Between the Screams

Sad Harper...

2012-02-16T07:59:00.002-06:00

..she is still sick or sick again? No fever Monday, Monday night then back on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. She seems fairly good during the day but fever at night. Last night 102 again. Keith said heart, lungs, ears, all looks good...still a cough and a nightly fever.

I failed to take pictures...

2012-02-15T09:23:00.002-06:00

...of the sweet gifts from Jeni/Chuck and Grandma and Grandpa too. The kids loved their valentines cards and presents. Harper got not one but two barbies for Valentine's Day!

Valentine Craft 2012

2012-02-15T09:20:00.004-06:00

We did this in Carson's class with the whole Kindie crew. I am sure they are sick of me and my hand print art...but I love it. I did them at home with Davis and Harper too. Not sure where I would find ideas if it weren't for Pinterest! These, the valentine box and the bombs...

2nd Grade Valentine Party

2012-02-15T09:18:00.001-06:00

Pictures, a craft, snacks and four games. Davis said it was the best Valentine's Day ever!

Kindie party take two.

2012-02-15T09:11:00.003-06:00

Didn't mean to post these here...but too lazy to fix it.

It was a great party--four games, one craft, great snacks and a book.

Davis's Valentine Box

2012-02-15T09:06:00.000-06:00

Kindie Valentine Party 2012

2012-02-15T09:04:00.002-06:00

Three of my favorite Valentines!

2012-02-15T09:02:00.003-06:00

Candy and a craft and some CEC tokens. I do think that all this sugar will make for an interesting day at school.

The boys "bombs" for school.

2012-02-15T09:02:00.000-06:00

I asked them if their friends liked them. Davis said, some of them didn't get what the tag said. Hmm...I am old.

Valentines from Mimi/Monga and Bopa

2012-02-15T09:01:00.002-06:00

She danced and danced with her card.

Superbowl...forgot to take pictures.

2012-02-15T09:00:00.001-06:00

It started well...

and ended asleep on the stairs...

That is one sleepy princess.

Something else?

2012-02-15T08:51:00.001-06:00

Now I don't know if Harper is sick or what...Saturday after the "passing out" thing she started running a fever. Then she was sick Sunday with more fever/cough. Monday she was more herself and no fever. Tuesday sent her to school. She napped and didn't seem herself after that and was snuggly all evening...then last night fever again. Keith says she is fine, Harper says she wants a doctor. Today (Wed) she seems OK...what is this thing we have going on...

Scary.

2012-02-11T14:31:00.001-06:00

Harper is a very sensitive girl. We don't raise our voice or redirect her much--partially because she doesn't need it and partially because she is so upset by it. She is only two after all, and nothing is very serious when you are two. However...this morning we were cutting out hearts at the table. I didn't notice her take the "child proof" scissors to her hair. We were upstairs getting dressed when clumps of hair were coming out in the brush. I asked what happened and then realized...she must have cut her hair. I said in a totally normal voice "it makes mommy very sad that you cut your hair"...that is all I said and she wouldn't look at me. She crossed her arms and looked down. She may only be two but she is a smart two and has pouting down to an art. I sat her on the chair in her room to look at her and still the pouting....so I left and went to show Keith the handfuls of hair....I was not gone long, long enough to walk to the basement and back upstairs...but when I went into her room she was on the floor not moving with her eyes closed. I freaked. I picked her up she was all floppy, but she was breathing--her color was good. I ran her downstairs to Keith and he freaked on me too and neither of us could wake her up. So I start to call 911..then I stop. Then they call back...then we get her to wake up. It seemed like forever until she talked to us but I guess it was only a few minutes. Keith checked her over, we couldn't find anything wrong. She still seems OK but we are afraid to leave her alone for a second. We think she held her breath until she passed out. If someone out there knows how you parent this one please let me know because I am still freaked out.

Sick Carson.

2012-02-03T08:08:00.001-06:00

Had a few (30-40?) ladies over last night...and the kids were nuts. Then Carson started throwing up. Poor guy is not doing great, hoping this does not spread through the house!

#34 - The Rocket, our FIRST Pinewood Derby Race

2012-01-29T07:54:00.002-06:00

Drake, Davis and Ben

It was quite the fancy event--much more technical than I expected. Davis took 3rd place for his age/rank group in scouts--I thought that was pretty cool. Of course, when he didn't win anything in the final round he was really sad. We need to work on that sportsmanship thing. We thought it was pretty awesome he won anything since we had never done it before.

The Knights!

2012-01-29T07:51:00.004-06:00

The Dragons!

2012-01-29T07:51:00.002-06:00

Headbandz

2012-01-29T07:45:00.004-06:00

It was all fun and games until you told Harper she was a bicycle...then she screamed and cried...I am NOT a bicycle. I am a PRINCESS. We are creating a monster.

The Rocket--Ready for Pinewood Derby

2012-01-29T07:44:00.002-06:00

Kansas Day 2012

2012-01-29T07:43:00.002-06:00

Too Much Noise! The Kindergarten Musical

2012-01-29T07:42:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday to CHUCK!

2012-01-29T07:36:00.002-06:00

The Dragons, The Knights and Harper throwing a fit.

2012-01-29T07:35:00.001-06:00

Too much basketball. First time wearing those pants and she went home and cut them up with scissors.

Magna Tile Creations

2012-01-29T07:28:00.002-06:00

Sassy Harper

2012-01-29T07:27:00.002-06:00

Saying goodbye to Mimi

2012-01-29T07:27:00.000-06:00

So true.

2012-01-28T06:29:00.001-06:00

January...

2012-01-25T14:45:00.002-06:00

...it is suppose to snow. It is suppose to be time to relax. It is not suppose to be so busy.

Momastery.com--a blog worth reading.

2012-01-18T09:16:00.001-06:00

Dear Chase,

Hey, baby.

Tomorrow is a big day. Third Grade – wow.

Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.

Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.

And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.

I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.

I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.

So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.

Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.

Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.

Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.

Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it isdoing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.

When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too.

Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.

We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.

We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.

Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.

Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.

Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.

Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.

Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky boy . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.

I love you so much that my heart might explode.

Enjoy and cherish your gifts.

And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.

Love,

Mama

Interesting.

2012-01-16T15:43:00.002-06:00

So, blogger has changed its format. It use to be harder to upload pictures--slow process, only five at a time--but easy to add comments. Now it is easier to upload many at a time but the view is tiny when loading and then once loaded it is harder to delete them and comment on them. I have not figured it all out yet--always assume I am making it harder than I need to. But, I don't really have much time to post much on here--it is all I can do to keep the photos fairly updated for those who I assume check it often--so who I assumes checks it that is. Today I learned that I have had 20 thousand views on here. That is a lot of views--to me anyway. And, views from around the world too.

Sharing because these are really too cute.

2012-01-16T12:31:00.000-06:00

My OSU Crew!

2012-01-04T11:50:00.003-06:00

Not one picture of them all looking at me and smiling...

The big girl bed.

2012-01-04T11:49:00.000-06:00

Well, the crib is down. Heartbreaking really. The big bed is up. Since she has not slept through the night but once or twice since October Keith thought this would help...so far, it is worse. I feel like I have a newborn again...exhausted and sad about the crib. Will we ever sleep all night and feel normal again?

Playing a little poker the morning after?

2012-01-04T11:47:00.002-06:00

I think she is all in.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T11:46:00.002-06:00

Chuck E Cheese - They love it here...

2012-01-04T11:45:00.001-06:00

I wonder if this is why...

How cute is she!?

Sassy new outfit from cousin Jessica!

2012-01-04T11:44:00.002-06:00

Presents with Mimi and Cake too! Happy 68!

2012-01-04T11:43:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday at Red Robin for Mimi

2012-01-04T11:42:00.002-06:00

Why did he get money???

Bowling for Mimi's Birthday

2012-01-04T11:41:00.002-06:00

Will this work?

2012-01-04T11:40:00.003-06:00

Eating the Gingerbread Man cake from Aunt Frannie

2012-01-04T11:40:00.000-06:00

Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T11:39:00.001-06:00

2011-Santa has arrived!

2012-01-04T11:33:00.002-06:00

Waiting on the kids to get up...

Christmas Eve Presents!

2012-01-04T11:32:00.001-06:00

It is impossible for them to look at the camera at the same time.

Putting out reindeer food!

2012-01-04T11:28:00.003-06:00

Carson drew some chalk messages and drawings for Santa too.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

2012-01-04T11:25:00.002-06:00

The cake by Chuck.

Jessie decorates the tree.

Anna plays guitar.

The games begin!

Jessie is winning!

Pretty proud of his creation.

How did Jessie fit in Harper's pink dress?

Hide and seek--they win, yes that is three kids under the sink...

Opening Presents with Grandma and Grandpa Christmas Eve

2012-01-04T11:23:00.004-06:00

2011 Photo Ornaments

2011-12-23T20:56:00.002-06:00

Cheesecake Factory before church...

2011-12-23T20:55:00.002-06:00

...and Carson orders Cheese Pizza. Really?

Ready for Candlelight Service!

2011-12-23T20:54:00.002-06:00

Making lots and lots of cookies for Santa!

2011-12-23T14:03:00.002-06:00

Reindeer Feet

2011-12-22T20:13:00.002-06:00

Look fast--SNOW?!?

2011-12-22T19:24:00.002-06:00

Gingerbread Houses 2011

2011-12-22T19:23:00.002-06:00

All School Sing and 2nd Grade Winter Party 2011

2011-12-22T19:21:00.002-06:00

Playing Tree with Mimi

2011-12-22T19:12:00.002-06:00

Kindergarten Winter Party 2011

2011-12-22T19:11:00.002-06:00

Caroling 2011

2011-12-22T19:02:00.002-06:00

Harper loving her Mimi and her Jeni

2011-12-22T18:35:00.004-06:00

and the new felt tree they made her - thank you Pinterest!

Pajama Day in Kdg - and music class pics too!

2011-12-22T18:34:00.002-06:00

More Winter Bulletin Boards 2011

2011-12-22T18:33:00.002-06:00