Spencer's Theory of Sharing

Spencer told Chad last night that sharing should be as follows:

Me, me, me, me, me, me, Hannah, me, me, me, me, me, me, Hannah etc.

At least he's honest!

First snowfall

We got our first snowfall yesterday. Spencer about drove me nuts with his impatience to play outside. The minute it started to snow he stood at the window and asked if he could get his snowshoes on and go outside. I made him wait for Hannah to get home and then let them go in the backyard to play. They played out there for several hours. I looked out the window and found that they had each made a big snowball. I was quite impressed and it was fun to watch them roll it across the yard trying to push it as it got bigger and heavier.

Carving Pumpkins

Blogger put my pictures backwards, oh well. You get to see the finished product first I guess. We carved pumpkins Monday night for FHE. The kids always enjoy this a lot.

The finished product, lighted and on the porch.

Spencer picked a pattern for a bat that I had in a book I had bought. It was pretty time intensive. Chad was a good trooper to help and Spencer never waivered in his determination or attention span to get it done. He was very pleased with himself.

Notice the tongue? It helps the concentration. It was all red under his lip by the time he finished.

Hannah picked a really easy face that we just free handed. It went quickly.

Hannah also had her tongue out in concentration.

Pocatello

Over our Fall Break from school I took the kids and went to Pocatello for a couple of days. The kids always like to go to g-ma and G-pa's house. The two days went by very quickly, but we had a good relaxing time. The only picture I got was this one. My kids love to do puzzles and think that is one of the main things to do at my parents house. Thanks mom and dad for putting up with us.

2nd lost tooth

Hannah finally lost her second tooth. I say finally because it takes her so long to pull her teeth. Her first one took two months. I honestly can't say I know how long this one took, but it has been at least as long. I took her to the dentist several weeks ago (no cavities!), and the dentist told her if she couldn't get it out in 2 weeks I needed to bring her back so he could pull it. I really didn't want to have to do that. I made a bet with Hannah that if she could get it out in 3 days I would buy her a webkinz (she has wanted one for ages). The end of the third day came and she hadn't gotten it out. She was pretty upset and whining as I was getting her ready for bed. She was sitting on her bed trying to wiggle it. I asked her to let me have a turn and I pushed really hard real quick and broke a root. Within 25 minutes, I had it out. I am pretty much taking credit for it even though Hannah got the reward. It was reward enough for me to have it out and to not have to deal with it anymore. She likes to push her tongue into the hole. The permanent tooth is already half way in!

Canyon pictures

We went up the canyon again this year to see if we could get some pictures. The kids think it's a fun tradition and enjoy going up there and playing around while we get pictures. We actually got up there a little earlier this year so it wasn't so cold. That was nice. I got a few pictures of the kids that I like so I won't have to buy school pictures. That was part of the plan.

What a beauty! Sometimes I can't believe how big she is getting.

Spencer is always a character. I hade to take about 30 pictures to get a normal smile. I can't tell you how many pictures I have with goofy/funny faces. That's part of why we love Spencer!

I couldn't pass up this one with Spencer's goofy smile!

School starting

I never posted these pictures of the first day of school. Hannah started on August 20th and Spencer started August 25th.

Hannah started first grade this year which means all day school. I have found this extremely delightful and Hannah enjoys school and has no troubles being there all day. I thought she would have trouble with not eating every 5 minutes, but she has had no problems and hasn't complained at all. The hardest part of the day is getting her out of bed. She has to leave for school at 7:45am. She is not a morning person and without fail screams at me each morning that she is not getting out of bed and hates school. Once we get past that part, we're fine. She usually comes home happy. Her teacher is Miss Goff and she is a fabulous teacher. Spencer and I have joined Hannah for lunch/recess a few times and she really enjoys this. I am also helping in her class once a week. A funny first day story is that Hannah came home from school and told me she had been "kicked out" of the lunch room. I asked her what happened and she just said that she took too long to eat and so they kicked her out. She can be a very slow eater. I have however eaten lunch with her and I must say that I felt panicky about not eating fast enough and I am a fast eater! Needless to say I have some issues with the lunch crew (another story)!!!

Spencer is going to preschool this year. He has school 3 days a week for two hours each time. The first few weeks were a challenge. Even though he had been looking forward to going to school, when the time came he had some trouble. We have had quite a few struggles with him since summer time, some of them being not wanting to go to his primary class or anywhere actually where I wasn't with him. He would be permanently attached to me if it were possible to do. After trying to reason with him for 15 minutes on the first day of school, I finally had to pry him from me and leave him with his teacher screaming. Never fun to do. The second day, he almost cried but his teacher distracted him. We made it through and after a few weeks he even let me carpool with a couple of his friends in the class so I don't have to both take and pick up. That is helpful. He really enjoys school and comes home excited each day. Hannah also had Miss Shannon and we really like her.

So, I have a few days each week where I have no kids at home for a few hours. It is strange but I never lack for something to fill my time. I seem to think that I should be able to accomplish 50 extra things which is not very practical. I have been trying to run on the days Spencer has school so I can get "back in shape." Not that that will ever happen, but I can try right?!