Splash park

For many reasons we ended up having to cut our Utah trip about 4 days short this summer.  It was kind of a last minute decision.  The time ended up coming off of Jason's parents in Mapleton - but we promised we would be back later that summer to make up their days.  They were such troopers about it. 

Before we left Debby took my kids to the dollar store to pick out a toy, and then to lunch at McDonalds, and then we went to a splash park to wear out the kids.  Boy did it work - we drove the whole 8 hours home - with out stopping except for gas in Grand Junction - but no one even got out.  It was awesome.

Megan was in a mood that morning.  She refused to play or even talk to anyone, I felt bad for her grandparents, they were trying so hard, but she was not having it.  She took some towels and went to the far side of the park and spent about a half hour making a bed.  She is SO PARTICULAR about her bedding - a little OCD - she messes with it and messes with it until everything is perfect - no wrinkles, straight lines, everything lining up perfectly.  When I watch her do it I am half amazed, half impressed, and half terrified for our future of perhaps mental illness.  :)

Preschool Blog

For those of you interested in following my preschool blog I have started it and hope to be posting to it regularly.  I am just starting to try to adjust to having my own preschool and not letting that affect my family (or home) too much - so the blog is very much an after thought.  Posts are quick and not a lot of thought are put into them.  Maybe in a few months I will be able to give better description about exactly what I did, why I did it, and how it went.  But for now enjoy the pictures, my brief descriptions, and my many typing errors.  I rarely proof read - but you know that from reading my real blog. :)

http://msjamiespreschool.blogspot.com/

Preschool

I am going to take a quick pause in my summer update to inform you of my preschool.  It is starting tomorrow!!  I am so thrilled, and nervous, and calm, and relieved.... all mixed into one.  I am about as ready as I'll ever be (well in about 2 hours - I have a few more things to do.)

 

Here is how my room will look on the first day.  My center material will rotate weekly (or every other week depending on the children's interests) - but I THINK this will be the layout - ***think is why the white board is not hung yet - once it is hung it is staying and I wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment - room layout has so much to do with classroom management, behavior, and learning.

 

 

 

My centers are writing, reading, dramatic, art, sensory, math, science, blocks, and white board, and as mentioned earlier the materials and focus will be changed often.  I actually have decided to start a blog just for my preschool, I hope to get it up and running in a week or so.

 

Anyways... wish me luck!

Swimming

Jason's parents have next door neighbors so have a really awesome pool that they never use.  They gave Randy and Debby a key and told them they can use it when ever they want... done!!  We swam every day if not twice a day.  The kids loved and so did I.

They had this floating raft that the girls decided was their ship.  They sailed around on their ship most of the afternoon as pirates. 

 

Coming to Utah neither of my boys knew how to swim.  We had done about 3 rounds of swimming lessons, and were on the verge of swimming, but not quite there yet.  Grandpa Herbert is an excellent swimmer - he swam in high school and collage and did Water Polo.  So I asked him if her would teach the boys how to swim.  After 15 minutes with grandpa they were both swimming.  And now they are wonderful swimmers and have passed the swim test at our local pool.  It is SO NICE going to the pool and only having to worry about the girls.  We LOVE grandpa Herbert!!  He changed my life!

 

She is just so cute... right??

 

They also have a basketball court that Brock loved.

 

And you can't forget Noah who spent most of the swimming time like this.  He enjoys swimming... for about an hour.  Than he likes to lay on the hot cement for about 2 hours.  He doesn't want to leave and is completely happy.  Whatever.

Parade

While we were in Mapleton we also got to go to the Art Days Parade.  This was a big hit with the kids.  As mentioned last year Jason and I are morally apposed to parades since living on University Ave in Provo for 6 years and suffering through the Fourth of July Parade.  So our kids only go when their grandparents take them.  It is unfair really since the kids absolutely love it.  Maybe we should reconsider our boycott.

 

It was an unusually cold summer morning.  All the kids kept their jackets on until 11:00 am - but that is better than a really hot heat - especially since we didn't have umbrellas and couldn't find a place in the shade.

 

We of course got cotton candy to eat while we waited for them to throw candy at us... sheesh.

Madison is our little dancer.  She danced to every marching band, cheerleading, and musical float that went by.  She jumped  up and down and shouted at each float.  It was adorable.

She really wanted me to take a picture of a princess float.  Of course to Megan and Madison each royalty float was a princess float.  They were in heaven.  I guess we don't have to go to Disney Land now... check.

Herbert's

One great thing about our trip to Utah was the difference between being at the Herbert's and at the Hanna's.  As mentioned earlier the Hanna's house was full and crazy.  While it was very fun, it was also...well... crazy.  The Herbert's was wonderful because it was slow and calm and all about us.  We love hanging out at grandma and grandpa Herbert's house.  They have a wonderful yard for the kids to play in - full or rocks, waterfalls, fountains, and lots of grass for playing on.

 

The kids right straight to work picking strawberries.  They love helping Grandma Herbert work in her garden... and eating it all too.

After dinner grandma asked the kids what they wanted for dessert and Megan said, "how about we melt some chocolate and dip the strawberries in chocolate" - I didn't think she had ever seen or heard of chocolate strawberries - so it was pretty ingenious. 

 

We were lucky because we came the same week as the Springville city art days festival.  We went to the kids carnival one day.  We rode some rides, went in some bounce houses, watched a magic show, and got some snow cones.  The kids loved the magic show, especially Noah.  He is so inquisitive about things and all the tricks just puzzled and amazed him.  After the show was over he said, "I need to go talk to that man" and he marched right up to him and shot him question after question about each of his tricks.  It was so cute.  Sadly, he wouldn't give away his secrets and Noah is still trying to figure them out.

West Jordan

The number one thing I miss most since moving is my neighborhood and friends in West Jordan.  It took about 2 years to really feel like we belonged and that our neighbors were more than neighbors... but good friends.  When I feel out of place here in Denver I remind myself it took 2 years in West Jordan... it just takes time.  But some places ARE better than others.  And this place is one of the best.  A house went up for sale one house away from our old house 5 months after we moved and I had SEVERAL dreams about us moving back there. 

 

One of my biggest regrets of our trip was that we only spent one day in West Jordan - I was hoping for two if not three.  But as I mentioned - my kids were not that into going places.  But when I told my neighbors I was coming they blocked out the whole day for us - we were there from 9 am - 9 pm!  I napped the girls at Natalie's house and we just hung out with the kids running around us all day - just like "old times".  The best thing about Natalie and Amy was that it was like we lived in a small village.  The kids just ran around, from house to house, back yard to back yard, we took care of and fed what ever children happen to be at our house for lunch time or snack time.  We sat in the shade with glasses of lemonade while the kids ran through sprinklers, rode bikes, or played dolls under the Wilde's tree.  It was perfect and it would have only gotten better as they grew up.  I miss them immensely - more than I ever expected.  I could share with them almost anything, and if I ever needed to talk, someone was always home. 

 

Sadly, I didn't take very many pictures.  I was just enjoying myself too much I guess.  Here is what I got.

 

This is actually our old backyard.  It took me a few hours before I had the strength to go back there.  I knew if would be painful - and it was.  There is a tramp back there now, and a play house, and a BBQ, and patio furniture, and 6 new trees - and  you know... all those things we could never afford.  We went through hard times in that house... but we also had great times... and now it is sacred ground to me.

As shown by these four little hands in our concrete.  I never took a picture when we left so I thought I would take one now.  All the new things made it easier to be there - it was obviously not ours anymore.

here are some shots of playing in the neighborhood.

Natalie, Marci (she bought our house), me, and Amy (and Megan - who refused to get out of the picture)
  

Madison and Brooklyn were best friends when we moved, they are only a few months apart and were so sweet with each other.  Brooklyn is about the only thing Madison does still remember about living in Utah - she remembers Brooklyn's birthday party.