Picture Day At School - September 27, 2012

Wednesday - September 27, 2012
I thought it would be fun if I could take some pictures of the kids before they went to school on picture day.  I had a plan to take their picture with the tree behind them.  The pictures were going to look so nice and professional and it was going to be great.  What ended up happening was.... somehow, I managed to silence my phone so none of my alarms woke me up.  So, we got a late start to our day.  I knew we'd be ready in time, if I just brushed the girls' hair and left it down.  Alissa was upset and didn't want to get out of bed.  She was in her room throwing a fit, while I helped Parker and Brinley find their clothes.  At this point, I still hadn't remembered that it was picture day, so I wasn't too worried.  I brushed Brinley's hair and sent her to find her shoes, and that is the moment that I remembered it was picture day.  I had Brinley come back upstairs so I could do her hair.  she complained about it the whole time.  Alissa was still in her room throwing a fit.  I fed Parker, Brinley and Alissa's Friend, Taleyah a quick breakfast, then it was time to leave.  Alissa still wasn't ready, so I had to leave her and take the others. We barely made it to school on time.  when I realized that I wouldn't be able to take any good pictures, I took a few of them while they were getting ready and eating breakfast.  Parker kept making faces or lifting his shoulders up.  He refused to look normal and smile.  Alissa was out of bed by the time I got home from taking the other kids to school.  I helped her get ready and took some pictures, then got her to school.  She wasn't too late and she didn't miss getting her picture taken.

 After school when Parker came out to the car, he told me that his back hurt.  He showed me his ouchy that he got.  I asked him what happened and he said that his teacher tipped him off of his chair and then the chair scratched his back. 

Parker can be a stinker at school and I know he is sometimes difficult to handle, but that just didn't seem right. Even if he was a stinker, that shouldn't have happened. We know that there are two sides to every story. His teacher has been really wonderful with him and it just didn't seem right. We called the school and asked if we could have a meeting with the principal and his teacher. They were both there and asked if we could come meet with them right then. So we hurried over to the school for the meeting. When we called, we wanted to make sure that we weren't coming to yell and scream about what happened. We couldn't believe that his teacher would actually do that, so we just wanted to find out what really happened and ask about how Parker usually does in school and if there is anything that we can do to help. His teacher explained what had happened and apologized for not sending a note home with him, explaining the situation. Parker had told us that he was sitting on his chair, with his knees up , his head between his knees, his eyes closed, and his fingers in his ears. He said that he didn't want to do what the rest of the class was doing and he didn't want to hear them.  Then his teacher came up  behind him, grabbed the back of his chair and lifted it up so it tipped him off.  Then she pushed the chair and it scratched hi back while he was on the floor.

His teacher said that he was on his chair doing what he had said he was doing, but his chair was in the middle of an isle where the other kids in the class were trying to get past him.  The kids kept telling him to move and they were the ones who tipped him off of his chair.

She said that he does really well in school, it's just at the end of the day, he gets tired and fussy and it's hard to get him to do anything.  She decided that she would give the homework assignments in the morning instead of at the end of class and she wouldn't have any busy work for them at the end of class.  I told her what he does at home to calm down.  He gets upset when there is too much noise and craziness.  He just can't handle it.  At home, he goes to his room and listens to his music to help him calm down.  We decided to burn a copy of his favorite CD and send it to school with him.  If he loses his temper and needs to calm down, she agreed to let him listen to his music.

I'm glad we were able to talk about things and come up with some ideas to help Parker.

Later that evening, his teacher called me to apologize.  She said that she was thinking about it after we left and trying to figure out why Parker had thought that she was the one that hurt him.  She remembered that after he was off of his chair, she tried to push it in, so it wasn't in the isle anymore.  She's pretty sure that is when it scratched his back.  she felt really bad about it and asked me to explain to Parker and let him know that she was really sorry.

At the Pumpkin Patch and Dual of the Schools Walk-a-thon - September 25, 2012

Tuesday - September 25, 2012
I was sitting down stairs at the computer, Roger was sitting on the couch reading about our camera, and the kids were playing outside.  Alissa came running downstairs and said, " Kason's Mom said that if you want to know a place where you can get free pumpkins, come outside and she'll tell you."  I was like, "Really! You can get free pumpkins!" and I followed Alissa outside to find out all about it.  My wonderful neighbor, Shauna, said that she knew somebody who had told her that she could come and get some, they just had to pick them themselves.  She tried to explain where it was.  I wasn't sure where she was talking about.  So, she suggested that she would take us there.  She said that we could go right now if we wanted.  So I hurried home to get Roger.  While were getting ready, our next door neighbor, Kristy was outside.  She decided to come also.  We hoped in our car and went to get our pumpkins.  I was soooo... excited for free pumpkins!  Pinterest has a ton of ideas for decorating pumpkins.  Now we have enough pumpkins to try them.

 Parker picked the biggest pumpkin he could find.  I had to carry it for him.  That means I got to be in the picture with Parker and his pumpkin.

 Playing in a ditch with their friend, Kason.

 I love this family picture!  It is fun.

We went to the Duel of the Schools walk-a-thon.  When we left the pumpkin patch, we realized that it was time for the walk-a-thon, so we hurried over to the track.  Alissa was supposed to get there early, since she is in the student council.  She couldn't find the other student council members, so she felt really bad.  We sat on the bleachers while they made some announcements, then they introduced the student council members.  They all ran out on the track and were throwing water bottles out into the crowd.  Alissa ran down to the track so she could help.  She was glad that she didn't miss out.  She tried to throw a water bottle to Parker and Brinley.  They kept missing it and the people behind them would get it.  They finally managed to catch one.  It was funny to watch.

 At the start of the race, they had the kids line up.  They told them not to go until the lady at the microphone said "go."  The lady kept talking and talking.  The kids were getting really antsy.  The line slowly started moving forward with impatient kids.  She told them to stop going until she said so.  She talked some more, then she said, "Ready, set, oh.... I forgot to say one more thing."  Half of the kids had started running, because "oh" sounds like "go".  It was pretty funny.  the kids all came back and lined up again.  She finally said, "Go!" and the race started.  It was pretty crazy to have the kids line up and make them wait for such a long time.

  Parker started out the walk-a-thon running.  I was impressed at what a fast runner he is.  Alissa started out walking.  Every time I saw her on her first lap, I thought she looked kind of bored.

When I was able to find her in the crowd, everything had changed.  She had found her friend, Erin.  She was much happier and full of energy after finding Erin.  She was walking and dancing to the music.  Parker ended up finding them also.  It's cute that they all were walking holding hands.

 I really like this picture of Alissa.  I love her eyes!  They are the prettiest blue.

 Brinley said that she didn't want to walk at first, so she was sitting next to me.  Then she saw a boy that she likes.  She yelled his name and went running after him.  She walked around for two laps with him.  I kept yelling to Roger to take her picture, but for some reason, he could never find her.  It was crazy, because she would see him and she be right by him yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!" and he still didn't see her.  The next time round, I ran down to Roger and pointed her out, but by the time he saw her, she was starting to walk off of the track and into the stands.  Roger asked her to go back on the track so he could take her picture, then she came and sat with me for a while.

 Alissa was nice and helped to stack all of our pumpkins in front of the house.

Playing Rock band - September 24, 2012

Monday - September 24, 2012
I love playing Rock band with my family.  It's one thing that every single one of us in the family enjoys.  I just have a lot of fond memories of playing Rock band.  I don't usually take pictures because I'm too busy playing the guitar, but I really wanted to post something about it.  So, I took a few pictures when we played it on Sunday.

Roger always plays the drums, because that is what he is best at.  I always play the guitar.  The kids mostly like to play the drums or sing.  We all take turns playing everything.  It is just good fun!

On Sunday, I said my fingers were getting tired, then Roger suggested that we trade. So, I played the drums and he played the guitar. He is really good at the drums and I get frustrated that he always gets a higher score than me when we play. Since he started playing the guitar on Sunday, he has practiced a lot. Now he is better at the guitar than me. How annoying is that! I like that he is a fast learner and he is really good at practically everything, but it also drives me nuts! Sometimes I want to win! So, I told him yesterday that he is not allowed to try cake decorating, sketching, or painting. He has to at least give me that. So I have something that I'm better than him at.

When we play Rock band, we almost always play it in the evening.  Every time, Parker starts out playing with us and by the time we finish, he is always asleep on the couch.  I you notice, he is asleep on the couch in these pictures.


Playing with friends and Hockey - September 22, 2012

 Saturday - September 22, 2012
Josey and Simon came over to be babysat today.  The kids were so excited!  When we lived on the other side of Tremonton, they were our across the street neighbors.  The kids really miss playing with them. Brinley's friend, Kaylie came over to play also.  They spent most of the time playing barbies and playing the Wii.  We went over to play at the park for a little while, that was when I thought to get the camera out.

Parker was really fussy and being a stinker.  He was mad that the girls wouldn't play wipeout with him.  It doesn't sound like a game the girls would have enjoyed.  Parker had a hard time calming down, so we ended up leaving the park earlier than planned.

 Alissa didn't play on the playground.  She was excited for an opportunity to roller blade while listening to the i-pod.  She came tromping across the grass in her roller blades to ask me a question. As she got closer, I took a super duper close up picture.  I love my Alissa.  She is such a cutie!  I feel that way about all my children.  I'm very blessed to have them. 

 Simon went and sat by the wall.  I thought it would make a great picture.  The first picture I snapped, was focused on the wrong person.  The second picture, the focus was right, but Simon was done looking at me.

 Roger had a hockey game tonight.  We love it when his games are on a Saturday.  That is the only time we can go and watch him play.  Here are the kids watching the game.  I don't think Parker sat down once.  He loves to run around and play on the chairs while the game is going.  He stops to watch every now and then, but he doesn't sit down.  Alissa and Brinley also did a lot of running around. Alissa got way more in to the game than she normally does, so that was fun.  There were two teenage girls there that were cheering really loudly and it made the game feel more exciting.  Brinley got really tired toward the end of the game.  she sat by me and kept saying, "I want to go home.  I want Daddy to stop playing so I can hug him."  she's a cutie pie.

 Here is my favorite of all the pictures I took that night.  I love watching Roger play hockey.  After the game, we were waiting outside of the dressing room.  When Roger came out, all the kids cheered, "Daddy! daddy!"  Then, almost at the same time, they all went, "Ewwww...."  That's when they noticed how sweaty Roger was.  It was so funny!

Birthday Party - September 21, 2012

Friday - September 21, 2012
Today is Aunt Kelly's birthday!  She is in Salt Lake for her friend Heather's wedding.  She said that she is too busy with all of the wedding stuff, to be able to visit us.  So, that's a bummer.

I had a busy day.  The kids really didn't want to go to school today.  Alissa got really upset and couldn't calm her self down by the time we were ready to leave.  So, I drove Parker and Brinley to school and came back to help Alissa calm down and get her to school.  She calmed down and asked if she could roller blade to school.  I walked and she roller bladed.  I got her to school.  Luckily, she wasn't too late.

After I got the kids to school, I ate some breakfast.  Then I went to visit with Suzee Deakin.  Her mom passed away recently.  We had a good visit and shed some tears.  I'm glad that we didn't move too far away and that we can easily go and visit our friends from our old neighborhood.

I left Suzee's house at noon and headed to Walmart.  I needed to buy Parker some underwear and pants.  As I was driving, I remembered that today was Mikenna's birthday party, so I decided to stop at Dollar Tree.  I thought that I would just go in and quickly pick 3 to 5 thinks to give her for her birthday.  When I walked in, I noticed they had their Halloween and some Christmas stuff out.  I had to go look!  Basically, my tiny little Dollar store trip ended up being a large one.  I spent $56.00!  How crazy is that!  I should have put stuff back.  I just didn't want to.  Sometimes it feels really good to go out and shop like you would if you had a lot of money.  I guess it's good that I went to the Dollar store.  Had I shopped like that anywhere else, it would have come to a lot more money.

I had to cut my Walmart trip short.  I went to Walmart right after the Dollar store.  Shortly after walking in to the store, I got a phone call from the kids' school.  Parker was having some trouble, so they needed me to go pick him up.  So I had to run through the store and grab only the things that I really needed, then hurry to the school to pick up Parker.  School was going to let out in a half an hour, so I decided to pick up the other two also.  This is the crazy thing..... when the kids got into the car, they started to complain that they didn't want to leave early.  That is funny because just that morning they were complaining that they didn't want to go.

We got invited to Mikenna's Birthday Party!  The kids were really excited to go.  We used to see Mikenna all of the time, because I would babysit her.  Now we don't see her as often.  The kids couldn't wait to see her.  We were also excited about seeing their new house.  We had seen it a couple of times while they were building it, but we hadn't seen it since they finished it.  It was a very nice house!  I loved it!  Below are some of the pictures I took at the party.

Big Mean Bully - September 20, 2012

Thursday - September 20, 2012
There is a crazy lady that lives on the south side of Tremonton.  The primary president asked me to deliver some treats to all the kids in my class, including the inactive ones.  The crazy lady's daughter is in my primary class.  They are inactive, so I had never met them before.  When the primary president asked me to deliver the treats, she seemed extra apologetic.  I didn't think it would be that big of a deal to deliver the treats, so I was confused at why she was so apologetic about it.

So, I went out and delivered the treats.  My first stop was at the crazy lady's house.  Of course, at this time, I had no idea that she was a crazy lady.  I had never met her before.  I walked up to the door and before I could knock, the door opened.  I figured that they had seen me coming and just answered the door before I could knock.  The little girl that opened the door, just happened to be the little girl in my class.  I asked her if she was Vanessa, then I introduced myself as her primary teacher, gave her the treat, said, "Good-bye.", and left.  I continued down the road and delivered the rest of the treats.  Went home and went to bed, feeling so proud of myself for getting that job accomplished.

The next afternoon, I'm walking to the school to pick up the kids, when a neighbor drives up and offers me a ride.  On the way to the school, she tells me that her friend, the crazy lady, is furious with me.  She claims that I came to her house and lured her child out into the driveway and gave her candy.  She is the most upset that I didn't have the common decency to come to her door.  She also said that she almost called the cops on me and that I was lucky that she had a friend over or she would have run outside and ripped me a new one! Now the crazy lady is really mad at me and wants to "talk" to me about the horrible thing I did.

I would have never delivered those primary treats had I known what would happen after.  So, I am really uncomfortable knowing that there is a crazy lady that wants to "talk" to me.  We went to the Safety Fair at North Park Elementary school on the September 17th.  I knew that the crazy lady would be there.  I hoped that she wasn't as crazy as my neighbor made her sound.  But she was!  I was there with my friend Laurie.  I saw the crazy lady, so I told Laurie the story and how the crazy lady wanted to "talk" to me.  I asked her to help me avoid the crazy lady and make sure that we stayed far away from her.  We went to watch a demonstration and we ended up getting too close.  I realized we were standing too close, but the only way out was to walk past her.  So, I tell Alissa to keep up with me,I hold Brinley's hand and tell her we are going to walk fast for a little bit.  Parker was off playing with a friend, so I was going to have to find a way back over to get him.  Anyway, so we walk as quickly as we can past the crazy lady, but she sees us.  She yells, "Hey Jen!"  I look at her and she angrily says, "I need to talk to you."  I started backing as far away from her as I could and I told her no.  I said that I would not talk to her, because she is mad and mean and just wants to yell at me.  She yells, "Why would I be mad at you?  What did you do that was wrong?"  I told her I did nothing wrong, I don't want to talk to her, and please leave me alone.  I was far enough away from her at that point.  She turned around and went back to the demonstration and stood by her friend.  I ran into another friend at that point and I told her all about the crazy lady and my terrifying experience.  She invited me to her house, so I could be safe and not have to deal with crazy lady.  Also, we hadn't visited for awhile, so it would be fun to get caught up with each other.  I thanked her and went to find Parker.  I had to stay hidden from her, so she wouldn't come after me again.  I walked behind a truck, where I could see, without her seeing me.  My friend Laurie had stayed over there and I could see that Laurie and her were yelling at each other and a small crowd was gathering around them.

Laurie said that when crazy lady came back over to her friend, she was calling me all sorts of horrible names and talking a lot of trash about me.  Laurie stood up for me.  I can't remember all of the things that they had said.  Basically, she was getting in Laurie's face, trying to intimidate her.  Laurie didn't back down.  Laurie talked calmly and defended me the whole time.  There were plenty of police officers around, so Laurie knew that crazy lady wouldn't physically attack her.  Crazy lady's friend kept saying, "This is mild for her.  You don't want to see her get really angry!"

The argument ended.  I was able to get to Parker without having another confrontation with crazy lady.  We waited near the back gate of the school for Laurie to meet us.  I kept my eye on crazy lady to make sure she didn't come after me.  She is a really mean, really big lady, so I knew I could out run her.  Her friend, that she had been with, kept pointing looking at me and pointing me out to crazy lady.

I just can't understand how someone could be so horrible and ugly on the inside.  I also feel really frustrated that so many people knew that she was a crazy horrible lady, but nobody warned me about her.  Also, while Laurie and the crazy lady where arguing, the crazy lady said that she had talked to the primary president about the horrible thing I had done and the primary president had agreed with her that what I had done was wrong.  Stupid, huh!  Way to have my back!  So I sent a Facebook message to the primary president and told her what had happened and how the crazy lady came after me at the safety fair.  She apologized for putting me in that situation and said that she would talk to crazy lady and ask her to leave me alone.

Last week, I like living here and I had been thinking about how I hope they will rent to us for another year.  This week, I can't wait to move!  I hate being afraid to go outside.  I went to the store yesterday and I couldn't believe how scared I felt.  I programmed the number to the police station on my phone, so I can call them quickly if she comes after me again.  She clams that she was so concerned about the welfare of her children, that's why she was mad at me, yet she had them with her when she tried to attack me.  We were at the school!  They were a ton of children around and a lot of people that would be impacted by her craziness.

So, there you have it!  I'm extremely stressed out with school and work and now I have to worry about a bully.  I used to walk the kids to and from school everyday.  Now, to be safe, I drive them.  I hate that one person has been able to change my life so much.  I have a ton of stress.  I'm afraid to leave the house.  I have the police station on speed dial.  I can't walk with the kids to school anymore and when I'm outside of the school waiting for them, I'm terrified that I will see her and I spend my time thinking about how I will react if she does show up and come after me.  Why are there such horrible people out there!?!  Why do I have to be her target!?!

Redneck Waterbed - September 15, 2012

Saturday - September 15, 2012

 At the end of the week, Cousin, Missy, came to visit!  We introduced her to the bubble.  She liked it, but wasn't has excited about it as I was.  I thought it would be fun to turn the bubble into a redneck water bed while she was here.  It was exciting to watch it fill up.  I couldn't wait to see how it would look.  Parker and Brin couldn't either.

 We watched an episode of 'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' before we came out to play.  So, we all chose funny nick names to go by while we were out playing.  I love doing dorky stuff like that.

 Brinley stepped in dog poop!  She was not happy about it!  She especially didn't like that we took pictures of her while this was happening.

 Just relaxing on the water bed.  Our neighbors, Sydney, Kason, and Ty came to play with us.

 I was relaxing on the bed.  It felt soo.... nice!  It was a little hot outside and the water bed was cold.  I loved it.  I rolled over on to my back and Roger came over and pretended he was going to fall on me.  He was hovering over me, when he said, "Oh No!  The water bed is going to break!"  Then he punched his hand into it and held me down while the water soaked me!  Crazy Husband!  It was soooo.... cold!  But it was also funny.  We were surprised at how it got me completely soaked.  The kids had sooo... much fun playing on it after it was popped.  The water didn't all just come spilling out.  It stayed on top.  It was so much fun to jump and play on!  the next door neighbor, Kalie and her brother, saw the fun and came running over.

 Here is a video of our bubble fun and red neck water bed fun.