Elyana had a little blister on her foot from a week ago. "I have an owie" she announced. I came over to see if it was a new one. She shows me her foot. "Honey, you know how mommy can fix that owie?" I asked and I kissed her little foot.
She looks down and says, "It's still there, try again."
Thursday, April 23, 2009
My Funny Kids
Mikayla chose this huge magnifying glass at Store Night in Awana last night. For those of you that don't know what Store Night is... the kids earn points (along with patches and jewels that are inserted in their wing badges) for every verse they memorize. Twice a year, they get to go "shopping" at the "store" with the points they earned. When she got home, Ellie wanted to play with it. She's running from thing to thing seeing how big it looks. I'm sad I missed this, but Nate said he saw Elyana going down her slide holding the magnifying glass out in front of her. What a creative idea! (Karin, don't get any ideas. You can't walk on the ceiling and hold a magnifying glass!) Also last night, Mikayla was getting ready for bed. She told Nate that if he got her a piece of paper, she'd work on a surprise for him while she was getting ready. So, he gives her one. She closes the bathroom door. He hears her flushing the toilet, brushing her teeth. She emerges and is all ready for bed, hands him the paper. It's blank. "I tricked you good. I didn't make you anything" she laughs.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Elyana the Completer
Please don't think I'm bragging by mentioning the following. Having a completer is nice, but can get annoying (waiting for her to complete an activity to her satisfaction while you're waiting by the door to go somewhere...)
Elyana insists on shutting down her computer when she's done playing a game (she insists on getting her PC back to the main screen and says, "Shutting down.") Her favorite website is StarFall.com. She picks up her toys, putting them in their proper places before moving on to something else. When she's done wearing her rain boots, she insists on putting them back on the shelf where they go. She has to be the one to close a door or gate and the one to turn off the light at bedtime. I'm sure I'm forgetting others...
I've been reading several potty training books and they all have a section that says if your child likes to put things in their proper places that they will be easy to potty train. The theory is that you tell them that poop or pee does not belong in the diaper, but in the toilet. They are supposed to want to do the proper thing and go potty to "put things where they belong." If my child is a completer, then why does this concept not work with her?! I think it should mention that by being a completer, this means that your child is also strong willed and controlling. Elyana will go potty only if I dangle a baggie of M & M's in front of her. She has learned to pee a little and ask for a treat. She then pees the rest and asks for another treat, thus getting 2 out of the deal. Yesterday in a store, she pointed to a huge bag of Skittles and said, "Those would make good potty treats!"
You're a very clever little girl, Ellie and this is why I'm frustrated teaching you to go potty. Someday I know it will be YOUR decision, not my idea and we're home free.
Elyana insists on shutting down her computer when she's done playing a game (she insists on getting her PC back to the main screen and says, "Shutting down.") Her favorite website is StarFall.com. She picks up her toys, putting them in their proper places before moving on to something else. When she's done wearing her rain boots, she insists on putting them back on the shelf where they go. She has to be the one to close a door or gate and the one to turn off the light at bedtime. I'm sure I'm forgetting others...
I've been reading several potty training books and they all have a section that says if your child likes to put things in their proper places that they will be easy to potty train. The theory is that you tell them that poop or pee does not belong in the diaper, but in the toilet. They are supposed to want to do the proper thing and go potty to "put things where they belong." If my child is a completer, then why does this concept not work with her?! I think it should mention that by being a completer, this means that your child is also strong willed and controlling. Elyana will go potty only if I dangle a baggie of M & M's in front of her. She has learned to pee a little and ask for a treat. She then pees the rest and asks for another treat, thus getting 2 out of the deal. Yesterday in a store, she pointed to a huge bag of Skittles and said, "Those would make good potty treats!"
You're a very clever little girl, Ellie and this is why I'm frustrated teaching you to go potty. Someday I know it will be YOUR decision, not my idea and we're home free.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Mikayla's Teacher
I picked her up from Kindergarten just now and her teacher stopped me to tell me that Mikayla cracked her up today. She said that they were doing routine school district testing where they had to time the kids on saying the letter sounds. She was testing Mikayla and when they reached the letter "F" Mikayla said, "I'm sorry, I can't say the letter F today." "Why not?" she asked Kayla. "Because I wanted to look nice for school today and put on some princess lip gloss and saying the letter 'F' might rub it all off."
On a sad note, I just received this article from Nate from the Post Bulletin. I can't understand why the city can't budget the needed money for education. If you don't have education, then I think everything else goes...I hope that Kayla's teacher wasn't just laid off because she is incredible!
On a sad note, I just received this article from Nate from the Post Bulletin. I can't understand why the city can't budget the needed money for education. If you don't have education, then I think everything else goes...I hope that Kayla's teacher wasn't just laid off because she is incredible!
78 Rochester teachers to get pink slips
By Elliot Mann
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
Rochester public schools have sent layoff notices to 78 teachers, in what is believed to be one of the largest job cuts of teachers in district history.
The first pink slips went out late Wednesday and continued today. The cuts -- part of $9.3 million in district reductions -- will hit 33 secondary level teachers and 45 elementary level teachers. The school board will need to finalize the cuts when it meets Tuesday.
"I'm devastated," Rochester Education Association President Kit Hawkins said this morning.
A few weeks ago, she received information from the district that about half as many teachers would be let go.
"I'm feeling very sad, because we tried to prepare our colleagues for what was coming and we thought the information that we had a few weeks ago was accurate," Hawkins said.
Rochester school district superintendent Romain Dallemand said the upcoming year will be difficult, and commended the teaching staff for their continued commitment in helping and supporting students.
"It will make everything more difficult, including closing the gap," he said, responding to a question about how the layoffs will affect the district's efforts to close the achievement gap.
In addition to teaching staff, the job cuts also carved deep into other areas.
Twelve clerical positions were cut and 16 more clerical staff members had their hours reduced. The maintenance department lost at least 14 open positions that will not be restaffed. Numbers of paraprofessional staff that could be lost were not available this morning.
In 2001, the district cut 75 teachers, but was able to bring many back before the next year. But this time there are troubling budgetary scenarios sitting before both Rochester schools and the Minnesota Legislature.
"That won't be the case this time," Hawkins said.
Easter Continued
As I mentioned in my last posting, Nate took Mikayla to his parents and I stayed home with Ellie. So, here is a picture of Mikayla at the Jones Household in WI:
And here is a picture of Ellie and I here in MN:
I had the weirdest Easter ever here at home. Going to church helped it feel more like Easter; however, Easter lunch for me consisted of a grilled chicken snack wrap at McDonalds. I tried to make it more like Easter and boil some eggs. Bad idea. I was a bit sleep deprived and ended up putting Ellie in a long time out. The water boiled out of the pot and the eggs started to burn and smoke. Yuck. It's taken a week to get that smell out of the house. I'm thankful it was not a full blown fire.
It has been a beautiful week. I've jogged with Ellie to pick up Kayla from school each day. We've had a picnic at a local park on the way home with a schoolmate of Kayla's. Then, we play outside all afternoon. I was wearing a 3/4 sleeve shirt yesterday and got sunburned. I've got a weird tan line now. I've been working at chiseling away brick by brick of the front flower bed I made a few years ago. I never liked it because I stupidly did not correctly use a level. Everytime I pull into the driveway and see it, I frown. I'm going to have Nate a build a wooden flower bed there for me along with another raised garden bed for the side of the house.
I wish I wasn't so accident prone and could build these things myself. Things happen to me all the time that could only happen to ME. Let me give you a few recent examples for your amusement... While we were driving to Lutsen for our anniversary, I was eating an apple. I bit off too large of a bite and somehow the skin of the apple cut my gums. When I was done with the apple, I went to toss it out the window and accidently rolled my hair up in the window. A few days ago I was making the bed in our room. I shook the sheet in the air to spread it out over the bed. I shook it so hard that it flew up to hit the pull chain on our ceiling fan, causing it to fly up into the blade and get cut off, then it flew down and somehow bruised my chest where it hit. If you ever need a good laugh, I have tons of these type of stories to share. Ask me about the time I almost got stuck in the car trunk with the garage door remote in my pants pocket. As I wiggled to free myself, the garage door was activated. I constantly have to remind myself to not stick my fingers in the garbage disposal to push the food down further. I fear that I might receive a Darwin Award someday. If I do, feel free to print the whole story on my tombstone to make random visitors smile and shake their heads in wonder.
I fear that my girls might be taking after me. The other day Nate and the girls were playing Hungry Hippo. Somehow Ellie got excited and fell forward into one of the hippos. This is when I entered to room to find Ellie bawling and mumbling how the hippo got her. Earlier this year I got a call from the school nurse saying Kayla was all bloody. She said, "We really don't know HOW it happened. The class was just walking and collecting leaves when Mikayla somehow tripped. She got a bloody nose, a scrapped cheek, scrapped wrist and knees." Poor kid. They kept saying how they didn't know how it happened. All I could say is, "she takes after me."
And here is a picture of Ellie and I here in MN:
I had the weirdest Easter ever here at home. Going to church helped it feel more like Easter; however, Easter lunch for me consisted of a grilled chicken snack wrap at McDonalds. I tried to make it more like Easter and boil some eggs. Bad idea. I was a bit sleep deprived and ended up putting Ellie in a long time out. The water boiled out of the pot and the eggs started to burn and smoke. Yuck. It's taken a week to get that smell out of the house. I'm thankful it was not a full blown fire.
It has been a beautiful week. I've jogged with Ellie to pick up Kayla from school each day. We've had a picnic at a local park on the way home with a schoolmate of Kayla's. Then, we play outside all afternoon. I was wearing a 3/4 sleeve shirt yesterday and got sunburned. I've got a weird tan line now. I've been working at chiseling away brick by brick of the front flower bed I made a few years ago. I never liked it because I stupidly did not correctly use a level. Everytime I pull into the driveway and see it, I frown. I'm going to have Nate a build a wooden flower bed there for me along with another raised garden bed for the side of the house.
I wish I wasn't so accident prone and could build these things myself. Things happen to me all the time that could only happen to ME. Let me give you a few recent examples for your amusement... While we were driving to Lutsen for our anniversary, I was eating an apple. I bit off too large of a bite and somehow the skin of the apple cut my gums. When I was done with the apple, I went to toss it out the window and accidently rolled my hair up in the window. A few days ago I was making the bed in our room. I shook the sheet in the air to spread it out over the bed. I shook it so hard that it flew up to hit the pull chain on our ceiling fan, causing it to fly up into the blade and get cut off, then it flew down and somehow bruised my chest where it hit. If you ever need a good laugh, I have tons of these type of stories to share. Ask me about the time I almost got stuck in the car trunk with the garage door remote in my pants pocket. As I wiggled to free myself, the garage door was activated. I constantly have to remind myself to not stick my fingers in the garbage disposal to push the food down further. I fear that I might receive a Darwin Award someday. If I do, feel free to print the whole story on my tombstone to make random visitors smile and shake their heads in wonder.
I fear that my girls might be taking after me. The other day Nate and the girls were playing Hungry Hippo. Somehow Ellie got excited and fell forward into one of the hippos. This is when I entered to room to find Ellie bawling and mumbling how the hippo got her. Earlier this year I got a call from the school nurse saying Kayla was all bloody. She said, "We really don't know HOW it happened. The class was just walking and collecting leaves when Mikayla somehow tripped. She got a bloody nose, a scrapped cheek, scrapped wrist and knees." Poor kid. They kept saying how they didn't know how it happened. All I could say is, "she takes after me."
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Easter Weekend
Well, it's Easter weekend and I am here alone with Elyana. She has had diarrhea since last Saturday. She was good mid week for 24 hours and I deviated from the diet the doctor recommended (BRATT diet: bread, rice, applesauce, toast, and tea) and it started up again. Since my mom, Kayla, and Nate have had this nasty virus this week, I didn't want to pass it on to Nate's family. It also would be hard to stick with this bland diet and be around Easter sweets at his folks house. I'm hoping that I can take her with me to church in the morning so it can feel like Easter still. (Don't worry, if you go to our church and are reading this, I'm not checking her into the nursery... : )
When Elly was feeling better mid-week, I took the girls to the mall to meet the Easter bunny. Kayla has been after me all week to do this. It worked out that Nate was still sick and I needed to give him some quiet so he could rest up. I got to the mall, was waiting in line, and realized I forgot my camera in the car. When it was their turn to sit next to the Easter bunny, Kayla starts talking up a storm to him, "I bet you didn't recognize me this year cause my first tooth came out. I also got a haircut. Do you like these bunny ears? I made them myself, well, my mom had to staple it for me...Hey, do me a favor and hide the eggs really tricky this year, okay?" I ended up paying for this picture:
Also, Kayla's school did two sets of school pictures for some reason. I thought the second ones were for retakes only. However, I guess they took everyone's picture again and we received this expensive package of photos with a note that if we'd like to keep them, to send in a check. Wow, that's sneaky. I didn't even dress her up that day. Here's what they looked like:
In other news, I've been hoping to do the Rochesterfest Triathlon in June this summer. Because we've had such a sickly winter and now a sickly spring, it's been impossible to regularly work out at all! I did get my bike tuned up and was so eager to ride it. After a very difficult week taking care of sicklies, I put Elly in the stroller and jogged to Kayla's school to pick her up (1.2 miles) and later when Nate got home, I went out for a 8 1/2 mile ride Friday night. It felt so good. I am very excited to purchase a bike trailer. I can bike Kayla to school, bike the girls to parks, etc. I don't want to pay more than $150 for one. So, if anyone can recommend a good quality one, let me know. Anyway, not bad for being out of shape and overweight. If I can't train in time for the June Tri, the good news is the Danskin all women's Tri in Chicagoland has been pushed out to September this year. That would give me plenty of time with no excuses to train.
I gotta add, that when I got back from my bike ride, the girls were in the yard playing Frisbee with Nate. Ellie is jumpy up and down, pointing to the Frisbee when she sees me and exclaims, "We're playing circle!" Very cute.
Sorry, one last thing. I'm getting more serious about possibly going back to school. I'm interested in graphic design and RCTC has a reputable program. My only hold back is I'm still looking for someone to job shadow. I don't want to take the plunge unless I know for certain that this is it. It would make me more marketable I guess to add it to my freelance writing and editing experience. If you know anyone out there in Rochester that might let me job shadow them, please let me know!
When Elly was feeling better mid-week, I took the girls to the mall to meet the Easter bunny. Kayla has been after me all week to do this. It worked out that Nate was still sick and I needed to give him some quiet so he could rest up. I got to the mall, was waiting in line, and realized I forgot my camera in the car. When it was their turn to sit next to the Easter bunny, Kayla starts talking up a storm to him, "I bet you didn't recognize me this year cause my first tooth came out. I also got a haircut. Do you like these bunny ears? I made them myself, well, my mom had to staple it for me...Hey, do me a favor and hide the eggs really tricky this year, okay?" I ended up paying for this picture:
Also, Kayla's school did two sets of school pictures for some reason. I thought the second ones were for retakes only. However, I guess they took everyone's picture again and we received this expensive package of photos with a note that if we'd like to keep them, to send in a check. Wow, that's sneaky. I didn't even dress her up that day. Here's what they looked like:
In other news, I've been hoping to do the Rochesterfest Triathlon in June this summer. Because we've had such a sickly winter and now a sickly spring, it's been impossible to regularly work out at all! I did get my bike tuned up and was so eager to ride it. After a very difficult week taking care of sicklies, I put Elly in the stroller and jogged to Kayla's school to pick her up (1.2 miles) and later when Nate got home, I went out for a 8 1/2 mile ride Friday night. It felt so good. I am very excited to purchase a bike trailer. I can bike Kayla to school, bike the girls to parks, etc. I don't want to pay more than $150 for one. So, if anyone can recommend a good quality one, let me know. Anyway, not bad for being out of shape and overweight. If I can't train in time for the June Tri, the good news is the Danskin all women's Tri in Chicagoland has been pushed out to September this year. That would give me plenty of time with no excuses to train.
I gotta add, that when I got back from my bike ride, the girls were in the yard playing Frisbee with Nate. Ellie is jumpy up and down, pointing to the Frisbee when she sees me and exclaims, "We're playing circle!" Very cute.
Sorry, one last thing. I'm getting more serious about possibly going back to school. I'm interested in graphic design and RCTC has a reputable program. My only hold back is I'm still looking for someone to job shadow. I don't want to take the plunge unless I know for certain that this is it. It would make me more marketable I guess to add it to my freelance writing and editing experience. If you know anyone out there in Rochester that might let me job shadow them, please let me know!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Vacation = Illness
Nate and I had a nice time in Lutsen, MN for our 10 year anniversary celebration. We left on Saturday and stopped at Ikea on the way there. I hadn't been to Ikea since I was nursing Elyana! When we finally got to the Eagle Ridge Resort in Lutsen, we were surprised by the amount of snow they still have up there. I'm glad Nate thought to toss our snow/hiking boots in the truck. We also didn't realize that the resort we were checking into was a ski resort. We don't ski. The room wasn't exactly as it was pictured on the Internet. We decided to make the most of it anyway and went to the restaurant there and then returned to our room where Nate got me to play Zooloretto. I'm not a gamer at all, but really enjoyed this game. The next day we slept in and then took a 20 minute road trip to Grand Marais where we wanted to eat at the well known Sven and Ollie's pizza. Everything in the town was pretty much still closed up till May (not that there was much in the little town to see anyway). We got back to the resort and I inquired about the gondolas that we were seeing zipping up the ski lift. We decided to go for a ride to the top of the mountain and see the view and check out the restaurant up there. I guess it's the highest area in MN. I'm a bit afraid of heights, but it was fun and I got some awesome pictures from up there of Lake Superior and our resort down the hill. We returned, played a few more board games and watched the extended edition version of Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers. It's been years since we've seen them. I wish we could have fit in the Return of the King too.
I don't want to travel for a long time though because it seems like lately it's a sickness jinx. Every time I checked in with my mom, she would mention that Elly had diarrhea. We got home in time for my mom to come down with the bug. She was so sick and we eventually decided with her that we'd check her into a hotel so she could have the privacy and quiet to get better. I got back from getting her settled to clean, Lysol, and do laundry till 11:00. Hannah was coming today and I didn't want her to catch it. Nate put it nicely when he put his arm around me and asked, "How's the battle going?" I lost the germ battle because 30 minutes after my weary head hit my pillow, Mikayla woke up with diarrhea!
Anyway, here are several pictures from our trip.
Our room:
The Gondolas
Our lodge by the ski lifts
Lighthouses in Grand Marais
I don't want to travel for a long time though because it seems like lately it's a sickness jinx. Every time I checked in with my mom, she would mention that Elly had diarrhea. We got home in time for my mom to come down with the bug. She was so sick and we eventually decided with her that we'd check her into a hotel so she could have the privacy and quiet to get better. I got back from getting her settled to clean, Lysol, and do laundry till 11:00. Hannah was coming today and I didn't want her to catch it. Nate put it nicely when he put his arm around me and asked, "How's the battle going?" I lost the germ battle because 30 minutes after my weary head hit my pillow, Mikayla woke up with diarrhea!
Anyway, here are several pictures from our trip.
Our room:
The Gondolas
Our lodge by the ski lifts
Lighthouses in Grand Marais
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