Ben Goes To Chicago!

Beth graduated from PA school in Chicago, so Ben got to go with his family to Chicago for her graduation. I could have gone and brought the girls, but nothing about bringing the girls on a flight across the country to sleep in a hotel and sit through a graduation sounded at all appealing to me. So Ben just went.

From what I hear, they had a fantastic time, and I'm glad. Ben deserved a break. Plus, I'm going to Seattle by myself in a couple of months, so he will get his payback.

 We read and loved "The Devil In the White City" and Ben insisted on visiting The Museum of Science and Technology- the only building still standing from the 1893 World's Fair. I have to admit, I am jealous he got to go. The history nerd in me really wanted to see it.

Field Day

Today was Audra's field day. They always do such an awesome job. She has a new PE teacher this year (a result of teachers eagerly fleeing our district), but he did a great job. It was all incredibly organized and so much fun. It was HOT, but unfortunately the new PE teacher couldn't do anything about that.

Here's Audra's new teacher:

 For one game they had a relay where they had to get dressed funny:

 I'm pretty sure the tug-of-war was the favorite of all the kids. They all tried so incredibly hard- it was funny.

 Another relay/obstacle course:

 The water balloon toss proved that Audra is scared of water balloons:

 Audra's partner was last year's boyfriend, Isaac. This year Isaac got mad at Audra because "she loves Lukas more than him," but Audra diplomatically answered, "I do love Lukas, but I love you, too."

Ben stayed home with the other girls which was nice. It's a good thing Ben had today off- it really helped everybody out!

Field Trip

Today we went on a field trip for pre-school. We went to one of my favorite parks. I lucked out because Ben had the day off so I could just take Claire which was really nice.

There's actually 6 kids in the pre-school, but only four could go.

Of course, last week (the first week of pre-school) is the very week that Camille decided to go from two naps to one. How did I get so lucky? Once again, I don't get a break. But at least Camille and I can run errands while Claire is in school.

Shoes, Glorious Shoes

While I was at field day with Audra, Ben decided to try a pair of shoes on Camille. Pleased that they fit, he then went to take them off. Camille threw a fit. She LOVES these shoes, and insisted on wearing them the rest of the day.

Camille may not be able to talk, but she can definitely communicate.

My First Day Teaching Pre-School

The way the pre-school works out, we each only need to teach something like 14 days. But in return, we get an entire year of pre-school covered. Yes, it is a little chaotic, and it can be hard on the kids to go to different houses, but we are now on week 2 and so far, so good.

This week happens to be my week to teach.

It was a bit more work than I anticipated, but I came up (thanks to the internet) with some pretty cool things to do.

Our letter of the week is "A" so today we did alligators. We read, "There's An Alligator Under My Bed," went on an alligator hunt, made craft alligators, and sang alligator songs. We actually ran out of time and I have to save some of my activities for Wednesday. The kids were engaged the entire time- I did a fine job, if I do say so myself. It's kind-of funny- I used to HATE working with young kids (hence why I was a high school, not an elementary school teacher), but now that I have my own little munchkins I actually find it to be pretty fun. It is work- and I was sweating by the end- but it really was fun. I'm glad we decided to do this little co-op.

Here's the alligator craft we did. Notice it's an "A" turned on it's side:)

Then for one activity each child drew a picture of any animal they wanted. Then we read a couple lines of "their" story about their being a ___________ (whatever animal they drew) under their bed. Claire drew an alligator, and I think she did a pretty great job:

One day down, only 13 more for me to go!

Touch A Truck

Ben took the girls to "Touch A Truck." Apparently the lines for the firetruck were ridiculously long, but they still talk about the milk truck and a couple of other trucks they got to climb into. Ben might have had a little more fun than the girls!

Claire Martt

Today was only Claire's second day of pre-school and look what she did:

 The blue box is part of an ant she drew, but outside of that she clearly spelled her name- and did a pretty great job! She has never done that before! Yes, I get excited over the little things, but it's so sweet when your kid does something like write their name for the first time. She said she looked at how her name was printed and copied it on the paper. I LOVE it!

And, just for fun, the other day she was in the dress-up bin and came up hopping in this:

Now that her tantrums are beginning to calm down, I sure am enjoying this little girl more and more!

Claire's First Day

Claire started pre-school today. I'm very excited for her! She's such a smart girl, she'll do great. I'm really impressed with how smart she is- she is quite a bit further than Audra was with her numbers, counting, and such. I think it's because she watches Audra and wants to do everything Audra does. Maybe being the second child isn't so bad, huh?

We are doing a home pre-school with her. There are 6 of us moms and we rotate each week who teaches. I would like to say it was some great altruistic reason that led me to want to keep Claire close to me, but no. It is much more mundane: money. I figure we'll save over $2,000 by doing this, so why not give it a try? Plus, I get to use my teaching skills which will be fun. We'll see how it goes.

Here's to a great year!

A Wedding of Titanic Proportions

On Saturday one of Ben's best friends got married.

A few weeks ago we got the invitation to his wedding: It was to be a beautiful ceremony up in the mountains and involved taking a boat ride to the ceremony.

I thought it would be wonderful to get sitters for the night and Ben and I could go up to the wedding and get a hotel room and have a nice short getaway.

Ben disagreed. He thought it would be awesome to take the kids in the car for 5 hours, hold Camille on our laps during a wedding, and try to keep Claire quiet for 30 minutes at the ceremony.Yeah, I also questioned whether or not he had ever met our children when he said he wanted to take them.

In the end we compromised. Ben's parents watched Camille overnight while we took the older girls to the wedding. Instead of getting a hotel, we drove up and back the same day.

The directions told us to drive to the boat dock, so we did. We got in line to take the boat ride over.

We got on the boat. We were all pretty excited- I had never taken a boat to a wedding before! And the girls had never been on a boat, so they were pretty excited.

As soon as the boat loaded we took off. We went faster.

And then the front of the boat completely submerged in water. More water came in. And more. And more. Everyone in the front end got drenched. They ran to the back of the boat- where we were sitting (thank goodness!). By running to the back the boat righted itself and the water drained out the back. We very slowly drove back to the dock and unloaded a few people.

Admittedly, it was pretty freaky. One woman was sobbing. Her husband was holding their 4 month old and the fear of trying to float and hold a baby was pretty real. In reality, there were a ton of boats on the water and we would have been rescued within seconds had we actually sunk, but still the thought of trying to hold on to your screaming child and not drowning was a very real image that came into our minds as the water flooded onto the boat. Not a pleasant thought.

Nevertheless, we finally arrived in safety.

And it was beautiful. Absolutely one of the most beautiful weddings I had  ever seen.

The drive itself was also scary. We went over Berthoud Pass- where I had never been before. Then the roads got scary windy and I made Ben go about 5 miles an hour. He wasn't happy with me, but I fully admit to being a wuss when it comes to windy roads along a mountain cliff.

We saw this moose in a river once we got to town. That's also where Claire had her first tantrum- because she couldn't see the moose. Yeah, the idea of leaving the kids at home sounded really, really nice to me...

Here we are at the boat dock- the boat behind is the one we took.

Here is where the wedding took place:

It was easily the most beautiful wedding I had ever been to. It almost made me wish we had gotten married here instead of the temple. Almost.

There was an awesome swing, too.

Ben with the groom, Matt:

Later the girls and Ben went on a speedboat. Audra and Claire both got to drive the boat.

On the ride home we asked them what their favorite part of the wedding was. They both said the speed boat. We asked what their least favorite part of the wedding was. They agreed it was that they didn't get cake (we left before the cake was served).

Apparently the speed boat took away all their fears from the near sinking passenger boat. Ben and I had a few nightmares, but overall it was a wonderful wedding- near Titanic experience and all.