17 September 2012
Sock of Shame
Hello world, Jack here! I'm hungry. In fact, I'm always hungry! I eat all day, but I'm still so hungry. I sleep really good for my mom and dad at night, but all sleeping does is make me . . . hungry. Lately I've been trying to eat my hands all the time, but my mama finally made me stop doing that. My hands were pink and raw and sore. She put yucky vaseline on the sore spots and then made me wear these socks. Now I may be little, but I know socks are for feet. I even hear my sister get told all the time, "Molly, take your socks off your hands." Last week she even took her sock off and filled it with cookie crumbs while my mama was putting the groceries away. I wouldn't have done that, but I still have to wear these socks on my hands. Mom, why? Just let me eat my hands. They taste so good. Sigh.
12 September 2012
School Days
It is 11:35 p.m. I have tons of school work today and sleep to catch up on, but instead I am blogging. It's a good stress reliever, I guess.
We've been in school for almost 3 weeks now. Molly goes to school with me. Jack hangs out with my cousin Maddie and her cute little boy Cole. I go to crazy land and try to teach.
My ESL U.S. History class is fun this year! It is a huge relief to the challenge of my majority Ukrainian students last year. The countries represented in the class include: Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Mexico, Belgium, Czech Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Iran, Nepal, Thailand . . . I think that's it. Their residency in the U.S. ranges from a few weeks to several years and their language skills have just about as broad a range.
Utah adopted new math curriculum and began implementing it last year. We have started teaching it at our school this year - Secondary Math II. The curriculum itself is kind of fun and I am buying into it, but it is a challenge to have students of all ability levels in one class. It is a wide gap and we are all grappling with how to not "water down" the curriculum for the top end students while not leaving the lower end students in the dust. It's tough.
Molly has been pretty good at school. She really likes it and has only fussed a couple of days that I've dropped her off. She thinks Miss Autumn and Miss Sarah live there because instead of calling it school, she says she wants to go to "Miss Autumn's and Miss Sarah's house." Though our toilet training has been pretty successful, she wouldn't go to the bathroom at school for a week and a half. She held it all day and had no accidents, but was having stage fright or can't-go-with-new-adults-helping-me issues. She's finally warmed up a little bit and today successfully even told her teachers that she needed to go, rather than waiting for them to make her go.
The bad news is that Sunday she got in trouble in nursery for hitting kids and then Monday and today she also got in trouble for doing that at school. On Monday it was little kids. Today is was big kids. I guess at least she doesn't discriminate against age. Other than an occasional run-in between her and Wyatt, she's never really been a hitter. I don't know what has brought this on. Miss Sarah says it's just a phase and they are working through it. We are, of course, talking about not hitting at home, but she hasn't done it at home. I don't know what's going on, but she seems super stressed and has had a many a screaming fit in the last few days, too. I don't know what to do. She seems to feel ok. She could probably sleep better, but isn't doing terribly. I just don't know. I drugged her tonight to see if that would help.
Jack is just dandy. He cries when he's hungry. He cries when he's cold while getting dressed after his bath. He cries when he feels neglected because his sister is requiring too much attention. Otherwise, he smiles and giggles all the time. He is such a happy boy! He likes to be tickled under his chin and on his thighs. He still spits up a lot, but it doesn't seem to phase him.
He's excited to start playing with his new cousin Quinn (though they look nothing alike)!
I've totally stolen all of these pictures from my sister.
We've been in school for almost 3 weeks now. Molly goes to school with me. Jack hangs out with my cousin Maddie and her cute little boy Cole. I go to crazy land and try to teach.
My ESL U.S. History class is fun this year! It is a huge relief to the challenge of my majority Ukrainian students last year. The countries represented in the class include: Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Mexico, Belgium, Czech Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Iran, Nepal, Thailand . . . I think that's it. Their residency in the U.S. ranges from a few weeks to several years and their language skills have just about as broad a range.
Utah adopted new math curriculum and began implementing it last year. We have started teaching it at our school this year - Secondary Math II. The curriculum itself is kind of fun and I am buying into it, but it is a challenge to have students of all ability levels in one class. It is a wide gap and we are all grappling with how to not "water down" the curriculum for the top end students while not leaving the lower end students in the dust. It's tough.
Molly has been pretty good at school. She really likes it and has only fussed a couple of days that I've dropped her off. She thinks Miss Autumn and Miss Sarah live there because instead of calling it school, she says she wants to go to "Miss Autumn's and Miss Sarah's house." Though our toilet training has been pretty successful, she wouldn't go to the bathroom at school for a week and a half. She held it all day and had no accidents, but was having stage fright or can't-go-with-new-adults-helping-me issues. She's finally warmed up a little bit and today successfully even told her teachers that she needed to go, rather than waiting for them to make her go.
(I stole this picture from my sister. It was a Sunday afternoon photo session and for reasons you can probably guess, Molly's nickname during this short period of time was "Static Underpants." Willie, Annie, and I also thought that could be a clever band name.)
Jack is just dandy. He cries when he's hungry. He cries when he's cold while getting dressed after his bath. He cries when he feels neglected because his sister is requiring too much attention. Otherwise, he smiles and giggles all the time. He is such a happy boy! He likes to be tickled under his chin and on his thighs. He still spits up a lot, but it doesn't seem to phase him.
He's excited to start playing with his new cousin Quinn (though they look nothing alike)!
I've totally stolen all of these pictures from my sister.
My mom's Starting 5! Notice Elliott and Wyatt were going for "Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil." I think Jack was trying to do "See no Evil," but his arms just couldn't reach quite high enough. Who knows what Static Underpants was trying to do. She's coo-coo!
Handsome boy in blue!
04 September 2012
Labor Day
My sister labored on the Sunday before Labor Day to bring us Quinn and to celebrate this favorite holiday. (She actually had a c-section, but that doesn't discount her laborious recovery and laborious raising of 3 boys, but I digress . . . )
We had a great Labor Day. We took our new car for a ride to see how it handled hills. We did the Alpine Loop up American Fork Canyon and connecting to Provo Canyon. We then drove to Heber City and back home through Parley's Canyon. The car is nice. No more put-put and tapping the car on the dashboard to get it to go up the hills. Plus, we get to plug in our iPod and that is kind of fun.
We saw a few pretty autumn leaves and some other scenery. It was crowded, though, with all of the other Labor Day city slickers going for a drive.
We ate lunch at Granny's Drive-In in Heber, made a pit-stop at the Days Grocery Store because we are stupid and didn't take a diaper bag, then headed home.
James mowed the lawn while we chilled and I found an episode of "Hoarders" on Netflix.
We headed to my Grandpa's house for an end-of-summer BBQ and swimming. I think everyone had fun and drank plenty of root beer. And, thank you to cousin Natalie for rescuing the chair I let fall in the pool.
We had a great Labor Day. We took our new car for a ride to see how it handled hills. We did the Alpine Loop up American Fork Canyon and connecting to Provo Canyon. We then drove to Heber City and back home through Parley's Canyon. The car is nice. No more put-put and tapping the car on the dashboard to get it to go up the hills. Plus, we get to plug in our iPod and that is kind of fun.
We saw a few pretty autumn leaves and some other scenery. It was crowded, though, with all of the other Labor Day city slickers going for a drive.
We ate lunch at Granny's Drive-In in Heber, made a pit-stop at the Days Grocery Store because we are stupid and didn't take a diaper bag, then headed home.
James mowed the lawn while we chilled and I found an episode of "Hoarders" on Netflix.
We headed to my Grandpa's house for an end-of-summer BBQ and swimming. I think everyone had fun and drank plenty of root beer. And, thank you to cousin Natalie for rescuing the chair I let fall in the pool.
New Car!
Yup. We bought a new car. Why? We don't really fit in my car anymore when we try to go somewhere as a family. The person in the passenger seat has to scoot up so her knees are in her chin and the person in the driver's seat gets kicked constantly by a girl with no leg room. In addition, our cars are getting old, beginning to show some wear, and I guess it was just time to get a new car. We've been looking since pretty much Jack came home. I was content to just keep putting it off, but James was a little more eager to get something new. We finally decided to go looking and with my mom and dad's help watching the chillun's we looked a few times, sat in at least 15-20 different vehicles and test drove at least a half a dozen.
Though we'd been searching and looking and studying for a while, it still feels like we kind of bought it on a whim. I had resided to stop looking and then James found this one, we saw it, I drove it, and we bought it in a matter of a few hours. It was an excellent value for a car with more bells and whistles than we were anticipating - lower than blue book and within our established budget. Though it is just a Ford, it is pretty much nicer than any car either of us has ever had. It has a Microsoft Sync system, heated seats, and other fancy dancy stuff we probably don't need but is kind of fun to have!
We still have both our other cars. Thank goodness we were planning ahead and bought an extra garage last year. We worry that if we get rid of one car, the other one will die. Plus, we are both pretty attached to our cars (we've each known our cars twice as long as we've known each other, after all) and neither of us are quite willing to part ways yet.
So, without further boring explanation, here it is - 2011 Ford Fusion, V6, Silver with Charcoal interior, 30,000 miles, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc.
Though we'd been searching and looking and studying for a while, it still feels like we kind of bought it on a whim. I had resided to stop looking and then James found this one, we saw it, I drove it, and we bought it in a matter of a few hours. It was an excellent value for a car with more bells and whistles than we were anticipating - lower than blue book and within our established budget. Though it is just a Ford, it is pretty much nicer than any car either of us has ever had. It has a Microsoft Sync system, heated seats, and other fancy dancy stuff we probably don't need but is kind of fun to have!
We still have both our other cars. Thank goodness we were planning ahead and bought an extra garage last year. We worry that if we get rid of one car, the other one will die. Plus, we are both pretty attached to our cars (we've each known our cars twice as long as we've known each other, after all) and neither of us are quite willing to part ways yet.
So, without further boring explanation, here it is - 2011 Ford Fusion, V6, Silver with Charcoal interior, 30,000 miles, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc.
Without sounding conceited, may I say that this is the first debt of our marriage besides our 2 houses (does anyone want to buy a townhouse in WVC for more than its worth?)? It is pretty scary . . . gulp . . . but I think it will be ok.
Also, without sounding conceited may I say that master-car-man-James has been harassing me about not taking the car to school (I haven't yet, by the way) because it might get scratched or dinged. Then HE was the one to pull too far into the garage and run into a chair and a box. Can I also say that he will be super mad at me for putting that on this blog? Can I also say that I hope I didn't just jinx myself about the scratches and dings?
Football
I thought that to commemorate Willie's final season of Wolverine football, I would do a weekly post and wrap-up of each game. So much for that. Even though people around us are helpful and cousin Katie gets Jack to sleep for at least 20 minutes of every game, it's tough to pay attention while being in charge of a baby and a crazy girl. Good thing for me, great minds think alike and my mom has been recapping every game on her blog. Without her permission (sorry, mom), I am going to post her words here so that they are in my blog book.
Although football is not my favorite sport, I am certainly excited for this season of Hunter "Smash" Football!
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| Hunter High School "Smash Mouth" Football |
Game #1 - Winning Team -- Hunter 25 Layton 21
Good showing for the Hunter Wolverines in their football opener in at Layton High School. Keys to the win:
- Good kids
- Good coaching
- Strong offensive line (especially the center #74)
- Strong defensive line and defensive players
- Amazing running back, Hyrum Purcell
- Excitement and enthusiasm
- Accountability -- if players miss practice they don't dress and play
- And more . . . . . .
Game #2 - Losing Team -- Hunter 27 Skyview 45
HHS football team left Hunter @ 10:00 a.m. yesterday morning for an adventure-packed day-long game day experience. I am only aware of some of the details -- Lewis Brothers Stages (no school bus); tour of USU football facilities; pre-game dinner at Angie's Diner in Logan; and, then the game vs. Skyview in Smithfield, Utah.
Well, the first part of the day obviously went better than the outcome of the game. According to Coach Wood, Hunter's amazing offense moved the ball some 700 yards and with that impressive stat had two touchdowns called back (and without the #1 running back Hyrum Purcel -- knee injury). The Hunter defense on the other hand, as good as the kids looked last week, they could NOT defend the pass and Skyview capitalized. So, at the end of the day, we have only the final score to put a damper on an otherwise good day. I must say that the officials were a little partial to Skyview; but, the kids should be able to play through the one-sided officiating. Hopefully, the game prep focus this week will be improving the pass defense.
I must admit, with my limited football knowledge and understanding, Hunter has an amazing offense. At at the center of that offense (literally) is my son #74. Hunter's offensive line is strong and powerful. If the quarterback can get the ball to the correct receiver/back, look out!
Well, the first part of the day obviously went better than the outcome of the game. According to Coach Wood, Hunter's amazing offense moved the ball some 700 yards and with that impressive stat had two touchdowns called back (and without the #1 running back Hyrum Purcel -- knee injury). The Hunter defense on the other hand, as good as the kids looked last week, they could NOT defend the pass and Skyview capitalized. So, at the end of the day, we have only the final score to put a damper on an otherwise good day. I must say that the officials were a little partial to Skyview; but, the kids should be able to play through the one-sided officiating. Hopefully, the game prep focus this week will be improving the pass defense.
I must admit, with my limited football knowledge and understanding, Hunter has an amazing offense. At at the center of that offense (literally) is my son #74. Hunter's offensive line is strong and powerful. If the quarterback can get the ball to the correct receiver/back, look out!
Side note: This game was extra fun for us because after tending the kidlets for 2 days at our house, Mary and LaRon followed us back towards their neck of the woods and went to the Skyview game with us. Jarrell and Alicia joined up later and Molly got plenty of attention!!
Game #3 - Winning Team -- Hunter 23 West Jordan 21
It was a nail biter, but the HHS football team took the lead with "an only seconds on the clock touchdown." West Jordan got the ball back, rushing to score, Trevon Johnson got an interception to seal the HHS win!
Key players this week were Hyrum Purcell and all of the other kids. Way to go Hunter!
Key players this week were Hyrum Purcell and all of the other kids. Way to go Hunter!
Side note: This game was excrutiatingly long. A West Jordan kid got hurt and delayed the game a half hour or more and then a penalty and stopping the clock after nearly ever play allowed this game to go well past 10 o'clock. Jack finally gave in and fell asleep (though he had a burst of energy after we got home). Molly was crazy and wandered all around behind the bleachers picking up the smallest pieces of gravel she could find, put them ever so carefully in a water bottle lid, then gently carried them to Parker, "here's more sprinkles." Coo-coo!!
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