Fire safety week meant a trip to the fire station!
Apparently it's really silly sitting inside a fire truck!
I don't remember a couch in my kindergarten classroom!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
A Fly on the Wall...
On Olivia's first day of school, I commented in my blog post that I'd like to be a fly on her classroom wall sometime. Well, I kind of got my wish last night... I was pleasantly surprised to find an email from Olivia's teacher in my inbox filled with pictures of Olivia "in action" in the classroom. So awesome that Ms. Kuennen took the time to send this email! My impression is that Olivia is really enjoying school, liking spending time with her classmates, and learning a lot; it was fun to have this impression become more of a reality when looking at these pictures!
Monday, October 21, 2013
37.3 Weeks
Time for a photo update...
Well, while I can say I've been blessed with a really nice pregnancy overall, I am definitely ready to meet this little guy. My Type A personality has reached it "I can handle not being in control of everything" limit! :) Well, maybe it hasn't completely reached it's limit, but it's getting awfully close!
Overall though, everything is progressing along just fine; I had an appointment today and all looks well. As of a week ago, I was 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced; my doctor didn't check any of that today, but he did tell me that he doesn't think it'll be much longer. My weight gain has been very small these last couple of weeks (just like with both Olivia and Grace) and to quote him, "I'm pretty full" - not a lot of room left - although I am still only measuring at 36 weeks. He also said the baby's sitting very low. I told him my sister-in-law had had a dream that the baby would be born on Thursday (October 24th), and he said that was certainly a possibility! And, if not then, he said perhaps this weekend...better not get my hopes up though...I'll probably end up being over-due! Well, actually I know that won't happen because he also said he would like to induce if I do make it to 40 weeks - fine with me! In other news, when I asked how big he thought the baby was, he said he was expecting him to be in the mid-7 pound range. Lots of braxton hicks going on these days along with lots of trips to the bathroom. Nights have been a little tough; I've been pretty restless - but we'll just call all this good baby prep.
The baby's room is all ready to go - I should probably take some pictures! Two weekends ago I had Brian all nervous because I washed all the baby clothes and just generally finished all that baby prep stuff up - he asked me if I was "nesting." I laughed to hear him use that term. My friends have enjoyed giving Brian a hard time about buying me a "push present." Honestly - who makes this stuff up! Anyways, they've been telling him that since he's 2 kids behind in this arena, I better get something nice. Ha! Nah, we just think it's a pretty silly term and like to watch our husbands get all bent out of shape about it! All in all, I'm just feeling ready (and I think everyone else in the family is too!)!
Well, while I can say I've been blessed with a really nice pregnancy overall, I am definitely ready to meet this little guy. My Type A personality has reached it "I can handle not being in control of everything" limit! :) Well, maybe it hasn't completely reached it's limit, but it's getting awfully close!
Overall though, everything is progressing along just fine; I had an appointment today and all looks well. As of a week ago, I was 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced; my doctor didn't check any of that today, but he did tell me that he doesn't think it'll be much longer. My weight gain has been very small these last couple of weeks (just like with both Olivia and Grace) and to quote him, "I'm pretty full" - not a lot of room left - although I am still only measuring at 36 weeks. He also said the baby's sitting very low. I told him my sister-in-law had had a dream that the baby would be born on Thursday (October 24th), and he said that was certainly a possibility! And, if not then, he said perhaps this weekend...better not get my hopes up though...I'll probably end up being over-due! Well, actually I know that won't happen because he also said he would like to induce if I do make it to 40 weeks - fine with me! In other news, when I asked how big he thought the baby was, he said he was expecting him to be in the mid-7 pound range. Lots of braxton hicks going on these days along with lots of trips to the bathroom. Nights have been a little tough; I've been pretty restless - but we'll just call all this good baby prep.
The baby's room is all ready to go - I should probably take some pictures! Two weekends ago I had Brian all nervous because I washed all the baby clothes and just generally finished all that baby prep stuff up - he asked me if I was "nesting." I laughed to hear him use that term. My friends have enjoyed giving Brian a hard time about buying me a "push present." Honestly - who makes this stuff up! Anyways, they've been telling him that since he's 2 kids behind in this arena, I better get something nice. Ha! Nah, we just think it's a pretty silly term and like to watch our husbands get all bent out of shape about it! All in all, I'm just feeling ready (and I think everyone else in the family is too!)!
Weekend with Friends
This weekend was very busy but also very enjoyable. Friday found me home as soon as possible from work and attacking the house cleaning in preparation for a baby shower two of my friends and I hosted on Saturday. Everything really turned out nicely, and we had fun celebrating the January arrival of a little girl. Brian took care of the girls while the shower was going on, and they obviously had a fantastic time because they came home and basically asked to take a nap! After naps, they had a great time playing with Marin and Lenora - the daughters of our friends who stayed the weekend. Saturday, early evening, more friends congregated at our house for a few drinks and football watching before heading to a fundraiser/auction dinner. I enjoyed this a lot because one of my students, Lydia, who has cerebral palsy was a guest-speaker. She is actually completely non-verbal but the cognitive part of her brain is undamaged. She communicates using a computer...and she "types" using her eyes. She's pretty incredible. Sunday was a relaxing day...it was rainy and cloudy and I enjoyed doing a whole lot of nothing (although I'm sure I should have been doing something!).
Baby shower hostesses: Jamie, me, and Karen
(Notice the open door...it was cold but the kitchen got smoky - whoops!)
Later in the evening on our way to the fundraiser...
Jamie, Karen, Jen (the baby shower was for her!), and me
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Randomness
Lots of little tidbits to report...
1) Liv continues to love kindergarten - here's her first official school picture. Very exciting for us to see an actual (if partial) smile this year! Yesterday, Olivia and I stayed home after a couple of rough nights coughing and a low-grade fever - we made a trip to the doctor's office and came home with antiboiotics - bronchitis and an ear infection (only her second ever). She was definitely a little off yesterday but seemed in solid spirits this morning - she was very excited to return to school! I'm looking forward to getting a teacher report of her progress at conferences in a couple of weeks.
2) Masks: Last weekend, we made Grace's Halloween mask for preschool. Needless to say, she was super excited about doing this little project - and I'm happy she picked a mask that was possible for my not-artistically-incined self! I was majorly impressed with her dedication and focus - she worked on her mask for probably a hour. Liv also made a butterfly mask, but instead of posing with that, she was excited to wear her "cough mask" from the doctor's.
3) Yodeling: This definitely qualifies as random. I guess from some movie they watched at Shannon's the girls learned how to yodel. Grace was wondering around yodeling one day, and while I didn't catch on first, I finally figured out what she was doing - wish you could hear them - hilarious. But honestly, they're pretty good at it! You can see from the pictures, they thinking yodeling is great entertainment and an opportunity for silliness! :)
4) Camera skills: Olivia, since this summer especially, has been really interested in taking pictures with my camera. I took a random picture of the girls and Brian last night which resulted in her trying to take some too - she's especially interested in fixing hair and adjusting clothing as this was a part of our family picture taking process from a couple of weeks ago. (Pictures coming soon!) You can see that Olivia still needs some work on actually taking a picture of her target - this is the best picture of the 20 or so she took! :)
5) Drawing: Within seconds of coming down for breakfast and getting home from daycare, Grace asks for a blank-page and a pen. She's really into drawing these days - especially people. Here's some of her (and one of Olivia's) blank-page creations.
1) Liv continues to love kindergarten - here's her first official school picture. Very exciting for us to see an actual (if partial) smile this year! Yesterday, Olivia and I stayed home after a couple of rough nights coughing and a low-grade fever - we made a trip to the doctor's office and came home with antiboiotics - bronchitis and an ear infection (only her second ever). She was definitely a little off yesterday but seemed in solid spirits this morning - she was very excited to return to school! I'm looking forward to getting a teacher report of her progress at conferences in a couple of weeks.
2) Masks: Last weekend, we made Grace's Halloween mask for preschool. Needless to say, she was super excited about doing this little project - and I'm happy she picked a mask that was possible for my not-artistically-incined self! I was majorly impressed with her dedication and focus - she worked on her mask for probably a hour. Liv also made a butterfly mask, but instead of posing with that, she was excited to wear her "cough mask" from the doctor's.
3) Yodeling: This definitely qualifies as random. I guess from some movie they watched at Shannon's the girls learned how to yodel. Grace was wondering around yodeling one day, and while I didn't catch on first, I finally figured out what she was doing - wish you could hear them - hilarious. But honestly, they're pretty good at it! You can see from the pictures, they thinking yodeling is great entertainment and an opportunity for silliness! :)
4) Camera skills: Olivia, since this summer especially, has been really interested in taking pictures with my camera. I took a random picture of the girls and Brian last night which resulted in her trying to take some too - she's especially interested in fixing hair and adjusting clothing as this was a part of our family picture taking process from a couple of weeks ago. (Pictures coming soon!) You can see that Olivia still needs some work on actually taking a picture of her target - this is the best picture of the 20 or so she took! :)
5) Drawing: Within seconds of coming down for breakfast and getting home from daycare, Grace asks for a blank-page and a pen. She's really into drawing these days - especially people. Here's some of her (and one of Olivia's) blank-page creations.
Olivia's...family, favorite words, and practice e's.
When I asked her what this was, Grace started to tell me
this was a butterfly, but she quickly changed her story
telling me it was just "something cool."
Grace's people - pretty decent!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
A Weekend Away
Friday we enjoyed a fantastic dinner/evening with our good friends, Joe and Jamie. We went out to eat downtown at Rubaiyat and got to try out their new menu. Highlights of the evening included celebrating Jamie's new job, sitting within sight of Newt Gingrich and his wife (yes, I realize this may not be a highlight for everyone...but it was for Brain!), and enjoying a fabulous dessert amidst great conversation!
Saturday morning we slept in (if 7:30 counts as that!) before heading up to Rochester. There we did some much-need shopping for Brian. Then, I sent him off to Applebees to watch the Iowa game while I did a little extra shopping for the girls. Walking around the mall certainly made me realize I'm not too far away from my due date! After a late lunch, we drove to Pepin, Wisconsin. We met up with friends at a cute bed and breakfast. The hostess served us appetizers, and then we set out on a sunset sailboat ride. The weather was a bit chilly, but it was still a lovely evening and a fun outing with good friends that ended with dinner at a local bar and grill. After an amazingly delicious breakfast we headed home.
I hope someone has a better picture of the two of us
because this one's not so great - oh well!
Our special treat while on the sailboat!
Grace, Olivia, and Mya enjoying another visit to Pinter's Pumpkin Patch.
Pinter's Pumpkin Patch
The last weekend in September, we made a trip out to a local pumpkin patch. The girls both LOVE this place, and Olivia thinks it's especially cool that she's been their twice for field trips and that Grace will get to go there this year for preschool too. The day was beautiful - but windy as you can tell from Grace's crazy hair in most of these pictures! We enjoyed a solid 2 and 1/2 hours out there! It was great seeing the girls race around like they owned the place, talking to them about what their little brother would get to do next year (not much, I'm afraid), and hearing the peals of laughter. Neither was completely ready to go, but their drooping eyes on the way home told us otherwise!
I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...
I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...
Racing balls using water pumps - we were at this
station for at least 15 minutes, and it could have been more!
After watching Liv, Grace was brave enough to take
on the big slides this year.
My poser...
Love Gracie's sense of adventure and fun!
The corn "sand" box
Can we we even call this a mediocre picture attempt???
Notice I didn't even try to get one with the girls and me!
DHS Homecoming
A couple of weeks ago was Decorah's Homecoming. Last year we went to a number of football games which the girls really enjoyed (mostly because they loved the marching band, the cheerleaders, and the opportunity to have a snack), but this was the first year the girls - mostly Livy - seemed to catch on to the whole "school spirit" thing. Livy got to buy red and blue beads at school in the morning, learned a Decorah Vikings cheer with actions (super cute - I should record it!), got to have a special out-of-uniform day, and got out of school early on Friday so she could watch the Homecoming Parade! Usually I walk with the teachers during the parade, but this year, I meet up with Olivia instead. As expected, she loved the opportunity to snag some special treats before heading back to mom's classroom for the very-awesome (in her opinion) chance to write on the white-boards and play with the special scissors and construction paper! This is the first time Liv's gotten to hang out in my room this year, and she loves doing so - I hope she always thinks hanging out with mom is so great!
Later that night we did head to the football game - it was a gorgeous night! We sat on the dike this year which turned out to be great as the kids raced around with friends. Oh, and by the way, Decorah won! (Can't say I actually watched much of the game though.)
Not the greatest picture, but here's one of the girls and me wearing our matching Decorah gear! By the way - I doubt that I can squeeze into that shirt any longer. This picture was taken at 34 weeks pregnant. I'll take another picture this Friday (36 weeks).
Later that night we did head to the football game - it was a gorgeous night! We sat on the dike this year which turned out to be great as the kids raced around with friends. Oh, and by the way, Decorah won! (Can't say I actually watched much of the game though.)
Not the greatest picture, but here's one of the girls and me wearing our matching Decorah gear! By the way - I doubt that I can squeeze into that shirt any longer. This picture was taken at 34 weeks pregnant. I'll take another picture this Friday (36 weeks).
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