Kid Funnies

I think my kids have been extra funny lately and I wanted to share some of their funny things.

Sarah Kate
Last week Sarah came home from school and told me she was put in time out during class. When asked why she said she had been passing notes. She was so upset and said she didn't know you couldn't pass notes in class, "Mrs Melander didn't tell us that." Anyway, I asked her who she was passing notes to and she said Conner the boy who sits next to her. He told her he had a crush and her and that she was hot. I asked her what 'hot' meant and she didn't know. Funny but true. Conner also told her he had a pet raccoon and he would bring it to school to show her if she kissed him at recess. She wrote back and ask if she had to kiss him on the lips or the check. He said he had to think about it and then wrote that she had to kiss him on the lips. She was so embarrassed and to make it worse "he told everyone in class I was going to kiss him on the lips at recess." Oh to be young again. She's such a cutie I'm sure there'll be boys chasing her for years.

BenBen
Last Friday Ben got off the bus and like always I asked him what he did at school that day. He said instead of doing his skills book (a book of all the kindergarten requirements they have to pass off before they're done with kindergarten) each kid got called out into the call to count as high as they could to one of the kids Mom's (I guess they were looking to see how high each kid could count.) My first thought was Oh No! You see, my BenBen LOVES to count. He can count up to 1000 if you give him time. He sits in church and counts the 300+ pages in the hymn book to pass the time. I asked how much he counted to and he said, "Well, I ran out of time." I asked how high he got and he said he made it to 120 before the Mom stopped him. I guess he passed the counting test.

Another Ben funny is a result of his friend Anders who lives in our neighborhood and is in his class. Anders parents are divorced and he's been spending the last week or so at his Dad's (not in our neighborhood.) This has made Ben curious. When I woke him up for school this morning he asked me if people need to go to a special place to get a divorce, like a church or the temple, just like they do when they get married. I tried to explain, as best I could, that sometimes parents just stop loving each other and so one moves out and they get a divorce. He said, "Oh, so when people get old and kind of ugly, then they get a divorce." I think he missed the point.

Hannah Beth
Hannah has had some funnies, but my brain isn't working and I can't think of them right now. She's still not talking the best, but she's better and we're understanding her more and more every day. She's been very loving, always coming up to me and saying, "I love you too Mommy" or " I miss you Mommy." Such a sweetheart. I feel bad that she can't talk and that she's behind in many areas because of it, but we're working with her and hopefully by the time she starts school she'll be at least caught up.

Hannah still loves to dress up and she's always coming up in the funniest costumes. The other day she had her pink princess dress from last year (it's rather small on her now) her Minnie Mouse princess ears, and rain boats (both left foot, one Sarah's one Ben's.) She's such a goofball.

Gracie Grace
There for awhile we were worried about Gracie's speech along with Hannah's. She was speaking a lot like Hannah and wasn't progressing very well. Lately she must have decided she can talk because she's all of a sudden talking much more and much better. She also likes to be very much in charge of herself. I was playing with her the other day and in the middle of it she stopped laughing and said, "I done now Mawie (Mommy), bye" and walked away. What a nerd girl.

Gracie has been very good with baby Daniel. One morning I was changing Dan's diaper and he was not very happy. He was crying and crying and I guess Gracie didn't like it. She climbed up the changing table, started rubbing his head softly saying, "It OK Naniel, it OK." There's nothing greater than seeing your kids love each other. Now if only I could get her to keep her diaper on and get rid of the pacifier she's discovered since Dan joined the family.

Daniel Son
OK, so Daniel doesn't do a whole lot of funny things, but he is really cute. He's getting so big so quickly. I'm not liking it all that much. He's begun smiling, mostly only to me which Kenny thinks is mildly unfair, and he'll even coo at me when he's happy. The thing with Daniel is he sleeps A LOT. I figure it's got to be one of two things. Either he's a genius and needs extra sleep for his brilliant mind or he knows he's number 5 and Mom can really use the extra break I get when he sleeps. Maybe it's both. :) Whatever the reason, he's a good baby and we're just enjoying having him around.

Our Life The Past Few Weeks

I took some pictures of the little girls and Baby Dan today. I've really enjoyed having a few hours alone with them while Ben and Sarah are at school.

I've been trying desperately to get caught up on my blog and luckily I'm almost there. I've blogged about all the major events in September and now I just have to fill in the missing gaps. We've been fairly boring the last couple weeks, but it's been a welcome boring. Sometimes it's not that bad staying home.

The main thing we've done the past couple of weeks would have to been moving bedrooms around. On the 19th we finally moved kids around to make room for Daniel. Ben and Sarah went downstairs in the 'blue room,' Hannah and Gracie moved into Ben and Sarah's old room, and Daniel gets his own room where Grace and Hannah used to be. It's been good for the kids and they've all enjoyed it. Last week Ben told me he likes being downstairs because he doesn't have to have his room next to a girl's room. I laughed and thought, 'should I point out the obvious that he shares a room with a girl or not.' I opted to keep that info to myself. The big kids have really liked being downstairs and often hang out in their room together. It's also made it so the kids enjoy playing downstairs more, which has been a welcome change for me who feels like the kids are always underfoot. They didn't want they're bunk beds put back up so now their beds by each other on the floor. They've really enjoyed being able to see each other and talk to each other better. Kenny and I miss them terribly. It feels like they're so far away now, but I think it's good anyway.

Hannah and Grace love their new room and thanks to Kenny taking some of the bars off of the crib, Gracie can now get out of bed by herself. She's enjoyed it, but it's made nap time a lot more difficult. Eventually she'll learn to stay in bed. Dan, well he doesn't really much care about getting his own room, but I like having a place to hang his clothes and put the toys he will soon be using. He's been sleeping anywhere from 7 hours to 12 hours at night which has been wonderful and has made it so having him in his own room is doable. Having him out of our room has made it seem huge. I still find myself not turning the light on at night so I won't wake him only to realize he's not in here anymore (not that it would have made much of a difference, he still sleeps through most things.) My kids are growing up so fast sometimes I wish they'd just slow down for awhile.

Hannah and Gracie with their curly hair. Gracie's is natural, I had to use a curling iron on Hannah's. She loved it, sorry the pictures not the best.

I just love this kid. She's so cute.

In other news, school has been going great. It's so nice to be back in a routine. Ben's had a much better end to the month than beginning. His behavior has been wonderful and there has been no more falling resulting in injury. In fact on Monday he was invited to participate in the Discovery Classes at school because when tested he showed 'advanced skills in reading.' We're so proud of him. He's one of only 3 kids in the 2 am classes and I don't know how many in the pm classes, that get to participate. It starts at 12:00 and runs for 40 minutes. Ben gets out of school at 11:05, so Kenny went to the school today to arrange for Ben to stay and eat lunch with Sarah Kate, then after her lunch recess he will go back to his class for 15 minutes until discovery starts. He's very excited, but Sarah is TOTALLY not. We're going to have to have a talk with her and make sure she's nice and helpful to him.

Hannah holding Dan. She loves her baby brother.

Not much else has happened here. We've gone to the park for a picnic and spent a lot of time outside trying to enjoy the last of the summer weather. Kenny went rock climbing and repelling with the deacons last weekend and really enjoyed himself. We decided to try it as a family on Monday night, but quickly discovered that years of not climbing can make it really intimidating and that being out of shape doesn't help. We'll have to go again to try and fix that.

I've decided after 8 years it's finally time to start doing something about my baby weight. I've been running/walking 2 1/2 miles most mornings and trying to diet. I'm hoping my sore muscles, exhaustion, and hunger will pay off and I can start slimming down and looking/feeling better. We'll see, I'll keep you posted.

That's it. Kind of boring, but not at the same time. It's hard to be boring in this house.

Loving The West

Kenny said it best:

'This is the perfect time of year. The temps are great and the kids love staying out till sunset. We miss friends in DC, but much prefer life in the west overall. The sun sets over the horizon instead of the trees. In the evening the temp goes down instead of up. The kids can cruise the neighborhood on their own and it's just fine. It's just a nice place to be.'

A Rough Second Week of School

Ouch!

Ben's loving school, but his first two weeks were a little rough. As mentioned in an earlier blog, Ben was sent to the principals office on the third day (I'm happy to report that he's done much better since that incident) and the second week was just as rough, but for different reasons.

There was no school on Monday (Labor Day) so the school week didn't actually start until Tuesday the 8th. Daniel had his 2 month check up that day and while I was waiting for the doctor I got a call from the school. The very nice receptionist told me Ben had been playing on the playground before the bell rang and he tripped over a backpack. The kindergarten playground is on cement and when he fell he scrapped up his face. She said they put ice on it, but didn't bandage it. She just wanted me to know so I wasn't too shocked when he got home. She said it was a minor scratch and that he was OK and wanted to stay at school. When he got home I was somewhat surprised by the 'minor scratch' on his face. It was huge and a little puffy, but he was very proud of it.

These pictures were taken a day and a half after the incident so the swelling had gone down.

He's so handsome even with a big scratch on his face.

What a goofball!

The next day Wednesday, went smoothly, but on Thursday my phone rang about the time school started. Kenny answered it and I thought to myself, 'gee I wonder if that's the school about Ben.' Kenny got off the phone and told me it was indeed the school. There was apparently some pushing while they were waiting in line to get into the classroom and Ben had been pushed down. He hit his head really hard on the cement and his teacher was worried he may have a concussion. I went to the school to check on him and just make sure he was OK.

When I got there the receptionist was very sweet and very apologetic. She said when they brought Ben into the office the first thing that went through her head was, 'Oh no, now I have to call his Mother again.' I checked on him and determined he was just fine. He told me he was pushed and that he and the kid that pushed him had to go to the office (for different reasons of course.) The poor boy had a rough week, but if you ask him how school was he would tell you it's wonderful. I guess that's all that matters.

Teton Village

Our family on top of Rendezvous Mountain.

For Labor Day we decided to go to Jackson Wyoming. We haven't been to Jackson since Sarah was a baby (except for a drive through on the way back from Yellowstone last year) and we thought it was about time to go back. On the way we got sidetracked and headed to Teton Village first. Having never been there I didn't know what to expect. Basically it's a ski resort with shops and a tram. After walking around the kids (and Kenny and I for that matter) were fixated on the tram. Surprisingly, Labor Day was the first day of they're off season and the ticket prices were cheaper. Along with the cheaper tickets, the guy who sold us the tickets didn't charge us for any of the kids so the tram ended up being quite reasonable, and TOTALLY worth the price.

Ben pointing to where we're going.

The tram is about 9 minutes each way and during that 9 minutes you climb nearly 2 1/2 miles. Rendezvous Mountain is 10,500 feet high and after getting off the tram it's just a short walk to the very top of the mountain. When we got to the top we headed to Corbet's Cabin where they make any kind of waffle you can imagine. We didn't eat waffles, instead we ate our packed lunch of homemade rolls, huckleberry jam, applesauce and non-homemade Sun Chips. It was delicious and the atmosphere made it so much cooler. There's just something about being high up on a mountain with your family in a rustic looking cabin eating food you made from home. It was perfect and just what we needed.

Eating our homemade lunch on top of Rendezvous Mountain. It doesn't get much better than this.

Oh! What a cute baby boy.

Gracie eating chips. I love her black, black eyes.

I think Hannah wins the prize for being the goofiest, but man is she pretty.

The man working at the restaurant was closing it down and asked us if any of the kids wanted to lick the chocolate off the spatula. Ben jumped at the chance and loved it.

Sarah eating apple sauce with huckleberry jam in it, what a yummy combination.

After lunch we made the short walk to the top Rendezvous Mountain. It was windy and cold and though Kenny and I thought it was beautiful and really worth it, the kids were too cold to care. We took a family picture and then let the kids go back down to the loading dock to wait for the tram. It took a while for the tram to arrive, but we didn't mind waiting. I will admit being on top of the loading dock made me a little nervous. It was a long way down and I wasn't willing to let the kids out of my sight. The little girls wanted to stand on the seats and look over the edge. Yeah! I was not OK with that. The tram finally came and we were the first ones so we got to sit up front. We had a great view the entire way down. It was really cool and we've decided we need to go back next summer.

A view of Jackson Hole from the top.

Ben and Sarah (in the black and purple) walking out on the loading dock for the tram.

The kids enjoying the view on the ride down the mountain.

Baby Dan sleeping on the way down the mountain.

After the tram ride we headed to Jackson to check out the wildlife gallery and found a bunch of pictures we want to buy, maybe someday. :) We then tried to watch the old west shootout, but it apparently stops for the season on Labor Day. The kids were disappointed, but it just means we'll have to go back next summer. All in all it was a pretty amazing day. There are some amazing places out there.

Blessing Day

Our family after Daniel's blessing. We sure are getting big.

Daniel's blessing was the first Sunday in September. It worked out great for us because it was the first day of our new church time. We had been going to church at 9:00 and we switched to 1:00 which was perfect for everyone who was coming. Kenny and I spent the night before cooking rolls and making huckleberry jam and Sunday morning we finished making the food for lunch after church. Everyone began arriving around 11:30. It's so nice to be around family so they're able to share in the important moments of our lives.

Mommy, Daddy, and Daniel on his special day.

Dan's a little bored (see the yawn.)

We arrived at church 10 minutes early and still had a hard time finding seats together in the chapel (we have a HUGE ward.) The blessing was very sweet and both Kenny and Daniel did a very good job. Dan was awake the entire time, but didn't cry once, what a good baby boy we have. Kenny talked a lot about the importance of Daniel's heritage and of the temple. It was a very beautiful blessing. I'm so grateful to have a worthy husband who is able to give our children blessings.

Grandma Newbry holding baby Dan.

After sacrament everyone headed back to our house for some lunch. It was so nice to visit with both sides of the family and to have everyone over to our house. We were joined by both set of grandparents, my Aunt Cindy, Kingston's, Michael and Sarah, and Nielsen's. People started heading out around 4:00, buy Kingston's and Michael and Sarah stayed for a few more hours. I absolutely love being west and having the ability to let my kids grow up playing with their cousins.

Aunt Cindy and Grandma Gass getting lunch.

Some of the family eating lunch.

All in all it was a very busy day, but a very wonderful day. I'm so grateful for my family both little and big. Thanks to everyone who joined us and to everyone who helped so much.

Ben + 3rd Day of School = Principals Office

The third day of school I took the three little girls to the doctor for Dan's 2 month check up and when I got home Ben had already gotten home from school. The first thing he said when I walked in was that he had been sent to the principals office. Of course I had to get the story.

His class was coloring pictures and he was told to color carefully, to try to stay in the lines. He was doing so, but because he was careful he didn't have enough time to finish his picture. He didn't like that and told Ms. England that he wanted to finish coloring his picture. She told him it was time to move on and he said he wasn't going to listen to her until she let him finish his paper. He then covered his ears with his hands and closed his eyes. That's my Ben. Determined as ever and not willing to budge. Apparently Ms. England couldn't get him to open his eyes or remove his hands so she sent him to the principal. I can only imagine how that went. Apparently Mr. Page, the principal, told him to do better and then sent him back to class.

Ben's such a funny dude. The school didn't let us know what happened, just Ben did. I guess it's nice to know when he does something wrong he'll tell us. We had a talk with him and explained how school is a team effort and when the teacher and class are ready to move on, Ben has to move on as well. We let him know that if he doesn't finish coloring something he can always bring it home to finish it. Kenny made him write a letter to Ms. England to apologize. She called the next day to tell us Ben had done much better and thanked us for being involved in his school life. Since then schools been going good. Ben even got to be a line leader which, as he said, is only for the good kids.

School Begins

YAY! We get to go to school!

School started on August 24th and my kids were so excited to go. This year Sarah Kate is in 2nd grade and Ben gets to start Kindergarten. Thankfully we kept ourselves busy the week before school started by going to Grandma and Grandpa Gass' house and then going huckleberry picking at my in-laws in Grace over the weekend. I think if we hadn't been so busy they would have driven me crazy with their excitement.

I think this year is going to be a wonderful school year. Sarah has 2 of her best friends in her class. Carina (a girl in our neighborhood) and Clarissa (a new girl who moved into our ward about 2 months ago) are both in her class and the three of them are so great together. Ben has 2 kids from our neighborhood in his class and he's quickly making friends. Both of their teachers seem wonderful - Mrs. Melander for Sarah and Mrs. England for Ben - which can make or break a school year.

My cute kids waiting for the bus.

The first day of school went very smoothly. The kids had no problems getting up and they were ready to go about 5 minutes before the bus came. I took them outside and took a few pictures of them. Ben was SOOOOO excited for his first bus ride and when the bus drove back around he was waving out the window with the biggest smile I've ever seen.

"Mom, where is it?"

Catching the bus.

The kids really wanted to ride the bus, but I wanted to be at the school to make sure they made it to class and to see them off. I decided to let them ride the bus and then I followed a little later to meet them at school. I arrived at the school just as the bell was ringing (the line to get to the school was huge and it took me forever to get there.) I stood outside Ben's classroom with him while he waited for the teacher to let him in. After he went in his class I walked to Sarah's class to take a picture of her. She was already doing school work and was so excited to be doing so.

Ben being a goofball while he was waiting to go into his classroom.

Sarah doing her worksheet.

I can't believe I now have 2 kids in school. They are all getting so big and it's going by so quickly. I'm excited for what's to come, but I'm not sure I want it to come so fast. I guess I don't have a choice. I'm just glad they're enjoying their childhood and that they enjoyed they're first day of school.