A Break

Tonight two of Ben's staff came over to babysit Nehemiah. They wanted to surprise me, but Ben, in his wisdom, told them they'd better not (so I could get the house ready and notes written up). Anyway, they got here kind of late (8-ish) because they had to finish dinner at camp first.

It was Nehemiah's first time with babysitters at our house. I was nervous with Nehemiah in his raging separation anxiety phase, and it being so late, him not going to bed, etc., etc., etc.! :) But they were awesome, and so was he!

Ben and I went to Coldstone, then stopped off at Target, where, being the nerdy former teacher that I am, I gawked at all of the brand spankin' new school supplies. I tell you what, they nearly make me giddy! Then we went to a gaming store to look for the game Ticket to Ride which my family back in CO has been raving about. Unfortunately it really was more of a gaming store than a game store, so there were lots of Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic cards, and a few other games, but no Ticket to Ride. We picked up a game called Munchkin Impossible, which has turned out to be pretty fun.

Then we ran off to Walmart to see if they might have our sought after game--no such luck. We hit Taco Bell for a quick drive home snack, and we were on our way!

We got home around 11:30, and Nehemiah had been bathed, and looked like this as I walked in the door:

Plumbing gods

So my grandfather is a Grand Master Plumber. And we had a bathtub backup the size of oh-i-don't know, Crater Lake?! Anyway, it turns out Nehemiah stuck a lid from my face wash down the drain pipe during my shower--uugh! We were going to try the cure-all Liquid Plumber, but I thought I'd call my Papa first just in case. Good thing too! He told us to try to bend a coat hanger and get it out, or get a small pipe snake, as a 2nd alternative. The Liquid Plumber was likely to get stuck, not melt the plastic, and then burn Ben when he tried anything else...yikes!

The hanger did the trick, especially when Ben also used the pliers on this Leatherman for leverage, and in short time too! What a blessing. Sometimes God gives you just what you need, when you need it. :) And that includes a loving (though far away) grandpa, as well as a husband with magnificent patience with his wife and mischievous child!

Nehemiah's Birthday Balloons Video

I'm having a tough time getting this video to post. Hopefully embedding it will work??? It is a very cute video of Nehemiah with his balloons the day after his birthday. :)

Busy-ness

We had a fun afternoon today. I took Nehemiah out to camp with the dual purpose of visiting the Petting Zoo and going for a swim at the beach. It turned out that the Petting Zoo was all locked up and the horses were out at pasture, because it was the Wrangler's day off, and the beach had just been treated with Copper Iodide (I think) to take out the swimmer's itch, so no swimming either; unless we wanted to be little brown babies! :(

Instead we had a different sort of adventure! We went on Nehemiah's first canoe trip! It was interesting. I was somewhat trepidatious to take a 1 year old out on the lake by myself, and initially Nehemiah hated the life-jacket. I can hardly blame him...he looked like a little stuffed sausage, and had to work to find his center of balance! But once we shoved off and started floating, he was content. I took these pictures while the canoe was mostly beached, so there was no danger of Nehemiah and I tipping. :) We stayed pretty near the shore anyway, but Nehemiah didn't know the difference--he so enjoys outdoor life and the water. After our foray, we went to eat dinner with Daddy! Nehemiah sat in his new wagon that his Grandma and Grandpa sent him for turning 1--he loved it!

Buzz

Today, two blog-worthy events occurred in our hacienda!

The first was a Ben thing. Every now and then his latent Army Ranger comes out--the episodes are few and far between, but for the most part they make me grin and swell with pride. Such was this morning's Operation: Night Swim. The camp that Ben works at (and practically grew up at--his dad was the director while he was a kid), has a ginormous, ugly old Sawfish mounted in the Dining Hall. They like to tell kids that they caught it in the lake, which is a huge lie, since it is definitely a salt-water being. But you see kids, especially the littler ones looking pretty closely when they are out on the docks. :) Anyway at 0300 hours, Ben and his 4 regular staff members stole the fish that they affectionately nicknamed Buzz (I'm sure you get it, but in case you are slow today...buzz-saw, er, um...fish?). They took him off of the wall and mounted it in the new dining hall at the new camp. It was a pretty successful and surprising prank. The only problem is that it was also relatively dangerous--really the kind of thing only a crew headed up by someone who had forethought all of the possibilities out (like Ben) can pull off safely. There is already talk around camp about it being stolen back, so I have a feeling Buzz may "disappear" soon, to end any hard-to-explain workman's comp claims or calls to staff members family back home! No fish here...why you staring?

And 2nd of all, Nehemiah had his first haircut! It was NOT a buzz! Our good friend Megan got her shears out and trimmed him up a bit. You'd hardly know it if you weren't used to looking at him daily, but he looks less like a ragamuffin, so I am pleased. No more ear flaps, shorter bangs (if you call them that on a guy), and a little shorter in the back.

I hope to edit this post with pictures soon, unfortunately, though there were pictures taken of both occasions, they are not yet in my possession.

Cover Tune Grab Bag

Oh my goodness! I have just been rolling on the floor laughing!!! My sister-in-law inspired this post for a few reasons...#1 she gave me a bit of a hard time about not blogging as consistently as I did in the Winter/Spring. I have to confess; when I am busy with other things, I don't have to blog as much for my own sanity, though I do still enjoy it! You can look forward to another long Minnesota winter with me if you are missing it-ha! (And I know you were saying it tongue-in cheek Mel!)

Anyway, the 2nd thing is that she told me about a link to Mercy Me's Cover Tune Grab Bag. Wow...there's not much else to say. Mercy Me is a fabulous Christian band known for their sweet harmonies and praise and worship type music. Ever heard I Can Only Imagine? Yup...that's them. Anyway on their blog, they are doing some hilarious covers of retro songs. The two I watched all the way through so far were the ones for Ice, Ice Baby and Thriller. I highly recommend it. Stick with Thriller to, because the dancing comes. There are more too--you'll love it, I know! :) Nehemiah did--he was groovin' and singing along.

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay

Maybe we can live in the water...

Lately Nehemiah has reverted to the will not sleep in the crib behavior he exhibits from time to time...only this time it is naps too--Uugh! But apparently, he will sleep here:

Preschool Links of interest

I have had a few friends ask me lately if I have any ideas or resources for teaching your kids when they are at preschool age (even though it will be awhile until Nehemiah is quite there, it is right up my alley as a teacher). These are some of the links I have found over the past months:


This is a preschool teacher who puts some of her ideas up for others to see:

http://www.jmeacham.com/

I particularly like the Calendar Math section of that site, because it is such a fun, useful way for kids to use some basic math skills (oh, and I've seen it work in countless primary classrooms--I don't see why you couldn't get started younger). Her ABC ideas are great too!

Another phenomenal website with ideas for infants through 4s and a preparing for kindergarten section--There are even Biblically-driven curriculum examples by month, with pictures of some of the activities...too cool! She has a good page of resources that link you to other good sites.

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/index.html

I really like Jan Brett as an author/illustrator, and her website has all kinds of cool stuff, including alphabet handwriting printable coloring sheets

http://www.janbrett.com/

Here are some preschool activities and crafts:

http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM

Preschool Express:

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/

I have also found some really fun blogs, which of course continue the linking process to all of their creative bloggy friends! You'll find SO many ideas clicking through links on other blogs! I have learned a ton! :)

Kids Craft Weekly will e-mail you each week with a themed newsletter with crafts that match the theme to work on all week long--what a blast!

Make and Takes has a bunch of great crafts and ideas...she is doing the alphabet with her 2 1/2 year old right now, and she just started, so there are sure to be tons of great ideas to come!

And I Never Grew Up guest blogged on Make and Takes recently, so I checked it out, and guess what? More genius!!!

And as always, and I've linked to this before, but no craft and learning list is complete without The Crafty Crow blog...my all-time favorite! You also find other great sites through here--amazing!


Oh! And my older students really enjoyed the book Animalia by Graeme Base. Each page is filled with pictures of things that start with the letter, so it becomes like an I Spybook. Some of them even take some thinking...example: I found a camel on the D page. It took some research to find out that a camel is a type of dromedary. Who knew?! It would be a good book to use when your kiddos vary in age and skill.

I DO NOT have any professional early-childhood teaching experience, and my own little guy is on the young end for these activities, so I can't unequivocally recommend these things, but they seem cool to me, and God gave you good judgment too. Another thing...with kids, I have learned that if something doesn't work now, don't stress, try something else. If you really are hooked on an idea or method, try it again in awhile. You may yet see the results you want, but if not, don't stress, and enjoy the ride! :)

Hope this list helps!

Living Life (in pictures)

Here are some good ones of the past few days. :)

Snoozing with Grammy...Zzzzzz....

Lovin' the puddin'

At the park with Megan and Elena

Silly faces at the park

Peeking at Daddy--yikes!

First pasta experience

Yummy!

Post-pasta experience ;)

Kind of Over It!

Going to the Urgent Care Clinic/Emergency Room/Doctor that is!!!

Uugh!

This afternoon Nehemiah woke up from his nap wheezing SO loud and with blue lips! I called the ambulance, because it seemed like he might be going downhill fast, and we live so far out!

10-15 minutes later when the First Responders arrived, Nehemiah was wheezing slightly, but had calmed down considerably. Enough that they thought we could cancel the ambulance as long as I got him in to Urgent Care (about an hour away).

I was so freaked out! I let myself think what the worst would be for a minute or so while I was trying to decide what to do, and I have to tell you that was terrifying.

Ben decided to go to the Urgent Care with us. It seems I was frustrated at many turns. I called our local clinic and explained the situation, and they said that even in that situation there was no time to get Nehemiah in this afternoon, so instead of driving 15 minutes and having someone see some of the symptoms still in action, we saw a doctor nearly 2 hours after the fact.

I have to say, I felt sort of dismissed by the doctor. He did some really unnerving things, even asking me if Nehemiah had a "right heart," as in his heart could be on the right side of his body. It didn't inspire confidence that the doctor was looking at a chest x-ray and wasn't positive which side the heart was on (to be fair, Nehemiah did move at the last minute, and he was twisted a bit). The doctor decided it wasn't enough to warrant another x-ray, and he thinks it was some flukey one-time thing where Nehemiah got some mucous stuck in his throat that he couldn't expel...Yeah, I don't really buy it. I hope so, but I don't really know what to think!

Can we say frustrating???!!!???

I am just glad Nehemiah is doing okay now; the monitor will definitely be on tonight!

Nehemiah's new buddy

Kids are so funny! I think Nehemiah would rather play with anything other than a toy! ;)

Exhibit A:

Happy Birthday

This post is a day late, but DANG! We were busy!!! We had a blast with many of our friends and a few family. :) There were games of ladderball, volleyball, badminton, Ultimate Frisbee, trips around the path to explore, tons of food gobbled up, sparklers, and cake! Yeehaw!

Nehemiah--I can hardly believe that a year has already passed since the wonderful day of your birth. You even came in time to catch your first firework show! You were so handsome, and what do you know, you still are! And your personality has developed into such joy and fun! I can hardly wait to spend more years with you and discover more about who our Lord has created you to be! It's gonna' be great!

Another Great Link

I love to share fun new websites with everyone, and this is absolutely the best! Check it out, and come back and let me know what you think! (Just click on the linked text)