It's what we do

I keep telling myself that I need to post an update with pix. I got a new camera on black Friday (which I absolutely love). But, I haven't had the time to mess with unloading it all onto my computer yet!
What we've been up to:
-Trav has been home (yay!)
-Trav had a 24 hr flu bug while he was home.
-We went to Manti & cut down 5 Christmas trees.
-As we decorated the Christmas tree Caleb undecorated the Christmas tree (so helpful!).
-Nash got the 24 hr flu bug from his dad while we were in Manti.
-I finished a quilt I've been working on for 3 years! (Got to finish binding it on the ride there).
-Got my Christmas cards printed (now to mail them!)
-Have made HUGE strides towards my students' portfolios at school.
-Only have 2 more classes left for this session of my ESL endorsement.
-Learned how to make the beaded watch bands over Thanksgivng (thanks sis).
-Had lots of yummy food over Thanksgiving & a quick visit from our dad.
-Had Picasso visit my walls (I mean house) again (pix to come!).
-Caleb got his 8th tooth.
-Looking forward to Sam's dance recital Dec. 16th @ 6:50 @ LaShars (open invite to any interested parties - it's free & short in length!).
-Keep having people just barely notice I have pink in my hair (put it there the Monday before Halloween!).
-I have managed to stay out of trouble at school (well, mostly).
-Trav had to replace his windshield due to a massive crack. Now my winshield has a 16 inch crack in it. Guess my car felt left out!
-Bought Caleb a new carseat.
-Sam's tooth that she lost MONTHS ago (like June) is finally growing back in!
-Got around 3 inches of snow last night & today (so glad I don't have to go outside for recess!).

Nothing majorly exciting, but, that's what we do!

Slinkies

"Some people are like slinkies. They're only good for putting a smile on your face when you push them down the stairs."

Today, I was the slinky!

In honor...

Since Thanksgiving is on the 26th this year, here are 26 things I'm thankful for:

1-Insta Care, great pediatricians & amazing ENTs
2-Decent paying jobs
3-Cars that get nearly 40 mpg
4-Fantastic babysitters ;)
5-3 day weekends
6-My mom & her willingness to babysit on short notice & ability to supervise my sewing adventures!
7-My chiropractor
8-Ibuprofen 800
9-My kids' smiles
10-Tylenol & teething tablets
11-Cell phones & their texting ability
12-My family
13-All modern technology (including indoor plumbing!)
14-My kids' willingness to forgive me when I'm grouchy
15-My house
16-My husband who sacrifices much
17-Long hot baths
18-Warm summer nights
19-Fresh snow
20-Friends
21-The new tires on my car
22-My next door neighbors that regularly entertains Nash & Samantha
23-Dexamethazone & nebulizers
24-My dad's willingness to change the oil in my care & rotate my tires on the weekend!
25-Dead bugs - they provide much (cheap) entertainment for Nash!
26-They way I was raised - boy it could have been worse! ;)

I tag anyone that wants to play!

We love winter...

Took Caleb to Insta Care tonight. Ear infection of the right ear & the beginning signs of pnumonia (sp?)! Yay!! Thank goodness I only work 2 days this week!!

No more baby!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Halloween was fun. We carved pumpkins before Trav left last time. The kids modeled their costumes for him before he left too. I took the kids to trick or treat in downtown Logan during the day. Caleb was really good. He just sat in the stroller and was quite mellow. Of course, he didn't feel too great. That night I left Caleb with my mom & took the other 2 to my aunt Nikki's house to trick or treat with her kids. The kids had a lot of fun. Nash's legs pooped out after about a block. He got to the point that he wouldn't even get out of the wagon at each house! Stinker. We still had fun though.

My baby is no longer a baby! Travis said this morning he was out watching TV when all of a sudden here comes Caleb. Little stink climbed out of his crib! So, tonight we took his crib down to a toddler bed. I think he was tired enough when I put him to bed that is the reason why he has stayed! Tomorrow may be a different story!!

Trav came home on Tuesday (yay). It was perfect timing because Nash got really sick Wednesday night. Trav's scheduled to go read to Sam's class Tue. morning. Sam's pretty stoked about that. He didn't shave the entire 2 weeks he was gone and he really needed a haircut before he left last time. So, he came home looking like a homeless mountain man. We'll have to get him cleaned up before he goes this time. During the last 2 weeks when he was at work, he managed to work a mere 183 hours. We are bummed he won't be home for Thanksgiving, but would much rather have him home for Christmas (which he will be) so we won't complain too much.

Nash is still loving preschool. He's getting really good at writing his name and numbers. It's funny to watch him because he's noticing letters in everything now and likes to point out "Hey, that's in my name. Look Sam!" It's really cute. The other thing he's doing lately is when we're watching TV or looking at magazines he'll tell me "Mom! I want that SOOO bad!" It's pretty funny to hear him because he totally makes it sound like he is the only kid on the planet that doesn't already have one and he absolutely needs to have it NOW.

Sam's dance recital is coming up on Dec. 16th at LaShars. I got to watch her dance for 15 min. about 2 weeks ago. Their dances are coming along pretty good. I'm sure glad she likes it. The girl has got rhythm!

Update on Sam: Met with her teacher, their school reading specialist and the principal today. Apparently the lady that is their reading specialist works with the teachers at the school where she went last year, so she was familiar with Sam and her data. She said that they place the kids at the beginning of the school year in the same level that they tested at at the end of the previous year, so she was placed in a group that was the level she was at at the end of Kindergarten. They went ahead and tested her. Come to find out, she tested out of the group she had been placed in (surprise). Apparently they do 2 different reading groups every day for 30 minutes. Beginning Monday Samantha will be in a higher level reading group for both reading groups. Yay. I find it very interesting that the reading specialist told us that because there was concern about Sam that after they looked at her data, they went back and looked at the data of other kids. As a result, they were able to move 22 additional students up in their reading level groups. I wanted to know why the data wasn't re-examined earlier but didn't ask because I didn't want to come across as a beast. Her teacher told me that she is scoring at the top of the class in language arts, but not out of what their doing (I say give her time ;) ). She is scoring in about the middle for math so since they do math centers during the day, her teacher feels like she's getting the differentiation that she needs. I'm still going to do more with her at home in that area. She'll be finished reading the phonics readers by Monday and will get to start reading AR books and taking tests. That should be interesting.