Harvest Party

On friday, Derek and I had the privilage of being able to help out at Jadon's preschool Harvest Party. We helped out last year, and were the only parents who signed up to help.... we were pretty surprised by that. This year, only one other mom signed up other than Derek and I. Again, we were surprised. Who wouldnt want to help out???? 4 and 5 year olds are so funny and so fun, and they are little for such a short time... and we like to know what goes on at preschool, how Jadon interacts with his pals and how he behaves. (he's well behaved in case anyone was wondering)
They started the day off by doing their morning circle time, and sang a halloween-y type of song while the teacher used the feltboard to move characters around. Then they read(sang) a book called "The Wheels on the Spooky Bus".... of course it was sometime around then that the garbage truck came outside to pick up the garbage..... and everytime the garbage truck comes they have to stop class because Jadon gets so excited and has to run to the window to watch. Silly kid!

After that, the games began. There were 4 different games, the same games as last year. They had to try to bite a donut off of a string hanging from the ceiling without using their hands. There was pin the nose on the witch. Another game they had to toss a ball through a hula hoop hanging from the ceiling, and there was a game where they had to search through a big bin filled with dry rice to find things. And there was also a cupcake decorating. Jadon lasted about 1 minute decorating his cupcake. I took his picture, then went out in the hall to get a good picture of him from the other side, and he was already done.

After that, we went to the gym where there was a little kiddy pool filled with leaves and candy, and they had to search for all the candy in the leaves. And since they have awesome teachers, after they found all the candy, all the kids were instructed to grab arm fulls of leaves to toss at the teachers and helpers on the count of 3. I got that on video ;)

Then it was free play time, and it was fun watching the kids run around riding bikes, playing with balls, etc. Derek made a little friend after playing catch for a minute with one of the girls. We were amused to see how rowdy the boys are and how subdued the girls are.

When free play was over, it was snack time, so we got to sit at the little tables and eat muffins, apples and carmel dip, and chocolate milk with the kids, then it was time for us to go for a little bit. After we left, Jadon got to play m&m bingo.

It was such a fun day, and i'm so glad we got to participate in it, and i'm even more glad that Derek has a job that allows him to take time off to do things with the kids.

Jadon pinning the nose on the witchJadon decorating his cupcake....you can see a little bit of his classroom
Digging through the leaves for candy

Throwing the leaves around at each other.

We're still alive

Thought you might be getting a little worried that i havent posted in awhile. We are still alive. I've just been, you guessed it- busy! Hopefully after the holidays are over i'll have more time for blogging. In the meantime, i'm trying to whip up 1 tutu a day! I've got alot to make and I dont want to leave it for the last minute!
I had a very generous person purchase some gridwall panels for me, and after getting them in the mail last week, they will be PERFECT! So thank you again Generous Donor- you know who you are :)

I spent alot of the weekend catching up on house cleaning. I'm embarrased to say that my house cleaning has slacked quite a bit in the last several months... and considering what a neat freak/germ freak I am, you'd be surprised to learn how long i've let a few chores go... :( I'm going to make a great effort to get the whole house cleaned weekly again like I used to, and get back on that schedule. Wish me luck!

The kids are doing good. Jadon's been having a great time at preschool.... this week he has today off, wednesday he goes to the pumpkin patch (we'll all go with him), and on friday he has a harvest party. Still trying to come to grips with the fact that its going to be november in a little more than a week!

Jadon and Avery went to a birthday party this weekend. It was a halloween themed birthday party, so all the kids came dressed in costume. Luckily i had the kids halloween costumes ready to go! Jadon's a fireman and Avery an angel. So cute! Averys costume turned out better than I anticipated. I always have a picture in my head of how i want things to look and i'm always disappointed when they dont turn out as i had pictured.... but Avery's turned out good! I had a white tutu already made up, so she is wearing that... i bought her some white tights and shirt. I made her halo, and I was going to make her wings too, but decided i dont have time to do it, and i found a website where i got her wings cheaper (even after shipping) than if i had made them myself. Jadons costume is very authentic looking.... (i bought it at costco.) ;) Eventually you'll see a picture of them, if I can get a good one.

Firetruck and pizza

So anyone who ordered a pizza from Domino's in Albany (over a three day period) between 5:15pm and 7:15pm, could get a free pizza and a fireman in a firetruck delivering it to your house! They would then come into your house, check your smoke alarms, and if they were working then your pizza would be free thanks to the fire dept.
Of course, we decided to do this in hopes that we would be picked and Jadon could have a fireman in a firetruck come to his house! But the odds are never good for us to win things and such, so we were doubtful.

But we got lucky for once!!! Holy cow!!! They came to our house! Jadon got to go check out the firetruck (he opted out of sitting in the drivers seat though), they gave him and Avery play fireman hats and sticker badges. And when they left they turned on the lights for Jadon!

On top of that, we ALWAYS keep our smoke alarms loaded with new batteries, so of course, we got 2 large pizzas and an order of breadsticks free! The free pizza meant nothing to me though, I was so excited for Jadon! Things like this dont happen to us! Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures until they were leaving, and I only got one taken, and the flash went off so the picture was too dark to see. :(

Tomorrow we're going to a corn maze.... the first one for all 4 of us, so it should be fun and interesting! I'll remember to take pictures for that! ;)

I'm in!!

I've been accepted into a large craft bazaar in December! I'm so excited! I'm going to be a very busy bee until then, fullfilling tutu orders for Sunnypatch, orders from my website, as well as making lots of tutu's and things for the craft bazaar!
Its imperative that I stay organized, otherwise my sanity may leave me! I've already got a checklist made of what tutu colors i'm going to make, and the sizes, and the number of tutu's i'm making. I'm going to order some new, more professional looking business cards also!

I'm going to need lots of hangers with the clips on them.... i dont know what those are called.... so if anyone has any extras, i'll take them!

It will be good for me to stay really busy since fall has arrived and with it the typical Oregon rain. Already i'm terribly missing summer and sunshine.... it will be a very long fall/winter/spring this year.... a good reason to keep super busy!

After my last post about feeling overwhelmed trying to juggle a million different things, I came across a blog of a lady with young daughters, who irronically also is a stay-at-home mom and makes/sells tutus. She had posted a very similar post to mine about trying to juggle all the things a stay-at-home mom does, as well as her tutu business. Really made me feel better knowing that i'm not the only one feeling like i'm constantly being pulled in 50 different directions.

Avery's sleeping somewhat better the last few nights, although still waking up, and we have come to the conclusion that we think she has suddenly developed a fear of the dark. Last night at 1:30am when she woke up, I went to her and did the usual.... laid her back down, rubbed her tummy for a minute to sooth her, then quietly told her i was going back to bed and it was time for her to go back to sleep and that jadon was asleep in the room next to her, and mommy and daddy were just down the hall. As soon as I left her room she started wailing again. This time Derek went to her, and turned on her bedroom lamp and reassured her for a minute, and she was fine since he left the lamp on the rest of the night. Which brings us to the conclusion that she's scared of the dark.

We've also been having hitting issues. Not the parents. The kids. Both kids have been hitting each other alot lately. I know its their ages, but we never had this problem with Jadon when he was Avery's age.... probably because he didnt have a sibling to compete with and have to share toys with. But now, they are both offenders.
Jadons had a couple of rough weeks. We are thinking that its schedule related. This is how our typical weeks have been going- Starting with Saturday. Saturday he is usually a good boy. Sunday, he does a complete turn around and is a beast. Monday and tuesday are very similar to Sunday, but then wednesday through friday he is good again. So, we are thinking that since the weekend comes and messes up his routine a little, he gets bent out of shape, then by midweek he's out of that slump because we're back into a routine again. Makes complete sense to me. Kids thrive on predictability, routine. And i'm seeing this more and more with my kids. Its just sad when he has bad days because wed-friday he is the sweetest kid.... loving, obeying, enjoyable to be around, etc. But those bad days make both Derek and I want to rip our hair out. I thank God for those good days, and I hope that we will start seeing more and more of those good days as he gets older!!!!!!