Runaway Hurricane

Hebs is (one of) my strong-willed child(ren).  He is so loving, so enthusiastic, and so happy, as well as so stubborn, so determined, and so willful.  It's a great combination, because although I frequently become exasperated by his behavior, he wins me over with his kisses, loves, and awesome help.  (Seriously.  It's amazing what his little three-year-old hands can clean.  He, honestly, is a big helper.)

Last night after dinner the kids and I played outside before bed.  (Bradley has a head cold, so he was resting downstairs.)  Zee and Em were riding their bikes around the block while the littles and I hung out in the yard.  At one point, Hebs asked if he could go with Zee; I told him no.  When I next looked up, a minute later, Hebs was gone.

I hurried around the corner, Yum Yum following as fast as her chubby legs would carry her.  Several houses away, Hebs was blithely accompanying Zee.  I shouted for him to come back.

Zee stopped, told Hebs to go back to Momma, and then sped away on his race with Em.  Hovering indecisively, Hebs looked from me, to Zee, to me...and started after Zee.  He wasn't running--yet--but he was moving pretty fast.

We played a little game of chase for a few minutes, with me sternly counting and Hebs nervously laughing and defiantly staying ahead of me.  Finally, I called to a neighbor who had just arrived home.  "Ben!"  I shouted.  "Will you grab Hebs for me?"

As the six-foot-plus tall Ben headed for Hebs, the little munchkin decided that he'd stop playing games and ran back to me.  I picked him up, thanked Ben, took Yum Yum's hand, and headed back.  Hebs got a little lecture on the way home, and was unceremoniously put to bed 45 minutes early.  (It had been one of those days.)

Sigh.  He's adorable, and he's mischievous.  I just have to figure out how to channel all that energy into good instead of preschooler-style naughtiness.

Dam Island

We went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with Gee's preschool class last Monday.  In the museum, there is a sand table with amazing little water spigots and coarse quartz sand, tiny plastic dinosaurs and little fake trees.  The preschoolers had a BALL, and so did this momma.  :)

Gee and I spent most of our time there damming up the water, and then letting the dam fail and the subsequent rapid water carry everything away.  At one point, Gee decided to name his dam.  I'll let him tell you.  (Sorry about the sideways video, I can't figure out how to rotate it.)

You know you're a geologist...

...when going to a paleontology lecture is a totally awesome Girls' Night Out.  

...when this is the tile you want in the shower of your new house. 

...when, while at Thanksgiving Point, you spend a ton of time staring at the sand dune machine, watching slope failures and getting giddily excited about it.

...when, while lot-shopping, you spend almost as much time researching schools and neighborhoods as you do looking at topo maps and geologic hazards reports.

Mommy Daughter Camp In

Last weekend was the father and sons campout.  The boys were so excited--camping!  Guns!  Knife-throwing!  FIRE!  Mud!  Dirt!  Hooray!!

I simply requested that Bradley lie to me about the guns and knives.  At least, before the campout.

Because Bradley works all day, I was the one who got all the gear together.  I bought yummy treats, both for the boys and for the girls--naturally.  After all the excitement of packing the van and the impatient waiting for Daddy, the boys were off!  And us girls started our fun.

I told Em we would do whatever she wanted (within reason, of course).  She chose a trip to Barry's (the diner on the corner), eating in the park, and then playing.  Friday night was a gorgeous evening, with just enough of a breeze to make it comfortable.  We played in the nearly empty park for almost an hour, and then walked across the street to the house.  

Pulling out the indoor tent (thank you, IKEA), Em and Yummy got blankets and pillows and set up with treats to watch Em's favorite show, My Little Pony.  (Yikes.  But this was her night, so there you go...)  We stayed up super late (for a first grader, that is), watching a special two-part episode until 10:15!!!  (Said two-part episode was a little intense.  At one point, I had both little girlies on my lap.)

We had a great time, and Em didn't seem to think she'd missed out on anything.  Which, of course, is the point of the mommy/daughter party.

First Grade Program

Isn't she gorgeous?  Even as a raccoon.  

Now check out the next two pictures.  Em has had a fair amount of trouble this year, most all of it her fault.  But probably not all the time.

Anyhow, see what this cute boy is doing...tugging on her pig tails.  Classic. 

Hooray for Em, though.  Instead of exploding, she merely teased back.  Maybe she is growing up.

 But don't grow up too fast, please.  This kind of teasing can become flirting, come another 5-6 years...

And here she is (horrible, bad picture from the back of the gym), saying her line.  "I seek out other people's ideas because I know that by teaming with others, we can create better solutions than what any one of us could alone.  I look for Third Alternatives."

Yes, the Seven Habits of Happy Kids totally infiltrated the first grade play, too.  It's everywhere.

Preschool Presentation

Hard as it is to believe, preschool is over!  (Sniff!)  Didn't we just start?

Gee has grown so much and learned so many things.  When he started this year, I wasn't sure he even knew the names of all the letters.  He definitely couldn't write them, and numbers were a complete mystery.  

Now he not only can recognize all the letters, but he knows all their sounds (well, only the short vowel sounds).  He can write his first and last name, and most letters in the alphabet. He knows how to count to 30, what 3+3 equals (and sometimes 3+3+3, too), the Pledge of Allegiance, how to get in line, wait your turn, and raise his hand.

I am so impressed and grateful for the love and work and care Miss Elaine and Miss Barbara put into Gee and his preschool class this year.  Truly, you couldn't ask for better preschool teachers.

And I'm so impressed and proud of my Gee.  What a smart, determined, and wonderful boy!

Gideon give Miss Elaine a drawing he made for her 

Gee and Miss Elaine 

Gee and Miss Barbara 

Saying the pledge 

"Blue horse, blue horse, what do you see?"  

Gee's big line:  "I see a purple cat looking at me!"

Gee with K.  We carpooled all year and became such close friends!

A Beautiful Day in May

Hogle Zoo on a Wednesday afternoon/evening in mid-May, with overcast skies and a gorgeous breeze?

Yes, thank you.

Add my dear friend C and her sweet children, all good friends with my children, and a fairly empty zoo, and it was perfect.  (As nearly perfect as a trip to the zoo with 9 children 9 and under could be.)

We had so much fun!  It was marvelous to spend time chatting with C, and the kids had a ball.  Thanks so much for coming with us, C and family!

Seriously, Stop Growing Up

Tonight was Ezra's second grade concert.  All four second grade classes at our school have been learning a different song for each month of the school year, and the theme of the concert was "Singing Through the Year".  (More than 9 songs were sung, because the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Kids accounted for 7 songs, one for each habit.  Mercifully short habit songs, though.)  

They all did a great job.  Ezra was simply marvelous (says his doting momma), and the difference between last year's program and this year's was amazing.  He was so much more focused, less silly, and generally just...growing up!

Which he absolutely must stop!  Who said my baby could get so big?

Why I will never again live in Vegas (or other crazy hot places)

We were outside today with the Cub Scouts, talking about keeping our environment clean and then (naturally) having a giant water fight.  Because my co-den leader has three children younger than her cub scout, and because I have four children younger than my cub scout, any den meeting is loud, noisy, and completely chaotic.  (Still, we muddle through.)

Most of the kids participated in the water fight, but Gee (my five year old) did not want to get wet.  After less than thirty minutes outside, in the shade practically the whole time, Gee's face was bright red, and he was complaining of being hot.  When I finally brought him inside (after about 45 minutes), it took long drinks of water and at least twenty minutes for his face to regain the usual color.

It was a balmy, gorgeous 81 degree afternoon.  (And we've a dry heat, so 81 feels like, well, 81.)

When we were in Vegas for my mother's birthday, Gee told me that he never wanted to visit Las Vegas again, because it was just too hot.  In late March.

Now, Gee started a medication in January that increases (albeit a very small amount) his propensity to overheat, but he's always been my hot-blooded kiddo.  The medicine is just the icing on the cake.

So, sorry, my-sister-Jen-south-of-Phoenix, I somehow doubt I will ever live south of, oh, Cedar City again. (Not that I wanted to anyway.  I like the snow, and I detest the heat.)

The Ring of FIRE!

Y'all should TOTALLY put this on your calendars, because it's going to be awesome.  On May 20, 2012, there will be an annular solar eclipse visible, among other places, from the southwest United States.  This, fortunately for me, includes St George, where my brother now lives.  My professorial brother, who teaches physics and astronomy at Dixie State College.  Who has access to all sorts of amazing telescopes and sky-viewing equipment.  And who, incidentally, will be the professional on the ground at this event.

We are headed to Vegas that same weekend, and we're planning on stopping in St George for a couple of hours on our way back home that Sunday.  I'm totally pumped to see this eclipse--it's going to be so cool.

Lots and Lots of Lots

This is what I have done with my time, these last few days.  I've looked at a lot of overpriced, underpriced-but-inconvenient, and vastly unsuitable parcels of land.  (No, thanks, I'm not going to buy your three parcels up on the bench (read:  Wasatch Fault) that have giant 50 foot easements for the high-voltage electrical wires above, not to mention the back third of the land is "geologically fragile" and can't be built on.  Thanks, though, for the fun trip down memory lane, to when my geomorphology teacher took us to the condemned house practically next door to this piece of land.  The condemned house that was falling off the hillside.  Good times.)

(Knock on Wood)

My Hebs is three and a half years old, and so, with great trepidation, I started preparing to toilet train him.  (Perhaps you think this is quite old for toilet training--maybe it is for your children.  However, my oldest two were a nightmare to train, and so I really wasn't looking forward to this event.  Three point five is plenty young for me.)

We talked up the toilet, we got out some underpants, and picked a day.  I steeled myself for the next five months of battles, on-again-off-again, lots of tears, and frustration.  That was not quite two weeks ago.

He's pretty much completely trained.  Not at night, and definitely not if he's wearing those training diapers, but if I put him in underwear, he stays DRY and CLEAN.  He doesn't even need reminding--not even on the first day.  He just runs into the bathroom and does his own thing.

Wow.  I really thought that easily potty-trained kids were a myth.  How awesome!

Supermoon!

Tonight is a "supermoon" (i.e. a full moon occurring when the moon is closest to the earth), and so after baths, I took the kids across the street to the park to take a look at it.  They were suitably awed (by the gorgeous large moon rising above the rooftops, or being outside at night, in their jammies, I'm not sure which) and enthusiastic about it.

I love being a mom!

(Yes, I'm ignoring my almost month-long silence.  It's been busy, I tell you what.  And stressful.  And we still don't have a master plan yet.  ARGH.)