Nursing School - HERE HE COMES!!!

I know you've all been worried about Dustin (though not as much as I), but you can relax now! He got a call today from the UVU ... advisor ... admissions ... lady? And, she said that they had a place for the SIXTH ALTERNATE for this coming semester!!! Horray!! That means that he's doing it! Dustin's going to be a MALE NURSE (just like his dad)!! :) :) :) :)

Back to school, anyone?

At Reilly's kindergarten assembly, her school featured a new orchestra. They started it as a trial to see what the interest would be. They expected about 15 - 20 students to sign up and had 50. While they were playing, I had a disgusted look on my face and my friend thought that I was disgusted at how the violins played, but that wasn't the case. I thought that all those students for one teacher was a bit extreme! Some of the students had really bad posture because their teacher didn't have time to correct that problem. That's where a teacher aid or private teacher comes in handy. So, after talking to the teacher, and her thinking that I had a degree, I thought it might not be such a bad idea to finish my degree and teach in a classroom like that. I'd only have 2 years to go (if I kill myself) and she said that there will be a huge need for another teacher at their school in a year or two. It's perfect! She's going to contact me after the first of the year about volunteering in the class to help with posture and one-on-one needs.

So, I just finished my application to Utah Valley University. They are open enrollment right now because they're trying to beef up the student body since becoming a university. Hopefully there won't be any problems getting in. I'll know in 48 hours if I've been accepted and then I can enroll for the semester starting in January. Cross your fingers for me!!!

Reilly and Sean's Christmas Programs

Last Thursday we had a busy day of Christmas programs. Reilly's was early in the morning at 9:30am. We all went over to the school to watch her sing. The bad news (besides that they started 15 minutes late) was that Reilly was behind the tallest kid in kindergarten! Well, maybe not the tallest, but too tall to be in front of my girl. All I could see was her nose and eyes. Oh, well, still cute.

Here's the link for Reilly's performance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BpUanC5a0U&feature=channel

Then, at noon, we had Sean's performance. It's his third program in front of parents and he FINALLY got it! They did a few songs and said what they were thankful for ... like Christmas cookies, stars, Jesus, etc. He even did that part of the program! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nS-_rFq5_Q) He did a great job with all the songs and signed along with Away in a Manger.

Here's the link for Sean's performance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyIjBCTGnXM&feature=channel_page

We had a great time watching them!

Buyers Remorse - No More!!

I have been thinking lately about how little money I will soon have and take time out to really analyze a purchase. I have had buyers-remorse several times and it seriously hurts my feelings to see those items on a day-to-day basis. For example, I told Dustin that I wanted a toaster oven so that I could easily heat up frozen foods, or make hot sandwiches more conveniently. He bought one for my birthday and I was excited for like a week... You see, it takes forever for it to heat up (much like it's uncle the ... um... regular oven) and the food cooks in the same amount of time, but it's harder to keep clean. I feel bad throwing it away or giving it away because it was a present, but that means I have to look at it everyday! While it takes up precious real-estate on my counter... collecting mail, recipes, straws, etc. Anyway, that is the bad part about purchasing things, but there is another story. I have a few items that I treasure every day!

The first one is my water dispenser. I used to buy Brita filters for my Brita purifier, but was really bad about refilling it. We would have to drink straight from the tap and I hate that! Some of it is because of the taste, but most of it is because I like my beverages so cold that they hurt my teeth to drink. So, on one trip to the store, I was looking at the dispensers. This particular one cost $60.00 for the unit and a few dollars for the water bottle. I did the math and concluded that is would be cheaper than spending $30.00 on filters every three months for my purifier; five gallon water refills are $3 and we can refill 10 times for the same price... we don't drink anywhere near that.

The next one is my camera. I've only ever had Canon Powershot cameras, so it's all I know. But they're so easy to use and have great features. I don't think I'd ever get another brand. Incidentally, I just bought a digital camcorder that is also a Canon and am quite pleased. I've only had it for two weeks, so it doesn't qualify to be on the list yet.

The last item for my list are the two white shelves I bought for my Christmas decorations. I had some little trinkets that I didn't want to put on a table where my kids could easily get them (when they were younger - obviously now they can reach the shelves), so I thought it'd be great to have them on the wall. Well, not only have they worked for Christmas decor, but they've stayed up all year round to put pictures of the kids on. It just gives a different look than hanging them. I like it!

So, the point of the blog - I'm watching what I spend and trying to make this list the ONLY list!!

Family Pictures

We finally did some family pictures today. I've been waiting for some snow and this week was the first time it's stuck! Last year, one day it snowed all morning and it got warm in the late afternoon so a lot of the snow started to melt. That night everything froze and in the morning, it was so sparkly! All the snow that started to melt had froze into icicles all over houses and trees and everything had an icy blanket. It was so pretty that I thought it'd be a great background for some pictures. We didn't do it because I'm lame, and it never happened again. So, this year, I'm determined to get some great outdoor, snowy pictures. This was take one. We had GREAT fun taking them, but it's not quite what I wanted. We'll be sending some cards out (late, of course), so you can all see what we did. This picture cracks me up!

Reilly plays the piano...

On Thursday this week, I had my Christmas recital and Reilly finally got to participate! I was teaching another beginner how to play Jolly Old St. Nick and Reilly was standing next to her. They are friends, so I figured Reilly was just waiting for her lesson to be over, but after she left, Reilly sat down and played the whole song! So, I put her in the recital and she did great! The only problem was that each time she played a note, her head bobbed forward. It was hard to get a picture of her without the head-bob. :)

**UPDATE**

Here's the link for Reilly on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqArXCcD12w

Christmas Craft

I just got a call yesterday about Reilly's kindergarten Christmas party. I guess I signed up to do the Christmas craft... Must've done it in a whole nother life (hahahaha, still not a word!) ... Anyway, as I was looking up ideas, I kept thinking back to their Halloween party. The craft was a popcorn hand with candy-corn nails. It was MESSSSSY and didn't take very long. So, I kept that in mind while I searched the net. I found this!



So, just to make sure that a 5/6 year-old could do it easily and use up between 10-15 minutes, I had Reilly and her friend from her class, Jacey, do it together. They had fun and it worked out perfectly! I'm doing it!

The Rolling Apple - Part 2 "No Easter Bunny?!"

Okay, so no one got my reference in the title "The Rolling Apple," so I'm just going to explain myself really quickly... The apple doesn't fall from the tree, but this one's trying to get away! Not to knock Mom and Dad, because I copy them all the time! People don't want to be like their parents, but it's bound to happen.

Enough about that! This one's for Mom. While we're stressing about Christmas crap like, 'do we have what they want?,' 'are we following all the traditions?,' etc... one thing keeps coming up, "Mom, is Santa real?" I don't want to burst Reilly's bubble so soon and with Sean only being 4, it doesn't seem right to ruin Christmas fun just yet. So, I've been thinking about my childhood and how long I believed in Santa. I don't think I'm any more out of the ordinary than anyone else, but I remember when Mom told me there was no Santa. I asked her and I think she asked me back, "do you really want to know the truth?" I said 'yes' and she broke the news. It didn't ruin my Christmas, but if I was old enough to remember the conversation, I must've believed long enough... Mom did an amazing job teaching us that Christmas is about the birth of the Savior (I was featured in the newspaper as a result - Mom, do a blog about that so I can show my kids) and all the other fluff was just ... fluff. She let us believe if we wanted to, but didn't push us to buy into the commercialized-Christmas. I have huge boots to fill when it comes to that, but I'm doing my best. I always respond to Reilly with, "Do you think he's real?" and then let her answer it. We have traditions that include reading children's books about Christ's birth and placing the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve. I hope it's making it more about that then presents and Santa, but only time will tell. Anyway, I was thinking about other fictional holiday characters and one stood out from the others.

The Easter Bunny! I do NOT let my kids believe in that crap! I've told them from the first Easter that we celebrated (and that they could talk/understand me) it that is NOT what Easter is about. If they want to have an egg hunt, we'll do it. If they want to get baskets with candy in it, we'll do it. But the purpose for the holiday is to celebrate the Savior ! It is NOT a gift-giving holiday! THE END!

Sean "Sings" Jingle Bells...

Sean's preschool class went to visit Santa yesterday. He didn't know what he wanted to ask for so Santa helped him think of something. He offered, 'football stuff' ???? He's kinda old... Anyway, so we did pictures of the kids, but they're nothing special, so I'm not adding them. We'll be getting famiy pictures taken on Tuesday, so check back for those! :) The kids sang to Santa, though, and it was Sean's best program so far! Remember Halloween he freaked out and pouted the whole time, then, Thanksgiving he wouldn't even go stand with his class... Well, this time he mouthed some words, but he did all the motions! He's doing much better!

**UPDATE**

Here it is on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPKrNMaeBGU

Speaking of Reilly...

I've been trying out different hairstyles on her lately, hoping to come up with something for our family pictures before Tuesday... crossed fingers. I'd like to curl her hair, but nothing seems to hold. So, let me tell you the story, we start with gel through damp hair. Then, after her hair dries, and when I start curling it (I've tried a curling iron and hot rollers), I use hairspray as I'm rolling the hair, while it's rolled and after I take it out. Then, while I'm tossing her hair, to break up curls, I spray loads of hairspray... There's no happy ending to this story, though, because her hair won't stay curly for longer than an hour! And, it sounds like her hair should be super crunchy, right... because of all the product, but it's not! It's totally soft! I don't get it! I'm going to try curlers that she has to sleep in next. She'll hate it, but I think it's the only way.

Oh, BTW, remember how much I love Reilly's hair in a short-bob? Well, she always used to fight with me about cutting it that short. She has a friend with super, SUPER long hair and always wanted hair that long, but just when her hair is getting to a long length, she decides that it might not be such a bad idea to cut it again! Ahhh! Now I love it long and am having fun styling it!!! I'm going to keep pushing it off. I say, "After family pictures.." or "When school's out..." I hope she doesn't catch on.

Daddy and Reilly Go To School!

Reilly's class had a fun-Friday today! They invited their grandparents (or someone special) to come and did some fun activities. Reilly's great-grandparents are too old and slow for that, so she wanted her dad to come (not me!)... Really, I wasn't offended. I get to school with her twice a week. It was so great to see them go together and they had a fun time, too.

Dustin got to see what Reilly does every day. They welcomed their guests to school with the Kindergarten Welcome song. Then, they counted all the days they've been going to school and added a sticker to their books. Then, they did centers. There were three centers.

1. gingerbread houses

2. Santa beards

3. family trees

Reilly and Dustin did a great job... apparently, some of the kids and parents didn't have very attractive houses... Their's was awesome!

Funniest Sleeping Picture

Last night we rented a Christmas movie and watched it in my bed. Reilly's lastest thing is needing to watch movies in the dark, but in the middle of the movie, we noticed that they were both asleep. (Good news!) The funniest thing happened when we started moving them to their beds, though. Check out what Sean had in his mouth! I didn't even notice that he was eating crackers before he fell asleep! Hah!




PS - He is TOTALLY the cutest boy ... EVER!!!

Talk much!?

A few things baffle me about our English slang. One of which is the use of the phrase, 'a whole nother.' I know I can't be the only one that is annoyed by this, but it is used more than I care to hear it. I've even seen it written out. I know what you're thinking. "Lauren, we've heard it all before... " or "Lauren, it's not a big deal..." But here's the thing, 'nother' is NOT a word. Sticking 'whole' in the middle of 'another' creates a word that doesn't exist.

I have a solution, though! Here's a grammatically correct phrase with the same idea:

'a whole OTHER!' Huh? What do you think? Good, eh?!

BTW, I did a spellcheck because I don't like to blog with awful spelling and 'nother' came up yellow!!!

December 4th... still no snow.

I've been documenting the snow as is moves down the mountain, however, I was noticing today that they all look about the same ... so much for blogging about how the weather comes to get me, huh?! It's been fall for a really long time and, though I hate the snow being all wet and cold, I am afraid that when it comes, it won't stop.

I'm such a worrier... We had the longest winter last year, so I'm sensitive!