Simple Clips

I just made some really easy clips for my girls. I made 15 clips in about an hour. SO EASY!! I don't know what I am going to do with 15 clips but I figured I should make the mess worth it! I will probably put most of them away for presents. I have to make a bunch more this week for Sammy's birthday. I have promised her I would make bows to wear to school so she can wear pink! At first she was worried and told me she wouldn't be able to wear them because they don't let you pick what colors you wear! How sad!! I told her that she could wear pink bows and pink shoes if she wanted...that made her really excited! Now I just have to make the bows. I also have a BYU skirt to make her!! Let's just say I am going to be a little busy at night because her birthday is Monday!!

I am not sold on the purple ones but that is all the purple ribbon that I had. I think I might have to buy more ribbon to make one that looks a little better. In case you don't know, we have to have purple at our house because that is Andrea's favorite color. She will wear anything that is purple!!

What's in a Name?

Sammy and I were driving today when she asked me a very thought provoking question...
"Mom, do you see any butter?"
"No, do you see any butter?"
"Well, I don't see any fields and there isn't any butter so why do they call this place Butterfield?"
Being the smart person that I am I just said, "I don't know...I guess they just wanted to!"

Where does she come up with things like this? I also need to be a little more careful now that she is starting to read and can remember signs that we read to her!!!

More Pictures

Last time we did pictures Sammy didn't cooperate very well so Jeff wanted to take all the kids in and do pictures again. This is what we got. It was tough but we got at least one good one of everyone!!

Influence

This morning Andrea and I were eating breakfast when out of the blue she starts singing, "Shake your booty, shake your booty, shake your booty, yeah, yeah, yeah" While singing, she is shaking her little bum the best she can while sitting down. I asked her who taught her the song and she sweetly replied, "Kevin."

Yesterday, Andrea started blowing on the leather recliner to make a raspberry sound. She looked at me and told me the chair was tooting or farting, I don't remember which one she said. I asked her who taught her this and her sweet little voice said "Kevin."

Kevin, what are you teaching my daughter???? Here I thought you had such a sweet influence on Andrea but lately I am learning the truth (for those who don't know, Andrea idolizes her Uncle Kevin and doesn't let him out of her sight when we are in Utah)!!!! Jeff thinks it is really funny and I have to admit that it is kind of funny. The real question is, did Kevin really teach her to do this or is she just saying Kevin did it???

Going Private??

I am thinking about taking my blog private in case there are weirdos out there that can find my blog. Anyone have an opinion??

School

As many of you know Sammy will start kindergarten this year. I am a little worried...okay, I am really worried about it. I pray she gets a good teacher and that she is on a track with some of the kids in our ward. She is so sensitive and freaks out in big crowds so I am extremely nervous. She is excited but I also think that she is a little worried. She has been acting up more and is having break downs more and more. What do I do?? I have just been trying to get her more and more excited about school. We have bought all of her uniform. We have been buying school supplies as they go on sale. We are going to be making some cute bows for her hair. That is about all I can do!! If anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Once I find out about her teacher I am definitely going to be taking her to see the school and meet the teacher. Unfortunately, her school does not let you know anything until sometime in August!! They are a helpful bunch (that is said with LOTS of sarcasm)!!

On the other hand, Andrea is very excited about school and can't wait to start preschool. I am also excited to do preschool with her. We have been buying things for preschool and she loves that they are for HER school!!

Hopefully in a couple weeks we will hear about Sammy's school!!

A Little More Info

Just a few more details. As for the academics of preschool, I have a different opinion than most people. I think preschool is more for social skills than for academics, especially at this age. I am going to be making the curriculum based on the kids on the class. I will focus on building their small and large motor skills, work on their names (recognizing and spelling), colors, and shapes. We will work on some letters but I am not going to be doing a different letter each day of the week. I taught this way when I taught at Weber State in Ogden and I think it works the best.

It is $50 for the whole year because I am doing it more for Andrea than anything but also as a trial run to see how I like it. If you want to pay more you can but that is all I am charging this year. I have always wanted to teach preschool so I am starting small to work everything out. I am going to have 6-8 kids total (including Andrea) but I am leaning more towards 6 kids just because it easier.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED I NEED TO KNOW SOON AS THERE IS A LOT OF INTEREST. IF THERE IS ENOUGH I MIGHT CONSIDER DOING AN AFTERNOON CLASS AS WELL BUT PROBABLY WON'T MAKE A DECISION ON THAT UNTIL AFTER SCHOOL STARTS BECAUSE I NEED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS WITH SAMMY AND KINDERGARTEN.

Preschool At My House

I have decided that I am going to teach a preschool at my house Monday mornings from 9:30-11:00 AM. The preschool will be for three-year-olds. The cost will be $50 for the year to help cover cost of supplies. The children will also rotate bringing the snack. We will start the Monday after Labor Day and will end the Monday before Memorial Day. We will not meet on the days Clark County School District has off. I counted 31 Mondays so it will be less than $2 a class.

If you are interested please leave a comment here or send me an email to honeybee85@juno.com.

Preschool

I am struggling right now trying to figure out what to do about preschool for Andrea. I had some issues with the co-op type preschool I did with Sammy so I really did not want to do one of those again. For awhile I was content just doing some one-on-one time with Andrea but now I think she needs some social interaction with someone other than mom!! I also am very picky about how I think a preschool should be! I think that preschool should be more for social interaction with less emphasis on academics. I taught preschool at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah and loved that the lessons were 100% based on observation about the students needs. We focused on different areas of growth and worked on helping each student achieve milestones. We didn't teach a letter a week...we made observations as to what each child needed and we did lesson plans that were based on each child's need.

Having said that, I am thinking of two options for preschool for next year. One option is just doing a co-op preschool like I did with Sammy, just not as structured. I have sent out an email about this but I am not 100% sold that this is what I want to do.

The option that I am leaning towards is just teaching it all at my house and charging for the preschool. I am thinking of charging about $60-$90 for the year per child. I know that is only $10 a month but I really am looking to just cover my costs for supplies for the preschool (I also worry that with the economy being what it is that some people might not even have $10 a month to put towards preschool). I would also have a snack bucket that would go home with the preschoolers. One dream I have is to teach preschool so this would kind of be my trial and error year which is why I would not really charge much for the preschool. I would want to do 3-year-olds for this class and would only want 5 kids in addition to Andrea. If I couldn't find enough kids I do know a few others in the ward whose kids will be 3 by the end of the year that might be interested. I would teach Monday and Thursday mornings from 9:30-11:00 so that it would all be done while Sammy is a kindergarten (that is hoping that she gets morning kindergarten like I requested)!!

Having said all that, I would like your opinion. Which would be your option and would you be interested in having your child come to my house for preschool (for those in the area)? I would really like to get this figured out in the next week or two so I can start planning. Also, if any of you reading this know of others in the ward that might be interested, please send them to my blog!!! If anyone has questions you can leave a comment or email me honeybee85@juno.com.

Frustrated...Again!

After an entire week with back pain, I am finally starting to feel better. I have been taking my 800 mg Ibuprofen just to function. I guess it is a good thing that I didn't throw them out (they are left over from having Josh). I am just frustrated that this happened because it has meant that I couldn't exercise. I think it makes things even worse that I spent almost a week being LAZY because all I could do was sit or lay on the couch...everything else hurt. Basically, we ate crappy all week because I couldn't move to cook, I couldn't exercise, and I felt horrible the whole time. That said, I gained weight again. It was only a pound or two but it is still frustrating when I had been doing so good and was so close to my 10% goal. Tomorrow is another day so here we go! I feel like I am starting all over again and it sucks!!

Andrea...I think

Andrea loves to pretend to be something other than Andrea! I am often corrected about what she is because when I call her Andrea she will turn to me and say, "My name is....." She is Bolt, Cinderella, Snow White, Jessie, Sleeping Beauty, or any other character you can think of from a Disney or a Barbie movie. She is any character in the movie including many of the animals (this is mainly from the fact that her sister always HAS to be the princess and assigns Andrea to be her pet). Luckily, Andrea is fine playing whatever but one day, Sammy is going to learn that not everyone wants to play the animals from her favorite movies!!

Sammy and Andrea pretending to be missionaries like their uncle, Chris!
Andrea as Buzz Lightyear.

Her favorite, Snow White. She was so excited to get back from Utah so she could wear her Snow White dress again!!

Andrea is wearing a really small Minnie Mouse dress but she wanted to wear it! She is standing with her "best buddy" Aaron!

Utah...Again!!

We just had a fun trip to Utah for the 4th of July! I also just wrote a big post about it but you will never see it because our internet is retarded and wasn't working at the time so the whole post just disappeared! I just love dial-up (yes, that was said sarcastically)!!

Anyway, we made another trip to Utah for the weekend. The kids and I spent Wednesday and Thursday with my family. We went to Ikea (definitely going back there...without kids this time), swam in the backyard kiddie pool, colored, played, made jewelry, played some more, and LOVED the weather!! We love Utah weather (except in the winter)!! Andrea loved being with Grandpa and wanted to follow him everywhere! Sammy loved playing with her cousin McKinley and her uncle Mark! Joshua cut his 5th tooth so he didn't sleep for two nights! What fun!!

Jeff came up and joined us Thursday night. We spent Friday with his family. We went down to Provo to Seven Peaks and Brick Oven. Seven Peaks was CRAZY!! I would not recommend going there on a holiday weekend. The wait for a water slide was 45 minutes (or so the brother-and sister-in-laws told me)!! Andrea even fell asleep waiting in line for one. The girls LOVED being with Steve and Kevin! Josh and I spent most of the day in the shade while he slept in my arms.

Saturday we went to a parade, BBQ, and fireworks with my family. The girls loved the parade! We had never been to one before. I had fun at the BBQ and got to see cousins (and their kids) that I haven't seen for a couple years! The kids also loved the fireworks. Mark (my brother-in-law) went and picked out an assortment at the fireworks stand and the kids LOVED them!!

My back is killing me so the drive home was not fun for me! Josh is really heavy so it is not easy on my back when I have him sleep in the pack-n-play. They are not back friendly. I hope I feel better as I can barely move without being in pain! Next time we go to Utah he is going to be sleeping in my mom's crib!

That is our trip in a nutshell!