yellow stripe super star....

After lots of hardwork and practice, Charlie earned his yellow striped belt at tae kwon do! (on 9/21/10) He had to perform a series of kicks for Master AJ in order to earn it. It took him a few tries and then he did it perfectly. He was SO proud of himself. Right when class was over he insisted on calling daddy and GG to let them know of his accomplishment. I loved seeing him learn that he will get rewarded for his hard work and the sense of pride beaming from his entire little body.



Of course we had to celebrate with some frozen yogurt. Luckily there is a cute little yogurt shop right next door to the tae know do studio called Menchie's. Charlie picked green apple tart yogurt with nerds and strawberries for the toppings.



Good job Charlie. We are so proud of you buddy!

fair days...

Last weekend we went to check out the Utah State Fair. It is kind of weird to go to a different fair. We didn't know where anything was and we kind of missed our familiar little ol' Idaho fair. It was hot and windy, so by the end of the day we were all sticky and covered in dirt.

The boys didn't care though. They got to ride the rides and eat fair food so they were happy as ever.

Cannon was not thrilled that he was banished to the stroller for most of the time. But little mr. curious just could not be trusted!

The ferris wheel was the one thing that Charlie just had to do at the fair. He talked about it all week.

We will see you again next year!

lately....

I have been avoiding anything to do with blogging, picture-taking or scrapbooking.

We decided it was time to move Cannon out of the closet and in to Charlie's room. The room is pretty small so we got some bunkbeds. I can't believe we moved Cannon out of his crib already, are we crazy? He is actually doing great. It takes a little longer to get him to sleep because he thinks it is pretty cool that he can get out of his bed now. Once he is asleep, he is sleeping through the night and both he and Charlie are doing awesome with it all.

Because of this move I am doing some redecorating in their room, including lots of furniture painting and toy organizing/purging. Hence, the avoidance of blogging, picture-taking and scrapbooking.

I finished up the first term of my paralegal program and got A's in both of my classes. I am taking four classes this term and am not too thrilled with my american history class or my written communication class. Can you say b-o-r-i-n-g?

In one month, Cannon will be two years old.

Today at taekwondo one of the other mothers came over to me and said "I just wanted to tell you that I think Charlie is just the sweetest kid. I just smile as I watch him and I wish I could just give him a little hug. He is absolutely amazing." It made me tear up a little. How kind of her to take the time to say that. I love that Charlie's sweet spirit just spills out of him and even complete strangers notice it right away.

Cannon is having a hard time understanding that I can't (and won't) drop everything I am in the middle of to help him right.this.very.second. We are definitely working on patience around here.

When Charlie gets off the bus he flashes the biggest smile and waves like crazy when he sees me. I cherish it every time because I know it probably won't last forever.

I am hoping somebody will call soon about our ad on craigslist for the crib and changing table. I am not too sad about getting rid of it. Maybe I would be if we didn't live in a tiny apartment right now. But we do. And I could really use the extra space they are currently occupying right now.

Looking forward to fall. And pumpkins. And changing leaves. And little boys dressed in halloween costumes. And celebrating Mr. Cannon's birthday.

The neighborhood park had hundred's of flags set up last weekend for a 9/11 memorial. It looked pretty amazing.






Excuse me now while I go back to furniture painting. Anybody wanna help? :)

bus update....

Thank-you all so, so much for your comments on our bus fiasco. It is so nice to hear all your thoughts and about your experiences. I feel so new at this "being a mom with a kid in school" thing. I truly have the greatest friends! :)

After chatting with Charlie about the bus, we decided to try to get this thing worked out. He said that he really wants to ride it so I told him we had to make sure it was safe first. I keep thinking about how he wasn't really scared when I found him at the wrong stop. At first I was relieved because I didn't want him to be upset, but then I became concerned that he didn't seem to notice that he was in danger. I don't want him to be scared all the time but I do want him to know when something isn't right. I am trying to figure that part out without making him feel like he should be in fear whenever I am not around.

Anyway, I have had quite a few conversations with the transportation department and the school. I will say that nobody I have spoken with has really shown the level of concern about the situation that I would expect. I was surprised to see this especially after what I have heard from all of you guys that commented about this. Charlie did ride the bus on Thursday and Friday and it went okay. Since there were substitutes both days I just made sure to get ahold of the dispatcher on both days and let them know that Charlie was on the bus and that the driver was not allowed to get off until he saw me at his stop. It went fine and Charlie was happy.

There are still some major concerns that I am sorting through right now though. The bus has been 20-25 minutes late at pick-up and drop-off every time. The school promised they would call me back on Friday with some information and they never did. I am concerned that there is a new substitute driver every day.

At this point I do feel okay about Charlie riding the bus, it has just become a lot more work than I expected. Honestly, I am just so dissapointed with his school and I am currently writing an e-mail to his teacher and principal about my concerns. My problems are more than just the bus situation and I am afraid my fears of sending Charlie to public school may be coming true.

When they say that parenting just keeps getting harder as your kids get older, it is so completely true.

Here is Charlie waiting for the bus on Friday morning.
I was laughing when I uploaded this picture to my computer. I didn't really notice it at the time, but you can see below that Charlie is our little rule follower. I had told him to stay on the sidewalk and he never budged. I am sure he was just dying inside that the other kids were in the street. Not that he wanted to be in the street or anything, but because he is all about safety.

i hate the bus....

We had no problems last year when Charlie rode the bus to preschool. I suppose that is because they picked him up and dropped him off right in front of our building. And they actually arrived when they said they would. So, I didn't even think twice about Charlie riding it again this year. I would rather not deal with all the chaos at the school doing the drop off and pick up.

Yesterday was the first day to ride it. The bus was supposed to come at 7:50 so we got there about 10 minutes early just to be safe. The stop is at the entrance of our community and is definitely too far for Charlie to walk to alone. We waited over 20 minutes and never saw the bus. So I loaded up the kids and drove him to school. I called later that afternoon to find out what happened and was told they changed the pick-up time to 7:36. Thanks for telling us!

Then I go to pick him up yesterday afternoon at 3:15. It was 3:25 and still no bus. I get a call from the school letting me know that Charlie is on the bus, but he freaked out after school and was afraid to get on the bus. She said he was very upset and practically hyperventilating. Poor guy. I was so surprised because he LOVED the bus last year. The bus finally pulls up about 3:40. It was 25 minutes late because of Charlie's little freak out. He is calmed down and looks at me like nothing ever happened.

This morning I make sure to get to the stop by 7:30. I wanted to talk to the driver to be sure there is someone to help the kids when they get off since he probably didn't know where he was going. It is a substitute driver and he doesn't seem to care what I am saying. I load him up on the bus and pray for the best.

This is where I lose it. The bus pulls up this afternoon at 3:20 and I am waiting to see Charlie's spikey-haired little head come down the steps and I don't see him. I walk up and ask the driver where he is. She says "Oh he got off at the last stop, sorry." Um. Are you KIDDING me? I explain that he is only five and he has no idea where to go. She just looks at me and says "Are you going to be okay?". I ran to my car to drive to the previous stop. I am looking around everywhere and I don't see him. I asked the mail carrier if she had seen him and she said a bunch of kids had just gotten off but she didn't know where they went. I continued to drive around another 5 minutes and I am beginning to freak out. Where in the world could he have gone? I call Eric and just as he picks up I see Charlie out of the corner of my eye walking around with another little boy. He is just fine and he calmly says "Hey mom. I couldn't find you." I was so glad that he was not upset. I was worried he was going to be freaking out (like I was!)

I am just so upset and frustrated right now and don't know what to do. I am sure that this will eventually get worked out and it won't continue to be total drama everyday. The regular driver should be back soon and we would get into a routine. But I am not feeling comfortable with this bus system right now and wonder if I should go with my instinct and drive him to school for a while. I don't know. What would you do?

we have a kindergartener in the house...

Well, the day is finally here. Charlie started kindergarten today. He was so ready for this and he woke up very excited this morning. When I went in to wake him up, I told him it was time to get ready for school and he quickly started to shed his pajamas saying "I cannot be late for my very first day of school!" I had originally laid out shorts for him to wear, but it was a chilly morning and we decided to switch to pants.

Cannon is thinking about how he feels about all this school stuff going on....
Nope, he doesn't like it one bit!
Right after taking these photos it began to pour so we ran inside, grabbed some jackets and then headed out to school. He is going to ride the bus normally, but of course I wanted to bring him on his first day.

He quickly found his seat and gave me the thumbs up letting me know that everything was going to be okay. I had expected to be a little more emotional today, but I think I know deep down that he is more than ready for this and he is going to do so great. Makes my mama heart happy.

We were all up and ready, dropped Charlie off, got some groceries and were home by 9am. I am so not used to these early mornings. I am also pretty sure we were the only ones at Walmart under the age of 65. I was thinking I should make it a habit to go so early because the store was so empty (well, besides all the senior citizens of course). That is until we got to the checkout and they only had ONE lane open. And I don't think the clerk was very happy to be there.

I had been wondering what Cannon was going to do without Charlie around. He pretty much stuck by me all day. Occasionally, he would wander into Charlie's room looking for him. When he couldn't find him he would come find me again. Don't get me wrong. These two don't really play together (unless you count yelling and screaming at each other as playing). They still really don't even seem to like each other all that much. I am sure Cannon just noticed that he was missing, and probably wondering why he was stuck home with boring ol' mom.

We played, ate lunch, cleaned up a little bit and then got a special present ready for Charlie for when he got home. He has been saving for the lego beach house for a while and had about half saved, so I kicked in the other half to surprise him with it. Just a little gift to let him know how proud of him we are and reinforce what a special day it was.

Charlie was pretty quiet when we first picked him up. I expected that. He is usually an observer at first when he is put in a new situation. He told me he had a great time. They learned about math, had goldfish crackers for snack, he loved the spongebob stickers I put on his sandwich bag and it rained at recess. Those were the highlights. I asked him if he was excited to go back tomorrow and he said "What?? I get to go back tomorrow? Awesome!" Sigh. I am so glad to hear that.
And of course the lego surprise was a big hit. Now it is time to hit the sack so we can do it all over again tomorrow.

cannon at 21 months....

(Okay, so I know he is 22 1/2 months now, but I did write these down when he was 21 months. Just wanted to get this posted on the blog so I have record of it here.)

Cannon has turned into quite the big boy these last few months. He is crazy, adventurous, curious and most definitely a handful!

A few things about you at 21 months:

- You have 16 teeth - all 4 of your incisors have finally broken through. 2 of them are still hard to see, but they are definitely there. I am so glad we are almost done with this teething business.

- You have become a little chatterbox. You are talking and repeating a lot more these past few weeks. You probably have around 25-30 words in your vocabulary now including mama, dada, cha-wee, doggie, apple, drink, cup, milk, more, ball, book, elmo, spongebob, up, car, lego (wego), cereal (cer-e-o), gigi, gpa, chair, light, blankie, block, shoes, nose, feet, toes and night-night.

- You have been sleeping much better lately. You go to bed between 7:30-8:00pm and wake up between 6:30-7:00am. You usally take a 1.5-2 hour nap at 1:00. You are much happier when you stay on schedule (and so am I!) You love your blanket and cannot sleep without it.

- You are wearing 18-24 month clothing and size 4 diapers.

- You are still a pretty picky eater and will hate something one day and then love it the next. You love milk, cereal and bananas. Everything else is pretty much day-by-day.

- You are finally showing an interest in books. You love to rip them all off the bookshelf and then bring them to me one by one so we can look through the pictures. You think every animal is a "doggie" and every little blonde boy is "Chawee".

- You call McDonald's "da-ways" and everytime we drive by one you scream excitedly from the backseat "da-ways! da-ways!"

- You love the Lagoon commercial. Everytime it comes on you stop what you are doing and dance around the living room. You also still love the Lion King CD and sing at the top of your lungs to all the songs.

You are so much fun and you make me laugh everyday. I am so glad I get to spend my days with you and your brother.