Korben's 2nd Day of School

A new school year has begun and Korben is absolutely loving it. He is excited every morning to "go to school" and enjoys picking out what foods will go in his lunch bag, getting all clean (face washed, teeth brushed) and waiting on the front step for the school bus. His teacher has already sent me a note saying he is talking a lot about their activities and that he follows directions about 90% of the time...not bad for his first week.

The reason the following pictures are from his second day of school is that Korben has a new bus route and on his first day of school I wasn't ready for it. Last year, Korben was the last kiddo picked up and the first kiddo dropped off, which meant he was gone for about 3 hours a day. This year, he is the first kiddo picked up (which is what I didn't know) and the last kiddo dropped off, which means he is gone for 4 hours a day!!

So on his first day of school, he was running around and I was ironing his shirt (thinking I had a good 20 minutes or so before the bus would be here), when the doorbell rang. His bus driver wasn't very happy with me for not being out on the step and making him get out of the bus...and I was a little bugged because he was so early that I hadn't taken the "first day of school pics" yet. However, neither of us could be upset for long because Korben went bounding to the bus yelling, "time for school, time for school" with such excitement it could cheer up even the most annoyed soul. After he was all buckled up, I was kind of lingering to make sure he would be okay, when he looked at me and very pointedly said, "go inside mommy". This kid was definitely ready to be on his bus on the way to his school, and I was just making it take longer. I decided not to bother with the camera since he was ready to be rid of me and just took the pics the next day.

From September 09

He is doing very well and already we are seeing improvement again in his speech and temperament. I really like his teacher this year because she is doing a great job of keeping us informed as to what is going on. Logan is enjoying his alone time with Mommy, and it's nice to have a schedule again. Oh, and the four hours a day to get shopping and visiting teaching and blogging done isn't a kick in the head either.... :D Woohoo for school!!

Pears

A few of my gal friends and I decided we would all get boxes of pears and can them together. What I didn't realize was that pears are not like peaches - they don't ripen at the same time- and so the idea of getting together to can our pears was not really an option. At first, the odd ripening times was kind of nice because it only took me an hour or so a night to can what was ripe (unlike the marathon work of canning peaches). However, I soon found myself wishing for that marathon as it took me over a week to get 2 boxes of pears canned...over a week to only get 23 jars of pears. Not bad, except that the last time I canned it was peaches and after only 2 days of slave labor I had 77 bottles. I'm all for the peach marathon...not so much for the pear drag out.

When all is said and done though, the pears are AWESOME -
and I suppose worth every bit of work. :D

From September 09

"But I'm Not Sleepy..."

Remember Chip from Beauty and the Beast? You know, the cute little teacup that says "I'm not sleepy", at the same time he stifles a yawn? Well, it seems that I have my own little "not sleepy" toddler running around these days. He refuses to take his naps and ends up playing in his room instead. This often results in tantrums later in the day, and on some days, a very awkwardly placed sleepyhead ...

From August

Korben did the same thing when he moved from his crib to the twin bed, but eventually he started taking his naps again, so I'm patiently waiting the phase out with Logan.

In completely unrelated news, I took this picture of Logan the other day and I couldn't help but share it. Isn't he such a cutie!!!???

From August

I Love Brother, He Loves Me...

It has taken a few years, but the boys can finally tolerate
sitting next to each other for a picture. Woohoo!!

From August

I love having two boys close together, and love even more how they are each others best friends. I hope their friendship is never ending and
that they look after each other always. I sure love my little boys!

Joy In The Journey

Logan always has lots of energy, but a few Saturdays ago was one of those days when I was counting down the minutes till bedtime. Then I remembered a talk given by President Monson where he said something to the effect of "we will miss the fingerprints when they are gone...and to find joy in the journey". I tried to take the message to heart so decided to chill out, take some pics and enjoy Logan's "fingerprints".

LOGAN'S FINGERPRINTS - AUGUST 22, 2009
Logan seems to think the refrigerator is his own personal playground...

From August

...and that the stairs are part of an obstacle course set up solely for his enjoyment...

From August

...and that the doors are a perfect canvass for his artwork...

From August

...and yet, someday I will miss it - so here's to having Joy In The Journey.

Youth Night Of Excellence

For anyone that has served in the YW program, you know that every year they do a Young Women in Excellence night. For our night, we decided to change it to a Youth Night of Excellence, and include the young men. Our theme was "A Night At The Oscars". We didn't do prom type dresses, but other than that we had it decorated to the hilt, had hosts, awards, a red carpet, and a professional picture set-up.

My part in the whole thing was to make up the announcement cards for each youth. No small task since I had to get at least 5 facts about 23 youth, type them up in a cool, wordy fashion, and have them in the form of an award card. The phone calls alone were a beast, but then I also had to put them together. Mike informed me about half-way through that I was spending WAY to much time on them, but that is what I do. I know it may be silly to put so much work into something that will only be used once and probably thrown in the trash (well at least the YM's will be), but I wanted them to be just perfect, and the youth to feel like they were winning an award. It was also fun because nobody knew what order they would be in except for me (I had to know in case one of the youth didn't show up -each youth card had a number on it so I could take out any no-shows). It was fun for the youth to try and figure out the clues and then to get to be all exited when their name was called.

From Youth Night Of Excellence

The cards worked like this: An announcer would read the back of the card giving a little hint as to who the person was; they would then announce "And the Young Man/Young Woman is..."; break the seal (crucial to imitating an award show); and then read the inside of the card. I don't want to brag, but I have to say that it was pretty much awesome and well worth the work. :D Each of the youth had their shining moment to be in the spotlight, get their star award, and talk about what they had accomplished this past year. The night was an absolute success, the turnout was great, and our youth and their parents loved it!

Here is our complete group (minus one leader that had to leave early):

From Youth Night Of Excellence

I love my silly group of girls and feel so blessed to be one of their leaders. I can't believe I have been in the YW program for over a year now. It has been so fun to see the changes in the girls, as well as the changes in me. I know they have blessed my life, and I hope that in some way I have blessed theirs.

From Youth Night Of Excellence

Love You Meadows Ward YW!

No More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed!

From August

Two thoughts came to my mind:
Looking at the bump - "Maybe this little monkey will think twice next time..."
Looking at the smile - "Dream on Kate..."