I Pledge Allegiance To The Flag

My daughter, Emma, and the rest of the Student Council at Meadowview Elementary, were invited to the School Board meeting last night to lead the group in the pledge of allegiance. Not everyone could make it. They were asked to wear spiritwear or red to represent the school color. Clinton took Emma to the meeting, but didn't take a picture of her actually doing the pledge, because he would have gotten her side or back, plus he probably thought it would be disrespectful to be taking a picture and not participating in the pledge, too.

Emma ran for Student Council previously this year, but she didn't make it. She was in Ms. Wright's class, one of the two third grade classes. The day of my due date, October 20th, I was informed that the third grade classes had enough kids to split and make a third class. Emma was going to be transferred into the new classroom with the new teacher, Ms. Brackett. One of the two Student Council representatives from Emma's class was staying in Ms. Wright's class and one was moving over to Ms. Brackett's class. This gave Emma another chance to run for Student Council. She and Lexi McMillin ran for the position and Emma was elected. She and Rylan Gaspar are the classroom representatives.

Emma loves it. She is social, outgoing, and eager to help. She and the other Student Council representatives helped out during Grandparent's Day at school. For those grandparents that didn't know where to go, she and others would lead them to the correct classroom. She has participated in Candy Cane sales at school, which help raise money for a worthy cause, and she will be participating in Lollipop sales soon, too, for the same cause. I know she's loved all these opportunities and being able to help lead the pledge, too. Emma is greatly looking forward to continuing to help in other ways throughout the year. Way to go, Emma! I'm proud of you!

Cameron Checking Out His New "Crib"

Hooray! Today we put up Cameron's big crib in the girls' bedroom. He has been sleeping in my room the last three months - in fact, Cameron turned 3 months old today. Happy 3 month birthday, Cameron! What an awesome three months it has been with him - he is such a joy to have around.

He has slept through the night a few times, but it hasn't been recent. He will generally wake up one time during the night between 2:00-4:00am. When I lay him in our bed to feed him, he will quite easily fall back to sleep, therefore I leave him in bed. I have him sleep in the middle of the bed, which leaves me sleeping on my right side, the side I don't normally sleep on. Sometimes, during the night I wake up with discomfort and try turning over, but I end up covering Cameron's face with the sheet and comforter on accident. Somehow, I end up with very little room to move, too. I know I should lay him back in his own bed, but I wouldn't want him to possibly wake up. With Cameron being in a different room, I'm hoping to take him back to his own bed, or better yet, have him start sleeping completely through the night.

I strapped a little toy to the side of the crib that plays music and also lights up. He seemed to enjoy it tonight and fell asleep listening to it and watching it light up. (Thank you Jacquie Korella for loaning me your crib bedding and a bouncer and to Diana Bowler for loaning me your swing, bouncer, exersaucer, mobile, musical crib toy, and play toy). I also set up Cameron's baby monitors in his room and mine, so I can hear him better during the night. We'll see how well he sleeps tonight. I'm hoping for a good night's sleep! :)

Homemade Pizza Night @ The James'

Our family LOVES homemade pizza. It is delicious and fun to eat together as a family. Generally we end up having our pizza night on a Friday or a Saturday, but since I had wanted to make pizza this weekend and Clinton and I had a date night last night, that meant pizza was tonight! I cooked up the chicken and sausage the other day, so I only needed to make the dough, chop up some olives and pineapple, and we were ready to go. Clinton said we didn't need to go elaborate this time with the toppings since he is usually the only one who eats it all.

The kids love sausage and pepperoni pizza. There were two sausage and pepperoni pizzas (one part of a pizza also had a few olives on for Anna), half of a honey barbeque chicken with the other half only pepperoni, and one deep dish spinach pizza. The spinach pizza was an experiment that Clinton wanted to try. He wouldn't mind having it again, but he would prefer to investigate and get a good recipe next time.

Normally, Benjamin would eat tons of pizza, but tonight was very different. I had purchased some pork sausage from a different store that ended up tasting different than he was use to. It wasn't flavorful. I thought it was alright and all of the rest of us ate it, but I definitely prefer the sausage that we regularly use. I still have some cooked sausage left. What do I use it for now? Initially I had planned to use it for biscuits and gravy (another family favorite), but I don't think it will go over well with everyone, especially Benjamin. I'm sure I will put it to good use. Hopefully, the next homemade pizza night will be a much greater success.

Dinner at New China Buffet - 晚會在新中國自助餐

It's always nice having a good meal, especially one that you don't have to prepare or clean up afterwards. Clinton and I got the chance to go out to eat at our favorite restaurant, New China Buffet. It is located in Darien, IL and we've gone there for years. I guess it's our favorite because there is enough variety that the kids could eat something. It was tough to go out to eat at restaurants other than fast food places when the kids were younger. We would order something for them that they thought they would like, but then decide not to eat it later. We would end up paying for food that would not get eaten. Buffet places are nice that way - you can get whatever you want and as much as you want.

Just recently, we've begun bringing the kids a little less since some of them have been getting pickier about what they will eat there. It's not worth it to pay for everyone if they don't eat a decent meal. I'm alright with having it be just Clinton and I. A little peace and quiet is nice, plus we save they money. The kids had Ramen at home tonight - a nice cheap meal!

There is Power in Walking, There is Power in Reading, But There is No Power at Home

Justin finished Totschool at 11:20am. Clinton walked over to the school, which he normally wouldn't have done, but we were without power, the car was in the garage without the door being able to open unless you do it manually, and I wasn't home to pick him up with the van. I left the house this morning at 9:00am for a Visiting Teaching appointment. I traveled to the far east side of our ward boundaries to visit a sister, stayed a little long with my companion, and didn't receive Clinton's text about the power being out until I finished. I planned to respond to him, but my cell phone ran out of power and died.

I wasn't quite sure if Clinton had picked up Justin yet, so I stopped by the house first, noticed he was gone, but headed to the school to verify. I found Justin and Clinton walking to the library across the street from the school. Someone at the school mentioned the library was closed until 1:00pm. They decided to check and make sure. Of course, it was closed, so they headed back to Justin's school and stayed in one of the rooms with Clinton's laptop and the portable DVD player until the library was open.

Well, I had another Visiting Teaching appointment at 2:00pm, so I needed them back home to stay with Cameron. I hadn't planned to take Cameron with me because the sister I was visiting had pets and because leaving him would give me dedicated time with her. I headed over at 1:30pm and picked them up from the Woodridge Public Library. We still didn't have power yet, but it fortunately came back on at 2:45pm.

Even though Justin watched a movie today at the library, he does enjoy going there to pick up books, movies, and wii games, as well as, read stories and do puzzles in the children's section. Several months ago, Justin and I had some shopping to do, but I had to return some books to the library, too. I told Justin that I needed to drop some books off at the library before we went shopping. I drove up to the book return box just outside the library and deposited the books inside. After I dropped the books in, Justin asked, "Mom, is that the book garbage?" I couldn't figure out what he was talking about at first, and then it dawned on me, he thought this was a place you threw away books. He had no idea what happened to the books after that.

I began to understand how he could think that way. You can go to McDonald's or other drive-thru places and they have garbage cans outside that you can throw away your garbage from the comfort of your vehicle. This was the same set-up. Why not have this be a "book garbage". Sounds logical to a child! This is just one of the funny things he has said. I liked it so much that I use it as a password for a website that Justin likes to play.

"I Wear My Reading Glasses at Night"

Yes, Clinton is wearing his reading glasses at night, but that's not the only time he wears them. In September of 2011, our whole family went to see the eye doctor. The last time we went was probably June of 2010, and that's when the doctor gave Clinton a prescription for reading glasses. Unfortunately, we left on vacation before getting some. Upon returning home, I did go looking at lenses once with him, but he never did go back out and continue his search.

Clinton has noticed more that he needs glasses for reading and working on the computer. He picked out a pair a few months ago, but rarely thinks about wearing them. I do the same with my glasses, too. A few days ago, I pulled my reading glasses out to see the difference it would make while we read scriptures. Getting mine out helped to remind him of his glasses, so the last few days he has used them. I think he looks great in them.

The prescription that he needed was so minimal that they told him any pair of reading glasses from a store would work. I think he got this pair for $10 or less. Not bad!

For someone who prefers solitary hobbies (like reading) to socializing, he has done more socializing recently. This morning Clinton went out to breakfast with three of his old bus stop buddies, two of which are now retired. Joe Durepos picked him up and they headed to Steven's Restaurant where they met the other two. Clinton ordered the Breakfast Skillet. He said it was delicious.

Clinton does enjoy reading a lot of the same books that Benjamin and Anna read. There are so many young adult fantasy/fiction books being written that are enjoyed by adults, too, especially by mine. He is currently reading a book titled, "Unnatural Issue" by Mercedes Lackey. He has read other books by this author, but it has been quite some time. I'm not sure if this book falls into the young adult age range, but if Clinton enjoys it, I'm sure he will be recommending it to Benjamin. It's fun to hear them discuss books that would be of interest to each other. This is one of a few ways in which Benjamin is going to grow up to be just like his dad. I see reading glasses in the future for him, too!

"Whale" of a Time in the Bathroom

Justin LOVES using his whale faucet cover to brush his teeth, rinse his mouth afterwards, and get drinks. He received this wonderful little item for Christmas this year from Mom and Dad. Our kids get new toothbrushes and toothpaste in their stockings every year. Justin received a little something extra. This is a great enticement for children to brush their teeth. If you don't want the water to squirt out of the whale's spout, you can open up the bottom part of the whale so the water will run down like it normally does from the faucet. I meant to take a picture of Justin using it tonight, but I had a meeting earlier and returned home after the kids were in bed.

Green GUM brand toothbrush: FREE from Grandma and Grandpa Buss
Crest Tartar Protection Whitening Cool Mint Paste (6.4 oz.) toothpaste (2 pk) from Walmart: $3.92
Whale Faucet Cover from Ultra Foods: $1.99
Justin laughing, loving his whale faucet cover, and having hours of fun while brushing his teeth, rinsing his mouth, getting drinks, and having older siblings use it: PRICELESS