Archive for the ‘All in the Family’ Category.
2nd November 2011, 07:40 pm
originally posted at
http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/11/seasonal-festivities.html
I would have titled this post “Halloween!!!”, but that would be so unoriginal. Is that a word? Anyway, Halloween!!!. Every year we go to Vineyard Nursery Pumpkinland. They have a corn maze, different farm animals to see, bouncy houses, a playground and a kid friendly spook alley. The kids love it! My mom came with me and she is still talking about how well behaved the kids were. I think it was the only time we have done an activity with no fits or fighting, my kids are getting older I guess.
This year for Halloween I really wanted to make the kids’ costumes. Neither James or I could remember a time when we were kids that we had a store bought costume. Our mom’s always made one or we scrounged something up and put one together ourselves. So I wanted to be creative this year and make something. Now, when
I say make I mean I will hot glue or safety pin anything and farm out the rest of the work to more talented people. Savanna wanted to be a Lady Bug, easy! We got a red sweatshirt and wings at DI, felt, headband, pipe cleaners and pom poms at Joann’s, and she owns a pair of red pants. A little glue, some pins and, voila! The sweetest Lady Bug ever! Miles’ was little more challenging, he wanted to be the Eon Kid. Has anyone ever heard of it? My kids are Netflix experts and can log-in, search for and start their movies themselves. The Eon Kid was something they found, an animated super hero/slash robot awesome kid that Miles’ loves. I tried to steer him towards something else for awhile because it looked hard, but he was set on it. We found the suit at DI, (the tag said Shadow Ninja) and an old bike helmet. The “Iron Fist” is my old ski glove with felt hot glued to it. The leg armor are soda boxes painted red. Oh the sacrifice I made for him, all those Vanilla Cokes I had to drink. My brother painted the helmet to match the Eon Kids’ and I think it turned out very cool! Miles was so happy and excited! Avery wore a duck costume we already had, both Savanna and Miles have worn it. All in all I spent $16! I was proud, and they were happy! Trick-or-treating was awesome. They were all well behaved and very friendly, telling everyone thank you and Happy Halloween and Avery would say “quack quack” when she got her candy. Fun Holiday!
20th October 2011, 03:40 pm
17th October 2011, 01:40 pm
originally posted at
http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/10/benefit-of-blogging.html
Friday around lunch time I noticed at package on my front step. We get packages quite often, usually it’s something for the business. James said he wasn’t expecting anything and I knew I hadn’t ordered anything so my first thought was it was something delivered to us accidentally. I picked up the box and saw that it was to Chevon Bayless from A. Bayless in PA! A package from my sister-in-law Amanda to me! Amanda is a notoriously great gift giver. She is one of the most thoughtful people when it comes to gift giving. She sends my kids birthday and Christmas gifts, she sent matching dresses for the girls when Avery was born. She sent my mother-in-law this awesome strawberry slicer and when I e-mailed her to see where she bought it, she sent me one too! One of my favorite sweaters was from her! She always remembers everyone’s everything. So getting a package from her was exciting! Inside the box was some chocolate’s, slippers, a CD, a magazine, a recipe book, popcorn, a cute tote bag, and the above note. I read the note and started to cry. As I mentioned in my previous post, things have been rough lately. It meant so much to me that someone was thinking of me and, as silly as it might sound, it’s means a lot to me that people actually read this blog. I have always loved writing and blogging is such a convenient way to put my thoughts into words. I now know of two people who live out of my state that read my blog! Granted, they are both relatives, but still! I want to say thank you to Amanda, you are wonderful! I have been inspired by you to be more thoughtful and remember the people around me and what they might be going through. I really wish you lived closer so I could see you and your family more often. Us Bayless daughter-in-laws got to stick together, it’s been rough out there for us lately! Thank you for reading and remembering me, I hope to see you soon!
6th October 2011, 02:00 pm
originally posted at
http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/10/when-it-rains.html
Why is it that this expression is so true? Doesn’t it always happen like that? One thing goes wrong then a hundred come behind it? This seems to be our life lately. One thing after another. James has had so much stress at work with one job on top of another, he barely gets any sleep. My Aunt passed away. I had to go to the Emergency Room with an injured arm. The fuel pump in the truck went out. James cut his arm at work,but thankfully our nurse neighbor came and sealed up the cut so we didn’t have to go the ER
again. Our lovely tenant in Orem is, well, GRRR! Miles got lost at James’ brothers wedding (we found him). I have had a cold for hmm, about a month. It’s SNOWING! And to top it all off my Netflix Instant Streaming to my TV won’t work! Ok, so maybe if you piece it all apart, it’s not so much. However, considering the fact that all of this happened in a weeks time, it’s tough. That’s why I’m sitting here blogging and eating a huge piece of leftover wedding cake. At least the sun came out for the wedding, it really was beautiful. Everyone looked so nice dressed up. By the end of the night Miles’ tux looked as though it had been to war and all three of them were covered in cake, but this picture was taken before all that. Even though things get tough and stay tough sometimes I am grateful for what I have, my husband and my three cuties.
6th October 2011, 01:19 pm
1st October 2011, 01:20 pm
originally posted at
http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/10/st-george-temple.html
Last week (September 20-23rd) Andy and I went to St. George for 3 days. He had a conference to go to, so I would spend the day at the pool reading a book. On that Thursday, we had the opportunity to go to the St. George Temple. I had never been there before. We did a session and then we wandered the grounds taking pictures. We also went inside the visitors center. We learned about the process of building the temple. Then we got to watch a new church video of Heavenly Father’s Plan. It was a really good video. It made me think about how lucky I am to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints…the true church, and that I’m lucky to be sealed to my family and especially my husband. I know that we will be together for eternity as long as we keep our covenants. This is my goal!
25th September 2011, 06:55 pm
originally posted at
http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-have-not-had-creative-juice-lately.html
I have not had the creative juice lately for an awesome blog post, so here is a lame one. Life is puttering along in our family. So far school has turned out to be a great experience. It’s helped us to get on a schedule and I can see academic progress in Savanna already. Her reading and writing has improved a lot. Wherever we go she is reading signs and she is figuring out how to spell things by herself. We went to the school carnival and on a field trip and both were fun new activities for us to enjoy. When Savanna is at school, Avery has a nap and I get to have some alone time with Miles. With being the middle child stuck between two sisters I worry that he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. He is generally easy going and not as high maintenance as the girls so he gets passed up sometimes. Having time with just him has been really good for him. We play games, read books, look at funny videos on you tube, and work on his “school”. We didn’t finish the Summer Bridge workbooks this summer so I have been working with Miles to finish his. He always surprises me with how much he knows. He is working on the pre-school to kindergarten book and can pretty much do it all. He is not as talkative as Savanna and is not forever telling me all the things he knows, so sometimes I don’t realize how smart he really is, but he can fly through those pages! Avery is growing up so fast! Just recently her vocabulary has exploded. She is always repeating words and songs and blurts our the funniest things. I have not been very good about a bedtime with her (oops) so she is accustomed to spending time with James and I after the other kids go to bed. She enjoys her time with just us, the other night we settled on the couch after putting the kids to bed and Avery said “watch a movie?” James and I just laughed, she is at the funnest age where everything she does is sooo cute! Although work is still really busy for James, he was able to have a few nights off and we had an awesome family night at Taco Amigo and Chuck E Cheese’s! These are the days of my life!
21st September 2011, 12:00 pm
originally posted at
http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/09/sunday-dinners-and-family.html
Every Sunday night Andy and I go over to his parents for dinner. Most of his other siblings come as well. It is fun to be with the family, especially the little nieces and nephews. They sure do keep us entertained at times.
For mother’s day we got Lindsey a Nana frame since the grandchildren call her Nana. I finally got around to taking a picture for that frame, but of course I haven’t printed it yet. These kids just love their Nana! We will have to take a picture with all the grandchildren the next time the out of state grandkids come to visit.
Miles is full of energy and life. He is a funny kid!
This is how these brothers bond. However, it is a little unusual that they only had one cell phone out!
Sunday nights are great. I love spending time with Andy’s family. I just wish that I got to see my family as often. I miss them, and I wish that I could watch my nieces and nephews goof off every week. Whenever I see them, they are even more grown up then the last time I saw them. Kael is in first grade, Ava and Kiera are going to preschool, and Liam and Mya are learning how to walk and talk. It would also be fun to sit around and chat with my siblings and parents. Okay, now I’m starting tear up so I better end this blog.
Families are amazing! I am so grateful for all of my family members (real and in-laws). I truly am blessed to have a lot of family! I hope they all know how much I love them!
6th September 2011, 09:00 pm
originally posted at
http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/09/improving.html
I am in my second year of teaching first grade. My first year in first grade was great, but I decided that I want to be an even better teacher. Lately I have been spending hours reading teacher blogs and websites, and I have come across some great ideas. Some ideas are about organizing, decorating, reading, and so on.
Here are a few I have already used:
1. Birthdays – Instead of just writing my students’ names under the month they were born, I took pictures of all of the kids born in a month. I had them hold the sign of the month and their date. Look at the kiddies below. (Now I just need to get them printed and up on the wall.)
2. Mystery Readers – I’m going to have parents come in and be mystery readers. Before they come in I will read clues about them, and the students try to figure out if it is one of their parents. Then the parent will come in and read to the class.
3. Names – I’ve also done a few fun things with my students names. They had to cut apart the letters in their name. Then they glue them on construction paper and write how many letters are in their name. Since then we have charted their names according to how many letters and how many syllables are in their names. It is also a good way for the kids to get to know the names of their classmates.
4. Word Books – This was actually thought up by one of my team teachers. Instead of the students just cutting out the words of the week and reading them over and over, I’m now having the students cut out the words and glue them into a notebook. Then they write a sentences using their new words.
I’m excited to see what other fun ideas I come across. It is fun to learn new things from experienced teachers. It is also great to be able to teach the same grade again! I love teaching and seeing these little kids grow!
2nd September 2011, 05:40 pm
originally posted at
http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/09/kindergarten.html
It happened! My sweet Savanna started school! A week before she started we went to the schools open house. She got to meet her teacher and have a scavenger hunt of the school. She had to find her cubby, the bathroom, the playground, etc. She was so excited! She was bouncing around the whole time, her teacher commented on how excited she must be! Savanna was counting down the days until she started, the only time she can seem to remember the days of the week is when something exciting is going to happen. The morning of the first day she kept telling me that I could just drop her off, she knew where to go I didn’t need to take her in. I told her that mommy’s have to go in the first day to take pictures so I was going in no matter what! We got some cute pictures and she sat right down at her table and started coloring her picture. She barely said goodbye, I think she was ready! My new favorite thing is dropping her off and picking her up. When I drop her off she walks up to the door with her backpack on and turns around three of four times to wave goodbye with a huge grin on her face, it’s the cutest thing ever. When I pick her up she is smiling so big and immediately starts telling me what she did that day, she stands outside the car telling me everything through the window. I have to remind her to get in the car so other parents can come get their kids. She just can’t wait to tell me! We survived the first week, hopefully she can keep up the enthusiasm for a few months at least!
