Hayley's been back dancing at Jazzle Dazzle this year. We signed her up with two of her friends from my mom's neighborhood, and into a class that was actually for first through third graders. She was a little bit nervous to perform.
And while she knew the dance well, she was a little out-shined style-wise by all of the older girls in her class.
She said she likes it, and likes being in a dance class with her friends, but I think I like it a little better when she is one of the oldest in her class, rather than the youngest.
I asked her if she wanted to be in two dance classes, and be able to do two dances in the next concert, and have two costumes.
She was all for it. Which means a class where she can shine a little more, and a class where she can be with her friends.
We've had a very busy month so far, but here are some of the highlights.
We went to the Festival of Trees last weekend. Hayley was much more concerned about the Bubble Machine that they have there than seeing any of the trees. :) It is pretty cool, I have to say.
Friday I went out to lunch and did our gift exchange with all the girls that I teach with at Jordan Hills. It was fun to see the great gifts that we all picked out for each other, and to be able to take more than forty-five minutes to eat a meal together.
Saturday we went to Breakfast with Santa at the Fitness Center before Hayley's basketball game. Hayley did great, with Santa and at her game, where she dribbled the ball down the court, shot and scored. She was so cute and so proud of herself!
Jackson, on the other hand, started freaking out as soon as we got in the line to see Santa. Like yelling out to anyone who would listen, "Nooo! Help! Help!" I made him sit with the Jolly Old Guy anyway. Because it just may be the last Crying-Kid-with-Santa picture I ever get.
We finished off the weekend with some visiting with my dad, who has been out of town working on a job. Jackson was happy to get some quality story time in. He loves being read to lately, especially anything about animals.
On another note about reading, Hayley's teacher told me last week that Hayley was doing really well, and she had moved her up to the highest reading group! This is in addition to finding out that Hayley had gotten 100% on her 1st term math benchmark test. I am so proud of that sweet little girl of ours.
I only remembered to take pictures at one out of three of our Thanksgiving dinners. That's right, three. We're kind of spoiled. :) Dinner #1 was at my mom's house on Wednesday night. Lots of fun, yummy food, and good times with my family.
Maybe too much of a good time even. :)
The next day on Thanksgiving we headed to my Aunt Carol's in the afternoon, and then Jeremy's parents that evening. It was so nice to have Jeremy with us for all of the festivities, especially since that will not be the case for the Christmas this year; he has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Yuck. No pictures from the two get-togethers on the day of Thanksgiving, mostly because I was busy scouring ads and planning my strategy for Black Friday, or Black Thursday, since stores started opening at 9:00 on Thanksgiving Day. It went something like this:
9:00 p.m. - Toys R Us. It was a madhouse, probably because they were the first to open of the night, but I ended up getting everything I wanted. I didn't even get in the door until a half hour after they opened!
Step 2 Cottage Playhouse Little Tykes Slide Little Tykes Table Razor Scooter Thomas Train Set
12:00 a.m. - Unloaded Load of Loot #1 at my mom's house. Revamped strategy since we had now missed the opening time for WalMart and Target.
12:30 a.m. - ShopKo. Still really busy after opening at 12:00. Waited in line for an hour to check out. Actually got a cart though, which is a bonus on Black Friday.
Princess Toy Box/Seat Thomas the Train Toy Box/Seat 3 Drawer Craft Cabinet Squinkies
2:00 a.m. - WalMart - It was dead by the time we got there, since they had been open since 10:00 p.m. the night before. We were in and out in less than an hour.
Leapster games Cute Cheap Jammies Cute Cheap Sweatshirts Ants in SpongeBob Squarepants game
3:00 a.m. - Kohl's. My mom wanted to go over, so we did, but I was pretty much a zombie by then. I didn't buy anything. At least not that I can remember. :)
4:00 a.m. Unloaded Load of Loot #2 at my mom's house. Ate some turkey. Decided to stay at her house since if I went home my kids would be waking me up in 2-3 hours.
9:30 Woke up feeling refreshed enough to go out for another round. Picked up another it up another WalMart (Dora Kitchen and cute cheap t-shirts), Target, Kohl's (jewelry for me), WalMart again, Famous Footwear, and JoAnn's. Oh yeah, and I also went to a movie on Black Friday at 11:10 p.m. with my sister, Breaking Dawn, finally. Loved it.
Such a fun, long weekend. I'm looking forward to giving these kiddos their loot on Christmas morning!
After a 14 hour day and 15 parent teacher conferences, I came home to these:
Jer got me a card and roses for our anniversary, even though we said we were going to hold off until next week when life's not so busy. (Right, because that ever happens, that life isn't busy...) Thanks so much honey for making today and so many other days of our lives so wonderful. I love and appreciate you more than you know.
Hayley left me a little something too: A ribbon-wrapped leaf and a note that said:
"thez Ius u spRIs Far the anavRSRaRee" (This is a surprise for the anniversary.)
Saturday morning we headed to the Halloween Carnival hosted by our neighborhood ward. As a bonus, Jackson actually wore his costume. I should have realized earlier that a little bribery was all that was needed. I just waited until we were in the parking lot, stuck it on and zipped him in, and then pulled him in to the carnival and handed him a piece a candy. He got over being all costumed up pretty quick. There were games, and crafts, and Hayley's favorite...
Eating a doughnut off of a string! (I really should have videoed this. She thought it was so funny! She kept pausing every few bites to laugh.)
On Halloween night we headed up to Aunt Kimi and Grandma Bachman's neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. Hayley was so excited to see Payton! Good thing I got this picture of them before they took off, because after they started, they were out in front of the rest of us as far as we would let them go. They had a blast, and gathered a stash!
Jackson had a good time too, and was so cute tagging along after his big sister. Too bad he wouldn't look at the camera for anything! I had to resort to taking pictures of his cute duck butt backside, which wasn't all bad. :)
It was a very happy Halloween! Fun times with family, tons of candy, I feel like we got our money's worth out of Hayley's costume, and I'm just relieved that Jackson wore his at all!
The Thursday before Halloween we headed to the Kearns Recreation Center for their free Halloween Carnival. I was glad Jeremy could come with us, since he would be working during some of the Halloween festivities during the weekend before the holiday. No surprise that Hayley was really into the spook alley, games, prizes, and candy, but it was so fun to see Jackson really get a lot more excited this season.
Hayley's a cowgirl this year. Her costume turned out super cute, especially considering I bought all the pieces on sale at the after Halloween sales last year. I know you can't see her face in the last picture, but that face I am making is me laughing at Jeremy as I ask, "Are you taking pictures with the camera upside down?!" He was. Because, you know, why make things easy on yourself?
I bought Jackson the cutest duck costume last year for him to wear this year, but he was having none of it. I put it on him a few times, and he would just walk (waddle?) around and cry and pull at it until we took it off. So then my mom got him a cute puppy costume in an bigger size, thinking maybe the duck one was just too small. Nope, same result. It was only when I put the boring skeleton shirt on him that I actually started to get some Halloween smiles. So I cut him some slack for the carnival, but I may give the costumes another shot on the actual holiday.
We finished off the night with free drinks and cookies. The kids had no problem sharing the "cookies as big as my face!" as Hayley put it.
October, Halloween, and all the related activities seem to become more and more busy each year. There are lots of traditions that I look forward to, including going to The Pie and then Thriller with my mom and my sisters. This year, before we got to our seats, my mom could not find her glasses, and it took her a while, and dumping out her entire purse, and finding a pair of Hayley's sunglasses, before she found them. In the front pocket. Thriller was great, complete with scary zombie dancers.
From Thriller, I headed up to meet the girls from my fourth grade team for our annual weekend at Debbie's cabin. It was so beautiful, and peaceful, and the Rhino rides and company were lots of fun.
On our ride we saw this broken deck, a porcupine, a sun dog, and the amazing view from Windy Ridge.
And we found "my" lane. Too bad it was "dead."
One last tradition that we finally started this year was carving a pumpkin with Hayley. Neither Jeremy or I are big into carving pumpkins. We both think it's kind of gross, and messy, and stinky. Plus, it's the adults that end up doing most of the work. Hayley drew the little face though, and I carved.
Hayley and I flew home Friday morning. Our flight was super early, after us being up super late, and Hayley promptly fell asleep leaning against me. Which was fine, until I fell asleep on the shoulder of the random guy who was sitting next to me. Twice. Sorry Stranger, and thanks for nonchalantly shrugging to wake me up and then pretending like it didn't happen.In spite of our being tired, my mom and step-dad and sisters were at the cabin for our annual Cabin Trip, and I figured why waste any time. So we went home for long enough to do some laundry and re-pack, and then we headed up to the cabin. It was a fun time, full of playing games, reading books, playing on the deck and in the snow, and Jackson helping Dad and Grandpa on the ladder...
What were they doing on the ladder, you ask? Just cutting down trees so they wouldn't hit the power lines if they fell down. With a chainsaw. Because they would rather do it themselves then pay someone to do it. Since this made both my mom and I very nervous to watch, we took the kids on a walk to the Bear River Lodge for a treat. We passed the stream which was super high from the snow we had a few days before.
Jeremy and Robert were both alive and intact with all of their limbs when we got back, and we enjoyed the fire later that evening with all the firewood that had been sawed off earlier that day.
Jackson was happy to have most of his favorite people hanging out together all in one place.
He was also happy to be entertained by Hayley's shenanigans with his Thumper.
Love those cute kids and their cute cabin giggles!
While we were planning our upcoming vacation to Las Vegas, I was thinking about how fun it would be to add on a few days at Disneyland. On a lark, I checked how much airfare would be from Vegas to California. Only $29.00!! Then I found some people on KSL selling their unused Disneyland tickets from last year (when the prices went up) for a super great deal. I think you can see where this was going in my head... I talked to Jeremy about it, and he said he would be just as happy to head home with Jackson, but that Hayley and I should go and have fun...
So, we did. :)
Hayley was so surprised and excited when I told her, especially since we were leaving the very next morning. The first few hours there, she kept saying "I can't believe we're in Disneyland. I can't believe we're in Disneyland RIGHT NOW!" It was so fun and low key to have just the two of us there. We did quite a few things that we usually pass by on our way to something else. We went on the new Little Mermaid ride, which was darling, watched the new Phineas and Ferb Rock and Roller Dance Show where Hayley was picked to learn the Fireside Girls' dance, and played at the Redwood Creek Adventure Trail, where we met Russell from Up who we'd never met before. It rained a little on us, but not too bad, and we enjoyed the parks until closing at 8:00 and then watched World of Color.
The next day we woke up early to head to Minnie and Friends: Breakfast in the Park. On our way there at quarter to eight it started to rain. I was hoping it would just sprinkle for a few hours and then stop like it had the day before, but that wasn't the case. It rained for nine hours straight, finally letting up at about 5:00 in the evening.
The Breakfast in the park was super fun. Hayley decided this year that she wanted to start to collect autographs from all of the characters, and started her first few pages with Captain Hook, Minnie, Chip and Dale.
We finished off the morning with the Fairy Godmother and Winnie the Pooh and Friends.
After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel room for our first clothing change of the day, including our "stylish" new rain ponchos. We were both all for going back to the parks, and I was so glad that we did, because we soon realized that Rain at Disneyland = No Lines. It was great! We basically walked on to many rides that often have a very long wait. We also rode the train around the entire park and then some, which was a fun way to keep dry, and get a different view of the park. Not quite dry enough however, and by afternoon, Hayley had gotten three unplanned souvineers: sweatpants, socks, and shoes. (I had only packed shorts and capris for her, and her shoes were old worn ones, which apparently had holes.)
After our purchases, we headed to see Mickey, Goofy, and Donald. It seemed as the day went on, more and more people were scared back to their hotels by the weather, because we waited maybe five minutes to see each of these guys.
At 5:00 when the rain stopped it was like a miracle. The sun shined down on us and must have sent some Pixie Dust with it, because we experienced a great case of right place at the right time. The outdoor Princess Fantasy Faire had been closed for Princess Meet and Greets all day with the rain, and had a scheduled closing time of 6:00. Seeing that there were now people in the line, we went over and discovered that the princess would be coming out for the last hour. We saw the first three, then got in line again and waited about ten minutes and by then they had switched to the second three princesses.
We stayed until the park closed at 8:00, and got some dinner and a treat on the way out. Hayley decided that Matterhorn Macaroons were her new favorite Disneyland treat.
We were expecting our last day to be more of the same rain, rain, rain. Imagine our pleasant surprise when we woke up to clear skies and sunshine! It was wonderful, but also noticeably more crowded in the park than it had been the day before. We made sure to fit in Musical Chairs with Alice and the Mad Hatter, who informed us it was "Mad Hatter Day" since it was 10/6. Clever. Here's Hayley becoming a "Spooky Unwinner" (getting out) and telling her joke. Yes, we knew what was coming and had practiced. :)
Another highlight was meeting Flynn Rider, who has never been there with Rapunzel when we have met her before. They were so cute talking to Hayley. She told everyone who looked at her Autograph Book that, "Flynn and Rapunzel are married, that's why they sign on the same page."
We ate some nachos from Whitewater Snacks and some Mickey pretzels, rode a bunch of rides, including the new Star Tours which Hayley loved, watched the parade, played with Stitch, and saw Minnie and Pluto in their Halloween costumes.
Hayley even got me on the Teacups since she was a sport and went on Haunted Mansion that she wasn't so crazy about.
After three long days, and a week in Vegas before that, Hayley was pretty tuckered out. It was so much fun to spend some time at Disneyland with this fun little girl!
The first week I was off track, we headed to Las Vegas to use our week at our time share. The drive went really well; we made it all the way to St. George before we even made a pit stop!
When we got to our timeshare, we quickly settled into a rhythm that carried on for the next six days. It went something like this:
Wake up, quick breakfast, swimsuits on, sunscreen up, and head to the pool.
Then when the lazy river opened at 10:00 we headed over there, right next to the pool. After a while, Jackson would get kind of cuddly and sleepy in the tube, and Jeremy would take him back to the room for his nap. Then Hayley and I would stay at the lazy river, go back to the pool for a little longer, or enjoy laying out on the lounge chairs. When we got hungry, we'd head back to the room and usually send Jeremy down to grill something for lunch. After lunch, if Jackson was still sleeping, Hayley and I would sometimes do another round at the pool.
By late afternoon we were usually a little water-logged, and finally ready to "get ready" for the day. When we were all set, we'd head over to the strip to some of the more kid-friendly entertainment, like the M & M store, the Coca Cola store, and the street performers (including the jester) at the Venetian.
Then we'd head back on the shuttle bus and turn in early. Usually everyone was in bed by about nine o'clock. It was a super fun, yet very chill and relaxing vacation, with a fun surprise at the end for Hayley... :)
Hayley has finished up with another round of Tee Ball. I think she liked it a little more this time around. Here are a few highlights (and funnies) of the season:
*Hayley can now hit the ball with the coach pitching to her, instead of off of the tee. If she's concentrating and in the mood to focus.
*She now knows that after batting, you drop (not throw) the bat, and keep the helmet on. Last season she kept tossing the helmet and keeping the bat.
*She's pretty good at stopping the grounders with her mitt, but she also thinks it's pretty funny when she misses the ball and it goes right between her feet.
*When Kade's mom told Kade and Hayley that after someone from the other team hits the ball they are supposed to catch it and throw it to first base, they were both a little surprised. Kade's response, "Get out! Really?"
*Hayley and her little friend Kade had to be separated at practice one night. Because the were fighting? Nope, not so much. Because they kept holding hands, and were trying to bat and catch balls while still holding hands. Kade's mom bribed him at the next game that if he could keep his hands off of Hayley for the rest of the next game, she'd buy him ice cream. My response to her? "You know this will be the story of our life for about the next ten years right?" We both had a good laugh, but seriously, they are like the little couple. Hayley got hurt the other day, and after she decided she was fine, she and Kade walked back over to his house hand in hand, with him patting her shoulder. Yeah, we'll see how long the ice cream bribe will work for.
With Hayley only having nine girls including her in her kindergarten class, I wanted to have a little get together so they could celebrate going off track. I was thinking to have all of us meet up somewhere and get some lunch and let the kids play. I was telling my mom about how I wanted to organize something, and she started talking about how fun a Princess Party would be. Pretty soon I was suckered in. She was right, the girls were in heaven!
We strung beads on our princess ribbon crowns, had a princess relay race, and played some Princess Switch.
Then we had a princess fashion show. Here are all of the princesses during the finale.
We finished off with a Princess Tea Party Lunch and cupcakes. We also had a little talk about how we need to act like princesses at school too, and invite and accept others when we are playing. Yep, I may have had a hidden agenda. But I think I got the point across, and I know that all the girls had a good time. I did too. Two adults, six kindergarten princesses, and one little toddler prince made for a very fun afternoon. (Thanks for all your help mom. I couldn't and wouldn't have done it without you!)
Every time we go to Swiss Days, they have a bunch of these big bouncy houses and slides. They cost tickets and the money from ticket sales go to the local school. Now I'm all about a good fundraiser, but each ticket costs $1.00 and each bouncy thing-a-ma-jig costs two to three tickets. I think you can see where I am going here. Highway robbery, right? All the other years, I have gotten suckered into this scam at least five or ten dollars worth, but this year, I half-kiddingly said to Hayley that if she waited until we got home to Salt Lake, I would take her and a friend to Kangaroo Zoo. She jumped at the chance, and the next weekend Aisly, Hayley, Jackson, and I were headed off to the indoor, air-conditioned, one-flat-fee goodness that is the Kangaroo Zoo.
Hayley and Aisly had tons of fun, while Jackson was content to chill in his stroller and play in the water that I pretended I didn't notice he was dripping onto his stroller tray. Technically, I probably spent more money that I would have at the Swiss Days bouncies, but we got a lot more play time out of these ones. Plus, Aisly thanked us for taking her without any prompting from any adults. How I love a child that's been brought up right. And it's so nice that Hayley is getting old enough to bargain my way with, and usually convince her. :)
This past weekend should have been pretty chill... Hayley playing with friends, an outing to get Jackson's haircut, Sunday dinner at my mom's. I guess Jackson decided to spice things up a bit for us, and nearly give me a heart attack in the process.
In all his post-haircut cuteness on Saturday, he was bringing all his blankies and stuffies from his crib to my room one by one, climbing up on the bed, depositing them in the pile he was making, and then safely sliding down the side of the bed to land on his feet. He was on about round five of this game when I heard the CLUNK. Yes, that one, the one that no mother ever wants to hear. Yep, you guessed it, fell off the bed. Face first. I snatch him up, and notice two things. One, he's crying. Good sign. Two, he already has a mouthful of blood. Bad, bad sign.
I get him over to the changing table and mop some of the blood out of his mouth, and shudder as I realize what it is that is bleeding so much: he's totally ripped his frenulum. What is that you ask? It's the piece of tissue that connects the upper gum above your teeth to the upper lip. Why would I know what that is called? Because not two months ago our Pediatric Dentist told me that Jackson's is very low, and to be careful because it will rip and bleed. NO FREAKING KIDDING.
So I hold him, and try to keep him from swallowing too much blood, and try not to cry myself. I remind myself that mouth wounds bleed a lot, and that even if the scar for this one is nasty, it's inside his mouth when no one can see it. I think about how much I do not want to hold my two-year-old down while he gets stitches IN HIS MOUTH, especially since I am already a little spent from holding him down to get his hair cut earlier that day. And then I decide to call and get a second opinion before taking him in anywhere.
I call my mom and step-dad to explain the situation and they say that they will stop by. While we are waiting, Jackson has calmed down, and is acting fairly normal. He's playing quietly and his mouth seems to have stopped bleeding. At this point I decide to call the dentist, since he will be familiar with the injury and will have possibly dealt with it before. I was very impressed when he called back within five minutes of my leaving a message on the emergency line, and even more impressed when he actually discussed the injury with me since it seems that the only thing that I ever get from the doctor's office emergency line is, "Well, we can't really tell you anything on the phone, you better just bring them in." Anyway, so the pediatric dentist said that it is a very common injury, and if it is done bleeding and the child is acting fine, there's really nothing they would do for it anyway. They don't usually stitch it, and sometimes the frenulum grows back, and sometimes it doesn't, which is fine, because it doesn't really serve a purpose.
I am ridiculously relieved, call my mom and step-dad and tell them not to worry about coming, give Jackson some Tylenol for good measure, and move on with our day. Jackson has a puffy upper lip, and has walked around the last few days poking at it gingerly and saying "hurt" but he really seems fine. His mouth is healing, but I don't know if it will ever be the same as it was. At least I'll have a good story for him when he is older and asks why he has a big dangly, gangly piece of yuck at the front of the inside of his mouth.
So glad that our little boy is okay. The scary part is, with how much of a little monkey he is, I'm sure this is just practice for the years to come. If you are curious, and you have a strong stomach, the injury looked like this. Scroll down to the fourth picture. It still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
This little boy can be trouble with a capital T. Here's his latest trick:
After a few nights of restless sleep, and a few days with lack of naps at all or Jackson hopping out of his crib and strolling out into the hall, we broke down and bought a crib tent. We just weren't ready to make the big move to a big boy bed when obviously he would have no interest in staying in it.
Not a happy boy that first night. But much, much happier once he was back on his normal sleep and nap schedule.
You know, I'm pretty sure that this is karma for me making fun of those kid leashes. Serves me right I suppose.
We signed Hayley up for another round of T-Ball. Mostly because her BF/BFF (boyfriend/best friend forever) Kade was going to play too.
These two have so much fun together! Even when they are just playing in the dirt in the outfield, or watching the balls roll right by them. I don't think either of them realized until a few games in that you are actually supposed to go after the ball, get it, and throw it to someone. One thing at a time right?
For Labor Day we went up to the cabin at Bear River. It seems every time we go there, we love it more. It's just far enough away from civilization to be relaxing, but close enough to pick up necessities in Evanstan. You know, like when you run out of diapers. :)
We spent lots of time reading books, playing games, eating snacks, taking walks, and playing on the enclosed outdoor patio. And we made a run over to Swiss Days on Saturday. Such a fun, chill, needed vacation!
Jeremy and I have been married since 2003. Jeremy does aircraft maintenance for SkyWest, and I teach fourth grade at Jordan Hills. We have one sweet girl, Hayley, who was born in February of 2006, and had little Jackson in August of 2009.
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