I hate it when that happens!

Poor Jordyn took a nasty spill at the school a couple of days ago.  According to her, she was heading back to her desk and tripped over her big black boots and fell face first in to her chair.  Amazingly, her glasses came out unscathed but her poor nose and face weren't so lucky. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad but she's pretty swollen and black and blue and her poor eyes look like she hasn't slept in a week!  I think she hurt her pride most of all but I was proud of her when she told me she didn't want to go home because she had a lot of work to do!  

Here's the damage!

This is day 3...still swollen, a little bruised, and an allergic reaction to the bandaid. Bummer!

 I'm loving this drawing she did of herself, especially the big bandaid right across the nose.  I love that she can laugh about it now because she was one sad little girl the day it happened!

Porter the Chef!

If you like burnt toast, Porter is your man!  One morning last week he got tired of waiting for me to make him some breakfast so he decided to make himself a piece of toast and doesn't he look proud of himself??  I asked him if he planned to eat the black brick he made for himself and he happily replied, "ya mom, I love burnt stuff!" and he ate every last bite!  I'm loving the gigantic hot pads..what a smart kid!

I have to laugh at the ice cream container on the second shelf behind Porter!  Just for the record, I don't keep ice cream in the cupboard..I'm just really cheap and use the containers for flour, sugar, wheat etc. 

Bifocals at age 9?

Yes, apparently so.  Jordyn has had reading glasses for over a year now and has continued to complain of her eyes hurting, burning, itching, etc.  I have to admit that I didn't think too much about it for a while. She'd just gotten glasses a few months before which were supposed to help quite a bit and she's done awesome in school and hasn't ever complained about not being able to see or any of the usual complaints.  Towards that last part of last year, she really started complaining so we set an appointment for the first of January and got her in to a new Eye Dr.  I'm so glad we did because it turns out that the poor girl has terrible vision.  In fact, the Dr. is amazed that she's such a good student and just kept telling me that she must be one determined child (that she is)!  Anyway, after spending close to 2 hours in the office, dilating and waiting, dilating with stronger drops and waiting some more, etc., the mystery was solved.  The results: she inherited her dad's bad eyes:  right eye 20/60, left eye 20/80.  Poor bad right eye has been doing all the work for the poor, bad left eye that is nearly blind.  So, instead of putting her in the full prescription right now, the Dr. thought it would be a good idea to sort of ease her in to it by putting her in Bifocals.  Never heard of a nine year old in Bifocals but apparently they do it quite a bit especially in cases like this.  Anyway, Jordyn is soooo excited about her new frames with purple and pink butterflies on the sides.  She's adjusted beautifully and seems happier about life in general (maybe because she can see:):)

Side note, completely off the subject but you see the nice new sewing machine in the background. Yep, that's what my parents gave me for Christmas and I'm giddy with excitement. I actually repaired a skirt that has been ripped for 3 years and I'm taking the waist in on another skirt today that Jordyn has wanted to wear for the longest time.  I in no way claim to know how to sew but I'm determined to learn with a little help from my mom and sisters and good old internet. Morgan and I spent an hour browsing the internet for fun beginner sewing projects and came up with a few really cute and simple things.  Morgan has begged for a sewing machine and lessons for years so she's going to be the one to push me along!  Okay, that was totally random but just thought I would mention it since it happened to be in the background!

Morgan's D.A.R.E. Graduation (Essay at OneTrueMedia.com

Morgan participated in the D.A.R.E. program for the past few months at school and really enjoyed the time she spent learning about the negative affect the usage of drugs and alcohol have on families, health, relationships, etc.  Near the end of the program, each student was asked to write an essay about the things they learned during the program and then two students from each school were selected to read their essay's at graduation.  Morgan worked extra hard on her essay and was so excited when she found she'd been chosen to share hers.  She titled her essay, "To Have a Drug Free Life."  She did such a great job and I especially loved seeing her cute personality come out in her writing!  She's a fun kid and has such great potential...I can't help but be proud of her! Here's the video!  

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

To Have a Drug free Life

Did you know that there are approximately 75,000 alcohol related deaths each year in  the U.S.? I think that this is a problem because people could make our country a healthier and safer place, but instead, they fill their bodies with drugs, which ruin their lives.

 I want to stay drug free because if I don't,  drugs will affect my relations with family and friends, cause health problems, and ruin my future career.

My relations with family and friends are important to me because they can help me to make good decisions, like staying drug free. If I do drugs, it will affect my ability to have healthy relationships.

Another reason I want to stay drug free is that I want to keep my body clean and habit free.

I have a habit of biting my nails. It weakens them and makes them look ugly. Drugs have similar affect. If I drank alcohol, it would weaken my body and make it look ugly and not groomed. even though biting your nails seems small compared to doing drugs, all bad habits are harmful and hard to break, no matter how big or small they might seem.

Another word for bad habit could be addiction. when I think of the word, addiction, I think, again of my nails. Whenever I try to stop, my teeth start to ache and I think, " My nails are growing, bite them Morgan."  for a while, I can resist the temptation, but I always give in. addiction, to me would be 100 times worse.

Drugs and smoking can make you sick in the head. Smoking can cause lung cancer, bad breath, and yellow teeth. Drugs and smoking can not only cause health problems, they can also cause you to not look well groomed.

One of  my dreams in life is to become a soccer star like Alex Morgan, who was in the 2012 summer Olympics. Soccer takes a lot of practice, determination, and focus. Drugs make you get off task and cause you to think only about getting more drugs. I don't want drugs to get in the way of my career.

In all, drugs are HARMFUL, not HELPFUL. Drugs can affect your relationships with family and friends and cause you to make bad decisions. Also, drugs cause bad habits, don't make you look groomed, and cause illnesses that ruin your body.

I promise to stay drug free so I can make good decisions, have a good career, and have a clean body full of healthy vitamins that will help me stay fit and in good shape. Before I make a choice, I will think," Will this affect my future a good or bad way?" I know this will help me make good decisions in life and will be good practice for staying drug free.

    

It doesn't get much cuter than this!

Kamryn's big wish on her Christmas list was that she'd get a Journey Girl doll just like Jordyn's! The look on her face Christmas morning was priceless when she saw this pretty doll named Meredith sitting with all of her Christmas stuff.  She's hardly put her down since Christmas day and never misses a day without dressing up  or a night without putting her in her matching pj's.  G&G Rose gave Kam a new pink coat for Christmas and Meredith just happened to come with her own pink coat so Kam was pretty excited about that!  

Why does she look so grown up in this bottom picture?  :( 

A surprise visit from Santa!

 

I'm going to try to play catch up on the blog since it's been a good 2 months since I've posted!  This was one of the highlights of our Christmas season when Santa showed up on our front step and paid the kids a visit! The little ones were especially excited and the older girls pretended to be totally excited:)  I was probably the most excited since it was totally unexpected! (Thanks to our new neighbors across the street)  Anyway, the kids all took a turn sitting on Santa's lap and sharing with him their Christmas want lists and then it was time for a group hug and a large bag of candy canes and he was on his way!  More to come on our Christmas fun!