Preschool Art and Learning Time

So I've wanted to post some of Gwen's preschool artwork for a while now, and I'm finally getting around to it. Here's some of the things she's been up to since starting preschool:

Ground Hog Day project

The Red Mitten (they read the book first-she even has animals to put inside it)

A penguin from the week they learned about them

A black bear from the week they learned about them

Turkey from Thanksgiving (they also did Potato Turkeys, but I kept forgetting to take a picture, and it ended up growing little sprouts all over it)

Spider from Halloween

Tree from fall

And these are some of the art projects that I've done with Gracie at home while talking about snow one week:

Snowflake

Snowman (I drew it on, she glued cotton balls on-with some help-and then glued on everything else that I had cut out for her)

It made me feel bad that I wasn't doing enough with Grace, and that Gwen would come home crying about not getting to do a lot of the art projects, so I decided to do some stuff with both of them at home. We have "preschool" every morning (unless something comes up) from about 9-11 (sometimes only until 10:30, depending on how fast we go through everything). I made this board to help them learn some basics (letter & number of the week, rhymes of the week, the month, week and day and the weather...oh, and the lesson theme of the week). Oh, and there is a snowflake weather symbol on there...it just blends in too well with the poster board. Thanks to Nick Jr for giving me ideas...if you want to know more about what I do with them, I talk about it on my craft blog (link on upper right, below my family pic).

Needless to say, it's going pretty good. I have fun looking stuff up to teach them about, and they have fun learning and doing all the games and projects I plan. Here's some stuff we did this week so far (and there were more animals in the "Zoo" than I have pictures for):

Bedroom "Zoo"-The Monkeys

Bedroom "Zoo"-The Reptiles

We learned about wolves today, so we made wolf pup masks that I found online

Hopefully it'll continue to go well and I'll be able to keep this up with them!!

Gwen's Birthday Party

Saturday we threw Gwen her "first ever birfsday party" and it was awesome!! Not all the kids we were expecting showed up, but we had a blast with the ones that did. Gwen decided that she wanted an Ariel party, but for the sake of the little boys we were inviting to the party as well, I made it into an Under The Sea party. So here's how we decorated my parents house:

The blue stuff going down the stairs is supposed to be waves. I got a huge blue plastic tablecloth at a party store and cut it into strips and then cut the dips in each strip to look like waves. I also took a Nature's Valley Cosco-sized Granola Bar box and cut it apart on the edges of the box. I then used one of the thin sized and larger sized pieces to make a "pattern" for different sized "planks of wood" which I traced and cut out of the massive amount of U-Haul boxes we have from moving out here. I then cut a large hole in the middle, big enough for the kids to crawl through (it was the "cause" of the ship sinking in the first place...lol) and then drew the nails on. Had to do some extra work to it in order to get it to stand up where I wanted it (and much thanks to my Dad for figuring it all out) but it worked out pretty cool.

I gave the kids some fish masks to wear when they first got here so they had something to play with while we were waiting for everyone else to arrive (besides popping balloons). Not everyone wanted one, but those who did had a blast with them. I didn't get any pictures of the kids with them on at the party, but here's some from today:

Gracie

My niece Mae

After everyone arrived, we played pin the crown on Ariels head. K, the crowns were stickers, so there was no pinning involved, but again-the kids had fun. And again-no pictures of the kids doing this. Gwen's cousins Aidan and Mae came the closest to winning, and whether that's because they're much taller than the other kids, or if it's because they peeked (Mae admitted to peeking) I'm not sure. But I had planned on giving each one of the kids a prize, cause who wants crying kids at a birthday party because they didn't win and someone else did?

So one of the things I thought of were fishing poles. They go along with fish and the sea...or at least, they do in my mind. So we bought a bunch of dowels, some twine, and magnets. Robbie drilled a hole through the top of the dowel and then tied the twine through and around the hole to get it to stay. The kids were thrilled, and even more excited when I told them that they were each going to get 2 fish and get to color them too (with some cool paint markers) and then take them home. We ordered some wooden fish from Woodworks Ltd. (http://www.craftparts.com/) cause they have all sorts of cool stuff for your home, toys or crafts. The magnets were adhesive on one side, so I just cut them up and stuck a small magnet on both sides of the fish. Well, we tried using a paper clip at first as the hook for the fishing pole, but that didn't work, so we ended up cutting more magnets and sticking them together with the string inbetween the two, and that worked out pretty good. Here's some pics of the finished fish.

Gwen's fish

Gracie's fish

After painting the fish, we went on a treasure hunt. We started out in the family room, and I read them the first clue (I made them all up, thank you): By all the shoes...Is the front door...That's where your clue is...It will tell you more. They ran to the door, found the clue, and I read the second clue to them: You'll find the next clue...On a chair...In the room with the big table (the Dining Room)...If you dare. So the kids searched each chair and found the clue which I then read to them. The third clue: In the kitchen closet...Is your next clue...It will tell you...What to do. By this time we had a few tears from some of the kids because they hadn't found a clue yet (other kids got to them first) but most were still having fun. The fourth clue: In the book room (Living Room/Library)...Is a special piano seat...The clue there...Will help you find your treat. The kids got all excited when they heard the word treat and the tears were forgotten as they raced to find the next clue. Clue 5: Find the sunken ship (hahaha...there was a reason for me making that other than using it for a decoration!!)...It has something to hide...Crawl through it's hole...And find what's inside. And hidden behind the sunken ship...a treasure chest full of goody bags!! Woo hoo!!

But that's not all that I had planned. I let the kids have their gift bags before we were finished because we needed SOMETHING to put the pinata candy in. Hooray for pinatas!! I got a shark pinata because in the Little Mermaid movie, Ariel is in a sunken ship when she and Flounder have to fight off and run away from a shark. Also thought a shark would be cool since we got rubber shark tooth necklaces for the kids goody bags...have to slay a shark in order to get shark teeth!!

Gwen's friend Porter having a turn

Alex and his mom Katie, Grace, Mae, Aidan and Lily (Gwen's hiding on the couch to the side)

Candy Time!!

After the pinata we let Gwen open her presents. And she got some cool stuff too. She got bracelets, a Dora grow it yourself garden, Ariel jellybeans, a decorate your own mirror kit, a magnetic dress up ballerina doll, Ariel stickers and a paint your own princess tea set. Lots of fun times to be had both for her, Gracie and mommy (hahaha...ummm...maybe not so much for me) this week!!

While most of this was going on, my mom was helping out by finishing the cupcakes for me. I decided that with little kids it might be easier to do cupcakes than a normal cake (that, and I forgot to order one ahead of time, so I had to make something anyways). On top of Gwen's cupcake we put an Ariel candle, but on all the other cupcakes we had blue icing, a sweedish fish and some green gummy candy cut to look like seaweed (the red fish swimming through the green seaweed...cool!!). I also used cake decorating gel (blue) to make "waves" on the top of the cupcake. The kids loved them, and even some of the moms had one.

All in all it turned out great, the kids had fun, and I'm glad it's over!! Hooray for some relaxation (ha ha ha ha...like that ever happens!!). So glad my peanut had fun!!!

Hooray For Our Health!!

Georgia is finally feeling better. Her fever broke yesterday, and her appetite is back (she even tried shrimp last night...and love it!!). Thanks to all who prayed for her. It's great to have our happy baby back.

Fever Days

Oh what a couple of miserable days these last few days have been!! We went down to Rutland to visit Rob's parents on Friday, and everything was great! The girls got to spend half the day with Rob's mom, Gwen had a sleep over with her in their princess tent that Marj (Rob's mom) got the girls for Christmas, and we tried making snowmen sugar cookies too. Saturday morning Rob was going with his dad to help out a couple in the ward down there work on their house, so I decided to take the girls to go visit a friend of ours. We stayed there until nap time, then headed back to Rob's parents house. When we got there, we fed Georgia, and then went up the hill to go visit Rob's Nana. Rob collected some snow and Nana Jane boiled some maple syrup and the girls and Rob all had sugar on snow. We went home to have dinner and baths, and that's when I started to notice that something was going on with Georgia. She felt a little warm, and was a bit fussy, but I didn't think too much about it. I thought it was just because she was teething three teeth and just let it go. Marj and I headed out for a girls night out (Stampin Up party...whoop whoop) and forgot about it.

Big mistake.

We got home, Gwen and Georgia were asleep, I put Grace to sleep, and we went to bed. About 1-1:30 am, Georgia woke up and wanted to be held. And she was burning up. Her forhead felt like it was on fire. We stripped her down, got her to go back to sleep, and Robbie (what a man!!) ran down to Rutland and back (a 30 minute round trip) to get some Tylenol for her. So, we were both up until about 3 am with her. The next morning I opted to stay home with Georgia while Rob and his mom took the other two to church. Georgia took a long nap in my arms (she wouldn't let us put her down at all since she was sick), I watched Twilight (yeah!!) and when they all got home we packed up and got ready to head back home. The whole time, Georgia still had a high fever.

And that night was just as bad as the first. Her fever hit a high of 103.5, and it was another long night full of holding her to get her to sleep at all, her tossing and turning and trying to find relief cause the motrin wasn't working as well as the tylenol, and redosing her in the middle of the night and again trying to get her to go back to sleep. And Monday was no better. A fever during the day that went between 100-101, and a fever again of 102-103 at night. Lots of holding, whining, crying, and just plain feeling miserable.

So I finally decided to take Georgia to the doctor today. She hadn't been eating right since she got sick...she was dehydrated...and just so miserable. I thought for sure that she just had a viral thing, and that it would go away on it's own, but since today was day #3 with a fever, and that the tylenol and motrin weren't always giving her much relief, I worried that it might be something else, and made an appointment for 9:30 this morning. And I was there for 3 hours with her...what a nightmare. They took her temperature-101.8, asked a bunch of questions, and then the doctor looked her over. Lungs, ears, nose, throat...all good. No throwing up, coughing, runny nose/congestion, nothing. So they thought that it might be a UTI. Well, they wanted a pee sample to check and see.

Have you ever tried to get a pee sample from a dehydrated 1 year old?

It was awful. I had to hold her, naked, on my lap, and hold a paper cup right up to her in order to catch any pee. We did that for an hour...no pee. They finally understood that Georgia really was dehydrated. So they tried giving her a Pedialyte Otter Pop to suck on in order to get some fluids in her so they could get a sample. It didn't work all that well. So they found a Strawberry flavored Pediasure, screwed a bottle nipple onto the top, and she sucked down the whole 8 ounces. And then we waited for another hour...no pee. So then they decided to use a catheter to get their sample.

I will never, ever, EVER do that to one of my kids again. Never. I cried because of how awful it was. But Georgia got her revenge. They got the catheter halfway in and she decided to pee. They did get a sample, but since the catheter was only halfway in, the tube didn't catch her pee and it sprayed everywhere, including in the nurses face and hair. And the results? Not a UTI. Again, I will take a sample cup home and sit for hours with them at home to get a sample before I will ever do a catheter again.

So they don't know what's going on with her. The doctor was in a consult when we finished with the catheter, so the nurse was supposed to consult with him and then call me to tell me what they were going to do next. No call. They did mention doing a culture from her pee sample to see if anything grew, but they were still supposed to call me and let me know what they planned to do. Argh.

Thankfully, she came home and slept for 3 hours, woke up and things have gone better. Her fever tonight was only 101.2, which is great compared to other nights. She ate a great dinner, and drank about 9 oz for her bedtime bottle, which is only a little less than normal. And then she sat in Rob's arms and acted like a total spaz for about an hour before falling asleep...laughing, talking up a storm, playing peekaboo with her pj pants...what a goof. So I am really hopeful that this is the beginning of the end. And Robbie gave her an awesome blessing last night (again, what a man!!). I know that no matter what she has, she'll get over it and be our healthy, happy baby again soon. Still...fevers stink!!

Family Update

So I know it's been a while since I've done an update, and I feel bad. I just haven't been up for blogging much lately. So here goes an update on all of us.

Georgia is one now. Can't believe my baby is one. So sad. She is eating regular food now (and oh how she eats...I can't believe how much she eats!!) and completely on milk. She is talking more and more. She says daddy and mommy (not dada and momma any more), baby, yeah, bye, hi, and i (when she wants something). She is teething her top two one year molars now, which to me is kind of funny because she still only has three of her four bottom front teeth (one of her teeth on the bottom still hasn't come through). She gave us the greatest blackmail pictures tonight for when she starts dating...he he he. Her diaper got stuck on the handle of my parents Lay-Z-Boy chair (went through a leg and up through the back of her diaper while she was crawling by) and she pulled and yanked and tried so hard to get free. Needless to say, the dipaer started to sag a little thanks to the pulling and yanking and we got some good shots of her cute little bum stuck in the diaper, which was stuck to the chair. Priceless.

Gracie will be 2 1/2 next week. And I finally started potty training her again this week. She's been doing pretty great. She's stayed dry as long as we remember to put her on the potty. And she's so excited and willing to do it. She's had some problems understanding that when she has to go #2 she should do it in the potty too, but she's doing better than Gwen did in the beginning, which has me hoping. I've been working with her on preparing her for preschool in the fall and she has been loving it, especially all the art projects (we include Gwen on the days when she's home from preschool). Today we made snowmen with cotton balls and scrap pieces of fabric and cardstock. Oh, and Grace is still coloring all over herself with whatever she can find. In a weeks time she has colored on her hands and wrists with green and red Sharpies, and colored all over her face (2 days before church, I might add) with a green sharpie.

Gwen is 4 now, and I can't believe it. She started sunbeams at church the first Sunday of January, and she loves it!! She's been telling everyone about it for the past few weeks. She looks forward to church and seeing her friends there, especially since we have invited them all over for Gwen's first ever birthday party on the 30th (of which she is just tickled about). And she still loves preschool, of course. She has tons of friends there (but we as her parents don't know them or their parents at all, so we decided to just invite her church friends to her party, especially since there are only 5 other kids in her Primary class, and there's close to 20 kids in her Preschool class). She is learning so much and always telling us some new fact about an animal or the weather or cars or something. I'll do a post soon about her art work and Grace's (and Georgia's...she drew her first picture yesterday!!).

Oh, and Gwen's latest funny? We were finishing up bath time on Monday night. I was getting Georgia out of the bath, and Gwen and Grace were sitting by the bathroom door waiting and playing with their bath dolls (Disney princess bath dolls...Gwen has an Ariel doll, Grace a Sleeping Beauty doll, and Georgia a Belle doll). They weren't listening to me, so I told them that if they kept it up there would be no story time before bed, and Grace said fine and that she was going to pray to Jesus for a Sleeping Beauty mommy. Gwen said no Grace, because then they would have two mommies and they would have to send the Sleeping Beauty mommy back to Jesus. Grace said she wouldn't do that, and then Gwen..."Well Grace, Jesus is not a fairy, and he does not have wings, so you can't do that." Wow. Got a good laugh out of that.

Rob is doing okay. He's trying to find things to do with all his free time now. Since we are on unemployment there have been some benefits, but you can tell that the lack of a job is wearing on him. He goes online multiple times a day to check for new job listings, checks different companies all over the country, and applies for everything he can. We haven't had a single call or interview or email since September. There is a chance that the company Robbie was working for before the layoff will hire him back on in the spring when work picks back up, but we haven't heard for sure, so again-life is up in the air. Rob has been helping me out a lot though, and it's great to spend time together. He's been working out more, helping my parents around the house and running errands, and writing a lot. He is also having a good time serving as the 1st counselor in the Young Men's presidency.

Me? Umm...without going into too much detail, I am still having a really hard time-more than I've let on to anyone. I have been struggling like crazy with our situation, and while I am so grateful for what we have, for our families who are helping us out so much, for food and a place to live...my feelings have turned to anger and bitterness and sadness and loss of faith and hope. Things got bad for a while, and they are still not good. I am still struggling, having a hard time getting past my doubts and feelings. But I am changing what I do each day, spending more time praying and reading scriptures...playing with my kids and trying to strenghten my relationship with my husband and with the Lord. And like today, there are still bad days...but I am trying so hard.

And I am having happier days. I decided to write out a daily schedule for myself, just to help me get up and do more each day and turn the TV off. Between the good food and the lack of desire, I have gained weight. So now, each morning, I get up, read my scriptures, say prayers, get ready for the day. For two hours in the morning I do preschool, art, and reading with the girls. I exercise for an hour during nap time in the afternoon. And during the remainder of my afternoon I find time to do things for myself. I make time at night for more scriptures and prayers. And as I'm changing things, I'm feeling happier and better.

That's it for now, I guess. As more happens, I'll try harder to keep updating. Thanks to all who have kept us in your prayers.

Gwen's Birthday Photos

Today was Gwen's 4th birthday!! We celebrated the day at home with just our little family and my sister Melissa, and had a wonderful night. Gwen guarded her presents from her sisters so they wouldn't open them by "accident" and we had Gwen's favorite for dinner-spaghetti. After dinner was cleaned up Gwen finally got to open her presents and then we had cake. We had a wonderful night with our little peanut...and Gwen is so excited to have her first birthday party at the end of the month. Our peanut is getting older...sniff!!

Gwen wearing Georgia's Happy First Birthday hat, and loving it!

A new outfit for her baby doll.

Opened a lot of cards...and got some money to go pick out a toy/clothes herself!

A new outfit.

Gigi and Pappy's gift...a learning blanket (has snaps, buttons, hooks, laces, velcro, zipper, and other things to help teach Gwen)

Barbie house accessories for...

...a Barbie house, which we found at Once Upon A Child WITH tons of accessories and a car...for $25. In good condition too...what a good deal.

Grace and Gwen playing with the Barbie house.


Some of the accessories that came with Gwen's Barbie house.

Gwen's butterfly cake...all from my imagination : )

Blowing out the candle...what a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday To Gwen!!

Happy Birthday my peanut!! Today you turn 4! How did you grow so fast? The older you get, the older I feel. Right now you are getting ready to go to preschool, all dressed up for your birthday. You're so excited that you don't even want to eat your breakfast!!

How can it be 4 years ago that Daddy and I were in a hospital in Montana, looking at your sweet face and marveling at our new baby girl. I couldn't believe how tiny you were. You were definately our little peanut, not just in nickname but in size. When we dressed you in your coming home outfit we realized that we would have to buy some preemie sized cloths for you because you just disappeared in your 0-3 month cloths!! You were only 5 pounds 8 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long-tiny!!

And then you were 1 year old. I remember looking back then at all that had happened to you that year...light therapy for jaundice, a move east and another move back out west, crawling, walking, all your firsts. So many new things you tried to do, and each one we watched with joy as you learned. We had friends and relatives over for your birthday and how fun it was to watch you eat your cake. We had to help you at first, but then you got the hang of it. You may have been a year old, but you were still a little peanut. In one year you gained 10 pounds 10 ounces and grew 11 inches.

Before we knew it, you were 2. I couldn't believe that another year had passed so quickly for you. And so much happened!! You had a new sister, had gone through another move (only down the street though), many trips to different places-some near, some far, and family coming to visit us. You were talking more, running all over the place, climbing, coloring, painting, learning shapes, numbers, colors and letters. You also started nursery which you looked forward to every week. We spent your birthday with Nana at Uncle Quinn's and Aunt Diana's house because of your new cousin. We even took you sledding for your birthday. I had so much fun making your crayon cake. This year you gained 5 pounds 14 ounces and grew 5 1/2 inches.

And then you were 3!! Goodness how fast time passed again. And so many things happened this year too. You had another new sister (born the day before your birthday), we moved to a new church building, you had friends come and go but always had someone to play with. You learned more and more about the world, writing, reading and art. You started doing pretend play with your toys and dressing up. We had a big family reunion with my family this year where you got to spend time with cousins and aunts and uncles that you hadn't seen in years. We had more visits from family, and took more visits to see family. We spent your birthday with Nana Sessions again but at our house-what a fun Tinkerbell birthday!! During this year you gained 3 pounds and grew 1 3/4 inches taller.

And now you're 4. You are so big now!! It seems crazy that so much time has passed with you, but it's only the beginning. And you've gone through so much again this year! Finally being potty trained. A big move cross country, with lots of stops to see new things. Visiting family that you hadn't seen since you were 11 months old. Going to an amusement park and riding on all the rides-you really liked that. Going to preschool-one of your favorites this year. Your first field trip and finally spending holidays with family. You remember so much that I can't believe the things you tell me about. This year you gained 3 pounds and grew 1 1/2 inches. You're so outgoing, funny, full of joy and happiness. You're friendly to everyone and full of so much love. You are and forever will be our little peanut, no matter how much you grow up. We love you peanut...I love you. Happy Birthday sweet baby!!