A Bunch of Mumble Jumble

I have a lot of thoughts whirling around in my mind today. Maisey has had a rough week emotionally wise, I'm having a hard time figuring out Gage's school options for next year, and I have some other stuff going on in my mind that I can't really write about on here. So to say my mind is going a million miles a minute is an understatement!

* First off, Maisey's primary teacher lives with a non-active family in our ward that Shaun knows really well. We invited the primary teacher and the family over for a fun Valentine FHE this week. Well, they didn't show up and they didn't call. So that was the first flare up for Maisey's emotions this week. She kept asking, "why would they not want to come?" She took it really personally and I even had to fight back the tears over how much she was hurt. But we went ahead and started 30 minutes late and still had a great time. We talked about how important it is to love other people how the Savior loves us.

 We played memory with big conversation heart candies. Maisey won every single time (and not because we let her!)

 Then she got to pass out the heart sugar cookies -- YUM!!!

 * I've got my boys trained well! Vacuums in one hand, cords in the other! CUTE!

(The boys were in charge of vacuuming for our guests that were supposed to come)

* The other cause of a lot of grief at our house this week is two girls in Maisey's class have been calling her a chipmunk because sometimes when she gets really shy or anxious, or if she is tired she will rest her two front teeth on her bottom lip. This hurts Maisey's feelings and she has asked them nicely to stop and they haven't. When I went on the field trip with her class yesterday, one of the girls called her that twice right in front of me. Maisey got all embarrassed and buried her head in my coat to try not to cry in front of her. I finally brought this to the attention of their teacher and she tried addressing the issue nonchalantly to the class today and then individually to the two girls. Well, apparently that didn't work because one of the girls called her a chipmunk again today as she was lining up to be dismissed. My heart is just breaking for Maisey and to think that stuff like this starts in Kindergarten. They are FIVE YEARS OLD for crying out loud. I don't want to be the hovering mom that jumps in to save her children anytime they get hurt feelings, and I haven't quite figured out where that boundary is yet, but I'm really getting frustrated about this situation and I just can't seem to get it off my mind.

 * Here is my cute guy on the afternoon of Valentine's day. 

We had an appointment at a different preschool here in town. He is doing so well at his current school and his teacher is so great and patient with him. I can't believe how much he has learned this year, it really amazes me. Unfortunately, if she doesn't find other kids for her preschool next year, she probably won't do it. Which is totally understandable. I wouldn't do it for just one kid either! So I started looking into our other options. In town, there are 2 choices. A Lutheran preschool (the one we went to tour) and a preschool/daycare at the high school. With the things that have happened with in our own extended family over the last year and a half, we are really cautious about the situations we put our children in, therefore completely ruling out the high school option. So I went to check out the other school. It is very expensive for a preschool that doesn't do anything different than the preschool he is at. I didn't fall in love with it like I was hoping to. Registration for this school starts on March 1, and it is pretty competitive to get in to. So I pretty much need to decided what I am going to do in the next few weeks. My sister suggested I look into neighboring towns, but the closest one is at least 20 minutes away, so I'm not sure that is very realistic. I just want to do what is best for him and what will set him up for success in Kindergarten. Ahhhh. . . why does being a parent have to be so hard?

* So, my leg is still numb. After talking with a nurse practitioner, he suggested that I have a pinched nerve in my back (probably from moving all of those 5 gallon water jugs that I was bragging about last week, haha!). So I haven't been strenuously working out for the last week. It takes time for it to heal and repeated use of the muscle could cause additional strain. I've been trying to eat really healthy this week to counteract the lack of exercise. (well, besides the fact that I ate half of my box of See's chocolates yesterday, it was a stressful day!)

So instead of my usual evening treat, I've been having fruit! Mangoes, pears, apples, clementines. Doesn't this look delicious!

* Even though I have a lot of stressful things circulating in my mind, I can't help but smile when I see my fun, happy, beautiful children! Even though these are both pictures of Gage, I really am grateful for all three of them and that I get the chance to help them overcome obstacles in their lives and be there for them when they need me most.

 My Handsome Batman!

He likes to wear "tops and bottoms that don't match" for jammies. But the problem is he only thinks this top and these bottoms don't match, so he has to wear them every night. The angry bird pants with the alien shirt is simply not acceptable, and neither is any other combination. He sure is a silly kid!