My Talented Story Tellers

My kids have GREAT imagination.  They write and illustrate such amazing stories.  We had a few stellar examples lately and I thought I would share.

Ethan drew the cover for his latest comic book:

I especially love her doe-eyed expression:

I'm not sure anything came of "The Adventures of Tonks," because I'm not sure Tonks lives a very exciting life, but it was sure cute concept art.

Ella is an amazing little writer.  When her class had the opportunity to read 6 stories to the principal her story got 16 of the 22 votes in the class.  This was just a writing assignment, but I was so impressed I took a picture.  They were reading a story in class and came to a pivotal moment.  The teacher asked them to write their own continuation of the story.  This was Ella's:

I would type it all out, but I'm tired.  Trust me, it was pretty awesome for a 3rd grader.  Most of them wrote about 4 sentences, so almost a full page was quite prolific.

The Stuff of Nightmares, or Let's Go To The YMCA

As we walked out of one of the kids' soccer games I finally noticed ALL the unique murals on the wall in the hall of the YMCA.  I would like to think it was the pain pills making the faces extra creepy, but I wasn't on any pain pills, and looking at them again I think they have, if it is possible, gotten even more creepy.

Not so bad, maybe just an unattractive little boy...

maybe this boy just ran into a wall before he posed for this picture...

wait...

is that a child, and an old elf...

Okay, now they just look like gangsters... little tiny child gangsters...about to make someone talk.

Preschool Highlights

We've been blessed with a very active preschool both last year and this year. Here are a few highlights from the last few months:

Pet week.  We got to bring Tonks into the actual classroom.  Tonks almost wiggled herself to death in pure joy.

National Waffle Day (?) I got to come in and help the kids make waffles.  Although we had mix and milk we didn't have the oil or eggs that the mix calls for.  Missing a few key ingredients didn't stop us from trying them anyways.  The kids made the batter and I got to spend 30 minutes making batch after batch of waffles.  Most kids had seconds and thirds which just proves anything is edible if you poor enough liquid sugar on it!

The Goat Farm.  We were here last year and both times I was struck by the thought "I'm okay never owning a goat."

Baby pigs are one of the cutest things I've ever seen though.

Class height chart.  Big surprise here (sarcasm):

P.J. and Easter Party.  Because nothing says Easter like running around in the dirt in pajamas!

Arrow of Light...Finally

Even though Ethan earned his Arrow of Light last summer, we never really got around to having it given to him. They finally presented it to him at the Blue and Gold Banquet in February. It wasn't like most of presentations of the Arrow of Light that I have seen, but I guess what really matters is that he did all the hard work and earned it. We are so proud of his willingness to work hard!

 

The kids and I were on our own, again.  It was a Thursday night so while Eric was teaching his class I got to explain to Livi by myself why eating only potato chips, and tomatoes for dinner was not okay.

What Else Was She Suppose To Do?

I went into Eric's office so we could sign all our legal paper work since I was having surgery later that week. I had a iPhone, and an iPad, but this is what Livi wanted to do with her time.

Parent Watch Week v. 5.2

I'm actually really happy with the dance schedule this year.  We only have to go on two nights and the girls overlap on Wednesdays.  What IS hard about this is parent watch week:  It means 2 days of  2 hours a night sitting on a hard floor, and one night having to pick which child you go see because your husband has court in another county. 

I had to bring Livi with me to watch Ella since Ella goes earlier that night, which meant while Ella was doing her very dignified, proper ballet:

Livi was at the window doing this:

Finally Livi go to have her class and I swear I was a little scared when all the girls sat on the floor and did this:

The Haunting, anyone???

Frozen Flash Back

Eric likes to claim that the whole family can be involved with his hobbies, but sitting around making sure no one talks, is really not that much fun for me. Luckily for Eric, he knows if he can convince just one child to go with him I wont complain about the amount of time away from us he is spending. Unluckily for Ethan this means he gets dragged along on more scouting/camping/fishing/hunting trips than he would probably like. Like this below freezing day in November:

 

I think his face says it all.

Not Exactly What We Had In Mind

Ethan really wanted to play the indoor soccer the YMCA has here in the winter. Ella decided she would do it to since we were going anyways. I got a call saying they were on the same team which seemed like no big deal. Their first game was while I was in Utah visiting my family. I got a text saying "One of our children is very excited about the team color."

Guess which one?

Man, YMCA, between accidentally signing our son up for girl's volleyball and pink uniforms you are really killing us.

Priorities In The Right Place

You have 2 days in Utah. You have limited time to get all the things done you want to. You are from Southern California. What do you have to do?

Excccceeelllllleeeeennnnttttt (in best Mr. Burns voice)

My little geeks are growing up exactly how I wanted:

 Livi wanted her hair done for school in "two bun like princess Leia."

Ethan had to decorate a box for school to put his Valentines in:

I must be doing something right!

Big Brother Is Watching You, or Our Trip To The Post Office

The preschoolers got to mail their homemade Valentines at the post office in February.

The coolest part was seeing the behind the scenes where they literally have a walk way over the whole operation where someone may or may not be watching the workers at all times.  It was a tunnel with windows placed every foot and in the floor of the walk way.  Very dystopian and I have to admit I didn't take a picture of it while I was there because I was afraid someone was in there and would see me... and I would feel stupid...because that would be horrible.

At the end they weighed the entire class on their industrial scale (786 lbs) and gave all the kids some candy in a mail bag.

Super fun and interesting and I can honestly say I want to be the person that may or may not exist in the tunnel on the ceiling who may or may not be watching you!

Want To See What Going Crazy Is Like? Try Sinus Surgery!

After three years of constant sinus problems I finally went to an ENT to see what could be done.  He basically told me that I had no one big problem, but lots of little problems, meaning there was no one way to fix everything.  He agreed, after looking through my records and noting I had 7 sinus infections in the last calender year, (which means I was sick more often than not last year!) that something needed to be done, so he recommended surgery.

Because there was no one problem I ended up getting three different surgeries at once.  The tissue in my nose was cut back, the sinus' were drained and my septum was straightened.  When I asked him what the recovery was going to be like he looked me right in the face and boldly lied "You will be uncomfortable for about a week."

What he should have said is: "For two full days your nose will be completely closed off which mean you will be unable to sleep more than 5 minutes at a time without gasping yourself awake.  Your mouth and throat will eventually get a slimy film on it to protect itself from being constantly open.  You will slowly go insane from the lack of sleep, pain, and claustrophobia from feeling trapped in your own head. You will barf every time you even smell food, let alone eat it.  Every time someone accidentally bumps you it will hurt.  If you touch your own nose to even move away a hair you will scream out in shock at the pain.  You will pass out every time you even think of sneezing."

When the office called to check on me I told them how hard it was for me.  I cried the entire phone conversation.  They said it would get better when I could take the packing out.  What they should have said was:

"You will barely stay sane by holding onto the idea that you get to remove the packing after two days,but when you finally can remove the packing you will realize you have airways the size of coffee stir straws to breathe through.  You will still be unable to sleep.  You will still have crazy pain and feel trapped in your skull by the amount of blood and mucus you are producing but can't expel.  That realization will cause you to have a complete mental break where you sit in front of a window and chant to yourself quietly under your breath."

Swollen nose.  It was easily the coolest and scariest thing I have ever seen on myself.

I finally got the inserts out after a week.  The whole thing was the same width as my pinkie with a tiny opening down the center to breath through.  Why not make the whole thing a giant tube so a person can actually feel like they can catch their breath once in a while?

I ended up going back after a few days because I was making so much mucus and wasn't allowed to blow my nose for 3 more weeks (try going 3 weeks without blowing you nose!  It is crazy hard!).  My fabulously deceptive doctor was unavailable so I got to see his colleague who talked to me for 2 minutes and said "Why don't we get you an anti-anxiety pill.  I think you could use a good night's sleep." 

2 minutes to realize "this woman is suffering mentally and maybe I could solve this easily with a safe pill."  The other doctor brushed me off after 2 phone calls and an office visit which all consisted of me breaking down and crying.  Guess who I am going to next time I need an ENT?

Was it worth it?  I can breath better, I don't have constant sinus headache pain, and my nose is even a little straighter, but right now, no, it wasn't.  Maybe if I can stay healthy for a while I will look back on it and say it was worth it, but right now I am still petrified of ever having to do anything like that again.  I have had 3 c-sections and 2 organs removed and I'd rather go through ALL of that all over again than have sinus surgery ever again.

So if I've been a little absent, or distant, or cranky, I'm sorry.  I've been trying to overcome the pain, panic attacks and depression I've had since the surgery.  Things are looking better now.  I typed this whole thing without crying or needing to walk around the house singing songs quietly to myself, so I think my brain is slowly learning to forget what happened.  Which is why I am writing this now so I NEVER FORGET HOW HORRIBLE THAT WAS!  DO YOU READ THIS NICOLE?  DON'T DO IT!!!

Stop Ordering Me Around, Chocolate!

I remember Dove Chocolate having cute little fortune type messages on them. Sometimes a deep or funny thought. These just seemed like they were telling me what to do.

It says "Sleep under the stars tonight."

No, Dove, I will not. 

A YM Activity Made In Heaven For Eric (For Me It Would Have Been From Somewhere Lower)

In the fall Eric was moved from Scoutmaster to a counselor in Young Mens.  He's a great leader and diligently goes every week, but the last week in January I think was his favorite activity ever.

I got a text message from the Young Women's president saying he was running around, showing the kids the best moves.  He was like the Scrabble Puppet Master.

 

There were technically two teams, but it was basically Eric playing against himself, moving kids around like little pawns on the giant board.  For me it would have been torture, but I'm glad he had a good time.

A 20 Minute Live Commercial, Or Livi's Fieldtrip to Home Depot

The last two field trips Livi went on have somehow landed exactly on the days I got my hair done, so I was super excited to be able to go to Home Depot with her class.  It was mostly a tour where employees toted how great the store is to the parents and kids getting very bored and trying to grab packages of light bulbs,  but at the end they had little work aprons for the kids to paint.

Excuse Me, Your Absurd is Showing

Every once in a while (okay, once a week) there is something in the paper that just makes me sit back and think "Wow, they must have 10 year olds on staff."


Good thing they gave us that quote.  We may not have understood what laughing sounded like.

Absurd isn't always a stupid thing, though. I loved how self aware the instructions were for Livi's Barbie Dreamhouse:

Ethan is a Pre-Teen

We weren't ready for it, and boy has the time gone by too quickly, but we are so grateful that we have been able to have Ethan in our family for the past 11 years!

Video games + and Star Wars T-shirts= Happy Birthday!

We had cupcakes for his class and on his actual birthday.

A little over a week later, when everyone was healthy and it wasn't a school night we had the Bagleys over for pizza and chocolate bunt cake.  It's always so fun to have our Nebraska family over for birthdays!