Story Time

This afternoon it was my turn to go and read for a half hour to Hannah's first grade class. This was my third (and obviously, last) turn this year to read to her class. The first time I went, I didn't bring enough books of my own, so I ended up reading some that they already had in the class.

So today I grabbed five books we had on hand from a recent library trip (most of our own books are packed away). One of the books I grabbed at the last minute turned out to be the hit of the story time. It was the book White is For Blueberry, by George Shannon.

This book pairs colors with objects that don't seem to fit at first (especially with the artwork): "Pink is for crow," for example, with a picture of a black crow. Then you turn the page and see a picture of pink newborn birds in a nest with the words "when it has just hatched from its egg." The reactions from the kids when I read this story was just so fun. I'm pretty sure none of them had seen the book before (or they would have been blurting out the answers). I would read the initial color page ("Blue is for firelight") and they would all be saying "Huh?" and then I would turn the page and read the connection ("when the fire is at the tip of a candle") and there would be a big "OH!" from the group. It was like you could see all 20 little lightbulbs go off over each of their heads. Every page was like this. So fun to be a part of!

As soon as I finished the book (it was the last one I read), there was an immediate, unanimous chorus of "Read it again! Read it again!" And since there were just a few minutes left, I did (a little quicker this time) and they all wanted to be able to shout out the "answer" for each color before I turned the page.

Speaking of stories, I have to share two of our favorite new stories we've found at the library, that we've liked so much we've bought our own copies to keep.

The first is Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen.

I don't know exactly why, but I love this story! I read it to Hannah's class the last time I was the parent reader and they were all pretty mesmerized by it. (I'm planning to read it to McKay's class when I get to read there next week.) I love the art and I just think the story is so neat, with a great message too. Maybe it's because we have a special place in our hearts for the library at our house.

The second story is The End, by David LaRochelle.

This is just a fun story that tells itself backwards, by starting with "They lived happily ever after." Each pages tells a part of the story, ending with "because..." and you turn the page to see what happened earlier that caused this particular event. It's a great cause and effect book and kids love to read it backwards and forwards!

Happy story time!

Code Adam

I took Courtney & Hayley grocery shopping to Wal-Mart this morning and we managed to trigger a "Code Adam" while we were there. If you're not familiar with "Code Adam," it translates to "lost child." This time it was Hayley we lost.

You'd think I'd be used to keeping track of kids (and even losing them), having survived both Hannah & Courtney as toddlers. But Hayley has never been one to wander or try to escape, so I usually don't think about needing to keep an eagle eye on her.

We were looking at socks (for Daddy and McKay -- can you believe they wear the same size now!) and Courtney was darting in and around aisles, so Hayley joined her. Then we walked over to check the clearance rack in the boy's clothes and both girls were darting in and out through the clothes racks (like they have done before). After a minute, Courtney came back to the cart and I asked her where Hayley was. She said she didn't know (I thought they were together). So I started looking in the area and calling for her. No answer. (Of course, if it was Courtney that was lost she wouldn't have answered anyway because she never answers me when I call her.)

I started calling louder, and probably with a little bit of panic in my voice. (Like I said, you'd think I'd know how to stay calm and not panic in these types of situations after Courtney's many escapes, but this was Hayley missing, so I'm starting to panic...) There were a couple of employees nearby in the shoes department that heard me calling and looked over, so I said "I've lost one" and they came to get some more info. Then one of the ladies got on the intercom and announced "Code Adam - little blonde girl in purple shorts and purple shirt. Please bring her to shoes."

There were several employees around (I think they were doing inventory or something) and all of a sudden, they are all walking up and down aisles and searching. I'm still calling for her and feeling a bit more panicked. After a few minutes, I heard one lady call "I've got her" and she came around the corner with a teary-eyed Hayley. I've got a few tears myself by now, so we had a big happy hug and a promise to stay by Mom when we go to the store.

Battleship Texas

Last Saturday we decided to take a little day trip to see the Battleship Texas, anchored in the Buffalo Bayou by the Houston ship channel. Brian and I had been once years ago when McKay was just a baby (and we had some family visiting). We decided to take the opportunity before we left the area to take the kids down and see it, along with the San Jacinto Monument.

We got to ride on the Lynchberg Ferry across the Houston Ship Channel. The ferry is free and can fit about 12 cars. It goes a short distance across the ship channel. The kids thought this was great! (And since it was Saturday, there wasn't a long wait!)

Just a bit of history for you from the Park & Wildlife website (it is located in a State Park): The TEXAS is the last of the battleships, patterned after HMS Dreadnought, that participated in World War (WW) I and II. When the USS TEXAS was commissioned on March 12,1914, she was the most powerful weapon in the world.... In 1948, the Battleship Texas became the first battleship memorial museum in the U.S.

The main deck of the ship has a bunch of big "guns" (or cannons or something...) with little seats and wheels to raise/lower and turn the guns. The kids had great fun with these -- I think it was their favorite part!

(The only picture I'm in!)

Then we ventured below deck. Some of the steps/ladders were quite steep and Hayley was a little unsure of climbing down them.

Lots of places to climb and explore!

Can you imagine having sleeping quarters like this in the middle of the hallway?

(Maybe this is what we need for our new house since all 4 kids will be in the same bedroom for a while!) They even have a sign that says you can bring a group to spend the night on the ship!

McKay was especially excited for this trip because he loves to read about war ships, war planes and World War II in general. (That was another incentive for us to make the time for this -- because we knew how much he would enjoy it.)

You can see the San Jacinto Monument from the battleship.

Here are McKay & Hannah by a cannon on the grounds over by the battleship (with the monument behind them).

We drove over to the monument area. I tried to get a picture of the whole thing from that close -- the two tiny people in the picture are McKay & Hannah on the steps!

And here is Courtney at the top of the steps:

They have a small museum at the base of the monument (Courtney wanted her picture by this cannon):

They also have an elevator that you can ride up to the top (if you buy everyone a ticket). We had noticed driving there that it was a really smoggy/cloudy day and knew that we wouldn't be able to see much of anything from the top of the monument. The kids, of course, wanted to go up to the top (for the elevator ride probably more than anything) but we said "no" and they (especially McKay and Hannah) were not happy about it. (And it didn't help that everyone was already grumpy and whiny from being hot and tired of walking around on the battleship.) So we called it a day and despite the sour ending note, I think everyone had a fun time!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day -- I feel so blessed in so many ways. Mother's Day used to be a very difficult day for me -- it was so hard to go to church and see all the mothers honored when I was longing so much to be a mother myself. My life has changed in so many ways from that time and I am so grateful for my four "munchkins" -- what joy they bring to my life!

This past week I was able to spend some Mother's Day time with two of my girls. Courtney's preschool had a "Muffins with Mom" morning where we got to go paint a picture together and share some muffins. Then Courtney was so excited to give me the present they made at school -- a "garden stone" with her handprint that she decorated:

She did really good at keeping it a secret from me! That day also happened to be "hat day" and "T-shirt" day for her preschool, so this is how she went to school:

What a cute girl! Courtney also gave me a little booklet about me with some pictures she drew. The teachers asked her to fill in the blanks and wrote it her answer (then she drew a picture). Here is what her book said:

My mommy is cute.
My mommy’s favorite thing to do is plant flowers. (Note: not sure where this came from – I don’t think I have ever planted flowers!)
My mommy makes dinner for me. She makes pizza.
My mommy’s hair is brown and her eyes are blue.
I love my mom because she gives me kisses at bedtime.

Also last week, I was invited to "Mother's Day Tea" in Hannah's 1st Grade classroom. The kids had made several things for Mother’s Day and then they sang a bunch of songs they had learned and we had treats. It was cute.

Hannah had made three different things where she also filled in the blanks.

My mom’s name is Gayle.
She has blue eyes and brown hair.
My mom is prettiest when she goes to a wedding.
I like it when she cooks pizza.
She spends most of her time with me!
My favorite thing to do with my mom is go shopping.
The best thing about my mom is she is very sweet and nice.

My mom wears many hats in our family. My mom is a teacher. She taught me how to be nice.
My mom is a chauffeur. She drives me to the park.
My mom is a cook. I love it when she makes hot dogs.
My mom is a nurse. She always makes me feel better when she hugs me.
My mom is the best mother ever!

(This next one is shaped like big glasses - supposed to be “looking into the future”.)
When I grow up I will be a mom.
I will live in Amarillo.
I will have a cell phone, a computer and a lot of kids.
I might get Webkinz for my kids.
I will drive a purple car without a roof.
For fun I will go on a vacation.

This morning McKay gave me the booklet he made at school. It is filled with different types of poems (haiku, acrostic, etc.) that he had written at school. I wanted to share his "biopoem":

McKay

Silly, tall, active

Wishes to go to BYU

Dreams of inventing things

Wants to be a father

Who wonders about electricity

Who fears bees

Who is afraid of jumping off high places

Who likes biking

Who believes in eternal life

Who loves pizza

Who plans to be an engineer

Humpherys

And finally, my little Hayley! For preschool last week, they talked about "you are special" and the mom who was teaching asked the girls to share what was special about one another, which she typed up. I wanted to share what a couple of Hayley's friends said about her!

Hayley is special because...

"She has really fun toys and she shares them with me. She has really fun doll houses. She is really nice to me!" -- Christine

"She shares her dress-ups with me. She is really nice to me. She has a really cute smile!" --Cambri

I am so thankful to be a mother, and I am so thankful for my own mother and all the other women in my life who have been such a tremendous example and influence for good to me! Happy Mother's Day!

Hooray!

Just a quick house update -- we got a contract on our house this weekend! We are very grateful (and relieved) that it all worked out with the timing of our move. The offer did end up coming from the people that came to look at the house three times -- they just took their time submitting it. They initially had a closing date of May 27 - which would have been really tricky for us with school not getting out until June 5. So we countered with a closing date of June 6 and they were okay with that. The papers were signed this morning and now we just have the 10 day option period where they do their inspections and stuff.

So for now our plan is to load up the truck the evening of June 5, then do the last minute cleaning on the morning of June 6, go to the closing and head out of town! Wow -- I can't believe it is coming down to only a few more weeks. It is really starting to sink in now that we switch gears from showing the house to packing the house!

Field Day Fun

Last week was Field Day for McKay & Hannah. They had a fun day -- they get assigned a "buddy" and then they go around to a whole bunch of activities set up around the school (like frisbee toss, cup stacking, etc.). Part of Field Day is the grade level tug-o-war. (Last year McKay's class won for 2nd grade.)

McKay's teacher sent some pictures she took of his class doing the tug-o-war this year. They came in 3rd place!

Christmas in May

Yesterday I came downstairs to find Courtney & Hayley playing "Christmas":

They had pulled over one of our silk trees, decorated it with toy plastic shovels and whistles, used a baby blanket for the tree skirt and then Courtney played Santa and wrapped a present for Hayley in scratch paper. (The present was a coloring book.) Then they set out a glass of milk and some crackers, Hayley went to "sleep" on the stairs and woke up squealing with excitement to open her present. Such imaginations!

All About Courtney

For preschool last week, Courtney had to bring in a picture of her and me (presumably for a Mother's Day project). I realized I don't have many pictures of me with the kids individually (we had to take one for her project). Then my sister did the "100 Facts About Me" blog, which got me thinking about the unique personality of each of our kids and what kind of facts I might list about them.

I've been jotting some ideas down and looking through pictures -- I don't know how many "facts" I have, but I hope you enjoy this little "snapshot" of Courtney (currently age 5 1/2).

1. Courtney is the third child and the second with a November birthday.

2. Courtney was our smallest baby (7 lbs. 15 3/4 oz. -- or just call it 8 lbs.!)

3. When Courtney was a baby, lots of people commented on what a small mouth she had (and she did have some feeding troubles her first few weeks).

4. Courtney was our earliest crawler (6 months), our earliest to pull to standing (7 months) and our earliest walker (10 months).

5. Courtney has always been very active. She loved to climb on the kitchen table and in the fireplace, among other places.

6. We had to do several things when Courtney was a toddler that we didn't have to do for the other two kids: rig a cover for the TV buttons, keep the kitchen chairs on the carpet, keep any kid chairs or stepstools on the counter, put trash cans up on the counter, etc. She kept us on our toes!

7. Courtney figured out to climb out of the crib at 18 months.

8. Courtney loved her baby dolls as a toddler.

9. Courtney had the cutest baby curls in her hair that have sadly mostly grown out.

10. One of Courtney's favorite phrases as a toddler was "Nana push. Fall.", meaning "Hannah pushed me and I fell down."

11. Courtney is 22 months younger than Hannah and 22 months older than Hayley.

12. Courtney had a very "raspy" voice as a toddler.

13. Courtney is/was an expert escape artist! There were numerous times when she escaped out of the house or out of sight in a public place (Sea World, preschool carnival, etc.) and it was several scary minutes before we found her.

14. Courtney loved her "passer" (pacifier) at bedtime until she was almost 3. She also loved to suck on it upside-down.

15. Her daddy gave her the nickname "Tenny B" which has stuck (for now!)

16. Courtney was a big "Dora the Explorer" fan as a toddler.

17. Courtney would always recite the "rules" to me when it was time to play or go somewhere: "Be nice. Don't kick. Don't fight." etc. Of course, that doesn't mean that she followed them. :-)

18. Courtney went through a phase of playing with the water dispenser in the refrigerator door and drove her mom crazy!

19. Courtney has always been very independent (and had lots of crying and big trantrums as a result).

20. It does not surprise me to find Courtney watching TV upside-down on the couch.

21. Courtney is usually not afraid to try anything!

22. Courtney is by far our best eater and will eat almost anything I fix (and usually ask for seconds). She loves most vegetables (including broccoli). The most surprising thing that she won't eat is spaghetti.

23. Courtney has always loved to be outside -- swinging, riding her bike, riding her scooter, etc.

24. Courtney has had the hardest time potty training of any of the kids and still has several accidents, plus wears a Pull-Up every night.

25. Courtney's favorite Primary song is "Follow the Prophet."

26. As a toddler, Courtney went through a phase of having "night terrors" (which are different from nightmares) -- something I couldn't figure out at first.

27. Courtney loves horses and ponies (including Pegasus ponies).

28. Courtney is our fastest runner and I think could easily beat the other 3 kids in a foot race.

29. Courtney likes frogs and turtles and has caught frogs in the yard a few times.

30. Courtney has perfected a "frog hop" that she likes to do all over the house, at preschool, in Wal-Mart, etc.

31. Courtney hates to lose and will frequently burst into tears if she does lose or if she perceives she's not getting a fair turn at something.

32. Courtney is very limber and the most flexible of our kids.

33. Courtney loves to sit at the table and draw and color (either her own pictures or coloring book pictures).

34. Courtney has hazel eyes.

35. Courtney is feeling more confident trying to write words on her own and is starting to learn how to read a few words too.

36. Courtney usually plays well with both Hannah and Hayley, but gets annoyed when Hayley copies everything she does (which happens quite often!).

37. For two years, I did a little co-op preschool group (4-5 kids) with Courtney where the moms tooks turns being the teacher.

38. Courtney is enjoying her year in "big kid" preschool (two days a week at a local church), although she went through a period of several weeks where she would cry about not wanting to go (and usually did just fine once she got there and got busy).

Courtney is our little firecracker and we love her energy and independence and sweetness!

P.S. I hope to be able to do this for the other kids soon too. It is a great exercise for me to reflect on their own wonderful uniqueness!