Train Park

We went to the train park with Lindsay, Hannah, Grammy Karen, and Grandma and Grandpa Anderson last week.

Hannah loved the train and would squeal with delight everytime the train tooted it's horn.

"This looks like a fun ride."

"What have you done Grandma! I hate this ride . . . get me off!"

"I don't know what Hannah's problem is, this is the BEST!"

"I'm so adorable!" . . . and that's a real quote . . . Elliot and I were saying how proud we were of Stella for being able to swing herself, and she just busted out with the "I'm so adorable!"

"I hate this ride too . . . save me Grandpa!"

"This is a little better. Where's my cell?"

After the Train Park, we went to lunch at The Sugar Bowl. Elliot has become a restaurant snob because of his many, many business trips. The man drinks water like a camel and if the waiter/waitress doesn't refill his glass in a timely manner, he starts deducting the tip . . . worst mistake a waiter could make is to leave a pitcher on the table without filling his glass first . . . this is all truly high comedy actually! We probably won't be visiting The Sugar Bowl again any time soon.

In the back room of the restaurant they have some little games for the kids to play. Stella loved beating the crap out of the shark heads.

Hannah wanted in on some of that action.

Look Who's Visiting!

Nursery Kids

We've been testing out a new Nursery schedule for the last 2 months and I think we've finally got it down! Although some of the teachers were a little reluctant to make the change, I think they've seen the light! We have a very, very small Nursery room in our building. In fact, I was just at the Stake Center over the weekend and their Nursery is 4 times bigger than ours! Who would have thought that I'd have Nursery envy?

Our Nursery has been split into 2 classes, but with the influx of children coming into Nursery by the end of the year, our younger class would have approximately 18 crying children in that tiny room. My sister-in-law suggested that we split it again and do rotations. It took a while, a one truly failed attempt at the rotation system, but we've figured it out!

The oldest class starts in the Singing Time room (we were missing 4 kids that day). They rotate to Snack room, rotate to Lesson, rotate back to their first room for Play Time.
Kellin
Mason
Emma
Rachel
Jameson







Here is the middle-aged class. We split the youngest kids a little unevenly to allow room for the kids that will come into Nursery by the end of the year (missing 4 kids that day). These kids start in the Snack Room, rotate to the Lesson Room, rotate to Singing Time, and rotate back to their first room for Play Time.

Heidi
Stanton
Hayden
Ellie







The youngest class does not rotate because they would cry every time we had to move them. They are doing really well in their own class with a huge improvement in the kids that used to cry a lot (missing 2 kids that day, with 4 more coming in by the end of the year).

Wes (I fixed the red-eye on Wes, but I was going to keep his eyes red because he just bit Carson on the ear . . . that's why Carson is crying)
Reagan
Carson
Jane








I think our teachers like it better this way because we all get a tiny break between teaching singing and lesson. I've been the Nursery Coordinator for approximately 1 year 2 months and 15 days and though I couldn't say it for the first year, I can now honestly say that I love NURSERY!

Breaking Dawn

Oh, sorry friends . . . I must say that I was sort of disappointed in this one. I got bored. Not that it made me get up and do my housework or pay attention to my family, but I was still a little bored. I felt like the 754 pages could have been condensed into 283, also skipping the whole Jacob part. Too many characters, too much running back and forth. Stephenie Meyer has a great imagination, but boy is she long-winded.

Good news is that I've read 14 books this year so far (I read Twilight twice)! This is a new record for me . . . one that wasn't hard to beat. This also isn't going to stop me from reading Midnight Sun . . . starting today.

Dog Goggles

Sure, maybe I should be paying more attention to the road and not what setting my camera is on, but some of the things I see just need to be documented. This guy has his little white dog in a basket on the back of his motorcycle and you can't see very well, but the dog is wearing little orange goggles! People are too IN LOVE with their animals.

Progress Report

Stella got her progress report from Pre-School this week. She has most of the good comments checked off like:

"I am nice and kind to everyone"
"I am well behaved at school"
"I always listen and obey the teachers"
"I am outgoing and make friends easily"
"I can trace my name"
"I know my colors"
"I always work hard and do my best at school"
"I follow directions"
"I complete my work with satisfactory effort"
. . . and here's the kicker - "I can count to 11 without a mistake"

Get this - Stella can actually count much higher than 11. Here is our conversation the other day:

Stella - ". . . 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 . . ."
Mommy - "Stella, you missed 12."
Stella - "But Mom, I don't really need 12."

So there you have it Teacher Laura and Teacher Amanda, she doesn't need 12.

Never happens

The other night Elliot and I went out to dinner to Joe's Farm Grill with our good friends Mike and Mari Ashby (hey everyone, give her a call and ask her if she has any good news). :)

After we took the babysitter home, we watched a DVD that the Ashby's Netflixed (our favorite comedian Brian Reagan). As Mari snoozed on the couch, the rest of us laughed. I vaguely remember Stella mentioning that she was sleepy.

She has NEVER, NEVER, EVER put herself to bed before. Sure, she's fallen asleep on the couch or floor, but NEVER in the history of her life has she put herself into bed. It is a beautiful thing.

Book Club: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I was sort of determined NOT to like this book because I thought the author (now deceased) was arrogant. He did have several good points. I still think he was arrogant, but he also made me cry. So I can like this book I guess.

Elliot - sorry for sobbing on you in the middle of the night while holding you tightly seconds after I finished the book . . . "please don't die."

Next up - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde . . . Halloween appropriate.

Ward Campout

I took very few pictures of actual people on our 2-day camping trip, so you'll just have to enjoy the scenery WHICH WAS BEAUTIFUL! Kimmie got me all excited about sending pictures into Arizona Highway magazine, so I went a little overboard with the pictures. I'm not really sending any in.

We started out at Tonto Natural Bridge a little past Payson on Thursday. Elliot was a little hazy on the details of the treacherous rock climbing that the "hike" would be under the bridge. Luckily, we were with the Curry family who are up for anything even with 2 small children. Elliot only had to save us all from a watery grave a few times.

I've decided that camping is only worth it if you do it for 2 days. Set-up and clean-up needs to have at least 24 hours between it. I loved Friday with very little to do but sit around and enjoy everyone.

We went on a little rock hike to a waterfall before the rest of the ward showed up to the camp and it was also beautiful! Kids do not have a "danger" switch when they are rock climbing. Seriously, I'm surprised we didn't lose anyone.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

OUT OF OFFICE: REPLY

Thanks for checking my blog, but I'll be out of the office until I've completed my reading of the Twilight series. It'll be 2-3 days tops. I'm also going to need to borrow book #4 from someone STAT!

And just so no one calls CPS on me for totally neglecting Stella, here are a few things that Stella has been doing from my perspective sitting on the recliner as I'm reading and/or the drive to and from preschool when I actually communicate with her.

1. She seems to favor the Spirit of Mickey video these days over all of the other movies she's had to watch all day long.
2. She's totally happy with a peanut butter and honey sandwich every day for lunch.
3. She has memorized all of her poems for September.
4. She gave her first talk in Primary today and did an excellent job.
5. She successfully made 3 new friends at the library in the 4 minutes that they were there. She's very friendly. (and if you'll notice, I took her to the library . . . see, I'm not totally neglecting her).
6. She unsuccessfully made 1 friend at the splash park. She was kind of following the girl around and it seemed as though the other girl was exasperated with Stella. I asked Stella to stop following her around, but it didn't quite sink in because all she really wanted was to be her friend. So Stella continued to follow the girl until I talked to both of them. The girl said, "I don't want her to follow me around . . . but she can play with me." DON'T YOU CONFUSE MY DAUGHTER YOU UGLY GIRL! I don't think anyone has NOT wanted to be friends with Stella. It was confusing for her, but it was also a good lesson for me to teach her that she needs to be nice to everyone . . . even the ugly mean girls.
7. Stella got our big calculator out and also had my library card. She was sitting next to Elliot when she swiped the card over the calculator just like a credit card and started punching in numbers. If my eyes were cameras, my blog would be so much funnier. Elliot's look of absolute disgust/horror was classic. And he also took away my credit card.
8. Stella taught me a new turtle song from preschool. Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

UPCOMING POSTS:

Ward Campout
Stella's poems
Bedtime
Why I'm so delightful
And that's about it because I've been really busy.

An Aversion

Do some people really have an aversion to things both FRESH and EASY?

I saw these people picketing a newly opened Fresh & Easy market on my way to drop Stella off at preschool. Go get a job people!

Vampires

#1 - Seriously, vampires. Yes. May I have one?
#2 - I can't tell if my hot flashes are from my medication or reading the book.
#3 - If there really is a love scene in the last book, I CANNOT read it because my head was about to explode every time Edward even ALMOST touched her in Biology class.
#4 - Do I really have to wait until November for the movie to come out so that I can resume my movie-watching/chore multi-tasking?
#5 - Don't judge me because I'm going to put a movie on for Stella so I can start reading it again.

Oldies and The Caravan

This morning we went to a little singing group at a nursing home in Mesa.

The Saint that we call Cathy, volunteers to sing with the oldies and invites kids to sing because it makes them so happy! She has all these props that the kids can play with while we sing.

This is how Nursery Singing Time should be! I'm totally going to steal her ideas.

I was going to go to the library, but once I heard there was going to be a party at Costco, I headed that direction.

Here's our little caravan - Me, Kimmie, Lynnae, Shellee, and Stacy in the back. It's takes a long time for me to get through Costco when I'm on my own. It certainly doesn't help when I have 4 other people to talk to, but it's way more fun!

Now, I need to tackle the ironing . . . oh look, there's that vampire book . . .

Post- & Pre-Apology

May I just make a late apology to everyone who has had to walk on egg shells around me lately? I am going to completely blame it on the fertility medication whose side effects include "mood swings," "irritability," "complete lack of rational," "flying objects" which, much to everyone's dismay, I have yet discovered how to control.

This apology also includes the many people that I may have snapped at during the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and later in 2007 when I was also on this medication. Maybe the reason everyone thought I was such a delightful pregnant woman is because I wasn't on the medication anymore. I have no excuse to offer for the other years when I was not nice.

And may I just make a pre-apology to anyone I come in contact with if this round doesn't work and I have to take more medication next month. So if you have any room in your prayers to throw one up for our family, we would appreciate it. You're all really going to like me when I'm not medicated.

Twilight

D@#% YOU

STEPHENIE MEYER!