Pre-Christmas

I thought I'd post some photos of our pre-Christmas activities!

Sam was in his first school program, the "Peppermint Parade". He spent a lot of time practicing his songs at home (the laundry basket was his "stage"). At the end of the song he would jump off the basket, bow, and say "thank you!" He was a little bit shyer at the actual program. He also had his last day of school this week (ending his first "semester"). So, we finished the way we started...with chocolate chip pancakes! Last weekend he also got to eat breakfast with Santa - quite a big deal for a 3 year old.

Anna, as you can see, got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time. I don't think she told him what she wanted, though, so he'll just have to guess on Christmas Eve! Here are also two pictures of her favorite activites...playing on the kitchen floor and feeding herself.

Merry Christmas, and more photos next week!

What's new? Not much...

There isn't too much new going on right now, but I realized I haven't posted here in several weeks! I'm trying to slog through my end-of-semester grading. I have about 65 students (all graduate level) and they all turned in their major course papers/projects last week. As soon as I'm done with this I'm not going to look at my computer for a week! (And, I'll probably need to spend some quality time with my kids since they've been with babysitters all week!)

But, I have spent enough time with them to report some new things. Anna is having a particularly eventful last few days (for a 9 month old!) She has never been too excited about rolling, trying to crawl etc., but she has been spending a lot more time doing these things. The other day she had a great time scooting herself across the slippery wood floor in the dining room. The days of sitting her with some toys to play are quickly coming to a close, I think! She also just learned how to feed herself food as well as imitate clapping her hands when someone else is clapping. Yes, in the grand scheme of things these are pretty small occurances, but when just a few months ago she couldn't even hold up her head or focus her eyes, these are major accomplishments!

Okay, back to grading...

Halloween

I just love Halloween. It is a toss-up whether it or the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. But, now with kids, Halloween is pulling into the lead! (As a side note, I think I like these holidays because the expectations and requirements are pretty low. They aren't stressful holidays, just fun ones!)

Sam and Anna were both pumpkins this year. Anna already had her costume (a hand-me-down). When Sam saw it, he decided that he needed to be a pumpkin too. As it is harder to find a pumpkin to fit a 3-year-old, I made my own. Making my own costume was always one of my very favorite parts of Halloween as a kid, and I had just as much fun as an adult! I noticed that very few kids do have homemade costumes anymore, so this just further solidifed my decision to make my own!

On Friday Sam had a party for his preschool. Then, in the evening, we went to the university where they had various groups giving out candy, decorating cookies, playing games etc. A little bragging here...but my kids were like celebrities! All sorts of people asked to take their picture. I think it was because they had matching outfits, but I'm going to think it was just because they were so cute!

On Saturday we did the traditional nighttime trick-or-treating. Now, I know this is somewhat falling by the wayside, but it is a tradition I firmly want to keep in place! I had a great time doing it, and in a place like Laramie, it really is safe. I asked Sam in the middle of trick-or-treating if he thought this was the greatest holiday. He said yes, then waffled on maybe choosing Christmas...I guess I can't imprint all my preferences on my kids! :)

More Pictures

Running a Marathon - figuratively and literally

No one gets quite the smiles that Daddy does...

We are just plugging along here in the Kaiser household. Last weekend we all took a trip to Denver. Steve ran his first marathon...and did very well! He finished in about 4 hours and was in the top 25% of finishers. He said the actual marathon itself was difficult, but not impossible. But, the next 2-3 days were not too fun. You should have seen him trying to get out of bed or a chair! We are all incredibly proud of him, though. That is a huge accomplishment that very few people even undertake. He's not sure if he'll run another one...time will tell.

While we were in Denver we took the kids to the zoo, which is always fun. There was also a big fair with food, games, giveaways etc. at the marathon, so we enjoyed that while Steve was running. I'm terribly happy one of the giveaways was cowbells. There is nothing like hearing that sound in your house all day! We ate at one of those "hibachi grill" restaurants where they chop up and cook your food in front of you, often resulting in big flames. That kept the 7-month old entertained! On the way home we found a pumpkin patch and picked up a couple to carve this coming weekend. Finally, we also stayed in a hotel right downtown (just two blocks from the marathon start/finish line). Our room was on the 15th floor and Sam got to sleep on a fold-out sofa bed in an attached living room area. So, out of all of these things we packed into two days, when we asked Sam when we got home which was his favorite, what do you think he said? Staying in a hotel! Seriously, we could have just gotten a room at the Days Inn down the road for the night and saved a lot of effort! :)

In addition to trips to Denver, I have been extra busy with teaching this fall. I am teaching three classes for Colorado State University (it was only supposed to be two, but enrollment in one was very high and they split the class. When the economy tanks, people go back to school...good for me!) Then, for Regis University I just finished my first 8 week term and am beginning my second term. The first term I had six students and this term I have 15! My family has all been wonderful about pitching in and babysitting, but I sometimes feel like all I do is wonder when I'll have 20 more minutes of free time so I can jump on the computer and grade a paper or respond to a student. We'll see what happens with all of this down the road...

I've also discovered what those of you who are parents of school-aged children already know...having your kid in school means work for the parent! Sam is only in preschool but I spent several evenings last week making bows to put on Christmas wreaths his school is selling for a fundraiser. If you know me at all, crafty things are NOT my forte. So, I think I might have to volunteer to buy all of the wreaths with my bows to spare others from my handiwork! Steve was laughing at me when I was making the bows..."I never thought you'd be the mommy sitting at home making things for your kids' school!" Me neither... Oh well, at least having an activity gives me a good reason to drink a glass of wine and watch TV at night.

Did I Miss Autumn?

Grandma, Papa, and four of their five grandkids!

On Monday of this week (September 21 -first day of Autumn) we woke up to snow on the ground! I'd been prepared for cold and had covered my flowers, tomatoes etc. the night before, but I didn't expect snow! Coincidentally, the day before Sam had asked if he could have some hot chocolate. I told him when we had our first snowstorm, he could have some. Well, imagine his delight when he came running into our room the next morning telling us, "Winter is here!" followed in the same breath by, "Can I have hot chocolate now?"

Beyond the hot chocolate, Sam had a fantastic time building (and hugging, as you can see) snowmen. We rarely have snow that is nice and wet, so these were the first real snowmen he has ever been able to make. He made a mommy, daddy, Sam and Anna. The "daddy" snowman has a jalapeno pepper for a nose because we were out of carrots, and he though a "hot pepper" was appropriate for daddy! Anna didn't think hanging out in the cold was quite as fun...maybe that is something reserved for those who can walk and know how to use their thumbs...

And, as an update, we are back to mid-60's for our temperature. It was just a weird start to the week!

Aside from snow, we also got to take an emergency trip to the dentist this week. Sam fell off a chair and hit his mouth on the ground. After the blood subsided he had a fat lip and some very red gums. Luckily, the dentist told us everything was fine, but I keep telling myself that I've got a boy and this is just the tip of the iceberg! Our dentist is in Cheyenne, so I thought I'd do a little shopping while I was there. I, quite literally, have one pair of non-sweatpant pants that still fit me after being pregnant with Anna. Even with my mother along to help wrangle the kids, it was a crazy shopping trip. I tried on (I am not exaggerating here) 10 pairs of jeans in 7 minutes. Two came home with me but I'm sure when I try them on again I might think, "Hmmm, I thought these looked good?" And, there is nothing quite like trying to decide which shoe size fits best when one child is running through the aisles yelling that he has to go potty and the other is screaming for milk! I think my next shopping trip will be in about 4 years.

Finally, Anna had her first swimming lessons this week (no pictures...hopefully next time). She enjoyed splashing around, floating on her back, "jumping" off the wall...all the things you should enjoy when you are six months old!

Milestones

First day of school!

Chocolate chip pancakes help you get through the school day...

Both Sam and Anna had milestones last week. Of course, when you're 3 years old and 5 months old those milestones differ greatly!

Anna had her first taste of anything besides milk...yes the much anticipated first bite of rice cereal! We always get so excited for babies to have their first solid food, and then we feed them something that tastes and has the consistency of glue. How excited should we expect them to be? In any case, she did eat a small bowl of cereal without too much complaint, and has continued to eat for the past week or so. At 6 months we'll move to other, more interesting foods, and then the real fun begins! Cross your fingers for a baby who thinks peas are tasty...

Sam started preschool last week. He has never been in daycare, and the only children he has spent any significant time with have been his cousins, so this was a major change for him! He only goes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so we are easing into the process. Everyone has asked him over the past week "how was preschool?" and "how did you like preschool?" and they've received answers like "fine" or "I don't know". As his mother, I immediately realized that I couldn't be that open ended. So, I've gotten great answers to questions like, "what kind of food did you pretend to cook in the kitchen?" and "can you sing me the song you learned in class today?" We've had quite long conversations, and I love them! Those who are parents will likely recognize this sentiment, but there was nothing stranger than when I pulled away from school the first day. He was out on the playground, standing next to his teacher and just kind of looking around. My little boy is growing up! How exciting! How sad! What do I do now?

8 Years

Daddy kisses...

A baby not quite ready for the high chair

There was a hot spring pool under that teepee!

Steve and I celebrated our eight year anniversary last week (August 4). We always take a little trip around our anniversary. The two years we've had infants have resulted in a modified trip, but we still have fun!

This year we (including Anna) went to Saratoga, WY. The drive there is really nice - over the Snowy Range. On our way home we saw several cars stopped on the side of the road. Steve, EMT that he is, immediately thought that there had been an accident. Leann immediately thought there must be some interesting wildlife. It turns out Leann was right! There were 5 (maybe 6) bull moose just 20 yards or so from the side of the road. I only got two of them in the picture, because after living in Wyoming for most of our lives, we were smart enough to not get out of the car, resulting in personal safety but a poorer photo op.

Steve and I enjoy thinking back to the anniversary trips we've taken over the past eight years, and I thought it might be fun to post those here. We take turns each year planning the trip. Can you guess which are mine and which are Steve's? :)

Year 1: Lake Metigoshe State Park (ND)

Year 2: Minneapolis

Year 3: Teddy Roosevelt National Park/Medora, ND

Year 4: Breckenridge, CO

Year 5: Lander, WY (yes, a year with an infant!)

Year 6: Bear Lake, UT

Year 7: Yellowstone National Park

Year 8: Saratoga, WY

My Life as a Rock Star

I found this in a magazine and just loved it. I have it up on my refrigerator. (I don't know the copyright rules for blogs, but let's assume that Melinda Coats does not have time to troll blog sites looking for people posting her work...)

"My Life as a Rock Star" by Melinda Coats

I live the life of a rock star. It's true! I have wild hair and make-up with frequent costume changes.

Everywhere I go I have an entourage. People are constantly yelling my name. I look out into the crowd and they're actually crying for me, reaching for me.

I have no privacy. I'm watched when I shower, when I'm cooking, even when I use the restroom...for my own protection, I'm sure.

When I go places I must do so quickly before my fans get out of control and start a riot. Every night a different guy wants to sleep with me. Each of them seems genuinely hurt when I turn him away.

Occassionally I get dirty undergarments whirled at me with a whoop and a smile. It's even hard sometimes to walk through my own home without someone spotting me and trying to grab my legs or clothing.

Oh, and dont' forget about the stalkers! You know those crazed fans that follow you everywhere? Why, I can't even talk on the phone in the pantry without an eye or two peeping in at me.

Yes, it's true - I live the life of a rock star. And this goes out to my biggest fans (sub, Anna and Sam) - thanks for making my debut so special!

Diversity Day

What does "diversity" mean? Well, let's take a look at one day in my life:

• Up at 5:45 am to feed a 4 month old baby
• At 6:30 am 3 year old crawls into bed with me and asks what stuffed animals I like to sleep with at night. Awwww...then procedes to jump on bed and wakes up sleeping baby.
• Have conversation with husband about marathon training after he returns from 10 mile morning run. Feel terribly lazy and inadequate, despite the fact that I was up and out of bed 4 times the past night.
• Grandma arrives at 9 am to help take care of 3 year old and baby.
• I run to the computer to create a syllabus and some grading rubrics for a graduate level reseach class I'll be teaching in a month.
• Receive email from a woman I'll be working with this weekend to teach a class in Fort Collins. Oh crap! I need to prepare for that class!
• Feed hungry baby, again.
• Back to email.
• Take children to McDonald's for lunch to celebrate successfully using the toilet. Realize nothing on their menu is really fit for adult consumption.
• Play peek-a-boo with 3 month old while trying to counsel a student over the phone on how to apply to a PhD program (yes, both simultaneously).
• Hungry baby...
• Naptime for everyone 3 years old and under. I may have eaten my own lunch in there somewhere.
• Back to the grading rubrics.
• Talk to husband on phone.
• Change and clean poopy underwear...so much for the potty success of yesterday.
• Take garden tour with 3 year old...we find tomatoes and basil and decide to make homemade pizza with homemade tomato sauce using herbs from the garden. Eat shelled peas on the deck. I love my garden!
• Hungry baby (see a pattern here?)
• Get praised by 3 year old and husband for pizza - yea!
• Crazy bath and bed time routine.
• Back to the computer to plan class for this Saturday. I wonder if what I'm putting together is even coherent by this time of day. I also wonder what it would be like to sit down and work for a couple of hours at a time on my job...I remember the days when I had a nice 9-5 work schedule...
• Attempt to set up babysitters so that husband and I can have a dinner out for our anniversary and a short trip to Saratoga next week.
• See emails from students needing me to review their work. Decide to put that off until tomorrow, although I have a strict policy of getting back to students within 24 hours. But, I think feedback that is written in cohesive English is probably better than what I'd produce right now!
• Sit down on couch with husband and he asks me what show would keep me awake. I laugh at that and promptly fall asleep (it's 8:45 pm).
• Wake up at 9:00 pm when baby cries. Decide she's had enough coddling and let her fuss a bit. Miraculously she goes back to sleep quickly.
• Drag self off couch and decide after this day I only have about 20 seconds of energy left. That 20 seconds goes toward brushing teeth...contacts will just have to stay dirty.
• Last 5 seconds of concsiousness is dedicated to a prayer that the baby sleeps at least until midnight...zzzzz

And, the craziest thing about all this is, I really had a good day!

I'm trained out

So, I'm new to this blog thing and I thought about not making this post. Then, I decided that this is my blog and posting my thoughts is kind of the point!

That being said, I am tired of "training". Sam is in the middle of potty training. I honestly had no idea how much of my day would revolve around cleaning up messes on floors, in underwear etc. once we started this process. I'm trying to be very positive and upbeat so Sam doesn't get discouraged, but after my third load of laundry and fourth time cleaning the floor for the day, it isn't easy!

And, as I mentioned in my last post, Anna isn't the world's greatest sleeper. Mind you, Sam completely spoiled me in this category since he started sleeping 12 hours straight at night by 2 1/2 months and has always been a great napper. But, Anna is still waking up every 3 hours at night, sometimes more. So, I'm working on also "training" her to sleep better. I have no idea if anything I'm doing will work, but the thing I do know is that it leaves me nice and sleep deprived!

Then, to add to the training woes, I am also in the process of "training" to work as a faculty member at Regis University. While I hope this will be a positive thing, the process is time-consuming and I now have two different institutions (Colorado State University and Regis) to prepare fall classes for. Maybe I'll get that prep done at 2 am when Anna is up...

On a happy note, we are in the BEST part of summer right now. Days are warm, the afternoon rain showers have stopped and Sam wants to spend all day in the back yard. Perfect!

Hello again...

Look at me! It's over a month later and I'm finally doing another blog post! At this rate, my blog will never become an internet sensation... But, to be fair, I do have 19 students in my class this summer who have all created blogs for an assignment. Keeping up with all of those has pretty much sapped my blog energy!

We are LOVING summer currently. Summer doesn't arrive in Laramie until mid-June, but once it does, the days are perfect. Sam has become my apprentice gardener. He has three flower pots that are all his...he chose the flowers at the greenhouse, he waters them, deadheads the flowers etc. He also knows the names of most of the flowers in our yard. We're not just talking about petunias and pansies here, but things like calendula, gallardia, and yarrow! He told me the other day that I "grow really pretty flowers". What a pround mommy/gardener moment that was for me!

Anna's second favorite spot to be (after her swing in the dining room) is sitting in her car seat on the deck. Granted, she is not a great sleeper, but at least she lets me eat and play outside a bit! You can't have it all. :)

Testing, testing

I've enjoyed reading the blogs of several family and friends, and decided maybe it was time to start up my own. I can't guarantee how often I'll actually get updates posted, since the limited computer time Sam and Anna allow me is dedicated to teaching my classes...but I'll try my best!

Just a quick explanation on the blog title: Sam has always been my "bug". He even tells people to only call him "Sammy", but that I can call him bug! Anna was born so tiny that I called her my munchkin. I think she needs a nickname too, so the name may stick!