The Dicksons

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Little Update

Yes, I'm a lazy blogger. We've been super busy. I feel like I don't have time to even talk to my friends let alone hang out with them. I can't even think of what we've been doing, but I feel like I never get to sit down. Here's some pics of our lives lately.

I found Goldfish Crackers on random slats in the blinds. I asked Jake what he was doing. He said he put them there in case the fly in our house got hungry.

He also loves to hang out in his underwear. Now that it's cooling off he's complaining that he's cold all the time. Hello! Put some clothes on bud! He's watching for Dave to come home from work. Sometimes he goes days without seeing his daddy. Dave goes to work before Jake wakes up and comes home after he's in bed a lot of times. It makes Jake and Dave sad. :(

Gracie is getting more and more independent. She loves to play with her big brother. I can actually get some stuff done now. YAY!!!

Dressed up for church. Jake is sneezing from the sun... crappy Jenson genes. Gracie loves fluffy dresses (thank goodness). She tells me when something is 'cute' whether it's her clothes or mine. She's very fashionable already.

The Humans Are Dead! HA! (A little Flight of the Conchords humor for the few of you that know what I'm talking about). Jake and I were aliens that day.

Grace figured out how to push a chair over to the counter to get what she wants. Usually it's my soda. Naughty girl.

I am trying my hardest to hold onto summer but it isn't working. Isn't August supposed to be warm still? Just thinking about snow makes me sick. I feel like I'm being cheated with all this cool stormy weather. We shouldn't be wearing long sleeves and pants yet. How rude!!!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Check It Out

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. We went to Sarah and Darrell's house (late as usual) and had breakfast. Then Sarah had this wonderful idea to have the kids decorate their bikes and put on their own parade. Needless to say, the kids were less than interested, Sarah and I ended up decorating the bikes and some of the kids cried when we had them ride around for the 'parade'. Party poopers! It was such a good idea... I thought they'd love it.

After that we took the kids to the Splash Pad in South Ogden behind the OAC. I've never been there, but we loved it! It is free and nice. The best part is Gracie could play all she wanted and I didn't have to worry about her as much as I would at a pool.

Then off to the Berry's for a BBQ. Fun! I didn't get any pics but they know how to entertain. A new swing set for the kids, yummy food and Wii on a big screen in the backyard. It was awesome.

We joined the Turpins (our friends) for our second annual Tai Pan parking lot fireworks show. I forgot to take a picture of all of us but you get the idea. We light our own fireworks and have treats while we wait for Clearfield's fireworks to start. When they are over we jump right in our cars and are out of there in a flash. My kind of celebration. No crowds, plenty of fireworks and good conversation (minus Dave's confessions to Bishop Turpin ;).

We loved spending time with so many of you. Thanks for letting us share the holiday with so many of you!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Seriously, Lady!!!

I started dance lessons when I was 2. I loved it!!! I remember skipping and jumping and all sorts of fun stuff. Then, in 1st grade my mom switched me to a new studio. My teacher was horrible!!! She was the Wicked Witch of the West. I am totally not kidding. Characters like Professor Snape or the bad guy in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events totally remind me of her.

I was so scared of her that apparently I still have unresolved issues because at least once a week I have a dream that I'm on stage at a dance recital and I don't know the dance and there's LaRae, yelling at me in front of everybody. Seriously, the woman is pure evil.

Anyway, with that background I'll move on to current events. Jake took swimming lessons in the spring. He loved it! Loved the teacher, loved the water and even started loving getting his face wet. Then, yesterday he started in the next level with a new teacher. Whoa! Psychopathic Grinch Swimming Instructor. She was yelling at the kids the whole lesson.

Then today I took Jake in a couple of minutes late (he has preschool in the mornings). She grabbed him by the arm and wouldn't let him in the pool and started yelling at me. I was oblivious to it and one of the other moms had to get my attention. "What time is his class?!" she was yelling. I was shocked. "What time is his class?!" she kept going.

"Um... 11:30," I managed to get out. "Then you should be here at 11:30! Get in Jacob," and she yanked him into the pool. There was an audible gasp from our audience (the bleachers were totally full of parents and onlookers with the other 3 or 4 lessons going at the same time). To a certain extent she was right. He should be on time, but she went a bit far. I sat there for about 2 seconds then had a flashback to LaRae treating me the same way.

I stood up right then and marched up to the woman in charge of all the swimming lessons. "That woman is horrible. She yells at the kids and she just yelled at me in front of all those people. I did not pay money to have my kid hate swimming because of one mean teacher." I actually said it calmly, nicely and with a smile. She knew exactly what I was talking about and switched Jake to a 'nice' teacher.

When I sat back down on the bleachers a mom from a different class came up to me and asked if I took Jake out of that class. I said yes and she said, "Oh, good! I would never want my kids with her. She shouldn't be working with children." Once again I had a large audience of onlookers who seemed to approve the switch.

I was a bit embarrassed but was happy with my decision. My experience was definitely not the worst thing I went through as a child, but I think it taught me that it was okay to be bullied. I want my children to know their boundaries, learn respect and be thoughtful of others but also have the self esteem to stick up for themselves and not be anyone's door mat.

Fat and happy baby Jake enjoying swimming lessons

Thursday, June 11, 2009

For The Love of Nie

Have you read Nie's blog lately? Oh, how I love it! She always uplifts and inspires. She helps me forget the world and remember what's really important. The love she has for her family and her Mr. Nielson is inspiring and actually makes me love my own family more. I know she's trying to understand why all this happened to her, but I think it's to help people like me who need an extra push. She brings me to tears... tears of sadness, joy, love and amazement. Love her!