School days

It's that time of year again. The time of year where blogs are filled with eager school children dressed in their new clothes and backpacks. This blog is no different.

On Wednesday, we went with Nathan to meet his new teacher, Mrs. Graff.

I think she's going to be a good teacher for him.

Here he is trying to find his mail box. It's probably hard to do with a cop standing over your shoulder. ;)

Mrs. Graff let younger siblings color if they wanted to. Claire JUMPED at the chance. She's loves to color.

She chose to give her masterpiece to this strange lady in the lunch room.

Claire was a soothsayer that day. Fa-REEEK-y!

Here are the kids today on their first day of school. Nathan is in 1st grade and Claire is 1st year pre-school.

Claire was so excited for school!!!

Here is Claire with Mrs. Poncelet (you're not anonymous anymore). =)

I was a little worried for Claire at the start of her school day. As we were getting ready to walk in, a parent came out of the school and said "There is a boy in there bawling his head off." CRAP! That was TOTALLY not what I needed. I thought Claire would be fine as long as everyone else was fine. She was so excited..until...we....got.....inside. She took one look at that kid and started crying. I took her over to read some books until she was comfortable - which didn't take long (thankfully). I told her I had to take Nathan to school and that I'd come right back to get her. What I meant was I'd be right back to get her...at 11:15....when school was done.

She was BEYOND excited to tell me about her day when I picked her up. She summed it up in one word: Awthume! = awesome (you've gotta say it with Claire's lisp though)

After taking Claire to school, Nathan's school was the next stop. We found Dawson and the boys friend, Kaden, right away. I think this picture is so cute of them!

Finally, the bell rang and it was time for Nathan to go find his teacher.

Lucky for him, not only did he get to the right spot - he was greeted by his BFF.Natey said they didn't do much in school today. Starting last year, we asked him to tell us 3 things about his day in school. Today he couldn't come up with 3 because they just didn't do much. He seemed to have a good time though. I'm sure there will be some bad days here and there, but at least today he seemed to be ok.

Don't ya hate when this happens to you?

Special things are happening

Today Claire got to go to her school for the very first time. She's going to be in first year preschool. Her teacher, Mrs. Poncelet, was so kind (thank you SO much Susan) and let Claire come today instead of Wednesday. We all went as a family to see Claire's new school.

We made Mrs. Poncelet a little gift that Claire wanted to give her. Here she is outside excited to meet "Poncelet".

Here is Jack. He found a stick outside that he thought was a lot of fun.

Here is Claire in front of the chalk board and also sitting in a chair at the little table. She looks like she owns the place, doesn't she? :)

Mrs. Poncelet has a bulletin board up with the kids names on them. Claire was excited to see her bee.


It won't be long before we see this little guy bringing his backpack to school and to meet the teacher. EEEK!

Why don't we just Experience it Claire Meyer Style?

After we got done with preschool, we picked up Dawson so that he could come over and play with Nathan today. The boys got AWESOME new jersey's that they SUPER DUPER LOVE!!!!

Well hello, Michael

Um...(blushing)...did anyone else see this? I think we should all stand up and say hello to Michael. =o) HA!


I didn't follow him in Athens - or ever for that matter. I love the cell phone commercial where the girl has her room decked out in Phelps gear. That's a great commercial. Very cute. It's how I would imagine my living room if I were single - only Keith Urban would be the theme.


I'm in awe of this man. I mean, I'm a bit in awe of that picture, but not exactly what I was talking about here. Focus Kerrie! I'm in awe that he's 23 years old and has made Olympic history.


I'm sure many of you saw the same interview that I saw with his mother, but I love when I hear stories about someone who was picked on in school, raised by a single mother, has ADHD - and is now an 8 time winner of Olympic Gold. Doesn't that just make you want to stand up for Michael Phelps?


I love to watch swimming. Have you ever done lap swim at your pool? It must have been after Athens that I started going to lap swim at our pool when I realized what they make look so easy isn't easy at all. Well first things first. I can't do the butterfly, but I can do the doggie paddle. I'm really good at that one. I just can't believe how awesome these athletes are.


I can't remember who I was talking to, but I was wondering how they make money. If they are always training for the next games, how on earth do they make money? The obviously don't swim all day and work at HyVee that night. Thanks to CNN - I got my answer. Endorsements! They said that Mr. Phelps will probably match, if not succeed, Tiger in endorsements after winning all that bling.


Did you see that Michael said that he doesn't forget the people that flicked his ears and that teased him in high school? Now they want to write all over his Facebook taking credit that they went to the same high school when these people never spoke to him. GO MICHAEL!


Now that he's done swimming, my DVR isn't working near as hard. I watch here and there, but those 8 golds were a ton of fun to watch. Congratulations Michael Phelps!

Deep breath in, deep breath out

Justin finally made it home yesterday. I not only missed him as my husband, but I missed how much help he is with the kids. Having 3 kids 24-7 with no help was hard. Then add one who's sick and it makes life just a wee bit harder.

The kids wanted to decorate the door like we did when Natey came home from his Grandparents house. Jack was sleeping, so Nathan and Claire took care of it. They had a great time.I'm not sure that Jack is back to 100% yet. His fever didn't break until Sunday morning. However, when he woke up on Sunday, he had a rash all over. He was still pretty cranky, so that wasn't fun.

Last night he had a horrible night. He coughed and coughed and coughed. I got up with at him at about 5:45 this morning. I just rocked him back to sleep and put him back to bed. I woke up to the phone ringing at 8:30 and I was the only one awake. I couldn't believe that Nathan was still asleep. He usually doesn't sleep that long unless he's in our bed.

Once I was up, I went to the school to see who Nathan has for a 1st grade teacher. He'll have Mrs. Graff. I called Tracy to tell her who Dawson would be having. He, too, will have Mrs. Graff. I have mixed feelings about having the boys in the same class. I'm glad because Nathan IS NOT excited about school in the least bit. Today when I told him that Dawson will be in his class he was SOOO excited. It was the first bit of excitement he's shown over 1st grade. The only thing that worries me is that Dawson will play with someone else and Nathan will think that Dawson has to play with him. I told him this morning that Dawson will have other friends in his class and that he'll want to play with them too. With Nathan, I'll leave it at that. They'll figure it out on their own.

After I talked to Tracy I called Amber so that she could give me the scoop about Natey's teacher. Her daughter had her last year and said that she's pretty strict. That actually scares me to death. Last year the kids in Nathan's class were VERY disruptive, so hopefully Mrs. Graff's class won't have that problem with this class. Actually, almost all the mellow kids from Nathan's class last year are in Nathan's class again this year. There is one child who stayed between yellow and red that will be in his class again. I guess it's better one than many of them.

Only 9 days until school starts. How on earth did that happen? Oye!

Because 102.6 wasn't enough?

Update: Jack woke up with a temp. of 103.3 (friday). I really thought he was going to be better this morning because he was very happy last night. Poor little guy. He's just laying around in a daze. =(

Justin left on Wednesday morning to do a security job at a fair. He'll come home sometime on Sunday.

Wednesday Jack woke up with a temp of 102. I guess Justin could have called and cancelled his security job, but I was only planning on working 5 hours that day, so I sent him on his way. I called my clients and got everyone moved and stayed home with the kids.

I know I don't need to write about how much of a downer sick kids are, but having sick kids is a real downer.

I did the whole Motrin/Tylenol gig and it seemed to work. I got the other kids to bed at about 8:30. Jack woke up at 9pm and was very warm and upset. He was due to have more Motrin at 9:30, so I rocked him until then and put him back to bed - with Motrin.

When my alarm went off at 6:30 this morning I realized that Jack must have had a good night. I don't recall getting up with him. I got myself ready and right as I was going up to wake Jack up, he woke up on his own. I got to his room and scooped him out of his crib. He was ON FIRE. I took him to the living room and sure enough his temp was 102.6. CRAP!

I called work and asked them to call my clients because I needed to take Jack to the doctor. I called Tracy to let her know that the kids wouldn't be coming at 9 like planned. I called the clinic and he could be seen, but not until 1:45pm. Eeek! I took the appointment, hung up, and promptly called his doctor in Sioux Falls. They were full - so 1:45 it was.

The doctor said that he couldn't go back to daycare until Monday. Great. He has a virus, but I would have sworn it was strep. Anyway, I called the salon to give them the news and ask that they call my clients for Friday and let them know that I won't make it in. The bad part about being self employed is if you don't work - you also don't get paid. Ouch!

Jack hasn't been eating much at all, but he's been drinking - so that's good. I made spaghetti and meatballs tonight for supper and Jack threw up. Because 102.6 wasn't enough for him? Poor little guy would try to eat and would gag, and gag, and gag.

I promise - if that clinic calls me on Monday to tell me that Jack really DOES have step - it will be an all out war!

Until then - I really hope my baby feels better soon.

My fancy dancy van

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

PS: I forgot to tell you about the heated seats and the foot feet that move. This way I can sit far enough away from the air bag that it won't hurt me if I'm ever in a wreck.

Give me a F!
Give me a U!
Give me a N!

WAHOO!

I've got two things to tell you:

1. Claire is potty trained! YAY PEACH!!!

2. Nathan learned how to ride his bike without training wheels today.

(There would be pictures, but I was too busy crying. I was overwhelmed!)

Vacation & LOTS of pictures

We had SOOOO much fun in Omaha! We left on Friday night and stayed in Blair, NE. We didn't get there until around 11pm and the kids were tired. Who am I kidding? We were all tired.

Justin got up early and went and bought us a new van. More on that tomorrow.

We planned to go to the zoo on Saturday during the day and do the waterpark after the zoo, but getting the new van took longer than planned. So, we decided to do the waterpark on Saturday and go to the zoo Sunday.

I took zero pictures of us at the waterpark. Zero. When the children out number the parents - and water is involved - that equals no pictures. Jack wasn't a huge fan of the waterpark. Claire liked it, but it took her quite a while to warm up to it. When she did - she loved it. Nathan, of coarse, loved everything there was to love about it. We really did have a ton of fun.

We got a GREAT package deal. TOTALLY made it worth the drive - that's for sure.

Here are the kids at the motel room. The great thing about motel rooms is that you get to all sleep together in the same room AND there are no rules. Ask any kid. They'll tell you!

Here is Claire doing her "Super Dora Kick!!!"

Nathan says "Look Mom! No Rules!"

This is what I get when I try to take a picture of the kids.

Click! Then I look at the picture and notice that Nathan isn't smiling. So I say "One more" to the kids who are now scattering like cockroaches. See?Here is Claire's new pose when you want to take her picture. I'm not sure if she saw my senior pictures or something, but that's what it reminds me of.Ok. So now we're off to the zoo. Say, kids? I have a great idea. How about another picture?

Just the way I thought it would turn out.
Moving on.
Now let me remind you that we've never been to the Omaha Zoo. If you haven't been there - It Is A MUST!
Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Hey kids! How about another picture?

Um-hmmm.
Continuing on....

Timon and Pumbaa were there, too. That little Timon was sure a nervous little guy. They really captured it in 'The Lion King 1 1/2'. Kids! You all seem to be enjoying the aquarium, how about a picture?

So glad I asked.
It's very important that I tell you all that I walked through the aquarium. I didn't even cry! I even took pictures of sharks for Nathan. Well, I did until I took this picture. I FREAKED out after I saw those teeth. I was DUNZO with the aquarium.

There was an exhibit of Jellyfish. It was A*M*A*Z*I*N*G. I couldn't get a very good picture of it though. Here's what I got. Does anyone else think this tiger thinks I'd make a tasty snack? YIKES!

Oh! and who would like to manicure this hand?

There was this animal too. I have no idea what it is. Some little boy said "I don't know what it is, but his butt looks like a zebra". Agreed. It also has a tongue like a giraffe. Odd little fellow, he was.We also took a ride on the train. Jack fell asleep. The kids and I took some pictures.After the train ride, Nathan and Claire rode the carousel. It makes me want to barf, but it's just one of those things you'll do for your kids.

And then it was time to come home. Claire was the only one to fall asleep.

We had such a wonderful time and great memories were made!