So I forgot my password to my blog, thats why it has been a long while since i have posted.So there is a lot that has happened since the end of January.
We moved a whole two blocks. Moving no matter how far takes a lot of time and energy. We are still unpacking. Alona still goes to the same school, so that is a big plus. She now walks to school. That is such a huge relief to get her ready and send her out the door and not have to worry about getting four children ready to take or getting cartoons ready and taking the baby. Just sending Alona off to school and not having to rush out the door myself is wonderful.
We are still close enough to visit our friends that lived houses away from the old house. And we still pass them on the way from sacrament meeting to primary as they are heading home.
We have had a trying first three weeks in our new home. The plumbing all but stopped completely and we stayed the night at Mandy and Jeremiah's home, where the kids played and had fun. We enjoyed the comforts of a working toilet and washer/ dryer.After many tries with a man that was not really a plumber, him getting in a car accident and then a real plumber being called. The problem seems to have been fixed. And we are in working order here at the Bagley household. In fact, we bought and installed our own dishwasher and disposal and I must say that the disposal is one of my favorite inventions of all time. I am thoroughly enjoying this. Not having to scoop things out of the sink and unclogging the drain, it is heavenly! And a dishwasher, I love that I am actually able to get the kitchen cleaned after dinner and not have it take forever. I can get this done before bed time and I love it.
- Alona went from First Grade in Mrs. Cannon's class to Second Grade in Mrs. Thurgood's class
Since before Kindergarten I knew that Alona was at a level to be in a grade higher than where she was at. At the beginning of first grade I had talked to her first grade teacher about skipping Alona to second grade. She was very adamant that even though Alona was very bright, she was not at the very top of her class that there were some that scored higher and some at her same level. Saying that she would still be challenged and in a group with her peers. She seemed very against us moving Alona up. I didnt push it as I should have. Every day for about two months, Alona came home saying how bored she was. She would score 110% on every spelling/ english test and do quite well in math. After her specifically telling me that she wanted to be in second grade, I decided that I would listen to my daughter, and go to the principal. I set up an appointment with the principal, Dr. Oliverson on February second. The day before I gave her teacher a heads up that I was talking to the principal about placing Alona in second grade. Lets just say that that did Not go over well. I was told I would be Emotionally damaging my child if I went through with this and had a stack of paper two inches thick pulled out to show me all the things that second grade had gone through that Alona would have to catch up on if Alona was switched.But I know my daughter, at least after her first grade teacher's down pour of non encouraging words I hoped that I knew my daughter well enough. I mean I taught her how to read when she was four, I could certainly help her catch up in anything that she would be behind in. She is a very fast learner. So the day that I spoke to the principal, he called me just two hours later, he had talked to the second grade teacher that Alona would be placed with if she were to be skipped. And she was willing to try it. Awesome, because the second grade teacher that had been asked about this situation from her first grade teacher was on the same page as her. Alona was placed in second grade that same day, without any say so from the first grade teacher, she was on leave that day.Alona is an amazing learner and so bright. She is still getting 100% plus 2 on all of her spelling tests. Her struggles are with math and we are working on that daily. At first she had 100 math problems that she had to do in seven minutes, I copied the sheet that the teacher sent home and Alona was timed doing that sheet every day for two weeks until she was getting it done in six minutes, and passed it off to her teacher! She then had to work on coins and adding them together. And now we are working on time. At first she thought that with the minutes that you would just look at the number that the big hand was on and then add a zero; so if the time was really 10:15, she would write 10:30, if it was really 10:50, she would write 10:100. We got the minutes all worked out and now we are working on a new obstacle with time. She now has a little trouble with telling which hour it is when the hour hand is in between two numbers. I think she has done amazingly well for being in second grade for less than a month.She has her homework sent from her teacher when she gets home and then she has her choice of piano practice or reading first and then we practice math and at the end of the day if she would still lik eto enjoy reading then she gets to do that as well. This month she has read "A Little Princess" and between yesterday and today she has merely completed "Rabbit Hill" which is a Newberry Award winner.
- Abbi turned 5!!
and it just so happened that it fell on a Wednesday. Which meant that Daddy could have fun with Abbi on his day off and it also meant a busy day for Mom. We started off with getting Alona to school, then getting everyone else ready for the day, Abbi got to open one gift as the day started..to go with her dance outfit, pretty new pink flower hair clips. Pink is Abbi's favorite color and she loves dressing up and having her hair done.
So we did hair and left for dance class, which of course we were late for (we had a child have an accident and also Alona ended throwing up on Abbis birthday, stayed home from school and I had to bathe herbefore heading to dance class)we headed to Allen's to get treats that Abbi wanted to share treats with the children that were in her dance class. She was really excited about the individually packaged cookies that she got to hand out at dance class. She kept coming in from dance and telling me that she was hungry so that she could eat some of her cookies. Her teacher gave her a special treat and sticker for it being her birthday and even though it happens at every dance class she danced around with a tiara and twirling ribbon, which was fun to see her as a princess on her birthday.
We then went to pick up her birthday cake from Walmart, we had to wait around for it and decided to get corn dogs for lunch from the deli. We rushed home to eat it and then headed off to computer class. Then we came home and prepared for Abbi's princess friends to come over for her little party.They played dress up in Abbi's room while they waited for the last friend to come to the party. There was one sweet little girl, that dressed up as a fairy at the beginning and was a fairy the entire party. When we asked if she wanted to play games, she would reply, no I am fairy dancing and the same response when she was asked if she wanted ice cream and a princess cupcakes.
After dress up they decorated their own princess door hangers, had ice cream and princess cupcakes, played pin the tiara, opened presents and played hot and cold to find Cinderella's lost glass slipper. All the girls got their own tiara's along with keeping their door hanger and some necklaces.
Right after everyone had left we went to Pirate Island in Orem to enjoy pizza and a wonderful pirate atmosphere. The Kraken was ordered (a 24" monstrous pizza), Abbi opened presents, playing basketball and skiiball with her mom and siblings and time with grandma, Isabella, Natalie, Andy and her Dad!
She got a fancy Nancy feather boa from Grandma :) And a Barbie tiara that she has been wearing.
A leapster, some new tie shoes from her Mom and dad and The Madagascar Movie, or as she likes to call it, The "I like to Move it, Move it" Movie! :) She really enjoys having her own hand held video game and now her sister even asks to use her video games.
Abbi loves being FIVE, and I cannot believe how BIG my little girl is!
- Jesse is now pulling himself and standing!
At the beginning of the month Jesse started grabbing on to things about six inches off of the ground and then pulling himself up on to his knees. And now this past week, he has started to pull on to his knees and then pull his entire body up and stand. It is so strange seeing this 15 lb little boy stand and almost try to walk around. My little boy seems too little for this milestone.
- Abbi started up preschool again
She started preschool up again the day before her birthday. She was super excited! They had show and tell the day after her birthday. She took her shoes and necklaces to show everybody.
After we were home and the kids and I were trying to distract her and get her to forget her ankle is when I saw her ankle and then realized that she was really hurt, and I felt bad that I had taken it so lightly. Talking to Paul about hurt ankles, he had copied and pasted an article about broken and sprained ankles. Whether they were, swollen, discolored hot or warm. Alona's ankle was the size of a baseball and was turning blue and purple and was also a different temperature than the rest of her skin. We were able to get to the after hours clinic at her pediatricians office, without her sister and brothers thanks to Jeremiah and Mandy. Then we got orders to get an x-ray at UVRMC, after the x-rays we were sent back to the dr. to get a hard splint which was wrapped in an ace bandage and velcroed into a shoe. We were given a copy of the x-ray and were told to talk to a specialist on Monday. the ankle was too swollen to tell if the growth plate was fractured, so a specialist gets to look at it and we were also given a recommendation to repeat the x-rays in one week.
