Stake Music

Our Stake musical fireside was on Sunday and I played my harp. (It was a rough weekend for June to be sick since I had the stake fireside and also our ward's Christmas program that I was playing for. On Saturday, Ryan was setting up in the gym for the church party, I was playing for the choir rehearsal with a sick, feverish June on my lap as I played. Next year, no over-extending!)

I really felt the Spirit as I listened to the musical numbers. Our stake does a great job of putting this fireside together and there is a lot of talent. The only other stake fireside that rivals it was our stake in Bloomington, and I do have to say that Bloomington's would blow our one here out of the water. BUT, it's hardly a fair comparison since everyone participating in Bloomington was a grad student or a professor at one of the best music schools in the country. There was this amazing rendition of "Oh Holy Night" that left me in tears during the dress rehearsal and the real thing. I couldn't find it online, so I thought I'd leave you with two other great religious songs.

This one is "The Holy City" sung by Stanford Olsen and the MoTab. I love this song, I can't explain why.

This one is for my Latin friends. "Veni veni Emmanuel" by the King's Singers.

Santa and more

We all survived last weekend and managed to avoid the June Sickies 2.0. She had a lingering fever for a few days and just wanted to lay on my lap or nap in her bed the entire time. It was very out of character for her and I was planning on a doctor's visit the next day if she hadn't improved, but thankfully she woke up Monday and was herself again. After sleeping much of the weekend away, she was NOT sleepy for a Monday afternoon nap, though.

I took the girls to see a free Santa last week. It was pretty good, for being free. I haven't been a big fan of Santa photos in general, and think they're usually a waste of money, but then my friend told me how her mom put all their Santa photos in a giant framed collage and that it was really fun to see them age through the years. Suddenly, I'm a fan! I'm not fan enough to spend $17, though.

The photos turned out terrible, but it was a fun activity. Willa was very shy and nervous and very much wanted to sit on the bench next to Santa rather than on his lap. I was very proud of her for whispering that she wanted a Sofia dress when the big man asked. He was not the greatest Santa, though, and made a comment to me about hardly being able to hear her. Rude! June wanted nothing to do with him, and clung tightly to me. Santa made me sit on his lap, which I tried to decline, and will firmly decline next time when I have my wits about me. Hmmm, maybe $17 isn't so bad after all.

Willa has been playing so much better with June these days and it both warms my heart and makes things substantially easier. I love being able to make dinner to the sound of them playing together in the other room rather than whining at each other underfoot in the kitchen. They are getting very good at hugs and kisses. There is still some typical bickering going on and June is often the little rascal in these situations as she purposely teases or taunts Willa.

Here are some photos from Ryan's new office. We went to visit one day after June looked around the house and said, "Daddy, daddy?" I told her that daddy was at work and she said, "Come back!"

 

He doesn't work for Tropicana Entertainment. The firm name is above and the lighting was bad. If you want to know, shoot me an email. 

 June chillaxin'

I finally got around to getting a membership at the Children's Museum. We LOVE it and I only wish we had done it sooner. People who don't get memberships to museums or other similar places are crazy and here's why: it gets us out of the house, my children play instead of fight, it's a safe place, and it's something that engages them when they get bored of the usually library/park rotations that we have around the neighborhood. It's usually an amazing deal when you figure out how much one trip would cost. Now we can go as often as we want (several times a month, once we went three times in a week) and not have the pressure to stay for long periods of time. I know that some people are homebodies, but my kids gets so restless and they NEED to run around and explore a new space. If there is extra whining and bickering I know that we need to get out.

There is this adorable traveling exhibit right now of famous children's books. This is the snow angel from The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats which is one of my all time favorite books. I remember loving it as a child, and I love reading it to Willa now. "He walked with his feet pointed out like this. He walked with his feet pointed in like that." They had the footprints to walk in and a bunch of other fun things. They also had the coconut tree from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It had a really pulley/conveyor belt system thingy where you put the letters on the tree, they traveled up to the top, and then fell down. It's so fun!

I wrote too soon

Well, we got the surgery over with, but we did not avoid the flu! Ryan and I were out at his work Christmas party (which was held at the "Fantasy Suite" at The Palms) when our awesome babysitter Rilie texted to say that June had thrown up twice! Yikes! Poor June. Poor Rilie!

We thought we should remove ourselves home, taking time first to eat a cupcake each. The cupcakes coordinated with little gift bags. You got a gift bag that coordinated with the color of filling inside the cupcake. Ryan and I both ended up getting a yellow cream center inside. I was a little disappointed that we were each getting the same thing, until we opened the gift bags and found $50 cash inside each one. Saweet! It's nice working for a bigger firm :).

So, we hauled home and poor June had a fever. Rilie was a champ and is definitely the #1 babysitter in the history of the world. She kept everything clean, had the dirty clothes and trash from cleaning up wrapped in separate plastic bags. She managed to get Willa to bed and was holding a clean, but sick June. We told Rilie to wash her hands, take a shower when she got home, and wash all her clothing. Then we paid her a nice, fat amount for working under pressure. I hope she doesn't get sick!

The family who watched June while Willa was in surgery had the stomach flu about five days ago, but a good 48-72 hours had passed since they had been sick so I thought she was safe. Plus, it was a very clean home and I know the mom is on top of things. I'll just chalk this one up to fate and Ryan's family's weak stomach genes. Crossing our fingers that the rest of us don't get it!

Post-op

We avoided the stomach bug so far and had the surgery without incident. It was so short and simple, they said they could have done it in the office except it would have been very painful. So we had to go through the whole hassle of the hospital just for a little gas sedation. They didn't even need to do the IV sedation. It made we wish that we could have just stopped in at the nearest dental office instead of the hospital and have had them sedate her :).

Since the surgery had been pushed back, her arm had healed a lot more than  it would have if we had the surgery earlier. That meant a Christmas surprise of only a soft splint on her arm and no more hard cast! To celebrate, Willa was finally able to put on her Rapunzel dress that Bridgett got her for her birthday and that she has never been able to wear.

Surgery is always a pain and having a toddler wake up with anesthesia is no joke, but I am also so grateful that it was such a minor thing. We were at the children's hospital this time and it was sobering to see the new baby next to us going in for a five hour heart surgery . We got to leave the hospital just as they were starting on her. It definitely made us feel very grateful.

Ta da! Rapunzel dress at last!

Rollin' with the homies

This amazing new park opened up a few miles from our house. It is amazing and has all kinds of playground equipment that I had never seen before. My friend took this photo and it cracks me up. I love Willa's little arm up on the side of the car. Rollin' with the church homies, for sure.

That photo is unrelated to the current stress of the moment. I've got a dirty kitchen downstairs, a million things to do, and I'm a little stressed, so of course, I'm blogging.

Willa is scheduled to get the rods out of her arm tomorrow, yay!! It was an ordeal to schedule the surgery, she should have had them out last week, but since we were changing insurance with Ryan's new job, we pushed it back a week to give the doctor's office and hospital time to process it all. Then, the nurse called and said that they were moving her from a Tuesday 9 a.m. surgery to a Thursday 11 a.m. surgery. Of course, you can eat or drink anything eight hours before surgery, so Willa wouldn't be able to have anything all morning. Has anyone had a toddler who deals well with being hungry? I sure haven't. I was tossing and turning all night worrying about how I would deal with Willa when the day came. I was worried she would sneak food or just have a huge fit. Plus, June would be eating and it would be really hard for Willa. So I called the nurse and begged in my nicest voice explaining what a monster Willa would be if she had to wait that long for the surgery. So, the nurse nicely called around and switched the location of the surgery so now it is in a different place but at 8 a.m. Apparently, it's hard to schedule something at the end of the year because they are crowded from people meeting their deductible. Thankfully that was all settled. 

THEN, this morning a mom in our preschool co-op casually mentioned on Facebook that her daughter woke up with the barfies at 3 a.m. Since Willa had preschool with this girl at their house just yesterday, I am a stress case. I'm so worried that she's going to get it and we're going to have to cancel the surgery. There's nothing I can do about it now, so of course I sit and stew. I need to do some relaxation to calm myself. June got the stomach sickies and we had to cancel our Utah trip, so now I know from experience that bad things can and do happen! Hopefully, everything will go well, but for now I'm just stewing about Willa's behavior tonight and if it was the norm or if it seemed like she is coming down with it. That's our news! Hopefully you'll hear a happy surgery story tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For the first time in our entire married life, we had Thanksgiving with my family. I had to post a few funny photos.

Turkey outfits from Grandma Daniels. At first, Willa didn't want to wear hers until we convinced her that the shirt was more like a dress.

By far the most fun was seeing all the cousins playing together. Willa was in the thick of it and June wanted to be. My nephews always have naughty and imaginative play such as sledding down the stairs.

My sister's family just got a pocket puggle puppy last week. He was adorable. Willa kept saying things like, "That dog is chewing on everyfing" and "He's going to ruin my new outfit!" We joked that they just had to save him from the swanky pet shop in Newport Beach where they bought him - he was basically a rescue :).

A very nice day. We had to write down what we were thankful for and put it in a box to read together. Ryan and I both wrote his new job. Employment is such a blessing and feels so good!

June says "yesh", Willa gets cast wet, My phone goes black

June is still so sweet and adorable and naughty and mischievous and funny. She adds to her vocabulary almost daily and loves repeating what we say and trying new sounds. A few days ago, I asked her something and she said, "Yesh." I realized that was the first time she had ever said it, before she had just been saying, "Huh." It is so adorable (and helpful)! Her little voice is so cute trying to say it so precisely. I really need to get it on camera. June also likes to bring me things and then run away with them laughing when I reach out to grab them. She loves playing in the kitchen sink with the water running. Which is helpful and annoying at the same time. It keeps her occupied for almost an hour if I let it and it's nice to cook or clean while she's doing it. But, it also blocks up the kitchen space and she gets her clothes wet and I feel bad wasting water.

Two nights ago Willa decided to swim in the bathtub, which she used to do a lot before the cast. This time, the water was higher than normal and neither of us were thinking until I saw water pouring into the top of the plastic bag. When she got out of the bath, there was water in the bottom of the bag and it was dirty colored - like maybe it had gone through a dirty cast and washed away some of the dried blood from her arm, yuck. I didn't really think too much about it, and went off to YW, but that night Ryan said it was dripping all over. I called the doctor in the morning and they thought we'd better change it because with the rods sticking out of the skin they could get infected. So, we are back to a purple cast! When they took the old one off, you could see dirt and glitter on her arm. The glitter is from all her princess dresses. She cried and cried even though it didn't hurt. She started crying before they even started. She did not get the Sonic Slush that I promised her IF she didn't cry.... more crying.

 On Wednesday my phone went black... after it slid out of my pocket and onto the ground. After many annoying phone calls (made by Ryan), I went to the Apple store and they changed the screen for me for free since it was still under warranty. The worker was very nice, even when I admitted that the phone may have "slipped" a little.

Medium-size changes

It's so nice to not have a big cross-country move or anything crazy like that to report. We are ho-humming along here. Ryan started a new job about two weeks ago. We'll always be so grateful to the first firm that hired him. They really took a chance and they gave him the experience he needed, as well as space on his resume and income for us. The past few months, he hasn't been super happy there. I think he enjoyed the work, but there were a few things about the firm and its culture that threw some red flags from the beginning. Tiny red flags, since we were so glad to have the job, but red flags nonetheless.

He slowly contacted a few attorney friends to let them know that he was looking for something new. He had a few interviews that went well, and then out of the blue he got a call from the new firm, which I will call Firm Awesome. It really feels like divine providence because they were calling about an application he sent in back in January. They hadn't filled the position then, but they were looking to fill it now and they asked if he was still looking and if he would come in for an interview.

He had the interview the day of Willa's surgery and they called two days later to offer him the job. The pay and benefits were substantially better than at the other firm and the work was also a lot more interesting. Another definite high point was that the firm is just three miles from our house. He's been timing himself and can make it home in six minutes if he hits the lights right! The commute to the other firm wasn't bad, about 20-25 minutes, but you can't argue with six. It's nice to know that we're not losing time with him when he leaves or comes home from work. He leaves and can begin work almost immediately and the same coming home.

The cases from the other firm were closing up when he had the interview, so he was able to tie up the loose ends pretty easily. He finished on a Monday and started at the new firm on Thursday. It was a very smooth transition as far as that. He's only been there two weeks, but things are looking good. I'm slightly nervous about the increase of hours that might be coming, but the other benefits were so good that hopefully it's worth it. Plus, the shorter commute... I'm telling myself that it won't be too bad. It's a mid-size firm with offices here and in Reno. He's got a great assistant and paralegal and he really enjoys the other attorneys and workers he's met there. So, that's our medium-size change! We have to believe that even though the first job wasn't perfect, it was something that Heavenly Father put there to help us make it to this job. Maybe the extra experience helped push him over the top at the interview and the income and stability provided well for us and gave us the first calm we have had in years.

Halloween

The last few years with kids, there are so many pre-Halloween activities that by the time the actual day comes I'm a little surprised that it hasn't passed yet. We started out early this year with the Saturday before when Ryan ran a "Trick or Trot" 5k with his team. He got second and Bryce, his friend got first but it wasn't a great race for him - possibly due to the copious amounts of candy and minimal amount of real food he ate the night before. Still, he won $50, a really nice camping chair, one of those nice picnic blankets that has the waterproof liner on the bottom, and some gift cards for a Subway platter and some hot wings of some sort. I told him he should give those away in an EQ raffle for home teaching.

There was a very fun and free family fun run. I dressed the girls in their costumes and we ran a little tiny course they had taped off. Then the girls got little prizes and were able to play little fun games for treats. June was Snow White and Willa was Anna.

Willa was having fun but too shy for the camera.

That same night was the trunk or treat. The Thalmans came, hooray, so it was fun to spend time with them. Willa really liked June's Snow White costume that morning, so that evening she agreed to match.

Finally, Halloween night. Willa chose to be Elsa. Little kids are great, they do a few houses and that's just enough. Also, I'm so annoyed with people that go all scary for Halloween. It started as a kid's holiday. Do you see adults trick or treating? So why make things so scary for the littles? Willa got scared by this giant attacking animatronic spider that jumped when she tried to get candy. Then, an adult wearing a skeleton mask scared her enough that she wanted to go home.

 

The surgery

We had surgery Tuesday morning, nearly a week and a half ago. We had to be there at 6 am and the surgery was scheduled for 8. It was a little early, but nice because she wouldn't get too hungry beforehand since she couldn't have any food. 

I didn't tell her what we were going to do because I didn't think she would understand and it might have just scared her. I told her we were going to see the doctor and that they would look at her arm while she was asleep. It all went well beforehand, she didn't want to change into the surgical gown and cap, but the anesthesiologist gave her a little "cocktail" and it made her pretty compliant to do it all. I was worried she would freak out when they took her into the operating room. They didn't have a gown for me so I couldn't go in with her. The anesthesiologist was so great, though. He was young and had young kids. He reminded me of my friends who have just finished their residencies and are starting to practice. He was so good with her and when she was scared to go in, he picked her up really gently and carried her.

It was really quick, under and hour. We got in at the right time because the bones hadn't set too much and the doctor was able to insert the rods subcutaneously. The wake-up was really sad and hard. They say that kids have a really hard time coming out of anesthesia and it wasn't pleasant. She was so disoriented and crying. She also has GIANT adenoids and they had to keep putting the oxygen mask on her to keep her oxygen levels up. It was funny because the anesthesiologist kept telling me how big her tonsils are and blah, blah, blah and how we really needed to talk to our primary care physician and get a referral to an ENT, etc etc. She does have huge tonsils and snores loudly. I was planning to ask the doctor about it at her four-year check up, but with all the arm stuff and other doctor appointments, I decided to put the well visit off until she's feeling a little better.

Cutest little patient. Her hair is very fluffy since I pulled her straight from bed and into the car.

Recovery was rough the first day. They said the anesthesia takes about a day to fully leave the system. She was trying to watch a movie but kept crying because "my eyes won't stay open!" She was crying and saying her arm was hurting. I gave her some medicine but used the dosage that the ER recommended when she first broke her arm. She was still having a really hard time and I checked the doctor's prescription and he had written for her to have twice the dose! I felt so badly that I had let her go without getting enough drugs to cut the pain.

The other funny thing was that they put a pink cast on instead of purple. She told me, "But purple is my favorite color!" I told the doctor about it when we went in for a check up a week after surgery. He laughed and apologized and said the surgery center only had white and pink.

Our middle-school neighbor broke her arm the week after Willa. Matching casts! They will take the rods out six weeks after surgery and then she will have yet another cast for a few more weeks. I'll be glad to have this all over!

D & M

What a month! I thought I had a lot to post about two weeks ago, but even more has happened since then. Here is a fun thing from this past Tuesday night. My parents were coming to town for a few days since we missed going up to Utah for the party. I thought it would be fun to do something out on the town and I knew my mom had been wanting to see Donny and Marie.

Luckily, one of our good friends from our USC ward happens to have an "in". His dad is the producer of the show! I texted Brynna and Austin and asked pretty please if they would be able to spare any tickets. As usual, she was super nice and hooked us up with four VIP tickets for Tuesday's show and a meet-and-greet afterwards. It was exciting and fun to look forward to, but I think we were all a little nervous about the meet-and-greet because it just seemed like it might be awkward.

So, we went to the show and it was fun! It was at the Flamingo and it was cool because all the seating was around tables and booths so it felt very intimate and personal (and a little old and tiny bit shabby if we're being honest - it's one of that last real theaters like that on the Strip). Donny and Marie would talk to the audience and come down a lot. In fact, there was one point in the show where Marie came down and was drawing lips on all the men with a tube of lipstick and I'm pretty sure she would have snagged my dad too if the song hadn't been about to end. Whew, missed a bullet on that one.

It was a good show and they work hard. My parents really enjoyed it and it was such a treat to go out and get the VIP treatment. In fact, when we picked up our tickets, there were supposed to be lanyards for the meet-and-greet with them, but they weren't there. I told the hostess and she was like, "Uh, can you tell me the name of who got you the tickets?" I gave her their dad's name and she immediately just got the lanyards with no questions asked. It's nice to have friends in high places!

After the show, we went to a little room and they had everyone line up to get pictures and autographs. We ended up talking most of the time to Austin's dad, though. It was nice to see a member of the Sperry clan again and to catch up on our friends. We are so lucky to have such generous and kind friends! Actually, I think the photos were supposed to cost money and only be hard copies, but Austin's dad again hooked us up. He told us to tell them our emails and they would email us digitals and if they asked any questions just to give his name.

Waiting for the show to begin. Showing off our fancy VIP lanyards.

Ryan fulfilled his family's life long goal and private joke of talking to Donny about their shared genealogy. Apparently, they're second cousins, twice removed. If that's hard to understand, Ryan's great-grandpa's GRANDPA is somehow related to Donny. So, yeah, way way back - which makes it all the more absurd to pretend that there is a close connection. We had lots of discussions about whether we should bring a fan chart with the common relative highlighted, whether Ryan should go up and hug him yelling "cousin", etc. In the end, Ryan did bring it up with a chuckle and they shook hands manfully saying "cuz."

My dad got a special hug from Marie since it was his birthday-ish. His actual 70th birthday was Monday and we went to the show on Tuesday, so it was like a little extra celebration.

A very exciting and fun night!

Pictures

I wanted to post a few pictures from recently. We went to the doctor this morning and Willa's radius has slipped to a 30 degree angle so we will be doing surgery in the morning to put rods in, but thankfully no pins or screws. The excitement around here never ends! I decided to take my friend Rachel's advice and escape into a good book. We went to the  library and I found two that I'm excited for. Tomorrow is my birthday and I plan to thoroughly enjoy the peace and quiet of the waiting room for a good hour or two. It will be a luxury to read with no interruptions. Rebecca is coming to stay at home with June. I'm  so thankful for insurance and good doctors!

 Family birthday cake:

Showing her Frozen "gown" as she calls them.

Beautiful Frozen dress and purple cast.

The cake was a disaster. I wanted to do a cake with the doll in the middle and the cake for a dress. You can buy the half dolls at Hobby Lobby. Since I didn't read any instructions or plan it out, unsurprisingly it didn't look too great. Once again, my propensity for function over form comes out. All the little girls loved the purple, though!

Opening presents. Note the helpful mom who took over and helped one-armed Willa unwrap so that I could take a photo.

Piñata time!

Sick June getting some teddy bear love. Our stake did this amazing carnival last week. A little boy got this bear for sixty tickets and then gave it to the girls. It has become June's second mother. Whenever I don't let her do something she runs over and hugs the teddy for moral support.

Willa turns FOUR

Amid all the broken arm drama, we had a birthday to celebrate! Willa turned four on Tuesday the 14th. She has been awaiting this day for a LONG time and even knew her birth date and could tell it to other people. She's never really had a friend party and I knew she wanted that experience, so we planned a simple park party for Wednesday. She has preschool on Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning we usually have a park playdate with friends anyway. I just sent everyone a message who normally attends and said that we were going to have a little party and that they didn't have to bring presents, but they could expect to eat some cake.

When Tuesday came, I still wanted to celebrate a little with her, though. We got balloons at the store and decorated the house with streamers. I asked what she wanted to have for dinner and she said meatballs with ketchup :). I happily fed those to her while Ryan and I ate something else. After her bath, we let her open the family presents that she had been receiving in the mail. I think it's safe to say that all of her wildest dreams came true. We had zero Disney princess dresses. In fact, we only had one dress-up dress at all, which was a gift from Shannon two years ago! She REALLY wanted an Elsa dress. Rebecca got her Elsa AND Anna dresses, Grandma Daniels sent her an Elsa nightgown (which she promptly changed into) and a Frozen outfit. We gave her Snow White and Belle dresses (from the consignment sale), Bridgett got her a Rapunzel dress, and then a few days later we got a package from Shannon with a Sleeping Beauty nightgown and matching doll.

After the traumatic hospital experience, I bought her an Elsa and Anna doll as a reward. She has wanted one for SO long. Since she's the oldest, and I think since we just have Netflix instead of regular television, which makes it so she doesn't see commercials, she really hasn't known what toys are out there and I don't think about it a lot. Then, we'll go to a friend's house and she'll see a toy and be totally in awe that such a toy exists. A few months ago, we were somewhere and they had Anna and Elsa Barbies. She was so entranced and couldn't believe that there was such a wonderful thing. She has been asking and asking for Anna and Elsa dolls since then, and I keep telling her to wait for her birthday. She has been very patient for a little girl. Ryan and I also got her a set of Elephant and Piggie books that came with Gerald and Piggie plush toys. I was happy to see her get very excited about those too. We really haven't pushed the "princess" here, and it is kind of crazy how they pick it up from friends and culture. The princess crazy is very strong.

On Wednesday, I brought a cake to the playground with matching cups and plates. My friend also donated a filled pinata that had been sitting in her closet. It ended up being one of the most pleasant parties and park mornings! I had low expectations and didn't plan anything. The children just played until we called them over for cake. Then they played until we called them for presents. Then, we put up the pinata and everyone got plenty of turns to swing. It was also filled mainly with little toys, so there were plenty to go around and kids didn't get all greedy like they would with candy.

I am still in awe about how well it went. It was also nice because all the other moms were so helpful. Most of them have older children and have much more experience with everything, so they knew just what to do. Handing out slices of cake, refilling water, taking photos when I was helping Willa, or they helped Willa so I could take photos. They are really great ladies here and I'm very happy and grateful to have found them. 

I just have to add that this October has been CRAZY! Ryan's had a lot of job-related stress. Willa's arm, then her birthday. Then, on Thursday this week, the day after the party, June threw up. Normally, this would be a bummer, but this week it was much worse. My mom was throwing a super secret, super awesome 70th birthday surprise party for my dad on Saturday. He was going overnight fishing with a friend on Friday. We were supposed to fly in on Friday night and then when he got home on Saturday afternoon the entire family would be at the house to surprise him. My mom worked so hard putting everything together. Well, June started puking, and puking, and puking. She finally stopped around 11 pm on Thursday, but she was feverish all day Friday. Our flight was Friday afternoon and I was so scared that one of us would catch the flu from June and start puking on the airplane - since that would have been about 24 hours from when she first started getting sick. Or, that we would make it to Centerville, but spend the entire time cooped up sick in a bedroom and possibly pass it onto all my family there. I was also really nervous that we would get it on Sunday and it would prevent us from catching our flight home. Willa has an important doctor's appointment early Monday morning that we can't miss. I had to cancel the tickets and we stayed home. Thankfully, it was Southwest, so we can use the vouchers another time, but it was just a huge disappointment for everyone. Willa kept asking if we were going to Grandma's house, and didn't understand why I couldn't leave sick June with daddy. I felt badly because my mom had really worked so hard to make this party happen and we were supposed to get a big family photo there. We had a fun day yesterday, and I'm feeling okay about everything, but it just seems like this month keeps hitting us with one thing or another. I was telling Ryan the other day that I was feeling very stressed but couldn't remember why, but then I counted up everything going on and realized THAT was why.

The good thing is that none of us got sick. Ryan and I were so paranoid on Friday that we felt sick all day. Have you ever had that feeling when you know the stomach flu might be coming? I get too nervous to eat anything because I don't want to throw it up, but then I realize that my stomach might be hurting because it's hungry and not because it's sick. It's always a little dance I do. Am I sick, am I well? I freak myself out. But, we are all well! We've also had a lot of good family moments and a lot of peace and calm this month, which has helped between all the storms. So that's the update, the good with the bad.

Ryan Runs Again!

On Saturday morning, Ryan ran a half marathon with his running group. Their coach urged everyone to sign up and had been building the workouts around the race. We were really excited because Ryan was feeling good and it was just going to be a fun time. Then, Willa broke her arm on Friday night and that took some of the fun out of it, but I decided that if the girls were doing okay in the morning, I would take them to the finish line.

The race was at 7:00 am and Ryan said not to expect him before 8:15. We got there around 8:00 and were able to get near the finish line. It was just a nice day. The 5K was finishing up and then two extremely fast runners in black jerseys came in. I was a little disappointed because they were from a different team and if they were first and second place, that meant Ryan had to beat his teammates to just get third place, which might be difficult. Well, tada! In comes a yellow jersey. It was Ryan! I was a little surprised, but mostly very excited and happy for him. He won third place and had a personal best of 1:15! That's like an average of a 5.45 mile. When I run these days if I can do half that fast then I feel pretty good about myself. He was flying! The girls and I started cheering and he waved to us as he finished. He was speedy, speedy, speedy and still had lots of energy at the end of the race.

It was a very fun race and he also won $100 purse! If only he could quit his job and run several races a day. It was really fun having his team there. They were all cheering and we were cheering as they came in one after another. His whole team did really well. Their coach road her bike alongside them and would encourage them or urge them to break away at times. It was nice having friends there and to feel like people were cheering him on. He's not the speediest guy in the shorter runs, but he's built up more endurance and it really showed in this race.

I'm kicking myself for not getting a family photo after the race because it was such a nice day and a nice time. This is a photo of Ryan and Bryce, the other white guy on the team.

After the main winners had come in and the other runners were just trickling in, Willa wanted to run and have us clap for her. She would sneak to the finish line and run through it while we clapped. I tried to hold her back and to have her go when there were no runners in sight, but one time I was scrambling after June and Willa ran through right as another guy was trying to finish. I felt so bad about it! After that, I decided it was time to take the girls out of there before we got in trouble.

ER becomes nightmare post-visit

After a very whiny and sad weekend with Willa, I called bright and early on Monday morning to set up an appointment with the pediatric orthopedist. The hospital told us to call and said he was contracted by them and obligated to see her on Monday. The office was pretty busy, but they had an afternoon appointment. The thing was, this doctor was on our Tier II coverage for insurance so he would cost a little more than someone on our Tier I. They gave me the information for a Tier I doctor, so I called him to set up an appointment, but the very earliest he could see her was on Thursday. It doesn't sound like that long, but it would have been nearly a week after the break and the hospital hadn't set her bone, and kids' bones heal really quickly. I hemmed and hawed and then decided that we just needed to get this done, so I went to the Monday doctor.

They had to double book us to get us in, so the waiting time was loooong. We finally got in and the nurse started commenting strangely about the hospital's notes. I didn't really understand what she was saying. That's until the doctor came in and looked at the notes and the hospital X-rays. Turns out, the hospital had completely misdiagnosed her! I'm so angry at them! They said it was a very mild fracture and would heal very easily. The doctor said it was a very, very bad and complicated break and that he would need to do surgery as soon as possible... TOMORROW! Meaning, we met on Monday and he wanted to do surgery on Tuesday. I was like, "Are the bones connected at all because they said it was a green stick fracture?" He was like, "Uh duh, lady. No, these bones are not connected, they're not even in the right place. We're going to have to do screws and pins and rods and all sorts of stuff." Not only that, but her radial head was out of joint, which is super serious and she couldn't extend her fingers which meant radial nerve damage. Grrrrr.

The icing on the cake was that he didn't think he would be able to set the bone. He told me that usually the hospital hooks the child up to the IV for pain and they set the bone there. He doubted that he would have enough pain medication at his office to do it. What the ?@!@*#&?!!!! Really, it was bad. Plus, this doctor didn't have the best bedside manner so he wasn't the easiest person to talk to. Finally, he decided to do his own X-ray before we scheduled the surgery. He came back and said his own X-ray was much clearer. The break wasn't AS bad as he thought, but it was still pretty bad. The radial head wasn't as far out of position as it had appeared in the first X-ray, so he thought he could straighten the bone on his own before we tried surgery. Apparently, if the X-ray angle isn't just perfect, it's really hard to get a look at the radial head correctly. (Another fact I will tuck away in my brain in case I ever deal with another broken arm). He brought Willa in some oxycodon or hydrocodon and then came to set the bone. It was so sad. She screamed, but he pushed and pushed. Finally, after the cast had dried, we took one more X-ray. He had been able to significantly move the bone. It was originally at a 45 degree angle! He moved it back to 20 degrees or so, which he said is within the range for a child to have it grow back straight, but it might take 12-18 months! Surgery might still be necessary, but we went home that day. We are going back on Monday and they will X-ray it again, so we could possibly have surgery next week. One of the breaks is close to her elbow, which makes it really unstable.

I was pretty worried and stressed out after that, not to mention keeping both girls entertained in the doctor's office for almost three hours. However, since we've been home I've been feeling a lot better. Willa has been much happier. I feel so badly that she went the whole weekend with the dislocation in her elbow! No wonder it was bothering her so much. She cried a lot when he set the arm, but pretty soon after she was much happier (thanks, narcotics! Can I get some for our next road trip?). Even when those wore off, she was much happier. I think her arm must have been really, really painful and now that it is set better, it doesn't hurt as much. She's even been moving her hand a little and not screaming when I try to move it. The doctor said to work with it every day to extend the fingers so that she doesn't lose motion and muscle and all that. That's our saga. I hate ER's. I called this one and talked to the manager and complained. If there is any damage caused by their mistake, good thing I know an attorney who can get the damages covered :).

Broken Arm #2!

We were at the park yesterday afternoon when Willa jumped off a piece of playground equipment and broke her arm. She has jumped off of it a lot on other trips, but I think that Ryan maybe has helped catch her. I talking on the phone and a little distracted, so I feel guilty that I might have been able to catch her if I had been paying closer attention. As soon as she hit the ground, I saw her arm bend out of shape. She started crying pretty hard and cried even harder when I told her we were going to the hospital. She started walking but kind of fell down crying. I picked her up and I think June waddled behind us. We drove straight to the hospital and I called Ryan to meet us there since he was driving home from work. She did not want to go at all! Four is a hard age, they understand enough to be scared, but not enough to understand why we have to do things sometimes. 

The emergency room and whole thing was just annoying. It wasn't a horror story like you hear about, but it wasn't efficient and we were there almost four hours! Ryan got there soon after we did and he took June home while I stayed. I also had the brilliant idea to put Willa in the stroller, which helped so much to wheel her from place to place. The X-ray was super clear and it was obvious that both bones in her forearm were broken. Ulna and radius, I think. The good thing is that they are greenstick fractures, which means that bones bent and broke, but that they didn't break completely through. The doctor said they should heal quickly with no lingering problems. He also pretended to look away so I could take a photo of one of the X-rays. Nice guy!

Here is the annoying part. After the break had been diagnosed, they just needed to splint it and then we could go home. But, they wanted to give her some Tylenol with codein in it first because, duh, it hurt. We waited a whole HOUR to get the medicine. For some reason they didn't have it on the floor and had to call it in from the pharmacy, but it took forever! I could have left her, drove to CVS and gotten the prescription filled and been back in half the time. I wonder if the order got lost or forgotten. 

When we had very first gotten to the ER and talked to the nurse, she put us in a "quiet" room and said they would bring her some Motrin while we waited for a room and to get X-rays. Thirty minutes later, I went and asked where her medicine was. They just gave me blank stares and then I could hear them calling around and saying, "Oh, that's the one we've been waiting for to come to room 7 and to come to radiology." Really?! We were totally forgotten about and they were just wondering where we were. So after that, it wouldn't surprise me if something similar happened to get the medicine the second time. The nurses and staff were nice, but I just think that it wasn't run well, or something.

Willa was a basket case until I let her play a Strawberry Shortcake game on my phone until the battery got too low. I'm also used to children's hospitals and doctor's offices where there are lots of child friendly things available. There were no toys in our room and the television didn't have any kids shows. It was just a really uncomfortable place to be with a hurt, scared toddler who is up past her bedtime. Anyway, we got her fixed up with a fiberglass splint. We will go to the pediatric orthopedist on Monday. They like to do a splint for the first few days until the swelling goes down before they cast it. There wasn't a lot of swelling but her arm was bent funny. It was sad.

Can you see the slight bow in the forearm?

Under a warm blanket hanging out in the stroller. She kept her arm covered and didn't move it the entire time.

Finally, the splint and a Popsicle! When we first arrived and she was screaming in the waiting room, people just ignored us. On our way out when she was quiet with her cute little arm, there were lots of sighs from the peanut gallery at this cute, sad thing.

She slept pretty well last night, considering everything. I heard her a few times and went to check, but she was mainly crying out in her sleep after moving the wrong way with the cast on. Here is a picture this morning at Ryan's race. She really hates to wear the sling. They said it's mainly to help with the weight of the splint, so I don't press it with her.

As we were leaving the hospital, she asked if June would go to the hospital. We talked about that and she said that she would help talk to June about something happy to keep her from being scared. She started naming all these things and it was so cute. "Like, a splash pad is happy." I didn't mention to her that she didn't really seem to heed this advice earlier when I was trying to get her to calm down. Today was not perfect, but not too bad. She is getting used to it. Hopefully it won't be on too long! Since she broke her wrist at 18 months, has glasses, and now this - it makes me wonder what other physical ailments we are going to get with her :)!

Preschool!

Today was my first day doing preschool. It was exhausting but only two hours! Those little girls had lots of energy. I don't always realize how much Willa has matured over the last year with her attention span and sitting still. The youngest girls were here, there, and everywhere. June was the ringleader of the zaniness. She had to sit on a carpet square and then she distracted them from circle time with lots of silliness and laughing. She thought she was one of the big girls and there was a moment when they were all playing outside when she was right in the middle of all of them having a grand old time digging dirt.

Painting paper plates for our spider craft. It was a little hectic, but now I feel more confident about how to direct everything on Thursday. Then I'll have five weeks off until the next time, yay. Notice June having her own chair and insisting on doing everything.

June's well check

I finally got on the ball and scheduled June's eighteen month well-visit. One mom in our ward who has five children told me that she is always on time with their well visits because she's afraid the doctor will think that she's over her head if she is late.

The appointment was at 7:45 am! It is nearby and I thought an earlier appointment would help the girls go on their maximum amount of sleep possible. It was a success! June didn't cry at all and only had a little cry when she got her flu shot. It was funny going to early. We were in the waiting room for longer than I had expected when a man hurried through. It was our PA (we go to a pediatric practice and have a great PA named Dominic). As soon as he got in, the nurses admitted us and started everything. It was funny to me that he was running late.

June weighs 22 lbs, 14th percentile and was 32.5 inches, 64th percentile. I asked Dominic about her eating and admitted that she will go months without eating a vegetable. He is so relaxed. He said to give her a vitamin, let her eat what she wants, and not worry about it right now. So, candy for breakfast it is! Actually, tonight she was starving and refusing dinner and started yelling "cookie!" At least, I think that's what she was saying. I told her no cookie so then she climbed down and ran over to the bananas and yelled "nana!" It's her go to when she is hungry and doesn't like anything else.

I found this great photo of Ryan with the girls on Sunday morning. He is a good daddy and they love him.

June at 19 months

June has been so deserving of her own post for a long time. I was going to do it at 18 months, but it never happened. She is just such a firecracker. She adds so much spunk and laughter into our lives. I want to record some of her funny antics before I forget them. She is picking up new words nonstop and loves to try new sounds if she is in the mood. She loves to sing along with the hymns in church or anytime other people are singing, or if there is music on in the car. When we are having family prayers or blessing the food, she folds her arms and likes to make eye contact with a very triumphant look on her face that communicates, "Look how cool I am doing this." She also babbles along with the prayer and pretends she is saying it.

Many mornings when I shower, I put some Baby Einstein on the computer for her to watch in our bedroom. The other day I could hear her singing along and laughing. I checked in on her and she was singing to Beethoven's Fifth and then the Viennese Waltz. She loves those songs and gets a big kick out of singing "Duh duh duh DAHHHHH". It's not quite on pitch, but she does loves to yell out that last note with a big smile on her face. For the waltz, she mainly likes to sing the last four notes as "Ha ha Ha ha". It's super cute and of course, I think she's a super prodigy music child, but really she'll sing along with anything. She's just not as inhibited as other babies so she belts it if she feels like it. If I sing either of those little tunes, she'll recognize it and join in.

June is obsessed with shoes. I'm not sure if it's the shoes or the promise that we might be going somewhere. She brings me several pairs a day, starting early in the morning and says "shoes, shoes". She has also started experimenting wearing Willa's shoes and she points her little toes so cutely as she puts them on herself. She has also decided that she's big enough for the princess dress-up shoes, which are high heels! She holds onto the wall and wobbles slowly forward in them. Last night at the Thalman's, she came to me to take off her regular shoes, walked to their toy bin, found princess shoes, brought them to me to put them on, and then waddled off in search of the "big girls" who were already in their princess attire. It's amazing what the second child picks up on so early! Willa didn't really know about any of this stuff until the last year or so.

June has just discovered some negative words to say and they make me laugh every time. The first is "Dop!" (stop). She uses it multiple times a day when I'm trying to change her diaper, get her dressed, do her hair, or basically do anything that she doesn't want me to do. She uses it very appropriately and in context. The other thing she just started in the last week was shaking her head and saying, "Uh huh" for No. It's helpful and funny and annoying. "June, do you want a cheese stick?" "Uh, huh" - very helpful. "June, come get your jammies on." "Uh, huh" - not helpful, but funny.

She's been sleeping better, but is still the pickiest eater. I can get her to gnaw on a raw carrot and last week she ate a few peas from my spoon, yay!!! Usually, her diet consists of toast, oatmeal, cheerios, yogurt, apples, peanut butter, and grapes. She was doing well with Dino chicken nuggets, which I liked to give her for protein. We finished those off and replaced them with Mickey ones this week and she won't touch them.

She's started the phase of needing to do everything that Willa does. She loves her blankie and her animals. She loves to role play with animals and makes them hug whatever we're looking at in a book or she'll try to feed them with her spoon. She's doing better with Ryan and she is so-so on nursery. We love our June!

Swimming update

We had our swim lesson right after I wrote the last post. Willa cried the entire time and begged the teacher not to let go of her. So there was none of the great swimming that she HAPPILY has done for me when we are alone and not in lessons. There was almost no swimming at all. Total regression. We're done for now. I was so irritated at her that I was also worried that if we continued with lessons I would end up being mean to her and causing emotional damage :). It's hard not to want to shame her into acting better. That sounds terrible, but I just want to be honest here. She's not trying to be a difficult child, but she has built this whole thing up into something terrifying. It's time to step back. It's hard because physically she is so there, but emotionally not at all. I've got an uncomfortable feeling that this is just a taste of things to come as she grows up. For example, what if she wants to stop piano lessons at age 16? What kind of fight am I going to put up? Are there times when you just force it? Music lessons will be pretty much unconditional but it's going to hurt so bad when I see her potential for something and she doesn't want to pursue it.

Singing and swimming

Willa loves to have a harp lesson after I finish with one of my students. And by "harp lesson" she means that she plays, not necessarily that I am teaching. The other day she started singing all her favorite songs while she played. She was in a rare mood where she loves the attention and is having fun, so I was able to get this video. You can hear June chiming in. It's a primary song and she knows all the words. At the beginning of the year the primary gave out CDs that had all the upcoming songs for the year so that the children could listen and have them reinforced outside of church. Definitely one of our favorites to listen to.

We've been doing swim lessons at a private swim place for a few months. She used to love them, but has recently started hating them and crying the whole morning before we go. They do a safety talk every lesson and pull the kids into the water to teach them how to quickly turn around and grab the wall if they fall in. I think it's the most important part of why we're doing swimming, but one time her teacher pulled her harder than normal or deeper or something. Now it TERRIFIES her. Her new teachers have been more careful because she is so scared. They pull her in but don't make her go under the water. I told them last week that September would be our last month because she mentally was just not there. Well, then she did amazing (she likes the lessons except for the safety part). It was clear that she had passed all the other little kids in her group. The teacher said she would actually move her up a level if she did as well next week (today, in about an hour). The very next day we met Dan and Melinda at their hotel pool and something clicked for Willa. She just started swimming! We had a make-up lesson the next day and here is how she did. She is definitely ready to move up, but she was crying the whole time and it was a substitute teacher. If they bump her up a level today, we will stay in one more month to see how it goes. I hate to pull her out right when she has actually gotten the hang of it because she'll probably forget before the pools open up next summer.

Spending monies but having fun

Willa has a few magic wands that she plays with and plays with and plays with... In fact, the wands are so loved that they have all bitten the dust. Pieces kept breaking off the last one until finally it was basically just a silver stick. One morning after deciding that I would go bananas if we stayed in the house until naptime, I hurriedly piled the girls in the car and drove off to Dollar Tree.

For those of you familiar with dollar stores, Dollar Tree is the bomb. Everything is really just a dollar. I hate dollar stores where things are any price. What's the point of it being a "dollar store"?!!! Dollar Tree is so awesome. Three years ago I bought an inflatable water ring for Willa to use in the pool for one dollar. It was still in mint condition this summer and lasted us almost the entire season. It has just recently stopped holding air and I think that's due to the rowdy boys we met at a pool playdate who were diving into it. The boys were cracking me up, but also must have "cracked" the ring, har har. I also need to plug the gummy Valentine's hearts at Dollar Tree. They are superior to every other gummy heart.

We also get all of Willa's little puzzles at Dollar Tree and I knew that they would have wands. So, we packed up to go. I hate buying stuff for Willa because her birthday is coming up and also because I don't want her to feel like we can just buy all this fun stuff all the time. But, compared to all the other little girls she plays with - she really doesn't have too much. I'm also realizing that some things are fun to have and she really appreciates them - like sticker books right now! Back to Dollar Tree. In Houston, we lives minutes from one. Here, we are positioned right between two of them and it's a big pain. It just feels ridiculous to drive ten miles or so to go to a dollar store!

Okay, back to the story. We went to Dollar Tree and came home with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR wands. And, fairy wings, a fairy skirt, a puzzles, stickers, and some coloring books. I think the total came out to $13. That's not a big cashload, but thirteen toy items is a little much. Still, she was so excited and she even fell asleep with her wings on during quiet time. I also had a brilliant idea. Willa has been talking about being a fairy for Halloween ever since we saw the $20 fairy costumes at Costco. She was SO thrilled to have her skirt, wings, and wand that I think that will be her costume. I might throw in a few beads and bangles, but why pay $20 for a costume when she will be satisfied with her $3 one? We'll see. She just informed me today that she wants to be Elsa for Halloween. I have it on good authority that she might be getting an Elsa dress for her birthday, though, so I'm not going to sweat that costume either.

Okay, the other part of spending money is that Kim and I went to a big consignment sale this past weekend. It just has baby and kid items and is similar to one in Houston called Baby Daze. It was pretty cool and differed a lot from the Houston one. I went bright and early in Houston trying to snag a Snap n Go while I was pregnant with June, but there were none there and hardly any strollers or carseats. Instead, there were tons and tons of toys at very good prices. At this sale, there were rows and rows of Snap n Gos, strollers, and carseats. It was amazing. The toy options were pretty slim and expensive for being secondhand, though. Still, Kim and I managed to snag a lot more than we were planning to and I took a big gulp at the cash register. Is it my fault that there was a brand new Disney Store Snow White dress with the tags still on?!!! June is going to be Snow White for Halloween and this dress for Willa was so gorgeous that I'm really going to try to talk her into it. As you can see, Halloween plans are changing daily. Kim got a Snap n Go. I overpaid for this little toy for June, but she was so excited to get it. I figured that when your backyard is just concrete and rocks, it's okay to splurge a little on a toy or two. She kept squealing and saying "woof woof" since it's a puppy.

Fjeldsteds and Le Reve

Our great friends the Fjeldsteds finally came to town. As a refresher, we were in the USC ward together. Paul and Ryan were counselors in the Bishopric and Courtney was my counselor in Relief Society. Sometime after becoming friends, we realized that Paul and Ryan not only had the same birthday, but had lived in the exact same apartment (not just building, but actual apartment) at BYU. There were some other similarities, and it all sealed the deal. There was something cosmic about our friendship :).

They were nice enough to come visit while I was in Utah a year ago, but this was the first time Ryan had seen them since we left Los Angeles. Paul is now an actual practicing dentist and came to town for some CE courses.

First of all, we went to a show. It was Courtney's idea and I'm soooo glad we did it. Ryan and I haven't been to one since we moved here. They are $$$$ and not quite in everyday budget. But, with friends coming to town, we thought a nice night out was just the ticket. I also called the box offices of several shows and most of them had discounts for Las Vegas locals. It made the cost go from $$$$ to just $$$. I had to take my photo ID in when I picked up the tickets, to prove our residency, but that was not a big deal.

We decided to see Le Reve because we'd heard it was AWESOME. It did not disappoint. It was amazing and I totally think it's worth the $$$ or even $$$$! Really, it was an experience and totally riveting the entire time. Vegas didn't get its title "Entertainment Capital of the World" for nothing. Ryan and I are still thinking about it. It was at The Wynn and was just breathtaking. If you have a chance, you should go see it.

On Saturday, Paul was finishing up his courses so Courtney checked out of the hotel and came to our house to spend a few hours. Unfortunately, June had come down with a terrible cold and fever on Thursday and was not too happy on Friday or Saturday. She is usually such a party girl, but for this visit I console myself that Courtney got to see June's passionate side at its peak :).

While the babies were both napping we took Willa and Parker to a splash pad. They had so much fun together and played straight for probably 90 minutes while we sat in the shade and chatted. It was awesome. Willa doesn't always warm up so easily and it was nice to see them play so well together. In the beginning, Willa was very nervous that Parker would take her princess things, then she asked me if he was actually a prince. In the end, they found out that they both loved Daniel Tiger and Willa let him play with Trolley. Willa also REALLY wanted Parker to ride in our car with us and showed me how we could put Parker's carseat right next to hers. It was sad to explain to her that he lived far away and wouldn't be able to play again anytime soon. It's so nice when children are young and play with girls or boys without really caring or noticing. They were good little buddies for the few hours that they got to play together. In fact, they played so well and hard that Willa was worn out and Courtney also got to witness a royal meltdown from the princess over dinner menu choices.

We were so happy to see great friends. It's strange to think that we didn't have any children at all when we knew each other at USC. That life seems so long ago (not having children to think about), but we just started right up where we left had left off and the four children between us seemed natural. I should note that baby Kate was such a pretty baby and also well-behaved. I've never seen a baby eat solids so willingly and happily! I'm very envious. June was a grump, but if you had heard her cough or her cracked voice saying, "mama, mama" then you would forgive her.

Preschool

Willa started preschool last week. I'm doing a co-op again, there are six little girls total in the group. Originally, I got invited to join a co-op of all boys. I was totally in and thought it would be fun for Willa to have some little boy friends. I also liked the fact that all the boys had Fall birthdays like Willa, so they would enter Kindergarten the same year and they were the older side of three years old starting out. Then, one of the moms dropped out of that group to run her own private preschool and a bunch of other moms dropped out to enroll their boys in the preschool - including my friend who originally invited me to join. I was starting to get a little nervous that this whole thing would fall apart. I was worried that when that happened all the regular preschool slots would be filled and we would be high and dry when school started.

Then, another mom called and invited me to join the princess preschool (my name for it - six girls after all). It just felt good right away. The Holy Spirit? My one concern is that this group of girls were all the younger side of three - most of them with summer birthdays - but they are still set to enter kindergarten the same year. At the same time, the moms were a lot more organized and my friend who invited me is a former teacher and has a Masters in blah blah Childhood Education Curriculum something. I also realized that if I were to enroll Willa in a regular preschool (not a co-op) she would be placed with kids all entering Kindergarten in two years - no matter when they turned three. So, I joined and we started! I should add, that after I decided to join the new group, I found out from my first friend that the old group was thinking of kicking me out when my friend dropped out (I didn't know any of the other moms besides my one friend). Rude :)! As soon as I heard that, I was even more glad and grateful that I went with that feeling to join the second group. They didn't actually kick me out, but they sent me a late text after they had all met together asking if I was still interested. So, they aren't that bad, but I'm sooo happy to be where I am.

Okay, so Willa was kind of scared about preschool this summer and would whine and cry when I mentioned it. So, I stopped mentioning it until the night before. Then, I calmly told her and walked her through all the steps. She didn't get upset, so I wonder if the other stuff was all dramatics. In the morning, she was excited to get ready and she was sitting at the table with her backpack on ready to go thirty minutes early. Seeing her like that, I realized that she really needs this. She was looking forward to it and she just needs to get out and have something like this for her. We meet Tuesday/Thursday for two hours and we each take a week. So every six weeks, I will host at my house. We have a set circle time schedule and a pretty set schedule to divide up the two hours. We also made assignments for each week and day: letter, number, color, shape, etc. Hopefully the kids will have enough consistency and changing homes won't throw them too much. I was super impressed by the first week. My friend the ex-teacher is teaching this week, so I'm going to record one of the days just to help me in planning. I feel a little out of it since Willa is my oldest and I haven't really had the preschool experience before (the month in Texas before we moved doesn't count). I'm really glad this co-op is working out. Part of me really would love the freedom to just drop her off and not have to worry about teaching, but the other part of me would really love to save that money or to use it for an extra activity (right now, swim lessons). Next year, we'll do something more official, but for now this is good.

In the morning, they took a photo of each girl holding this sign "First Day of Preschool 2014", but Willa wouldn't pose! She finally did at the end when I was there.