Olivia's latest accomplishment

"Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery,"

Tonight, as I put Aaron to bed and read him his story, I heard Livi in the other room reading her library book. We picked it out for her to read 2 weeks ago as well as one for her teacher, Ms. Lee, so they could do a "book club" together every other morning or so. After I wished Aaron sweet dreams I walked in to sit next to Livi as she read. I am thrilled and pleased to say that she finished her first book having read the entire thing by herself. I did not read any of it to her, nor did anyone else. We sat with her and encouraged her as she struggled with the words at times, but only encouraged and did not relieve her from any of it's pages. 58 pages later she is much more fluent and has a significantly increased  visual vocabulary. She still has much to accomplish but I simply am amazed at the talents she has been blessed with.

Today in church I was able to sing along with my daughter, as she read the words to the sacrament hymn. She sang so confidently right along with the congregation to a hymn that she did not know. Some friends in front of us turned around and said, "That was beautiful." and it was. She shied away from the compliment but I was well pleased. I loved singing the sacrament hymns sitting next to my mom. I'm glad to have that in my life again now.

I feel so blessed to have a child with such a beautiful talent for learning.

Workshops at Home Depot

After the race on Saturday the kids and I decided to go buy seeds for our garden at Home Depot. I'm so glad we did. Surprisingly to me, they were having their free kids workshop. (They usually only do them the first Saturday of the month and we had missed it this month. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that management hadn't wanted to be outdone by Lowe's and is now having their workshops every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. YEA for us! Even better, it was a hodge-podge of crafts for the kids to make, we didn't have any where to be and so we took our time building two projects each! (If any of you have not taken advantage of this free program with your kids, your really missing out. They give you real Home Depot aprons with the kids name's on it and for each project they complete they get a certificate, that's easily thrown away, and a great pin with a picture of that project on it to put on the apron.) 

Aaron made a great little toolbox complete with tool stickers as well as a message board with cork board on one side and a dry wipe board on the other.

Liv made a cute picnic tray, that she has already utilized as a tea set holder for a new tea set that she just inherited from new neighbors down the street, and a message board as well. 

We were there for quite a while and afterwards none of us had the heart to look around for seeds. We went home for lunch and put the garden off for yet another day.

Later that afternoon we went to our friends' house to watch BYU get annihilated by Florida State in football and had a yummy dinner. Thank you Allred's 

All in all, even though Daddy was gone, a really good Saturday.

Exercise in the park.

Saturday 9/19

Aaron, Livi, Marley and Macy Allred (different Allred's)

Livi and Tallie Bonds

Our church ward had it's first annual 5K/1 mi fun run, walk, bike, or crawl Race on Saturday 9/19. The kids and I loaded up our bikes and joined in on the fun. It was a lot of fun. The activities committee did a fantastic job at putting everything together. The food of course was great but the signs along the way made us laugh, the water bottle that were made excited the kids and the trophies awarded, well, let's just say, one man's junk really is another man's treasure. Baseball trophies, basketball, and so on, but I'll save the best for last...

...Yes, a beauty queen pageant's first place trophy. Kendra, who found all the trophies, said she found it at a garage sale. The woman was asking $1.oo for it. She said she offered the lady a quarter! I couldn't believe it. This poor woman's possible greatest accomplishment, in her eyes,  had been reduced to a QUARTER! It was fun for us. And lucky Aaron Allred, the winner of the trophy(who buy the way, stands a good six feet tall plus), was informed that he's expected to bring it to next year's race. His poor wife wasn't even there to witness the event.

 It was a good time.

Backyard

Not large by any means but we love it all the same. I feel so blessed.

Now that I have a camera I can post what our backyard looks like. We are so pleased with how it turned out. I love the amount of green that is there and the stamped concrete, to me, is so rich looking. It is everything I could've wanted. I know love the 12ft "great wall of China" that I once hated the thought of, as it allowed us to put 8ft high trellises of star jasmines and honeysuckle(the latter of which has beautiful deep orange flowers on as of late) all of which have grown at least a foot since they were planted a little less than a month ago. There's great space on the patio for a future BBQ of sufficient size and an electrical outlet patiently awaits a fountain against the wall. The kids enjoy the patio with their splash table and picnic table, but still have yet to get used to the feeling of the grass. (I figure a cute croquet set may do the trick.) The fountain grass reminds me of our Sacramento home with a smile and I'm grateful to Bill's stepmom, Helen for the nandina recommendation. The bottle tree chosen is beautiful and delicate in the breeze, the green grass makes everything cooler and the raised garden bed at the end of the lawn beckons to me daily. 

We eat breakfast on the patio often and when the evening are cool enough dinner or a game. I sit out there in the dark under the porch light and read. I just love being back there. Just one more space in my beautiful home. I'm so grateful for it.

Thanks to a messed up laminate floor that paid for most of it through Home Depot reimbursing us.(Long story short; not enough moisture in the home can also cause laminate to buckle. Thank goodness I'm persistent, it went to Home Depot's headquarters in Atlanta and from there to Dupont. We were reimbursed the total cost of the floor plus our outside job of installation.) We figured, the floor is functional, most people don't even notice, lets put the backyard in with the money instead of waiting 'til next year and save and do the floor at another time. I'm so glad we did.

A huge thanks to my hubby for working so hard to provide the money to afford us such nice luxuries, of which I am so grateful for. Thanks babe. It turned out perfect.

Because I can!

I took my camera with us to the grocery store because... I can, now that I have one!

Friday 9/18

I have been having absolutely NO luck finding shoes/pedals for my road bike, and so, after ordering online twice and hitting 4 different bike shops in the valley I decided to wait, outdoor riding is almost over for the season, and look again in the new year. In the mean time I couldn't let the allocated money go to waste and so the kids and I went to Best Buy and purchased a new camera!!! Thanks to friends who "do their homework" I picked out a Canon Powershot in the beautiful color of teal. It makes me happy when I look at it. I put a protective film cover over the screen so I don't need to stress when slipping it into my purse and have already found it to be greatly used.

Friday night, after our fun purchase I had to drag the kids to the store. They used to not really mind going shopping, but since school has started neither of them have had to run errands with me much and so now it is very much dreaded when we do. I decided to make it fun for them and so thought of a little game. With the alphabet written on a piece of paper I told them to find a food that started with each letter of the alphabet. One extra point if it's healthy and two extra if they get the price of the item. It was great except for two things: 1. Aaron wasn't able to write anything (next time I'll have to do a picture find for him). and 2. Livi was so thorough that the shopping trip took a lot longer than I had intended. It was fun to see them SO excited about shopping. Aaron made me sooo extremely proud when he found the peppers and said that they started with "p"! I was thrilled and made a big to-do about it. He ran through the produce screaming at Olivia to "come see! Peppers for "P"!" And, so that Livi could write better, she actually asked to sit in the cart, which in turn led Aaron to wanting to sit in the cart. 

Today, Livi asked me, while she looked at the "game board", "Mom, when can we go to the store again?"

Off topic but I need to record:

On the way to the grocery store I told the kids, "Mommy has a really bad headache so no talking until we get to the store."

Soon Livi and I turn our attention to Aaron who is saying, "Me, we're going to the store okay. That's the plan, me." Livi and I started busting up laughing. I asked, "Aaron, what are you doing?" To which he cleverly replied, "I can't talk to you guys, so I'm talking to myself."

TOO FUNNY!

Camera blues and GYMNASTICS

I am not going to lie. Life has been hard. In mid August I lost our family camera. I had set it on the back of our truck/car and forgotten about it. I don't know how long it hung on before feeling neglected and going the way of the road. Needless to say I am thankful I do this blog or I most likely would've lost ALL my pictures from the summer, but I feel lost without it. Fortunately I only lost a couple pics from swimming with a friend and Livi's first bike ride without training wheels, it could've been much worse. Bill has been very loving and supportive of the whole thing. He knows that the camera usually resides in my purse to catch all that life throws at us. He even brought home his camera from work, which is definitely lacking in the quality department, but at least it was something. (I always have to be careful when downloading the pics to not get the latest thug or search/seizure outing he's been on. Aaron was watching me download one day and saw a picture of one such person and asked, "Who's that mommy?" I didn't know quite what to say, the whole thing was a little odd. So, I appreciate Bill doing that for us, he never even got mad at me. It's kind of like when I was a kid and had done something so bad that my parents wouldn't even punish me because I was punishing myself more than they could... yeah, kinda like that. Well, now, the battery has died and Bill had left the charger at work and he is... "unavailable". The thought of "FIRSTS" happening without a camera is KILLING ME!!!

Both Aaron and Olivia have started gymnastics.* Well, to make Livi happy I suppose I could be more specific. Aaron started gymnastics on Thursday mornings for 45min. Livi started "tumbling" on Mondays for an hour. Tumbling vs. gymnastics: tumbling doesn't incorporate any apparatuses, which, in this stage of Livi's life, could only cause pain to her port if she were to fall. In tumbling she will learn to... tumble!

As Aaron's parents we have decided that perhaps "ball sports" won't be his forte (unless he becomes a linebacker or tight-end), the whole hand-eye coordination... not really his thing. He's what one could say "lacking" in the fine motor skills department. And if you think a ball doesn't take fine motor skills, just watch Aaron. We aren't going to give up or stifle any progression he may make but we thought it would be in his best interest if we could get him a little body awareness. Hence, gymnastics. He really enjoyed it. He was able to complete all the tasks that were put before him, great for his self confidence. He is the biggest kid in the class which reminds me that he is "really big" as everyone tells me, but I still can't get my head around it. To me, he's just Aaron. When people hear that he's three they look at me as if I've bred a giant so I quickly follow up with "he'll be 4 in January". This takes away a bit of the shock. They usually just raise their eyebrows and smile. (I don't think he's that big?!?! Oh well, maybe that linebacker thing can come to fruition.) The coach, Miss Vanessa had them swing on the bars, hold themselves up with straight arms on the bars, do "hot dog" rolls, and forward rolls down wedges. Aaron has all but mastered his forward roll at this point so it was good to see him really succeeding at something. It's great for his ego. After class he said, "My best part was tossing the bean bag in the hoola-hoop with my feet." This was difficult to decipher with his speech, because from my view, through a window, I could see no hoola-hoop or bean bag. The great thing was, it made him smile, and unlike baseball, he wasn't asking to go home. And that makes me smile.

Olivia had her first class tonight. We were running behind schedule so when we got there class was seconds from starting the warm-up laps around the floor. She quickly kicked her shoes off and joined the 25 or so kids in running the laps. They split the kids off into age appropriate groups and started right away with vaulting off a trampoline and "sticking" a landing on the foam pad. It was great that there was no transition time which in Livi's world equates to "time to make me actually stop and think about what I'm doing and then make me so nervous I want to cry." Up until this point she hadn't even tried to find me through the glass. When I saw the tramp and what they were supposed to do I fought the urge to put my purse on my shoulder and grab my keys. Olivia HATES jumping off of things. She has a tough time jumping off our bottom step. The thought of her having to vault off a trampoline...ugh. She ran down the path... no sweat. I was truly proud (in a good way) of my daughter. Throughout the class, she did what she was told and kept trying. At one attempt on the tramp she mis-stepped approaching the trampoline and bounced awkwardly and then face planted on the mat instead of going in to her forward roll. With how she landed it caused her fingers to bend back and started to cry. The coach was great, real short and sweet, sent her to rest in the chairs. She was looking at me through the glass sobbing, Aaron was stressing out about his sister, but I just gave her a solid thumbs up, signed "are you okay?" and motioned for her to shake it off. She did and she joined the group again after two cycles through everyone in her group (about 6 girls). She may not have the prettiest cart-wheel but her bridge leaves nothing to be desired. And to say she was smiling the entire time would not do justice (except of course when she got hurt). I am thrilled to say, I think we hit the nail on the head with this one!

Note* Things both kids will have to work on at home: 1. flexibility 2. Flexibility 3. FLEXIBILITY! It is nothing short of hilarious at how inflexible both of our children are. We know Bill is not flexible. His biggest fear at the academy was flunking out because of his lack of flexibility. (The poor guy can't even sit on the ground with his legs straight out in front of him without leaning back on his hands!) Aaron and Olivia, both, were the two least flexible ones in their classes. Aaron much worse than Livi. As far as Aaron can bend forward while doing "buttlerfly wings" with his legs... is to barely touch his chin to chest. Now that's sad!

Boy Time

After school last Thursday, while I had my meeting with Livi's teacher, Olivia was invited to a friends' house, Natalya Reeve, along with Pammie Worthen, to make friendship bracelets and play. To give Natalya's mom, Krystal, some relief, and some fun time for Aaron, after my meeting I picked up Natalya's little brother Branson to have some fun boy time with Aaron. 

We did have a good time. We ran and errand to Michael's where I became very jealous of Branson's very well behaved hands that stayed at his side almost the entire time and then headed home. The boys played with balls, ate cookies, downed Kool-aid like it was goin' out of style and then played in the backyard.

I decided to let them try finger paint on the grass, to which Aaron replied, "Yuck mom, it's yucky!" He was referring to the grass. Yes, my son has been "citified". We have gone more than a year and a half without grass and now to watch Aaron on it you'd think he was walking on hot coals. It is somewhat humorous to witness. (One might wonder, well then where do they play? You would be amazed at all the fun that can be had on asphalt!) 

So, to help my precious little child adapt I threw a towel down and let them go to town. I didn't exactly get the Picaso pieces I was hoping for. Branson did enjoy rubbing his finger in a tight circle to make as make as many colors as possible, and then...

...there was Aaron. Only he could find something to make him "tired" during finger painting. When the boys' hands were getting messy I told them to wipe them off on their bellies. (At this point I was looking for anyway to get Aaron excited about painting. He likes to be messy, he'd love this. WRONG! "EW Mommy, that's disgusting" I believe were his exact words. Who'd 've thought that the little boy who will pick something up off the ground, stick it in his mouth and start chewing, only to answer "I don't know" when questioned what he was eating, would think paint on ones tummy was "disgusting"?! Or as he says it, "Gigucking". ARGHHH, you've just gotta love him! I know I do!!!

Let's see some muscle!

Settling in to School

So school is now 2 weeks to the wind and Labor day has come and gone. Livi is loving school and I truly appreciate her teacher. I met with Ms. Lee last Thursday after class to fill her in on Livi's current pill regimen, let her know about the steroids and when she would be coming to school fasting, the port and what to do if she falls and scrapes it. (Unfortunately she did just that not too long ago and it was, as one might imagine, quite painful. There was no opening in the skin just abrasions but now we know, it can happen.) Ms. Lee is quite familiar with all the medical "stuff" as her father has been diagnosed with a form of Lymphoma. When we met Ms. Lee, before school started, she started to cry and expressed to me how honored she was to have Livi in her class. Because of her father's current struggles she really felt blessed to be able to "help"/teach Olivia. (I had previously dropped a note in her school mailbox from Livi's oncologist about her condition and limitations.)

Anyways, back on track. When I sat down with Ms. Lee, Thursday afternoon, she hid her face in her hands and said, "I know she can read!" I started laughing along with her. I was surprised that in a class of 29 students she knew that Livi could read, when, according to Livi, "today we learned the first 5 letters of the alphabet!" (She then proceeded to do a little song/dance of the letters A-E. Bill and I just looked at each other and knowingly laughed. This was day 3.) Apparently Ms. Lee had overheard Olivia reading during their "Drop Everything And Read" or DEAR Time. I apologized for not being able to teach her how to read silently yet, but smiled knowing that my plan had worked. I wanted her teacher to know on her own, I didn't want to be the parent holding the star atop my child's head.

Ms Lee wants to do a lot of things with Olivia. She has started a book club with her and 3 times a week the two of them will have a "literary circle" during DEAR and discuss the book that they're reading. I took Livi to the library on Saturday and helped her pick out 2 of the same book, one for her and one for Ms. Lee. "Cam Jansen and the Birthday Party Mystery". Ms. Lee wants to help her with fluency and then will move from there. She has more advanced worksheets that she wants to give to Livi. While the other students learn, "B b b bear", Livi will do a worksheet about a bear where she will read some short sentences and answer simple comprehension questions on the paper. Ms. Lee had tons of great ideas and I am so thankful for her. My biggest fear was that Olivia's talent would be overlooked and she would "level out" like so many people have told me. My thought was, "of course she'll level out if no one is willing to push her." Ms. Lee said it perfectly, "She may be in kinder, but her brain is beyond that. I want to challenge her just like I would challenge any student." Thank goodness for good teachers!