The Big Boy Bed

We had a pretty busy day yesterday. Olivia had a birthday party. We went shopping to 5 stores, saw Hoodwinked, and went to the Spaghetti Factory. It was pretty fun.
Garrett has still been sleeping in his crib all this time. He's pretty much outgrown it (his head and feet almost touch opposite ends lengthwise). And even though he's not quite able to climb out of it he can almost tip it over. We went out yesterday to buy him a new bed. We went to three different stores trying to find a frame that we like and could afford. We never did find a frame, but we picked up a mattress, mattress protector, new sheets, pillows, and a blanket.

We were worried about Garrett's first night on the bed. We imagined getting up every 2 hours to put him back in bed. When bedtime came, about 90 minutes later than his normal bedtime ;), we did our nightly routine. We had Olivia get in her bed and we took Garrett to give her kisses goodnight. We showed him how she was laying in bed and how she was going to sleep their all night. We took him back to his bed, gave him his kisses, said good night and shut the door.
He slept for almost 10 hours! We were so happy! Our kids are getting so big and so much fun. We love them alot.

Tooth #2

Well, Olivia lost another tooth. This was extra cool because she pulled it out all by herself. It was really loose, but she wouldn't let Robin or me anywhere near it. I told her that it needed to come out that night (we didn't want it to fall out in her sleep) and that she should just keep twisting it. Twenty minutes later she jumped up with the biggest surprised / proud look on her face. She was so excited to pull it out. She feels like such a big girl.

I like Dogs

I had two little visitors in my class today(Olivia and Garrett). My sitter was in the meeting in the library. She brought them to the meeting with her. They ended up in my room. I was teaching one of my favorite lessons to teach. We were doing an adjective chant. This is just taking a noun and then coming up with as many different adjectives that you can think of to descibe it.
Then you put it on the chant. Olivia was very interested in the whole thing. She just watched fascinated. I didn't think that much about it. When we got home. She basically chanted the whole thing to me again. Then she wanted to make her own. She then told me after being in my class she wanted to be a teacher. I will take that as a high compliment.

This is the one she made up. The one I did for my class is a little longer than hers but it is the same concept. She remember most of it and the way it went. She came up with her own words to descibe the dog. We think she is so smart.

DOGS
Dogs, Dogs, Dogs
mean dogs, nice dogs
striped, colorful, sleepy dogs
That is just a few
Smelly dogs eating dogs
hungry dogs too
walking dogs, licking dogs
kid, family, happy dogs.
Last of all Best of all
I like Small dogs.

The way the chant works is you clap on the noun (dogs)
and snap on the adective (words in italics)

Immigration Reform: Sounds Good to Me

If you're like me, you've probably heard in the news about the protests that have been going on concerning the immigration reform that Congress is debating. We didn't really understand what the big deal was or why people were protesting. We found this website ran by some of the protestors. If you check it out, we think you will have quite the rude awakening that we did. Make sure you read what the protestors wrote on their signs.

http://www.mexica-movement.org/granmarcha.htm

We think it's interesting that we haven't seen any of this on the news. We're not sure what the law they're protesting actually states, but if these are the people against it, we are all for the law.

Days Like This-March 29th

One of my best friends moved to Arizona
When you don’t have family around
Your friends are like your family

I broke my daughter’s Cinderella ball,
there is glass and water all over the floor
It is Her favorite thing she got for Christmas

The laundry didn’t get done
It’s sitting on the living room carpet
And of course the Visiting Teachers are coming today.

I didn’t get a job that I applied for
They said I wasn’t qualified for - but I am
The extra money would have been nice

Both kids woke up screaming in the night
So neither one of us got a good night sleep
And now I am so tired.

The toilet flooded the bathroom yesterday
Which means there was even more laundry to do.
It will never get done.

I guess you will have Days like this.

Tag, I'm it

Tag, I'm it
Four jobs I've had:
1. Wedding reception decorator
2. Library book reshelver
3. Computer lab techie
4. Teacher / assistant principal

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. National Treasure
2. Elf
3. The Incredibles
4. Madagascar

Four places I have lived:
1. Provo, UT
2. Las Vegas, NV
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina
4. Saratoga Springs, UT

Four TV shows I love(d):
1. House
2. Apprentice
3. American Idol
4. Grey's Anatomy

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows that I've never watched a single minute of:
1. Law & Order SVU
2. Will & Grace
3. The Sopranos
4. Criminal Minds

Four books I'm now reading or just finished:
1. People of Sparks
2. City of Ember
3. ???
4. ???

Four Places I have vacationed (or visited while on Business trips):
1. Took 5 students to Hawaii
2. West Virginia
3. Las Vegas
4. Mesquite

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Sausage gravy & biscuits
2. Lasagna with Chicken Parmigiana at the Spaghetti Factory
3. Cafe Rio's taco salad
4. Pizza

Four sites I visited daily:
1. groupwise.alpine.k12.ut.us (email)
2. www.cnn.com
3. www.straightdope.com
4. www.zionsbank.com

Four places I rather be right now:
1. Camping
2. Playing Halo 2 with Nathan Crapo
3. Disneyland or Legoland
4. Las Vegas or West Virginia

Four bloggers I am tagging (since I am refraining from double-tagging the people that Nathan tagged):
1. Emily
2. Earl
3. Bryan
4. Jeff

Uncle Nathan

Nathan came and spent the day with us last Saturday. Our kids sure loved him! He played so well with them. Olivia still misses him, but we're all excited about seeing him and his family again in a few months.

Losing teeth

Olivia for the past week has had a loose tooth. She has been wiggling it and wanting it to come out for days. Well today was the day. She lost her first tooth. She put it under her pillow in a bag. She has been wanting to lose a tooth ever since her friend Brianna lost one. This is a huge milestone in her life. She is growing up so fast. We are going to put 50 cents under her pillow tonight. I have no idea what the going rate for teeth for the tooth fairy goes for now. Isn't she a cutie?

Just Another Day at the Office...

About two months ago our school heard about a statewide reading contest sponsored by the Utah Jazz basketball team. At my school last year we did the contest. It was a tremendous amount of work, but we won. A Jazz player came to our school to read a book and shoot some hoops. He couldn't actually read the book. He did bring ice cream for everyone. I kept telling people at my school this year that we didn't want to do the contest because it was so much work to run (basically you have to get the kids to read as much as humanly possible and keep track of every minute). Despite my opposition, the PTA decided to do the contest and basically put me in charge of it. Nice huh? Anyways, someone somewhere along the way had the great idea to bribe the kids by telling them that the top reader in each class would get to throw a pie and Mrs. Green or me. Well, today was the pie-throwing assembly.
Twenty-four kids got the chance to pelt me. The PTA filled graham cracker crusts with whipped cream (which sounded like a good idea, but they filled them way too early and most of the whip cream liquified). Mrs. Green and I had equal numbers of pies thrown at us until about halfway through the upper grades started chanting, "Brunner! Brunner! Brunner!" It was all over for me. Here's the proof.

Olivia's newest idea

We thought we show you Olivia's newest idea. She loves doing art projects. She took a blank piece of paper and got to work. About an hour later she walked over with this on her face:

In case you can't tell, she's a cat. She even started playing with a ball of yarn! We think she's so clever.

Know your friends survey

I emailed a few of you this survey. Thought I would put it on the blog too. I would love to hear back from you.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6 am
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Harry Potter 4
4. Favorite TV show? Grey's Anatomy and House
6. What is your middle name? Carol
7. What is your favorite cuisine? (?)
8. What foods do you dislike? mushrooms, peppers and onions
9. Your favorite Potato chip? Pringals Orginal
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? (NONE)
11. What kind of car do you drive? Ford Windstar Mini-Van
12. Favorite Sandwich? turkey, roast beef, ham club from Subway
13. What characteristics do you despise? People who are late
14. Favorite item of clothing? Tennis Shoes with insoles
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Hawaii
16. What color is your bathroom? White with a border with apples on it.
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Things on sale
18. Where would you want to retire to? Haven't thought about it
19. Favorite time of day? whenever everyone is napping
20. Where were you born? Clifton Forge Virginia
21. Favorite sport to watch? Olympic ice skating
22. Who do you least expect to send this back? Jennifer
23. Person you expect to send it back first? Emily
24. What laundry detergent do you use? SUN
25. Coke or Pepsi? Neither Dr. Pepper
26. Are you a morning person or night owl? morning
27. What size shoe do you wear? 10
28. Do you have pets? No
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? N0
30. What did you want to be when you were little? Be a singer
31. Favorite Candy Bar? Mr. Good Bar
32. What is your best childhood memory? playing in the creek at Holly River
33. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Daycare center caregiver, College Cafeteria worker, teacher's Aid and a teacher and a mother.
34. What color underwear are you wearing? white
35. Nicknames: None
36. Piercing? My ears.
37. Eye color? hazel
38. Ever been to Africa? No thanks
39. Ever been toilet papering? Yes
40. Love someone so much it made you cry? yes
41. Been in a car accident? three of them
42. Croutons or bacon bits? Bacon bits
43. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
44. Favorite restaurant? Cafe Rio
46. Favorite ice cream? Cookies and Cream
47. Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
48. Favorite fast food restaurant? Wendy's
49. What color is your bedroom carpet? grey
50. How many times did you fail your driver's test? 1
51. Before this one, from whom did you get your last email? Kristi
52. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? -None I don't like to use credit cards and be in debt.
53. What do you do most often when you are bored? watch TV
54. Bedtime? 11:00pm (or whenever I fall asleep on the couch watching tv)
55. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? Everyone.
56. Last person you went to dinner with? Melanie Neilsen
58. What are you listening to right now? Dishwasher
59. What is your favorite color? blue
60. Lake, Ocean or river? lake
61. How many tattoos do you have? none
62. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Chicken
63. How many people are you sending this Email to ????
64. Who sent this to you and what is something you didn't know about them? Marianne and that she had a nickname.
66. Somewhere interesting you went last year? Vegas or WV are the only two places I have gone to.
67. Any big goals you have this year? Get enough credits to get a lane change, lose weight, keep house cleaner, keep up on my grading, (Should I keep going on goals that I probably can't keep?)

Robot

Olivia had the great idea to build a robot. She tried making them out of paper and toys for a few days and then I worked with her to make one out of K'Nex. We used the motor that came with the roller coaster Robin got me for Christmas. Olivia had fun making it, but Garrett is the one who loves playing with it. He gets so excited when he turns if off. He yells, "Off!"

Fun in the park

The weather here is turned pretty nice (except that is snowed 2 inches over night). Robin has been taking the kids to the park for the last few days. I got to go today and I snapped a couple of pictures of the kids. It's strange how kids smile right before you take the picture and then stop right as you click it. Olivia has learned to climb down the fireman's pole by herself.

Robin's Birthday

We had a nice birthday for Robin. On Saturday, I arranged a babysitter and took her to Ottavio's (a nice Italian restaurant). After picking up the kids we stopped for ice cream. On Monday, she opened her gifts. She got a new garage door opener (the gift that keeps on giving), some scrapbook paper, and scrapbook glue. She got nice cards and monetary gifts from Grandma Brunner and Grandma Doolittle. Robin had class on Monday night too. When she got home we had a little party ready for her. We had strawberry shortcake, balloons, flowers, party hats, and 2 year old New Year's party poppers that still worked. It was a nice little birthday. She's now 28!

Growing Up

We took the kids to the doctor for check ups. I took both kids on the same day. That was an ordeal I don't know if I would do again. I was just glad that Jeremy was there to help me. Olivia had to get 5 shots to get ready to register her for Kindergarten and Garrett had to get one shot. Plus they had her pee in a cup and prick her finger to check her iron level. They are both 100% healthy. On Monday, Feb. 27th I will register Olivia for Kindergarten at the school that I currently work at.

Olivia weighed 40 lbs and is 45 inches tall
Garrett weighed 30 lbs and is 35 inches tall. Garrett is also in the 90th percentile for the size of his head. (Maybe that is why I have a hard time getting shirts over his head)

Olivia has reached a big Milestone in her life. SHE CAN TIE HER OWN SHOES!
(It just takes her a really long time. : )