Trunk or Treat

Our black cat and digger man had a fun night at Trunk or Treat. Grant decided on the bounce house for most of the time, and Emma decided on collecting candy most of the time. We walked through our block too, then called it a night and packed the kids off to bed and unplugged our doorbell. Happy Halloween!

Getting my 10K run on

I just signed the whole family up for our annual Thanksgiving morning walk. Only this year, the fam will be walking the 5k and I'll be running the 10k! It'll be my first 10k, and I have my fingers and toes crossed I don't get a cold so I can stick with my training schedule.

Happy Birthday Grant!

Happy 4th birthday little dude! You decided on a Digger Man party, and that pretty sums up the little guy you are right now. Digging in the sand, digging in the dirt box, digging in my flower beds, you love to dig. And to laugh, and to run, and to ride Emma's scooter. With a big imagination, it's never a dull moment with you around. You rock!

Waiting waiting waiting

It's the time of year where we start waiting for Grant's first cold and whether it will lead to the daily nebulizer chore. So far we've been healthy, but winter isn't here yet so that may all change. We're also changing it up a bit and doing a daily dose of Singular, which deals with lungs in a different way than the Pulmicort steroid. It's a pill so it's way easier than the breathing treatments. I'll report back at the end of the winter. Or through out I guess.

Pillar of the Community

Grant spent most of the day saying "Waaaa I'm a crack baby!" which is only funny to me, Hubs, and Emma because of a time, as an infant, he rolled into the crack of the bed and when Hubs pointed it out, Emma called Grant a "crack baby". Obviously Hubs and I thought it was funny for a completely different reason than Emma. And now, it all comes back to haunt us in places like the church nursery during childcare today, in the grocery store check out line, and during school pick up.

So let's review: Grant drinks beer, only spells the word poop, and tells the world he's a crack baby.

Awesome.

He spells

Grant: P-O-O-P spells pop!
Me: Good spelling. Pop is P-O-P. One O in pop.
Hubs: P-O-O-P spells poop.
Me: Really? Did you really just say that to him?
Grant: P-O-O-P spells poop! Poop poop poop! P-O-O-P P-O-O-P P-O-O-P! Poop poop poop!
Hubs: At least he's spelling?

Winter garden

It's in! We pulled up the summer garden today, mixed in some fresh topsoil, and planted the winter garden. Because we're actually planting everything in a timely fashion, we did mostly seeds this time.


The box on the left has sugar pea plants, regular pea seeds, carrot seeds, and spinach seeds. That's basil in the pot. The box on the right has beet plants, broccoli seeds, lettuce seeds, and radish seeds. I'm ordering a bag to grow potatoes in, as well as seed potatoes since the store I went to today didn't have any.

Emma learned to draw noses today

A fact she informed me of today on the way home from school. Shortly after we arrived home, I received this lovely note.




That's me on the right, in orange. See the green eyes? That's the key it's me, not her (she with the blue eyes on the left).

Keeping the teachers amused

Other kids said things like "I help my sister all the time" or "I like to help my mom when she asks" or "I pick up my toys".

Not my kid.

Squeaky wheel

When Emma's teacher posted the in class parent schedule at Back to School night, there wasn't a single time slot that worked with my complicated schedule of preschool drop off/ pick up, work, MOPS, and managing an active preschooler in the afternoon. I offered my services on Friday mornings, being willing to hang things on the wall, swab off the desks, sharpen pencils, whatever would get me in the classroom and meeting the kiddos I didn't know yet. Her teacher didn't bite. So I decided to just drop in after school and remind her I was available on Friday morning, what could I help her with. And at the same time remind her of our conversation about getting Emma on some sort of high reader program.

Success!

On Friday mornings, I'll be leading seven classmates in the Junior Great Books reading curriculum (which my mom tells me she used to lead a similar group in my brother's class!). The 7 kiddos will get the reader added to their homework folders on Monday so they can read at home, they'll listen to the story on tape on Wednesday in class, then I'll lead a book club on Friday mornings during the last half of the reading centers. Each child is expected to come with a discussion question they want to present to the group, and we'll do art work and dramatic presentations to reiterate the point/ lesson/ objective of the story.

I'm super excited and a wee bit daunted by the teacher's edition all at the same time. But I also feel grateful that the teacher heard me about my concerns for Emma's learning, and gave me the chance to be a part of meeting Emma's learning needs. I left our impromptu meeting feeling, once again, so thrilled with the choice we made to attend this school!