Break the Rules Week

This has been "Break the Rules Week" at the kids' school this week. This is them today on "Hat, Wacky Hair and Wig Day." Yesterday was "Wacky Mismatch Day" and Faith was EXTREMELY mismatched. She invented her own outfit complete with mismatched, earrings and shoes-I actually cringed when she walked out the door to catch the bus. Sawyer and Eden dressed up too but it wasn't nearly as extreme. Of course I didn't get a picture. They have had to pay $1 a day each to "break the rules". All of the money goes to the United Way. It is expensive having 3 kids all in elementary school-although it goes to a good cause :) Faith concocted her own hair-do today as well. Eden wanted to wear a hat although I offered to do crazy things to her hair-she is too fashion conscience. Sawyer opted for the mo hawk.

P-T Conferences

I had P-T conference for the 3 kids on Friday. They went really well. The time slot is only 15 minutes which isn't near enough time. Let's face it-I am a talker and I feel it is pretty much the only time that I can get to know the teacher and vice-versa. I only had 15 minutes with Eden's teacher-we went over...needed more time. I really wanted more time with Sawyer's teacher and fortunately she didn't have anyone before or after me and she listened to me babble on about Sawyer. I am still scarred by Sawyer's 1st year of school in England and I just can't recover from it. I still feel like he will never catch up. I can't get past it. He had a great year in 2nd grade but homework etc... was torture. This is his first letter grade year so I have been nervous. I am happy to report he is getting all A's and B's. He is even getting A+'s in spelling and science. Don't get me wrong we do LOTS of studying but he is VERY willing this year. Last year his desk was a total mess-just horrible. This year it is super tidy! His teacher told me she couldn't even believe that he was messy last year. Sawyer is very good at math and especially loves MONEY!! She said one of the reasons he got chosen for student council was because he was one of the only 3rd graders who could count back change while working in the student store. Okay, those of you who have heard me go on and on about Sawyer and school understand why all of this makes me so happy. He has matured so much. Now if I could just get him to stop fighting with Eden. Eden's conference went well. She is learning a lot but has work to do with letter and number recognition-this is our fault-she is the 3rd child and was rarely worked with-it is so sad. Kyle thinks it is because she never watched educational shows-she went straight into Faith's tween shows. Her teacher did tell me that Eden has very neat penmanship-one of the best in the class-she is also a very good artist. There is no doubt that she is bright she has just been neglected by her parents educationally. Faith's teacher adores her. She went on and on about how smart and no-nonsense and logical Faith is-also that she dresses well (yes, that was for me-so happy someone notices). Faith came home the other day telling me what a failure she was....she got a C+ on a test. She was so disappointed in herself. I told her it was good for her. She has RARELY ever receives a "B". This "C" was a shocker for her. I truly appreciate the fact that she is self-motivated. I also think that she and Sawyer are very competitive with each other. It makes her nervous when he brings home A's. I know this post was "braggy" but it is for my own records. We really are so proud of all their hard work.

Beckett

Kyle mentioned to me yesterday that we should really be getting more video of Beckett. Of course, I agreed-you know 4th kid equals neglect. Actually, I have been equally as diligent with professional photos and snapshots but not so much on the videoing. I also feel like he is getting so much more chronicaled with my blog. He is really doing some cute stuff right now-saying LOTS of words! About a month or so ago I was actually able to take the gate down from the stairs and the kitchen chairs are back in place!!! They no longer have to be under the table. I was so happy that I had to take photos! He still manages to climb on the table daily but he is just able to get himself down safely now. This kid is a climber!! He doesn't get into cabinets or drawers-just wants to climb. He has been so much happier since the gate came off the stairs. I now just have to make sure that all the doors are shut upstairs. He loves TV now-it is both a blessing and a curse. His favorite is Barney but he also loves Yo Gabba Gabba, Blues Clues and Oobi. I added a video of him dancing to the Barney song-he likes to hold a Barney figurine when it come on. I was having a sweet moment reading to him the other day and thinking about how glad I am we didn't stop at 3 kids. I would be so bored without him-he brings our family so much joy!

Letter Parade

Last week the kindergartners had their annual letter parade at school. Unfortunately Eden got the letter "U". "U" is for "unfortunate" haha. They are required to have some representation of their letter. Of course, the over-achieving mothers did some very cute things with their given letter-I am not one of those mothers. Eden was determined to carry an umbrella. I suggested making it an "ugly umbrella" but she didn't go for that at all-everything has to be pretty. The hardest part was that they needed to bring 30 bite-sized snacks that started with their letter. I am still trying to think of something over a week later. I just took Nilla Wafers and piped a "u" on them. That was as good as it gets and my mom had to give me that idea. Eden is very bashful in front of a crowd and I was worried about her reciting her line -"U is for umbrella"- but she did great.

School Open House

Every October the kids' have an open house/grandparents night at their school. This gives them an opportunity to show off their classrooms, school and teachers. Faith is in chorus again this year so we had to be there early to listen to her sing. Faith loves music class and chorus. She even got a singing part in this years 4th/5th grade program. She had to try out as a solo but will be singing with 5 other girls. The songs they are singing this year are from "Wicked". I LOVE WICKED!! I saw it twice in London! She was too afraid to try out last year but decided this year to give it a shot. I am very proud of her for trying out-I would have been way too chicken. That girl has her hand in everything this year. This was the same night as Beckett's surgery and we weren't sure how it would go but it ended up being fine-he was very crabby but we worked it out. We look forward to this night every school year. Sawyer ended up being sick the next day (Friday-his big test day). He cried the next morning because he wanted to go to school and take his tests. I am happy he enjoys school so much. After he was doped up on Tylenol he decided to organize 5 of my kitchen cabinets. He did a great job. Here are some photos!! I need him home more often for child labor :)

Beckett's "Procedure"

Beckett's circumcision went exactly as planned. We appreciated all the prayers, emails, texts, etc... His fasting actually went really well. When we were prepping him for surgery he became very suspicious and upset and then when they took him away from me it was very sad. He had his arms reached out to me crying. I am sure it was very scary for him. As soon as I saw him after surgery a nurse was holding him and he was upset then too. His first words were "Mi Mi" when he saw me - that is what he calls me. It was all uphill from there. We were home by lunchtime. He was pretty grumpy and had discomfort when peeing on that day. He also slept for 4-5 hours that afternoon. He was back to his ornery self on Friday with minimal pain while peeing. Here are some photos. So glad it is over. By the way, they used glue-no stitches.

My Little Bex

Well, the big day is quickly approaching. On Thurs. Oct. 8th Beckett is going in for his circumcision at 7:30 am. I have to admit that I am just dreading it. I have been thinking about it a lot for the last two weeks. Sawyer had Achilles lengthening surgery at 3 months old and that was bad too but at least he wasn't aware when they swiped him out of my arms. Beckett won't be able to eat from midnight on-this will be hard for him. They promised me that recovery will be easy for him. My biggest worry is him being put under anesthesia. I am sure he will be fine and I know it could be much, much worse but he is my baby and it is my job and right to worry. Some prayers would be much appreciated!!

Pumpkins!

Today we went to lunch with both sets of parents and then went to a pumpkin patch. Although, again, the weather was hideous we had a great time. The girls got to ride a pony, they had a maze and inflatable slides. Eden LOVED the pony ride. She was smiling ear to ear the whole time-it was very cute. There is a huge apple orchard and pumpkin patch. The kids had a great time picking out pumpkins for Halloween. Eden had a hard time finding a pumpkin because "they are all dirty". I had to explain to her that we would be able to wash the dirt off. I also got a beautiful mum. I will post some pics. later of the kids with their pumpkins. It was cold and spitting rain so we were just ready to get out of there.

Field Trip with Eden

I was lucky enough this week to go on a field trip with Eden's kindergarten class. We went to a dairy farm. It was very windy and unseasonably cold but very fun. The kids got to see how they make cheese, milk a cow (Eden didn't want to try this), feed a calf, climb in a combine and go on a hay rack ride. They also got to climb on a huge haystack. They have a small store at the farm where they sell their cheese. I bought some cheese curds that we all got to sample and they were so good!!