Fourth and Final Diamond Dinner

So first off I just want to put a disclaimer out there, my husband says that if I write in a blog it needs to be brutally honest, that way we'll remember things how they were and not how we wanted them to be. Pretty good idea hunny, lets see if I do an okay job with that.

Friday night was Rob's forth and final diamond dinner. I was really excited for Dave and Mindy to come up and spend a night with them and my husband, and a have a nice dinner together. I was mistaken on just how fun this night was going to be. There were a few things that shocked me about this dinner...First off, there were 400 people there, it was loud and crazy and knowing Rob and how much he loves to socialize, I don't recall seeing him all too much. Second, was that I felt bad for the chefs because by the time we got to the buffet table they were running out of food, and believe me we were not last in line by any means. Third, we sat at an awkward angle to the projector screen, and with large men sitting in front of me there was no way I was going to be able to see the highlight real they showed. Finally, the diamond dinner started at 6 o'clock and did not end until 10:45, I'll let you do the math on how long we got to sit there. With all this said it really wasn't as bad as I am probably making it all seem. There was a period of time that as a family we got to be together, chat and catch up, which was worth sitting the 4 hours for. We had a great dinner even though the chicken might have been gone. The funniest part of the evening however, was when they gave away 5 free bottles of wine to people that had an orange strip of paper in the left side of their program, which of course we did, so we got a free bottle of wine. I laughed in my head, as the guy handed a 20 year old who cant legally drink a bottle of wine, if he only knew. I also can't forget to mention how dashing my hubby looked in his tux, just see the pictures above!

Other things that happened this week include midterms, Rob and I both did alright, but there's some room for improvement. The Holy Rollers, our bowling league team, came up with our first win this Monday, and I'm proud to say that I successfully brought up the rear in scoring, hopefully I'll be able to contribute more next week. Our coach decided that on Monday he was going to "raise the bar" for practice which in translation means "were going to run a lot today!" Ryan Ortiz, Matt Smith and Kelley Whitten came in to town, its always nice to see old friends, and even better when it involves sitting out by the fire on a cold night. I also really enjoyed being able to go up to Portland on Saturday afternoon to see my dad and Sarah. Sarah is a superstar in soccer, every time that I see her play she keeps getting better and better! I also enjoyed spending time with my dad. One of my favorite things about my relationship with my dad is that we can always share the more simple things in life, such as fresh doughnut holes and hot chocolate, yummy!!! (sorry dad I know I threw you under the bus here, but she'll forgive you). I also got to spend dinner with them which was really fun, thanks again dad love you! There is one last thing that I want to say about this week, Rob and I are really excited that part of our family is coming back home to Medford. Nate, Emily, Henry and Lily we miss you and cant wait to see you hopefully in very near future!

I'm starting a count down until Robs first baseball game cause its starting to come up fast: 18 days!!!

My Early Childhood teacher brought us play dough in class the other day, and gave us the recipe:

Play Dough Recipe:

Flour: 3 cups

Salt: 1 and 1/2 cups

Water: 3 cups

Vegetable Oil: 2 TBS

Cream of Tartar: 1 TBS

Couple drops of food coloring or unsweetened "Kool Aid" 1 pkg.

Mix all or the ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium low heat, until the dough comes away from the edges of the pan and it becomes difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled. Place on counter or on waxed paper knead 3-4 times. Store in an air tight container.

Self-Regulation during Early Childhood Development

Today in my Professional foundations in early childhood class, we got to hear from a grad student that had done her research project in preschools around the Corvallis area on self-regulation. Her presentation is something that I want to write down and remember when it comes to raising my own children. For a little back ground information...self regulation involves two different components, behavior regulation and emotional regulation. The study that this student preformed was specifically on behavioral regulation. This involves a child's attention span, their working memory (being able to complete multiple tasks), and their inhibitory control. The research showed that how well a child preformed these tasks had positive correlation to more academic success.

The actual experiment involved a sample of 74 children and were all four years of age. The experiment involved a pretest, an intervention, and a post test. The pretest was Called HSKT or Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and to preform this test the teacher would start with just Head and Toes. She explained to the child, that when she said to touch your head the child should then touch their head (demonstrate this) and when she said to touch your toes you would touch your toes (demonstrate). The child would then go through a few rounds playing this game. Then the student said she would say something along the lines of, "Okay now we are going to make it tricky and really fun." She then told the child to listen very carefully cause it was important that they follow directions. If she said to touch your head then this meant the child should touch their toes (demonstrate), and if she said to touch your toes that meant the child should touch their head (demonstrate). After a few rounds of this the student does the exact same processes with the shoulders and knees. Once the child has all the directions, they then put the entire HSKT together. To score this, for example if the teacher says heads and the child touches their head that is a score of zero, if the child reaches for their head (goes in the wrong direction) and then changes and touches their toes that is a score of one, if the child does not move in wrong direction first and just moves to their toes that is a score of two. Each of the 74 children were tested and scored.

Now here comes the interesting part that I hope to implement in my children's lives. They split the children into two groups, a control group and experimental group. The experimental group met for 8 weeks, twice during the week, for thirty minutes and the student played all sorts of games with them, in a circle time setting. They played games such as; Red light Green light, but with all different colors and even shapes, the freeze game where music would play and when the music stopped they had to freeze, (another trick to the freeze game involved dancing fast when it was a slow song, and dancing slow during a fast song, we had to try it in class super tricky even now!), funny faces, drum beats.

Some of the outcomes when the children were retested were that children in the treatment group (played the games) showed a increased ability to remember direction, pay attention, and were able to control their bodies better than those of the control group. Their self regulation increased!!!

I found this study so interesting or important to me because, I think that there are so many simple things that we can do for our children to help them grow that many parents don't know about. Like for me, before this class I wouldn't have known how important small interactive games can help my children self regulate and also improve their academic success in the long run. The student teacher also mentioned something that hit me hard to, because she was talking about the grade that I wish to teach, kindergarten, and that half the students teachers report not being able to follow simple direction, Work in groups and individually, and have proper social skills. I hope that I can be a mom that prepares her children for success in schools. Although, I do believe that you can read and study as much as you want to prepare for parenting, but the real experience comes from when your in the moment with your child. Cant Wait :)

The Honey Moon 12/12/09 to 12/18/09

Our First Stop :)

If you can believe it, this was before the roads got bad!

Where it all started, the super 8 Ferley Nevada! Let me give a little back ground to how we ended up at this town for the night. When we got home from school, Medford weather had been hitting an all time low, and on top of this it had been raining quite frequently. We woke up early on Saturday morning, packed whoever felt like working out into the car and tried to head down the hill. After sliding all the way down the drive way, (the tires weren't getting any traction) we ended up turning around and heading back home. Rob and I were scheduled to leave for Park City to enjoy a time share my grandfather had given us the next day and this weather scared us a bit. We discussed the possibilities of leaving that afternoon and whether or not we would be able to make it through the mountains with so much snow. After a quick cry because my father in law said "looks like you will have to cancel your trip", thanks Dr. Dave ;), we made a quick decision packed our things and left that afternoon, hoping just to make it as far as we could that day. Walla Ferley Nevada!!!!

The Westgate Cannons Resort, if you ever get the chance we fully recommend going.

I forgot to answer the question that is going on through most peoples minds, why the delay in the honeymoon? because it is true we did get married a whole five months prior. The answer is that soccer began two day after our wedding, and with the need to move all of our stuff into our new apartment and get ready for soccer season to start, it left us with no time for a honeymoon. Rob and I however have enjoyed being able to take this trip as a young married couple, cherishing what might be our only vacation with how busy our lives always seem to get.

Outside of a restaurant on main street

More to come...