Lizzy Update

I know all of you are just dying to know the status of our Bearded Dragon Lizzy. The last time I wrote about her, she was very weak and we didn't know what her issues were. So, we took her to the vet, and found out that the sand her previous owners had her in made its way into her digestive tract and caused a blockage. This usually ends in the death of the reptile, but lucky for us, the vet felt that the blockage was small enough that with a little bit of work, we could help her get rid of it. We fed her with a syringe for 2 weeks with special vet food and gave her lots of liquids spiked with mineral oil. Low and behold, she started having normal, regular bowel movements! I think she had been suffering for so long that she couldn't even lift her head to eat, and she couldn't lift herself up on her legs to walk. She was very uncoordinated and off balance. But thanks to lots of love, Lizzy is finally acting like a normal lizard...climbing, smelling everything with her tongue, and shaking her head back and forth when she eats as if she were an alligator! Most importantly, she can hold up her own weight and she has begun to walk around and explore! However, she still loves to snuggle on our chests while we watch t.v. in the evenings. Lizzy has been a great addition to our family and were so glad we've been given the opportunity to care for her!

You Know....Those People....

Auri (my student with the stinky farts), is having a difficult time right now. His mother, who is from New Zealand, has gone home for 5 weeks and has left Auri in the care of his father. He was standing by me outside at recess today and we were just having a casual conversation about how life was going while his mom is gone. I asked him, "So, what have you and your Dad been up to?" He thinks over his answer for a moment and replies, "Well, we did have some allies come over this last weekend." "Sweet," I said, "allies are a good thing to have on your side." Thinking he was using his overactive imagination...he IS a Lord of the Rings, Fablehaven fan after all.
"What do you call those people who live far away but are in your same family?" Auri asks.
"Relatives." I say. "Oh ya. We had relatives come over last weekend."

The Evidence is Right There...

If a picture says a thousand words....

Yes, it's true. I am pregnant. Four and one-half weeks to be exact. Shocked a little? Hmmm... so was I. I kept wondering why my legs felt 100 pounds heavier. Why every time I microwaved frozen fish sticks at school the smell hit me like a freight train. Why I had no spunk in my legs at spin class....little did I realize, I had an energy sucker in my womb, feasting on every last vitamin and mineral I can supply. Well, after Dan and I got over the surprise of it all, we found that we are excited for the third installment of the Bergstrom clan! After all, we were going to start trying in the late summer, early fall of 2009...this one is just going to be a bit of an early bird! So for all those biting their fingernails in anticipation, our next baby drops sometime around October 27, 2009!

Where Do Words Come From?

My class and I have been reading Pippi in the South Seas, one of my favorite books from childhood. In the third chapter, Pippi finds a Spink, Pippi makes up her own words and wonders who decided that we should call a tub a tub, a table a table, and so forth. So, I stop and ask the kids to think about the earliest people in the world, and where do they think our language came from. Well, Marina and William start having a heated argument about this. William thinks that our words came from the early Egyptians. Not to be out done, Marina shouts out, "Nuh-uh, William! Don't you know that the first person on Earth was Adam Smith!"

Valentine Fun...

On Valentines Day, our kids woke up to a trail of hearts that led them to our kitchen table. On the table we had a letter for each person in our family that listed ten reasons why we love them.

The boys opened their little Lego racers and a special book I made for each of them about our momschool and family night activities for 2008!

Later that afternoon, we piled in the car, and drove down town to the Monster Jam Truck Rally. The boys were so excited. However, if you know how much Jesse loves anything with wheels, than you can picture him peeing his pants the minute he layed eyes on the monster trucks. Jesse's favorite truck was called Bull Dozer. It had bull horns and was painted to look like a bull, but Jesse thought it looked like a moose, so if you ask him what truck he liked best, he'll tell you "the moose truck!"

The noise level in the stadium was incredibly loud; when the first truck revved up it's engine, the boys jumped out of their seats and covered their ears with their hands! But luckily they passed out little ear plugs, which made it less painful! The motor cross riders were awesome. They would fly off a ramp, pull a super man trick and land on this mound of dirt. Jesse was so amazed by them. He kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Holy crap! Holy smokes!" All the while, he was jumping up and down. The best part was the background music they played. I was so proud of my boys as they sang along to ACDC's "TNT" (I'm dynamite!), "Thunder Strikes", and other hair band favorites...(Thanks to their dad and my brother Jeff!)

That night we had a yummy steak dinner with mashed potatoes and asparagus. For dessert, we made chocolate fondue. I was exhausted and a tad bit delirious at this point, so when I noticed my children's messy faces, for some reason, I decided to smear chocolate all over my mouth and the mayhem started from there.

We had chocolate everywhere...on our hands, shirts, hair, ears, and it somehow ended up all over my dry clean only dress coat. But sometimes messy fun is the best kind of fun, and I know the boys will remember the Valentines Day when their mom wigged out and painted her face with chocolate.

Testosterone Day

On Feb. 14, my kids woke up to a path of hearts that led them down the stairs to the kitchen table where they found a letter for each of them. We read through the 10 reasons why we love them, and then they opened their lego racers and a special book I made for them of all the Momschool's and Family nights we did in 2008.

All You Need is LOVE...

In honor of Valentines day, here are a few random things I am loving right now:

1. I love my big, warm wool socks that I bought at Costco.

2. I'm loving the Valentine slumber party we are having with my nephew Carrick and my niece Maple. I told Carrick, "It's time for bed honey. You guys can say more funny things later." and he clapped his hands together and said excitedly, "You mean I can say 'poo' tomorrow, and it will still be funny?" Oh, yes, poo is always funny.

3. I am loving that it is a three day weekend.

4. I love vacuums. It takes my stress away.

5. I love books. I look forward to my nightly read.

6. I love flannel p.j. bottoms. Not so crazy about the tops.

7. I love chocolate fondue and I plan to make some tomorrow after our super romantic date with the kids to the Monster Truck Rally!

8. I love that I found a lost dog today and reunited him with his owner.

9. Number 8 sounds like I'm patting myself on the back for being an outstanding citizen, but I guess it feels good to get some self love every once in awhile.

10. I love the heated seats in my car. My bum has not froze once this winter.

Happy Valentines Day to you all. I hope to hear about the fun things you did this weekend!

Better Farts

Today at school, I sat by two of our quirkiest kids, Mackay and Auri. No one likes to sit by them, because they are both messy eaters, and Auri in particular, picks his sandwiches apart a piece at a time. Watching him do this can ruin your appetite, especially because he is known for sticking his fingers up his nose and sucking on them like there's no tomorrow. Auri has also been bestowed with a reputation for stinky farts. And I mean curl your toenails, turn green, clear the room farts. And the odor is so unique, that everyone in the class recognizes his brand. Sad huh? Well, here we are, eating lunch, and a familiar smell creeps up to my nose. I turn to Auri and I say, "Hey buddy. Do you need to go to the bathroom? Was that your fart?"
Auri looks at me straight in the eyes and without any hesitation replys, "That couldn't be me Mrs. Kelly. My farts are better than that." I didn't know some farts were better than others. I guess I learned something very important today.

No Fear Ice Skating

So, Dan's work has a party for all of their employees at the Olympic Oval in West Valley City. It sounded like it would be a lot of fun and they said that there would be free nachos and a potato bar...you can't go wrong with that, right? So, even though our boys had never been on roller blades, let alone ice skates (or ice skiis, as Jesse calls them), we decided that we would attend said party.
The best part was observing the very different personalities of our sons as they both stepped onto the ice for the first time. James was oh so cautious. He fell down quite a bit and was embarrassed because he didn't want anyone to see him fall. I pointed out that there were at least 10 other kids his age and they were flailing all over the ice as well....but I don't think that made him feel better. Luckily, after 3 on the verge of tear laps around the oval, James was all smiles and in his chipper voice proclaimed that we should come back at least once a week. Oh, and he wants ice skates for Christmas.
Jesse, on the other hand, leaped onto the ice, with his helpful ice walker in hand. With no hesitation or prodding at all from his parents, he stormed out on the ice in a full on sprint. He would then slide several feet till he either came to a stop or fell down on his butt, laughing all the way. Immediately, he would get back up and do it all over again. Around and around.
Can I just tell you that the combination of chasing a crazy three year old around and trying to keep a wobbly seven year old from falling, while you yourself are balancing on thin metal blades on ice, is a terrific butt and thigh workout.