Brookelyn's 7 month photos

On Saturday I took Brookelyn with me to the boutique I was doing.  Lucky I did.  Everest Photography was there.  They are based in Logan.  I paid $5 for the sitting.  He took TONS of pictures.  I was able to jump online tonight & view all the pictures he took.  I could buy whatever pictures I wanted for $6 each - that $6 releases the copyright so I can print them myself.  I ended up buying 11 of them.  They are all adorable.  I saved all the pictures to a folder on the website & may go back & buy more.  I didn't get Brookelyn's 6 month pictures done, so we did 7 month pictures instead!  She was sooo happy the entire shoot too!

With Miss Sunny June

Just look at her grin!

This hat was of of theirs:

The girls were too funny together.  Sunny kept pulling the hats off.  She was like, "Here.  Let me help you.  You've got a little somethin' on your head!"

I love the raised eyebrow:

Christmas Festival at AWHC

About a week ago I got the Val Pak coupon package in the mail.  There was a flyer announcing the American West Heritage Center's Christmas Festival.  It had a bunch of things listed that would be going on.  I thought it sounded fun so I saved the flyer thinking I might take the kids.  Come Friday I decided we'd brave the weather and go check it out.  Since I took my donation for the food pantry we each got in for $5.

In the mail building where we bought our tickets they had a chocolate tasting.  It was kind of a goofy thing calling it that.  For each wrist band you had (we had 4) you got to pick 1, yes 1, item on the table to have with some chocolate.  I picked a 1x1 piece of fudge.  Nash just wanted an Oreo without any chocolate.  Sam picked an apple slice with caramel.  Since Caleb was zonked out in the stroller we picked out 1/2 a chocolate chip cookie for him.  Yes, I could have spent another $2 and gotten another 7 items from this fantastic "chocolate tasting", but I did just feed my kids and it did cost me $20 to get in.  Now if it had been something awesome, like a chocolate fountain and strawberries, I might have given it a bit more serious consideration.

This picture was in the main building.  Caleb was passed out COLD.  He was so excited to go but he was pretty tired too.  He fell asleep on our way there and didn't wake up until just before we were ready to leave.  Brooke is bundled up pretty good -you can see some eyeballs- (and stayed under her blanket until we walked back to the Expedition).

You had to walk around the entire farm to get to the different buildings that had stuff going on.  There was a wagon ride, but we couldn't ever manage to catch it when it was loading passengers.  I was ok with that though because I didn't want to unload a sleeping Caleb & try to carry Brooke.  I also didn't want to sit and wait in the cold with Brooke while Sam & Nash went for a spin.

We ventured out to the wood working building.  You could purchase any of the things in there that were for sale.  It was kinda cool to see inside that building because we hadn't ever been inside it before.  As we were walking out Samantha realized the giant piece of wood by the door was actually a coffin.  I think it creeped her out a bit!

We stopped in the barn for a gander at the live nativity scene.  The kids could dress up like shepherds if they wanted to.  Neither one wanted to though, so we were off again.

In the livery barn they had several vendors.  We chatted with my friend Mandy (who does Make it with Mandy night through On the Avenue).  The kids got to see Santa & Mrs. Claus while we were in here.  This was a GOOD Santa.  I was impressed.

After we were done at the livery barn, we went into the Mercantile.  It was kinda cool to see what was in there as I hadn't been in that building before either.  You could buy any of the stuff they had for sale in there too.  But, much like the rest of AWHC, I felt like everything was over priced.

After we left the Mercantile, I was able to find my way to the 1917 farm.  There was suppose to be candy cane making in here.  I was excited to see that.  In fact, that was the reason I decided to go!  I thought it would be really cool to see.  Once we got inside there were gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate.  Now, when I say gingerbread cookies, I'm not talking a decent size cookie here.  I'm talking the size of a quarter....literally.  This is when Caleb finally woke up.  The little man had one cookie I helped him frost.  Then, when we went in the other room and were waiting for Nash to finish stringing his popcorn & cranberries he decided he wanted another one so Sam went with him to get one.  They came back & he ate it before he decided he wanted a third.  So, I told Sam she could take him back in to get one more.  A few seconds later the poor kid was crying.  Apparently the girl in the kitchen told him he couldn't have another one.  Now, I get why.  But seriously?  He's 3 and your cookies are the size of a quarter.  Not to mention we only saw about a dozen people in the 2 hours we were there.  It's not like they were going to run out of cookies.  So, I was annoyed.  I had to finally convince Nash that it was time to go (he was really into stringing that popcorn & cranberry string!).  Caleb finally quit crying once we were out of the farm house and headed back to the Expedition.  Poor kid.  I think he was slightly traumatized.  I don't think it helped that I made these cinnamon/apple sauce gingerbread men cutouts the other day that aren't cookies, but rather air fresheners.  I keep telling him they aren't to eat but he does anyway!   Guess I need to make some gingerbread cookies for the poor kid!

So, after about 2 hours, some freezing time outdoors, and traumatizing Caleb over quarter sized gingerbread cookies, we headed home.  I think the kids had a good time.  It was nice to get out and do something.  Since there weren't a ton of people it wasn't crazy insane like I thought it might be either.  I would have taken them today (during the day when it was warmer), but I was doing a boutique all day & knew Friday night would be our only chance!  Today was the Hyrum Holiday at Hardware.  I took the kids last year and they had a great time.  I wish we could have made it today.  Guess that will have to go on the list with go to SLC to see the lights on temple square when dad comes home!

Visit to the Principal's office

This morning took much convincing to get Samantha out of bed, dressed and even a tiny bit motivated to go to school.  She just kept telling me, "Mom.  I don't want to go to school.  Please don't make me go to school."  How sad is that?  That girl LOVES school!  I finally told her that we were going to go talk to her principal and that we'd talk about staying at school after that.  After I told her that she was a bit more cooperative.  On the way out the door she said, "Mom.  If I stay at school, please don't make me go to recess.  I don't want to go to recess."  It about broke my heart.  I told her again that we'd go talk to the principal and then discuss it.
When we got to the school we walked Nash to his class before going to the office.  When we got to the office the principal was able to take us right in.  I asked him if he had a minute because we had an issue we needed to discuss with him.
Principal: "What's going on?"
Me: "Well, the 3rd grade girls that got called in here yesterday for bullying.  One of them approached Samantha at recess and told her she got sent to the principal's office because she went home and tattled to her mom."
The principal looked at me with very big eyes and said, "Really?!"  "Not only was her name NOT mentioned, but the last thing I said to them before they left my office was that they were NOT to discuss this with anyone.  If anyone asked them why they were in the principal's office they were to say nothing or 'none of your business.'  Which student was it?"
So, I told him which one and who's class she was in.  He told me that he'd call her AND her mom into his office this morning.  He told Samantha that she did do the right thing and she had the right to be at school without feeling scared or bullied.  I told him that it had been quite a struggle to get her to school this morning because she didn't want to be there because she felt like all the kids knew who told and they all hated her now. I could tell he felt really bad about that.  He told Samantha that if anyone said anything else or if anything else happened to let him know immediately.
I felt better after we left his office.  Samantha still wanted me to walk her down to her class and tell her teacher to keep her inside for recess.  I was willing because it was an improvement to not wanting to go to school.  So, we walked down to her class.  I asked her teacher if she got my email from last night - I sent her one telling her what happened and that we'd be in the principal's office in the morning.  She said she did.  Lucky for me two of the other 3rd grade teachers were in the room, one of which happens to be the teacher of the student that approached Sam.  Sam's teacher asked which student it was so I told her.  I told the teachers what the principal had said about calling her and her mother into his office this morning.  Then I told Sam's teacher about the struggle I had getting her to come to school because she didn't want to be there or go to recess.  I asked her teacher if she'd keep her in from recess because she really didn't want to go out because that's where all of this keeps happening.  She was more than happy to let her stay inside.  All three teachers again told Sam she did the right thing and that she shouldn't feel like she can't tell someone.
So, I'm a bit anxious to see how school went today.  She's going home with her friend Samantha after school so I won't be able to talk to her until I pick her up at about 5.  Hopefully today was a much better day for my girl.

Bullying

So yesterday after school Samantha got in the Expedition and turned to me and said, "Mom.  Today at school, at recess, there were three girls picking on this boy."
Me: "What did they do?"
Sam: "They were teasing him about his dad being in jail.  They kept asking him if his dad was in jail and his dad isn't in jail.  But they wouldn't leave him alone and he felt really bad and was sad."
Me: "What did you do?"
Sam: "Well, me and Sammie (her friend) were there and they saw us and they walked over to us and said, 'What are you going to do?  Are you going to go tell on us now?'"
Me: "So, what did you do?"
Sam: "We were like 'uhhhh' because we were scared and didn't know what to do.  He was really sad all day.  Sammie & I kept bugging him until he told us what happened.  I felt bad because he was really sad.  So, I colored him a picture and was nice to him."
Me: "That was nice of you.  You didn't tell your teacher though?"
Sam: "No."
Me: "Sam, that's bullying and it's not ok.  You should have told your teacher right after it happened."

I get why she didn't tell her teacher.  She felt threatened and intimidated.  I'm glad she told me.  I told her that if she was to do anything different she should tell a teacher right away.  I told her I was going to email her teacher and let her know what happened because it wasn't ok that the girls were doing that and it needed to be taken care of.  So, last night I emailed her teacher and told her about what happened.

This morning when I dropped the kids off at school I told her to ask her teacher if she got my email.  After school when Sam got in the Expedition I asked her if she had asked her teacher if she had gotten my email.  She said she had and that her teacher had gotten it.  I asked her if her teacher said anything else.  She told me that her teacher had passed the information along to the 3rd grade teacher who's class the other girls were in.  Sam left it at that so I left it alone.

After dance, Sam got in the Expedition and turned to me again.
Sam: "Mom.  At first recess today this girl came up to me and said, 'I got sent to the principal's office today because you went home and told your mom."
Now what, as a mother, am I suppose to say?  I'm mad.  Really, really mad.
Me: "Which girl said this to you?"
Sam: "It was O*****."
Me: "But you didn't say anything to me about her yesterday and I certainly didn't say anything to your teacher about her.  Why is she saying she got sent to the principal's office because of you?"
Sam: "Because she was part of it."
Now I'm even more mad.  1-The adults at the school SHOULD NOT have told the perpetrators who it was that turned them in.  2-Even if the adults did mention who turned them in, the students SHOULD NOT have been allowed to discuss it, let alone confront the person.  We all know that as soon as you tell a kid "Don't discuss this." the first thing they're going to do is go out & discuss it!
Sam: "Now I don't want to go to school tomorrow because O***** made me feel bad.  I feel like the whole school hates me now because I told about what happened."
Me: "Sam, you did the right thing and it takes a lot of courage to do the right thing.  Doing the right thing isn't always the easy choice.  I'm proud of you.  I'm angry that that girl thinks she has the right to make you feel bad for doing the right thing.  If she was being a bully she deserved to be sent to the principal's office."
Sam: "I know, but I just feel like everybody hates me now."

So, I ask myself: "Am I being an overprotective, over bearing mother?  Or, am I doing the right thing?"  I fully intend to go into the principal's office tomorrow morning and raise some hell.  Bullying - whether it's my kid or someone else's is NEVER ok.  I'm certainly not going to stand by and let it go with the shrug of my hat.  I'm mad, rightfully so in my opinion.  I was bullied myself in high school so I know how it feels to be on that end.  I refuse to let some little 8 yr old girls think it's ok to start doing it to their classmates.

Santa & Our Most Recent ER Visit

Tonight I left the 3 big kids with my mom while I went out to finish some Christmas shopping.  I had all the shopping done, had dropped off a Christmas stocking order & unloaded gifts into this year's official hiding location & was almost back to my mom's house when my phone rang.  

Mom: "How close are you?"

Me: "Down the street."

Mom: "I need you here IMMEDIATELY.  Nash put a staple through his thumb and I can't get it out."

Great......Apparently Nash had been loading staples into the stapler & it snapped shut on him & caught his thumb in it.  Both ends of the staple had gone through his thumb.  Fortunately, the one end wasn't in very far & my mom & brother were able to get that end out.  My mom was worried that the end of the other side had been folded over when it went in because it was in so deep.  You can kinda see in the picture that there is an indent at the spot where the staple is in his thumb.  I didn't dare try to pull it out because I was afraid it would break off.  Thus, Nash & I ventured to the emergency room.  Nash did really good.  I had to talk him down all the way to the ER because he was a bit hysterical though.  I got him talking and laughing and by the time we got to the ER he was fairly calm.  The dr. was going to give him laughing gas so he could pull the staple out & then found out the gas was in the engineering dept. and not available.  So, Nash held onto my hand and looked at me while the dr. used some small hand forceps to pull the staple out.  He didn't fight the dr. on it at all.  He did let out a yelp and he cried for a minute, but, he survived!  I told him the stapler must have known he needed an adventure and that's why it bit him.  After all, we haven't had a trip to the hospital since Brookelyn was born!

And, for the random photo of this post:  While Travis was home we took the kids to the mall to see Santa.  When I visited my sister's blog tonight & saw her Santa photo I realized I hadn't posted mine yet.  Not the most fantastic photo, but with 4 kids I don't expect I'll ever get the "perfect" photo!  Caleb looks goofy because we told him to smile & he started blinking his eyes like he was having some sort of spastic seizure.  At least his eyes are open & no one is screaming!