Leap-A-Thon

Sylvia leaped in the Leap-a-Thon today. She leaped 208 times, and was very pleased and excited about that. When I told her that meant Daddy was going to have to write a check for $104, her eyes got really big! So cute.



It looks like the school has probably raised and received enough money through donations now to make it to the end of the school year. A big relief.

Tuesday night will be an important board meeting, as far as determining what will happen next with the preschool. We have some major things to discuss and it will be difficult. Please join us in praying that things will work out for the best for the school, the teachers, the community, and the students, and everyone involved.

Had a little date with my sweetie boy tonight at McD's.
"Yummy in my tummy!"

cheetah girls

The girls got these outfits for Christmas from Gram & Krampa, and the looooove to wear them!! I mean, serious excitement about being all decked out in their cheetah outfits today...!!!

Backwards Boy

Caeden likes to dress himself now. He doesn't always do it well...Sometimes his clothes end up inside-out, and often...backwards! Like today, when he thought he was cool having a front-hood-mask! Buddy, are you sure you like your hood in front like that? Yep! It's a mask! His pants were on backwards too. At least he let me take his picture because he thought he was so cool.

Piggie Tail Sisters

Gram is missing her grandkids and has requested more recent pictures! So Gram, I tried to get pictures of all the kids this morning, but Caeden wanted nothing to do with it. I'll try to get him tomorrow! Here are our cute little sisters in their piggie tails before school this morning.

(Oh! Also notice that I am now allowing photos to be taken on/near the off-white couch, since I rented a carpet/upholstery cleaner last Thursday and spent ALL day cleaning the stinkin' thing! Ha!)

You're Pulling My Leg

Caeden and I were in ACE Hardware store in Gibson City today talking to a lady about renting an upholstery cleaner. Caeden decided to tell her some whopper story she couldn't quite decipher, and she looked at him when he was done and said, "No, really? You're pulling my leg!" Caeden laughed, and then...reached his arms around her leg and pulled it!

While trying not to laugh or die of embarrassment, I attempted to explain to Caeden that he shouldn't actually pull anyone's leg; it was just something that meant she thought he was kidding. Then he went in with his arms around both her legs.

Thank the Lord she didn't fall down, or get upset! She just laughed and laughed and said, "He's so adorable...How old is he..." and went on talking with him!

Being the Grown-Up

I realized today that sometimes I wish I wasn't the grown-up! I know, Dad, that I was always in a hurry to grow up, and now I can't figure out when it actually happened. Someone recently asked me how old I am, and I knew I must be getting older, because I didn't want to tell her! Anyway...some random thoughts running through my head right now...

- Caeden went potty by himself upstairs this afternoon and couldn't get the antique hot water faucet to turn off after he was done washing his hands. The drain in our old marble sink couldn't keep up, and he was turning the faucet the wrong way, making the water run as faster and faster. I was downstairs getting ready to make supper, and all of a sudden I heard him cry an urgent shrieking cry. I thought he was hurt and ran upstairs to find him freaking out and wet, the bathroom floor covered in water and the sink running over. He had taken the faucet knob clear off, and I was so afraid I wasn't going to be able to get it back on to stop the water!! I yelled at the girls to run and collect all the towels, clean or dirty, that they could find as quickly as they could and started soaking it up. Poor Caeden walked through the house sobbing and wailing. He didn't know what to do! I got it taken care of before it started coming through the kitchen ceiling, just before Jeremy got home. *sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

- The lunar eclipse was really cool tonight! Did you see it? I saw it at several different stages as I went to church, left practice, ran errands, then drove home. Cool stuff.

- The girls are both doing fundraisers for their schools right now. Annah is doing Jump Rope for Heart, but we're not really working too hard on that. I figure people can give directly to the American Heart Association anytime. Sylvia, on the other hand, could really use some pledges for her Hop-A-Thon at school. It is looking more and more like the school is going to have to close down, if not before the end of the school year, then after the school year is up. The funds just aren't there, and the savings is being depleted rapidly. So, we really need to help the school raise as much money as possible through the Hop-A-Thon in order to keep the doors open through mid-May. If you so generously feel led to pledge or give, please e-mail me: tarynleah@yahoo.com.

- I'm worried about if/where we will be able to get Caeden into preschool next fall. Most preschools have already had their registration for fall, and many Bloomington preschools have long waiting lists, and/or we could not afford them anyway.

- A thread on a message board today got me thinking about many of my childhood toys. Here are some I remember:
- I had a Crissy Doll just like this one, but don't remember what happened to her.
- Speak & Math
- My favorite of all my Barbies was my 1982 Happy Birthday
- I think we all had Simon!

- Most kids had an Atari video game console. We had something educational: a Magnavox Oddysey.

- I personally think the Magical Musical Thing was one of the funnest toys ever!

- Apparently, the Wham-O Fun Fountain was very dangerous, but we LOVED it!


-And, I have no idea how we didn't seriously injure ourselves on the metal stakes of the Wet Banana!


Alright...enough randomness and reminiscing for tonight! Loves, T

Forgiveness & Friendship

"Friendship flourishes at the fountain of forgiveness.” -- William Arthur WardOn Friday evening, while the five of us were in the car on our way out to dinner, Annah started telling us about how her [probably closest at-school-] friend had been pinching her, and that it had hurt so much today that she had marks up and down her legs and almost cried. Clearly, we were very surprised and bothered by this story.

As we asked questions to try to understand better, it came out that this has been going on at lunchtime for at least a few months. She said it didn't hurt at first, but then it turned into kicking and hard pinching. Why didn't she tell her to stop? She did. Why didn't she tell her it hurt? She did. Why did she continue to sit by her at lunch, if it was happening every day? Her friend held her arm and wouldn't let go of her until they were seated and not allowed to move seats. Why didn't she tell a teacher? She didn't want to get her friend in trouble, we suspect; she couldn't raise her hand to get the lunchroom monitor's attention with her friend pinching her, and she was afraid to get out of her seat (breaking lunchroom rules) at lunchtime to tell the lunch monitor. "Why would you do this to me, if you are my friend?" she asked her friend, to no response.

I am thankful she finally told us what was happening.

When we asked Annah if she wanted me to call her friend's mom, she said, "Yes." Then she asked us if her friend could come over for a sleepover! Obviously, she had already forgiven her. However, I still wanted to know, somehow, that this friend wasn't going to hurt her again.

I called the friend's mother Saturday morning to explain what had been going on. This friend has been to our house several times for play and slumber parties, so we know her, and know her mother a little bit. (We knew that the family has been through a divorce and all the terribly hard things that come with that, just in the past year. Certainly, this little girl has been affected in deeply emotional ways, and we thought it might be possible she was taking out a little aggression on her friend Annah.)
Of course, the girl's mother was surprised and apologetic when I explained the situation. She assured me she would talk with her daughter, and that she needs to know you don't treat friends that way. I was relieved she didn't think we were accusing or judging or fabricating the story.

Since the kids are off school today for President's Day, Annah's friend was able to come for a sleepover last night. When her mom brought her in, she was carrying a pretty yellow friendship rose, and a letter for Annah. She gave them to her right away. The letter said, "Dear Annah, I am sorry I did wrong and pinched you. Please forgive me."
The girls played together very peacefully last evening and this morning, and were sad to part. I hope I handled the situation the way I should have, and that they both have learned something about the importance of forgiveness and friendship.

valentine

Usually, I'm not much of a fan of celebrating Valentine's Day. I try to do something kid-related as far as a card to send to close family, but didn't get that done this year. I managed to have a
Cookies by Design basket sent to Jeremy at work. It looked only a little like this, but had more of their gourmet cookies. They have the *BEST* cookies...oh my!!

We always agree not to get each other things for special occasions, but usually one or both of us goes out and gets something anyway. Usually, it ends up that Jeremy gets me a gift and I don't get him anything. So, I decided to send the cookies.

Wednesday, Jeremy was in the car listening to the radio and heard them say, "Call in now to win." I'm not sure he knew what he was calling to win, but he won us dinner reservations to Central Station Cafe in Bloomington. We thought it was funny that he won just reservations, not a free dinner or anything. (I guess it was supposed to be for "schmucks" who forgot to make dinner reservations for Valentine's Day! Ha ha!) We ended up not having a sitter, plus the reservation was late, so Jeremy gave the reservation to a co-worker. BUT! ...
He also had his name entered for a drawing to win a heart pendant from Bremer Jewelers, and later won that too! He picked it up after work yesterday. I think it's very pretty, and now need to get a chain for it. (It's actually about 2" in diameter, and the chain will run through the little heart on top.) Cute, huh?


The kids and I made chocolate chip cookies in the morning, and shared them with the piano tuner while he was here. Our piano is in major bad need of regulation, but I don't think we're going to be coming up with the necessary over $300 anytime soon. Sheesh! It was more than 1/2 step out of tune, and I was totally embarrassed about it's terrible condition!

What's new with YOU, blog readers?!? Drop us a line, please!

Just for Fun

Who remembers these?!


And this...?? Jeremy and I looked this up last night...one of our favorites! Ha ha ha!

The Blahs

This has been a really long week. In some ways it's been good...like the fact that I haven't had to leave the house or drive anywhere since Sunday. But, the reason why I haven't has not been fun...we've had a nasty virus. Annah got it first...fever, lethargy, stuffy/runny nose, cough. I came down second, and Monday was completely out of commission...unbreakable fever, migraine, ugh. Sylvie has had the everlasting fever too, and can never be sick of any kind without the throwing up, so there was that too. Caeden now has the cough and nose issues and a bit of fever, but he's still running around like a chicken with its head cut off, so I don't think he has it as bad as we did. I'm serious, the most major thing I did Monday (by far!) was make 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cut 2 bananas in half. My children were all running rampant in the house and all I could do was lie in bed or on the couch with my face covered. Jeremy was an angel. He came home from work in the evening, made the kids supper, bathed them all and put them in bed. We were supposed to be bowling with our LifeGroup, but he stayed home to care for us. Then he stayed up all night pumping water out of the basement. And did the same the next night. See, why I say it has been a long week? But, I think we are all on the mend. Annah went back to school yesterday. Sylvia will go back tomorrow. I am fine. Life goes on. I'm hoping Jeremy doesn't get it. The man need some sleep! Geeze, I love him. I'm so blessed to have a husband that cares for our family so well.

Let's see. I feel like I haven't been keeping up here very well. What's new with us??? ...

Caeden is working on potty training. He does really well if he's wearing underwear now. That was a major turning point he hit last week. Jeremy has been really influential in inspiring Caeden to get a move-on with this process! Caeden looks up to his daddy! So, as long as he's wearing underwear he does great. We just have to get that diaper off as soon as he wakes up from nap or in the morning.

Jeremy seems unusually busy these days. He is transitioning to a new team (same area) at work, and looking forward to some new opportunities this year. He had his yearly performance evaluation recently, and received good feedback and ratings. He was pleased with that, and especially glad to have a good time of discussion with his boss and get rid of some frustrations. He is feeling ready for some kind of change with his work, and I am just hoping, hoping, hoping it won't involve us moving.
This school year, Jeremy took on the job of Treasurer for the preschool Sylvia attends. It is a completely volunteer position (This is the same Board of Directors I've been on for 4 1/2 years, yes.), but involves a ton of time and organization. I am proud of him for taking it on, because no one else wanted to do it. He really doesn't have the time to do it either, but he wants to help the school. Enrollments are really low this year (because our public school expanded their preschool program, included busing, and costs much less) and we are at the point where we're going to have to really stretch to make it to the end of the year financially. So, there is a lot of time and work involved for him.

I'm just going with random stream of consciousness here, in case no one could tell...

We got a note in the mail today from the Student Services teacher today, saying that the school is "proud to have Annah as a mustang." She was apparently the only student in her class to get a 100% on her math test last week. If I'm remembering correctly, it's the first math test they've had. It was geometry type things, and we studied just a little bit for it. I knew she'd gotten a 100%, but didn't realize it was apparently a challenging test for her class. She must get her math skills from her daddy!

Sylvia is getting into trying to read and spell things lately. She's been doing flashcards (Thanks, Grandpa!) and learning how to say each letter sound quickly and smoosh them together to pronounce a word. She can write all of our names and "I love you" all by herself. So, I find little "I love you" notes all over the place. Last week one night, Jeremy and I went to bed and found a little "book" she had made. It had a picture of him and me and said, "Daddy I love you" and "Mommy I love you" on it. She left it on our pillows. Yes, I cried and went into her room and kissed her in her sleep. She has such a sweet heart.

I am feeling God calling me more into musical things recently. I am loving teaching piano! I am trying to find a time to take on another darling little girl who wants to do piano and some singing too. She is only 8, but really loves music and singing and dance, so we are going to get her going on some lessons. I'm excited to teach her, and praying to find the right time in our schedule! Her brother is in Sylvie's preschool class, and their mom is on the board with us--an awesome family. So, that will be fun!!
I'm hoping to be a judge at the local high school vocal solo/ensemble contest this winter as well. My one high school voice student will be singing, so I'll at least be there playing for her, if not judging.
I think I would actually like to add a few more students to get a little studio rolling here, but the condition of our house doesn't really accommodate that too well right now. I also need to get the piano tuned ASAP! It's been embarrassingly too long.

That's a lot of babbling for now. Off to get the kids to bed!

Hugs & Prayers,

Taryn

Wrestling with Daddy

This is the time of the year for wrestling. I don't think it can ever leave a man's blood once he's been a wrestler. At least, I know Jeremy is still in love with it and misses it. But, even the girls have fun wrestling with Daddy. They were working on moves in the kitchen tonight after supper. It's so cute when one of them understands what Jeremy explains to them and executes a move on him!


They also take advantage of the fact that Daddy is very strong and can do cool things with them, like this...

Computer Kids

And I thought I grew up with computers! Each kid now his /her own "computer" to play with...a good way to keep everyone entertained while I made dinner tonight!