Category Archives: Audiovisual

First Day of Preschool 2011

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It’s that time of year again! It’s (finally) time that Paul can go back to preschool!

He has been asking for weeks when he can go back. Most of his friends started two weeks ago. Today was his day! I tried to prepare him by reminding him that he has a different teacher this year, that he will have new friends in his class.

His main concern this morning?

“But will my teacher have an ABC carpet?”

She does, he was happy to see. Looks like a promising year, even if I couldn’t get a good picture of the school boy this morning…

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Summer Family Fun Days

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My goal this summer was to make it “fun” for Paul so he wouldn’t miss preschool. Well, having morning sickness (more properly, most of the day sickness) kind of drained my energy. But we did do some fun things! Here are some photos and videos of our fun activities.

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Rockford Children’s Museum, June 17, 2011

Paul got to pet some animals at the children’s museum. He talked for days about how he wanted a pet duck-turkey-donkey-etc.

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I ask him now, months after the fact, and he says his favorite was the baby duckling, “and the goat!”

The museum also had tons of imaginative play, including a train, a bank, and a post office mail box and costume. There were a number of science exhibits too, but they were geared toward a little older kids. Definitely a place to return to at many ages. He had a great time and still asks to go back.
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Train Ride

July 8, 2011

We rode the train to Des Plaines to visit the train restaurant for cupcakes. He still talks about this all the time too.

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Reading with Grandma

July 22, 2011

This is a really long video, so don’t feel obligated to watch it all. Grandma reads a page, and then Paul reads a page.

 

Schaumburg Nature Center

August 16, 2011

We met a few friends and went for a short (1 mile each way) hike at the Schaumburg Nature Center. There was a silo to climb up, and lots of nice walking trails. We had a picnic at the “farm,” where chickens begged for a few crumbs. The kids had a blast, although Paul (and some of the others) were quite exhausted by the end of the walk back.

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A nice trip with friends to end off the summer.

Trip to the Mall

August 18, 2011

Maybe this is lame pregnant Mommy, but I was looking for something else to do so we went to the mall and walked around. Paul’s friends were already starting preschool and Paul was looking for fun (he really wants to go back to school). Anyway, Paul “rode” on the coin operated toys without my paying any money… that was our fun day… Hey, he DID have fun.

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Touch a Truck

Algonquin, August 20, 2011

I thought we’d be rained out, but then the skies cleared and we headed over to our township’s annual touch-a-truck event. Paul got to sit in all sorts of trucks. What a blast! He got to turn on the police car siren, and he was most excited to see the cement truck, although he wasn’t able to sit in that one.

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We also went to the pool a number of times, but I didn’t take any pictures. I’m not sure if the summer membership was worth it (not sure how many times I went and if it was $100 worth), but because I didn’t pay $5 every time, I never felt bad going for just an hour! I wish I hadn’t been sick for so much of the summer, but then, I’m very excited to be pregnant, so I’m very happy I was!

Introducing…Curious George

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We’re happy to announce that baby #2 will be joining our family! Attached are some ultrasound pictures of the little leap frog from August 4, age 10 weeks. I am now 12 weeks 4 days along.

I have been absent from the blog because baby is busy making me sick and tired, as well as getting us all excited for the future. I should just leave the description of my summer at “sick and tired.” I’ve been feeling bad since about 5 weeks along, but I’m starting to feel human again!

Estimated due date: February 29, 2012. Grandma and Grandpa S. nicknamed the baby “Kermit” since I”ve been calling him/her my little leap frog. However, Paul is adamant that baby’s name is Curious George.

“That’s a really good name for baby boys and for monkeys!” he says.

I ask what the baby’s name should be if it’s a girl and he appears stumped. (He does say frequently he wants a baby sister.) Nevertheless, he’s busy calling baby “Curious George,” so until we know if it’s a boy or a girl, that name will be the name around our house!

Paul really likes the idea that there is a camera that can see inside mommy’s belly; he really wants one for Christmas so he can see inside his belly too. Maybe, he says, he’ll be a doctor when he grows up because he really wants that cool camera!

Since the ultrasound, he’s understood the concept of a baby in Mommy’s belly a little more concretely. The other day, he told me the baby was crying; he went and got a pretend bottle of milk and “fed” it to Curious George through Mommy’s belly button. And then yesterday, he let baby Curious George take a turn in the game we were playing. (He yelled through my belly, “Do you want to take a turn?”) He helped move the piece after baby said, “yes.”

Yes, he’ll be a wonderful big brother come February or March!

What have you been up to this summer?

Elephant and Piggie

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New York was a wonderful trip. We had fun just being together, seeing the touristy things of the city like the Statue of Liberty, etc. I took lots of pictures but have not had a chance to look through them yet.

I went to a book expo, and it was okay. I don’t read a lot of modern fiction, and of course that was what it was about. I did enjoy meeting a number of picture book authors (although I missed meeting Mo Willems; I couldn’t get a ticket). I also did really enjoy the Book Blogger Convention. Notable authors I met include Katherine Paterson, Jan Brett, and Judy Schachner (Skippy Jon Jones).

One highlight of the week for me and for Paul was I got to meet a life-sized Elephant and Piggie. Apparently, Paul was telling all his preschool friends about them the next day (after I talked to him on the phone). They did not know what he was talking about.(Sorry, awful pictures, taken with my phone)

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We love Elephant and Piggie in our house. Perfect for a budding reader. Paul reads one of them (usually Gerald) and I read the other. Gerald always has more words because he is a worrier, but it’s amazing to me how much Paul is able to read.Our favorite of the 15+ books is We Are in a Book. I’m thinking I may need to track down a copy for our permanent collection.

Quick Update

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  • I did not forget my fifth wedding anniversary on Friday. Ryan worked at the temple until late. We’re celebrating starting tomorrow when we head to NYC together, sans Paul!
  • I’m working on scanning pictures and archiving them in a personal flickr account. If you befriend me on flickr (rebreidfamily) then you can see all the albums. I’m going to post some of the images on our new Family Gallery page, but most will, for privacy’s sake, be hidden to strangers. In honor of our wedding anniversary, see our Wedding Festivities page.

  • Paul is very excited to spend time with his friends (two nights) and with grandma (the rest of the week). He started packing a bag last week, but I’ve been trying to convince him it’s still too early to pack.
  • Paul’s imaginary friends are still around. They keep multiplying. One of his newest friends is Pinecone.
  • I took my first Karate belt test on Saturday night. If I passed, I’ll be a red belt. If I didn’t pass, I’m still a white belt. Either way, I’ve got to keep working out. My stomach is no longer satisfying to me.
  • For three days in New York, I will be attending Book Expo America and a Book Blogger Convention; I’ve been invited to be on a panel talking about special issues for bloggers writing about the classics. They have paid my way to the convention. Although I don’t read a lot of newly published literature, I’m still ridiculously excited.
  • Today was Paul’s last day of gymnastics class. We might do it again in the fall; I don’t know yet. Trust me, even though he’s getting lots of help in this video, he’s much improved.

Lucky Bookish Treasures

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When Grandma passed away, my mom gave each of her children a special something from Grandma. My item was a book published in 1852, the fourth edition of Young Ladies’ Oasis. This book is a collection of poetry, essays, and stories “appropriate” for young ladies.

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Today, I wanted to browse through it, and what did I find but what I’ve been looking for all my life: A lucky 4-leaf clover.

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Years ago, Mom told me a story. When she was a young girl, her Aunt Florence was sitting in their backyard when she said, “oh, I’ve found a four-leaf clover!” She was sitting in a patch of them. I have been looking for my own four-leaf clover since I first heard that story.

Apparently, Gram (Josie Lecta Dedman Wilson) took one of the clovers home and pressed it in this book of hers, which we assume she received from her mother (Dora May Allison Dedman).

I love how the clover has left a mark on the page. A shadow of that lucky day.

The clover is pressed between pages 192 and 193, in the midst of an essay called “Pretty Women.” It ponders pretty women throughout “history” (Rachel in the Bible, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra) and wonders why women today (1850s) aren’t using their good looks to their best advantage.

Every lady is at liberty to bring out her own ” good points” as she thinks best, and it is easy to do so, as well as to conceal her weak ones, without departing from the fashions that prevail.

One of the two of these ancestors of mine (probably not my grandma, Helen Wilson Benac, given the ageing), also left a few other treasures.

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This looks to me to have been embroidered with hair. But maybe I’m just wishing. It’s probably thread. I’ve always thought the embroidered-with-hair thing to be very cool, but my husband says that it is disgusting. Are you in the disgusting camp or the cool camp?

And then, someone enjoyed an autumn afternoon while reading Young Ladies’ Oasis. I love the dark spots on this leaf. I haven’t read this essay yet.

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Young Ladies’ Oasis is, of course, available online by now. Are you going to read it? I am. Not in the fourth edition, though. I’m going to read the ebook. The ten minutes I spent with it today have done far more damage to this family heirloom than I’d like to admit.

 

Paul’s First Primary Talk

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The subject Paul was given for his talk was “Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer.” We got our favorite pictures of Jesus from the gospel art kit, Mommy put it in order, and to help herself, she wrote the words of Paul’s talk on a paper on the back. To her surprise, Paul was reading the words on the back. Here is Paul’s talk for Sunday.

We watched this video together and Paul said, “Mommy, I want to follow Jesus.” Yes, dear. I do too!