Family Christmas Lists

For all of our family members out there here are some ideas of things our family would enjoy:

Tayson

• Fisher-Price Imaginext Adventures DC Superfriends Batman Bat Cave
• Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera for Boys
• Bananagrams
• Nintentdo DS Game – Scribblenauts
• Snap Circuits SC-300
• Clothing Size: 8

Luke:

• Transformer
• STARE! JUNIOR Game - 2nd Edition
• Wild Planet Spy Gear® Walkie Talkies
• Nintendo DS Game - Where's Waldo?
• Puzzle (more than 24 pieces)
• Clothing Size: 6

Luke & Tayson

• DS game - Mario Kart DS
• DS Game - Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story
• New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii

Claire:

• My pretty pony
• Puzzle (24 pieces)
• Letter Factory
• Anything princess or dress up
• Clothing Size: 4T for pants 3T for tops

Sophie

• She loves everything and doesn't need anything...be creative
• Clothing Size: 24 Months

Kathy

• Family size crock pot
• Clothes, shoes, jewelry, gift cards (favorite stores: Nordstrom, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor)
• 72 hour kit (s)
• Big Pasta Pot

Todd

• Board Games (if you can find one he doesn’t have)
• Gift cards (favorite stores: Nordstroms, Banana Republic, Barnes & Nobel, Newegg, game stop)
• Popcorn maker for the theater

Tayson Again

I'm pretty sure I have more posts about Tayson than any of my other kids. True he's my oldest so he should have the most...but really the reason he has so many posts dedicated to him is because he is quite a challenge.

Yesterday we had SEP conferences for both boys. We started with Tayson's and found out that once again he has behavior problems in school. He can't sit still in class and he's disruptive to the class and the other kids because he's so silly. She went over his grades and he is on track academically. He should be at 80% or higher and is at 87% and 88% and he has really bad handwriting - but Todd and I both struggled with neat handwriting in 2nd grade so that doesn't worry us. What does worry me is the fact that he has a desk in the back of the room all by himself so that he doesn't cause trouble and that his teacher will be sending home daily reports on his behavior. Moving his desk to the back of the room was his suggestion that it might help him not be so bad....we'll see if it helps. Tayson's teacher kept talking about what a good kid he is but that he is just too silly and social.

Right after that we went to Luke's class and it was the exact opposite. His teacher talked about what a good student he is. She uses his work as an example to others on how to color neatly, he is reading above level and has only been in trouble once so far this year.

I have no idea what to do. We spent quite a while talking to Luke's teacher about Tayson's behavior and she gave us some good suggestions. She also talked to us about ADHD and some ways to tell if it's bad enough for meds (one of the major ones being that no matter what you promise them they simply can NOT sit there and complete an assignment). Tayson can do it if he wants to and he actually is really good about doing his reading and homework this year. He doesn't fight at all when it's time to go to school or do homework and he really likes school this year.

If anyone has ideas about what we can do for him I am open to any and all suggestions.

Here is what we are trying right now:
No red food dye in his foods. Eating protein for breakfast instead of carbohydrates. Running to use up and channel his energy.

Wash your hands

Luke came out of the bathroom yesterday and said "I'm sorry mom but when I wash my hands I have to wash under my fingernails, between my fingers and EVEN my wrists." He said this with a lot of conviction and I asked him if he learned that at school. Yep. They taught my kid the proper way to wash his hands. I'm still not sure why he is sorry about it though. I'm just grateful for school so I don't have to be the one hounding him about everything.

Copenhagen

Last night I took an Ambien, a hot shower and slept for 11 hours. Yahoo. This morning I started my day with a yummy breakfast at the hotel. They have a buffet here so I had french bread with strawberry jam and some with nutella, a bowl of frosted flakes, then I had some french bread with brie, cornishons, and some salami (doesn't sound like breakfast .... but it reminded me of France so I had some anyways).

Then someone from Nu Skin met me at the main metro station in Copenhagen (I made it there via metro all on my own...so proud). He took me everywhere and I learned a lot about Danish history in the process (although he is Sweedish not Danish). After spending all day walking around Copenhagen I went to the mall over by my hotel to find some fun things to bring home....but there was nothing cool (I found a shirt with NYC on it...but nothing about Denmark or Copenhagen or ever Europe).

When I walked out of my hotel I saw this very frightening poster. It's a phone company and I have no idea why they would put that man on there without a shirt on.

One of my favorites things about Copenhagen was all the bikes. They were everywhere and people riding on every street I saw. It was so cool and made me want a cruiser with a basket to ride all around town.

The Little Mermaid.
This is one of the most famous sites in Copenhagen and apparently she was on vacation in China until very recently so I was lucky that I got to see her.

The Queens Palace.
I was actually here during the changing of the guard (but didn't take a picture)

Nyhavn.
I love the boats, canal and colorful houses on this street.

Walking up to the top of the Round Tower.
(This is looking back down)

At the top of the Round Tower.

View from the top of the Round Tower

This was one of the main squares downtown -
and of course it had a huge McDonalds sign at the top.

Tivoli.
This is one of the oldest amusement parks in Europe (if not the oldest).

This church had statues of Christ and all 12 Apostles.

When Todd has the camera

After every family event I like to look through the crazy picture Todd has taken. I was sorting my pictures and was cracking up from the pictures from Luke's b-day party a few months ago.

Here is a typical sampling of what you'll find: the cake close up (for wii puzzles of course), a close up of Luke (he's so photogenic), shadow, random pictures of me doing nothing (I found like 18 of me from Luke's b-day party) including one of my back side while putting Sophie to bed, close up's of people doing crazy things, a picture of Heidi's chest and one of her walking away pulling up her pants, always creative shots of things like the clock while Todd plays with the flash or focus on the camera, and a few cute ones not to mention all the awesome pictures that I usually use when talking about the party.

Food

Last night I had some very yummy veal with boiled new potatoes and onions at the hotel restaurant. The whole time I was eating I kept thinking how much my dad would have loved the meal I was having. It made a little homesick. The food in Europe as a whole has been absolutely delicious. I have missed being able to drink anytime I want. Honestly, you can't get refills on anything here including water. It's crazy. No-one has diet coke on tap and I would LOVE a fountain drink more than anything else. Besides my family I think I miss drinks the most :)

Brussels

Tonight after work I quickly checked into my hotel, changed out of my work clothes and we headed for downtown Brussels. We walked around the cobblestone streets and window shopped. Went to the center of the city to walk around. I saw the opera a very old beautiful church (pictured below), the statue of the boy peeing (pictured below), the statue of the girl peeing (rather disturbing actually), the museums and main buildings in the square, walked down the main shopping street (one of the first high end malls), and went to dinner. I ate traditional Belgian food - beef stew with frites and topped it off with ice cream with the most amazing chocolate sauce ever. It was fun to hang out with the office staff outside of work and they took very good care of me. I have part of the day here again tomorrow so we might get to see a little more. The city is absolutely beautiful and the food was absolutely amazing. Too bad I don't get to spend more time here.