Kindergarten Crush

Well this last week flew right by.  Having a child in school sure does change how the days go.  Busy, busy!  But Kalvin and I have been enjoying our one-on-one time together.  He has always got lots to say and is the most chatty in the mornings.  He is obsessed with Umi-Zumi and begs to watch it ALL DAY LONG.  And we got lucky enough a few times this week to have Brad home for lunch.  On one of the days, a patient cancelled and he brought me home lunch and had a whole 45 minutes to eat with us.  

On Thursday we went over to the school, because all 3 schools here accepted the 'cold water challenge'.  They each brought a little bit of money to donate to cancer research and then at the end of the day they walked all the students over to the football field and they all ran through the sprinklers.  

There were news cameras there filming and everything :)  The principal said that they raised over $900 dollars,  just the elementary school, so that's kinda cool.  Although, Clark made sure to perfectly dodge the sprinklers so he didn't even get wet.

Kal wasn't super impressed.  He just wanted to go get Clark and watch Umi-Zumi...

This little monkey apparently has a little crush on a girl at school.  She is also in his primary class at church.  And we are friends with her family and just had dinner with them the other night.  I got a text the other morning from this little girls Mom who said that her daughter came home from school and said that Clark had kissed her on the cheek at recess.  Can you believe that!?  I asked him about it and he said that she kissed him and then wouldn't talk to me about it anymore.  But he was all smiles for the rest of the day.  How is this happening??  How is he old enough to have a crush?  This is killing me.  Why do babies grow up!?     

So other than 'the kiss' things have been pretty normal around here ;)  We've been trying our best to have Fridays full of fun and relaxing, since Clark is so exhausted from school by the end of the week.  This week he and Kal spent the majority of their Friday playing in a mud muddle they made in the front yard.  All that grass and they just want mud.  True boys!  I guess Brad and I were the same way though.  I caught Clark at one point with a dandelion, wishing for 'a real gun so that he could shoot bugs'.  

We took the boys to McDonalds a little while ago and they got little football player action figures in their happy meals and they have recently become very intrigued with the sport.  Brad always seems to have a game on, so they have started learning the different teams and wanting to watch here and there.  Its funny though, because it just doesn't make sense to them that we would be cheering for one particular team unless the other team was 'bad'.  So they always want to know who the bad guys are and who the good guys are.  

Clark had his Primary Program at church today.  He did great on his speaking part, but barely sang at all.  He did dance a little, but no singing.  I don't think he actually knew any of the songs.  And he was sure to wave at us about 30 times ;) Anyway, I think he was a little distracted sitting next to a certain little girl ;)

I hit 7 months on Tuesday!!!  Thats exciting!!  2 months left... hopefully less.  I am dying.  I know this sweet baby will be so worth every contraction and every cramp and every lost minute of sleep, but boy is this trimester starting to drag.  He moves all the time and is merciless on my ribs.  I've been having a hard time breathing.  And then I get light-headed and feel like I am going to pass out.  Its really quite something.  All I want in the world these days is ice!  Oh the best is when Brad gets a fountain drink and gives me all his ice.  I have also had a few nights when I have woke up at like 3 in the morning and have the most intense craving for orange juice.  So much so that I cant go back to sleep until I get up and drink a big glass of orange juice.  Its so weird.  Needless to say, I have been making sure we always have OJ in the fridge.  And, after months of calling doctors and faxing medical records and multiple lectures from doctors assistants about how 'you should not move while pregnant, because switching doctors is not easy', I have FINALLY found a doctor and I have FINALLY got all of our insurance crap worked out and I FINALLY have an appointment next week.  HUGE relief!!  I have spent way too much time on the phone and then crying to Brad about how frustrating it is that its not getting me anywhere.  I really can not tell you how happy I am to have found a doctor.  I can breathe again.  Well, you know, figuratively.  I still cant actually breathe ;)  

Good Stuff

We had a good week this week.  Still tired with lots to do to catch up from being sick for two weeks, but we did it.  Laundry all washed and every inch of the house scrubbed and sanitized.  That is a good feeling for sure!

We spent the beginning of the week worrying about family and friends back home.  Some crazy storms hit down in that area and they ended up with all sorts of flooding.  There was a decent amount of damage, but it could have been a lot worse.  Wish we could have been down there to help out.  Sure do love that valley and those people.  We are praying for all of them.

Kalvin could not be more obsessed with this baby I am growing.  Like seriously.  All day long he asks what the baby is doing, what his name is, what he is going to look like, what he will do when he 'gets out', why he is always hungry, a million questions.  

He talks to the baby and kisses my tummy and always goes to get blankets to cover up my stomach so that the baby won't be cold.  Its ridiculously cute and we love it.  Clark is not real interested.  haha I guess its cause he knows whats coming.  He has been through it before ;)

Clark had a couple of bad days at school.  One day he said that a teacher yelled at him, because she said that he was being too loud in the bathroom, but Clark was upset because it wasn't him that was being loud, it was another boy.  He felt pretty bad about that.  And then another day he climbed into the car with the saddest little look on his face, because he said a boy was pretending to be a zombie at recess and threw Clark into the rocks.  I cant handle seeing him have bad days and not being able to go fix things, but I guess I should get use to it.  I know its good for him to learn how to solve his problems and get over stuff.  I may give him anything he wants when he gets home though.  And as much as I love that he is loving school, I was a little happy the other day when I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he responded with 'coming home'.  Oh my little sweetie!

Kalvin has been missing Clark lots.  He asks me over and over again when Clark will be home and gets SO excited when its time to go pick him up!  But during the school hours, Kal has started carrying around Clark's Petey everywhere.  When I asked him why he wanted Petey instead of his Goobey or Huffy, he said that he missed his Clarky.  I cant handle the two of them. 

We were lucky enough on Friday to have G&G Merkley and Jaden come visit!!  This is the boys waiting for them.

They brought the boys nerf balls and Halloween stickers and an outfit for baby brother and they brought Kal his birthday present and and let him open it a couple weeks early.  More duplo blocks and they are obsessed.  Airplanes this time and they dont want to do anything else.

We took my parents around town and showed them the sites.  I think they were pretty impressed ;)

And we did have a lot of fun...

Even though these photos don't show it.  This was just us taking a break from all the fun.

We took them out to a chinese restaurant we really like and Jaden tried sushi.. and liked it.  

And they went to church with us today and got to meet some of our ward.

And then we made them tacos and sent them on their way back to Idaho.  We were sad to say goodbye, but so happy that we got to spend a couple days with them and show them our little life here.  Luckily they promised to come back next month for a Halloween party!

And now we are sitting here enjoying the rest of our Sunday.  Just watching football and making scary faces with halloween stickers.

And I am 31 weeks today, so thats pretty exciting.  Getting closer!!  Getting excited about all the good stuff headed our way :)

My Kindergartener

{ Doing his first homework assignment }

The weeks before school started were spent just getting Clark ready for Kindergarten.  We took him down to see his new school and turn in all his paperwork to get registered.  We took him to the back to school night to get all his packets and info.  We took him to take his placement test, which he totally rocked.  He knew stuff that I didn't even know he knew.  When the teacher went over shapes with him, he busted out 'cube' and 'cone' and 'cylinder'.  I had no idea he ever learned those in Preschool.  When we were leaving after his test, I asked him if he thought that the test was hard or easy and he said he thought it was pretty easy.  Although, Kal who was sitting right there through the whole test piped in and said that he thought it was pretty hard.  We found out two days later that his teacher was going to be Mrs. Mitchell.  Yay!!  We dont even know any of the other teachers, but Mrs. Mitchell is the one who gave Clark his placement test and he warmed to her really fast and I just loved her right away.  So that was good news.  And even though the boys had both been fighting being sick, we took them into Reno to go school shopping.  We bought Clark new clothes and a new backpack and lunch box and stuff for his lunches and took him to lunch at his favorite restaurant.  It was a good and tiring day.  And on top of all of that, we spent everyday talking to Clark about what school would be like and telling him how much fun it was going to be and I tried my best to not burst into tears whenever it came up.  I didn't want my mama anxiety about him starting to be present at all in him.  We just wanted him to be excited.  The night before school started, Brad gave Clark a fathers blessing that was so sweet and beautiful.  And then Kal wanted one.  And then Brad gave me one.  Very much needed, I think!

{The morning of his first day of school before I woke him up}

So the first day of school finally came.  I hadn't really been feeling so great the day before, but I powered through and thought maybe it was just pregnancy grossness combined with out of control emotionalness about Clark starting school.  I am not a crier. Like at all.  But being pregnant and hormonal when your first baby is starting school is just a recipe for disaster.  I may have cried like 5 times when I was packing his lunch for his first day.  It all started when I made him a sandwich and then realized that I made a whole sandwich, but that Clark has never been able to finish a whole sandwich and still only eats a half.  And then I put in a fruit snack and remembered that Clark still always needs me to open the little bag, cause he hasn't been able to master that one yet.  Brad just 'started' every corner of the bag and put it in hoping he'd figure it out.  Guys, it was way sadder than it should have been.  I didn't really sleep at all.

I woke up early the next morning, got all ready to go and planned on making him blueberry muffins and letting him pick out his little outfit and combing his hair just perfectly and taking a million cute pictures and all of us taking him in to his classroom and kissing him goodbye.  But... thats not so much how it went. 

I got SO sick.  It just hit me and it was all I could do to stand up.  I woke Clark and Kal and Brad up and then I was on the couch.  Worst.  Timing.  Ever.  Brad rushed to get ready while the boys ate some cold cereal, then he rushed to get Clark ready.  (thank goodness for Brad and his somewhat flexible work schedule) Clark's shirt was wrinkled and his hair was kinda messy and he hugged me goodbye while I laid on the couch.  Brad took one photo of him before they left and its just of Clark with his little forced smile.  He also took a picture of me laying on the couch, crying, but we will save that one for only our family collection.

So I watched Clark from the window, skip out to the car with Brad and I cried and cried and probably scared Kal a little bit.

But, Brad said that Clark went right into his class, no fear at all.  He found his cubby for his backpack and he found his table with his name on it and then he ran out to play with all the other kids on the play ground.  Just as happy as could be.  Brad was working at the school for a few hours that day, so he got to see him a couple times in the hall and said that he was happy and talking to the other kids and seemed just fine.

Brad picked Clark up after school and let him pick a treat at the store and then brought him home and he sat by me and told me all about his day.  He said that he made two friends, Pat and Sadie.  He already knew the letter A, but that he had to write it anyway.  He didn't know to take his lunch box with him to the lunch room, so he didn't eat his lunch.  But at snack time, he ate his fruit snack and had his juice box.  He loved going to the computer lab and he thought that school was too long and he wanted to come home after a while, but that he didn't tell his teacher that, cause all the kids told the teacher that, and he knew that he was going to come home, just later.  He said that it was a great day and that he couldn't wait to go back again.

I am so proud of him!!  He did such a good job.  And even though it was a hard day for me, he had the first day of school that he wanted and needed and that's all that matters.  He was brave and he made friends and had fun and that is what he will remember and that is all that a parent can hope for.  So, its okay with me.  I couldn't be more proud of him!

The rest of his first week went great too.  He made another friend named Brian who had a cool Mario Kart shirt.  They dipped their hands in chocolate pudding one day and Clark said that it looked like mud and all the kids thought that was funny.  He likes to sit on the letter C on the alphabet mat.  He remembered to take his lunch on the next two days.  He only eats half his sandwich.  He is good at staying in line.  There is a girl named Adriana who apparently keeps trying to wrestle Clark and that's been stressing him out.  His favorite thing at recess is playing with the balls.  He got a school tshirt that says 'Pony Pride' on the back, because that's the school mascot.  He loves the music class and thinks the teacher is pretty funny and he keeps talking about some video of a screaming goat that is apparently hilarious. 

He comes home each day a little tired and hungry, but happy and full of stories.  He has been saving something from his lunch each day to share with Kalvin when he gets home, like carrots or chips and it makes Kal feel so special.  He has been so proud to tell his Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and Cousins and just about anyone else who calls, that he is in Kindergarten now.  Sweetest little boy in the whole world!!!!  

He has been so excited to go back next week, but I don't know if he is going to make it tomorrow, since he is laying here with a fever of 104 and a tummy ache.  Hopefully it will pass, poor thing.  

Corn, Corn and More Corn

We started out last week going to a ward members house for a big corn roast dinner.  They have a nice big yard and a ginormous corn field, so I guess every year during harvest week, they throw a big dinner for anyone who wants to come.  It was quite an event.  Lots of people, lots of food and the boys were just in heaven playing with all the kids there.  It was a lot of fun.  I dont know if I have said it yet, but we are already loving our ward here so much.  Everyone is so nice and welcoming and awesome!  We feel very lucky to be living here with these people.

Brad was part of the 'shucking crew', so he and the rest of the guys definitely had their work cut out for them.  We ended up taking a home a couple bags of corn to blanch, cut and freeze.  We ended up with two gallon size bags full, so thats awesome.

But unfortunately that night, Kalvin got sick.

So we spent the next day dealing with that and then Clark woke up the next morning sick too.  I am not going to lie, there was a whole lot of cartoon watching over the next couple of days.

Clark hates taking pictures on a normal day, but when he is sick, forget about it.  Every time I would try to sneak one, he'd put the blanket over his head.  Little monkey!  I guess I dont blame him.  Im not a fan of pictures when I am sick.  Babies just always look so sweet and cuddly when they are sick though..

I was getting super worried, what with Clark needing to start school the following week and us needing to go school shopping and get everything ready to go.  Our family always gets sick at the best times..

But Friday they both started to feel better.  Really just a cough and grumpiness.  They were even feeling well enough to go outside for a little while to play and watch the sunset that evening. 

Although I missed the end of it, cause Kal kept standing infront of the camera, making faces and saying 'take a picture of me.' Worth it ;)

Saturday we drove into Reno to go school shopping.  We went to Savers, my favorite store and then had some lunch at Applebee's (Clarks favorite.  I think he loves it so much, cause he gets his own menu and gets to pick his own meal and drink and feels so big.  He even has started asking for a refill all by himself.) and then we went to Target and Brad couldnt believe that a five year old's pants could cost so much and then we were done.  I dont know how we are going to afford school shopping when we have more than one child to shop for.  Clark picked out another Lightening McQueen backpack and wanted to wear it around the store as we finished up.

After we finished all our errands, we decided to drive down to Carson City and get some ice cream, since we were already so close and because we love it there.

We talked about stopping in Fallon on our way home, cause we heard that there were camel races, (yes. camel races.) but the boys started not feeling so good again and started getting tired.

So we just walked around the capitol.  Can I please live in a house that looks like this??  I love old buildings more than I can possibly explain.  I would love to buy a crazy old house.  But I would also love to build.  But if we build, we will build a house that looks like its 100 years old.  Brad thinks I am crazy... 

Then we got some ice cream, stopped for some groceries and went home.  And we were exhausted.  haha  We are old.  Sunday we decided not to share the germs with our ward, so we kept the boys home and rested.

Monday was Labor Day, so Brad just went in to the hospital for a couple hours and then got to come home, so we went out to pick some more corn with some friends.

The boys loved it.

Clark wasn't so much for the picking, he just wanted to run around the field and play with his little friends.  I was sure we were going to lose him in that field, but thank heavens we didnt.

Kal on the other hand, loved picking corn.  I tried to get a video of him wrestling those stalks to the ground, but I didnt.  It was so funny though.

We got even more corn to freeze, so we've got some work to do.  We need a bigger freezer!