This past week was not as fun as any member of the Nutt
House would have wanted. I’m not sure
where it came from but Sunday morning I was blindsided with a bit of fatigue
that before we had even partaken of the sacrament at church my fatigue had
morphed into a fever, cold chills, headache and the whole gamut of flu symptoms
that caused for plans to be made for me to come home with Brent stepping up to
teach my sharing time lesson. This flu
wasn’t a run of the mill 24-48 flu, it was a knock me on my rear, put me out of
commission for a good half the week and I’m still recovering sort of flu. Now, not only did this flu play havoc on me
and all that I’d try and do this week, but about the time I started to recover
it bounced around to both Brent and Kaden who are in different stages of this
nasty beast. Thanks to this, the week
that was planned out in my head and on my calendar is not the week that we had. Fortunately, though, we are Nutt’s and as
such only allow something like a silly knock us clear down for the count flu to
keep us down for so long before we fight our way back to enjoy the fun
escapades we are used to.
Where I was so out of it the first part of the week I became
strategic on where my energies were afforded.
This allowed for kiddos classes to be attended, Kaden’s preschool to be
taught Tuesday and evenings at the park as we practiced bike riding. This was the first full week Kara had back at
dance class with a full private lesson and her advanced tumbling game. As
always happens this spunky little girl impressed me as she jumped right back
into the deep end - working and pushing her body back to the levels and skills
she was at before. With a competition
coming up again in a couple of weeks I know that as we get back into our
routines of practicing Kara’s body and my nerves will be primed and ready to
go. Kaden’s preschool focus this week
was on the letter “W” and with preschool down to the two boys there wasn’t a
better way I could think of to focus on “W” than by getting wet with water
balloons. The boys had such a
blast. It did take a bit for them to
figure out how to actually pop a water balloon though. As we started out the boys were not able to
throw and pop a water balloon so they tried stomping on the water balloons but found
that ineffective as the water balloon would roll away from their feet. After that idea was scratched the boys
proceeded to squeeze the balloons and they found this idea worked, though the
water would splash back on them quickly introducing the wet component to our day
of “W”’s. Limiting my level of activity
to chauffeuring for dance class and teaching preschool and that being it for
the first couple of days allowed for me to reserve enough energy for some
evening bike riding outings.
Fortunately, these outings have been enjoyable and rewarding. Something has clicked for Kaden and the
frequency at which he says “I think I can” for riding his bike has decreased
and he is having fun, which is what riding his bike should be about. And Kara, the one on one attention that Brent
has given her has really paid off. She
still has some work to be done when it comes to starting and stopping but Kara
can now ride a bike by herself and she is so very excited about it! Kara wants to ride anywhere and everywhere
and at every chance she can. I believe
this is a bit of foreshadowing to the future in 10-11 years or so. I hope Brent will be ready because I for sure
will not!
Squeezing the balloons
Perfect time of day for bike riding
Love his smile!
Saturday brought Transportation Day, a day the Nutt House
had been looking forward to since we first heard the date announced for the
year. Each Nutt rested up as best as we
could so our health would allow for a day of fun. Where we aren’t a 100% healthy family we have
not been moving as fast as we’d like and we missed the helicopter landing, but
I think no one really noticed. Kaden
whose life goals have bounced between a train engineer and a policeman lately was
happy to explore the police car and police motorcycle. When it came to the Highway Patrol motorcycle
though, the kid was sold and on cloud 9.
I think where the reach was better for him and he got to move the front
windscreen up and down helped to seal the deal as he was quick to emphatically
state that was the type of police vehicle he wanted to drive. After neither little Nutt wanting to get
anywhere near the helicopter last year we were pleasantly surprised when both
wanted to get up in the helicopter this year.
Kara who is growing up way too much was the first to step up for the
helicopter after logically observing that the helicopter was turned off so it
was fine. Sadly, after this point, the
flu got the better of Brent and he headed back to the car to wait while the
little Nutts and I finished up. Both
little Nutts had fun on the school bus, the UPS truck, firetruck, moving truck,
and garbage truck among others. Where
transportation is more in Kaden’s wheelhouse of fun when he noticed the “so big”
construction vehicle we made sure he was the first up and in. Talk about a kiddo in heaven. Kaden is the epitome of a little boy who
loves all things boy including construction trucks and the chance to be in a construction
truck is something that always brings an ear to ear smile to Kaden’s face. In addition to the vehicles we explored the
vendor booths at Transportation Day including a face painting booth where Kara
had a butterfly painted on her face. She
was so excited and happy, for the duration of the day every 30 minutes brought
the question, “is my butterfly still there?”
We also visited a booth for Sierra Elementary school where Kara will be
going next year. She was so happy to
visit this area and share with the teachers representing the school at the
booth that she was would be attending Sierra next year. Again, this girl is trying to grow up way too
quickly for me. (I think this is a theme
for the year! Can it please be
stopped? Now?!!?) Additionally, we stopped in to have new silhouettes
of Kara and Kaden made which has turned into a highlight of Transportation Day
for me. We wrapped up our Transportation
Day fun with a ride back to the car on Ollie the Trolley – a real trolley that
in itself could have been a day of riding fun.
Police bike #1
Someone liked it
Kaden's future career vehicle
Chillin' in the firetruck
Garbage truck driving
Heaven help me, he wants one of his own!
Riding Ollie the Trolley
After our Transportation Day fun, we chose to utilize the
rest of our Nutt-y energy and let Brent have a quiet house in which to rest so
the little Nutts and myself journeyed over to the Natural History Museum for a
couple hours of fun. We haven’t gone to
the Natural History (aka Dinosaur Museum) on a Saturday before. Saturday brought more individuals to the
museum but also stations where the kiddos could create dinosaur crafts and have
more opportunities for hands on learning experiences. News to us, we discovered that the museum
offers a different theme with crafts and hands on learning stations each Saturday
afternoon, so if we have an hour or two available mid-Saturday in the future,
we may just head back that way. Kaden
was quick to take the lead, facilitating our trip around the museum, seeking
out his favorite photo opportunities. Surprisingly,
Kara who on previous visits possessed the same young child tunnel vision as her
brother did not seem to have this characteristic on Saturday. Instead of wanting to jet from area to area
she wanted to hear what the exhibits were and what each sign throughout the
museum said. Now, her interest in each
sign was not fully there and she wanted to move on faster than I could finish
reading the first sign, but I’ll take it.
I’ll take the chance to teach, discover and explore with her versus just
moving throughout the museum to the familiar areas.
Kaden jetted around the corner and up the step as quickly as possible then waited for me to take their picture
His favorite game at the museum... Good thing I can recall a few dino facts to help him get the questions right!
One of the many hands on stations we encountered This one dealt with water based dinosaurs and the gem station was fascinating as well
Kara's big, "take my picture" spot of the day
Overall, a fun week for the Nutt House. We look forward to each and every Nutt
restored to full health so we can more greatly enjoy the activities we have
planned for this new week!
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