Black Island Farm & Pumpkin Patch

Today I took the kids (& and my sister's kids & my sister) on a small adventure.  I was reading the news on KSL.com the other day and came across an article about the "Pick your own pumpkin farms" in UT.  I found three that were relatively close.  I found directions and whatever info I could on them and then convinced my sister she should go with me if I was feeling like I was able to rejoin the land of the living.  Fortunately for me (and the kids) I wasn't feeling as awful today as I have since Monday.  Bonus!  We headed out a little after 1 and made our way to Syracuse.  I knew the area we were headed to because my sister in law use to live just west of where we were going.  I wasn't sure what it was going to cost us to get in because they didn't have it listed on their website.  It was pricier than I would have liked, but we didn't want to go two more exits to Layton or down to Farmington, so we bit the bullet.  We did the courtyard first.  The courtyard consisted of some small farm animals, several different slides, some tires to play on (even one that was made to be like a bull that Caleb loved), a kid corn maze, a sandbox filled with corn kernels, a train ride pulled by a tractor, and a bounce house that looked like a giant cow!  We could have also done the rock wall and shoot corn on the cob, but it cost extra money.  For what we paid to get in, I think it should have been included but, oh well.  The kids were super well behaved (only one moment of B missing for just a short second or two) and they loved getting to spend time with their Bradshaw cousins.

After we finished up the courtyard the Bradshaws headed out.  They already had pumpkins at home.  We loaded onto a trailer pulled by a tractor and were hauled out to the pumpkin fields.  The kids were super excited to get to scour a field (of 10,000+ pumpkins) to find just the right pumpkin.  I was impressed with the fact that they listened so well and they stayed within eyesight and followed directions to the letter!

Nash hopped out of the trailer and found his perfect pumpkin almost immediately.  He asked if he could get one that weighed as much as he does.  I told him if he could carry that was fine!  I'm not carrying five pumpkins that each weigh as much as a kid!

B found her pumpkin pretty quick.  She tried to pick it up but couldn't quite get it off the ground herself! :)

Caleb looked a bit longer than B did and was quite proud of the fact that he found one he liked that we didn't have to cut off the vine.  "I just kicked the vine with my boot and it came right off Mom!"

Sam found her pumpkin after Caleb did but was too quick for me to get a picture of her with it!

Once everyone found their pumpkins and we were loaded back onto the trailer we headed back to the main farm area.  I told the kids my plan of action to get everyone and their pumpkins off the tractor without too much incident.  They followed directions to the letter again - amazing!  Twice in one day!  After we got all our pumpkins and kids off the tractor Sam & Nash headed off to find us a wagon to carry them all back to the car in!

I was SO glad when Sam came back pulling a wagon!  I had NO idea how the heck I was getting five pumpkins and four kids over to the Tahoe without a wagon!

Sam & Nash even pulled and pushed the wagon with all five pumpkins and the two little kids in it without me asking them to do it!  Sam lasted until we were only about 6 cars away and then I pulled the kids the rest of the way.

We had lots of fun today.  Brookelyn has been sick for two weeks and I know she feels just awful.  I was hoping today would put a smile on her face and help her feel better.  I think it did but it wore her out.  She feel asleep shortly after I put her in the Tahoe and didn't wake up until we came out of Sardine Canyon!  Our plan is to carve pumpkins in another week when our dad is home and it's a bit closer to Halloween.  Hope the pumpkins don't get pushed off the porch during preschool pick up before then!  I did stack them going down the stairs rather than across the front of the porch in hopes of avoiding a fatal fall!  We shall see...a lot can happen in a week when you have 20 3 & 4 year olds!

The fire station

This week I took the preschoolers to the fire station since we have been talking about fire safety.  Lucky for me Travis is home so I drug him along to help supervise kids!  Which also meant that B and C got to tag along too.  Caleb usually comes to the four year old preschool class so I would have taken him anyway.  Fireman Mike was awesome with the kids.  The kids had a great time and were so super patient.  They took turns, asked questions, and volunteered all kinds of answers.  Here's to hoping the three year old class behaves half as well as the four year old class did!

Is September really over?

I can't believe September is really already over!  I guess having two "part time" teaching jobs in addition to being a mostly single mom to four kids keeps me busier than I thought :)  Speaking of which, Nash asked if I'd sign him up for basketball again this year.  He didn't play last year because I missed the sign up deadline.  So I guess come about the first of November we'll be doing dance 2x a week, piano 1x a week, and basketball at least 1x a week.  What is wrong with me?  Why can't I say no to things?!  Mostly because I know it will bring a smile to my kiddo's face, that's why.

Speaking of the kiddos.....

Dance is in full swing.  We've done the USU homecoming parade already and we have a date lined up for a performance at one of the corn mazes in town on one of the Saturday's at the end of October.  Sam is rather liking fifth grade.  Although she's already on her second or third partner project of the year.  She's mad about this one because she didn't get to choose her partner and apparently her partner is a turd that won't do what he's suppose to.  I told her the only advice I could give her was to do what she was assigned and not do the other kid's work.  When it came time to turn it in her teacher would see who did their work and who didn't.  She recently finished a book in reading groups called The Penderwicks.  She says she quite liked it.  I found out there are two more so we'll see if we can find those too.  With Read Across America this year she's got to read 51 books.  This should be interesting!  And no, she can't just read whatever she wants, she has specific kinds of books she has to read.

I've decided I'm going to dress B up as Minnie Mouse (her all time favorite these days) for Halloween.  Can I find a Minnie costume in her size?  Nope.  So, what am I doing instead?  Yea, making it.  Again, what is wrong with me?!  My mom found the perfect fabric to match the Minnie ears Sam got when we were in DisneyLand.  Guess it was meant to be huh?  B has recently decided she needs to be attached to mom 24/7.  Not sure where the separation anxiety is coming from.  She freaks out even when I'm downstairs doing preschool and she's upstairs with Travis.  Not sure if it's because she's getting two of her two year old molars or if she's really having separation anxiety.

Caleb is liking Kindergarten more and more each day.  He finally isn't mad that Miss Shannon (his preschool teacher) isn't his Kindergarten teacher.  In fact, he quite likes Mrs. Kendrick now.  However, much to my disappointment, he's already been in trouble at school TWICE.  The first time was about 2 or 3 weeks ago.  Apparently he was calling a little girl at his table names.  The student teacher over heard him and let Mrs. Kendrick know, because obviously he wasn't doing it in front of her.  That got him moved to a different table - where supposedly he's doing great.  Then, last Friday they had all their community helpers come in and visit with the kids.  All the Kindergartners went from 9-11:30 on this particular day.  I guess they divided all the kids into small groups and had them rotate from one community helper to another.  Apparently volunteer moms were in charge of the different small groups of kids.  From what I understand, Caleb was laying all over the floor, wouldn't sit up, wouldn't follow the directions and "was just mean."  To top it off, he actually took a few swings at a mom when she tried to make him sit up.  Sigh.  Why am I not surprised?

Nash keeps telling me he's bored out of his mind at school.  My problem in deciding what to do is this: I know the kid is smart - he's reading on nearly a 6th grade level (he's in third grade this year) & numbers are super easy for him.  However, I just know he's ADHD so he really struggles to focus in class.  He gets in trouble for not paying attention, his work is sloppy and unfinished, etc.  My debate is whether I contact his pediatrician and set up an appointment to discuss a possible ADHD diagnosis and then try meds or do I keep trying different behavior modification techniques?  My worry is that if I wait too much longer to intervene with meds that it will soon be too late.  I don't want him to hate school but I realize it's quickly heading that direction.  I feel like if I don't do something fairly drastic from what I have been doing that we're setting ourselves up for complete and utter failure.  I see so much of my brother and my brother in law in Nash and both of them are only just barely figuring things out in life and getting their heads on straight (31 & 23 years old).  I hate to see Nash take the same path either of these guys have had to take.  I'm thinking I'll likely call the pediatrician.  What am I out?

Preschool has kept me so busy.  Not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to teach preschool five days a week AND still teach the gifted program?  It isn't that I don't enjoy them both, I do.  It's just a lot of work to do both even though I've been teaching the gifted program for the past two years.  I'm debating whether I'll go back to the gifted program again next year or not.  I hate to leave because I really do enjoy the job, but I just don't know that it's worth some of the sacrifices I'm making to keep doing it.  I started out only being at the elementary school two days a week (four hours).  I'm now up to three days a week and not quite 6 hours.  Guess we'll see how it goes and decide if I'm coming back again when it gets closer!  We had our first field trip at preschool today (fire station).  It went much better than I had hoped for!  I'm crossing my fingers that the three year old class does half as well as the four year olds did today!

Here's to hoping that time slows down....just a little and just for a little while!

Nash earns his Bobcat

Last night was pack meeting.  Since my phone fell in the toilet earlier this week I hadn't received any msgs about what time pack meeting was.  Therefore I assumed it was still going to be held at the normal 7 pm.  We got there just after 7 and they were doing awards.  Apparently they started at 6 so they could shoot the rockets they had the boys build.  I felt so bad when I realized that!  On the bright side, Nash finally got his bobcat badge.  He also got his archery and BB belt loop from day camp.  He was pretty excited.  Proud of my boy!

Nash's new injury

So this past Saturday we went and had family pictures taken with Travis's family.  We went to a place called Denzil Nature Park down on the island.  We were in the nature park for the majority of our pictures but there was an old building across the street we wanted to get a few in front of as well.  Next to this building was a giant dirt and rock pile.  Of course all the kids wanted to play on it.  We told them when we were done with our pictures they could climb on it.  So, once our pictures were done off they went.
When we got in the truck to leave Nash started complaining about his foot hurting.  I was mean and told him to suck it up he was fine.  I figured he was just getting tired and that it was from that.  When we got to Travis's parents' house he went off and played with his cousins so I figured he was fine.  We left the park around five and by eight Nash was sitting down with his shoe off and not moving his foot.  The poor kid was nearly in tears.  I couldn't see it swollen anywhere and it didn't look bruised.  I couldn't quite figure out what it was that had happened to it.  I wasn't sure if he was trying to tell me a rock fell on it or he jumped on a rock or what.  He said he couldn't feel his toes and that it was killing him.  We left my in laws house around ten or so and headed home.  When we got home we propped his foot up and put an ice pack on it and left him sleeping on the couch.  I was starting to worry maybe he had broken his foot.  The thing that kept me doubting was that he'd been walking on it earlier and that it wasn't swollen anywhere.
I woke up Sunday and asked Nash if he could put weight on his foot.  He tried and sat back down immediately.  So, we went off to Instacare to have it checked out.  Since it was just after eight there wasn't too long of a wait (amazing!).  We told them what had happened and they sent him off for x rays.  The x ray tech didn't come in until noon so we only had the dr. to read the x rays.  She said that everything looked okay bone wise - nothing broken.  She could see some swelling in the tissue though.  She said she thought it looked like it was just going to be a soft tissue bruise but if the x ray tech saw something different she would call us and let us know.  She told Nash to keep his foot up and iced for the day and that would help it feel better.
Of course he only lasted about an hour sitting on the couch!  He was up walking around all day (limping of course).  When I noticed he was walking on the side of his foot I told him he hadn't ought to walk that way or his foot will be bruised there too!  When I showed him how to walk on just his heel he about doubled over because he said that walking that way made him bend his toes and it's the base of his third and fourth toe that are killing.  About dinner time I noticed I could see the top of his foot swelling and starting to bruise.  We iced it again last night.  This morning he told me it hurt too bad that he couldn't go to school.  I was exasperated and said fine you're on your bed with your foot up and iced the entire time I'm teaching preschool.  Well, needless to say, the kid was in the hallway and sitting up playing legos in his room.  When I came in and chewed him out for the second time I think that's when he escaped.  After preschool was over I went to find him to tell him to get shoes on I was taking him to school.  He wasn't in his room.  No, he had gone out the bedroom window, up the window well (they are six feet deep) and climbed the giant maple in the b