Eads Family Update

Our Little Reader

Jeffrey has known all of his letters and sounds for some time now. I would love to take all the credit for this, but it's honestly due in part to SuperWhy!, Starfall, and various other learning apps on my phone/iPod.  He is a sponge and I have loved watching his love of learning grow and grow.  He loves spelling things (real and not real) and I have found him several times sounding out words at the store and on signs.  

So I grabbed the little readers from our Kindgergarten curriculum and instead of reading books to him, he read to me.  He was SO proud.  He read all the way through this whole stack with ease and begged to do more.  When I tried leaving them on his shelf, he asked that I take them downstairs so that he could read them with Daddy before Maryn's house.  We are so proud of our little boy. What a fun milestone for all of us.

Dinner and a Walk

With Nana still at Autie's house, we took advantage of my dad's inability to cook and met him at Red Robin. Jeffrey was super excited about this and even more excited when Poppi agreed to get a MudPie.  Poppi taught Jeffrey how to play TicTacToe and they played lots of games while we were waiting for our food.

Jeremiah took Jeffrey for an "adventure" and I went on a walk with my dad.  He suggested the Delta Ponds - it was PERFECT.  I had never been along that trail before and we had a great, leisurely stroll.  I had Juliet on my back and she babbled along with us and it was nice to have some time with my dad.

  

Such a beautiful night.  I can't wait to bring Jeffrey back there.  He will love it.

Butte + Eclipse

There was an Annular Solar Eclipse tonight.  With the heavy cloud cover we had, I thought it would be fun to try and view the eclipse from the top of the Butte. Plus, we had never been up the Butte as a family and I thought Jeffrey would love to go on this hike.  It was a very successful endeavor.  We got started way later than I had hoped, so we missed the best part of the eclipse, but a man let us borrow his glasses and Jeffrey got to look through. The hike down was a little rough with baby on my back and Jeremiah touching Jeffrey's sunburn making him cry hysterically and Jeffrey feeling like he was sliding at times, but other than that, it was a very successful trip and Jeffrey cannot wait to do another hike again. 

  

  

 

We didn't stay up on the summit very long because I started worrying that we wouldn't be able to keep Juliet from looking at the eclipse while strapped to my back.  She kept turning to look around and I was a little stressed about this.

We met Poppi at Dairy Queen afterwards.  Jeffrey ate more than he has ever eaten there.  It was quite impressive. By the time we got home, got showers (there was poison oak EVERYWHERE), and got the kids in bed it was after 10:00.  Have I mentioned how excited I am about summer coming soon?!

Planting Darby's Garden

We were invited to help Darby and Darrell plant their garden. Understand by "garden" we mean 60' x 120'rectangle of tilled ground.  This is no small set of raised beds. Jeffrey couldn't even believe such a fun thing was happening.  He said, "Mama, I cannot even believe that. That is not the truth." To find out that Jamie was going with us was almost too much for his little being to bear.

We dug holes, planted seeds and starts, filled holes, watered, and raked.  Jeffrey helped plant peppers, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, corn, broccoli, and cauliflower.  I explained that when you are on a farm, it's okay to get dirty (you're supposed to, right?) and he did just that.  He was FILTHY. He had such a good time helping plant and most of all watering.  This boy and water ... I tell you what. 

We had a picnic lunch and got some time to talk to the Randalls and even play in the sandbox. Juliet sat in the grass and supervised for most of the time, but was able to take a nap also. Jeffrey can't wait to go back to check on "his" vegetables.  It will be so fun to go out there throughout the summer and watch our harvest grow.

  

  

  

I love that Jeffrey has the opportunity to help out on the farm.  I value the lessons it teaches and the experiences it gives him.  I can't wait to spend more time with him out there this summer.

 

A Week in Review

We had a busy, weird, crazy but sunshine-y week.  We spent a lot of time outside - the weather has been so beautiful. I'm very much looking forward to summer.  I'm losing motivation to get up, go to work, do housework ... basically anything but be outside or play with the kids.

Monday the kids were with Nana. She switched with Jeremiah since she left for my sister's on Thursday (her normal day). Unfortunately, Jeffrey had another CVS attack and spent his afternoon crying, barfing, and snuggling Nana.  Poor baby.  I hate these days so much.

I skipped my EEA meeting so I could get him home right away. I'm so thankful for my mom who took such great care of him.  Ugh, it's so heartbreaking watching him go through this and be totally helpless.

Tuesday I had a half-day meeting with Corianne and I begged pleaded asked if we could have it at a coffee shop instead of at school. She graciously said yes and we spent the afternoon planning for next year while sitting in the sun.  So great.

 I left Vero and went to get the kids as fast as I could so that I could meet Julie at the Secret Park.  She is taking a child development class and has to observe and report on a child between the ages of 0-4 and 4-8, so she asked to borrow my kids.  She brought her grown-up girls and Jeffrey had a fantastic time playing and running around the park.  Pretty great way to get an assignment done.  I was glad we could help.

  

Wednesday, I had an IEP meeting at 2:30 and left the minute it was over to go take advantage of the sun for another day.  Jeffrey chose the 'Park by Nana's House' and off we went.  Another great afternoon.

  

Thursday was the weirdest day at work. I try to remember that emotions/stress are high right now but it still doesn't always explain people's behavior.  I was called in at the end of the day to cover for a teacher who had walked off the job (whhaaaaaa???) and other issues had popped up that were just odd.  Needless to say, I was quite happy to be leaving to get the kids. Jeffrey chose the park by Rhonda's house.  I had never been to this park, so it was fun to visit a new place! It certainly isn't a new park but I love finding new-to-me, fun places to put on the list.

  

Friday, Jeffrey declared that he wanted Jamba for dinner and that was it.  Both of the kids have been SO congested with allergies that a smoothie sounded easy and perfect and I took the kids to pick them up.  Before I even had time to get Juliet out of the car, I looked up to see Jeffrey engaged in this:

He was pretty excited he could blend the smoothie. Our trip to Jamba was a total fiasco with them forgetting to make the smoothies I called in, getting the order wrong, etc. But at least I got two free smoothies out of it!

Today we went out to help plant Darby's garden. That will have to be a post for another day. I'm looking forward to the last 5-day week of teaching. The countdown has begun ...

MILESTONE UPDATE: Juliet pulled herself up to standing in the pak-n-play during her naptime. I came in the room to try and sneak something out and looked up to see her standing (quite proudly) staring at me.  Silly girl. She has expanded her animal noises to monkey and elephant and does them all the time. With hand motions and everything.  SO CUTE.  Jeffrey is now no longer wearing pull-ups at night.  With this kid sleeping 12-14 hours at a time, I worry, but he is big now and is so so so excited to be in underoos ALL THE TIME! It's crazy how fast they grow.

A Week In The Life: Mother's Day

Today wraps up my Week in the Life. What a fun week of celebrating to document! Today was no less celebratory and I end this week feeling so spoiled and so loved and so appreciated.  My day started a little later today than the others, which was so nice.

Unfortunately, Juliet didn't sleep real well last night and I was up giving her a bottle at 2:30 and 5:30. Jeremiah got up with her at 9:00 allowing me to stay in bed with Jeffrey (who had sneaked in at some point). I got up around 10:00 and let Jeffrey sleep.  Obviously yesterday was a big day for him!

With the temperatures in the 80s, my only Mother's day wishes were for all of us to be together and that our activities take us outside.  We decided to surprise Jeffrey with an impromptu trip to the zoo.  He was SO excited - especially when he realized that meant Jeremiah was coming with us!

The kids did great in the car - Juliet slept for most of it.  We were very excited to get there. We found a parking spot right away and made our way inside. We had a fantastic day and it was so great to spend the day as a family.

  

  

After the zoo, we went up to Washington Square Mall to grab some dinner and get a little shopping done.  Our trip was very successful and we didn't leave until the stores were closing.  At one point, I noticed Jeffrey looked like this:

The drive back was quite uneventful. Juliet slept most of the drive again. The sunset was gorgeous. We didn't get home until after 9:00. 

It was then showers, treatment, and getting in bed.  We finally crashed on the couch around 10:15 to watch the finale of Survivor. Only 20 more student days of the year - only 20 more times I have to set my alarm.  Can't wait for more days like this.

A Week In The Life: Saturday

I have not felt this happy at the end of a day in a long, long time.  My heart is full and I am sitting on my couch feeling so blessed and loved and thankful. Today was just what I needed to refuel my tank to make it through the last few weeks of school.

It started a little earlier than I was hoping.  Juliet woke up just after 7:00 and decided that she was not going to go back to sleep after her bottle.  So she laid on the bed with me for the next hour or so until Jeffrey came in and crawled into bed with us.  I decided at this point that sleep was not happening and got in the shower.  When I went through pictures tonight, I found these along with some very nice video.  

     

Jeffrey got up and worked on making the wrapping paper for Nana's gift. I wanted to make this year's present a little more home-made/personal.  I decided to interview Jeffrey about Nana and we wrote his answers down. I then typed it up and we framed it for her.  It was so fun to hear his answers. They were very egocentric sweet.

We got dressed and ready to go and went to Nana and Poppi's.  Instead of our typical coffee and donuts, we went to Studio One Cafe for yummy breakfast to celebrate Mother's Day with Nana.  The kids wore their new shirts as a surprise.  She LOVED them.

Breakfast was super yummy.  Jeffrey and Poppi played at the table and Jeffrey made "blasters" with his straw.

  

Juliet did such a great job (it's never very fast there) especially considering she was really wanting to go back to bed. We left and hurried home to get Juliet in bed so that my mom and I could go get pedis.  Thanks to Poppi for watching both kids, I was able to surprise my mom with this.  It was so relaxing and we had a great time.

We went back to the house to find Baby Girl still sleeping. Nana had to run medicine to Gramps, so Jeffrey went with her and Poppi and I had the opportunity to do our favorite thing: play Scrabble.  We haven't had a chance to do this by ourselves since Jeffrey was a baby. I so so loved having this time with my dad.

My mom and Jeffrey came home just about the time Juliet woke up and our game was over.  My dad left for the office and my mom gave Jeffrey this bubble machine.  It makes blaster sounds AND lights up.  He loved it.

Then Jeremiah came and brought me my Mother's Day gift. Wow. I am a very lucky, very spoiled Mama. Honestly. Crazy blessed.  Frye boots, AE shorts and sweatshirt, and enough money at Bello to spend a great deal of time there.  I was speechless.  

Jeremiah went back to our house to have a boys afternoon with Ben and I took the kids out to the Renichs to play before we all met back together for dinner and time outside.  We had the best time.  There is nothing I love more than being outside, playing around, and being with my family and friends I love.  This was everything my little heart needed. Seriously.  How great is this.  I could have stayed in this moment for a long, long time:

There was so much to do. Everyone at various times got in on playing ball with Juliet:

     

The boys played Construction Site. Jeffrey was telling me that they did not have time for pictures because they there was "very important work to do". Ha!

  

The kids all ate dinner together. I'm pretty sure Juliet ate her body weight in pizza.

And a visit to the chickens:

I love this family. I love hearing Ben ask Jeremiah, "Remember that from Hogan's class?".  I love that our friendships go back to days of high school and Camp Harlow.  And I love that our kids will grow up together and may one day say, "Remember that from when we were little?". 

    

 

A Week In The Life: Friday

I am SO glad it's Friday!! We have fun plans for the weekend and most importantly, I do NOT have to set an alarm! Working part time this fall proved that three days/week really is the ideal schedule for me.  By Wednesday night, I am so ready to be done with my working self and just want to spend time focusing on being a Mama.  It's too hard to do both full time.  

Juliet woke up this morning at 6:30 with an incredibly dirty diaper. Knowing that she would not go back to bed without a bottle, I took her downstairs with me to get this all ready. While doing this, Jeffrey came down ready to start the day. Sorry, kids, it's WAY too early.  So we went back upstairs, got snuggled up, gave Juliet her bottle. We were all back asleep quickly.  Fortunately, my phone woke me up at 7:45 (YIKES) and I got ready and the kids' bags packed and out the door.  Needless to say, I was VERY late to work. I did make it before my first group, though, so all was well.

Even though I didn't plan Teacher Appreciation Week to align with Week in the Life, it's been fun to document all of the spoiling that has taken place this week.  Today was no exception. My two amazing IA's brought me Tasty Thai for lunch (my absolute favorite) and a pumpkin spice cookie from Sweet Life.  Boy do they know how to spoil me.

After work, Jeff and Shadiin treated the staff and their families to pizza and drinks at Putters.  Jeffrey got along splendidly with the other kids and was a sweaty mess when we left.  Juliet enjoyed eating her body weight in pizza and meeting up with August (who is exactly one week younger). I love how babies check each other out. 

  

As we were leaving, Jeffrey asked if we could get a Dutch and go look for trains. With Jeremiah shooting a wedding in Silverton and having nowhere else to be, this sounded like a great idea.  We lucked out, too, and were able to drive right alongside a very long freight train for quite awhile.

  

We came home briefly before heading off to get some stuff at Target. While home, Jeffrey was letting Juliet "wrestle".  He is having so much fun with her new found mobility. He was laughing so hard the whole time they were playing.

Jeffrey was quite excited to be able to push the cart all by himself at Target.  He was very careful to not crash into anything or anyone and he was entertaining Juliet while doing so.  We got the things we went for and then we got to spend some time in the toy aisles.  

We got home around 8:30 and Jeffrey sat and watched an episode of Doc McStuffins while doing his treatment.  This gave me time to get Baby Girl her bottle and in bed. Once his show was over, we went and hung out on his bed and looked through the pictures on my phone.  Both kids were EXHAUSTED and went to bed quickly.

I used this quiet time to get the kitchen under control and update the blog. For as much as I would like to wait up for the husband, I don't think I'll be able to make it. Have I mentioned how happy I am that it's the weekend?!

A Week In The Life: Thursday

I actually got out the door at a normal time today! Woohoo! And there was another fun table of treats for Teacher Week.  How spoiled are we?

Today was just another day at work. I was able to finish another IEP (only 5 more to go!) and was able to cross a few more things off my to-do list.  We had a staff meeting after work and I didn't get the kids until close to 5:00.

The kids were at Nana's - I asked her to take pictures today, but then around noon I got a text from her saying, "Our day is almost half way over.  We went to see the trains on the way. Fed Juliet. Played with them. Put Juliet to bed. Now playing legos with Jeffrey. However no pics.". When I got there this afternoon, everyone looked like they were having a great time.  My mom said everyone was perfect. 

After Nana's we went over to have dinner with Jenn and the kids.  The boys had time to play in the backyard and run around and Elizabeth played with Baby while we made dinner. Jeffrey was in rare form and incredibly out of control silly throughout dinner.  After everyone was excused, the boys played cars and everyone had a lovely visit.

  

  

We rushed home for Seth and Jana.  Jeffrey played with Seth while I got Baby in bed.  Seth had Jeffrey laughing so hard playing some ball game. Jeffrey had a very hard time going to bed and for the first time was pretty obstinate about doing so.  It's so hard to say goodnight.

Once the kids were asleep, we hung out, ate Blizzards, and watched New Girl (fave show). They didn't leave until 11:15 and here it is midnight again.  Geez. I gotta figure out how to go to bed at a reasonable time.

A Week In The Life: Wednesday

I need more sleep.  I'm at the point in the school year that I have so much to do I can't find the motivation to do any of it.  It will get done, but it seems to all take so much more effort than normal.  This also doesn't help me want to leave my bed.

As I was getting ready for the day, a few of the classified staff came in with a little room service for teacher week. Isn't this amazing? YUM!

School gets out at 12:45 on Wednesdays and I ususally get to spent this afternoon time working on paperwork and preparing for my groups.  Today, I had a meeting all afternoon.  This did not help me get my desk in order. So it continues to look like this:

I left work around 3:45 and headed to Maryn's to get the kids.  Juliet crawled to get me and was looking quite cute today in her little onesie outfit.

Jeremiah came down to greet us when we got home.

We got Jeffrey's "Cars" cars out and the three of us played Cars. Juliet just thinks she is so big now that she can get her own toys out of the bucket.

We needed a few things at the store for dinner, so the kids and I walked to WinCo.  Jeffrey rode his scooter for part of it, but had much more fun pushing Baby.

  

We stopped at Oil Can Henry's on the way to pump up the stroller tires. They were so flat.  It made such a difference after they were full!

We ran into Jamie and Landon. Jeffrey had a great time messing around with Landon and it made our trip just a tad longer than expected.  Jeffrey was very helpful at the store.  He loves doing things on his own and it's fun to work that to help me. 

We came home, had dinner, played, and watched a little Doc McStuffins while Jeffrey did his treatment.  I got Juliet in bed while Jeffrey finished up his dessert. Juliet was a bit of a mess after dinner, so getting cleaned up took just a bit longer than usual.

Once the kids were both asleep, Jeremiah and I sat down to watch a few things on our DVR before I headed for bed.  Tomorrow is a Nana day - always something we look forward to.