Basketball!

After we put up the new basketball court we realized that it was a little too big for our little basketball player, Evan. So Ron came up with a genius solution. He screwed the old basketball rim and backboard to the fence just right for Evan. Now we have two rims in our front yard and everyone is happy! We spent a lot of time outside this afternoon playing basketball. Ron and I even played H-O-R-S-E. I'll let you guess who won. Ron also spent some time trying to teach Evan how to pass the basketball between your legs. It was hilarious. Evan gave it his best effort and before long he really will have it. I couldn't resist taking out the camera for that!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! The Perrys had a great Christmas and we wanted to share with you.


Last week the festivities began with our school Christmas program and parties. A few of my students bought me some Dr. Pepper which is always a great gift! One student even bought me a pair of BEE slippers! I've never been a wearer of slippers but I've been wearing them around the house and I love them! They keep my feet so warm!

Last night we went to Ron's grandma's house for Christmas Eve. As long as I have known Ron his family has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. The kids got some great gifts! Their grandpa bought them a basketball court. The last time he was here Seth and Evan challenged him to a game and he found out just how much they love playing basketball. Grandma Lou bought Seth the Leapster 2 which is awesome and she bought Evan some cars and a case that fits 100 hotwheels! (He doesn't have quite enough to fill it up yet) I was so excited for them to get those two gifts. I knew they were things that they would love.

And then this morning we woke up and opened presents at home that Santa had brought. Seth noticed that Santa uses the same wrapping paper that Mommy does. I told him that Mommy left the wrapping paper out for Santa in case he ran out. He bought that excuse but next year I'll have to remember to buy a second roll of wrapping paper.





Santa brought Seth a skateboard. Too bad it was raining today! He got to get out there a little bit and get a quick lesson from Dad about how to ride. I got a great picture of him falling. He didn't get hurt but he did get wet. As I was taking pictures I began to think that this may be the beginning of many trips to the emergency room!











Evan got Buzz Lightyear. Boy was that thing hard to hide. The slightest move made that thing go off and Buzz would say, "To infinity and beyond!" (which ironically was one of the first few words that Evan put together.)


Christmas was good this year.

The Boys

I've been paying extra attention the past couple of days to how each of the boys is beginning to develop they're own distinct personalities.

Seth is so smart. He's got his dad's memory. He remembers everything. He remembers things from long ago, he remembers movies, tv, shows, songs, etc. His dad gives him a line from a movie and makes him guess the movie. Most of the time he gets it right. He's starting to tell jokes, too. He wants everyone to know how funny he is. And if you don't laugh at his joke he clears his throat and says, "Is this mic on?". Last night he was getting excited because Christmas is coming. He said to his dad, "How come you're not excited? Did you lose your excited voice? Here, you can borrow mine!"
He's also needs lots of encouragement. At school when he completes his work he takes it to his teacher and asks if he did a good job.
Seth LOVES music. He wants to play the guitar. He loves to sing and dance. His favorite movie is HSM3. He got a MP3 player as an early Christmas present and he loves to listen to it.

Evan is also learning to love music. He's starting to find his voice and he will dance when he sees music playing on tv. He's going to have no problem standing up for himself in life. He's strong. He has a sense already of when things are not fair. He loves Levi and other 'babies'. He'll sit and play with Levi for awhile. He's tough but has a sensitive side. He loves to hear us say "Good job, Evan" Evan LOVES cars. Everyday he carries at least one car in his pocket. When he changes into his pjs at night he has to take his cars out of his pocket and then he'll even sleep with his cars grasped tightly in his hands.

Levi...well Levi is loud! (So is the rest of the house). Levi is also on the go, he rarely likes to be confined to one spot. He loves to go into his brothers' bedroom and pull out all of the toys. He likes to wear his brother's boxing gloves so we may have another fighter on our hands. Thanks to Amy he loves to have his picture taken and as soon as you pull out the camera he says "Cheese".

It's so much fun to watch the boys grow into the men they will become and develop they're own personalities. I love those little guys!

I found one more!

I found another one! Black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Years!

For the past two days we I have been off work at home taking care of sick children. With all this time at home I have had time to do A LOT of laundry. I did so much laundry that I am officially done with all of the laundry in the house including blankets. Now, I know that once we all change into our pajamas I will have to continue to tame the laundry monster but it does feel good to be done with it even for just the night! I thought of taking a picture of my empty laundry baskets but if I have to look at the laundry basket again tonight I might go crazy!

Encouraging

As a third grade teacher I'm not likely to get those visits from former students where they tell you about how being in your class has affected their lives. I always read about those visits or hear about them from other teachers and I think it's so cool. I would be so honored if that happened but I do realize that (1) it takes a great teacher to make a great impact (2) my kids are only in 3rd grade and (3) I've only been teaching for 5 years.
However, today I got some positive feedback which was very encouraging to hear. A parent from last year's class came up to me and said, "I've always liked how you say good morning to each student as they walk into class. This morning I was reading the Reader's Digest and read a story that made me think of you. The story was about a guy who made it his mission to say hello to everyone he saw for 30 days. During this time he did some research and found that teachers who say hello to each student every day have students that are 27% more effective. When I read this I thought of you."
I was honest with her and told her that I started doing that so that I would remember their names and then the students really liked it so I continue it. But YAY ME! I was just doing what I do and come to find out that what I do makes my students more productive. Here I am being a good teacher and not even trying!

Fighting a Bear

The other day in the car on the way to church I mentioned a saying that my parents use to say. Ron had no idea what I was talking about. He had never heard of the saying and couldn't come close to telling me what it meant. So I began to wonder what other sayings have I heard all my life that others don't know? And what other things do I consider completely normal that others may not? So here's the beginning of my list starting with the one from the car (and I say beginning because now that this has come to my attention I will be on the lookout for more):

Sayings:
(1) Don't bite your nose off to spite your face. (this is similar to "Don't shoot yourself in the foot" which, by the way, is one Ron knew)
(2) You can fight a bear that long. (My Nanny used to say this to me. She used it when I was complaining about something. It's like, "Hang in there you can handle it.")

Everyday Living:
(3) Until recently I didn't know that every house does not make and drink tea everyday. Nor did I know that what I was drinking all my life is largely called sweet tea in many places.
(4) Chicken and dumplings is not a dinner that everyone knows. (although I don't know why because it's SOOOO good.)

To be continued...

A Bunch of Stuff

20 Days until Christmas! I'm taking Ron's grandma to Toys 'R' Us this weekend to help her pick out toys for the boys. Ron's putting up her Christmas lights and ours too.

Since coming back from the ACSI Conference I have tried to implement the things I have learned into my classroom. I have started a new blog for my class. I post information on there about tests coming up, our weekly memory verse, homework, spelling lists, etc. A couple of parents have already told me they love it. I have also remembered that not every family has interenet access at home so I do not reward the students who do or punish those that don't.
Another new thing is when trying to get the attention of the class I am trying different attention getters. Usually I say "One, two, three, eyes on me." and my class responds with "One, two, eyes on you." This week I have started them on saying their memory verse when I need their attention. (the extra practice is good). I have also introduced a new review game and they LOVE it!

I'm seeing more and more how big Seth is getting. All 3 of the boys were standing in the middle of the living room staring up at the TV and Ron looked over at me and whispered, "Look how tall Seth is!" Sure enough, he's towering above Evan. I used to think it wouldn't be long before Evan catches up to Seth but must have hit a growth spurt. Also, yesterday Seth and Evan were outside playing basketball with Ron when the ball went over the brick wall that separates our house from the neighbors. Ron jumped the wall and then picked Seth up and taught him how to jump off the wall. I kept thinking "Kaiser...here we come." but Seth's ability to balance himself is great. My little boy isn't going to be little much longer!

Purses

Ron asked what I wanted for Christmas this year and after thinking about it I decided that I wanted him to buy me a purse and matching wallet. Then he says, "You really like purses, don't you? Isn't that what you asked for last year?" I've been secretly obsessed with purses for awhile but since I'm not really "girly" I don't admit it often. Leave it to Ron to figure it out! Anyhow, this lead to a search on the internet of cute purses. I began to think of all the brands that I might like. I found a few cute but not to die for purses. Then after thinking for awhile I began to wonder if any MMA brands make women's purses. So my internet search continued and nope, there are no MMA brands that make them. I think I found a new avenue for them! Maybe I'll email the crazy guys from TapOut and pitch my idea! I'm sure all those half-naked girls (who aren't really there to watch the fight anyway) that you see at the fights would carry a TapOut purse! I could make a fortune! =)

The Past Two Days

The past two days I have been attending the ACSI Convention in Anaheim. ACSI stands for Assocation of Christian Schools International. Every year our school attends this two day seminar. Basically what happens is we sit and listen to a speaker talk about the theme of this year. This year's theme was Transformational Teaching. Next we get to choose from an array of classes to take on various topics in Christian education. Over the past two days I have taken 8 classes. This is more than what is required but since I do not need 1 hour to eat my lunch I skipped my lunch period and took extra classes. So, here is the list of classes I have taken:

1) Unlocking the Mystery of Self Esteem
2) Motivation
3) When is It a Speech Problem?
4) What 99 our of 100 Educators Don't Know About Classroom Management
5) Teaching Tips to Grab Kids Attention
6) Tips for Working With Urban Parents
7) Memorizing Math Facts
8) Autism & Aspergers in a Nutshell

Tomorrow all of the staff will get together and we will give a brief presentation of the things we learned over the past two days.

The class I learned the most from was Tips for Working With Urban Parents, Memorizing Math Facts and Teaching Tips to Grab Kids Attention. I think I'll talk about those 3.

Lost Tooth is Lost!

This morning Ron and I were still laying in bed when the boys got up and started playing. Seth comes into our room and says, "Dad, I lost my tooth! Evan hit me in the face and it came out!" Without even opening my eyes I said to Ron, "There goes the idea of you pulling out his first tooth."

I got out of bed to look for the tooth but it's lost. Evan really did hit Seth in the face with a kickboard that you use to learn to swim.

This is Seth's first lost tooth...well naturally anyway.

High School Musical 3

Today was our Kinder, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade field trip to the El Capitan Theatre to see High School Musical 3! The really great thing about the El Capitan Theatre is that before the movie starts there is a little show. We went there a few years ago to see Santa Clause 3 and they had fake snow fall from the ceiling! This time when we went an employee called up four volunteers who had to know the HSM songs. My little (not so little anymore) Seth was the first one to raise his hand and he got called up on stage! He did such a great job. He had to sing "Get Your Head in the Game." He didn't know the words to the verse but did an awesome job with the chorus. He did such a great job that he won the High School Musical 2 DVD! He takes after his daddy (and his mommy)

Seth's Project

Seth was given his very first Kindergarten project. Mrs. Brainard, Seth's teacher, sent home a note with a large picture of a turkey. This, along with all of the other Kindergarten projects, are family projects. The goal is to get the whole family involved. And so we are to decorate this turkey however we want. Here is the result of our family project.

Already?!

About a week ago (before Halloween) I was at the grocery store and saw a HUGE display for Christmas. I thought to myself, "They just keep getting it out earlier and earlier don't they?" Then a co-worker mentioned the other day that she was at Starbucks and they had their Christmas cups out already. I can't believe we're already thinking about Christmas! Seth has found two catalogs filled with toys and has circled everything he wants for Christmas. Which, in short, mans he wants EVERYTHING! However, on the bright side, he is learning that his brothers should also receive during Christmas so he has lovingly selected a few (and I do mean a few) things for Evan. When I questioned why he didn't circle anything for Levi he very matter of factly said, "Mom, they don't have baby toys in this book." He also has learned that there are 'boy' toys and 'girl' toys so he has cut out all of the 'girl' pages from the catalogs. Such is the life of a mom with three boys and no girls in the house. (except for the dog)
For the record...Christmas is 47 days away.

Pirate Dog

We recently had an emergency at the Perry home. Our kids are fine and Ron and I are fine...it was our dog Daisy. We bought Daisy when she was just a puppy, only a few weeks old. I found an ad in the paper for a lady in our city that was selling Chihuahua puppies. I took Seth with me to go look at the dog. Of course he adored her from the moment he saw her (so did I). We handed over the money and brought home our puppy.
On Halloween she had an accident (we aren't exactly sure what happened) but I heard her yelp and went out to check on her. Her yelp reminded me of when I hear my kids cry. As their mom I know the difference between a frustrated cry and a hurt cry. So I ran out to the front yard and found her eye was injured. It was actually popping out of her eye socket. (Sorry if that's tmi)
We took her to the vet and she had to have the eye removed. So now she is our pirate dog with only one eye. It doesn't look as bad as it sounds but she still has stitches and in the interest of those with weaker stomachs I decided not to post a picture.
She's actually very happy and normal. She doesn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort. I've researched this online and found that it is a common injury in small dogs and that most continue to live very happy and long lives.
The funny thing is that Seth is now very protective of her. Evan got close to Daisy and Seth said, "Don't hurt her you know she doesn't have any eyes left!" He then corrected himself and said, "Well she has one eye."

Any Thoughts?

As a teacher I use a curriculum to help guide me. I teach the concepts that I am given in the curriculum but do not always use their methods. I add and subtract things based on several things like the needs of my students or materials available. For example, a few years ago I realized that my third graders were not doing well on their science tests because they didn't know how to study for them as they had never taken science tests before. So I created for every chapter a review sheet with questions that would help them prepare for the test.

When Ron and I taught in the youth ministry at our church we never used a curriculum. We tried to a couple of times but always found them to be lacking something. So every week we would sit down, usually together, and think about what the group as whole needed to hear. We knew them all personally. When we decided what we wanted the topic to be, we sat down with the Bible and began to see what God had to say.

So I wonder...do pastors use other sermons to help them prepare for their services? Do pastors always create their own sermons or do they borrow from other pastors? And when a pastor uses another pastor's sermon is that okay? Is there some curriculum or big book of sermons that pastors can go to if they get stuck? I would think that if a pastor gets paid a certain amount of money to preach that he would preach his own sermons. If not, is this a form of plagirism? And if they do use another pastor's sermon then who is the pastor of the church?

One would think that since I spent time working in a church office I would know how a pastor spends his time. But honestly, during my work in the church office I never paid attention to the process of sermon writing.

Any thoughts?

Halloween

Last night was Halloween and we took the boys over to Jesse and Amy's house to go trick or treating. There were about 15 kids all together and we probably wiped out the neighborhood of their candy just with our group. Seth was dressed up as a knight and Evan was dressed up as SpiderMan. We didn't dress Levi up since he was in the stroller all night, can't eat all that candy and also didn't feel well. The boys got really tired from all the walking. Seth fell asleep in the car on the way home and Evan almost did. Evan has so much energy and the candy that he ate after trick or treating probably added to the energy level. The boys had a great time and it was so cute to see them walk up to the houses saying "Trick-or-treat". We made sure they didn't walk on anyone's grass and that they always said thank-you. Evan would go knock on doors and say "It's me!" as if he knew everyone!

On a side note. Evan is turning into quiet the polite little fellow. Last night Ron asked him if he wanted to go with Amy and he stopped and said, "Hmm...no thank you!" Gotta love him!

Another day

Seth is still sick. No church for me today. Ron took Evan with him to church. Poor Evan was in the house all day yesterday and he needs to get out and run around.
Seth is not throwing up anymore and he is eating a little bit. Hopefully he'll be better for school tomorrow. He has free dress and doesn't have to wear his uniform. It's kind of a shame though because I have worked hard to get all the laundry done this weekend, including all of his uniforms!

Sick

It's official...I started it. I was the first one in the house to get sick and now everyone else has it. Or at least some form of it. I wasn't ready to admit it then my smart husband said to me, "Why do we have vitamin C in the house?" And then I had to admit that I bought it when I started feeling sick.

Levi is teething and has a runny nose and diarrhea. Evan is finally getting over his runny nose. Seth has had a runny nose for close to two weeks. He just got over his earache and now has what I think is the flu. And Ron has a cold.

So I'm taking care of the little sick ones and Ron is continuing his life as normal. He's following his theory of if you don't admit your sick and keep on keeping on then you won't feel so bad. (I do this everytime I have a migraine)

I'm hoping this flu bug only sticks around for 24 hours. I have to admit though, that I really love that when the boys are sick they call for Mommy. Especially since all of my boys said "dada" before "mama"!

School Happenings...

Last post for the day - - (see Mom I'm trying to catch you up)

School is going well. Evan had a day a couple of weeks ago where he didn't want to do his work so his teacher sent it all home with him. He did it over a few days. He has two teachers this year. Due to the economy, our schools enrollment has gone down. This has allowed for a few changes this year. There is only one 3 year olds class this year so Mrs. Bani and Mrs. Almerina team teach Evan's class. Evan is having a good time!

Seth is enjoying Kindergarten. He loves playing on the 'big kid' playground and I have found him several times playing basketball with the junior high boys and kickball with my 3rd graders!


As for me...I'm having a great time with my 3rd graders. I have two new students and one student who skipped 2nd grade. Our school installed air conditioning in every classroom over the summer. This is truly a God thing. Some of our classrooms get so hot. I always bring a sweater because sometimes it can get quite cold.

Both of the boys are going to the pumpkin patch on a field trip in two weeks. The preschool is going on a Thursday and the K class is going on a Tuesday. In November the K, 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders are going on a field trip to El Capitan Theater where we will all get to watch High School Musical 3! I think I'm just as excited as Seth!

My students completed their first science project. They had to stick a stalk of celery in colored water and note what happens. The colored water is supposed to travel up the stem. It's very cool to watch. Their next science project is to grow mold. Parents hate this project but kids love it.

My baby is 1 and more birthdays!

Our baby, Levi turned 1 last month! No, we didn't have a big birthday party. We went to grandma's house and had cake.

Amy made Levi a cake on the Friday before his birthday and let him go at it. Here he is.

Yesterday was Grandma Lou's birthday. She is 85. We all went to her house. Tonight we are all going out to dinner. I think we're leaving the boys home. We're going to a not-so-kid-friendly restaurant.

Monday is Ron's birthday. He'll be 31. We went and bought his birthday present today. Speakers for his truck. He's outside constructing a console for his radio, complete with cupholders and a slot for his sunglasses and cell phone.

All these birthdays (don't forget my mom's birthday is 5 days after Levi's) right in a row! :)

Camping Trip

My mom reminded me that she was watching my blog and hadn't noticed anything new in awhile. So here goes Mom. I love you!

We recently went on a camping trip. There were four families that went. Four families = a whole lot of kids, considering the fact that each family has three children. The Aguileras, The Prices, The Platishas and The Perrys. (I just noticed 3 out of 4 of us have last names that begin with P) We all went to Woodsvalley Kampground in Encino. We got there Friday afternoon and we expected to stay until Sunday. Saturday we went to Bates Nut Farm where they also had a pumpkin patch. The kids had never seen such large pumpkins.

After the pumpkin patch we went back to the campground and Seth went fishing in the fishing pond. He has been telling his dad and his grandpa that he wants to go fishing for a long time now so this was a great treat for him. He came back to the campground to show me that he caught a fish! All he used was a stick with string and a hook! Good fisherman!

We decided to leave on Saturday night after it began drizzling and we heard they were expecting rain in the middle of the night. So we packed up and made the 2 hour drive home. Ron made it back just in time to allow us to watch the MMA fights that were on TV that night. (He was glad for that) It must have been a long weekend for me because just before the main event of the fights I fell asleep on the couch.

All in all it was a good experience but I think we'll wait till the boys grow up a bit more before we try camping again.

So Proud

Last night I went to see 'Family Outings', the production our drama team at church has put together. It was fabulous. I am so proud of Ron and the entire cast. They have worked really hard on this production and the entire cast did a really great job! Since I helped Ron practice his lines at least 3 times a week since rehearsals started, I was pretty familiar with the script. (If Beth needed an understudy I might have been able to pull it off.) However, seeing the whole thing was a lot different than just running the lines with Ron. Seeing the emotion that was put into the lines was MUCH better than I had played it out in my own head.

And for the record - a lot of people were very concerned at how I would handle seeing Ron play the role of another woman's husband. I did not feel even an ounce of jealousy. It's sweet that so many people were concerned and even my family felt odd at watching Ron with someone else. I completely understand that Ron and Riley were both acting. There wasn't anything inappropriate about their performance. In fact, if they would have done it differently I would have dissapointed that they didn't put forth their best effort.

All in all I believe that God will use this production to stir up conversations in many homes. One of the actors in the play said that some things are better left unsaid. I believe God will use this production to get those things out in the open so that wounds may be healed!

God is Good!

Tomorrow is Friday!

I had a really bad day at work. Well not so much a bad day as a bad experience. Our server crashed and I lost a lot of information. Most of the documents that I have created over the last couple of years....gone. For some reason, and what can only be explained as the grace of God, earlier this week I had saved my lesson plans onto my desktop and I did not lose those. Everything is replaceable, it will just take a lot of time to re-create it. I have a hard copy of all of the legal documents such as last year's report cards and attendance.

On to other things. Please pray for Ron and the rest of the cast. Our church along with another church is putting on a play this weekend titled "Family Outings". They have worked long and hard on this project. How you can pray:
(1) Pray that the actors stay healthy throughout the weekend.
(2) Pray that God speaks to the families that watch the play. This play has the potential to dramatically impact families in our community.
(3) Pray that the actors remember all that they have studied and are bold in the delivery of their performance.
(4) Pray for the families of those involved (the actors, the director, producers, food servers, sound and lighting crew). This will be a long weekend as there are 4 performances.
(5) Pray that God speaks to the hearts of the unsaved that come. Pray that their hearts are open to hearing God's voice.

I'll update everyone on how the performance goes.

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!

Oh My!

Seth has hit three major milestones this month so I thought I'd share!

(1) He has his first loose tooth! Now some of you might say, "Didn't he already lose a tooth?" Yes, he had a tooth pulled by the dentist but this is his first 'loose' tooth. I'm not sure who will get to pull it, his dad or Mrs. Lori at school. I told him that if he lets Mrs. Lori pull it then she gives you a certificate and $1. So he ran and asked her if it was ready. (It wasn't)!

(2) He started Kindergarten, which you all already know from my previous blogs.

(3) He learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels! We took his bike to Jesse & Amy's house because they live on a cul-de-sac and we figured he would probably get run over at our house. It didn't take him very long to get it. Ron tried for awhile and Seth kept leaning to the side so Ron put one training wheel on the left side and Seth did fine. Then he took the left side off and put the right side on. Seth did great. Then Ron took them both off and Seth took off! Daddy and Mommy were so proud. The Aguilera kids were also watching and all three of them sat and thought about when they first learned how to ride a bike. Now Seth is riding like a pro.

Utencils are for Wimps!

The other night I made chili for dinner. Here's my little guy, Levi, enjoying dinner. I gave him a spoon but apparently like the other two little boys in my house, utencils are for wimps!

The Word

Proverbs 3:5 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

My understanding....Thank God I don't need to lean on my own understanding because there are a lot of things I don't understand.

Chapel Days

Chapel days - Every Friday at our school are chapel days. The students are required to wear a different uniform on those days. The boys have to wear long pants, a button up shirt and a tie. Today was Seth's first chapel day and he looked so cute that I couldn't resist pulling out the camera! Evan wanted to get in on the picture taking action too!

Paper Bags

Sometimes I have to stop and remember that God is in control and not me. I especially need to be reminded of this when life seems to be whizzing by at 90 mph.

This next statement seems to be totally off topic but I hope to bring it back together at the end. Ron has always said that we often do not see God in the small things. You never know how God is blessing you in the small things of life.

So this morning I was at school and had brought a stack of paper bags from home that I had planned to use for a project. I hadn't counted the number of paper bags and just assumed that I would have enough. I had a million things going through my mind, especially with tonight being Back to School Night. I dropped Levi, Seth and Evan off and was walking in to clock in. I was stressing over anything and everything and stopped to count the number of paper bags. 16 paper bags. I had 16 paper bags and 16 students! Just the right amount of paper bags.

It seems like such a small thing...Paper bags. But it was exactly what I needed and God knew it. It was like God was reminding me...I got you. I've got exactly what you need and I'll give it to you exactly when you need it. Like Ron says...God doesn't always speak to you in giant-neon-sign ways. Sometimes it's in the small things...like paper bags.

My babies!

Today was the day my oldest baby started Kindergarten. He seems so big running around on the playground in his uniform. My classroom overlooks the playground so I get to peek out on him whenever I want. We took a picture in front of the school sign just like I did last year. We went to drop Evan off at preschool and Seth walked in and told his friend, "I'm going to Kindergarten now." Not in a snobby, I'm better than you way. Just in a I'm so proud that I get to start a new adventure way. His little friend said "Can I give you a hug?" How stinkin cute was that?! Seth brought home his backpack with his Monday packet in it for me to sign. It's fun doing all of these 'school' things. (Guess I'll always be a nerd like that!)

I also took a picture of Evan. He's going through this phase where he wants to open his mouth real wide whenever you take his picture. I'm hoping this phase ends before we take school pictures in two weeks. But then again, that's Evan, so if he has a school picture with his mouth open I will love it! Evan has grown over the summer. Even his teachers commented on how much he's grown.

Man, I love my boys! All 3 of them! I can't wait till Levi goes to school. It's so fun.

Here We Go!

So all summer long I've been complaining how bored I am...and now....here we go!
(1) School has started. This means waking up early. It also means making sure everything gets done at school and at home. It now means helping Seth with his homework which he will have on a more regular basis.
(2) Ron is starting a new ministry at church. Our Pastor has asked him to be in charge of the Ushers and Greeters for our new second service. Ron has done an amazing job at recruiting people and getting ready. He was asked to take this on a few days ago and has already recruited six people, scheduled a meeting and created an agenda for the meeting.
(3) Ron is going to practices for his play twice a week starting next week.
(4) Ron and I will both be involved in Awana this year. I'm going to be working with Cubbies. They are preschoolers. Ron will be doing Council Time for Sparks. (Kindergarten - 2nd grade)
This also means Ron will be at church Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

So, here we go! Life will be running at an extremely fast pace very soon and I LOVE it! I wouldn't have it any other way.

Isaiah 40:31 - but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

First Day of School! First Day of School!

My alarm went off at 5am. Yes, you read right 5 am. My alarm went off...but I didn't get up. Fast forward 30 minutes. Time to actually wake up. I'm doing my thing...getting ready for school and I hear from the hallway a voice. It's Seth. He woke up on his own and is singing and dancing from the bedroom to the living room where I currently am. He's singing, "First Day of School, I get to go to school today!" I smiled from ear to ear. I love that kid.

So after breakfast, changing clothes, brushing teeth, we're all ready to go. Lunches are packed. We're getting in the car. Drop the boys off at school. They're glad to see their teachers. Off I go.

I get into the room where all of the teachers have stored their boxes over the summer and I am completely overwhelmed. Boxes are stacked to the ceiling. And all of my boxes are somewhere in the back. At our teacher meeting we decide that we should all help bring out the boxes since there are so many new teachers. Seems like a good idea until I remember that all of the new textbooks that have been ordered. They are downstairs in the preschool office and need to be brought upstairs. I take a student and two dollies and we start to take boxes upstairs. It seems like it will be a quick job. Boy was I wrong. It took us quite some time and it was hard to carry all that stuff up the stairs even using a dolly.

I'm so tired after spending all summer not working and now moving and unpacking boxes. I'm not complaining though. I'm glad to be back to work. :)

Back to School

Well here we are: the Friday before school starts. I should clarify. The Friday before the teachers go back to prepare for the upcoming school year. On Monday both Seth and Evan will go the preschool side for daycare and Levi will head to Amy's house. Seth will officially go to Kindergarten on Sept. 4th. That is also the day that I will take the official "First Day of School" photo in front of the school sign. I'm so excited to be going back to work!

This afternoon we are going back to school shopping to buy Seth's school supplies and uniforms. This includes a tie for chapel. I don't think my shorts, t-shirt and flip-flop wearing son even knows what a tie is! Maybe we can find him a cool SpiderMan one so that he'll actually want to wear it.

Evan doesn't need any back-to-school supplies. I may buy him something just so he doesn't feel too left out. The preschool supplies everything that he'll need until he gets to the Pre-K class. Oh, he will need to take a blanket for nap time but we already have that. He also doesn't need any new school clothes because Grandma Lou went shopping for all of the grandsons recently.

On a different note: Levi stood up by himself for a few seconds! He was standing up holding on to the couch like normal and then all of a sudden I look over and he had let go of the couch and was standing all by himself! I got so excited I said, "Oh, Levi, good job. You're standing by yourself." This of course made him laugh and he then sat down. I've been trying to get him to do it again with no luck. He thinks it's funny to fall toward me and have me catch him.

I Am Blessed!

I am blessed to have the cutest kids EVER!

This week Seth got to attend VBS at our church. The theme was Cactus Canyon (a cowboy theme) so Daddy hooked him up with a cowboy hat and a red bandana. He was disappointed that his name didn't get called for the raffle. I tried explaining that he can't always win and that he needed to be patient. Well, he's 5 and didn't quite understand why Miss Amy just wasn't calling his name. Friday night was Family Night so the whole family went. I sat holding my breath during the raffle time just hoping his name would be called. And finally....Seth got called up! He also went on stage to sing with the rest of his Kindergarten class. He's a ham like his Mommy! Or maybe he gets that from his Daddy!

After Family Night was over Ron helped to take down the decorations on the stage so I took the boys out to play on the grass area. I took this cute picture of Evan. And then I realized I was being an unfair Mommy and took one of Levi too!

See, I DO have the cutest kids EVER!

The Countdown!

Here we are with only 11 days left until we go back to school! YEAH! We are so excited. Seth, Evan and I made a countdown and posted it on our refrigerator. Everyday when Seth wakes up he goes to the refrigerator and tears off a number.

Seth is very excited for Kindergarten. I think he'll be even more excited once we go back to school shopping. Hopefully he doesn't get bummed out by the fact that he has to wear a uniform to school and Evan doesn't. He will be happy to be getting a new backpack, markers, crayons, gluesticks, etc. Seth is also glad to know that his brothers don't get to be at school with him. Evan has to stay on the preschool side and that makes Seth feel "big".

I know that Evan is glad to be going back because lately he's been saying, "Jacob on time out." Jacob is his buddy that he used to get in trouble with last year. I'm taking this comment to mean that he misses Jacob and am hoping that it's not a sign of things to come for next year.

And Levi....Levi will be thrilled to be back with Amy. Especially when he gets to stick his hands in whip cream! :)

And finally...me. I've been counting down the days to return to school since the day school let out. I love my kids but I love going to work too. Also, this year I'm very happy that Seth will be in Kindergarten so I'll get to see him in chapel every Friday saying his Bible verse. Also when his class performs for chapel I'll get to be there. I'm very blessed to have this job and have my boys attend the same school!

All summer long I've been planning. I've got the first three weeks of lesson plans together, I've brainstormed lots of ideas for yearbook, I've come up with a new reward system for my class (BEE Bucks following our Bee theme), and I've been collecting supplies. (Thanks Amy)

11 more days!

We are Family! - Pic overload!

We just got back from our trip to visit my family! We all had a good time. The trip was pretty short but at least we got to see as much family as we did. It was nice to have us all together again. My Nanny and Papa had all four of their children, seven grandchildren (three of the grandchildren are married so that makes 10), and six out of seven of their great-grandchilren were there!

Seth, Evan and Levi did an awesome job in the 6 hour car ride up and back. Levi got a bit fussy on the 1 1/2 hour trip from my brother's house to my aunt's house. I can't blame the little guy. We spent a lot of time in the car.

Seth and Evan loved getting to know their cousins Sebastian and Koen. They all had a good time playing together.

Pictures:

top pic - my parents with 5 of their six grandsons. Nope, they have no granddaughters!

Middle pic - all of us cousins with our spouses.

Bottom pic - five of the great-grandchilren. (Koen, Seth, Evan, Levi and Chloe. Carson and Sebastian are not in the pic.)

Milestones

Well it's official...Levi is crawling. No more army crawl. It's on his hands and knees crawling. This means nothing is safe anymore. Seth and Evan are old enough and smart enough to figure out how to get into just about everything in the house. The only places they can't reach are places that are too high to get to while standing on a chair. And now Levi is getting into everything that is in his arm's reach. He has found that he can now "discover" the ENTIRE house and that his brothers' room has A LOT of toys. So how do we keep him contained and yet help him have fun? Well, Seth has his way (Levi under the laundry basket) and I have my way (Levi sitting in the laundry basket). Levi thinks both are pretty funny. Of course, Seth thinks his way is hilarious. And when he saw me taking a picture of Levi he thought he should get under the laundry basket only he found out that he's now too big for that. :)

A Day Without Mommy

Last weekend Ron, Seth and Evan went to Newport Dunes with the Aguileras. I was supposed to go but got a migraine and decided to stay home with Levi. The boys had a ton of fun. Here's Seth being a great swimmer! He describes this picture as, "That's me surfing on my board."

Amy also got a great picture of Evan. He was having so much fun that he wore himself out and took a nap. Since it was so sunny Amy covered him up.

Ron, Seth and Evan all got sunburned! I put sunscreen on the Seth and Evan before they left, Amy put it on them and Ron put it on them but the sun was no match for their fair skin. They're all better now thanks to a lot of burn relief spray and aloe vera gel.

All of this while Mommy stayed home watching Freedom Writers, taking lots of Excedrin Migraine and drinking Dr. Pepper! P.S. My migraine is gone now!

Summer Fun

Here's a picture of the boys in their swimming pool. Levi didn't like it very much and only stayed in there long enough to tell Mommy he didn't like it. Seth and Evan had a blast running from one end of the yard to the pool, jumping in and yelling "Cannonball"!

P.S. We used a lot of sunscreen that day! - - (See Mom...at least if I never learned to put it on myself, I do make sure the boys have it!)

Frequently Asked Perry Family Questions

Okay so here are some Frequently Asked Perry Family Questions...These are questions that we get all the time.



(1) All boys huh?

Answer: Yes, we have three boys. They are Seth, Evan and Levi.



(2) How far apart are they? Are the two oldest ones twins?

Answer: No, they are not twins. Seth and Evan are 21 months apart. Evan and Levi are 32 months apart.



(3) How do you do it with three little ones that young?
Answer: We pray! Ron and I work together as a team. And one day at a time.



(4) Are you going to try for one more? Maybe this one will be a girl?

Answer: It would be nice to have a little girl but God has blessed us with three boys and no, we probably will not have any more. My parents only have grandsons. Six total. And Ron's dad only has grandsons. Four so far. What would a girl do in our family? :)

All of us

So I decided to create this blog to help our friends and family stay updated with our everyday lives! And trust me there is always something going on.

Let's start with Ron. He's getting ready to start practice for a 90 minute play at church. Our church is combining with another church in our area to put this play on. I've read the scrpit and am excited to see it! Ron did such a great job at the Good Friday and Easter Services. Those skits are on youtube if you want to check them out.

Okay now me...I'm getting ready for summer. This is our last week of school and I'm preparing for a summer of fun with the boys. I heard about $1 movies at AMC theatres on Wednesdays during the summer so we'll definately be going to those. I'm sure we'll make it to the park quite a few times also. I'm also going to be working with Seth and Evan on a few things to help prepare them for school next year.

Seth - He just graduated from Preschool! Ron got the day off work and picked up Grandma Lou so that she could come too! It was so cute. Seth lead the flag salutes at the ceremony. After the graduation Daddy took Seth and Evan to Chuck E. Cheese.

Evan - He made it through his first year of preschool! He's doing a lot better with his speech and is learning new things everyday!

Levi - our little one is just about 9 months old now! My how time has flown by! He's got 6 teeth and does a nice little army crawl. He doesn't actually crawl on his knees but he sure does move around fast!