I think the kids got a real good dose of what Christmas is all about. From church service, in which Gwen enjoyed singing her own songs of "Someday my prince will come" and talking about seeing Baby Jesus at the top of her lungs. Not quite understanding the idea of being quiet in church. Next year, Trevor will hopefully be able to process in the bringing in of the manger scene. Father Mike is very nice about knowing who his audience is for the earlier Christmas Eve service.
As tradition has it, we then go to "Grandma's House", so the kids can open presents with them. Then hurry back home before Santa arrives. Trevor was typically excited about Christmas and woke up early to come in and stay with us before we went downstairs. After Christmas morning, we let Gwen take an early nap before going over to Papa and Bubba's house for dinner and birthday events. And we finished up our Christmases last night at Grandpa's house. I can't convey my thanks to everyone for making the kids feel so loved. It is so nice to have the kids around all of the family during the holidays.
While the kids haven't been able to play with all their gifts yet, I'm happy that the ones that Santa brought were well received. The only tricky part is all the video game playing during the break times. I did want to save some of the games and books for the plane ride in almost two weeks.
The weather was interesting, but Trevor has gotten to be outside for some playtime which is nice. So lots of cleaning and organizing for the next few days. It will be nice to have the house back in about a week or so. Although sad to see the holidays behind us. We talked a lot about moving to Australia or Hawaii to be in the warm warm weather during Christmas.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Before the holiday starts
I figure I'd get up to speed on where we are at. Trevor has been enjoying the elf and has been very into all the Santa stuff...videos and cards and such. He has also calmed down, much the opposite of Gwen. She has been a bundle of energy, and Trevor has been behaving himself very well.
Trevor has been trying to get through all his Thank-you cards that he had to write for his birthday presents. He finished the last one yesterday. However, he got another gift the other day, and his reaction was, "Oh no, I'm going to have to write another thank-you card." So I think we are going to forgo the thank-you notes for Christmas. So he doesn't see the present and think thank-you card. It was a good tool to help him practice his printing though. And it seemed like everyone appreciated them.
He made a card for his teacher to give as part of a gift, and said that he read his card to her. I bet that she enjoyed getting the card from him. And he seemed very happy to get a thank-you card from her as well.
Gwen has been running and jumping all over everything, as I'm sure she feels the craziness in the air. I know she's really going to have a great time over the next few days, and we are planning on a trip to the lake for New Years. Hopefully the weather will be ok to be able to play outside for a few times.
We were very lucky to have had a scheduled handy helper last weekend. My dad was supposed to come over to help with the trim on a remodeled closet. The day before, our humidifier broke. So in addition to helping with the trim, we got another person to help with the humidifier. Unfortunately, it required a replacement part which could not be gotten without going to a dealer. So dad has graciously found the part and should be at our house soon. I have no doubt that Russ could have done this without the help, but having another person, and one that found the part without having to use our time, was such a blessing. Thanks dad!
On a side note, the air in our house is so crazy dry. Gwen's hair is almost stick straight and there is so much static in the air. I might ask to put on the humidifier for a few hours just to get some moisture in the air.
We are also waiting to see what this big storm is going to do. Hopefully it won't change many plans, and that we get where we need to go in a reasonable amount of time. Safe and happy travels everyone!
Trevor has been trying to get through all his Thank-you cards that he had to write for his birthday presents. He finished the last one yesterday. However, he got another gift the other day, and his reaction was, "Oh no, I'm going to have to write another thank-you card." So I think we are going to forgo the thank-you notes for Christmas. So he doesn't see the present and think thank-you card. It was a good tool to help him practice his printing though. And it seemed like everyone appreciated them.
He made a card for his teacher to give as part of a gift, and said that he read his card to her. I bet that she enjoyed getting the card from him. And he seemed very happy to get a thank-you card from her as well.
Gwen has been running and jumping all over everything, as I'm sure she feels the craziness in the air. I know she's really going to have a great time over the next few days, and we are planning on a trip to the lake for New Years. Hopefully the weather will be ok to be able to play outside for a few times.
We were very lucky to have had a scheduled handy helper last weekend. My dad was supposed to come over to help with the trim on a remodeled closet. The day before, our humidifier broke. So in addition to helping with the trim, we got another person to help with the humidifier. Unfortunately, it required a replacement part which could not be gotten without going to a dealer. So dad has graciously found the part and should be at our house soon. I have no doubt that Russ could have done this without the help, but having another person, and one that found the part without having to use our time, was such a blessing. Thanks dad!
On a side note, the air in our house is so crazy dry. Gwen's hair is almost stick straight and there is so much static in the air. I might ask to put on the humidifier for a few hours just to get some moisture in the air.
We are also waiting to see what this big storm is going to do. Hopefully it won't change many plans, and that we get where we need to go in a reasonable amount of time. Safe and happy travels everyone!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
A little behind
I meant to post earlier this week about a few things that Trevor has done this week. He had two events that I want to remember. His doctor well-check appointment and finishing this session of swimming lessons.
Last Monday was his 6 year well-check with the doctor. While he has gotten the flu and his share of colds, we haven't had to be in to see him since his 5 year appointment. He was up to date on his immunizations, although I did get some questioning about not getting his second H1N1 shot, the doctor didn't really pressure me either. I explained that he got the virus, then got his first vaccination, and we decided not to get the second one. I had also already promised him that he was done until next year.
On the blog (that will be visually changing soon, I promise!) I have included the kids growth measurements so far. Trevor measured in at 55lbs and 48". He's in the 90% for both. I think there is no chance for him to be under 6', which will be interesting to see how fast and how tall he does become. The entire meeting with the doctor, he didn't stop talking. He answered the nurse's question of "does anyone around you smoke?" with, "Yes, I smoke. We all smoke outside." I think it was funny that that is what he thinks it is.
The doctor also didn't remember him being that talkative. I explained that yep, he has always been our "tour-guide Trevor". Perhaps he remembers more that Gwen is a little timid around him, and not as talkative with him as Trevor. The doctor has two kids, which go to the same Elementary school and church, so he was even able to talk to him about school. Trevor talked about wanting to be a doctor, or maybe do the news at school. I have a feeling that's what's going to happen. But we'll see.... I was informed that he doesn't have to go back in for a well-check until he's 8 now.
The other event that happened this week was that Trevor completed his 7 week swimming lessons. He started off that he was able to float on his back, and dog paddle a short distance in the pool by himself. And now, he has gotten to the point where he can do the back crawl the entire length of the pool. I believe it is a 50 yard length pool. The tricky part about these lessons are that they were the oldest group of kids, and 3 other groups were also in the same general area, so when they were trying to swim unassisted, the teachers of the other classes had to make sure they were not in his way. But as a swimmer, I can't imagine how hard it was to pretend like they weren't there. So next session it will be interesting to see how easy it is if there aren't the other classes to worry about.
He was so proud that he could swim as far as he did on his back without any help. I think swimming, besides the benefit of safety, has a certain appeal to Trevor in that he can get better, and faster, and it is sort-of race-like for him. So not only is he happy that he can swim by himself, but he also feels so much faster than he used to be. I'm so interested to see how he does in a pool not for swimming lessons. We'll be trying it out next month in Boston!
Last Monday was his 6 year well-check with the doctor. While he has gotten the flu and his share of colds, we haven't had to be in to see him since his 5 year appointment. He was up to date on his immunizations, although I did get some questioning about not getting his second H1N1 shot, the doctor didn't really pressure me either. I explained that he got the virus, then got his first vaccination, and we decided not to get the second one. I had also already promised him that he was done until next year.
On the blog (that will be visually changing soon, I promise!) I have included the kids growth measurements so far. Trevor measured in at 55lbs and 48". He's in the 90% for both. I think there is no chance for him to be under 6', which will be interesting to see how fast and how tall he does become. The entire meeting with the doctor, he didn't stop talking. He answered the nurse's question of "does anyone around you smoke?" with, "Yes, I smoke. We all smoke outside." I think it was funny that that is what he thinks it is.
The doctor also didn't remember him being that talkative. I explained that yep, he has always been our "tour-guide Trevor". Perhaps he remembers more that Gwen is a little timid around him, and not as talkative with him as Trevor. The doctor has two kids, which go to the same Elementary school and church, so he was even able to talk to him about school. Trevor talked about wanting to be a doctor, or maybe do the news at school. I have a feeling that's what's going to happen. But we'll see.... I was informed that he doesn't have to go back in for a well-check until he's 8 now.
The other event that happened this week was that Trevor completed his 7 week swimming lessons. He started off that he was able to float on his back, and dog paddle a short distance in the pool by himself. And now, he has gotten to the point where he can do the back crawl the entire length of the pool. I believe it is a 50 yard length pool. The tricky part about these lessons are that they were the oldest group of kids, and 3 other groups were also in the same general area, so when they were trying to swim unassisted, the teachers of the other classes had to make sure they were not in his way. But as a swimmer, I can't imagine how hard it was to pretend like they weren't there. So next session it will be interesting to see how easy it is if there aren't the other classes to worry about.
He was so proud that he could swim as far as he did on his back without any help. I think swimming, besides the benefit of safety, has a certain appeal to Trevor in that he can get better, and faster, and it is sort-of race-like for him. So not only is he happy that he can swim by himself, but he also feels so much faster than he used to be. I'm so interested to see how he does in a pool not for swimming lessons. We'll be trying it out next month in Boston!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Crazy busy
I can never seem to remember how busy this time of year is. Thankfully, I'm reasonably organized, however you throw in a few new events, and I am not perfect at planning as I need to be. This weekend was full to the brim with activities and things that needed to get done. Trevor had a birthday party to attend, two hockey practices, Sunday School, and a Children's Theater show. It was a beautiful weekend to be outside, but I decided to throw together 3 batches of holiday cookies and Russ was gracious enough to take the kids outside to play in the snow. They all had a great time, from what I could tell. I made the house smell all gingery and warm.
On Sunday was when most of the activities took place, and while Trevor was at the birthday party, I ran as fast as I could to 6 stores in an hour, and ended the final hour shopping at Target. I was so lucky to get so much of the Christmas shopping done, so that I don't have to do it another day. I also put together and mailed our Christmas Cards. Unfortunately, we don't have any more stamps, and when I tried to go to the Post Office to get more, the line was crazy and the self-serve kiosk was out of order. So that's still on my to-do list.
I also couldn't do the homework I should have this weekend, so I was a little behind today for the due date of tomorrow. Russ had to work late for work, so I kindly asked my mom to come over to play with the kids while I did homework. After the Tuesday deadline, I have more activities to get done before I can even concentrate on Christmas gifts and such. I really am at "one day at a time". I can't even think that Christmas is 10 days from now. Friday is as far as I'm looking right now.
Believe it or not, I am still enjoying the season as well. The kids love to look at the lights outside, and we try to keep the radio on to listen to the Christmas music whenever we can. Gwen was able to help with both the frosting and cutting of the sugar cookies. I think she could have cut them out for an hour or two. I thought Trevor would be more into it, but I was happy that one of them was.
Such are the holidays. Very busy for us. Even when Trevor is off of school, we have things going on to keep the kids busy. It's going to be 2010 before I know it. Happy Holidays!
On Sunday was when most of the activities took place, and while Trevor was at the birthday party, I ran as fast as I could to 6 stores in an hour, and ended the final hour shopping at Target. I was so lucky to get so much of the Christmas shopping done, so that I don't have to do it another day. I also put together and mailed our Christmas Cards. Unfortunately, we don't have any more stamps, and when I tried to go to the Post Office to get more, the line was crazy and the self-serve kiosk was out of order. So that's still on my to-do list.
I also couldn't do the homework I should have this weekend, so I was a little behind today for the due date of tomorrow. Russ had to work late for work, so I kindly asked my mom to come over to play with the kids while I did homework. After the Tuesday deadline, I have more activities to get done before I can even concentrate on Christmas gifts and such. I really am at "one day at a time". I can't even think that Christmas is 10 days from now. Friday is as far as I'm looking right now.
Believe it or not, I am still enjoying the season as well. The kids love to look at the lights outside, and we try to keep the radio on to listen to the Christmas music whenever we can. Gwen was able to help with both the frosting and cutting of the sugar cookies. I think she could have cut them out for an hour or two. I thought Trevor would be more into it, but I was happy that one of them was.
Such are the holidays. Very busy for us. Even when Trevor is off of school, we have things going on to keep the kids busy. It's going to be 2010 before I know it. Happy Holidays!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Another week closer to Christmas
It is amazing how fast that holiday sneaks up on me. I have been accumulating a few gifts for people, but I think tomorrow during Trevor's friend's birthday party I'm going to do most of the rest of the shopping. I'm not a big shopping girl....strange I know. But I guess it is a little better when I'm shopping for other people rather than myself.
We have also adopted a new tradition, thanks to my mom. It is called Elf on a Shelf. An elf came with a book explaining his magic. Your job is to read the book and name him. Every night during the pre-Christmas time, he travels to the North Pole to report to Santa how everyone is behaving. Then every morning when you wake up, he is in a different place. The big things are that you can't touch him or he will lose his magic, and that every Christmas Eve, he disappears until next Holiday season. Trevor has decided to really get into this one after being reassured that it is the real deal. It has helped on occasion with his behavior, although he also seems a little freaked out by having to find him, but yet making sure that he doesn't touch him.
I also think I'm going to do some cookie making today. I know tomorrow it will be impossible, and Trevor has been looking forward to decorating cookies, so I guess it'll be time to try a few cookies out to see what the kids like. We'll see what happens.
On a different note, I think Gwen's 2 year molars are trying to poke through. She has splotchy red cheeks for the past few days. That will be nice to have done sooner rather than later. And I think that I'd rather have her nuks gone before we start traveling.
We have also adopted a new tradition, thanks to my mom. It is called Elf on a Shelf. An elf came with a book explaining his magic. Your job is to read the book and name him. Every night during the pre-Christmas time, he travels to the North Pole to report to Santa how everyone is behaving. Then every morning when you wake up, he is in a different place. The big things are that you can't touch him or he will lose his magic, and that every Christmas Eve, he disappears until next Holiday season. Trevor has decided to really get into this one after being reassured that it is the real deal. It has helped on occasion with his behavior, although he also seems a little freaked out by having to find him, but yet making sure that he doesn't touch him.
I also think I'm going to do some cookie making today. I know tomorrow it will be impossible, and Trevor has been looking forward to decorating cookies, so I guess it'll be time to try a few cookies out to see what the kids like. We'll see what happens.
On a different note, I think Gwen's 2 year molars are trying to poke through. She has splotchy red cheeks for the past few days. That will be nice to have done sooner rather than later. And I think that I'd rather have her nuks gone before we start traveling.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Playing in the snow
Well, a few of the metro schools had a snow day yesterday, but I hear that it is few and far between that our school district closes for snow. Regardless, this is the first big snow of the season, and I figured I had to at least let the kids walk around in it after lunch yesterday. I will admit it my biggest challenge as a parent. I HATE the cold. I think it is because I don't like how cold I feel outside. I don't own snowpants and with as little as I'd use them, I don't find them necessary.
So after about 15 minutes of getting ready, primarily having Trevor try to get himself ready seeing as how he's going to have to do it for his recess time next year, we got ourselves outside. Man was that wind biting. But I know the kids were bundled up and warm. I had to bring Gwen in against her will. She wasn't a big fan of trying to get around in the snow, but loved throwing the "rocks" at my legs. Trevor just wanted to make snow angels, which he did, and have a snowball fight, which the snow was a little tricky to do that with. Next year, we are going to have to wait for a weekend before the kids are going to be able to get outside together, which makes me a little sad. Trevor really enjoyed playing outside, but not by himself, and Gwen needs a little bit more strength in order to get herself around. We are also going to have to get ourselves around and find good sledding hills and such because Trevor would really get a kick out of that. My parents backyard would be perfect except for the distance.
I did decide to get better gloves and mittens for the kids, so hopefully they can keep their snowball making and throwing hands warmer. I also know that soon Trevor will have friends he will want to play with and as such I won't be the one that needs to take him outside....and again I feel a little sad about that. The kids grow up so fast, don't they?
So after about 15 minutes of getting ready, primarily having Trevor try to get himself ready seeing as how he's going to have to do it for his recess time next year, we got ourselves outside. Man was that wind biting. But I know the kids were bundled up and warm. I had to bring Gwen in against her will. She wasn't a big fan of trying to get around in the snow, but loved throwing the "rocks" at my legs. Trevor just wanted to make snow angels, which he did, and have a snowball fight, which the snow was a little tricky to do that with. Next year, we are going to have to wait for a weekend before the kids are going to be able to get outside together, which makes me a little sad. Trevor really enjoyed playing outside, but not by himself, and Gwen needs a little bit more strength in order to get herself around. We are also going to have to get ourselves around and find good sledding hills and such because Trevor would really get a kick out of that. My parents backyard would be perfect except for the distance.
I did decide to get better gloves and mittens for the kids, so hopefully they can keep their snowball making and throwing hands warmer. I also know that soon Trevor will have friends he will want to play with and as such I won't be the one that needs to take him outside....and again I feel a little sad about that. The kids grow up so fast, don't they?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Putting up the tree
I was trying to remember what we did when Trevor was Gwen's age for putting up the tree. The way I remember it, we put it up with the heavy and breakable ornaments on the tree higher than he could reach, and any ornaments that he wanted to play with, never ended up on the tree. Even last year, he had the Buzz/RC car, Thomas and Percy, Lightning McQueen and Mater, and all the Star Wars Vehicles off of the tree so he could play with them. I guess I didn't expect Gwen to want to play with a lot of the ornaments, but I guess I wasn't sure.
Trevor seemed to want to try to have more ornaments on the tree this year, although right from the beginning the Star Wars vehicles were found, and they ended up out of the box, but never on the tree. He told me he really wanted to find Lightning McQueen and Mater so he could play with them. We got the tree yesterday morning, and let it settle and warm up for the rest of the day. After dinner, we were going to try to watch a movie and put up the decorations, but Trevor didn't want to move. So Russ and I put the lights and the garland on the tree before the movie was done, and once the ornaments started coming out, then Trevor was game. We put on some music instead. I tried to work it out so that Gwen had some stringed ornaments that she could hang on the tree herself while I continued to unpack the ornaments.
It was amazing to see both of the kids' awe over the different ornaments. Once I started to help Gwen by hanging the ornaments where she asked me to, it became a huge game for her. She could have done it all day. We opened all of the ornaments that we had. Even ones that we had never used before. She kept looking for more.
Since that time, it seems as though she is trying to relive the event a little bit because any ornaments that are within her reach, she takes off of the tree to get them put back on by someone else. Although if she had her pick, she also likes to play with the ornaments we have that look like fruit.
So that's our Christmas preparation to date. Trevor was remarking that he was feeling like Christmas was really getting closer. The weather is probably helping that too. But I do agree...it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here!
Trevor seemed to want to try to have more ornaments on the tree this year, although right from the beginning the Star Wars vehicles were found, and they ended up out of the box, but never on the tree. He told me he really wanted to find Lightning McQueen and Mater so he could play with them. We got the tree yesterday morning, and let it settle and warm up for the rest of the day. After dinner, we were going to try to watch a movie and put up the decorations, but Trevor didn't want to move. So Russ and I put the lights and the garland on the tree before the movie was done, and once the ornaments started coming out, then Trevor was game. We put on some music instead. I tried to work it out so that Gwen had some stringed ornaments that she could hang on the tree herself while I continued to unpack the ornaments.
It was amazing to see both of the kids' awe over the different ornaments. Once I started to help Gwen by hanging the ornaments where she asked me to, it became a huge game for her. She could have done it all day. We opened all of the ornaments that we had. Even ones that we had never used before. She kept looking for more.
Since that time, it seems as though she is trying to relive the event a little bit because any ornaments that are within her reach, she takes off of the tree to get them put back on by someone else. Although if she had her pick, she also likes to play with the ornaments we have that look like fruit.
So that's our Christmas preparation to date. Trevor was remarking that he was feeling like Christmas was really getting closer. The weather is probably helping that too. But I do agree...it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Back to the weekly grind...
School started again this week for me after a week off. Trevor went back to school for a full week of Kindergarten. Gwen did her weekly activities with me. Gwen has been begging to play Trevor's games that he got for his birthday. She also wanted to use some safety scissors to cut paper. So we've done that at least 3-4 times this week. Oh AND she learned how to do a somersault completely by herself. And she can do it straight too. She's been counting without switching the 4 and 5 a few times by herself. She's getting so big so fast.
Trevor has had a book to read every day, a few times a day, for the whole week this week in addition to writing thank-you cards, and his weekly and monthly homework assignments. It's amazing what adding the book and thank-you cards does to his frustration level until he understands that it will become routine and doesn't fight it anymore.
I brought both of the kids straight from Kindergarten pick-up to the mall to get Santa pictures today. I brought a lunch for the kids to eat in the car. I had no idea how busy it was going to be because all the other times I went, it was during school hours, right when the Santa photo shop opened. There were 4 groups ahead of us, and it went pretty fast. Of course Gwen got freaked out as soon as she saw that I wanted her to sit on Santa's lap. So I got to join in on the chair this year. And right afterwards, she was talking all about how she got to see Santa today. If they could have put a big fake head over this guy's body, she would have enjoyed it more. I think the fact that it is a real person, and a male figure at that does not put her mind at ease at all. Since Disney, she has no fear of characters and wants to give them all hugs. When we were at the Gopher's hockey game, she was SO excited when we found Goldy Gopher walking around so she could give him a high-five and a big hug.
I'm not sure if I can brave the crowds next year with Trevor, but we'll see how it goes. It's nice to be able to do this while they are this young.
Trevor has had a book to read every day, a few times a day, for the whole week this week in addition to writing thank-you cards, and his weekly and monthly homework assignments. It's amazing what adding the book and thank-you cards does to his frustration level until he understands that it will become routine and doesn't fight it anymore.
I brought both of the kids straight from Kindergarten pick-up to the mall to get Santa pictures today. I brought a lunch for the kids to eat in the car. I had no idea how busy it was going to be because all the other times I went, it was during school hours, right when the Santa photo shop opened. There were 4 groups ahead of us, and it went pretty fast. Of course Gwen got freaked out as soon as she saw that I wanted her to sit on Santa's lap. So I got to join in on the chair this year. And right afterwards, she was talking all about how she got to see Santa today. If they could have put a big fake head over this guy's body, she would have enjoyed it more. I think the fact that it is a real person, and a male figure at that does not put her mind at ease at all. Since Disney, she has no fear of characters and wants to give them all hugs. When we were at the Gopher's hockey game, she was SO excited when we found Goldy Gopher walking around so she could give him a high-five and a big hug.
I'm not sure if I can brave the crowds next year with Trevor, but we'll see how it goes. It's nice to be able to do this while they are this young.
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