Day of Caring

On Thursday, Sept. 11th I got to be a part of the United Way's Day of Caring event. I was actually the staff person in charge of the project that the Women's Leadership Council did (I'm the Administrative Assistant to the Director of this group). We were assigned to work with the Daily Herald (our local newspaper) and BYU.

For those of you who don't know what the Day of Caring is, it is where companies allow their employees to take the morning off to volunteer in their community. The United Way coordinates all of the volunteers and assigns them to projects across the community.

Our group was assigned to Provost Elementary. We had several groups of volunteers working in various classrooms reading stories and doing activities with the students that went along with those stories. We also had volunteers working outside painting outside games for the students and freshening up older outside games.

Although I felt a little chaotic running from place to place around that school and coordinating all of their efforts, I believe all of the volunteers had a wonderful experience! I got really nice emails afterwards from the Daily Herald and from the Provost Elementary Principal that thanked me for everything and mentioned what a wonderful morning it was. I think for my first event it turned out well! I, of course, couldn't have done it without the help of my boss, the other Administrative Assistant (the lady I job share with), and the amazing volunteers including the women of the Women's Leadership Council. It's such a good feeling to be a part of something so amazing!

Painting an alphabet caterpillar

Painting the US map

Digging weeds out of the cracks

This is my favorite picture! During recess several of the kids sat down around the volunteers and watched and asked them questions (it was pajama day at school).

The finished product

Reading to the children

The finished product

We had two alphabet caterpillars to freshen up and one new one to paint. We had one US map to freshen up and one new one to paint. There were also like six to eight hopscotches to freshen up and one really big shape circle to freshen up. Inside we had seven groups of volunteers visiting seven different classrooms the first hour and then an additional seven classrooms the second hour. Needless to say, there was a lot going on! What a fun morning.

9/7 thur 9/9

Sundays are rough around our house! Church is from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. so it's during lunchtime and nap time. By the time we get home from church, Mr. Cranky Pants (aka Miles) has arrived. We normally are counting down the minutes until early bedtime (7 p.m.) arrives! I've never met an almost 5-year-old who still needs a daily nap. He is such an active little guy that his body must need the rest to rejuvenate. His attitude and cooperativeness diminishes greatly without a nap. So, on this particular Sunday (Sept. 7th) while Dad was at work I decided that we'd all go crazy if we stayed in the house another minute. We got our bikes out and hooked up the bike trailer for Oliver and off we went to the Provo River Trail. We really are so lucky to live so close to such a beautiful trail!

Oliver's first ride in the bike trailer

Selfie time

It was hot and I was still really sore from the Labor Day hike, but it was a perfect way to keep us all entertained until bedtime!

Now that we have better insurance again, we've taken advantage and have all made our rounds to the various doctors; dentists, eye doctors, medical doctors, etc. Miles, Oliver, and I had dentist appointments on Monday, Sept. 8th. This was Oliver's first dentist appointment. The dentist told me that Oliver's 8th tooth was close to coming in and that he had a two-year molar close to coming in as well. Miles got his teeth cleaned and x-rayed and did a great job. He got a clean bill. I, on the other hand, didn't get such good news. I never do. I have horrible teeth. Over the course of the month I had a couple of more dentist appointments to get a cavity filled and to have a crown from the past fixed, which was a blessing in disguise actually!

Miles getting his teeth cleaned

Later that night Miles and I made a trip to the dollar store to get supplies for his upcoming birthday party. We found some fun stuff at the store and Miles just had to have a picture taken!

Knight Miles

Princess Miles

He ended up finding a Halloween spider that he couldn't live without. I agreed to buying it for him because he was supposed to take something that started with an "A" for his first day of preschool for show-and-tell. I taught him what an arachnid is!

On Tuesday, Sept. 9th Miles started preschool! He had been waiting all summer for this day. Unfortunately, preschool is in the afternoons (during nap time), but it's only twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). It was recommended to us by one of his soccer coaches. We thought it would be good for Miles to go to school with someone he knew already. Another little girl from our church also is going there. Again, we thought it would be good for Miles to go to school with kids that he will see at other venues.

His preschool is in this lady's home. At first I was a little hesitant with this idea, but it is working out perfectly for Miles and he is learning so much! He connected with his teacher, Miss Nicki, really fast and he really does love her...and she loves him! I think it's the perfect environment for him this last year before kindergarten.

 

Professional pictures

Now that we are back in Utah and know some amazing photographers, I contacted one of our favorites, Aynn Thurman, and asked if she'd be available to take Oliver's 9 month pictures and Miles' 5 year pictures. 

On Friday, September 5th we met her at a local apple orchard. I have to admit that at first I was a little worried about the pictures we might get of Oliver since he isn't walking or even very stable when standing with assistance and we were going to be outdoors. I thought studio pictures might be better for his age. I, of course, had NO reason to worry. Aynn is amazing and always gets GREAT pictures.

We have such cute boys and Aynn did a great job capturing them and their personalities! If anyone would like a copy of any of these pictures, let me know.

Two seconds after this shot, Oliver fell face forward off the front of this chair & ended up with a few scratches on his face! We had to move on to Miles while Oliver recovered from his fall. Poor guy!

 

I think this is his "worried about his brother" face

Those eyes!

 

Everything goes straight to his mouth!

 

Aynn had to work fast to get this shot before he fell over! Mom was very close by!

 

Such cute cute boys!

 

He's a daddy's boy!