Kindergarten Relay Days

In lieu of track and field the kindergartners here have a relay day on the high school track. It was a great day. The K-2 kids all rotate through different events throughout the morning. They don't have to sit and wait for the other classes to complete their "events," instead they just move to a new activity. Adam loved the day. The kindergarten kids get to have an egg relay, hoppity horse races, popsicle breaks, bounce house fun, face painting, and a 100 yard dash. Each of the kindergarten classes tie-dyed class shirts and then then had them printed with "Class of '22" and the name of each kid in the class. It was the first I had ever processed the fact that Adam will graduate in '22.

Popsicle break with Trey and Hannah. These are two of his good buddies... honestly though, in kindergarten who's not a buddy?

Adam had a serious fan club...

Adam and one of his monster hops. Unfortunately his team didn't take top hops but he gained a little.

Face painting.

Andrew trying to figure out what in the heck in on Adam's cheek and why it is not coming off. This was a great source of perplexity for the little guy.

Smoked 'um!!!!

The kindergarten jack-o-latern at the end of the day.

What Cha Eatn'?

Hummmm???

Blank Park Zoo

Jonathan had an IANA (Iowa Association of Nurse Anesthetists) Meeting in Des Moines a few weekends ago. We decided instead of letting him go alone we would tag along as a family. The kids and I spent the day at the zoo while Daddy-O spent the day at meetings. I found it was a little tricky herding 3 kids and running a camera and stroller at the same time, but I managed to get a few pictures.

While we were in Des Moines we stayed at the hotel that Jonathan's conference was held at. It had lots of yummy food and a pool. We swam and swam, ordered pizza to the room and even got to watch some T.V. shows. The boys were thrilled to death to have a T.V. with cartoons because it has been a really long time since they have watched anything besides a DVD. We had a splendid good time. Andrew was in love with the glass elevator and the thrill of riding up and down from the 6th floor to the pool on the bottom floor. We had a great enough time we might just tag along for the next IANA meeting.

Man of the House

Andrew has become our do anything, go anywhere, you name it climb on it little man. A few days ago I had four tomatoes on the counter ripening for salsa. My darling little Andrew wanted a closer look. He pushed a chair up to the counter and ripped each tomato off of the vine. Upon further exploration he decided he wanted to taste each one. He took a bite out of each tomato and spit each chunk out on the counter. Deciding that he didn't love the taste of tomatoes he pitched each gnawed on tomato in the fish bowl on the counter hoping the Beta might like the taste better. Jonathan walked in the kitchen to find four floating tomatoes and a murky fish tank. He took out the tomatoes and told me about it as he was leaving for work. Not to feel defeated, Andrew waited for Dad to leave for work and then climbed back up on the counter and put the tomatoes back in the fish bowl where he was bound and determined they belonged. Mom found then a few hours later. This time I moved the tomatoes.

Matthew, what are you going to be when you grow up?

"An engineer, because I can make anything. Right Mom?"

"Right on, kiddo."

As you can see the tinkertoy arrows are in hand and the armor has offiically been constructed. Without any help from his mother Matthew has created a masterpiece of defense.

It works a little better if you keep your arms down.

In the past month my little engineer has explored every orifice on his noggin. Let me explain.

Nose: (Upon Mom's inquiry as to why his finger was so far in his nose.)

"Mom, I was just curious to see if it would fit."

"Did you put something in your nose buddy?"

"Ya, I was curious if my gum would fit in my nose."

"Do want some help getting it out?"

"Ya, its stuck."

So mom gets a flashlight and sees what looks to be a speck of blue way up in the nostril. With a pair of hemostats mom was able to extract a 3 inch long rolled wad of gum. Yes it fits and no we don't put things in our nose. Check.

Ear: (Reading stories with mom in the big brown chair last Sunday afternoon.)

"Mom, I think I have a fly in my ear."

"Really, I don't think flies fly into our ears very often. Is your ear owie? Is there something in it that is hurting?"

"Ya."

So mom pulls out the flashlight again and sees what looks like wax. So... mom squirts warm water in the ear to flush it out but it is not flushing. Post flush -

"Mom, I think I may have put something in my ear."

"Matthew, do you remember what you put in your ear?"

"Ya, I think it was a rock."

"Do you know where you got the rock?"

"Ya, I found it during primary and stuck it in my ear while we were singing."

"Matthew, we don't stick things in our ears."

So at Andrew's 18 month check up the next morning we ask Dr. Miller if she thinks she can get the rock out. She takes a look and believes she can get it. When she leaves the room to get a water squirting machine -

"Mom, I think I am getting really nervous about this."

"Good. We don't stick things in our ears."

Dr. Miller had just the squirting tool to get the rock out. Upon assessment we discover the rock was actually in fact just a hard dirt clod. Don't worry mom, it would have come out eventually. Check.

Throat: (Upon hearing gagging and choking noises upstairs Mom runs up to meet Matthew on the stairs running down. Tear in his eyes and pain on his face...)

"Matthew, are you choking, are you okay?"

"Ya, Mom but it really super hurts"

"Did you swallow something?"

"Ya, but it is stuck right here."

"Do you want a drink to help you get it down your throat?"

"No, it hurts to badly."

"Do you know what you swallowed?"

"Ya, it was one of those end pieces that is shaped like this."

"Buddy we don't swallow tinkertoys. They can make us choke. We don't put things in our mouth that aren't food."

We are hoping it exits a little easier than it entered. But we still haven't seen evidence of an exit. Check.

We are praying he leaves his eyes alone.

Its a Guy Thing

There is something about a John Deere that speaks to the soul of man. From the earliest recognition of the sound of a mower each of my "4" boys have been addicts. What is it about the ridder that draws them... well I don't know I'm not a man. HOWEVER, I do know that that old Deere is a saint of a babysitter.

We have officially outgrown Dad's lap so we now tow the clan on mow days.

Is this not the face of bliss?

Hey! What's all of the raucous about and where did the lull go? The littlest lad usually crashes aboard the Deere. After several years experience we have found they are able to outgrow the lull, but a man this small rarely departs awake.

Who woke me up!

Stuck

Adam: "Mom, come here Andrew is super stuck and can't get out!"

Yep - stuck. Serves the little monkey right.

You Found a What and Put it Where?

Mind you I have been through a period of not feeling overly terrific... After Young Men's each week Jonathan is usually home shortly after 10. Feeling horrible and not sleeping well for weeks I decided to head to bed shortly after 10 and decided I wasn't going to wait up. Around 11PM Jonathan decides to come home. He came in our bedroom and beckoned for me to get up and come with him out to the garage. I wasn't going. He promised it was worth the effort and I wouldn't be disappointed. I was skeptical. He reminded me how much I loved him and that I really should follow him to the garage. I decided to give in and trudged to the garage. I stood there not completely convinced this was worth getting out of bed when he opened the trunk of the van and like a shot out swooped a huge barred owl. Stunned by the sudden swoop Jonathan says, "Holy cow... it can fly!" So here's the story. On the way home from the church Jonathan drove past an owl that was sitting in the middle of the highway. Driving past he was intrigued that it just sat there and didn't move. Peeked by curiosity, he stopped turned around and drove by it again. It still didn't move. So he turned back around again and slowed down next to it. He was concerned that it was going to get hit in the road so he tried to kick it a little with his foot and encourage it to move to the side of the road. It just sat there. Stunned by its response and feeling bad for it he really wanted to move it from the middle of the road. Then he had a brilliant thought - maybe he could just sneak up behind it, grab it and then move it to the side of the road. It was a great thought until the realization that owls can turn their head 180 degrees and the likely hood of a "sneak" was slim to none. However, if you know Jonathan you know that he was willing to take the risk. He walked up behind the owl, picked it up and sat it on the side of the road. Wow, that went well. He watched it for a few minutes and at the point when normal people would drive off, wait I don't think normal people turn around and stop for owls, anyway, when I would have gone home he got thinking. He works with a surgeon that is a falconer and has spent some time helping injured birds of prey. Sooooo Jonathan thought he could take the owl home and then take it to the surgeon. Well if you can pick an owl up once surely you can pick it up twice right? He open the back of the van reached down and grabed the bird set it down in the back of the van and quickly shuts the tailgate. I guess now the only thing left to do is drive home and show the wiffie. Am I the only one that would have had a twinge of concern driving in the dark of night with a bird of PREY? PREY would indicate that they are the ones that typically prey upon other critters with deathly sharp talons. Suppose Mr. Owl prefers flight over a scenic trip in the family van and gets a little flustered. Could we have wrapped it in a blanket, tied a jacket around the wings, left it on the side of the road na - just pitch it in and head for home. Soooo needless to say Jonathan was a bit surprised when it FLEW out of the van. He knew I would enjoy seeing it as I am one of those geeky bird watchers that walks around with binoculars wrapped around my neck carrying Sibley's bird identification book for fun. We have multiple bird books that we keep in the kitchen for any spottings. I know nerd. Anyway, this was quite amazing to see the owl fly around the garage. I grabbed my book and we ID'ed it. It was even more amazing to see the owl swoop up into our attic above the house and not come down for a week. I would dare say even more amazing than that was to watch Jonathan spend countless attempts to climb into the attic and retrieve the bird only to be thwarted by tight corners and insulation. And even more down right dazzling was the owl poop that soon spotted the entire garage, did I mention it had pooped in the back of the van on the way home? Ah, didn't think so. Alas, after being captive in our attic for a week it finally departed. It was indeed fun to see. It was also a little nerve wracking loading up the kids in the van. I like to nibble on my children who's to say the owl wouldn't have similar thoughts? Nonetheless, he can indeed fly and has gone.

Adam's First School Play

Mrs. Piper's Kindergarten class put on a stellar line up of plays to dazzle their parents and proud families. Adam did a stupendous job on each of his parts. His roles included:

Fish in "The Beautiful Butterfly"

Narrator in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

Cheese in "The House That Jack Built"

He spoke loud and said those lines proud. Little by little he is coming out of that little Adam shell. Way to go Adam-O.

Adam plays the villainous fish that swallows the mouse that begins the chain of events that causes the King to drop his robe and run around in his Royal Underwear. What an evil fish!

The mouse, the fish and dove.

The fish lurking in the waters prepared to snatch up the unsuspecting mouse.

Adam and Kara Greiner were the narrators for "Snow White." She just so happens to tug a little on this wee lad's heart

Have you ever seen finer cheese?

Histamine

I have never been as ill in my life as I have been the past 4 weeks. Since moving to Iowa I have developed catastrophic allergies. Not just the itchy watery eyes allergies, but the take over your entire life, close off you airways, do not sleep for 3 weeks, eyes swollen shut, develop bronchitis, strangers on the street ask if you are okay allergies. It has been down right, miserable. This is a picture of me going outside. In case you are wondering those are swimming goggles and yes, I'm wearing a tuberculosis mask. It is almost more than I can take to be inside so on occasion I brave the spring that has sprung and step out of doors. Take something for them you say... Oh, I have trust me I have. You can see how well prescription drugs work.

I must admit, the month of April has been extremely humbling for me. I have realized that even the mama has limits and it is okay to say no. Before being SOOO sick I had agreed to make all of the costumes for Adam's school play, "The Beautiful Butterfly." That was much more time consuming than I had anticipated. I also had agreed to watch a friend's little girl for 6 weeks while she covered maternity leave for a gal. My plate was a lot too full and I was sick and spread thin. It reaffirmed for me the importance of staying focused of the weightier matters of being a mother. Simple things like laundry and dinner aren't as simple as they appear when they all go undone for days in a row. Scrubbings toilets and cleaning showers really is of value. The vacuum is a beautiful tool when it is used. Most importantly, the blessing of health and being able to work long hard days is so often counted as a curse and not a blessing. I feel so blessed to have had my paradigm refocused.