My little boy is a big kid now!

Noah started Kindergarten this week! He is having a lot of fun. He is still a little nervous, but he's doing great! The first day he was fine until his dumb mom stared him down a little too long while she was trying not to cry, making him start to cry. But Brent talked with him and all was good. That's why I insist he come with me on the first day of school (he likes to too, of course!) Then we watched him on the playground and he ran back and forth between us and the kids and went into the class just fine when the teacher came out. Noah and I have been riding bikes to school everyday. I'm loving that, it was too much of a pain with the girls when they were in kindergarten, with younger siblings in tow, since I never really got along with the bike trailer. We just zip over to the school and back after. It's fun doing that with him. I guess the girls could walk him home from school but I walked them when they were little and I want to enjoy this short time I have left with him before he's too big and rides off with the scooter gang. Yesterday before we left he asked what time he would be home. I told him 3:30, then he went in his room, picked up his big teddy bear and told him when he would be home, giving him a kiss and a hug. It was seriously too cute.

Noah's first day of Kindergarten!

Elementary Meanderings

Kindergarten, 3rd grade and 5th grade. Those are the grades Noah, Zoe and Isabella are in this year, respectively. It took me until Isabella entered 2nd grade to no longer feel nauseous on the first day of school. Maybe it was because she started a new school and there were no lingering ghosts of past downtrodden school children floating around the halls. Or maybe it was because it didn't have that 1970s elementary school smell. Kindergarten is a blur for me. I remember the first day, I threw up the eggs I had for breakfast on the playground and the little overly helpful blond girl helped me to find the teacher. I was always mortified when people tried to assist me when I was sick. I had a kidney infection in 2nd grade and opted to stay home alone rather than go to my Grandma's house and be subjected to her friends pinching my cheeks and and paying too much attention to me (plus the infection made me pee my pants which was a secret I wanted to guard with my life). But I digress. That's all I remember from my first school and I think I became friends with that overly helpful blond girl again in 7th grade in a different town. She said she went to the same school in kindergarten and remembered me throwing up and helping me. But she was prone to lying, too. So I moved about a month in and my new teacher was strict but nice. The day I missed the whistle on the playground announcing the end of recess I stayed outside who knows how much extra time until I finally looked around and saw I was surrounded by the big kids. I finally found my sister and she walked me back to class. My teacher didn't look happy but she didn't yell at me, just gave me my math worksheet with strawberries on it and we carried on with the day. Later, my Mom went to parent teacher conference and came home and related the good laugh she and my teacher had at my expense over the situation. I was humiliated at the time, but now I know they probably just thought it was cute. That's about the extent of my kindergarten memories other than a boy named Skyler telling me I looked ugly on picture day because I had curled hair. He's the only kid in kindergarten who's name I remember. I guess you never forget the first boy who calls you ugly!

In 3rd grade I was on my 3rd school, having moved early in first grade. I loved 3rd grade. As far as elementary school went, this was the time when all the stars aligned. Miss Diston was my teacher. She was one of those popular teachers that every kid hopes they will get. She had long, straight, red hair and wore glasses, like me. Life was just easy that year, I had my friends Karen and Lele across the street and Colette at school. She had a twin sister in Karen's class named Nanette. The only way you could physically tell them apart was that Colette wore brown shoes and Nanette, blue. I was awesome in math that year. We had math groups and had to go to a different class based on the group you were in. I was proud to be in the highest math group. I loved the times tables and made it in the 3 minute club. You had to fill in the times table chart in 3 minutes to get in the club. After a lot of practice, I rocked it. But soon came my downfall when we had to master check writing and it was completely beyond my level of intelligence. Or maybe it was that third graders have no use for writing checks, thus they are not equipped with the capacity to learn such things. I also got to dance the hukelau in the third grade program, which was very cool. At the end of 3rd grade I moved and was sad, but I was accustomed to moving by then.

5th grade was a weird year. My best friends, Julie and Linda, moved over the summer leaving me on my own. That was partly good because my 4th grade crush was Linda's boyfriend and with her gone I could now make my move on Jamie Wright (who I secretly called Mister Right). But that was never to be for a shy girl like me. I had some work to do in 5th grade. While I believed my educating had been excellent in 3rd grade, even I knew my 4th grade teacher sucked and I had come out of 4th grade dumber than when I went in. Things at home were tense. My Mom and Dad were fighting even more than usual and I think we all knew the end was near. We moved just after Christmas after losing another house. I shared a room with my sister Lynn there. Every morning I woke up to that "Take off to the Great White North" song. The one by the Canadian comedians where they keep saying, "Take off, Hoser". It was on the radio every single morning for months, it seemed. I hated that song. I hated my new life at my new school, too. All the classes were full except the one that combined gifted 5th and 6th graders. I'm not an idiot but I wasn't prepared for that class. I was lost and the kids all thought I was a freak. I came home and cried a lot because the work was too hard and the kids hated me. Soon there was a diversion because my parents finally decided to give up and get the divorce we'd all seen coming my whole life. I think I was more relieved than sad. I'd never have to hide my head in my sleeping bag again, pretending to be asleep while I had a friend sleeping over, while my parents were having one of their screaming matches in the middle of the night. That was a good thing, and I got a new bike out of it. Needed that bike. So 5th grade ended on that note and I was off with siblings and my Mom to live in our first apartment ever. The divorced months offered new adventures, followed by the step-parent years. And as usual, they all landed me in a new school at the start of almost every school year.

Back to School!

Thursday was the first day of school so I have to (excuse me, I get too) put the required first day pics up. Zoe is sporting her new shorter "do" and Isabella has her new glasses! 4 more days 'til Noah starts!

3rd Grade here I come!

5th Grade already?!!

Kids 1k race!

This morning Isabella, Zoe, and Noah ran the 1k Teddy Bear Race for The Children's Justice Center in West Jordan. They did awesome! Isabella and Zoe ran together and came in a little bit before Noah. I ran alongside Noah to keep him going. They had a great time and of course their favorite part was getting a teddy bear at the end.

Camping

We went camping up Big Cottonwood Canyon a few days ago. It was a fun time. It seems to get easier the older the kids get. Noah had a hard time on the hike but we stuck it out and made it to the lake. We had tinfoil dinners, a first for the kids. Isabella and Zoe liked them but Noah, not so much. He was nice enough after he said so to apologize for not liking them. Always the polite boy. We roasted marshmallows after dinner and Isabella created a new treat by putting her marshmallow in the middle of an Oreo cookie, which I then dubbed Smoreos. I know, someone has probably already invented Smoreos but we're claiming it for our own. It was peacefully uneventful in the tent that night. Despite being extra cold and our air mattress going flat from a slow leak. Like I said it was fun but nothing especially crazy happened, which is a good thing. So I thought I'd share some noteworthy events from past camping trips.

Back in 2000, Zoe was about 9 months old and Isabella was 2 1/2. We took the girls camping for the first time. Zoe went to bed before the rest of us since she was a baby. We were getting ready for bed and we went across the street to where the water was, leaving Zoe sleeping in the tent. While we were over there we saw a skunk wander into our campground, taking it's time exploring the area, looking for food, I guess. I was very worried about my baby being asleep with a skunk just feet away from her. Fortunately, the skunk soon left and we went back over to the tent where Zoe peacefully slept.

The next year we ventured out again. Around 2 a.m., while we were asleep in the tent, a loud bird started chirping. It sounded exactly like R2D2 from Star Wars. It woke up me, Brent and Zoe. Zoe starts saying loudly in her almost 2 year old voice, "A biddy Mommy, A biddy Mommy". It was so cute, the way she said it, that I couldn't help but laugh. Well between the bird and Zoe and me laughing we couldn't go back to sleep. Meanwhile, Isabella is peacefully snoozing away. Brent gets impatient when he can't sleep, so he talked me into going home in the middle of the night. We woke up Isabella (she's now 3 1/2), she starts crying and continues to scream and cry the whole time Brent is packing up and the entire two hour drive home. Gee, that was much more fun than laying awake in the tent for the next three hours! We never did that again.

We didn't make it out again until after Noah came along. Two years ago we were up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, above Hyrum. This is the same place we went in the two previously mentioned camp outs. We roasted hot dogs as usual and there was one left over so Brent threw it in the fire pit after the fire was put out. I asked him if it would be okay to just leave it there. He said sure, so we went to bed. Well, I guess this campground has a few too many skunks because around 3 a.m. we hear a scuffle outside the tent. We hear a bunch of growling followed by the strong smell of skunk nearby. It was very smelly and I was extremely freaked out by the growling sound outside of the tent. I'm not too big on growling forest creatures. Somehow we managed to fall back asleep for a couple of hours. Around 5 a.m. we wake up again because it is pouring outside. We lay there for about an hour listening to the rain until I talk Brent into getting up and driving into Logan for breakfast at the IHOP, since none of us can sleep. As we left the rainy campground I noticed the hot dog was gone. I guess the mysterious growling creature and the skunk were fighting over it! It continued to rain the next day off and on and I admit I just wasn't in a camping place at that time, so we packed it up and stayed in a hotel the next night. Which may or may not have been a good thing since Zoe decides to throw up in the hotel. Much easier to deal with in a hotel than in a tent. Although she may not have thrown up in the tent because one or another of my kids seem to throw up almost every time we stay in a hotel.

Last year we decided to try somewhere new since we always end up camping in either Blacksmith Fork Canyon or Big Cottonwood Canyon. So we went up to Albion Basin at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. This time we were sitting in our campground at night, enjoying the fire, the kids are frolicking about with marshmallows on sticks, when a young woman of about 23 comes into our campground. She was from Seattle and was traveling the country seeing the sights. She wanted to meet the locals I suppose, so she decided to join us for a bit. Well she starts asking us if we are LDS. We tell her yes. She tells us she recently visited Temple Square and we were like, that's great! Then she starts asking us about gays and lesbians and how the church feels about them. We then figure she is a lesbian herself so we're trying to be polite. No the Church isn't too big on that.... Meanwhile my kids are keenly observing the nice stranger who is visiting our campsite and I'm looking around from her to them, and I think she gets the picture that maybe this isn't the best conversation tho have around the campfire with the children. So we talk to her for a few more minutes and she heads back to her campsite. Nice girl but kind of a strange conversation. So the next day we leave, no waking up in the middle of the night this time around. We head out and want to do another hike before we go home. We stop at this trail and get out of the car. As we head to the trail Brent quickly turns around as I see a tail take off in the other direction. We get back in the car because we really don't want to go hiking with a mountain lion.

Just a few camping stories I share with you tonight. Take them, share them around the fire at your next camp out! Okay, maybe they weren't that exciting!

Answer the following with only one word

1. Where is your cell phone?....Unimportant
2. Your significant other?....Brent
3. Your hair?....Strawlike
4. Your mother?....Judy
5. Your father?....Fathers
6. Your favorite thing?....Many
7. Your dream last night?....Trouble
8. Your favorite drink....Water
9. Your dream/goal?....Attainable?
10. The room you're in?....Architectural
11. Your children?....Amazing
12. Your fear?....January
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years....Here?
14. Where were you last night?....Nowhere
15. What you're not?....Short
16. Muffins....Occasionally
17. One of your wish list items?....Mortgageless
18. Where you grew up?....Everywhere
19. What you read last....Meyer
20. What are you wearing?....PJs
21. Your TV?....Earlier
22. Your pets?....Childhood
23. Your computer?....Daily
24. Your life?....Blessed
25. Your mood?....Thoughtful
26. Missing someone?....Babies
27. Your car?....Gold
28. Something you're not wearing?....Ring
29. Favorite Store?....Target
30. Your summer?....Shrinking
31. Like someone?....Brent
32. Your favorite color?....Green
33. Last time you laughed....Colbert
34. Last time you cried?....Yesterday

girl meets blog

So I have this other blog called "girl meets blog". Originally the purpose of this was to write about whatever I didn't feel like sharing on this blog. I very occasionally have this slightly dark side and I feel like ranting about things that only interest me. So I made this private blog. But I didn't like it because a part of me likes writing something and putting it out there into the universe so to speak. I wasn't necessarily looking for strangers to read my thoughts but I didn't really care if they did, as long as they were strangers. So I made the blog public. But then, since it was supposed to be more personal stuff, I didn't want anyone I knew to stumble upon it. So I started making up fake names for me and the family. Then I realized I might have to make up other fake details of our lives, such as where we lived. It started getting complicated because I'd forget what the names were or I'd change them because the names didn't fit us just right. Then I started going to friends blogs where I'd start to make a comment and realize I was logged in under this other blog name. So I almost "outed" myself a few times. Well it got to be way too complicated and not worth the effort. I guess I'm not cut out to be a spy. So I changed it back to private and lost the pseudonym. I know it's all kind of strange, but that's me sometimes. So this was pretty much all for naught since my other blog has become a place where I do nothing but log my workouts. Nothing scandalous there, or especially interesting either. I guess I don't have much of a dark side after all. I have only one blog entry that relates to anything other than exercise. So I guess I'll share it with you. This is the one I was making up names and such for (I later changed the names back to the real ones). It concerns our need for an exterminator earlier this summer. I know, why would I need a whole new identity to discuss my need for the bug guy to come to my house? That's a question that may never be answered. It may not be interesting to anyone, but what the heck. And it doesn't really fit in with my exercise log.


Eeew, Ick, Gross

About three weeks ago I was in the kitchen where I saw this thing in the sink that looked like either a little stick or a worm. Turns out it was a wormy little creature. Of course I screamed, then washed it down the sink. Soon after that, these wormy little creatures started showing up in the girl's bedroom downstairs and then in Noah's room. Brent says they are baby caterpillars. We haven't come to a consensus on exactly what they are. All I know is they are disgusting and I freak out every time I see one. We decided to wait 'til after our vacation to do anything and see if they'd just go away on their own but it doesn't seem to be happening. If they are caterpillars then it makes me think they will probably turn into something else eventually, like moths (it's highly doubtful that I could soon have pretty butterflies flying all around my house, that could be cool though). If and when that happens, and maybe now (I don't know the eating habits of caterpillars except for what I've read in the children's book "The Hungry Caterpillar") they will probably start eating things like clothes or carpet or who knows what. I finally got too disgusted with it all today and called an exterminator. A part of me feared we'd come back from our trip and find dozens of them throughout the house, not what I want to come home to after a long road trip. So they're coming tomorrow and they said the stuff they spray is safe for children. They even said the stuff they use is approved by the EPA. Well if it's good enough for the Environmental Protection Agency who am I too question? Ha ha. It's also a good opportunity to try to get the ants that are starting to show up in the yard again. Last year my method of extermination was to pour boiling water on them. It was somewhat successful and quite entertaining to the kids. The only problem is boiling water kills grass along with ants. (Originally written June 10, 2008.)

Update: The worms are now gone. I guess it was worth it to have my throat burn for three hours after the bug guy filled our house up with noxious chemicals!

Isabella's Art

I may be the biased mom, but I think Isabella is a pretty awesome artist!

Moose on Life Support

I thought this was way funny so I had to take a picture. Noah's stuffed moose has quite a few holes so Noah and Zoe set him up in the hospital. Please keep Moose in your thoughts.;o)

Moose in the ICU