Happy Festivus

For all of you non Seinfeld fans, Festivus is a holiday for the rest of us. We did not have a traditional Festivus dinner. I don't think Frank would consider Pizza Hut appropriate for Festivus and there were no Feats of Strength. I was too tired from shopping. I do have a few grievances to air. I'll start with the Jonas Brothers, who thought today would be a good day to go shopping at North Park, at 3:00 in the afternoon. Two days before Christmas, really?
Blake and I were there to pick up a couple of last minute things. It never seems like Christmas to me unless I do some shopping the last couple of days before Christmas. I need just a little of the madness. I did not need a couple of hundred screaming tweens chasing security with their phones trying to get pictures. I also did not need entire sections of the mall blocked off while they walked from store to store.
On the up side, I did run into one of my dearest friends, whom I don't get to see nearly enough of, so there was a bright side to my trip. I also ran into a neighboor who had the same shopping idea I did and we both wondered why we were so far from home and who really cared about the Jonas Brothers. Later it was a little exciting. Our little brush with fame.
There, grievances aired. Happy Festivus and Merry Christmas Eve, Eve.

Pictures with Santa

We have seen Santa twice this year. Once at Breakfast with Santa at Campbell's school and once at Safety Town. Both times Campbell has been excited to go and wanted to see Santa, until we got there. She has yet to tell him what she wants. I assume he will bring her what he thinks she wants (and I suspect it will be something she loves). I've decided not to drag the kids to mall, since I know Campbell won't sit in his lap when we get there. I am considering taking Blake on Wednesday, so that we have pictures of his first Christmas. Here are our pictures so far...


Breakfast with Santa - Blake was asleep and Campbell did not want to be there


Safety Town

Can I pull this?

As good as it gets

Trail of Terror

This morning I sat down to quickly catch up on my emails and track a couple of things that I ordered for Campbell's birthday. I needed less than ten minutes at the computer. Campbell was upstairs playing Barbies and Brandt was cleaning and vacuuming, yes vacuuming (with a Dust Buster, but still vacuuming) his room. I put Blake down to play with some toys, about two feet in front of me. After about five minutes, I realized Blake was gone and I went in search of him. This is what I found...

He had been under the tree

And in the laundry room

Hi mommy

And he was off to the bedroom

He won't be getting toys for Christmas, he prefers to play with the doorstops

Brandt and Campbell both always preferred to play right where we were. I've never had an explorer child, but this one will not stay put. You can't take your eyes off of him for even a minute. I guess it's time to baby proof the whole downstairs.

A New Look

After almost a year, I decided it was time for a change. There are so many backgrounds to pick from, it took me forever to choose one and I did not realize how many other things it would effect. I had to change all of the font colors so that you could still read everything, change the banner (which I am still not happy with), and I changed the font to one that I think is a little easier to read. It does not help that all of the code to change things is written in a combination of HTML and Java. My knowledge of both is self taught and I have to look up every other line to see where my error is and how to fix it. I'll get it all fixed in the next few days and we'll have a whole new look.

Gingerbread Houses

The teachers have come up with some pretty creative ways to get through this last week before winter break. Yesterday the first graders got to build gingerbread houses at school. We spread frosting, stuck on graham crackers and put lots and lots of candy all over. We also spent a lot of time trying to keep fingers out of frosting cans, candy out of mouths and the crackers stuck on the houses after the candy was on them. The kids had a great time and most of the parents did too. Our house made it until after dinner before the kids started to disassemble and eat it!

Spreading the icing on

Checking out some friends work

The finished house

Brandt's Class

The silly pose

Time to eat it

Movin' On Up

Monday night Blake moved upstairs to his crib. It was a long night for Daddy, who was the one who had to get up with him every time he woke up, but we made it through. Last night he woke up less and went back to sleep on his own. Now he has been sleeping for 12 hours and is still asleep. I even went to check on him to make sure he was okay and breathing and he is fine, all curled up on his tummy in the corner of his bed. Our worst sleeper may turn into our best sleeper!

Elfie Is Here

Some genius (who obviously has small kids) created the Elf on the Shelf. At Christmas your elf comes to live at your house and watches you during the day and then at night goes back to the North Pole to report to Santa. He will tell Santa if you have been naughty or nice then he comes back to your house and the next morning is waiting for you in a different place. You can talk to him and tell him your Christmas wishes, but you can never touch him or his magic will go away. The kids have seen him move or wink no less than ten times in the hour and a half since they spotted him. You have to give him a name and we settled on Elfie. They are so excited to see where Elfie will be when they wake up in the morning. If this works, next year Elfie may come shortly after the 4th of July!

I'm Spying On You

Will has a habit of falling asleep on his back, which is fine until I want to go to sleep. Then I have to get him to roll over so that he doesn't snore. As long as he is not flat on his bask, he rarely snores. The problem is, he is usually somewhere in between sleep, dreaming and semi-awake when I start nudging him to roll over. Sometimes I get lots of grunting, sometimes I get a mad What?, sometimes he just rolls over. The really fun times are when he is dreaming and I get part of the dream. Things like "Did Taylor get a new high school?" and "Why did you put an outlet there?." It's usually a question or a sentence or two as he rolls over and it never makes any sense.
Last week he looked at me dead serious and said "Are you a spy? Don't take our cheese fry technology." I started laughing and couldn't stop and he got mad at me for laughing at him (but he did roll over). He never remembers these conversations in the morning, but I get some good laughs. And watch out - your cheese fries are at risk!

Weekend Over, Finally

Tree up and decorated, check
Outside decorations up, check
Campbell's Star of the Week Poster, check
Pipe cleaner Eiffel Tower for Brandt, check
Breakfast with Santa, check
7 year old birthday party, check
Christmas party and dinner with girlfriends, check
One tired weekend over - We had one busy weekend, but it was fun. October, November and December are always crazy busy months. I was behind on getting Christmas decorating done and this weekend was Campbell's school fundraiser - Breakfast with Santa. In a moment of weakness I volunteered to be the craft room coordinator, which meant I spent Friday setting up the kid's crafts rooms. Breakfast was fun, but Campbell wanted nothing to do with Santa. Afterwards we cleaned up the craft rooms and rushed over to a birthday party for one of Brandt's classmates. In the middle of all this, I was still trying to get this Christmas decorations out.
Sunday we finished the tree, Will did the outside decorations and we did our school projects. A Star of the Week "All About Me" poster for Campbell and an Eiffel Tower out of pipe cleaners for Brandt's study of students and cultures around the world.

It took about five minutes for Blake to find the tree

Can I play here?

Waiting to see Santa - Blake was asleep

I will not sit with him

Merry Moose Antlers

Who Says It Doesn't Snow In Texas?

December Is Here

Yes, December is here which means Christmas is right around the corner. My neighbors have all been busy putting up their outside lights and many of them have Christmas trees in their windows. I would guess that many more have Christmas trees in their family rooms where we can't see them. And us? Not one decoration, not one light, not a thing. To tell the truth, my Halloween decorations are still sitting packed in their tubs in the dining room, waiting to be put back in the closet. My storage closet has a couple of Santa presents between the door and the back of the stairs where the decorations go. I need to clean up the closet (when the kids are not around) so that I can switch out the Halloween boxes for the Christmas boxes and get started with decorating the house. That's a good excuse, right? And our tree is still in storage.
The kids ask everyday when we can decorate, so today I let them do a craft to buy myself some time. They colored and decorated ornaments that I bought at Michael's. We put their name and the year on them, so that in ten years they can look at them and ask why I am still hanging them on the tree. I'll always think they're adorable.

Scoots

On Thursday Blake was still spinning on his tummy in circles. Friday morning we got up early and went to play. I put him down on the carpet and spread out some toys. He looked around and went straight for the leftover sale circulars. He picked the closest one and off he went, scooting towards it. He practiced all day and by today he was scooting like a pro and even getting on his hands and knees a little and rocking. He will probably be crawling by Christmas.
We also have been practicing sitting and he can sit all by himself now. He sits and plays with his toys and looks around. He is learning so much, so fast now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Teeth

Last night while Blake was chewing on my hand, I noticed he kept biting on the other side of his mouth. After wrestling him down a bit and getting him under the lamp, I could see it - tooth number 2 is here! He now has his two front, bottom teeth. This is the one on his left and if he bites you now, it really hurts! The first tooth is about one third of the way in and it is really sharp. He bites, pulls hair and grabs your neck - if he was in school, I would be getting calls from the principal. We are hoping he outgrows it.

Mommy for Hire

Campbell can play in her room for hours. She plays all kinds of things, but this involves taking every toy, doll, dress up item and usually quite a few of her actual clothes out and scattering them all over her room. After a couple of days of playing like this in her room, it is past her ability to clean up. Mommy has to clean up, put everything back in its place and get everything back in order. Her room has been in need of a Mommy cleaning for about a week.
Today she went to play at her BFF Brooklyn's house. When she got there, apparently Brooklyn's room wasn't as clean as she thought it should be. She told Brooklyn "I can have my Mom come over and clean it up for you." Brooklyn's mom overheard and called to see when I would be coming over.

What I Remember

Ten years ago today the Aggie Bonfire fell at 2:42 am, killing 12 students. Every Aggie remembers exactly where they were when they first heard the news, exactly how they felt when they saw the first images and probably what they did that entire day.
I remember Dori coming to tell me that Bonfire had fallen and my first thought was again? Bonfire fell in 1994, my senior year. The centerpole snapped and the entire stack tipped over. I don't even remember if there were injuries, it was simply taken down and rebuilt - in three days. Aggies can accomplish just about anything when they want to.
As I turned on the TV and saw the images on every channel, I quickly realized this was nothing like before. They were already reporting dozens injured and some deaths. I didn't know what to do and I had to go to work. Soon after I got to work, my friend Jeff, who worked for a dealership just down the street, arrived with coffee and muffins. He was a year younger than me, a Beta at A&M and although we didn't know each other in school, we had mutual friends and had become friends through work. We sat in the kitchen and watched the coverage. By 10:00, my friend Clint, who worked upstairs, had wandered down to see how I was doing. Clint didn't even go to A&M, but he had tons of friends from high school who did and he had been to visit plenty of times. By lunch, I went home for the day. I was so torn as to what to do. They were asking people to stay away, but like everyone else, I had such a strong need to be with other Aggies, to be in College Station. It was a Thursday and I wasn't supposed to leave for Thanksgiving until the next week. I decided to stay and attended a candle light service at Highland Park United Methodist Church that night. It was a silent service, just a place to gather and reflect and pray - giving Aggies a place to be together. HPUMC is huge church and it was standing room only.
As the news sunk in and the weekend came Aggies were still sticking together. You would find yourself talking to anyone with a ring on everywhere you went, just to have contact with someone who felt the same way you did.
Like most Saturday nights, I was out with my girlfriends, at our usual places. Shannon decided we would wander across the street to The Beagle, not a regular spot for us. The girls teased me a little, knowing my love of Three's Company (I still watch the reruns when Blake and I are up late at night). We saw a few friends, hung a out a little while and soon I was approached by a guy with an Aggie ring. We talked about Bonfire, the fact that I was going to CS the next week and I went over to his friends (one of which I had been eyeing since we walked in). I talked to Kelly a little more, managed to change the pace and start talking to Will instead and by the end of the night had switched numbers with him. I like to think that good did come out of Bonfire. Will and I might have met another time and place. We hung out at a lot of same the places, but The Beagle was most appropriate.
The next week I did go to College Station. I went to the game and watched A&M beat Texas. We sat on the third deck of the zone. It's probably the only time I ever sat on the third deck in my life. I remember the Texas fans sitting next to us wearing maroon ribbons on their shirts. I remember the flyover with the jets in missing man formation and it being almost too much to handle. I remember Ja'Mar Toombs scoring a touchdown and tears running down his face in the endzone. There were lots of tears during the game. The Aggies played with heart and the Longhorns players and fans showed nothing but sympathy and class.
I hate to think that there will never be another Bonfire on campus. I went to Bonfire for years. I have so many great memories of going and then finally being old enough to go by myself and then taking Rachel and Ryan. I would hate to never be able to take my own kids.
Everyone seems to be writing blogs and Facebook posts about Bonfire today. Something about ten years and it still seeming like yesterday just makes you need you to say you didn't forget.
Ten years later and I still have not been to the Bonfire Memorial. Maybe I'll take the kids next week...

http://bonfire.tamu.edu/

Field Trip

Today was Brandt's first Field Trip of the year. We went to Safety Town to learn all about pedestrian and driver safety. If Brandt wasn't a backseat driver before, he is going to be now. They learned all about what traffic lights and signs mean, when it is safe to cross the street, and how to use crosswalk signs. They also got a tour of the fire engines and equipment and learned how the firemen keep the station clean and ready to leave as soon as there is an emergency.
At the end of the trip they got to drive the jeeps around and practice what they learned. Some where better drivers than others, but Brandt did a great job!

On the bridge above the fire trucks


Checking out the antique fire engine


Watch me drive an ambulance


In front of the tool wall


This coat is heavy!


Brandt and Max - Ready to go




Waiting for the light to change

Here is the link to all the pictures:
http://msreedsclass.shutterfly.com/

If you are curious, Courtney is in the pink coat with glasses.

Sex on the Playground

Yesterday when I picked Brandt up from school, Ms. Reed whispered to me that Brandt had said sex on the playground at recess. She said it wasn't a big deal, she had explained to him that it was not an appropriate word to use at school.
Maybe it was no big deal to her, but I was more than a little curious. Where did he hear this? In what context did he use it? Was I about to have a conversation I was NOT ready have with a six year old? Did I need to check his internet history again? He knows where he is allowed to go, but had he been searching for Kim Kardashian again?
Now I do remember a time when Ryan was probably three or four and came home school and announced to Rebecca in the middle of dinner "I know you and Daddy sex each other." The immediate question was, "Oh really, how?" To which, he responded "Because I've seen you." After much discussion we determined that to him, sexing each other was hugging and kissing - thank goodness. So I thought there might be an easy explanation.
I started the conversation in the car on the way home. Who did you play with at recess? Max. What did you guys play? Blue Angels. And he proceeded to tell me all about the Blue Angles. who Max saw at an air show a couple of weeks ago. Clearly there was no sex in this conversation.
I changed my tactic and asked him if Ms. Reed talked to him about a word that he was not supposed to use at school. He told me that he was playing with Courtney and Sofia and Courtney told him that he was a "sassy boy". Since he wasn't sure what that was, he asked her. She told him that he was a sassy boy, but he should be a "sexy cat" (and he is spelling it s-e-x-y). He did a cat move and asked her if it was sexy and she told Ms. Reed that he said sex.
That is his version anyway. I asked him if he knew what sexy meant and he said it meant pretty. We talked about not saying this anymore at school and I asked him if he had any questions. We left it at that.
The fun things we learn at school!

Comparing the Kids

I am well aware of the fact that each child is an individual and develops at their own pace. I am only comparing them for fun. They are definitely very different children!

At seven months, Brandt had six teeth, was sitting really well and of course he had all that hair!







Campbell had no teeth, was pulling up and standing and had hardly any hair. She loved her binkie so much we clipped it to her clothes. She just gave that binkie up two weeks ago.







Blake has one tooth, doesn't really sit and has a little hair. He does scoot around on his tummy pretty well and he can scream and grunt like nobody's business.








Brandt slept through the night at about six weeks, Campbell most nights at about nine months, but was only waking up once after about four months. At seven months, Blake still gets up every four to five hours. Brandt and Campbell both slept in their own rooms from day one and Campbell didn't even have a baby monitor because she could scream (she still can). Blake still sleeps in our room and after about 3:00 am, sleeps in our bed (something I said I would NEVER do!)
I wonder what he will be doing at one year?

Writing My Name

When Brandt was two, he started preschool three days a week and he stayed in preschool until he went to Kindergarten. He needed it for the socialization and he was learning quite a bit too. It didn't really occur to me to put Campbell in school until this year. She's plenty social and I was already at home, so I just kept her with me. This year she started school two days a week and she really loves it. She is learning her letters, and how to recognize her numbers. She could already count to about 14, but now with very little help she can count to thirty. She could say her ABCs, but now she recognizes some of the letters as well.
I think at almost four Brandt could do all of these things and more because he was learning them at school. I haven't spent as much time as I should have with Campbell working on writing.
This morning while I was getting dressed, I gave her a piece of paper with her name printed on it to see if she could write her name. She traced her letters and then wrote her own name. Here is her work:



Not bad for her first try!

Things I Can Recite

Last week Brandt started spelling tests at school. They have a pretest on Monday when they get their new list and then their test is on Friday. The list is only 10 words and they are things like mad, dad, flat, hat, was. There are also five challenge words. This week's challenge words were pattern, ladder, subtraction, community and liquid. Pattern and ladder were from the weeks rime patterns (whatever that is) and the other three are from the content word bank.
I am a terrible speller so I have no idea what the best way to help him study is. Each night I call out the words and he spells them out loud. We do the challenge words too and then let him look at the list. We go over them a couple of times because even I had trouble spelling subtraction out loud.
This morning on the way to school we went over the list one final time. He had his list down pat and I decided to focus on pattern, ladder and liquid because subtraction and community for a first grader? I mean really!
This afternoon while we were waiting in carpool line, Campbell was playing in the back of the car and I heard pattern - rsqkle. Liquid - fgriQUkl. At least she got the qu rule. Ladder - ardkgtur, community - fhrtmdre, subtraction - lkrtfgnb and on she went, reciting his spelling list. Maybe we practiced a bit too much? Sometimes her memory amazes me.

Tooth Number 1

Blake has his first tooth! Well, sort of. It is barely through the skin, so you can feel the ridges in the top if you run your nail over his gums. It is still hard to feel with your finger, but he will bite you if you let him. It is on the bottom, on his right side. This explains the extra grumpy mood he has been in the past couple of days. He is a fussy baby, but the past two days have been especially fussy! He hasn't wanted to eat as much and has been fighting taking a bottle. Hopefully he will feel better in a couple of days as it pushes through.

Last night Brandt noticed that one of his top teeth is loose. He is pretty excited. Most of his friends have already lost one or both of their top teeth. It has some time, but it starting to get wiggly. One comes in, one falls out. We are going to keep the Tooth Witch busy for a while!

Happy Halloween!!

This is my last Halloween post, I promise! On Saturday we decorated Halloween cookies and then went trick or treating with Oma while Daddy stayed home to hand out candy.
Yes, Blake had three costumes. His costume was the spider costume that he wore to Safety Town, but when he sat down, it was to puffy. The frog costume was Brandt's first Halloween costume and the puppy was one that I bought for Brandt and it was too small for him by Halloween.

Here are our pictures...

Campbell's Halloween Party, Part 2

If you would like to see all of the pictures from Campbell's school Halloween Party, here is the link:

http://misspeggyspk3class.shutterfly.com/

The password is peggy, in all lowercase.
There are 166 pictures, I got a little carried away. Will bought me a new speedlight flash for my camera for our anniversary and I am having a great time with it!

Safety Town

Last Friday Night we went trick or treating at Safety Town with our friends the Booths. Brooklyn is Campbell's BFF. Her brother, Logan and sister, Madison came along with her mom, dad and her mom's twin sister. We had quite a crew!
Daddy volunteered at the Pulte house and handed out candy. We love Safety Town and go every year at Halloween and Christmas. Brandt thinks that Daddy built Safety Town, as Pulte built several of the buildings. Campbell thinks Daddy works at Safety Town because he is volunteering when we are there.
Enjoy our pictures!



Here is a link if you are curious about Safety Town: http://www.ci.frisco.tx.us/safetytown/Pages/default.aspx