This and That

I haven't posted in awhile, so I thought I'd keep you updated on things going on around here. It's nothing too exciting, hence the bloggy slackerness.

Preschool is going very well for Luke. We have learned to work quite well together and I have become way more patient. He's constantly spelling words out and asking me what they spell. He also loves to read the time on the digital clock. His quickness amazes me.

Katelyn is 8 months old now. I can hardly believe it! She's not crawling yet, but she is not content to just sit around. If anyone is sitting by her, she'll push up on their legs and stand up. She also has quite a repertoire of words for such a youngster. A few weeks ago, she said "Uh oh". The other day, Bill walked into the room and she said, "Dada" and has continued to do so. And, yesterday, we gave her a ball and she said, "Ba". Amazing. We know these aren't just "one-hit-wonders". She says them over and over. So fun.

Our apple tree is near ready for picking. Bring your buckets to Shelby for free apples. Honestly. I'm not kidding. Seriously. The tree is full of the best apples I've ever eaten.

This week is the official week of the beginning of high school sports. I like going to the games that Bill has to go to, so I'm looking forward to all of the hustle and bustle.

Tomorrow, we're going to the State Fair. Bill has to drive the band kids down to march, so we're meeting him there. I think Luke will really like it. We didn't get to go last year.

My home is completely decorated for fall. Last year, we didn't have our fireplace in, so this year I have really enjoyed decorating a mantle. It's smells like autumn here. I could hardly hold back with all of the fall-like weather we've had.

I'm giving up sugar for the month of September. Well, kind of. I'm giving up things with a ton of sugar. I'm not a huge sweets person anyway, so hopefully, this won't be too difficult.

Husker football this Saturday...yesssss.

And now, it's bedtime.

The Truth About Pom Poms

Craft pom-poms. We love craft pom-poms at our house. We make catepillars, glue googley eyes on them and all sorts of things. They are super fun. Luke, though, has a tendency to get them all out of the craft closet and carry them from room to room. I find little pom-poms everywhere. I found a whole storehouse of them in one of Luke's shoes and again under my bed. I'll shout it from the rooftops, "WE LOVE POM-POMS!"
Last night when Luke was brushing his teeth, he began to put his fingers in the 3 drain holes just beneath the rim of the bathroom sink.
He said, "Mom, put your finger in here!"
"Why, Luke?"
"It's pom-poms!"
"What on Earth are you talking about?"
"There are pom-poms in these holes!"
"LUKE! You put a pom-pom in the hole?"
"No."
Phew, I thought. What is he talking about?
"No, mom. I put 3 pom-poms in the hole."
Lovely.

School Days

I started Preschool with Luke today. We do have a preschool in town, but who better to teach Luke than me? After all, I do have a teaching degree. When I taught school, I always requested the upper-elementary aged kids. They were in the process of becoming young adults and often times, laughed at my jokes (which were often times, horrible).
After today, I know why I like those older kiddos. Luke was...um...very high-maintenance. He was so super excited (which was cute) that he kept hugging me (more like strangling) and gave me huge monster kisses. He wanted to do the next activity before we even got through with the first one. I never thought that learning the days of the week could be so exciting. I had to remind myself time and time again that he IS only three years old.
So, we filled out the calendar, talked about the days of the week, and decided that it was warm and cloudy out. For math, we did some coin counting. He loved sorting pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters into a muffin tin. We counted and sorted and counted and sorted some more.
After that, we played Alphabet BINGO, which Luke really liked. I had him say the sound that the letter made when he put his marker on the letter. He's really good at that, but gets confused by "W" every time. He thinks it makes the sound "Double U". Makes sense.
Take into consideration that I have never ever seen a preschool curriculum. I looked online for some, but wasn't satisfied. So, I'm making it up as I go. Any suggestions are more than welcome.
We have a nice little room that isn't being used downstairs that we have transformed into our school room. Luke helped me put up all of the posters on the walls. He loves preschool and when we finished today, he turned off the lights and said, "Good-bye school room. See you tomorrow. Mom? Is tomorrow Tuesday?" HA...I guess he was listening.

Boo Boo Bunny

Do you have a Boo Boo Bunny? If not, you need to have one. This tiny little ice pack clothed in bunny garb has been an absolute life saver in our home. It's perfect for any little scrape, bump and owie.
Last week, Luke ran up to me and cried, "Mom!!! I need Boo Boo Bunny!" I didn't ask questions, and quickly got him the bunny.
I didn't ask any questions. All of my questions had been answered. Thank goodness for Boo Boo Bunny.

The ER Osceola Style

The ER. I have fond memories of the ER. I was never in the ER too much growing up, but my brother was there every other week at least. And, actually, I am really glad that we haven't frequented the ER sooner than 3 and a half years of Luke's life. See, my son doubles as a stunt man, super hero and often times any animal that leaps high into the air. My mom had a super hero cape made for him for Christmas last year. Although cute, it's very dangerous at the same time. He puts that on and he thinks he can fly, walk through walls and automatically won't eat anything green because he thinks it is Kryptonite and it will deplete his power source (which explains why he wants to wear his super hero cape to supper when it's broccoli night).
On Sunday, we made our second trip to the Osceola hospital (one was for Bill...that's another long story). It was nice, actually. We didn't have to wait for a room and the on call doctor was there in a matter of minutes. Luke gashed, and I mean GASHED his head open at church. He was dancing around in the foyer, fell and hit the back of his head on the corner of a wall. Ouch. I don't do well with blood, but I kicked it into mommy mode fast.
The poor boy was traumatized, mostly about any preconceived thoughts about what would happen to him at the hospital. He did rather well through the whole staples in the head part.
And, now his injury is on the mend and looks like this


He looks a little like Frankenstein in the back, but all in all, not too noticeable.
Although a good experience, I hope that the Osceola ER doesn't begin to know us on a first-name basis.

11:03 and Counting

It's quiet.
It's 11:03 p.m.
The only sounds are the humming of the a/c (thank you, God)
And the bugs hitting our glass door trying to "follow the light".
I should be in bed.
But I'm not.
Bill is fast asleep, of course.
I've been busy all day.
Visited a great friend.
Attended a wedding.
And now, I'm making desserts.
My mother-in-law's birthday is tomorrow.
I said I'd make a fruit pizza.
Bill bought the ingredients.
I ran to Super Tar-get to get things he forgot...twice.
It's 11:06.
My mother-in-law is allergic to dairy.
I forgot about that.
Fruit pizza has cream cheese in it.
A LOT of cream cheese.
Shoot.
So, decided to make an angel food cake too.
Still have to frost both of them.
But I must wait until they cool.
Shoot.
It's 11:08.
Bill wants me to get up with him in the mornings
To see him off
Why isn't he up with me
If I have to get up with him?
Must be love.
It's 11:09.

So here it is! Our Arizona vacation pictures are finally here. I downloaded the pictures in reverse order to the way our trip actually took place, so just imagine yourself taking our trip starting from the last days to the first days!
The above picture is Story Hour at the Grand Can.yon with Ranger Nick. He did a very good job and Luke loved his story.

So, I don't know how this picture slipped in with the Grand Can.yon! No, it is not the Grand Can.yon, but Meteor Crater! It is the ruins from a meteor that dropped to Earth some time ago. Fascinating. Of course, being paranoid, I wouldn't let Luke get too close to the edge. The guardrail behind the boys was the only thing that separate the sidewalk from a straight drop down to the bottom. The Apollo 11 team prepared for their mission here at the crater sight.


Pictures do not do the Grand Can.yon justice. Breathtaking. Don't look too far over the edge. Just beyond the brick wall is quite a "drop" down the canyon!


This picture is taken at a shopping area in Sedona. I can't pronounce the name of it, so I won't even try! Sedona was quite beautiful. Very touristy and very new age. Like Bill said, "Well, I guess the psychics will know that we won't be coming to visit them today!"

This image welcomed us to Sli.de Rock State Park just outside Sedona. Gotta love the cheeks. Who wears speedos anyway? Sli.de Rock is a natural rock formation that has natural slides, shoots and swimming holes. The first day we came here, we were not prepared. The next day, we brought our speedos, I mean suits.

Luke and Kate on the rocks.



Katelyn and me dipping our toes in the icy water. It was freezing but we still brought our swimsuits to partake in the fun!






Here we are at the safari park ( I can't actually remember the name). At the beginning, we took a bus tour which allowed us to see several exotic animals upclose!

The bus driver gave us biscuits to feed the giraffe. It was exciting!

Grandma Curry, Katelyn and me. All smiles here but I'm really disguising my true feelings. It was about 110 degrees and so hot that I almost passed out on the bus. Why did I wear black?

Here we are celebrating Collin's birthday. Happy 2nd birthday, love!

This was taken shortly after we arrived in Phoenix and just before we went to the water park close to the Taylors' home.

We had a great trip and you have no idea the sense of accomplishment I feel now that I have this post done! I didn't download pictures from the trip to the Phoenix children's museum or Bob, Bill and Leigh's trip to a Diamondback game. We made such memories and it was quite a way to top off the summer!

The Truth Is...

The truth is that I haven't had a spare 30 minutes to blog about our trip to Phoenix. I will, trust me, but downloading pictures takes time! Just in the amount of time it took me to write these three sentences, I have been interrupted twice! So, the truth is...it's coming, folks!