Giving Thanks

Thanks to the Days for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast this year!  It was wonderful to be with as many family members as was possible, the house was decorated so cute, and the food was simply scrumptious!!  Jeff definitely went big this year making 2 turkeys! One was a traditional brined bird, and the other he used his fancy new smoker, both of which were delicious!  It's always so much fun to laugh and visit with you guys.  Thank you so much!

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for letting us bunk in with them Thursday night, so that we could go and play on Friday with cousins and sisters.  It's always fun to spend time at their house, have late night talks, and snacks galore!  You may not realize it, but you are making wonderful memories for our girls.  Even Miss Parker couldn't stop talking about going to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the feast.  I was so happy to see how comfortable and affectionate she is with you now too...thank you for loving all of us!

Thanks to the Griswolds for entertaining us on Friday!  The girls loved going to see Frozen with the boys, and I loved going to lunch with my sis and her sidekick, Add-a-licous.  We were also joined by Grandma and the Day girls.  It was great to get some "talk-time" in with Riley and Hannah.  They aren't "littles" anymore, and it was fun getting to know the adult versions of these girls.  I especially loved hearing about Riley's first year of school at MSU.  She is so brave, and her experiences are inspiring to me.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving. It was just the trip I needed, and I feel an increase of gratitude for what family and togetherness can do for the soul.  Thanks everyone, I really needed that!

I'm Thankful for November

November has been a month of discovering new places and spending time as a family...what could be a better way to spend the month of "gratitude" then with the people I am the most grateful for?!?

Avery and I were able to cash in her birthday tickets to see "Alton Brown's LIVE" show in early November.  It was an interesting show.  Alton fancies himself a singer, and since Food Network doesn't really do singing, he has created a show to indulge...himself.  In addition to singing, he has some wacky food experiments involving making ice cream with a fire extinguisher, and pizza with a "Mega-Bake" which is basically an easy bake oven on STEROIDS!  It was good fun. Avery and I both giggled and oohed and ahhed over the spectacles.  However we unanimously agreed that his "gas humor" with farting and burping hand puppets was a little too over the top for our tastes.  It just didn't go with the whole food theme in my opinion.

We took advantage of an afternoon with really great weather, and visited the Chippewa Nature Center.  They have a great visitors center with a museum and hands-on-stuff for the kids.  They have numerous trails to hike, we chose the River trail which meanders along the Chippewa river.  We stopped off at a Homestead from the 1800's that still has a functioning animal farm and garden.  It was really cool, we found a spot to sit down and spent some time there having Parker's picnic she packed for herself...it was lots of fun WATCHING her eat all of the food.  Haha!  There was a momma cow and calf there having a feeding that was pretty hilarious.  The baby was obviously really big to be a baby anymore, and it was pretty obvious that the momma really just wanted to be left alone.  The baby would persist, and the momma would MOOOOO really loud and push it away, then the cycle would continue.  She had her eye on us in the funniest way...I couldn't tell if she was like, "do you see the pain I'm going through?!?" or "could you give us a little privacy please?!?"  One thing's for sure, we all got a good laugh out of it. 

 

One of the perks of living in Michigan is hands-down the beautiful fall colors.  It's just breathtaking, and just really symbolizes "home" for me.  The trouble with all of this lovliness is that eventually you have to rake it up.  We have a beautiful big red tree in our backyard that lasted for literally a week.  By the end of it, our backyard was covered.  This is how we spent one of our weekends, it took 2 days.  And yes, we were super sore for days afterwards.  Aye yi yi.

Another weekend, we decided to venture down to Frankenmuth.  I had been wanting to go since October...really wanted to do some of the Oktober fest activities, but alas our October was way too busy.  So we settled for before Fall was over...I'm glad we did because it is all set up for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and everything was just really festive.  I loved it!  It put me in the mood for the FEAST, as well as setting up the Christmas tree!!

 The covered bridge...I don't think Parker's a fan.  Look at that face!

Maryn and Parker were in LOVE with the MLP tree...I think they are thinking this is what we should do with the tree this year...mmmm, not gonna happen.

 Of course, we had the famous Zehnder's chicken...it was a lunch buffet when we got there, and we were seriously in PAIN by the time we left!!  Sooooo good!!

We had fun wandering around the shops at the Bavarian Inn.  I love the toy stores and the bakery down there!!

 Did you know it was built in 2000, year of my firstborn's birth?!?  ;)

 I love this pic...it just captures their personalities so well, doesn't it? 

 No trip to Frankenmuth would be complete without one of these pics!

This is serious fudge.  It is equal in importance and awesomeness to the Zehnder's chicken, don't you think?!?  We got the peanut butter, the classic milk chocolate, and mint chocolate this year...we still have a little...you have to make it last!!

 A trip to Bronner's got us all thinking "CHRISTMAS!!"

Enjoy your holiday season, everyone!!

Progress report on Parker's Preschool--Part 1

I love alliteration, don't you?  It seems to come quite naturally with Parker's name.  I'm kind of loving that.  LOL!  Anyway, I thought I would give you an update on Miss P's first couple months of school at Chip-uh-wuh.  Basic jist of the story is that she loves it.  However, I must say this has been an interesting ride.  But I guess if she loves it, that's all that really matters at the end of the day.

Teddy Bear Unit

 

Apple Unit

Fire Safety/Fireman Unit

I've decided to change my hoarding ways with Parker.  Instead of saving every little thing she brings home, I'm going to take pictures of them by units, and then THROW THEM AWAY!! (GASP!!!!!)  I figure she'll never know, and this is a more eco-friendly approach to keeping her personal history.  LOL!!  Plus, we just plain don't have any space to keep it.  I've tried squirreling things into her closet, but I can tell that's already becoming a bad habit.  So...it must be done.  I will be strong.  (Tee hee!)

Anyway, back to the report...things have been great for her, like I said. She is enthusiastic about going, gives her teachers big hugs on the way in and on the way out.  She seems to be learning things.  She has been singing cute little songs here and there, which is adorable.  I even know a few of them and can join in on the fun. She loves that, it's like a light-bulb moment when she realizes I know something she does!!  LOL!

However, even with her excitement and love of preschool comes challenges.  For those of you who know Parker well, you know that she is a combination of independent free spirit, strong will/stubborn-ness, and LOTS of energy.  She quite literally doesn't stop going unless she is anchored to the earth with the gravitational pull of TV/MOVIES/PC.  I know, I'm a bad mom, but I do what I have to do to get her to sit still and give me a moment of breathing time to get stuff done.  I actually think I'm grateful that at least I have a sure-fire thing that I know will keep her safe and occupied when I need to take some time for me to oh, you know, basic human functions like shower, use the bathroom, make a phone call, get a scrap of food to eat...pooor me!!  ;) 

Anyway, this is her first formal class-room experience.  She doesn't realize it's not just a play-date.  She doesn't get the concept of sitting still, listening, and cooperating.  She does fairly well with sharing...has a few issues from time to time, but for a kid who isn't required to share at home, I think she is doing great with this!  Other things like sitting for circle time, listening to stories, lessons, and ummm, directions...these things aren't coming as easily and natural for her.  So, she is getting a bad rep-utation.  Her teachers are well seasoned and have been doing this for a long time.  I can't believe that my Parker is the first high-energy, focus challenged child they have had, but for some reason I am getting a LOT of negative reactions to her behavior.  Each day I get the "it was a hard day, Mom", report with serious faces and lowered tones.  At first I was surprised, and a little embarrassed.  "Who?  MY child?  Surely you must be mistaken!"  Haha! But then when the negativity became consistent I learned that this is not really Parker's challenge as much as it is MINE!  I was becoming anxious at pickup, embarrassed at the comments, paranoid the other Moms were judging me, that MY kid was THAT kid.  I would come home emotional, and then angry at her for not behaving "properly".  At first, I found myself disciplining her with time-outs, and taking away her TV, but that just left us ALL miserable and didn't accomplish ANYTHING!  So instead, I tried positive discipline...I made a sticker chart.  If she gets all her stickers before Friday, she gets to go to the free movie with Mom and Dad.  She gets stickers every day except Tuesday and Thursday.  That's not good.  Needless to say, she has not gotten to go to the movies and is a very, very sad 4 year old on Fridays.  She just doesn't understand it.  When I pick her up, she says, "Mom!  I listened! I did my work!"  It breaks my heart.  To her, there isn't a problem.  But to her teachers it is something very different.  Things began to come to a boiling point last week.

I was co-opping in the classroom on Tuesday, and was there to intervene with Parker.  I observed that she does in fact struggle, but she is not the only kid who does.  I observed that the teachers have really high expectations for the kids attention spans.  Which is good, but also doesn't take into consideration that every child is different!  And there is little one-on-one interaction with the children who are struggling.  What I mean by that is there isn't any "teaching" how to sit still and listen, just judgment when it doesn't happen.  Aye yi yi.  I KNOW I am emotional about this, and that I am not giving everything a fair shake, but I am hurt! I need to know that things are going to be okay, that there isn't something wrong with my child, and that I'm not a horrible parent.  I need some POSITIVITY!  So after last week, I decided we needed to chat with the teachers.  I am scheduled to co-op again this week, so I wanted to wait until after that.  But guess what happened?  Mark dropped off Parker yesterday, and just so happened to confront the teachers without me.  I didn't know whether to be ticked or grateful.  He just handles confrontation so much easier than I do.  BUT it did mean I had to face the teachers at pick-up.

Things went surprisingly well.  The teachers were apologetic, and at least one of them, kind of embarrassed.  They didn't realize we were feeling this way and assured us this is NOT their intention.  I feel better, but I don't feel resolution.  I think that the main issues have still not been addressed, and we still don't know where to go from here, but at least the conversation is out there and they are thinking about things, and I don't feel like a pent-up ball of anxiety and emotion.

Who knew all this drama could happen in a PRE-SCHOOL?!?  Anyone else have this type of experience?  I'm all ears.

In other news, I decided to sign Parker and I up for a Mommy and me gym class at the Community Center.  It's called "Beanbags, Hoops, and Parachutes".  It was 30 minutes of gym activity that we both enjoyed. 

This is Coach Evan having the end-of-day wrap up session with the kids at the end of class.  Because it was the last day, they all got suckers.  If Coach Evan didn't have her heart before, he sure did now!  ;) 

At preschool and during our gym class, I have been able to see Parker in a different setting, which does in fact highlight some of the struggles that her spirit has been given in this lifetime of hers, and by extension my own as her Mom.  However, I am trying to choose to see this as an opportunity to get to know her better, and realize that someday this strong will and independent spirit of hers is going to move mountains!  Even if it does wear me the heck out.

Halloween Doings

Halloween was a busy day, but I loved every minute of it.  (Well, mostly every minute of it.)  The night before I spent a couple hours making 20 of these for Parker's preschool snack.  That was fun...kind of.  

I was assigned to co-op on the morning of Halloween, so I figured it was an appropriate moment to dress up mommy daughter style...like mother, like daughter...what can I say?!?  I think it was fitting.  She was pretty excited we were both "little debil girls".

The kids love their new tower/slide at the preschool.  It was an Eagle Scout project done by a young man in the other Midland ward who is a "Chipp-uh-wuh" alum.  Haha!

The kids doing their "line-up" for their spooky walk...they are using their goggles to spot any goblins and ghosts lurking around the corner.

Parker's preschool class.  The kids all looked adorable, and I'm so glad I was able to be a part of the fun that day.  Even if I was technically working like a dog, it was still fun to be with the kids.  I'm telling you, co-op preschool is not for sissies. They work you till you drop!!  Each time I've done it I come home exhausted!  Have to take another shower, plenty of tylenol, and a nap!!

But alas, the nap would have to wait!  The girls came home from school super excited to dress up and go out.  Here they are getting all ready to go!

Because it RAINED ALL DAY, we decided to go to the Midland Mall for trick or treating.  Wow!  Every time we've gone there before, it's never been very busy.  This time, was a HUGE exception!  That's what happens when it rains on Halloween in Midland!  Everyone goes to the Mall!  It was one ginormous, continuous line pacing the perimiter of the mall stopping at every other store for cheap dollar store candy.  Meh, what are you gonna do? 

We gave it about an hour, and then decided to get some dinner and go home to pass out candy, and possibly brave the storms.

After about 20 minutes, the big girls came back wet and cold.  So they sat on the couch and passed out the candy while Parker and Mark actually toughed out the elements.  Parker loved it!  It was so fun to see her getting it this year.  She kept asking, "can we go to one more house, Dad?"  Fun!

And something totally out of characteristic for Mark and I...we were invited to a Halloween party for couples by a family in our Ward.  We haven't dressed up in years, but we ventured out of our comfort zone and went for it! Nobody could tell who we were...can you?!?

 
 Needles to say, we didn't take home any fabulous prizes, but our youngest daughter thought we were pretty awesome.