Over and Out

Last week was a busy one. With half days all week long at school, parent teacher conferences, Halloween parties, birthday parties, dentist appointments and Halloween it made the week a busy one. It was fun, but I'll be glad for longer school days this coming week.

• Sunday night I remembered Preston had pictures the next morning at J.C. Penney's and he needed a haircut in a bad way. So Monday morning I woke up early, instead of sleeping in like I've been doing lately, and ended up cutting Preston's hair before school. He was a good sport and he looked a lot better for pictures. I had Kate and Preston's parent teacher conferences on Monday afternoon. Kate's teacher said if she could clone Kate she would. She is a good student and a good helper to others. I've noticed Kate has become so much more responsible this year. She is doing good at getting her homework and reading log all filled out and ready for me to sign (parents have to sign off their work and reading amounts). She's good about doing her homework right after school before going outside to play with friends. Kate's a good kid and such a big help at home. Preston's conference went well too. He's doing good with reading and counting and all that good kindergarten requirement stuff. He just needs to remember to bring his homework and/or books home. Sometimes they get left around the classroom. But overall, he's doing good too. He's had 2 days where he got a yellow stamp which means a warning. The first one was because he wasn't letting other kids answer the questions, he kept answering them. That kind of makes me laugh though. He's so smart. Then the other time he got in trouble for not moving groups when the teacher asked him to. He wanted to finish his sequence project he was working on. Then when the teacher told him he would get a yellow stamp because he wasn't following directions he got mad and wouldn't participate in the next group activity. When she stamped his folder at the end of the day he yelled at her, "fine then!" We had a little chat with him about speaking nicely to adults. Still working on it. 
• Tuesday I watched kids while a friend volunteered in Preston's class. There are 3 kids from our ward (Preston, Kali and Wilson) in the same kindergarten class so we rotate watching each other's kids so one of us can go volunteer each week in their class (then the mom who isn't volunteering or watching kids has a free morning). It works out good. It's fun to be in the classroom and interact with the kids and see how our own kid behaves in school. Preston likes it when I come in because he can call me Miss Heidi. He says it with a smile and it's pretty funny. Kate is in ballet at a new place this school year. She likes it a lot. We had quit the last place in February because there weren't any kids in her class. It was mainly Kate and she didn't like that. She's a social girl and missed the other kids in there. She's back in a class with her best friend, Alyssa, so she's always excited to see her because they moved out of ward last year. 
• Kate, Preston, Lindsey and I had dental appointments on Wednesday. My friend, Kayla, watched Chelsea for me while we went. It was nice not having to worry about entertaining her. This was Lindsey's first visit to the dentist and she cried. I went back with her because she was hesitant to go, but when I worked I didn't really like the parents coming back with the kid. I'd rather just have the kid by themselves. So I told Lindsey if she cried I wouldn't stay back there with her. She quit crying. Then started crying again when the dentist came in. Ha! I told him he scared her. :) She calmed down again and was fine. Kate and Preston both do great. Preston still hasn't had x-rays because he gags too much. Lovely gag reflex. I love getting my teeth clean so I was excited. They felt great afterwards. I don't like getting fillings done though, but thank goodness I don't need any this time. I still go to Dr. Hopewell, the dentist I worked for for 7 years. They are so nice to us when we go in. Our friends, Chad and Somphien Manivanh, opened up a new restaurant here called Dickey's. It's BBQ food like pulled pork, ribs, brisket, etc., but fast food style. We went the night before it opened for friends/family night and it was good. We will be going back with the family soon.
• Happy Halloween! I sent Preston to school in his costume and Kate took hers in a bag to change into later for her party. They both had fun. The afternoon wasn't so good. Chelsea only napped for an hour. Lindsey wouldn't nap and then got a bloody nose from falling down outside and it wouldn't stop. Preston got hit in the face with a swing and was screaming bloody murder outside. Lindsey spilled a gogurt all over the floor and on Preston's coat. I was going nuts! I got a jack-o-lantern pumpkin pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner then we went trick-or-treating with some friends around their neighborhood. A lot of homes weren't handing out candy (but a couple homes did hand out full size candy bars!) so we went to another neighborhood and that one was much better. We made a quick stop at Linda Watson's to get one of her famous popcorn balls then back to our house for some donuts and hot apple cider. The kids had a good time. 
• I made it to the gym on Friday. I try to go Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the morning after dropping off kids, but this week I only went Wednesday and Friday. I'm glad I can go in the morning and can put the kids in the kids club though. I used to go at night for years after the kids were in bed and I'm glad I don't have to do that now. It's hard enough trying to find time to go! Preston had a birthday party for Dallin in the afternoon. Kayla took him and her son Wilson there and then I picked both boys up. That night I made a Costco run with some girls from the ward because a couple of them don't have Costco memberships and they have good deals on their toys for Christmas. 
• Kyle helped out with a move all morning and into the early afternoon on Saturday. We have lots of moves in our ward. I made chocolate chocolate chip muffins (tried a new recipe, it was okay, but I'll keep looking), chocolate fudge cookies (from a bucket that I bought from a school fundraiser and they were gross so I gave the bucket of dough away) and mini cheesecakes (for a party tonight). It was nice to stay home and be in pajamas for most of the day.We got a babysitter and went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Sabor a Mexico in Mukilteo. Their carne asada is delish. Then we went to some friends house for a game night with a few other couples. We played the newlywed game and it was so fun.