Springfield Outdoor Days

Jon had to go to a camp out for scouts last weekend and I knew my sanity wouldn't last if I didn't find something to do. Luckily, Springfield Outdoor Days were going at the lake. It rained all morning and we almost didn't go but I had told the kids about it so it was a done deal in their mind. I'm glad we went because it was really fun. They had two bounce houses. One was just a jumpy one and the other was an obstacle course with a slide. I took Benson through and heaved and shoved Brig over and around what he couldn't do himself. I'm sure I looked ridiculous. 

They had lots of hunting things for kids to try. Sling shots, bow and arrows, and shot guns (with nerf bullets). Vanessa counted ten different animals that they got to pet and milked a pretend cow. The picture of Benson talking to a lady cracked me up. Benson wandered over to her booth. She started bringing him the pictures of birds and telling him a little about each one. He nodded at each picture and looked so intent on learning about each bird. It was really cute. Vanessa has gotten to be such a great helper at things like this. She really looks out for her brothers and helps me with both of them. Benson's grip is fairly weak and he is constantly dropping things. Both kids are really good about picking stuff up for him. We all do about 100 squats a day, haha! 

We'll be glad when the next two weeks are over and church demands settle down a bit. And then our trip to Utah is just around the corner! Hopefully, we all stay healthy!!!

Benson Turns 4

We had quite the party for this dude.  On Saturday, Sept 13th we had a ninja turtle party.  We invited his sunbeam class and two other friends for a park party.  But we had cold front hit and it was waaay to cold.  So we switched it to the house last minute.  It made it easier to decorate but a little crazy Friday night.  We had the party early so that everyone would still have their Saturdays.  We started the party off with a pizza omelet, hot chocolate and mutagen (or green jello).  Then we played punch out shredder, pizza walk, and pin the pizza on the turtle.  We followed up with gifts and cake. 

PS. Jon stayed up with me until 1am working on this cake.  I love that man.

On Sunday, Benson opened his gifts from his grandma and grandpa Purdy.  He was spoiled like crazy, of course.  He got a Donatella costume, turtle puzzle, alphabet game, kinetic sand, a turtle book, sand toys, transformer car, and a stomp rocket.

Since his actual birthday was on Monday, he had to wait until this day to open gifts from Mom and Dad.  They were opened the second Jon got home from work.  I don't know that he even had time to get in the door all the way before the kids were ready to open things up.  

We decided to do a special dinner that night.  Benson (echoed by Vanessa and Brigham) wanted pizza and for whatever reason, I cannot make a decent pizza.  So we decided to go to Chuck-E-Cheese.  My kids are in love with the place, after all.  Benson mostly wanted to do the roller coaster simulator rides and Brigham just wanted to run around pushing every button he could reach.  Vanessa actually did really well on the games and won quite a few tickets.

Sending the Turtles Home

With the crazy heat wave we had and the kids not playing with the turtles as much we decided it was time to send them back to the forest. We found a good spot, with lots of shade and close to the River. With a promise to look for more turtles next spring, the kids said goodbye to Luna, Red, Skully and Spike. 

Sofie

Vanessa's sweet bff from down the street moved right before school started.  We were so sad to have Sofie leave.  Vanessa was excited to ride the bus to school with Sofie (she still hasn't ridden it yet now) and they played at least a couple times a week.  We're going to miss our sweet Sofie but hopefully she is loving being closer to family in St. Louie!

August

This is where Brigham prefers to play.  Forget toys when the real stuff is in the garage.  He can get up here on his own, so if I ever can't find him in the house, he's most likely here.  

Brigham has been my longest napper.  Vanessa was done by 18 months (crazy I know).  Benson finished up around 2 with daily naps though he still needs one occasionally.  Brigham still pretty much needs daily naps.  He can get really crazy if he misses them two days in a row.  Sundays are always missed nap days, since church is 1-4.  This is how Brigham looked by 7pm that night. 

After Jon laid Brig down, Rocky decided it was his turn to take over Jon's lap.  I wouldn't have thought dogs would like sleeping on their back.  He just looks uncomfortable.  But he laid here for at least 30 minutes.  And cuddling for that long is a looooooong time for Rocky.  

Least. affectionate. dog. ever. 

Kindergarten

This little lady started kindergarten back on August 12.  She was very excited.  She woke up at 6:30am and asked if it was time to get ready yet.  When I finally told her it was time, she jumped up and was ready in a record time of less than 15 minutes.  Then we had to sit around for a while before I could take her to school.  That lasted through the first week and now she is usually upset when I wake her up and cries that she doesn't want to go to school anymore.  Haha.  At least it's not full day kindergarten!  That would probably equal twice the drama.

 I arranged with the principal for her to do half days since they do full day kindergarten here.  So far, I think it is working out really well.  Although I think her teacher would say otherwise.  I don't think she likes it very much.  To be honest though, I feel like we are short on time and Vanessa is short on attention to cover everything I want to cover with her in addition to school.  I just feel like she is ready for more than they are giving her and I want her to continue to be challenged.  I am determined to give this a full year though before I pull the plug and only homeschool.  I think Vanessa is on a pretty average kindergarten level, but from what I understand, even though "No Child Left Behind" is no longer in place, the teachers are still advised to teach to the lowest level.  And lets not get into common core because I might go crazy.  Haha.  Needless to say, it's a good experience for both of us and I think it will help us decide the best way for our family to do school.  Here are a few first day pix.

More July Activities

Every year our ward does a picnic to celebrate Pioneer Day. They usually do lunch and the fun pioneer type games for the kids. Benson and Brigham did not exactly participate this year but rather spent their time in the pool. Vanessa however, fully enjoyed being in her Pioneer family.

Another library flip card activity was at a pottery studio. You can go and use all their supplies and then they fire it and it looks great. Benson painted a turtle and Brigham and Vanessa did Christmas ornaments. Benson was devastated that we left his turtle and cried for a solid hour. He was however, very excited when we picked it up and thought it looked super cool. I felt like my nerves were on edge having Brigham around so many breakable objects. It may not be on our to do list again for awhile 😉

New Haircut and Sleep study

Benson got a haircut. It's super short and a totally new look for him. 

It came just in time because we got called in super last minute for Benson's sleep study. We were scheduled for September but they had a cancelation. It was a pretty awful night. They went overkill on all the cords and monitors. I was trying not to be upset for him! I expected a pulse ox and EKG leads. Not ten on his head, one on his throat, two belts for breathing, four on his legs, a pulse ox on his toes, two EKG leads, and a CO2 sensor that was supposed to go in his nose but he absolutely wouldn't tolerate it. It took over an hour to get all the gear on. Then there were constant wakings as they would come adjust sensors that got moved. Around 3am he broke down into tears begging to go home because this was "not his favorite place." I felt so bad for the poor guy. But the night did finally end and hopefully all is well. Even though he never wore the CO2 sensor, so hopefully they got the info they need.

A New Van

We think we found the one. The van that will fulfil all our family needs. It's in Michigan but the company drove a similar van down for us to look at. Here are a few pix. We feel so grateful to everyone that bought a shirt, contributed to our garage sale, and Taco Day. We've raised over $6,000 for Benson's van. It helps so much! 

Pix That Just Make Me Smile

Library Flip Card

The kids got a flip card from the library for doing their summer reading. It's basically a coupon book. Since we've been pretty bored, it was a perfect distraction. 

Our first stop was for cupcakes.

Some free bowling( my phone died so no other pix)

A little Chick-fil-a and some Orange Leaf frozen yogurt

We also got some crazy bread from Little Caesar. We are excited to do the rest of our activities on our cards.