Fun at the Zoo

I took the kids to the zoo when they had their fall break from school on the 9th. It was a beautiful morning to go. They had fun doing the Animal Talk experience and almost getting poked by the Indian Porcupine. They are really big animals! They had to bring a board out to keep the kids from getting poked. They loved seeing the King Vulture swoop down. We had to go say hi to the bald eagles, of course. Noah has been wanting an eagle stuffed animal ever since he went to the zoo in March with his cousins. His older cousin, Gavin, got a tube of Rain Forest animals. Noah had to be just like Gavin and put the eagle down and got the tube instead. But he has wanted the eagle ever since. Maybe Santa will grant his wish!

I let the kids play at the tree house there at the zoo. The next thing I see is Jodi screaming and blood dripping from her mouth. She fell and tore open her lip. It looked horrible. They had to take us to the ranger station, get ice and get her cleaned up. She just wanted to go play more! She was mad at me trying to keep ice on her lip- she just wanted to get back to the tree house! Needless to say I was pretty done by the time lunch rolled around. We had fun, though, and the kids had fun getting out of the apartment for awhile. It left Dustin plenty of time to study which paid off on his test where he only missed 1! Yeah!! He is doing so good this semester. I am really proud at how well he is dealing with the pressure.

Happy 4th Birthday, Daniel!

We celebrated Daniel's birthday Conference weekend at the beginning of the month. Dustin had taken work off Saturday so he could go to the Priesthood session. It was his only free day until Thanksgiving. Daniel was so excited knowing it was his special day. He kept saying he wanted a Transformer cake and was super- surprised when he got a Scooby Doo cake instead. He is really into Scooby Doo lately so he was more than thrilled. He got a wonderful Dinosaur game and Batman backpack from Grandma and Grandpa. Noah has enjoyed the game more than Daniel, but it won't take Daniel long to get into it. Daniel has taken his backpack with him to bed and everwhere he goes. It is now Black Bear's new home! Noah got him a tiny baby white tiger figurine that Daniel loves. We got him another Transformer and a Spider Man scooter. He parks his scooter in the scooter garage at night= his closet. He had a great birthday.

The folowing week I took Daniel to get ice cream, just the 2 of us. We have started back with an incentive chart and he did really good last week. He earned that ice cream and had so much fun with just me. He is working on earning more stickers for another ice cream date. The stickers seem to help as he is now able to tell me what he did wrong. I can actually talk to my son and he understands me now. We have hard days, but they are definitely getting less frequent.

Daniel seems to have grown up so much in the last 2 weeks. It surely is amazing what a special day/birthday can do for a child's maturity!

Spotlight on Noah

I know it has been forever and I have many posts I need to add so I am doing them all at once, but will post them staggered. Here is our BIG Noah!






Noah is having so much fun in Kindergarten. His teacher adores him. She says he is one of the smartest kids she has come across. We had parent teacher conferences this week. She said he is doing very well. All the kids love Noah. It's fun to drop hom off at school and see all the girls come and give Noah a big "hello" hug. He is making lots of friends. He is now a reader. We love reading books together. Noah and Mommy just finished reading the 1st "Harry Potter" together. Noah would stay up late drawing pictures of what we read. Then he got to watch the movie, but only after we read the book. He is such a big helper with Jodi. They seem to be the best of friends. I had to take a nap yesterday after I picked Noah up from school. Daniel and I laid down together and Noah played with Jodi the entire time. When I woke, Noah had Jodi giggling so hard. It was hard not to ruin the moment by peeking. Noah is amazing and he fills my life and home with such a special, calming spirit. He is really getting excited for Halloween and Christmas. The wish list has already begun- an aircraft carrier, a stuffed Bald Eagle, more Star Wars stuff...

Spotlight on Daniel

Our little Daniel has become quite a terror- teaming up with Jodi to carry out his dasterdly deeds. He finds himself in a heap of trouble and in time-out nearly every day. We went through a month of some pretty poor behavior. He is trying hard to be good, but he just can't control his little body. He gets so excited and distracted all at once.

Daniel loves pre-school. He would love it more if he could sit on the big carpet with everyone else! His teacher, Mrs. Norgren, has found Daniel easier to manage when he is seperated from the group. Daniel asks everyday if he can sit with his friends. He just is unable to at this point. Maybe someday he'll get the hang of things. Dustin's mom says this was exactly how Dustin was growing up. Daniel's pictures and Dustin's pictures are almost identical at this age.

We take it day by day. I sure do love the times when he is so lovey-dovey. He is like a great big teddy bear. I love it when he asks me to be his buddy or when he comes up to me and says, "I love you," out of the blue. It melts my heart and makes the bad days seem not so bad. Who could resist that beautiful smile of his. I find myself laughing when I am so mad and I look into his eyes that are so full of joy- even when he is getting yelled at. I think his smile keeps me from really wanting to hurt him- he can sure push my buttons. I love him- even when he can't listen to me!

A Spotlight On Jodi

Ok, so I have tons of pictures of my cute, little curly girl. I am going to post some pictures of Jodi for a few days and hopefully do the same for Noah and Daniel. Jodi has become quite good friends with Daniel since Noah started school. This just means that Jodi and Daniel get into SUPER BIG TROUBLE TOGETHER!!!! SO, many of the dasterdly deeds you see were orchestrated with Daniel's clever and intriguing help! I think they work as a team to throw me off the scent so no one gets punished- so they hope!

First Day Impressions

Noah's first words about his first day of Kindergarten:

"It was SO long and there was a LOT of learning!"

It took us awhile to get more out of him- his mind was DONE thinking for awhile. He said his class went to the library, but they didn't get to check out any books. He was quite bummed about that. His class watched some "Franklin" movies. My kids love Franklin the Turtle books so this was totally awesome. He played inside for recess since it has been so hot. His classroom has "way more toy foods than we have." He had a great day and was so exhausted when he went to bed.

Noah's 2nd day proved to be MUCH harder on everyone than the first. Noah was in tears as we dropped him off. I am sure he was thinking, "Do I really have to do this all over again?" It is a HUGE adjustment for him. I did the best thing I could do: let his teacher be firm, put him in line, and I walked away. It was so hard, but I knew it was best for him. Daniel and Jodi fell apart at home. They didn't know how to play at all without Noah. I had to be very active with them and engage them through much of the day. It was so exhausting for me as well!! Noah really is an anchor in our home and his going to school shows me how special he is in our family.

Noah really had a great time today. He had P.E. and absolutely loved it. This is crazy for an "Albaugh" (my maiden name). We were not at all athetic and the P.E. teachers had their hands full with our awkwardness. Noah LOVED the jogs around the gym- go figure. I can sit forever listening to Noah tell me about his day. He is so amazing and wonderful and I truly feel empty with him gone.

I am hoping and praying that Daniel will "come into his own" soon. He throws such awful fits as any mom of a 3-year old will understand. I am tried to my max with that boy. He can be so sugary sweet and then turn on you in less than a second. It's really quite talented actually!!! I know that life around the Frier home will smooth out eventually, but with Noah starting school, Dustin starting school, and Daniel starting speech therapy/preschool life will be turbulent until we get it all balanced out.

Not So Little Anymore

I woke up early, got the family ready, and at 8:25am said goodbye to Noah for a day. Today is his first day of kindergarten! He was so excited to go and he was ready. He walked right up to his teacher, put his book bag down and found some boys playing in the sand. 2 seconds later the bell rang and Noah and the group of boys were still playing in the sand! He will learn about the bells and what they mean today. Because church goes so late for us (6pm) we didn't have much time to get Noah pumped up for school yesterday. Then, he got a phone call from his teacher. Noah was SO excited after that. He came running to me to tell me all about his conversation with his teacher.

It was hard for me to "keep my cool" and not break down completely. Noah is a great kid and is going to have so much fun and learn so much. I can't wait to hear how his day went. Daniel is having a REALLY hard time. Daniel cried a lot last night. After our family prayer Noah gave Daniel a hug and said, "It's ok Daniel. I'll still be your best friend when I come home tomorrow!" I cried after that! Daniel cried again this morning when Noah left. He really misses Noah- although he is already finding the plusses- Daniel gets to pick the movies, what we get for lunch, what games to play, etc... He is watching Jumanji and loving it. (Noah does not like it so much). Dustin was able to come with me to see Noah off and will be out of class in enough time to pick up Noah today.

It is awfully quiet and different without Noah here. I am glad I have a few weeks before Daniel starts preschool. Jodi and I are going to be lonely without the boys!