Progress Reports

My kids came home with Progress Reports today.  Now I'm going to brag.  I can do that because this is my blog and these are my kids.  So if you don't care to read about how wonderful my kids are, then your a sinner.  Just kidding, I totally don't blame you.  Just skip this post.  Here we go- this is what their teachers wrote about them:

Paul: Paul is eager to accomplish his work.  He has been synergizing well with his classmates in our group projects.  I look forward to watching him increase his skills as a leader in the classroom.  I would like to see Paul improve on his neatness.  Keep up the good work Paul!

Ellie: Ellie continues to make great strides, and is on track to meet end of the year standards.  She takes so much pride in her work!  We continue to work on her pacing skills, in order to complete assignments, and we are seeing progress!  We just adore you Ellie!!

Kyle: What a marvelous student.  Above grade level in all subject areas with impeccable manners.  A perfect role model in our class.....BRAVO!!!

Darren says Kyle may be a "dark horse".  I had to look it up.  I guess that's what nursing a kid till he's 2 does.  Extra brain cells.  The kid really is smart.  Anyways, I am so happy all my kids are doing well.  I have to laugh at Ellies "pacing skills".  In other words, it takes Ellie 45 min of sitting in all positions in her chair at the kitchen table to do 2 math questions.  I have to sit right by her and do them with her or they just don't get done.  Kyle and Paul typically have their homework done, jobs done, and are playing by the time Ellie answers one question.  Good thing she is so cute!  Actually, all my kids are. 

Sand Sculpting

We went to the annual Sand Sculpting Competition.  It was lots of fun. Especially to have Darren with us.  The beach up in Fort Myers is so beautiful!

Here we are!

I thought these leaves were so cool!

Ellie with a pelican sculpture.  

This was Darrens favorite.

I loved this one!

Another cool one

After we saw the sculptures we went to the beach and created our own.  Here is my shark.

Darren and Gabe.  Gabe's favorite pastime is eating sand.

Paul and his shark sculpture.

A close-up of Paul's shark

Ellie made a mouse, but didn't like it.  So she wouldn't smile for the camera.

A lady with a white bird wearing a bird diaper.

So tired!

Me and my honey.

A funny sculpture Paul took a picture of.

Well, that's it.  The pictures pretty much sum it up. It was a fun, hot, bright, beautiful day! 

He's Crawling!

Yes, 8 days away from being 10 months old and Gabe is officially crawling!  He is my first baby to crawl!  Paul went straight to walking at 12 months, and Ellie was walking at 9 months.  I can't remember what Kyle did.  Is that bad? hmm.  I'll have to do some research about Kyle.  Anyways, here is some cute footage of Gabe tonight.

Bubbles

Here in Florida we don't get snow.  We don't even get close to snow.  Oh, except at the "Snow Fest" that the kids and I went to last year.  They bring in shiploads of snow from who knows where and people come from all over to play in it.  We went last year and it was a big deal.  We had to park at a different venue, and they had buses transporting people to the "Snow Fest."  It was a huge event.  And a huge rip off.  After paying 5 bucks each to get in we had to walk through the carnival to get to the snow.  It was a carnival and each ride was like $10 for 5 min of disappointment.  The Carnies were some of the creepiest I have ever seen. Including the one guy smiling at us with no teeth, wearing a waste bag on the outside of his clothes.  I dragged my kids through the carnival to get to the parking lot with the snow.  You know in the spring time when the plows have made big piles of dirty snow in the parking lots?  Well, imaging that big pile of dirty, melting snow, with a million kids on it, a fence around it and a line 20 min. long to play in the dirty snow.  Yea, that's what it was.  The kids felt jipped!  We turned around, walked back trough the carnival again, (taking care to not let any of my kids get kidnapped by the Carnies) waited in line, got on the shuttle and drove half an hour home. So if you live in Florida and are looking at those cute posters that make Snow Fest look so fun, just don't.

But that's not what this post is about.  This post is about the FUN winter event we went to last year and this year too.   Remember last year we went to the tree lighting and it poured rain?  We all ended up dancing in the rain and bubbles and having so much fun? And the guy gave me the umbrella cause I was 7 months pregnant but looked 10?  Yea, we went again this year.  And I left my camera in the car.  UGHHH.  I really wanted to get some fun pictures, but I parked like half a mile away and didn't want to walk back.  So I borrowed my friends.  Her camera was being very finicky- so I only got a couple good pictures. 

  They block off all the streets in this fun high-end shopping part of Naples.  They had a live nativity, live bands, food booths, kettle corn, snow cones, free ice cream, a stage with dancers, Santa and his elves, a tree lighting ceremony, and lots of news stations. The best part is the bubbles!  They have street lights with machines at the top that blow bubbles out that look like snow.  It is really fun!   Here are some pics.

Kids dancing in the snow, I mean bubbles

Kyle

CUTE Gabe!

For a moment I look at the bubbles in the street light and pretend I am in Rigby- Standing in my house looking out the window at the snow falling.

Gabe, Paul, Ellie and Kyle

Kyle!

Another cute one of Gabe! Peple always tell me, "oh, she is so cute!"  LOL yes, he is.

The tree!

Ughh

So, we just got Darren's work schedule for Dec. and he works; Christmas Eve day, Christmas day, and the day after Christmas, which just happens to be my birthday.  The kids and I all had a good cry when we found out.  I mean, if it was his JOB and he got paid it wouldn't be so painful.  But the fact that he is a student, and we are actually paying for him to work on those days just makes it harder to swallow. 
I just need to tell myself this is a FWP. (First World Problem if you missed that post)   I mean, seriously how much would other people around the world give to have their husbands in CRNA school?  See, I feel better already.   And maybe he will even get sent home early on Christmas.  We'll just keep our fingers crossed.  

Thanksgiving

 
Well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We had 2 families that we are good friends with come over.  Micah and Jillian McKenzie, and Aaron and Kari Moulton.  I was so happy to host! I don't really have as many parties as I used to, because of the size of my house, so I was pretty excited.   

Here we have- left to right, Ellie and Paul and one of the McKenzie's twin boys- not sure which one, maybe Joshua?   Then in the back row is Micah, Darren, Paul, Kari, Aaron, twin # 2, (I'm guessing Liam) and Jillian.   

Here is Tess, you can't really see her face, then Ellie, Kyle and Joshua (it's so hard to tell with their hair cut!).

Aaron opening the bubbly

Joshua and Liam. or is it Liam and Joshua? I don't know, and they aren't even identical.  Ok, I 'm kidding, Liam is in the brown shirt and Joshua in the blue.  I think. Liam has the curly hair so see if you can figure it out for yourself. 

The master chef in the kitchen

Micah, who happens to also be a master chef, also in the kitchen.  We seriously had some awesome food!  All 3 of us made a few sides so we had a ton delicious food.  I even made 2 turkeys so my guests could have leftovers.   

Jillian's delicious raspberry-lemon pie

Look at this beautiful blueberry lemon pie!   I think we had 9 pie for the 3 of us.  Now that's what I'm talking about.

I was so thankful to have such great friends to spend the day with.  Thanks guys!

FWP

The other day I texted Darren:

Me: I am having a rough day.  I have been running errands all day and didn't have time to work out this morning.

Darren: FWP

Me: FWP?

Darren: First World Problems

Me:  LOL your right.

It's the truth. It really put things into perspective.  I was expecting something like, "oh, I'm sorry babe."  and maybe some flowers or something. But that's one of the things I love about Darren.  He keeps it real. And I appreciate that. 

I have been thinking a lot about Darren's simple text.  Most of my "problems" are not really problems.  I have been struggling with living in such a "small" house.  Then I saw this blog with this picture.

How would you like the house on the top right?

I should know better.  I have been to 3rd world countries- Guatemala and Belize, and Mexico 3 times. And those aren't even the really poor countries! I have seen poverty.  Sometimes I just need a reminder. Sometimes we all need a reminder. I think that every American should visit a 3rd world country.  Just to see how the rest of the word lives. Especially our children.  I can not WAIT for the day when Darren is a Nurse Anesthetists and we have enough money to go on humanitarian trips like Project Smiles!  I fully intend on taking all my kids with us so they can be more grateful for the things we have and see that not everyone in the world lives the way we do. And the ironic thing is, is that a lot of the time those people are happier and more grateful than Americans.  I could go on about this- but that's a different post.

And so I have decided, if its not high up on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs- I'm going to try and quit complaining about it.   Things like, "my cell phone gets bad reception, my garage is tiny, I had to run errands all day, my church is 20 min. away, my closet is a mess (because I have to many clothes, hello!) Walmart is out of limes, I have 2 kids to each bedroom, my car is 12 years old and the power steering only works when it wants, My kids broke a cup, got stains on my favorite towel, and mess up the house,"  You get the idea.

I love my freedom, I love to breath, to eat,  to sleep, to exercise.  I love my family, my children- oh how I love my children and my baby, I love my 12 year old car, the schools here, electricity, the air conditioning!  I love my dishwasher, my washing machine, I love the fridge I put all the Thanksgiving food into last night.  I love my freezer so we can have ice-cream tomorrow.  I love the oven I am going to put in a turkey and all sorts of delicious foods tomorrow.  I love that when I bought that turkey yesterday, it was in a clean bag.  Someone else had incubated the egg, raised, fed, killed, plucked and cleaned the turkey that I bought for $10 at the store.

I am not saying we don't have real problems.  We do. We have all had real problems and we know the difference.  So lets keep it in perspective.  This Thanksgiving lets all remember Darren's simple text.  Most of the time we can say... FWP my friend FWP.