Last Day Of School

Keaton's last official day of preschool was the 27th, though his graduation was last week. We had two days to make up from the big snow/ice storm last December so made them up after graduation. There wasn't class yesterday, just a field day.

All the kids spent most of the time on the merry-go-round. This thing scares me to death...particularly when Sully is on it. The orange netting in the background is securing the remains of a HUGE tree that fell during those December storms we had. I heard a rumor that this park, Brush College Park, lost 25% of it's trees in that storm.
This was a funny game. See the green bucket strapped around the person's waist in the background? The kids were given bean bags and were to try to drop them in any bucket they could find...which meant the adults had to run away from the kids. Crazy. Here's a pic of Keats chasing me (he stuffed two bean bags in my bucket...and a third one in a very sneaky manner...)

...and here's Sullivan telling me he wanted to "open the present" because he had no clue what I was talking about when trying to explain the game...

Sully hung out with the littler kids during some games of Duck, Duck, Goose amongst the schoolkids. The little guy in the green shirt (just left of middle) is ten days younger than Sully and will be in his preschool class this coming fall.

Stereotypical gender stuff going on here, huh? The boys are all hitting the tree with sticks...and the girl is like "whatever...I'm outta here." The boy in the white shirt is Keaton's best friend. While hitting the tree, Keats said that he was a "builder guy", Sully said something unintelligible, and Keaton's friend said "I'm a whacker guy." LOL.

Grandma & Grandpa Visit Salem

...but where's Grandma?? (Look at the preschool graduation post to see proof that Marilyn was, indeed, here.)

Paul & Marilyn came to town in time to see Keaton's preschool graduation last Thursday and they went home on Monday. We had a great visit, as always. The boys were so excited each day when Grandma & Grandpa showed up! Sullivan pronounced Grandma really well but said Papa rather than Grandpa. It was really sweet. Today, the first thing Sullivan said to me (after yelling out "I'm not tired anymore!") was "Where's Debbie?" which was immediately followed by "Where's Grandma?" and then "Where's Papa?"

Sully's Day At Bush Park

While Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy, and Keats went to visit the Oregon Garden, Sullivan and I headed out to Bush Park. Sully had a terrible day (due to potty training troubles) on Saturday and woke up in a bad mood on Sunday...so I decided it would be better for everyone if he didn't go to the Garden. I strapped him into the BOB stroller and lugged him about 6 miles around Bush Park. After every two laps (1.5 miles each) I stopped to let him run around. Here are pics from his adventures.

Seriously...what is more fun for a little boy than throwing rocks??

He pointed out each & every rock, just in case I missed seeing them on my own. ;o)

Here he goes, running after the duck you see in the background. (Look for small green dot about 2 o'clock in the photo)

A sudden burst of energy had him running to the van when it was time to go home once Mama said that magic "lunch" word.

New Office

Since we cannot decide where to move, or if it is even worth it to sell our home in this economy, we finally had a home office built for Mike. I am SOOO happy! We took the old play area and just had a wall put up. Very simple and solved many problems. Mike is really liking that he has a "Man Cave" again...he had one in Lake Oswego, though until now in Salem he's had nothing more than a "Man Cubby Hole" lol. Here are some during & after shots. The job is supposed to be finished tomorrow and I will paint in a few weeks...once I decide on the colors. If you notice the greenish/brownish square of paint on the wall by the stairs, that's about the color I will use. Lighter than that but same hue.

Preschool Graduate. Again.

Keaton's preschool graduation was tonight and it was very cute. He graduated from the Learning Tree Day School last summer but this graduation was much better. This year he attended Brush College Elementary School's Ready For Kindergarten class. The preschool is run through the city school district so was much more professional all the way around. And there were enough chairs this year! Woo hoo!!

Last week, Keaton's class made shirts & hats to wear for graduation. So much cuter for preschool graduation than the cap & gown that he wore last year...although the picture from last year was amazingly adorable!

When his teacher, Mrs. Moss, gave Keats his diploma, she shook his hand and said, "Congratulations, Keaton. You are now a kindergartener!" That was a bit of a shock to me: I have a kindergartener! Yikes, time sure flies. Here are some pics of the big event:

Here I am practicing the different settings on my camera....

...but my subject refused to cooperate so she TOTALLY deserves my posting this pic!

Keaton is about nine o'clock, under the rope.

This is what Daddy-o and Sullivan did during the graduation: they sat on the mats and clapped like crazy for all the graduates.

Sully also made some friends.

Here's Keats getting his diploma.

And it is official: he's a kindergartener now!

He's holding up the sun. ;o)

Posing with Grandpa.

Giving a goofy grin with Grandma & Grandpa.

Busting out the celebratory moves.

Catching Up

I have had a very busy week! I worked three 12-hour shifts this week; normally I work about three 12-hour shifts in a month! I'm tired. I have a new respect for the working parents of the world. Staying home with kids is far from easy...but, when I'm home with the boys, at least I can go potty whenever I want and, every now & then, I even get to sit down at the computer to mess around. ;o)

Our new patient tower, called the Critical Care Tower, opened at Salem Hospital. Yesterday was the first day that every unit was officially completely moved in & working out of the new place. It was pure chaos! In the old days, when a patient pushed their call light, a light would go off at the nurses station as well as outside their room. That is SO last week! Now, there are at least five different colored lights outside the rooms; they even alternate between steady & flashing. Each color and style means something totally different. If I see a green flashing light outside a patient's room, I know that patient needs to see a nurse; if the light is solid green, I know a nurse is inside the room already. How does the light system know if a nurse or CNA is in the room? We all have these little black boxes that we clip to our bodies that are connected to some sort of "big brother" system that is wired within the hospital. Since I'm a registered nurse, my black box is wired for a nurse. That way, when I walk into a room and pass under the call light sensor, a green light goes on. It is very scary in that "Big Brother Is Watching You" sort of way, but also very neato & high-tech. My every step is recorded throghout my shift, as is everyone else's. This is mostly to work with the call-light system but also just so we can see where people are and exactly how crazy IS this job as a registered nurse (or CNA, as the case may be.)

Every room has a flat screen TV with DVD player, and every room has a wonderful view of either mountains, treetops, a park, or the State Capital building. I wouldn't say the place is nice enough that everyone should make a trip to the hospital (as a patient) but if you must be a patient, this would be a good place to spend your time.

Sullivan's allergist recommended I buy him a MedicAlert bracelet or necklace. I found a site that specializes in medical bracelets for kids and bought this bracelet for Sully. He'll only need to wear it when we're out & about, like parties, parks, or other gatherings. On the back of the tag is his name, doctor's phone number, and date of birth. I have him wearing it today just to get used to it. So far so good. He's left it alone. It actually looks really cute!

The boys were watching some birds outside when I tricked them by yelling, "Hey boys!" and they both looked at me at the same time. These are the tactics I'm reduced to in order to get a picture that has both of their faces in it at the same time. ;o)

Keaton's front teeth are amazingly loose! The one on his left just flops around when he moves it. I anticipated it would fall out yesterday but it is still hanging in there. I wonder if he'll keep the gap when he gets his adult teeth? Mike sure hopes the boys inherit his gap. Lol.

He's just so cute. So handsome. Look at those gorgeous eyes! He tells me his eye color is silver.

Keaton graduates preschool tonight. His Grandma & Grandpa are flying in from Utah for the big event. Keats is completely excited and keeps referring to today as "The Big Day!" Lol.

Arty Pics

Some pics from the Enchanted Forest today. I could have taken a lot more photos but Keats was too impatient ;o)

Field Trip

Keaton's preschool had a field trip to the Enchanted Forest today. Mike & I took him there last summer but it seemed to be much more fun for him to have other kids to play with.

Surrounded by the girls while waiting to go into the park. He's showing off his policeman tattoo.

I think this was the 3 Bears' house...but could have been any fairy tale house.

The wooden shoe slide has always been SO much fun!

His friend Andrew, taking the picture from the front, told Keats, "Scoot closer! Put your arm around her!!" And Keaton just said, "No way!" This straight-arm maneuver was the best he could do. It cracked up all the parents sitting in the row with me. ;o)

Waiting for the Log Ride...that steep hill behind his head is the grand finale and is so scary! Luckily it is also quick.

The rain gear we wore for the ride. We got soaked anyway.

I know...a whole week with nothing from mamacard. In retrospect, it doesn't seem like we've been any busier than usual. As per our norm, I had messes like these to clean up:

Notice not only the leg o' stickers but the face o' jam.

Notice the handprint on the window and the large glob of yogurt dripping down his shirt. And that's WITH spoon use.

Sully is completely off the binky, by the way. He's not had one since three days after I started cutting back the nipple. Yay!!

The father of one of Keaton's classmates is a police officer and yesterday the kids got to get inside his police car and check everything out. Keaton is rarely as excited as he was when he told me about the police car. His voice was so fast and high-pitched; he wasn't able to tell me everything as quickly as he would have liked. It was really quite sweet. He was given a little packet of surprises, including Salem P.D. tattoos and badge stickers. At school he made a "policemans belt" (in the pictures but blends with his shirt) and once we were home he wanted to make a bullet-proof vest like the one the policeman wore. So that is what he has on his chest in the pics. And he's showing off his tattoo. He wanted me to post the pic where he has a "policeman" look on his face; I like the slight smile better so posted both.

Yesterday, Keats wanted to be a policeman...or maybe a fireman because they might look cooler in their firetrucks but maybe a policeman because they're pretty cool too...but OH I CAN'T DECIDE!! THERE'S TOO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM!!!

I reassured him that he had plenty of time to figure out what to be when he

is grown.

Today, he has decided he wants to have his own rock band so he'll need guitar, drum, and trumpet lessons. Daddy wisely advised Keats to go ahead and have a rock band but have a "day" job like a fireman or policeman. Keats is still thinking on that. ;o)