More Wedding Pics

 This is coming back after the wedding and she was still dropping flower petals!  So cute!

These are from David's uncle (the photographer).  He got a few cute ones of the kids that I thought some of you might like to see.  I have a fun post but it will have to wait a day or two.  I'm not feeling well and have been super busy and the rest of the week will be crazy as well!

Student of the Month

Here is my Student of the Month for September.  He received this in kindergarten also in September.  He received a certificate for a free kid's meal at Applebee's so we went to dinner the other night to celebrate.  The day he brought it home I took the kids to Wendy's to get a frosty to celebrate because I knew we couldn't go out that night.

And here is a picture of Grace and me.  Don't want to leave her out.

Wedding Day

I don't have all the pictures yet and David's Uncle (the photographer) has some good ones I am sure and hopefully I will get copies of those.  Here are some of the pictures that I got.  The kids did an awesome job in the wedding.  Grace stopped for a second and wasn't sure if she was going to walk down the aisle but kept going and did a great job.  She only dropped a few flowers on the ground on the way down and then when they were walking out she dropped flowers again.  Andrew was Mr. Serious during the wedding and Grace was well, a typical flower girl.  She was making faces at her daddy and kicking her feet and counting the petals on the ground that she had dropped.  Everything went very smooth and we did get some smiles for pictures.  The only picture that Grace was in was for the whole wedding party.  She didn't want to be in pictures without Andrew and we didn't push it.  The only thing that was missing was the bow for Grace's dress.  It had fallen off the hanger and I didn't realize it until 5:30 this morning when I woke David up to tell him that she didn't wear the beautiful bow that went with her dress.  Oh well.  Now for a picture overload!

 David got to seat his grandma.

Andrew showing off his dance moves. 

Shy or defiant/rude?

OK, so this is a battle that I have fought since Andrew was really little.  He has always been super sensitive and shy, even with family.  We struggle to get him to speak to anyone or use manners (outside the house).  I've always just said he is super shy and we work on it.  I talk to him about it all the time but this week his teacher brought it to my attention.  She is concerned that he is being defiant to me, not shy.  She is also concerned about him being rude.  Last weekend, Andrew had a football game and his teacher came to watch and he refused to say hi to her or thank her for coming.  It's always been such a struggle and I'm not sure how to deal with it or what kind of consequences to use for this behavior.  Both of my kids are extremely backward around people and take a while to warm up.  It took Grace about 3 months (or more) to talk to her preschool teacher.  David has always been very shy and quiet (but not rude if people talk to him).  He doesn't typically start a conversation with people and I don't really think that's a big deal.  He isn't a talker.  I'm just trying to figure out if Andrew is being defiant and we are allowing him to get away with it or if he is truly that shy.  It's such a struggle because David always tells me to back off.  I can't force the words out of his mouth but he needs to understand that it is rude to not thank someone or acknowledge them.  Any ideas?  I'm very frustrated about this.  It has always bothered me but I don't know how to move forward to work on it.

Stuff

I can't really remember what we have been doing lately.  Obviously we are too busy if I can't remember.  Since the last post, I subbed 4 days last week and have 2 this week.  We had a long weekend at home and just enjoyed each other.  We went to the Goodman's house to play on Monday which was a lot of fun.  We always let way too much time go by.  I became a great-aunt on Monday.  Grace had tumbling and is doing so much better.  She is still really shy but she's getting there.  Thankfully we still have about 2 months before a performance.  I made a very simple fall wreath.  I didn't really have time or money to spend on making one so I made this and I really like it.

Now I'm working on a card box for the wedding the kids are in this weekend.  I have it mostly finished but need the finishing touches done.  I'll post a picture when it's all done.

The kids made fall trees with stickers.  I traced their hands (and part of arm) for the tree trunk and they used foam stickers.  I walked away for a minute and they ended up coloring the whole tree in different colors so I didn't get a picture of them finished.  I wanted them to hang up for the season.  Not sure now.  Here's a picture of them working on it.

 

The kids are in a wedding this weekend so hopefully I will have more to talk about and pictures to show soon.  

Retirement and Pumpkins

This past weekend we celebrated David's grandma.  She retired from the Post Office on Thursday.  The whole family went to dinner at Olive Garden.  It was great to see everyone.  Usually I have to work when there is a birthday party for someone in the family and David takes the kids without me.  It's been a long time since I've seen everyone.

 Andrew and his little cousin playing the Leapster Explorer!  The little guy was so interested in it and was really good about waiting for Andrew to tell him when he could touch it.

 After dinner, we got to take our nephew with us.  All the cousins met at the pumpkin patch.  We hadn't planned on going but so glad we ended up there.  The kids love having their little cousin around.

 Ok, so that picture is hard to see but it's a bungee jump thing for kids.  Andrew decided he wanted to try it and we were so surprised.  He liked it!  There is a guy on a trampoline with them that bounces them into the air.  The have a harness thing with bungees attached and the go flying through the air.  It's really crazy but he liked it!  I'm not sure if he would do it again though.

Somebody wasn't happy about having her picture taken.  Anyone surprised?  I'm getting more and more worried about the wedding and whether or not she will cooperate.  It's on the 15th of this month.  It seemed so far away when they first asked us and I was really hoping she would become a little more cooperative by then.  We'll see.  Say lots of prayers that day please!

Well, that's about all we've done recently.  Andrew had a flag football game last Saturday but we lost.  It was an interesting game.  The other team was constantly knocking our kids down.  Not sure if you realized this but there is no tackling allowed in FLAG football.  Guess the refs and coaches (and parents) need to read the rules.  It amazes me how parents act.  I was really proud of our players and parents.  Hopefully this weekend will be better!

Tomorrow I get to hang out in Andrew's class and help with centers and then go back in the afternoon and help with the Earth project.  They are making paper mache (no clue if that is how you spell it) earths.  Can you imagine 120 first graders in the cafeteria making these?  Andrew's teacher said that Grace can make one if she wants.  Why not?  When you already have 120 students making a huge mess, what's one more?  Hope you all have a fun (and not so messy) day!