Pomp and Circumstance

For the 2011-2012 school year, Vincente and I have been participating in a neighborhood co-op preschool with three other families from our ward. When I was making the certificates for their graduation, I realized that we didn’t really have a name for the preschool, and “neighborhood/ward co-op preschool” just wasn’t going to cut it. The park where we had the graduation, as well as the subdivision we live near/in, is “Jordan Meadows” so that’s what I named the preschool. The other moms seemed cool with it, but I apologize for stepping on any toes. I made the certificates kind of last minute.

Cassie, one of the moms, had the kids for the last two weeks of preschool and so she helped them prepare a graduation program. It was really cute and really well done. There is a video of a few parts of the program at the end of this post. Please excuse the droopy lens cover. Our camera has seen better days, that’s for sure.

I have really been impressed with how much the kids have learned this year. More than the content, though, I am glad they are learning how to pay attention to a teacher, listen, and obey. And how to interact with other kids their ages. Vincente has really learned a lot in preschool, even if he still doesn’t like writing his name. We’ll be working on that part.

The kids actually came up with a lot of the program on their own – they wanted to march, so Cassie had them march while they counted to 25 (the “magic number” they are supposed to know for Kindergarten this fall); they wanted to play musical instruments, so Cassie had them make some instruments (you’ll see those in the video, too).

We all took family pictures out in the shade. The weather was perfect and Cassie made some delicious and moist cupcakes with the cutest little homemade decorations that said “Congrats Grad!”

I am so glad that we went with the co-op preschool. It really was a fantastic idea, and we’re all talking about doing it again this fall with the younger siblings! Joseline probably had almost as much fun hanging out with the kids in preschool as the big kids did.

And here are the promised videos:

Jars of Clay

(this is the second in a four part series about our trip to Denver)

Saturday was another adventure filled day. We decided to explore downtown Denver and then meet up for dinner at the Aquarium.  We had heard about the restaurant at the aquarium where you eat with the fish, basically. It was a little pricey, but we thought it might be worth the experience.  Meg and Geoff actually went through the aquarium while I took the kids to the Denver Art Museum’s free day and to a little gelato place on the 16th street mall. I’m pretty sure I took the kids back to the hotel for naps, and then we met up with Meg and Geoff for dinner.

We rode the bus down the 16th street mall, and then walked the rest of the way to the art museum. I was kicking myself for not bringing a stroller with me, but Joss kept up pretty well (on the way there – the way back was a different story). The area was really pretty and we walked through a really neat park with lots of shady trees (thank goodness – because it was kind of warm).

The museum had a fun hands-on area where the kids got to make their own something out of clay. After putting some lace on a piece of clay to make a pretty design, Joss and I ended up with a snake that we textured with the lace. After stabbing his piece of clay repeatedly, Vincente finally ended up with a “waffle” (a flattened piece of clay that he cut in two directions multiple times). We left our clay creations to dry while we looked at the rest of the museum.

There were lots of fun exhibits, including one where you make shapes with your body, and the computer would fill in the holes with a piece of “stained glass” which would shatter when you “let go” of it. I hope the picture helps that make a little more sense. It was really fun. The little kids were having a rough time though because adults and older kids kept standing behind the little ones and blocking them. Eventually I went “mom” on them and asked them all to let the little ones have a chance. The littler ones weren’t as good as it, but they had fun anyway.

There were a lot of places with big building blocks and things to color and dress up clothes. I liked that instead of the “kids” area being just one area of the museum there were several different areas, so I got to see a few cool things as we walked from one place to the next. The kids enjoyed making Jaguar masks and “stealing cheese” (big foam blocks where Vince played with some big kids like mice or rats or something and stole the blocks from each other, calling it their “cheese”).

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a sack lunch on a rooftop of the museum, which reminded me of the numerous trips we made to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and how we ate our sack lunches out by the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the roof there were some fun pieces of art. This one above that Vince is staring intently at is a stage coach or something. I think the firing gun was what fascinated Vincente the most.

You could see the Denver skyline behind Joseline. I think that we were up in the shiny black building the day before when we were visiting Grant.  

Dinner at the aquarium was kind of disappointing. The atmosphere was cheesy, not like the nice restaurant at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the tanks were itsy bitsy and only on one wall, so we didn’t even get to sit next to the fish. The food was all really rich, and not nearly worth the price. But it was fun to experience something new, and the kids got a shark and sting ray from the gift shop. They enjoyed the whole thing. Especially getting their picture taken next to this shark.

General Conference Prep

I played the Prophets and Apostles matching game with Vincente again today. He did really well remembering the names! He even got Elder Hales and Elder Scott straight (I really struggle with those two when I see them – hearing them I can differentiate, but their pictures look a lot alike, especially in black-and-white printer paper quality).

While we were playing, Vincente says to me, “I was the prophet when I was telling you what to do.” It took me a minute to remember what on earth he was talking about, but then I remembered for Family Home Evening last Monday we had Vincente pretend to be the Prophet, and Russ pretended to be Heavenly Father – Russ would tell Vincente something to tell me, and then Vince would come around the corner and tell me (“put your hands on your head” “sit down” “stand up” “fold your arms” etc). I couldn’t believe that Vincente remembered that lesson! He has been surprising me left and right with his gospel knowledge. I worry, because we attend a Portuguese ward, and sometimes I think he doesn’t understand what is going on in Primary. On top of that, he doesn’t have a long attention span and never looks like he is listening, so half the time I think we’re just talking to ourselves. But then he goes and says stuff like this, and reminds me that prophets talk to Jesus, and I’m just floored. Over and over again.

Anyway, I was getting excited for Vince to see the General Authorities at General Conference in April, and then I remembered that he has never really heard their voices. So I hopped on to LDS.org and looked up the “General Conference Highlights” and showed him this video:

He actually did pretty well naming them while he was watching.

The thing that struck me, though, was how quiet he was during the first clip of President Monson. I could tell that he was feeling the Spirit while he watched. After a minute, I started explaining what each apostle was talking about in Primary terms - “He’s telling us that we need to obey.” “He’s telling us that we can have the Holy Ghost with us to teach us.” “He’s telling us to be like the Savior.” “He’s telling you to keep the commandments so that you can have the Priesthood, which means you have the power of God.”

Then, on one of the clips of President Monson, Vincente says, “Hey, President Monson! Do you talk to Jesus?” And then, Vince changes his voice (to sound like President Monson, I assume) and says, “Yes, I do.”

It was a really humbling experience for me to listen to that sweet (if somewhat silly) testimony of my not-quite-four-year-old son, affirming that he knows that President Monson is a prophet, and that President Monson talks to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

When Elder Oaks talked about the two lines of communication with Heavenly Father, I tried to reinforce the testimony and explained that Elder Oaks was telling us that we can talk to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father when we pray, and that we can also listen to the prophets because they talk to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and tell us what to do.

I plan on playing the matching game with Vincente more, and then also playing the “highlights” clip from last year’s General Conference. During the six months following April’s General Conference, I’ll play the new “highlights” clip for him every now and then. I think the “highlights” clip is probably the best tool yet for exposing little kids to General Conference. There is gentle background music, and the clips are short (1-2 minutes) and it’s only 16 minutes from start to finish. Vince was just about done at 12-13 minutes, but I tried to help him stick it out. It’s just perfect for his attention span – 4 two hour sessions is going to be entirely too much for him right now, but this will help get him ready to sit and listen to longer talks. And later as he gets older, we can play clips of the talks by the apostles in longer segments.

I think we will have him sit and listen when the Prophet addresses us. I haven’t decided what to expect out of him for the rest of it. We’ll try to get him and sit with us (by me explaining what the speakers are saying – in Primary terms), but I don’t know how much he’ll care to sit through, and I would like to be able to just sit and soak up one or two sessions. We’ll see how it goes.

Monday Musings – A House of Order

Sometimes this is what my life feels like. Messy with little bits of life strewn all over. I’ve been doing pretty well keeping my life and house in order, but the weekend was pretty crazy (thanks for coming, all you who came to warm our house!) and I felt like I was getting further and further behind on life – leaving little scattered pieces of life lying around for people to step on. It was tragic.

Thanks to my sweet husband, he picked up all the scattered pieces and delicately put them back together for me, while I slept most of the weekend off. It was great.

Then we had an uplifting evening with some new friends on Sunday, and today had Family Home Evening – a beautiful lesson about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost (the Godhead). We sang the First Article of Faith song (in Portuguese – Regres de Fe) and we’ll sing it every day for the rest of the month, and hopefully Vincente will learn to recite the first article of faith himself. We’re going to make a sticker chart to “pass off” the articles of faith as we learn them (everyone, me, Papai, Vince, and Joss). We’re going to learn one a month, starting with the first this month (since it’s such a short article of faith, and the month is over half done, we figured it was a perfect time to start, instead of waiting until January – “New Years” resolutions can be made at any time of the year, in my book!)

So, now that the house is mostly back in order, and I got 8 full hours of sleep last night (plus a 1 1/2 hour nap! Which I wasn’t planning on taking...) I think I will be able to keep the little bits of my life from getting too scattered.

And Family Home Evening always puts me in a good mood – especially when they are followed with conversations like this:

Me: Vince, does Heavenly Father have a body like ours?
Vince: Yup.
Me: Does Jesus Christ have a body like ours?
Vince: Yep he does.
Me: What about the Holy Ghost? Does he have a body like ours?
Vince: Except, he don’t.

Love it. He soaks stuff up like a sponge (and I’m extra impressed, because FHE was entirely in Portuguese – which means he understands more than we think he does!).

What kinds of things throw your life off track? Do you ever feel like you’re leaving bits of your life strewn around? How to you clean up and get back on track? Do you have a sweet husband (or good friend) who helps pick up after you when you can’t seem to hold it all together?

Wednesday Wanderings – West Jordan Public Library Story Time

Sorry this week’s wandering is a little late (and a little lame... I mean, a library again?) But it’s really the only place we’ve been lately, so... here goes.

We went to story time yesterday at the West Jordan Library. It was actually by far the best library story time I have ever taken my children to. The librarian who ran the show was great, the kids absolutely loved her, the whole thing was themed (boxes!!) and at the end, each kid got to decorate their own box to take home (with a little prize from the librarian tucked inside!)

Now, when I say we “went” to the library, what I mean is we walked to story time. The library is only about a mile away, and half of that we get to walk through the neighborhood (the other half is on the scary busy street). It would be a nice walk, except it was snowing yesterday and it was about 32 degrees outside. Yikes.

Well, Russ had the car at work (can’t drive a motorcycle in the snow), so we walked because I had to get out of the house. I also have a weather shield for the stroller, so it wasn’t bad. And when the sun was shining and the wind wasn’t blowing, it was actually too hot for a big coat.

Story time is officially part of our weekly routine – rain or shine (or snow!) – and hopefully the van will be available for us. Otherwise I might just have to check out the bus schedule... for a 1 mile ride. Seriously, it was cold.

Ratings:

Value –

It was like free preschool. You can’t beat that.

Location –

Uh, 1 mile from my house? It just can’t get better than that. And the library is on the main street (and just off Redwood Rd) – better than the last library we visited.

  Fun Factor –

The kids loved it, and Vincente actually remembered everything about it and regurgitated it to Russ when he got home from work.

Your Turn! Go write your Wednesday Wanderings blog and link up here! Here’s the html for the button:

<a href="http://rowleypoly.blogspot.com/search/label/Wednesday%20Wanderings" target="_blank" title="Wednesday Wanderings"> <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_enTqG9B6DwE/TNLiY9vRmeI/AAAAAAAAQus/3F0xC1xuxt8/s800/wedwandslayers.jpg" alt="Wednesday Wanderings" /></a>

A Monkey, A Butterfly, and A Princess

For some reason, wearing an apron with monkeys on it makes you a monkey.

When my mom left for California for a sibling family reunion with her brothers and sisters, I headed to Joann’s with twin 4-year-olds, a 3-year-old, and an 18-month-old in tow. The preschoolers picked out fabric for the aprons, I picked out the coordinating fabric for the edging, and off we went home for lunch.

A few days later, the kids had a movie marathon while I spent close to 5 hours sewing 3 aprons. I was kind of making them up as I went along, which was why it took so long.

I did Vince’s first, since it was kind of simple. 

Then I tackled the girl’s aprons. KayLynn chose princess fabric. And wearing princess fabric makes her a princess. So says Vincente. The second apron went faster than the first, since I kind of already knew how to do it.

I absolutely adore the way the butterfly apron turned out (which is only pictured in the group shot at the top). The colors are gorgeous together – the yellow just so happy!

I wanted to add pockets (and may still add a pocket/s to Vincente’s, and maybe to Joseline’s when I make hers). I like the strap across the middle on the girls’.

The next day (because we spent all the time making aprons!) we made sugar cookies. I’m not a big fan of sugar cookies, but they are the best for little kids to make because they can do the cookie cutters – more fun for them. And then if you frost them, even better! Which we didn’t, because I already had a big enough mess to clean up from the cookies along with everything else going on in my life.

Mostly I’m proud of myself that I made aprons while watching 4 under 5 (granted the TV did most of the watching...).

Why did I subject myself to such stress and torture? Well, the stress was negligible, considering all the stress I was already under – and if I hadn’t made the aprons, I would have been sitting around on my duff all day doing absolutely nothing and feeling worthless at the end of the day. That kind of behavior can wear on a person.

When I get back to UT, a friend and I will make these aprons, and I’ll be sure to take pictures and post a pattern/tutorial for all you folks out there who want to be crafty and make aprons, too!

What Has Been

I was getting all my photos off of my iPhone in preparation for an update (which I still haven’t been able to get to work... darn iTunes...) and I realized that I haven’t been blogging in a while, but life has still been going on.

I want to post all of the pictures all at once, but that would be a blog post with too many pictures. So, I’m going to give you some highlights, and then tomorrow after church while the kids are napping (cross your fingers) I’ll try to wade through everything... whoa. It’s a LOT of stuff....

some sewing of aprons 

playing in buckets full of water

this sweet face (and another one just like it)

a lot of free play

  outside free play!

and so much of this

it makes me want to lay down and do nothing right this minute

But you’ll get it all in blogged form with nice layouts and full narratives starting tomorrow. I’ll probably “program” them to post for my Tues/Thurs “this life” posts so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Also, Wednesday Wanderings comes back this week with a review of the Sierra Vista Public Library! (story time on Tuesday mornings! Hooah! And I also found out that the post has a Family Fitness Center – so we’ll be checking that out on Monday – and it will probably make an appearance on the blog next Wednesday).

It’s good to be back in full swing – getting used to another new normal (it feels like my normal changes each day... of course, the only constant thing is change, so that makes sense!)

Wednesday Wanderings –- The Wonder Place, Little Rock, AR

This is the start of a new feature I’m doing on my blog – Wednesday Wanderings. Each Wednesday I will post (complete with pictures!) about a place that I have been that was great. It won’t necessarily be a place to take kids (if I find a romantic getaway with Papai, I’ll definitely let you know about it!).

This week’s wanderings took us to

The Wonder Place

in Little Rock.

The Wonder Place is basically like a great big play-based preschool... minus the ECE teachers. It’s limited to children 8 and under, so you don’t have to worry about big kids being bullies or too rowdy. They have a designated place for little tykes, too (or “little wonders” I think they call them) – i.e. toddlers, 2 and under.

There is a big sand trough, and multi-leveled water basins, complete with fun toys to explore with. They have a replica “River Market” complete with shopping and a cafe! There are blocks, balls, cars, trains, trucks, dolls with houses, a vet station, a theater with all manner of dress up and puppets. Tables with crayons and paper (I think the craft is different each day, though), a loft, tunnels, pipes that vacuum up scarves and balls and spit them out random directions.

We stayed for nearly four hours, and we plan on returning! I think that you could save your money and take your kids here for preschool. But then, I’m a believer in play-based preschool.

Vincente being a vet – he was obsessed with giving all the animals their shots. Funny, because he’s never had a shot...

The cost isn’t too bad – and you can get a year pass for an adult and a child for $250 – and add additional children for $50/each. When you think about what you’d be paying to send your child to preschool, I think that’s a pretty good bargain! They even have a snack area and you can bring your own snacks/sack lunches (or buy a health snack from their vending machines – 100% juice, bottled water, animal crackers, goldfish – that type of thing).

We bought a 20 visit punch card for $100 (which we got to use between my mom, my SIL and her twins, and me and my two kids). That makes it out to be $5 a visit. Pretty decent, if you ask me. Not to mention it’s inside. We actually decided to go here because there was a heat advisory for Friday (temps in the 100’s with the heat index around 110 – yikes!). So instead of hitting up Garvin Gardens in Hot Springs, we checked out The Wonder Place – with much success!

Hopefully we’ll get down to Garvin Gardens, and I’ll do a feature on them as well!

Ratings:

Value -

At $7/visit ($5 with a punch card) it’s a pretty great value for a fun indoor place for the kids (especially in the summer!). The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because I thought it would be neat to have little plaques by the toys giving parents ideas of how to have “play-based” learning experience with their child. Just in case they don’t know how to encourage learning in play.

Location -

It gets three stars because it’s kind of hidden behind a lot of stuff. You have to know it’s there if you want to go. Nothing you can see from the road, you know what I mean? But I guess that’s good – it keeps it pretty quiet. I’d just hate for a place like this to go out of business due to lack of customers because no one knows they are there!

Fun Factor -

Five stars because if I had a big playroom, it would have all this stuff in it. Well designed and just lots of fun. We are definitely going back.