We had a fun little Easter egg hunt in our living room on Sunday. The boys got new books and some bouncy balls that light up in their Easter baskets this year. In the boys’ preschool class at the YMCA they had talked about the Easter bunny and made fun little Easter basket and bunny art projects. So, on Easter morning Michael took the boys in their room to play with them while I put out their baskets and hid the eggs. After we took some pictures of them all in their white shirts and ties (of course, we had to take a lot of pictures to get a few that were good of all four boys, but I think we got some pretty cute ones), they came out and were excited about the toys and the eggs. Kolby then asked me when the Easter bunny was coming. I told him that the Easter bunny must have already come and left all the eggs, so then Kolby asked if we could call the Easter bunny. I told him that we didn’t have his phone number. Apparently I should have taken the boys to see the Easter bunny at the mall, because Kolby was expecting to see the Easter bunny at our house that morning. (Actually, the boys are lucky that they got what they did for Easter this year. Although we definitely knew that Easter was coming up, Michael and I have been so focused on Match Day last week that we didn’t even think of getting candy and other things for the baskets until a couple of days before Easter). [Oh, and thanks, Mom, for the Elmo Easter baskets – they were a big hit with the boys!]
Showing posts with label YMCA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YMCA. Show all posts
25 March 2008
24 March 2008
Kolby and Eli with Miss Mary Kate
Kolby and Eli finished up their preschool session at the YMCA on Friday last week. There is a spring break this week and another session of classes starts up next week, but we are going to take a break for now. With the move we probably won’t be here through the end of the next school session, and I’ve been wanted to start up a weekly playgroup again too. (But, honestly, we are mostly taking a break because over the last couple of months I have come to dread Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays because I have to get up before the sun comes out to get the kids all ready to go, wake up the babies, get them all fed, changed, and dressed, and take all the boys out in the freezing cold all the time, and I need a break for a while). Kolby and Eli had their picture taken with their teacher, Miss Mary Kate, on their last day. The boys do love their classes, and we will look into finding some classes for them to take again when we get to Salt Lake.
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02 March 2008
Swimming, Zoo Trips, Potty Training, and Car Seats in Church
This week the boys enjoyed their preschool class. Kolby and Eli love their classes, and on Friday I even got motivated and took all 4 boys and worked out during their classes. Camden and Isaac went to their kid care, and I used the elliptical machine for a while. Afterwards I picked up the boys and it was all I could do to keep Camden from joining in with Kolby and Eli in their gym class. That was a fun morning.
On Tuesday it was Camden’s night out with Daddy and they went to the YMCA in Menomonee Falls because it has a nice kid’s swimming area with a little wading pool and slide. Unfortunately there was a problem with their heating system in that room that evening, so they got moved into the lap pool. Camden wasn’t able to go down the baby slide anymore, but they still had a lot of fun. And then on Wednesday night Kolby and Eli had their swimming lessons, and they both did great. Kolby is now able to jump in from the side of the pool without anyone to catch him and he can walk out to the middle of the pool. Eli is still as brave as ever – dunking his entire head under the water over and over. It’s pretty fun to watch.
On Thursday we had an Enrichment activity at Catherine Call’s house sharing all of our favorite children’s books, which was nice to have a night away from the kids. I enjoyed remembering the books that we loved as children and thinking about which ones I would like to add to our collection for our kids. Then on Friday evening we had a ward dessert night at the Spencer’s house and Alicia and Steve Taylor were there too. That was nice to get together with some ‘new’ people, and it was fun to see all the little boys running around together too.
And then yesterday was fun. We went to the zoo in the morning because it was a free zoo day (our membership had expired on Friday). We told the boys that there was going to be a surprise at the zoo (Eli was sure that the surprise was going to be the animals, but Kolby was excited to find out what it would be). When we got there we met our friends, the Hedgecocks, and Kolby was excited that the surprise was his friends, Jordan and Carter, at the zoo with us. My favorite part of the Milwaukee zoo is always the big cat house, because the lions and the cheetahs are always right there in front of the glass and they are usually active and moving around so they are so interesting for the kids to watch. We stopped on our way home and picked up some tennis shoes for Michael since his were getting his feet all wet every time he went out in the snow because he had so many holes in the soles. Then, after naps we took the boys to Denny’s for their kids eat free night. After we got home, picked up around the house, and put the boys to bed, the Kearls joined us for some games.
And today started out with Michael waking me up to help with the other boys because he needed to take care of Eli, who had had an accident. We are working on the potty training with Eli, and he is doing pretty well most of the time. He still wears a diaper at naptime and bedtime, and we have been using pull-ups for school and church (just in case), but during the daytime when we are at home he is just in underwear, and he has only had two accidents since we started this week, so I guess that’s pretty good – we are using less diapers, anyways.
Today went pretty well. After getting the boys ready and making bread, we headed to church. (On the making bread, if anyone has any good suggestions for getting bread to rise well, I would be open to them! I have made bread now every Sunday for the last five weeks and am starting to get a little discouraged. The first time the bread barely rose at all and turned out very thick, the next time it took hours and didn’t rise much but was a little better, another time it rose pretty well and then sunk right before I put them in the oven, last week they rose nicely and then they sunk while they were cooking, and this week they rose ok but still not very high. I know the recipe is good because my mom’s bread turns out great. I have tried letting the bread rise in the oven on “warm,” letting it rise sitting on top of the stove while the oven is on warm, letting it rise on top the stove on a cooking rack, letting it rise while the oven is on higher, and letting it rise just sitting on the counter top. There are just so many things that could be affecting it, and I don’t know which thing it is I need to fix – is the yeast bad? (but it has risen somewhat), am I letting it get too hot or not hot enough while it rises?, am I letting it rise for too long or not long enough?, or is it something totally different that I haven’t even thought of? At least the bread tastes really good and it’s nutritious, but I sure wish that it looked good and it made bigger slices for sandwiches. So, any suggestions would be appreciated!)
Anyways, on the way to church Camden fell asleep in the car, and Michael and I spent the entire ride to church considering options of how we might keep him asleep (church is hard with a child who is too young for nursery, too old to sit still, and too tired because it is right in the middle of naptime). Various ideas were thrown around, including taking a playpen and setting it up in an empty room at church, leaving him in the car, or putting him in the shed out behind the church – but none of these seemed satisfactory (and some rather illegal), so we ended up deciding on carrying his entire car seat in and setting it on the bench next to us. Now, Camden has long outgrown the little infant car seats that are meant to be carried with a child in them, and he is in an upright, forward-facing seat. Michael huffed and puffed and lugged that big old seat into the church building, and Camden actually slept through a good portion of the first meeting. Michael also decided to take a separate container of snacks for each boy to eat, and that actually kept them all entertained for the entire first meeting, which is uncommon. So, other than the fact that Camden can now open doors and escape from the classrooms at church and so the second two hours of church were not the easiest, it was a good day so far. Camden has two more Sundays before he is old enough for nursery class – yeah!!!
Well, only 18 more days until Match Day when we find out where we will be going for the next four years. We are not-so-patiently awaiting that day. So, tonight we are heading over to Amy and Vicente Cortez’ house for dinner, which will be nice since we haven’t had a chance to visit them for a while. We’d better get ready to go to their place now.
On Tuesday it was Camden’s night out with Daddy and they went to the YMCA in Menomonee Falls because it has a nice kid’s swimming area with a little wading pool and slide. Unfortunately there was a problem with their heating system in that room that evening, so they got moved into the lap pool. Camden wasn’t able to go down the baby slide anymore, but they still had a lot of fun. And then on Wednesday night Kolby and Eli had their swimming lessons, and they both did great. Kolby is now able to jump in from the side of the pool without anyone to catch him and he can walk out to the middle of the pool. Eli is still as brave as ever – dunking his entire head under the water over and over. It’s pretty fun to watch.
On Thursday we had an Enrichment activity at Catherine Call’s house sharing all of our favorite children’s books, which was nice to have a night away from the kids. I enjoyed remembering the books that we loved as children and thinking about which ones I would like to add to our collection for our kids. Then on Friday evening we had a ward dessert night at the Spencer’s house and Alicia and Steve Taylor were there too. That was nice to get together with some ‘new’ people, and it was fun to see all the little boys running around together too.
And then yesterday was fun. We went to the zoo in the morning because it was a free zoo day (our membership had expired on Friday). We told the boys that there was going to be a surprise at the zoo (Eli was sure that the surprise was going to be the animals, but Kolby was excited to find out what it would be). When we got there we met our friends, the Hedgecocks, and Kolby was excited that the surprise was his friends, Jordan and Carter, at the zoo with us. My favorite part of the Milwaukee zoo is always the big cat house, because the lions and the cheetahs are always right there in front of the glass and they are usually active and moving around so they are so interesting for the kids to watch. We stopped on our way home and picked up some tennis shoes for Michael since his were getting his feet all wet every time he went out in the snow because he had so many holes in the soles. Then, after naps we took the boys to Denny’s for their kids eat free night. After we got home, picked up around the house, and put the boys to bed, the Kearls joined us for some games.
And today started out with Michael waking me up to help with the other boys because he needed to take care of Eli, who had had an accident. We are working on the potty training with Eli, and he is doing pretty well most of the time. He still wears a diaper at naptime and bedtime, and we have been using pull-ups for school and church (just in case), but during the daytime when we are at home he is just in underwear, and he has only had two accidents since we started this week, so I guess that’s pretty good – we are using less diapers, anyways.
Today went pretty well. After getting the boys ready and making bread, we headed to church. (On the making bread, if anyone has any good suggestions for getting bread to rise well, I would be open to them! I have made bread now every Sunday for the last five weeks and am starting to get a little discouraged. The first time the bread barely rose at all and turned out very thick, the next time it took hours and didn’t rise much but was a little better, another time it rose pretty well and then sunk right before I put them in the oven, last week they rose nicely and then they sunk while they were cooking, and this week they rose ok but still not very high. I know the recipe is good because my mom’s bread turns out great. I have tried letting the bread rise in the oven on “warm,” letting it rise sitting on top of the stove while the oven is on warm, letting it rise on top the stove on a cooking rack, letting it rise while the oven is on higher, and letting it rise just sitting on the counter top. There are just so many things that could be affecting it, and I don’t know which thing it is I need to fix – is the yeast bad? (but it has risen somewhat), am I letting it get too hot or not hot enough while it rises?, am I letting it rise for too long or not long enough?, or is it something totally different that I haven’t even thought of? At least the bread tastes really good and it’s nutritious, but I sure wish that it looked good and it made bigger slices for sandwiches. So, any suggestions would be appreciated!)
Anyways, on the way to church Camden fell asleep in the car, and Michael and I spent the entire ride to church considering options of how we might keep him asleep (church is hard with a child who is too young for nursery, too old to sit still, and too tired because it is right in the middle of naptime). Various ideas were thrown around, including taking a playpen and setting it up in an empty room at church, leaving him in the car, or putting him in the shed out behind the church – but none of these seemed satisfactory (and some rather illegal), so we ended up deciding on carrying his entire car seat in and setting it on the bench next to us. Now, Camden has long outgrown the little infant car seats that are meant to be carried with a child in them, and he is in an upright, forward-facing seat. Michael huffed and puffed and lugged that big old seat into the church building, and Camden actually slept through a good portion of the first meeting. Michael also decided to take a separate container of snacks for each boy to eat, and that actually kept them all entertained for the entire first meeting, which is uncommon. So, other than the fact that Camden can now open doors and escape from the classrooms at church and so the second two hours of church were not the easiest, it was a good day so far. Camden has two more Sundays before he is old enough for nursery class – yeah!!!
Well, only 18 more days until Match Day when we find out where we will be going for the next four years. We are not-so-patiently awaiting that day. So, tonight we are heading over to Amy and Vicente Cortez’ house for dinner, which will be nice since we haven’t had a chance to visit them for a while. We’d better get ready to go to their place now.
17 December 2007
Odds and Ends from this Week
So, today is Michael’s ninth day in a row of traveling for interviews. I am very excited for him to come home late tonight. Since last Sunday he has been to Danville Pennsylvania, Milwaukee, Chicago, and he is in LA today. The interview that he missed last week in Spokane, Washington because of all the flight cancellations has been rescheduled for next month too. He has one more interview on Thursday this week in Salt Lake, and then he will be done until the beginning of January, so that will be a nice break for a little while.
I already posted several things this last week about Isaac’s trip to the emergency room and my car troubles, so there wasn’t too much more that happened this week that was very exciting. Isaac, by the way, hasn’t had any more problems since the day before we took him to the hospital – so I guess that he grew out of it like they hoped he would and he won’t be needing surgery. I’m still surprised that he recovered so abruptly, but I am definitely grateful that he did.
This week Kolby did get to go to a children’s primary Christmas activity at the church. He came home with a jar of chocolate chip cookie ingredients that he had put together. I was also able to take Kolby and Eli swimming at the YMCA again, and Debbie was nice enough to watch Camden and Isaac for me to do that. This time we spent a little time in the baby pool so the boys could play on the water slides, but we spent most of our time there in the kid’s pool where the boys practiced jumping in to me, doing ‘bob’s (dunking their heads under the water), floating on their backs, etc. so it was a little closer to what they are used to doing in their swim lessons at home.
I have been able to do a little bit of shopping this week. I got the boys’ Christmas gift the other night at the toy store. And I was also able to find some pants and white shirts for the three older boys so they have something nice to wear for the photos at Jennie’s wedding in a few weeks and they have nice new clothes for church. Before Michael left on his trip we found them all some really cute coordinating sweaters and matching hats. They are so cute that I had to schedule to have the boys’ portraits taken later on this week (they clothes are Christmas gifts, but I really wanted to have their pictures taken in them before they have a chance to wear them around and get them dirty). When we had our family photos taken last month we got a good one of all four boys except Kolby wasn’t smiling, so I am hoping to get one that they all look really good in this time. We’ll see.
Oh, and I think I am going to have to cut Kolby’s hair short. I have been growing the boys’ hair out for the last few months, thinking it might look cute in a little longer style. But it has started to hang in their eyes, so the other day I decided to trim Kolby and Eli’s hair. I trimmed it so it doesn’t hang in their eyes and I tried to even it out in the back so that it didn’t have that “bowl cut” look in the back anymore. It worked pretty well on Eli’s hair, but not so well on Kolby’s. I have been trying to bring myself to fix Kolby’s hair for the last couple of days since I did that, but I know that I will be sad to see him with a shorter haircut – they always look so much older when you cut their hair shorter. But I think I am going to borrow some hair clippers and see what I can do with it. I’m sure he’ll look great with a shorter cut – just maybe not so much like my baby.
This weekend we got to go to the church Christmas party too, which was a Saturday morning breakfast. Santa Claus was there and the boys all sat on his lap while I took pictures. This is the first year that Kolby was old enough to start to grasp the concept of telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He told Santa he wanted a train set with a special bridge. And when Santa asked Eli what he wanted, Eli repeated verbatim what Kolby had asked for. (I guess that makes it easy, since my mom found them a train set for Christmas).
I already posted several things this last week about Isaac’s trip to the emergency room and my car troubles, so there wasn’t too much more that happened this week that was very exciting. Isaac, by the way, hasn’t had any more problems since the day before we took him to the hospital – so I guess that he grew out of it like they hoped he would and he won’t be needing surgery. I’m still surprised that he recovered so abruptly, but I am definitely grateful that he did.
This week Kolby did get to go to a children’s primary Christmas activity at the church. He came home with a jar of chocolate chip cookie ingredients that he had put together. I was also able to take Kolby and Eli swimming at the YMCA again, and Debbie was nice enough to watch Camden and Isaac for me to do that. This time we spent a little time in the baby pool so the boys could play on the water slides, but we spent most of our time there in the kid’s pool where the boys practiced jumping in to me, doing ‘bob’s (dunking their heads under the water), floating on their backs, etc. so it was a little closer to what they are used to doing in their swim lessons at home.
I have been able to do a little bit of shopping this week. I got the boys’ Christmas gift the other night at the toy store. And I was also able to find some pants and white shirts for the three older boys so they have something nice to wear for the photos at Jennie’s wedding in a few weeks and they have nice new clothes for church. Before Michael left on his trip we found them all some really cute coordinating sweaters and matching hats. They are so cute that I had to schedule to have the boys’ portraits taken later on this week (they clothes are Christmas gifts, but I really wanted to have their pictures taken in them before they have a chance to wear them around and get them dirty). When we had our family photos taken last month we got a good one of all four boys except Kolby wasn’t smiling, so I am hoping to get one that they all look really good in this time. We’ll see.
Oh, and I think I am going to have to cut Kolby’s hair short. I have been growing the boys’ hair out for the last few months, thinking it might look cute in a little longer style. But it has started to hang in their eyes, so the other day I decided to trim Kolby and Eli’s hair. I trimmed it so it doesn’t hang in their eyes and I tried to even it out in the back so that it didn’t have that “bowl cut” look in the back anymore. It worked pretty well on Eli’s hair, but not so well on Kolby’s. I have been trying to bring myself to fix Kolby’s hair for the last couple of days since I did that, but I know that I will be sad to see him with a shorter haircut – they always look so much older when you cut their hair shorter. But I think I am going to borrow some hair clippers and see what I can do with it. I’m sure he’ll look great with a shorter cut – just maybe not so much like my baby.
This weekend we got to go to the church Christmas party too, which was a Saturday morning breakfast. Santa Claus was there and the boys all sat on his lap while I took pictures. This is the first year that Kolby was old enough to start to grasp the concept of telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He told Santa he wanted a train set with a special bridge. And when Santa asked Eli what he wanted, Eli repeated verbatim what Kolby had asked for. (I guess that makes it easy, since my mom found them a train set for Christmas).
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13 December 2007
Another Exciting Adventure
I had another 'fun adventure' [can you detect the sarcasm in my voice?] tonight -- we sure have been having our fare share of little adventures lately. So, after taking Kolby and Eli swimming at the YMCA, coaxing them to eat a late dinner, a pretty successful attempt at letting all the boys talk to their cousin Jaden on the webcam, and getting the boys all settled down in bed; Debbie suggested that I could use Dick's car to go to Toys'R'Us and some stores at the mall because she knew I wanted to get a little more Christmas shopping done. Not wanting to waist an opportunity to go get some shopping done without any children in tow, I headed off to Toys'R'Us around 9 pm. I got there and spent a relaxed time walking up and down each aisle (with no children begging to play with the trains, crying, or asking to use the bathroom). It was a nice little excursion and I found just the right set of toys that I was looking for to give the boys for Christmas.
So I went out to the car, considering going across the street to the mall before going home, when I found that I couldn't get the car to start. I couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition. I figured that I just needed to wiggle the key in just the right direction, but that didn't help. After attempting to turn the key while pushing on the brake, turning the steering wheel to either side, turning the key over, pushing the key in as hard as I could, making sure that the car was in park, and saying a prayer that I could get the car to start, I didn't know what else to do.
At this point I had been in the car about half an hour attempting to get the key to turn, so I decided to call Michael's dad to see if he knew any tricks for his car. I went back into the store and asked to use their phone (because Michael has our cell phone while he is on his interview trip right now). I was glad that I was so prepared and kept a little list of phone numbers in my purse for all of our family members. I went to dial Dick and Debbie's number, and realized that it was not correct. I had written those numbers down a couple of years ago, and hadn't used that list of numbers to contact Michael's parents since then because we usually use the cell phone for all of our calls and all the family numbers are programmed into the cell phone. But Dick and Debbie changed their home phone number a few months ago, and the cell phone number I had written down for them was also an old number (all of the other numbers on that list are still current, of course). I also tried calling Michael on the cell phone, but the phone in the store wouldn't let me call long distance. So, not knowing exactly what to do, I went back outside to try the key again.
After a few more unsuccessful attempts, I went back inside. I looked in the phone book, but Dick and Debbie's number in there was not the current one. So I looked up Bryce and Emily Christensen, Michael's old friends from high school, in the phone book and called them to get Dick and Debbie's number. I could tell by Emily's voice that I had woken her up, and by the fact that I could hear her daughter Abby in the background that I had likely woken up their entire family. I felt bad for calling so late (I think it must have been about 10:45 pm by that time), but I was very glad that she was able to find the phone number for me. So, I was able to call and Dick came out to pick me up.
As I was waiting for Dick to come, I was hoping that he would be able to get the car started (although I have to admit that I was dreading the possibility that he would drive all the way out there and turn the key immediately, proving my incompetence when it comes to cars). But when he arrived he couldn't do anything to get the key to turn either (at least it wasn't just me), and he had to call a tow truck. I felt pretty bad -- I don't think that I did anything to make that happen, but I still felt bad that it happened when I had the car. Oh well, at least I was eventually able to find their phone number so that I am not still stuck in a car that won't start, in a freezing parking lot, in a town where I don't know my way around and I only know a handful of people who live here -- thanks for saving me, Emily!
My hope right now is that we will not have any more adventures for a while -- no travel problems, no hospital visits, no car problems, no nothing. We'll see.
So I went out to the car, considering going across the street to the mall before going home, when I found that I couldn't get the car to start. I couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition. I figured that I just needed to wiggle the key in just the right direction, but that didn't help. After attempting to turn the key while pushing on the brake, turning the steering wheel to either side, turning the key over, pushing the key in as hard as I could, making sure that the car was in park, and saying a prayer that I could get the car to start, I didn't know what else to do.
At this point I had been in the car about half an hour attempting to get the key to turn, so I decided to call Michael's dad to see if he knew any tricks for his car. I went back into the store and asked to use their phone (because Michael has our cell phone while he is on his interview trip right now). I was glad that I was so prepared and kept a little list of phone numbers in my purse for all of our family members. I went to dial Dick and Debbie's number, and realized that it was not correct. I had written those numbers down a couple of years ago, and hadn't used that list of numbers to contact Michael's parents since then because we usually use the cell phone for all of our calls and all the family numbers are programmed into the cell phone. But Dick and Debbie changed their home phone number a few months ago, and the cell phone number I had written down for them was also an old number (all of the other numbers on that list are still current, of course). I also tried calling Michael on the cell phone, but the phone in the store wouldn't let me call long distance. So, not knowing exactly what to do, I went back outside to try the key again.
After a few more unsuccessful attempts, I went back inside. I looked in the phone book, but Dick and Debbie's number in there was not the current one. So I looked up Bryce and Emily Christensen, Michael's old friends from high school, in the phone book and called them to get Dick and Debbie's number. I could tell by Emily's voice that I had woken her up, and by the fact that I could hear her daughter Abby in the background that I had likely woken up their entire family. I felt bad for calling so late (I think it must have been about 10:45 pm by that time), but I was very glad that she was able to find the phone number for me. So, I was able to call and Dick came out to pick me up.
As I was waiting for Dick to come, I was hoping that he would be able to get the car started (although I have to admit that I was dreading the possibility that he would drive all the way out there and turn the key immediately, proving my incompetence when it comes to cars). But when he arrived he couldn't do anything to get the key to turn either (at least it wasn't just me), and he had to call a tow truck. I felt pretty bad -- I don't think that I did anything to make that happen, but I still felt bad that it happened when I had the car. Oh well, at least I was eventually able to find their phone number so that I am not still stuck in a car that won't start, in a freezing parking lot, in a town where I don't know my way around and I only know a handful of people who live here -- thanks for saving me, Emily!
My hope right now is that we will not have any more adventures for a while -- no travel problems, no hospital visits, no car problems, no nothing. We'll see.
23 September 2007
One More Week
Well, we’ve got one more week to go before we get through Michael’s Sub-I this month. Michael and I are both counting down the days. He added up the other day, and he will have worked just over 90 hours this week (even though they are not supposed to make you work over 80 hours in a week or over 30 consecutive hours – but Michael has done both several times this month). Michael and I are both pretty worn out after the long hours he has had this month, and really looking forward to a lighter schedule next month! Earlier this week Michael got home after being on call at the hospital for over 30 hours and only getting one hour of sleep in that time, and when he arrived home all the boys were down for their naps, so Michael fell asleep on the couch. Kolby woke up from his nap a little while later, and was so excited to see that Daddy was home, but I told him that Daddy really needed his sleep and not to wake him up. Kolby got a sad look on his face and just laid down on his blanket on the floor next to the couch where Michael was sleeping. Later on I looked over and saw that Kolby was rubbing Michael’s arm – trying to wake him up, I’m sure. It is pretty cute to see how much our boys love their Daddy. I guess we will all be relieved in October when we have more time to spend together as a whole family.
Well, this week went well. Kolby started his preschool classes again at the YMCA, and he is loving both of his classes. He goes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for 2½ hours each day. Also this week the boys started their swim lessons up again. Kolby has his on Wednesday nights and Eli on Thursday nights. They love swimming, and Kolby was excited that his friend from church, Isaac Anderson, is in his class. I went swimming with Eli (even though he really is ready for swim lessons by himself, they keep the kids in parent-child lessons until age 3 at the YMCA). He is amazing in the water – he loves to dunk his head under the water over and over and jump in to me from the edge, and the other night he kept trying to jump away from me and swim on his own. His teacher is the same teacher he had last session, and she commented that he will definitely be ready to take the swim lessons on his own when he is old enough.
Thursday was Camden’s 1st birthday. We had a little party for him the week before, so we didn’t do any big celebrations this week, but several family members called to tell him Happy Birthday, and he got to open a few gifts. That morning I also had my new visiting teachers come for the first time, which was fun. And then in the afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment for some pain I’ve been having in my foot. The doctor sent me upstairs and had an X-ray taken just to see if there might be anything in my foot, and she told me to soak it in warm water each night for a couple weeks and see if that helps. Hopefully that little problem will resolve itself quickly. And then on Friday night we watched Jordan and Carter so that Peter and Cynthia could go on a date, and when they came back they watched our boys while we went and got custard and rented a couple videos. When we came back, our boys were in bed and theirs fell asleep on their laps, and it was nice because they stayed for a bit and we got a chance to just sit and talk for a while.
And yesterday morning we went to the church and I dropped Kolby off for his primary program practice. Eli and Camden and I went and picked up a few things from the grocery store and came back. Kolby has been doing so well lately – he memorized a scripture and had a little line to say in the program, “In primary we learned that faith means trust.” He has been working on memorizing his part for about a month now, and at the program in church this morning he said it, and then gave a huge grin – everyone could tell that he was so proud of himself! Saturday evening we went to a birthday party for Ian Nielsen, who was born around the same time as Camden. At the party, Christina Nielsen, who is a photographer, also took cute pictures of all the kids Ian and Camden’s age and took a photo of all the moms holding their kids that age – we took one about a year ago when all of us were pregnant. She was talking about putting some of the photos she took in the medical school yearbook – too bad for me that all the other moms in the pictures looked nice and thin after a year of recovering from their pregnancies, and I looked huge pregnant still – oh well. We had fun at the Nielsen’s, and then we headed over to the Hymas’ house for a little birthday party for their daughter, Emily, who is turning 2. I gave Emily some of the bows I made for a gift, and she was wearing some at church today, so that was fun.
And church went well today. Michael was actually lucky enough to discharge his last patient of the day yesterday, so he asked his resident for permission to leave the hospital for one hour today to come to church for Kolby’s primary program, even though he is on overnight call again starting today, and his resident said yes. So even though he was in the hospital this morning, so I had to get all the kids ready for church by myself, he got there and was able to stay for Sacrament meeting, which was great for Kolby to have Michael there for his program, and it was also nice because Eli and especially Camden were a little wild and noisy in that meeting, so it was helpful to have him there to help me with them. He had to rush off to the hospital as soon as that meeting was over, and I haven’t heard from him yet today, so hopefully the day is going well for him.
The rest of church went well for me. With the help of a couple little bags of Cheerios and Honeycomb cereal, Camden actually stayed in the classroom with me for all of Sunday School and Relief Society (except for a few minutes when we had to go out because he was crying after he fell and hit his head on a chair leg). But it was nice to be able to stay in the classroom for the entire lesson, since he is starting to get to that age when kids are too old to just sit still for 3 hours of church, but not old enough yet to go into the 18-month-old nursery class, so many parents end up spending a lot of time out in the halls at church for those months. After church I went to choir practice, and the boys enjoyed playing at the choir nursery. And when we came home we took dinner over to the Hansens because they had a baby a few weeks ago, and I put the boys down for naps. Camden just got up, and the other two are still sleeping. Thank goodness for naptime. I think that even when Kolby outgrows naps, I will still insist on a minimum of a 2-hour “quite time” in his room while the younger boys nap. On days that I am frustrated with the kids or just days that seem especially long and I am tired, their naptime is very important for me to have a couple hours all to myself. Well, I hope you have all had a good week!
Well, this week went well. Kolby started his preschool classes again at the YMCA, and he is loving both of his classes. He goes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for 2½ hours each day. Also this week the boys started their swim lessons up again. Kolby has his on Wednesday nights and Eli on Thursday nights. They love swimming, and Kolby was excited that his friend from church, Isaac Anderson, is in his class. I went swimming with Eli (even though he really is ready for swim lessons by himself, they keep the kids in parent-child lessons until age 3 at the YMCA). He is amazing in the water – he loves to dunk his head under the water over and over and jump in to me from the edge, and the other night he kept trying to jump away from me and swim on his own. His teacher is the same teacher he had last session, and she commented that he will definitely be ready to take the swim lessons on his own when he is old enough.
Thursday was Camden’s 1st birthday. We had a little party for him the week before, so we didn’t do any big celebrations this week, but several family members called to tell him Happy Birthday, and he got to open a few gifts. That morning I also had my new visiting teachers come for the first time, which was fun. And then in the afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment for some pain I’ve been having in my foot. The doctor sent me upstairs and had an X-ray taken just to see if there might be anything in my foot, and she told me to soak it in warm water each night for a couple weeks and see if that helps. Hopefully that little problem will resolve itself quickly. And then on Friday night we watched Jordan and Carter so that Peter and Cynthia could go on a date, and when they came back they watched our boys while we went and got custard and rented a couple videos. When we came back, our boys were in bed and theirs fell asleep on their laps, and it was nice because they stayed for a bit and we got a chance to just sit and talk for a while.
And yesterday morning we went to the church and I dropped Kolby off for his primary program practice. Eli and Camden and I went and picked up a few things from the grocery store and came back. Kolby has been doing so well lately – he memorized a scripture and had a little line to say in the program, “In primary we learned that faith means trust.” He has been working on memorizing his part for about a month now, and at the program in church this morning he said it, and then gave a huge grin – everyone could tell that he was so proud of himself! Saturday evening we went to a birthday party for Ian Nielsen, who was born around the same time as Camden. At the party, Christina Nielsen, who is a photographer, also took cute pictures of all the kids Ian and Camden’s age and took a photo of all the moms holding their kids that age – we took one about a year ago when all of us were pregnant. She was talking about putting some of the photos she took in the medical school yearbook – too bad for me that all the other moms in the pictures looked nice and thin after a year of recovering from their pregnancies, and I looked huge pregnant still – oh well. We had fun at the Nielsen’s, and then we headed over to the Hymas’ house for a little birthday party for their daughter, Emily, who is turning 2. I gave Emily some of the bows I made for a gift, and she was wearing some at church today, so that was fun.
And church went well today. Michael was actually lucky enough to discharge his last patient of the day yesterday, so he asked his resident for permission to leave the hospital for one hour today to come to church for Kolby’s primary program, even though he is on overnight call again starting today, and his resident said yes. So even though he was in the hospital this morning, so I had to get all the kids ready for church by myself, he got there and was able to stay for Sacrament meeting, which was great for Kolby to have Michael there for his program, and it was also nice because Eli and especially Camden were a little wild and noisy in that meeting, so it was helpful to have him there to help me with them. He had to rush off to the hospital as soon as that meeting was over, and I haven’t heard from him yet today, so hopefully the day is going well for him.
The rest of church went well for me. With the help of a couple little bags of Cheerios and Honeycomb cereal, Camden actually stayed in the classroom with me for all of Sunday School and Relief Society (except for a few minutes when we had to go out because he was crying after he fell and hit his head on a chair leg). But it was nice to be able to stay in the classroom for the entire lesson, since he is starting to get to that age when kids are too old to just sit still for 3 hours of church, but not old enough yet to go into the 18-month-old nursery class, so many parents end up spending a lot of time out in the halls at church for those months. After church I went to choir practice, and the boys enjoyed playing at the choir nursery. And when we came home we took dinner over to the Hansens because they had a baby a few weeks ago, and I put the boys down for naps. Camden just got up, and the other two are still sleeping. Thank goodness for naptime. I think that even when Kolby outgrows naps, I will still insist on a minimum of a 2-hour “quite time” in his room while the younger boys nap. On days that I am frustrated with the kids or just days that seem especially long and I am tired, their naptime is very important for me to have a couple hours all to myself. Well, I hope you have all had a good week!
22 September 2007
At The Playground
Since Kolby started his classes at the YMCA last week, we have been going most days after his class to the little playground that is out behind the YMCA for the boys to play a while before we go home for lunch and naps. I figured we should try to get in as much outside time as we can, because who knows when it's going to start getting cold here. Camden loves the slides -- he crawls up the steps and slides down face first on his belly, and he likes to just sit at the bottom of the slide and play. Kolby was having fun pretending to be a puppy, as you can see from some of his pictures. And Eli was having fun on the big slide and climbing the little "climbing wall" on the playground. They have so much fun -- it's really nice to let them all play and be able to just sit and watch them having fun for a little while.
17 September 2007
First Day of School
Kolby was so excited to start preschool again today that he was bouncing off the walls this morning. I took some first-day-of-school pictures, and he had fun making lots of silly faces. He was excited to use his backpack again and to pack a treat. He has two classes that he will be taking three days a week at the YMCA: Kid’s Club and Preschool Movement. In his first class today he said that he played, cleaned up, colored, sang songs, and had snacks. Then in his class in the gym they played an animal game where they pretended to sleep on the ground when a bear come, jump over logs, run really fast from a tiger, and something that has to do with deer antlers (???) – I got all this from his reenactment after we got home. He told me all about how many girl teachers and how many boy teachers he has (he said that he doesn’t know any of his teachers’ names, even though I recognized some of them from when he went to preschool last school year. So he asked me to ask them their names for him when we go back on Wednesday). I was really glad that he was so excited, and that he walked right in and sat down as soon as we got there (which was a relief after having to leave him crying on his teacher’s lap when I dropped him off yesterday for his primary class at church).
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22 August 2007
Preschool Update
So, last night we ended up signing Kolby up for preschool at the YMCA. We decided that it was still the best option, even with the extra fees, and didn't want to wait around until the classes may have already filled up. I am still hoping that something might come of the letters and phone calls that I (and other displeased parents) have made, but I doubt it.
Kolby will be starting his classes on September 17th. He will be taking two classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (the third music class we were planning on signing him up for is not being offered anymore). After hearing that the other local preschool that has been recommended to us by other friends from church costs $1300 for one school year, and that is only for 2 days a week; we decided that paying $60 for Kolby to go for the fall session isn't too terrible (although we still weren't very happy paying the extra fee, since it was more than we had originally planned for in our budget). We just really felt like Kolby needed to do something this year, rather than just staying home.
He will miss the end of the fall session when we go to Boise in December, so it is too bad to be paying for time that he won't get to attend the classes, but oh well. And we will just have to decide what to do for the winter session. We were planning on signing Kolby and Eli up then, since Eli will be old enough to attend once he has turned three in January. So the fee will be twice as much for the two boys, (but I guess that's still less than some people are paying for other preschools for just one child). But the winter session probably starts in the beginning of January, and we won't get back from San Diego until January 30th, so I don't know if there's any way to get the boys in for part of the winter session once we get back or not. We'll have to wait and see. Anyways, I said that I would keep family members updated on what we ended up deciding to do with this whole preschool thing, so here it is.
Kolby will be starting his classes on September 17th. He will be taking two classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (the third music class we were planning on signing him up for is not being offered anymore). After hearing that the other local preschool that has been recommended to us by other friends from church costs $1300 for one school year, and that is only for 2 days a week; we decided that paying $60 for Kolby to go for the fall session isn't too terrible (although we still weren't very happy paying the extra fee, since it was more than we had originally planned for in our budget). We just really felt like Kolby needed to do something this year, rather than just staying home.
He will miss the end of the fall session when we go to Boise in December, so it is too bad to be paying for time that he won't get to attend the classes, but oh well. And we will just have to decide what to do for the winter session. We were planning on signing Kolby and Eli up then, since Eli will be old enough to attend once he has turned three in January. So the fee will be twice as much for the two boys, (but I guess that's still less than some people are paying for other preschools for just one child). But the winter session probably starts in the beginning of January, and we won't get back from San Diego until January 30th, so I don't know if there's any way to get the boys in for part of the winter session once we get back or not. We'll have to wait and see. Anyways, I said that I would keep family members updated on what we ended up deciding to do with this whole preschool thing, so here it is.
17 August 2007
Not Very Happy with the YMCA!
After Kolby turned three years old, he attended preschool classes at the YMCA just up the street from us in the fall and winter last year. He took a little class in a classroom setting and then went with his class across the hall to the gym for a class with little relay races and games. He loved his 'school.' He was so excited to take his backpack with his little snack every day, and to come home and show me the art project he had made.
A few months ago when we found out that our monthly YMCA membership was going to be increased, we thought about canceling our membership, but decided that the preschool program made it worth it to continue, even though it was more than we had originally budgeted. We have enjoyed taking the kids to swimming lessons and planned to sign Kolby up for a sports class this fall, but the main reason that we originally signed up for our YMCA membership was because of the 'free' preschool program (that did not cost any extra on top of our monthly membership fees). We were pleased with the preschool program last year, and after taking a break this summer we have been planning on signing Kolby up to start classes again in September. We were planning on signing him up to attend three mornings a week again like last year, and were thinking about signing him up for three classes this time -- one in a classroom setting, one in the gym, and another music and rhythm class. And Eli will turn three years old this January, so we were planning on signing him up to go to some classes with Kolby this winter.
So, we got the new Fall 2007 Program Guide the other day and started to look at the different preschool classes to decide which ones to register Kolby for. We were surprised to find a little note in the program that said, "Beginning with the Fall 2007 program session, there will be a $10 Member Registration Fee for all Youth Sports and Preschool Enrichment programs. . . . The fee will not be discounted and applies to each child/registration." When we saw that note, we were rather displeased to find out that we would have to pay this additional fee, and that we had not been informed about it in advance. But we thought, "Well, $10 a class -- if Kolby takes three classes, I guess we can afford an extra $30 if we have to."
We decided to stop by the YMCA to get more details about this new fee, and we were very disappointed when we learned that it is a $10 fee per child, per class, per registration, per session. One thing I liked about the YMCA's preschool program was that they are flexible with how many classes a child can be enrolled in -- you can sign them up for one class a week, or several classes a day. But to do this, they have you register separately for each class for each day of the week. So, if we were to stick with our original plan of signing Kolby up for three classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, that would cost $90. Plus, the YMCA has created two different fall sessions (and I am assuming that there will also be 2 winter sessions), so to pay this fee for each fall and winter session would end up being $360. Plus, we were planning on signing Eli up in the winter, so that would add up to $540. And if both boys attended the spring session then that would add up to $720. (That ends up costing quite a bit more for the “free” preschool program than our entire YMCA membership costs for a whole year).
Michael and I just felt like we were almost mislead a little, because the big selling point for us to originally purchase the YMCA membership was the free preschool program, and they didn't even give us any advance notice about this big jump in fees. We noticed it in the program, and now that classes are starting in one month, we feel like we have missed any opportunities to sign him up for other preschool programs elsewhere if we had wanted to, because I'm sure most other programs have filled up by now.
So, I have spent the last couple days feeling a little frustrated and not really knowing what to do about signing Kolby up for preschool. I have written a letter and sent it to our local YMCA branch and the downtown YMCA Association Office, and I am hoping that they might reconsider lowering the fee (especially since the YMCA employee I spoke to said that there had been many parents complaining about this new fee and she had been encouraging them all to send in letters in hopes of a change). But honestly I doubt that they will make a change before the classes start a month from now.
I have started to look into other options, but haven't had much success. I found that our public school district doesn't offer a preschool program, and that even if we had wanted Kolby to be in the 4-year-old kindergarten, he would have missed the September 1st cut-off by a month. I talked to some friends and got some recommendations for preschools they had used, but from what I understand, it would be difficult to register him for classes at this point, especially not morning classes 3 days a week. And I have been invited to participate in joy school groups in the past, but it is a daunting idea for me to attempt to teach lessons to and discipline a group of three-year-olds while trying to take care of my two-year-old, my one-year-old, and nursing my newborn. I don't know. We have some friends with kids Kolby's age who are just waiting another year to sign their kids up for kindergarten. I just don't know if that's the best thing for Kolby or not -- and he loves going to school so much. (Also, if they don't make any changes to these new preschool fees, we will end up canceling our YMCA membership, which will also be disappointing because Kolby and Eli have really excelled at their swimming lessons lately and there is not another pool in the area we could go to, especially during the winter here).
Anyways, I am really hoping that we will get a response to my letters that the YMCA is changing this new fee, and instead just requiring a single registration fee per class, or require the kids to bring a list of school supplies to help with the cost of the supplies for the program. Then we would be able to afford to continue at the YMCA, which I think would be the best option for preschool for the boys this year. But we will just have to wait and see, I guess. I'll keep you posted as to what we find out.
(For anyone who has gotten this far, thanks for reading -- sometimes it's just good to write everything down and get it out on paper when you feel strongly about something).
A few months ago when we found out that our monthly YMCA membership was going to be increased, we thought about canceling our membership, but decided that the preschool program made it worth it to continue, even though it was more than we had originally budgeted. We have enjoyed taking the kids to swimming lessons and planned to sign Kolby up for a sports class this fall, but the main reason that we originally signed up for our YMCA membership was because of the 'free' preschool program (that did not cost any extra on top of our monthly membership fees). We were pleased with the preschool program last year, and after taking a break this summer we have been planning on signing Kolby up to start classes again in September. We were planning on signing him up to attend three mornings a week again like last year, and were thinking about signing him up for three classes this time -- one in a classroom setting, one in the gym, and another music and rhythm class. And Eli will turn three years old this January, so we were planning on signing him up to go to some classes with Kolby this winter.
So, we got the new Fall 2007 Program Guide the other day and started to look at the different preschool classes to decide which ones to register Kolby for. We were surprised to find a little note in the program that said, "Beginning with the Fall 2007 program session, there will be a $10 Member Registration Fee for all Youth Sports and Preschool Enrichment programs. . . . The fee will not be discounted and applies to each child/registration." When we saw that note, we were rather displeased to find out that we would have to pay this additional fee, and that we had not been informed about it in advance. But we thought, "Well, $10 a class -- if Kolby takes three classes, I guess we can afford an extra $30 if we have to."
We decided to stop by the YMCA to get more details about this new fee, and we were very disappointed when we learned that it is a $10 fee per child, per class, per registration, per session. One thing I liked about the YMCA's preschool program was that they are flexible with how many classes a child can be enrolled in -- you can sign them up for one class a week, or several classes a day. But to do this, they have you register separately for each class for each day of the week. So, if we were to stick with our original plan of signing Kolby up for three classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, that would cost $90. Plus, the YMCA has created two different fall sessions (and I am assuming that there will also be 2 winter sessions), so to pay this fee for each fall and winter session would end up being $360. Plus, we were planning on signing Eli up in the winter, so that would add up to $540. And if both boys attended the spring session then that would add up to $720. (That ends up costing quite a bit more for the “free” preschool program than our entire YMCA membership costs for a whole year).
Michael and I just felt like we were almost mislead a little, because the big selling point for us to originally purchase the YMCA membership was the free preschool program, and they didn't even give us any advance notice about this big jump in fees. We noticed it in the program, and now that classes are starting in one month, we feel like we have missed any opportunities to sign him up for other preschool programs elsewhere if we had wanted to, because I'm sure most other programs have filled up by now.
So, I have spent the last couple days feeling a little frustrated and not really knowing what to do about signing Kolby up for preschool. I have written a letter and sent it to our local YMCA branch and the downtown YMCA Association Office, and I am hoping that they might reconsider lowering the fee (especially since the YMCA employee I spoke to said that there had been many parents complaining about this new fee and she had been encouraging them all to send in letters in hopes of a change). But honestly I doubt that they will make a change before the classes start a month from now.
I have started to look into other options, but haven't had much success. I found that our public school district doesn't offer a preschool program, and that even if we had wanted Kolby to be in the 4-year-old kindergarten, he would have missed the September 1st cut-off by a month. I talked to some friends and got some recommendations for preschools they had used, but from what I understand, it would be difficult to register him for classes at this point, especially not morning classes 3 days a week. And I have been invited to participate in joy school groups in the past, but it is a daunting idea for me to attempt to teach lessons to and discipline a group of three-year-olds while trying to take care of my two-year-old, my one-year-old, and nursing my newborn. I don't know. We have some friends with kids Kolby's age who are just waiting another year to sign their kids up for kindergarten. I just don't know if that's the best thing for Kolby or not -- and he loves going to school so much. (Also, if they don't make any changes to these new preschool fees, we will end up canceling our YMCA membership, which will also be disappointing because Kolby and Eli have really excelled at their swimming lessons lately and there is not another pool in the area we could go to, especially during the winter here).
Anyways, I am really hoping that we will get a response to my letters that the YMCA is changing this new fee, and instead just requiring a single registration fee per class, or require the kids to bring a list of school supplies to help with the cost of the supplies for the program. Then we would be able to afford to continue at the YMCA, which I think would be the best option for preschool for the boys this year. But we will just have to wait and see, I guess. I'll keep you posted as to what we find out.
(For anyone who has gotten this far, thanks for reading -- sometimes it's just good to write everything down and get it out on paper when you feel strongly about something).
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