FIFTY!!

I set a goal this year to read 40 books & decided to track it through this blog. As of yesterday, I've read 50 books! Some of them I've read multiple times, but I wasn't counting it that way. Dave got me an iPod for Christmas last year & through audio books & the closest library, I think this year has been a record setting year. Granted a lot of the books were fluffy, but I'm still proud of actually setting & attaining a goal. Normally I stink at that kind of thing. I'm already thinking about next years goals...

Birthday girl!!

We celebrated Hayleah's 3rd birthday this week. Like every parent before me says, I can hardly believe my baby is *THREE*! Where did the time go!?

We had a small family party for her on her actual birthday (the 6th), & today we had a house full of friends come over to partay with us. This is the first time everyone invited actually came! Well, almost everyone. In all, I believe there were 12 kids. Not bad at all! :)

We played games, ate heart shaped pb&j sammies, swung on swings, slid down slides, chowed on some cherry chip cupcakes, & opened some nice gifts. I know Hayleah had a really fun time & I'm so glad everyone came!

I wish I had some pics to share, but alas... still no camera. (sadness)

Until next year...

School for Jojo

Since implementing the warm fuzzies, things have been going remarkably well! Jo continues to try to test me, but I'm seeing an improvement in him. His feelings of not being able to do something are, more rapidly than I expected, being replaced with the confidence he was lacking in but was so deserving of.

We're using the program K12 right now. It's an online school but most of the work is not done online. I received several boxes of text books, reading books, & other material, in the beginning & our mornings are filled with accomplishing something worthwhile.

I went to a mom's meeting last week with some girls from an LDS home school group I belonged to, what seems like a lifetime ago. It was so good to be with old friends & bounce my thoughts off them & share in lots of laughter & fondue (a bonus, I know).

Next week we are headed up to Channel 3 news station for a "field trip" tour with other home schooled kids. Jo is very excited... he's hoping for some airtime. It's not what I expected his reaction to be, but I'm learning new things about him every day!

I'm loving where we're at & where we're going with this!

Broken things

I really did it this time. Yesterday, while at the park, I had an over-excited pooch attached to a leash in one hand & my camera in the other. Ginger (the pooch) caught sight of another pup & wanted to play so badly she made a break for it, jarring me & causing my camera to drop down on the pavement. Pieces went flying everywhere & now it won't even turn on. I'm SO bummed because we really can't afford a new one right now. :(

**POOCH!!!** (said like an expletive)

Four Whole Weeks

It's not been common knowledge, since I wasn't sure how well things would go, but for the past month we've been homeschooling again. We did it with Tyler for a handful of years (3rd-7th grades), & though I wanted to do it with Jordan when he was Kindergarten age, the Husband wasn't having it.


With all the struggles Jordan was having, I decided to give homeschooling a shot while he was on track break. It wouldn't hurt anything, I figured, & it would give me an idea if this kiddo was even teachable by his mom.


For the first several weeks, it went very smoothly for the most part. He would have a small meltdown here & there of "I can't do it's", but other than that it went surprisingly well. He enjoys the time we spend together learning about new things.



His teacher called me last week to find out where he had been all week. When I started to explain to her my decision to bring him home, she was more than pleased. She wasn't able to give him the attention he needs, even with her semi-small (for Vegas, anyway) class size, so I think understood it was what he needed before even I did. She was so supportive & I was very surprised. Most teachers I know feel superior for their years spent behind a desk & don't think I'm qualified. I didn't get that from her at all!



This week I implemented a new system that I'm hoping will help him build up his confidence. He has a small jar & some little pom pom's (aka warm fuzzies) to put in it. For every task he completes without constant need for reassurance (something I didn't realize he felt he needed so badly until we began this journey), he gets to add a warm fuzzie to his jar. When the jar is filled, he gets his choice of what kind of party he'd like to have (a pizza party, he tells me).

It's exciting to see how much this small "reward", one little pom pom, motivates him to have a positive. I already see such a big difference in him. The biggest thing is he's so much happier. He really disliked learning a few weeks ago, now he's asking for more when our "day" is done. His reading has gone from "I don't like you for forcing me to do this" to complaining if it's not his night to read out of the scriptures with our family.

He's a great kid who I enjoy being around so much. I'm so thankful we're in a position that makes this choice even possible!

Logan Shaun

It's hard to find any pictures of this funny little kid. At least a not good one. If you can get him to look directly at the camera, he manages this tight-lipped smile that doesn't look much like a smile. More like he's in a fair amount of pain. This highly sensitive boy is so full of life.....


most of the pics I grab of him are of him running to or away from me.



His naturally funny personality never fails to bring smiles to my face. While my Mom was here, he went to check on her to make sure she was getting ready to go. He told her (with his serious eyes) that she needed to get a shirt on. As an afterthought, he turned back around & held his finger up, pointing it accusingly at her, telling her "and pants, too".

Love this kid! :)

Funny kid

Yesterday, while at the ever-dreaded, eViL Walmart, Jordan & I are browsing through the aisles to kill some time. Logan & Hayleah are in preschool 3 days a week, but only for less than 2 hours each day. Since it's a minimum 30 min. round trip, I prefer to stay in the area instead of head back home. Walmart is across the street, so we've been frequenting this place of ill repute far too often.

Anyway....back to Jordan.

At the end of the hair care aisle is the back wall, packed with every brand of feminine products you could ever want, need, or consider using. While looking at some hair stuff, my attention is drawn to my normally quiet (only in public) child who is excitedly (read: loudly) telling me about this "free" stuff I need to come see.

Lo & behold, he certainly did a bang up job picking out the word "free". He's becoming such a great little reader. It was on the front of a package of pantyliners. Stayfree, to be precise. He was (loudly) insistent we needed to get this because, well, it's free. He went on & on trying to convince me (loudly) about how great free stuff is. He can't really hear me (over his own bad self) & apparently I'm not making much sense while trying to use my quiet voice & contain my giggles at the same time.

We definitely got some looks from those around us, but I didn't mind too much. It takes more than someone still in their pj's & slippers, or someone sporting a fabulous mullet to make me feel embarassed at Walmart. :)

I love that kid. It's rare a day will go by without him giving me a good laugh. :)

Books

I set a goal this year to read at least 40 books. I just hit 30 (if I'm not counting how many times I've read the Twilight series; which I'm not because I'm slightly embarrassed about that number). This leaves me less than two months to meet that goal. Normally I stink at goal setting & achieving. I'm a procrastinator, which rarely helps with much of anything.

I need some book suggestions, though. My list of books to read is growing smaller. I'm devouring them in days. How do I do this, you ask? (Inquiring minds are sure to want to know) I'm able to do all the regular things a stay-at-home mom does, & still be able to find countless hours to escape through these books. Super Woman, I am not. More like Cheater Woman. :) An iPod & a library card is all a girl needs. Well, that & no late fines or books you can't find. :oP

Surprises

The husband: "guess what new thing I did today"
Me: "what's that?" (thinking: new is good)
The husband: "brushed my teeth with Desitin"

Note to self: new is not necessarily good & attention to details, even when just brushing ones teeth, can be important.

Couples Retreat

No, not the movie (though we did see that & I personally wouldn't recommend it...not very & often crude).


Dave & I had our first date away from home since before Jordan was born. My Mom has been in town for the past week & a half, so Dave & I made reservations up in St. George for an overnighter.

No matter where we go, & no matter how many lists I make to check off, something is forgotten. This time it was my Temple Recommend. I grabbed the husband's, but forgot to check to make sure mine was where I thought it was. Totally bummed out, we went up to the Temple grounds anyway & went to check out the visitors center. A Sister missionary working there asked if we had been inside the Temple yet. When we explained that we hadn't & that today was to be our first time, she advised us to call our Bishop or Stake President. According to her, this was a special circumstance & told us of her husband's experiences as a former Stake President with this.

I didn't expect anything to come of it, nor did I really consider it a special circumstance (I just don't have those in my life), but we called Bishop anyway. I was SO glad this Sister advised us to do so. We were able to attend the Temple that night, seal Dave's grandparents, & do some other work for some family members! It was an incredible night & we had so much fun! We left feeling refreshed & filled.











We wound up staying up until 2 in the morning, eating our Wendy's frosty's, watching movies & laughing. It's something we never do anymore & I can honestly say we really enjoyed this time together!




The next morning, we headed out to Zion National Park. We'd never been there & had heard so many great things about it, so we had to go check it out. The mountain views on the way were unlike any I've never seen before.



We stopped at an organic apple orchard & market on the way out there. The Fuji apples were ripe & ready to be picked. We loaded up a bag-full of the beauties to bring home to share.

Overall it was a really nice little trip. The kids did good for my Mom & I doubt they missed us for even one minute. When we got home, Logan was a little upset with me because I wouldn't take him to the Temple with me that day. He said he wanted us to go on our "date" to the Temple....just the two of us. Someday. :)

Stake Roadshow

This past week, all of our wards youth & their leaders' hard work came to fruition. They put on a production of Grease entitled It's Hip to be Square. Though I might be slightly biased, I have to say they totally rocked!! Tyler played 'Danny' & sang his parts nearly to perfection.

They all gathered together, the excitement nearly tangible, in a few of the rooms before their performance time.
The only pics I got were taken after the performance. I video taped it but can't find my fire wire to download it to share (yet).

Karen Crowder, the woman-in-charge, was telling them what a great job they all did. I was so proud, my cheeks hurt by the end of it all, from all the smiling I did that night! The man in Blue beside Karen is our Bishop. That smile you see on his face is nearly permanent. I was just telling Dave how I like to watch him when he doesn't know it (sounds kinda creepy, but it's really not). He seems to always have this smile on his face that looks to be a mixture amusement from a funny inside joke & a radiant joy that can't contain itself inside him. His mood/attitude is infectious & just watching him makes me smile. Love that man! :)

My Mom was able to fly in to see the Roadshow. She, too, was impressed with Ty's mad singing skills! :)

Bart Yeates, telling Ty what a great job he did.


Braden, Justin, & Brandon. Justin did an AMAZING job!! His energy level made me want to get up & dance, too! Scary thought. LOL


Ty & I....I was beaming with pride! :)


Looking handsome & relaxed.


Ty, with one of his greaser buddies, Brandon.

After it was all said & done, my Mom & I took Ty out for a celebratory dinner at Outback. Ty watched the performance while we waited for our food, then made googly eyes at the hostess & his burger (not at the same time, fortunately).

In all it was a lot of fun & I'm so glad Ty was able to be a part of it. A HUGE THANKS to everyone who did anything to help out in this production. It took a lot of patience & diligence to get to this weekend & I'm so thankful for the dedicated, really great people in our ward.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!!

I bought new house phones last week since the ones we have had since 2001 were no longer reliable. I was excited about this set because it came with not two but THREE handsets! Within a day or so, we realize the same problem we began having with the old set of phones has sparked up in our new phones. Grrr!

They're both the same brand so I'm wondering if they speak Panasonic or something & the old phones shared their "how to drive Shannon insane" tips with the new phones.

I went to take them back, after meticulously writing down every phone number I took the time to input into the new phones, & one of the three headsets is MIA. I'm convinced it's hiding. It has to be. I can't take its brothers (you know they have to be male!) back until I find him.

I need it to magically appear tonight. I'm tired of useless home phones & Panasonic (& their non-existent customer service) will never cross my door step again!

Preschool

Days 1 & 2 have been a SMASHING success!! I don't expect the trend to continue (not pessimistic, just realistic), but for now I'm enjoying it.

I'm feeling like a really bad mom, though. I keep forgetting to take Logan & Hayleah's pictures, & pics of their new classroom, to post but I'll try harder tomorrow.

We switched Jo back to his old class due to some GROSS misrepresentations & outright omitting of the facts on behalf of the school.

Slightly off topic, but my Mom used to tell me even if you don't outright lie, it's still a lie if you leave out the truth! Someone must have missed class the day they taught that one!!

Anyway, Jo's happy as a clam & had a great day hanging out with me & later going to the park for our Wards playgroup. It was a fun day for me too. And the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS!!

LOVE the fall!! :)

Change (the non-fun kind)

There are a few members of our family who avoid, whenever possible, & shun, whenever impossible, this fact of life. Jordan, my strongest-headed boy, is by far the best at the latter part.

We moved back in March & things haven't been the same for him since. He seems to have trouble letting go & has abandonment issues leaving over the old house. He went from doing well in school to not wanting to go to school anymore. Church was the same thing...he didn't want to leave my sight. There were a lot of tears & often trouble that would follow if he didn't get to stay with me. This went on for months after the move.

We were able to keep him at the same school for the rest of First grade but had to move to the new school to begin Second. I was really worried we'd have more of the same attachment issues, just after things were starting to look up, but he did very well from the first day. There was only a 2 week break from First grade to Second.

Since starting Second grade, he's had problems with his school work. One day he just decided he didn't want to be at school anymore & tried to leave campus (thank goodness they caught him!). The Vice-Principal called & they were suspending him for the day. Suspension!? I went in & talked with him & the school counselor & let them know if they sent him home, they would only be giving him exactly what he wanted. I put it in their hands, but explained there would likely be many more instances to follow if they chose to deal with it by sending him home. Thankfully they saw it my way & kept him in "in-house" for the day.

Things have been okay since then.

I think we figured out the problem though. With his abandonment issues still fresh with him, it should have been clear from the beginning. There has been problems with the air conditioning unit for his classroom. His teacher, Ms. Bussey, & class have had to move FOUR TIMES, in the past four weeks, to other classrooms. It's like abandoning his space over & over again.

Poor kid!

He was supposed to be on track break (we are "lucky" enough to be in a year-round school) for the rest of this month & when he goes back it would be more of the same...move to someone else's classroom who's on break, use someone else's desk (only the top, though...the child whose name is on it has all of his belongings inside it), look at the walls that are filled with things that don't apply to what they're learning this year, etc.

I got a letter on Thursday letting me know they were taking volunteers to move to a new class (overcrowding BIG TIME) & it would be on the track we wanted most. After thinking about it all night & talking to Jo about it, I signed it, saying we'd like to move to the new teachers classroom. I received a letter back that said we will be moved & he will now be on track 5, but when I told him about it took me a while to talk him down. He was fine with it in theory, but freaked out in reality.

I figure he was going to be shuffled around next month, when he comes back from break, for who knows how many more times, so why not once more for the year & that will (almost) guarantee no more moves. He's excited about it now...we'll see how he feels about it on Tuesday. I'm excited for him. I really hope this helps him get through these struggles he's going through.

Next year I think we'll be re-zoned for the new school they just started building. I'll deal with it then, but three schools in four years has to be hard for ANY child! :(

Thanksgiving, through the eyes of a dieter

I CANNOT WAIT for the big day!! I'm SO going to make all the things we love this year. The husband prefers we order a big meal from Albertsons, like we've done in years past, but not this year!

I'm on day 7 of this diet & I'm still struggling a bit. I hear it gets better & I believe it will, but it's hard for me to get into the spirit of my favorite season when it doesn't include things like pumpkin bread, & pumpkin pie, & popcorn balls, & other yummy things like these.

Okay, enough food talk. I'm driving myself crazy thinking about it & it's that much worse talking about it.

I'm down 7 pounds as of this morning. YAY!! It makes all the moments of struggle worth it. Dave is on day 11 & is struggling quite a bit. He fell off the wagon & ate large amounts of delicious crap Monday night while at a work party. I feel badly for him but at the same time I'm really grateful he did that. Now I see what it would do to me if I gave in & devoured that bag of Chex Mix or an icecream sandwich or three. It helps keep me in check. Plus, if I do fall off the wagon like he did, at least he did it first. :) Cause if it had been me, I would've NEVER heard the end of it. LOL

I'm finding, by the end of the day, I'm struggling just to eat as much as I'm supposed to. I'm either not interested in food or not hungry. I think it might be slowing down the process, but I'll take every pound loss I can get!

My favorite time of year!

I love waking up in the morning to the coolness of fall. I started feeling those cooler temperatures late last week, while taking Ty to seminary. This morning it was in the 60's!!


I miss seeing the vibrant colors of fall around me. I'll take the nice weather in exchange, for now. The picture reminds me of this time of year in Missouri. It's so gorgeous there, with rolling hills of trees in every shade you could imagine. It was 10 years ago this week I went to St. Louis with my sweet (now ex) sister-in-law, Liz, to go through the Temple for the first time. What an amazing experience!!

I just love fall. It takes me back to exciting days past.

Keep it in the can, man

Though my house looked like a whirlwind swept through , I still felt like we had a very productive day yesterday. Any day when the days & weeks of spiritual preparation show that it has sunk in is a productive day in my book.

Most days we have a lot going on in our house. Some days it's harder than others to remember we should try our best to keep our anger & frustration with each other in check. So last night we had an FHE lesson on anger. I got my idea from here.

While we didn't go so far as to string pots & pans & cans up on the back wall (you're welcome, neighbors), we did splurge & purchase some "Easy Cheese" & Wheat Thins. The banging of pots & pans when angry would've sent me off my rocker, so we chose to avoid that.

From that lesson spawned a new catch phrase in our home. Just like "cheese" in a can, once you let your angry words out you can't put it back in. So now we all say "Keep it in the can, man".

Too bad we couldn't come up with something that rhymed with "dude". That would've been cooler. :)

Another Birthday Boy!!

Yesterday we celebrated 4 years of life with our youngest son, Logan. He was the first of our babies to be born here in Las Vegas. He was our biggest baby by nearly a full pound & he proudly carried that extra pound in his cheeks, as you can see from this picture. He was about 2 weeks old here.



Though he wasn't the prettiest baby, I was always extra proud of those rolls. I love a chubby, healthy looking baby. Yummy, as my midwife would always say. :)

Dave got to name him & chose Logan Shaun. It was better than LaShaun, like he swore would be his name from the moment I agreed he could name him. After he was born, we agreed we should have waited to name him until we got to know him. One of the names Dave was thinking about was Michael. I balked at this because then he'd get his way & have a Michael & a Jordan, something I wasn't going to have. As it turns out, he is very much a mischievous Mikey & we should have given him the name Michael after all.

When he was born, something rare took place that we still remember to this day. My most wonderful midwife & friend, Kaye Bullock, was there to help me through my labor & to catch him as he came in to the world. It was just Kaye, her apprentice Sandy, & Dave there that night with me. My dear friend Onala came by that afternoon & took Tyler & Jordan off our hands.

Logan was born in the caul, or behind a veil. Because of the drastic number of babies who are born by induction, it has become an even rarer event. My water never broke until after he was born, making him a true Caulbearer. I had heard the term before but never knew what it meant or the stories behind it. There are many legends out there & some of them too far fetched even for me, but the consensus is that those born in the caul are very spiritual people & they are very intuitive by nature.

Since Logan is only 4 years old, it's hard to tell if any of those things are true, but the history of it all & the well-known Caulbearers of the world are neat to learn about.

Logan is an amazing little athlete. He has a mean golf swing & loves to pretend he's Tiger Woods. His favorite shirt is a red Polo because of his love for Tiger. He is very protective of his little sister. They are only 14 months apart & are very close. If any other little boys come too close to her or try to play with her, he will quickly block their way (often not being very nice about it) & tell them to leave his sister alone (in his most intimidating face & growly voice).

Logan is totally a Daddy's boy. He looks like Dave far more than any of the other kids. He loves to follow Dave around & nearly every morning will argue with Dave about whether or not he has to go to work. He is very strong-headed & he doesn't have a filter for the things that come out of his mouth yet. There's never any question as to where he stands; he's always quick to let others know what he thinks.

The smile in this picture is typical of him. He hasn't figured out a real-looking fake smile yet & pretty much all his pictures come out looking this way. LOL



One of his gifts was a Woody doll. He LOVES Toy Story (more particularly Buzz) & now has a new buddy he won't let out of his sight.



We love this little guy & are SO glad he came to be part of our family!!

First Soccer Game!

Ty & the Desert Oasis High School JV team had their first game last night against Sierra Vista. It was an away game & the timing didn't work out for us to make it. Ty had hurt his ankle (doing who knows what; probably goofing off) earlier this week so he didn't play.

They lost.

The fun part about the night is I spent a good hour looking for him afterwards. I told him to ride the bus back to his school after the game & I'd pick him up there.

After 30 min. or so of driving around & parking, then driving around some more, I stopped & asked another JV player if they had seen him. The boy had seen him but was sure Ty wasn't on the bus coming home.

I moved on & decided to track down the coach to get some answers. The coach said he'd signed out (I now realize "signed out" actually means he didn't ride the bus home) & then double checked in his roster to be sure before telling me he was sure he saw Ty return trip. He didn't look as sure as he sounded so I ran home to get my cell & make some phone calls.

I guess the bus left him at Sierra Vista. They dropped the boys off in on place, then picked them up in another, so he wound up missing the bus.

Shortly after leaving to grab him from the other school, his coach calls & I can tell he's a little panicked. He said they did a head count before leaving the school after the game & the numbers turned out correct. He clearly isn't a math teacher, aside from being the soccer coach.

Coach wanted me to call him as soon as I got Ty. I understand accidents happen but I was a little irritated at being told something when he wasn't sure of the truth of his words. These kids are their responsibility when in their care. It was careless to leave someone behind. Hopefully it'll be a good learning experience for everyone.

I will now be at all of his games, even when there's something conflicting. Ty will stick with the group & not go off on his own. And hopefully the coach will either learn how to count & then re-count until he gets the same number at least two times, or call names off a roster instead of his normal guessing game. :P

Birthday Party FUN!

Last weekend we celebrated both Jordan & Tyler's birthdays. Vickie came in town from Reno for their birthdays, as she has every year since we moved to Vegas.

Tyler invited a large group of boys since we decided to have a party "in" this year. He wanted to take a bunch of friends to Gameworks but after finding out how much something like that would cost, we decided against that idea. We set up the casita with a few small tv's, some game systems, & a lot of cold refreshments. The boys arrived shortly after we got home from Soccer practice.

I didn't realize how many people were actually there until I went out back & did a head count so I could order what I thought would be an appropriate amount of pizza for these STARVING, growing young men. Ten boys & seven pizzas later, there were still a few left hungry but we were headed off to the movies to see G.I. Joe.

All the boys seemed to enjoy the movie & afterwards (instead of letting them roam around Town Square like they wanted to...it's a NUT HOUSE there on a Friday night!! I never knew!) Dave & I came in both cars to pick them up & drop them each off at home. It was fun seeing a few boys from our old ward we hadn't seen in a long time.

These are the only pictures I got of the bunch. It was impossible to get them all together in one shot.

Here are a few pics of Ty on his actual birthday.

We gave him his gifts from the family that day. We love to mess with our kids & give them a hard time whenever possible, so that small cylinder-shaped present in the front is actually just a wrapped can of soda. There were a few other gag gifts, too.

Jordan's birthday party was on Saturday. He had six friends come to celebrate with him & celebrate they did!

As soon as they got here they all got a "lab coat" (essential for budding mad scientists!). They made some goggles, picture frames, & each got a name tag.

We made slime, which was either the coolest thing ever or the grossest thing ever, depending on who you asked.

We had an atom bust contest. Each of the kids would get a balloon tied to their ankle & they would try to protect it from everyone else. They had so much fun chasing one another around, trying to pop everyone elses "atoms"! It was the loudest but funnest part of the whole party, if you ask me!

Our eyeball cake turned out to be a hit. Jordan wanted red velvet cake to have more of a "real eyeball" effect.

We had some pinata issues (I think I filled it too full) & instead of breaking it open with a stick the kids had candy & toys rain down on them (somewhat painfully, I imagine....hey, I told them to stand back! LOL). After gathering up all the candy, they had fun practicing their newly acquired kazoo skills with one another.

We had plans to make an exploding volcano but the time simply went too quickly. Overall it was an extremely fun but exhausting weekend! The kids were so fun to have over & it was great seeing everyone enjoy themselves so much!