, got balloons from the clown, and had a ball with their cousins. Most of my pictures are still on my phone (the camera battery was too low) but here are a couple to give a brief idea of the day at the fair:

Becca was most looking forward to "Milking the Cows" at the fair this year. I wonder how she would like a trip to the farm where she could milk a real cow.

All three of the big girls held Rosemary, but Ellie was the only one who kept her long enough for me to take a picture. I was very impressed with their bravery.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Weekend Wonders

In the early hours of the morning (1:50 to be exact) I awoke when I heard Rachel crying. I got out of bed, and realized two things--first, that I was not hearing RACHEL cry, and second that whoever was crying was out on my front porch. I started walking toward the window and the sound grew extremely loud, and then stopped abruptly when I heard a huge thunk against the house that shook the windows. As I looked out the window a deer bounded out from under the porch, and I realized that the deer had been kicking a bobcat to a pulp. This morning I went out to check out the yard and found tufts of cat fur everywhere (I thought I had better check it out because it's not every night you get to watch the nature show in your front yard, and I wondered if I had just imagined the whole thing). Go Deer!

Friday, August 22, 2008

What a Week!

I need to start this post by thanking my mom and Greg for a WONDERFUL 9th anniversary. Yesterday, Greg took the day off work and took the family up to the zoo (a random anniversary tradition, but one we love). We had a great time, and the kids commented that it was "the best day ever," mostly because they knew that when we got back from the zoo they got to go to Grandma's house for a sleepover while Greg and I went up to the Homestead for our anniversary. Greg laughed at me because with no kids to get to bed, and nothing to wake me up, I crashed just after 9:00 last night, but in my opinion, nothing could have been more appreciated than a night of sleep. THANK YOU Mom and Greg for letting that happen.
My night of rest couldn't have come at a more opportune time, either. This week has been a wee bit crazy. It started out TUESDAY when I was at a Young Women's activity. I had a water party with my Beehives, and while everyone was enjoying a snow cone, Sarah got stung by a bee. Her screaming brought the party to an abrupt halt, and I gave Sarah some Benedryl and an ice pack and called it good. However, for the next 2 days, her leg was so tender and swollen it put that child in the WORST mood ever. During this same time frame, Rachel's front tooth (that has been trying to come in for about 3 months) finally broke through, causing her to be a little less than cheerful herself.
Then, with 2 ornery little girls, and a cancelled babysitter, I ended up taking all four kids to Becca's dentist appointment WEDNESDAY where she got to have a pulpotomy--also known as a juvenile root canal. Mmmm, wasn't that fun?! I can't complain, though. My girls ALL were great sports. The appointment was right during Rachel's nap time and she snuggled me through the whole procedure, and Ellie and Sarah watched Toy Story in the waiting room. Becca's only complaints were 1-she didn't really like having her mouth numb, and 2-she couldn't really see/hear Finding Nemo when the dentist was leaning over her face and talking to her.
THURSDAY as I said, was a wonderful day, and very refreshing, which is a great thing because today (FRIDAY) Ellie fell off of the monkey bars at Greg's parents' house and broke her wrist. Yes, this is the first broken bone for the Greather family, and we are just feeling lucky that assuming she keeps it in place, she only has to have a splint and wrap because it was a fairly minor break.
However, it does mean that she gets to attract even a little more attention than she normally would for the first three weeks of kindergarten!

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Welcome Home, Greg!

So, the case of the missing cheese was just the tip of the iceberg this week. I don't know how my kids know when I am at my wits end, but they enjoy exploiting the fact. A few highlights of the past week without Greg include:
Monday: A futile hunt for the missing cheese, and a halfhearted attempt at cleaning/laundry.
Tuesday: The girls decided to play Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Rachel got diarrhea and desperately needed a bath in the morning, and while I was with her, the rest of the girls decided to make themselves breakfast. They climbed up on a bar stool and pulled out our giant Costco box of instant oatmeal, unloaded the dishwasher of every dish capable of holding liquid, including 8 bowls, 4 serving bowls, 11 glasses, 3 measuring cups, 4 tupperware containers and 19 paper cups, and emptied the entire box (minus three little packages) of oatmeal into the various containers. They then proceeded to fill each of the bowls to the top with water, and carried them throughout the house, sloshing the contents of each one as they went along. By the time I came downstairs, the entire main floor was covered with dried out, sticky oatmeal and it took me until late in the afternoon to get it cleaned up.
Wednesday: Rachel still had "the runs" and was not feeling too hot in the morning, so I spent some time trying to make her feel better. I thought the girls were behaving themselves until a neighbor called to see if she could come over. She has a one-year-old daughter, and only one car at the moment, so she was feeling a little cabin-feverish. I told her to come on over, and we could all play in the back yard together. Well, when she came over, Rachel had just had another "blow-out" diaper, so I told her to just go on out back and I would be right there. When I came to the back yard it looked like a natural disaster had struck. Apparently, the girls found a bag of trail mix. Well, I have the rule that you have to "take a handful, eat a handful" not just pick out the M&M's, but I guess the girls decided that it was just easier to "take a handful, eat the M&M's, and throw the nuts and raisins on the back porch. There was also a box of Capri Sun wrappers, and some random fruit snack wrappers that the girls decided to "hide" from me out there. In short, it looked a bit like the garbage dump--not to mention the fact that the lawn hadn't been mowed for a week and a half, so we were growing a forest of miniature aspen trees across the yard. I have to say I was quite embarassed, and the girls proved to be their less-than-angelic selves for the remainder of my friend's visit. They dipped sidewalk chalk in water and painted themselves with it, climbed around the yard like little Tarzan children, and basically paid no attention to any instructions I gave. Somehow, I doubt that I will be seeing much of this neighbor again--what do you think?
On the bright side, however, Greg's mom called and invited us all over for the afternoon. She took the girls while I went shopping and I was able to get some bananas and other BRAT diet staples for Rachel, and then she fed us dinner. I also FOUND THE CHEESE under the seat of the car when I went over. It wasn't edible, but at least it wasn't moldy, so I consider that to be a success. It was a WONDERFUL night!
Thursday: Thursday nights are set aside for Young Women's Activities, and this week was no exception. The schedule called for the combined YW activity to be held at our house this week, where we were supposed to be watching a movie outside in our backyard. Well, the house by this point in the week had seen better days, so I thought I would take a little time to mop the kitchen floor and scrub some toilets before the young women arrived. While I was mopping the floor, the phone rang, so I decided to walk upstairs while talking on the phone to make sure the girls weren't in trouble. It was a good thing I did. When I got to the top of the stairs I saw every towel, blanket, sheet, pillow, etc. that was supposed to be in my linen closet strewn down the hall. Sarah smelled to high-heaven of Vicks Vapo-Rub, Ellie was sucking down a packet of Emergen-C (vitamin C supplement) and Rachel had been taken out of her crib (she was supposed to be napping) and was happily sucking on an Alka-Seltzer. Yes, I got to call 1-800-222-1222 yet again. I told them that I didn't know how much she had eaten, but I was fairly certain it was less than one tablet. They told me to keep an eye on her, not let her nap, and to call back if she started throwing up.
Fortunately, she didn't throw up, but I will say that keeping a baby up during naptime and trying to get things cleaned up was not my favorite way to spend the afternoon.
The girls were pretty well behaved after their foray into the medicine cabinet, but I was more than happy to inform them that when
1-Grandpa Welling called to say that the pool was nice and warm that they couldn't go,
2-Aunt Heather called to see if we wanted to go to Tracy Aviary that they couldn't go and
3-The neighbors called to see if the girls wanted to play water games in their back yard that they couldn't go because we had to stay close to home in case Rachel threw up.

Well, the girls stayed up past 11:00 on Thursday (I knew they would) because of the movie, but they still woke up at what Greg likes to call the "butt-crack" of dawn. They were less than sweet spirited on Friday morning, but knowing that the day would bring their daddy home kept their spirits higher than they had been during the week.
A bout of rain spoiled our plans to go to the zoo, but the girls were just as pleased to see Greg, and I will agree. It has been a wonderful 24 hours having him home.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Case of the Missing Cheese

Last night we went to my niece's birthday party where we enjoyed a yummy taco bar. I was in charge of bringing cheese, so I brought my Costco 10 pound bag. I stuck the whole thing in a collapsible cooler, and I was even careful to remember to bring it home. I know it was in the car, and I am 99 percent certain I brought it inside when I was bringing the kids in, but I have not been able to find it. I looked everywhere last night after I put the kids in bed, then looked again this morning (to save my sanity rather than the cheese at this point) but I STILL can't find it ANYWHERE! So, I will keep you posted, but I don't think it is a very good sign when on the first day that Greg is out of town I lose a 10 lb. bag of cheese...

Friday, August 01, 2008

The Fam

The girls and I decided to make a "family picture." I know their selections for themselves will be shocking, but try to contain your surprise!

Pyzam Family Sticker Toy
Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com