Flying the Buzz Kite

What a WINDY day we had today. Jacob is one smart cookie and asked me if it would be windy enough to fly his Buzz kite. I knew that I could really help the boys fly kites without Daddy's help. So when Joe came home from work and after we had dinner, we went out to the cemetery to see if we could get Buzz to fly.

Since I had to get ready for work tonight, the boys went with Daddy to the cemetery while I got my stuff together. Then Amelia and I drove over.

I got a pretty cool set of photos of Jacob and Daddy working on getting the Buzz kite up. I love these!

As you can see, we did manage to get the Buzz kite up. He kept crashing every once in a while, but we did get it flying!

We also got one of our smaller fabric kites up for Ephraim. Poor Joe! As soon as he got one kite up, it seemed like the other kite crashed to the ground! What a good Daddy to help the boys fly their kites!

As you can see, Miss Amelia was stuck in the stroller. But Joe told me that he let her walk around after I left because I had to get to work. I was having so much fun that I was a little bit late for work!

In other news, Jacob's chin is already looking a bit better. It is a pain to put on a new band-aid every morning and night, but we do it anyway! Tonight while I was at work, Grandma Heiner arrived at our house. She has come to celebrate Jacob's birthday this weekend. With everything going on, I totally forgot to have them change Jacob's band-aid! So when I got home at almost 10pm, I got the poor boy out of bed and changed his band-aid. Oh well! I am sure it will be worth it in the end!

Getting Stitches

Holy cow! What a day.

This afternoon the boys were riding their bikes over at their friend Nathan's house. They live right next door to the new church building, so the kids like to go ride their bikes in the parking lot.

I was about to call Brancy and see if the boys wanted to come play at our house, since they had been at her house for a while. Brancy called me first and told me that I had better come over with the car and get Jacob. He had taken a fall on his bike and banged up his chin pretty bad.

I was hoping it wasn't that bad, but when I saw his chin I was pretty sure he would need stitches. Joe had just come home when I was on my way over to their house, so he stayed home with the kids while I took Jacob to the pediatrician's office.

Of course Jacob did not want to go, but he was pretty calmed down by the time we got there. The nurses took us back to the room and put some numbing gel on Jacob's chin. Then we got to sit there and watch Peter Pan for a while. When the RN came to check it out, she said it would need stitches. I was texting Joe the info and he told me to take before and after pictures!

I have to admit I was having a hard time even watching, so one of the assistant nurses took this picture for me with my phone.

Ugh! That's quite the wound, huh?

I was so impressed with the nurses and with how well Jacob did! Last time we were there to get his cut glued, he screamed nearly the entire time. This time he did not make a fuss at all. Hooray for numbing gel, and the nurse Kathy had an awesome bedside manner! She really put Jacob at ease. In no time he had 9 stitches in his chin.

He would ask her "What are you doing?" and she would say, "Oh, I'm just giving you whiskers like Daddy!". He was so brave! I was the one who was nearly crying, watching them sew up his little chin.

Kathy told me that the reason Jacob's chin looked so bad was that he scraped it up in addition to the gash. She told me that I needed to keep polysporin and  a bandaid on it for the next week and then come back to get the stitches removed.

When we got home Jacob did not really feel like eating, so I went and got him a Frosty before Daddy went to scouts. Then we just spend a quiet evening at home watching a movie. We definitely had enough excitement for one day!

My First Mammogram

Yesterday was the day I went in for my first mammogram. After my initial panic attack at the thought of getting a mammogram and possibly having cancer, I managed to remain surprisingly calm the remainder of the week.

I was a bit nervous, having heard all the cold-and-painful-squishing horror stories. I have to say that it wasn't really that bad. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but I would not call it painful.

The nurses were very kind, and I have to say that the scariest part was probably the machine. It looked a little intimidating.

I am happy to say that the procedure was quick and so were the results! My mammogram and ultrasound were completely clear. They could not even find a cyst! The doctor said that he does not need to see me again until I am 40! I was so happy that I practically ran out the door.

I am so thankful that I got a clean bill of health! My grandmother died of breast cancer before she was 50 years old. I was very young when she died and barely remember her. I did not want that for my baby girl or my two boys. I am so grateful for the medical technology that is currently available to give me the peace of mind to know that all is well.

Next time I won't be nervous for my mammogram and I plan to go faithfully every year after 40. It is definitely worth it because then I can know for sure that I will continue to be there for my family.

Play at the Park

We have been done with story time at the library for a while, so my boys have missed the time they got to spend afterwards playing with the Esplins. So Karyn and I decided to meet in the park after school so the kids could play.

Jacob is a good big brother and helps me keep an eye on Amelia. She likes to climb all over the play equipment, and of course has no idea just how high up it is! Jacob helps her climb up and go down the slide with him.

I am so happy that I got my camera back from the repair shop yesterday! They were really fast getting it fixed and did a great job. While we were at the park Karyn took some pictures of Amelia and me on the swings.

Amelia thought it was pretty funny that I had her on the swings with me.

She was just laughing as we swung back and forth. I have to say that it takes talent to hold on to your baby and swing at the same time! Of course I didn't go very high and we were very careful.It sur was fun!

The other kids had fun on the swings too. I love this picture of Ephraim!

I got some nice pictures of Karyn's kids too.

We had a good time at the park, but I have to say that it is a bit less fun for me now that Amelia is mobile. I really have to keep an eye on her, which makes the whole experience a bit less relaxing for me. Oh well! At least the kids have fun!

Take me Out to the Ball Game!

Can you believe that we made it to another baseball game? This must be a record for the Devereaux family!

Tuesday night there was a UVU vs. BYU baseball game. Joe got free tickets because it was "employee appreciation night". What that means its that they wanted as many UVU fans in the stadium as possible, and they sure managed to do that. They had a record attendance of over 5,000 people at the ball park.

We got there on time, but as you can see from the picture above we ended up sitting in the grass at the end of the third base line.We did not really mind because we found some friends from our ward to sit with and the kids had a great time. Amelia was even sporting her little baseball cap.

Isn't she so cute? This girl loves accessories. She asks me to put shoes on her nearly every day, and if you put a hat on her she keeps in on. She is so funny.

Speaking of funny, Jacob had fun playing around with his hat too.

The game was a pretty good one! There were lots on hits and even a home run. The boys got to play on the playground for a while and we let Amelia walk around for a bit, which made her happy. We did not get to stay until the end of the game because it went to late for the kiddos. But I found out the next day that UVU managed to win the game- hooray!

We are definitely going to have to go see a soccer game in Salt Lake in the big Real stadium. I think the boys would love it!

Wanted Posters

I finally got the wanted posters done for preschool! Here are some of my favorites. I actually made several for each kid, each with one of these "offenses". I think they turned out great!

Cowboy preschool

Thursday this week was my last time to teach preschool in quite a while. The theme was cowboys, and I was really excited to teach this topic! I found a whole bunch of really great books on cowboys at the library, and I found some cute cowboy hats and handkerchiefs that I could not pass up.

My favorite books were "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by Mark Teague, "Sixteen Cows" by Lisa Wheeler, and "Cowboy Small" by Lois Lansky.

When the kids arrived, I had them put on their cowboy hats and bandannas. Then we read some books. I was happy that Emily was there, because she took some pictures of me actually reading to the kids!

As you can see, I even dressed up for the occasion!

The kids really enjoyed the books, and when we were finished we decorated paper bag vests that I made. I actually used a vest we had for a pattern to make their vests fit a bit better than the usual "boxy" looking paper vests. I think they turned out great!

Then we put on some paper mustaches and took some pictures. I intend to make wanted posters of the kids, but have not gotten around to it yet. Regardless, the pictures are hilarious!

Here is Ephraim. I even talked him into wearing a button-up shirt so that he looked a bit more "western". Doesn't he look great with a mustache?

Clara was a hoot. She made the best faces when she had her mustache on! I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

Jonathan and Justin also looked pretty cool in their mustaches.

Karyn was kind enough to let me borrow her camera for some of these pictures, since mine is broken. I actually took some pictures with my phone and was surprised by how well the pictures turned out!

Not-So-Great Week and the Day my Camera Died

My week started out pretty well with preschool, but since then it has been one thing after another.

First on Monday night I went on a bike ride and got a flat tire. Luckily I was only about 1/2 mile from home, so I just walked the rest of the way. Then Tuesday was our doctor day. Joe stayed home so that I could go to my annual OB appointment and then in the afternoon we all went to the dentist.

My appointment at the OB seemed routine, right up to the point where the nurse found a small lump on my left breast. She thinks it is just a cyst, but she wants me to go in for a mammogram and possibly an ultrasound. It was a little hard for me not to freak out about that. Hopefully it will be fine, but I am not terrifically excited about it.

Then I spent the afternoon at the dentist's office. The boys did really well this time. Ephraim even let them take x-rays and clean his teeth, which was a big improvement from last time. I took the boys home and came back for my checkup. Of course I had a small cavity, so I told them to just fill it right then. Sometimes I swear there is not a surface on my back teeth that could possibly have a filling because every surface of my teeth back there has already been filled. Sheesh!

Luckily the boys seem to have Joe's teeth. Neither of them has any cavities, which is great.

So Tuesday was a hard day for me. Then on Wednesday, Karyn was kind enough to go hang out at the park with me. The kids were having a great time. Amelia was loving going down the slide!

Jacob was a great big brother and kept an eye on her so she didn't go down by herself because the slide was a little fast for her.


I was having a great time taking pictures of my kids... when it happened.

I was clicking away when my camera gave me and error and refused to take any more pictures. I tried everything I could think of, like changing lenses, replacing the battery, etc. Unfortunately nothing helped. When I came home I found the last picture of the set looked like this.

Um... yeah. That black think in front of the picture is part of my shutter. We took it to a repair shop before I went to work this evening, and the shutter mechanism is definitely broken. I was so bummed! It is going to cost about $160 to get it fixed, and I already feel a bit naked without my camera.

I am glad that I can get my camera fixed, but it is definitely a bummer that it broke like that! The repair guy said it looked like somebody poked the shutter when the lens was off, but I know that didn't happen! After all, I was taking pictures when it broke.

So needless to say, this week hasn't been the best. They say that bad things come in threes, so I figure that I am about done with bad things for the week. Hopefully things will start to get a bit better next week!

Transportation Preschool

Today it was my turn to teach preschool again and the topic was transportation. Of course I have had my books checked out for a couple of weeks. I knew I wanted all of the books that I could get by Patricia Hubbell because hers are the best! Here is my table display all set up.

I thought it was fun that I had so many transportation toys to put around the books. I even put the Boat book on top of a pirate ship!

We had a great time reading all of the books and talking about transportation. We even sang a few songs, like "The Wheels on the Bus". Then for our craft I made these fun airplanes out of paper clips.

Originally I was going to let the kids paint the paper clips, but I decided that using markers was good enough. They all had a great time decorating their planes.

Then for a snack we had "stop light" crackers. I was originally going to make cookies, but I did not get to it on Sunday night. So instead I took a graham cracker and spread peanut butter on it. Then I put M&Ms on top. I have to say that they tasted pretty good to me!

We had a fun day at preschool. I only have to teach one more time this year and then I will be done... hooray! For a number of reasons, next year I will be sending Ephraim to a preschool instead of teaching as part of a cooperative group. There just are not enough moms left in our group to make it worth while. Besides, I think Ephraim will benefit from being in a more formal setting.

Fun in the Sun

Hooray for warm days in April!

Today after our soccer game it was warm enough that I let the boys get out their Buzz Lightyear rocket sprinkler. They were so excited!

I knew I wouldn't be able to keep Amelia away, so I just put her in her swimsuit and let her play too. The water from the sprinkler was a little bit cold, but she loved it anyway. She is probably the one that got the most wet!

I made the boys keep the sprinkler low so she could play in it for a bit.

I love that this swimsuit says "sunshine" on it because Amelia is our little sunshine.

You can see that by this time her little pig-tails were all wet! What a cute girl.

I should have taken some more pictures of the boys, but they weren't doing anything really exciting. Except for the part where they got me wet, so I used the rocket to spray Ephraim with water! Maybe they will think twice before getting Mommy wet.

Of course later on I had to give Amelia a bath. Since she is old enough, I gave her a bubble bath. She thought the bubbles were really funny. She actually got down close to the bubbles and made a bubble beard, which made me laugh!

I only managed to get a picture with my phone, but I think it is pretty hilarious!