You must REALLY love me, mommy

Short little story for you, but first some background. Trevor loves to find out what people's favorite color, favorite food, favorite vacation place, favorite sports team, etc. It is always a topic of conversation. Sometimes, based on your answer, he will try to convince you, you will like something else. For example, my favorite color is green. He has determined that my favorite Nascar driver is Dale Earnhart Junior, who happens to be a driver with the number 88 on the car. Sometimes this car has green as the main color. If Trevor ever recreates a Nascar race with his car, and does not put the green number 88 in the race, he asks me which car I like best. If I don't give him the right answer, he convinces me that I like a different car because it has green on it. Whenever we are doing homework and he has to do some coloring, he always asks me which color I am hoping for. If it isn't green, I am to say, "Awwww." If it is green, I am to say, "Yay!"

Trevor got his baseball roster on Sunday, and although Russ thought they would give him a team name, as opposed to the team picking out the name, he was assured he would not get the name Twins or Gophers, as he would hope. I saw that their team name was the West Bears. West because of where they live in the area. It is interesting because I root for the Chicago Bears football team. They had a few other football names, rather than baseball team names, but Trevor wasn't very happy (at least I don't think) that it wasn't a favorite team of his. The first practice on Monday wasn't a very nice day, so Gwen stayed home. The team got their team shirts and each of the kids had a number on the back of them. They also got a baseball hat. So when he came home from practice, he had to tell me about it. He ran in to show me, his team was green, he was almost Dale Earnhart Jr.'s race car number, AND his team name was the Bears. "Mom, don't you love me SO much more than before I was playing baseball?" Oh Trevor, you crack me up. If he couldn't be his own favorite team name, favorite color, or number, at least it was one of the family's.

New things!

Looking back, I am amazed at how many of my blog entries could be titled something similar to "new things". I guess that is what happens when you have two different kids, at two different points in their lives, being the oldest siblings in each of our families. Today specifically, is Trevor's first practice of his baseball career. He has been in t-ball 3 years prior, through the YMCA program. This year, he is in coach pitch, although they don't keep score in games. But they do have 7 teams in the league, so they play the teams a few times. He is playing on a team with one of his best friends, so we will have plenty of opportunity to see them as well this summer. Also, Trevor is set for a graduation ceremony of Kindergarten in about 6 weeks or so. Although recently, his behavior has been a bit discouraging, I think he is really looking forward to being at school the whole day next year. And although he won't be switching schools like he did this year, it will be the first time he will be at school from 9 to 3:30. That is a very new thing for everyone.

With Gwen, we received the news that her gym store is closing their doors the end of this month. There are other options, but I would like to continue it into the summer since her school ends in May. I think she is also going through a big emotional growth spurt because she is very "disorganized" in her doing things. Sleeping is all out of whack, her attitude is very whiny and loud, and although she isn't like Trevor was at her age, I do think that she needs more exercise than staying in the house all day. I can tell that potty training will be soon, but I don't want to push it before she is going on trips to the cabin or even at school because I don't know that she is that ready. I'd rather it be on a warm weekend when we aren't planning on going anywhere.

And with me, if you haven't heard, our family is going to be the proud first-time aunt/uncle/cousin to a baby due in October! How cool is it that they also have a blog about it! It is going to be a fun summer getting ready, having showers and such. So many new things!

What a great week

I had an exceptionally amazing week that really left me feeling so complete and connected, hopefully I can carry that feeling on for a long time. Tuesday night was my lady's golf league opening dinner. No golf, but still able to see all my friends from golf. We start golfing tomorrow! And going to have wonderful weather as well! Wednesday evening, my group of mom friends decided to start trying to get together once a month just to sit and chat...without kids. We were never interrupted because of crying or fighting. It was so nice! Friday night, Trevor was at a sleepover, so Russ and I got to spend some quality time with just Gwen. I've been trying to give her a little bit extra attention lately because she seems like she is going through something. Maybe teething, maybe development, but whatever it is, I know I need to soak it up while I can. Saturday evening, Russ and I got to go out for a date night. We ate dinner, on a short wait at Olive Garden. I really like their food, and although it can get a little pricey with 4 people, I actually was hoping their wait time was longer because I didn't have kids! After dinner, we went to the nearby bowling alley, but when they were on a wait, I decided to do the billiards table. I still stink at billiards, but it was a lot of fun. The on Sunday, I took part in a little family golf at the golf course I grew up with. My golf game was ON...for some reason, and I shot my best round ever. Since it took place after April 15th, we were required to post it. There goes my handicap. Which I'm really happy about actually. A lot of people want to keep their handicap up so they can play really well in a tournament and do well. I want to be able to say that I'm dropping my handicap because I'm playing better than I have before.

So bring on this week! Bring on SUMMER darn it all! It has just got to be warmer than last year. Lots of fun is going to be had!

(And for the record, my new best is a 93. I had gotten under 100 prior, but not this far under.)

Last night of Spring Break

Well, we made it. The last few days were rough. I was losing my patience, but at least the weather made it tolerable this weekend. Trevor has been talking about how much he misses his teacher, so that's got to be a good sign, right? He made a big jump to riding on his two-wheeler during this week as well. This afternoon he rode his bike while Russ ran with him. I know Russ wanted to go farther, but our area has a lot of big hills that Trevor wouldn't really be able to get up and down quickly on a bike. Maybe they'll figure out a longer path someday. But for now, he is enjoying being able to find a use for his bike.

Gwen has woken up a few nights this past week for no real reason. I'm guessing it is a developmental thing, or maybe molar teething or something. I was trying to remember, and I think since she was 6 months old, this is the first time I've had to actually calm her down. The other morning at 6am, she had woken up and started pounding on the door. It woke everyone up, but I was able to calm her back down to play quietly in her room. During naptime, she even fell back asleep once I brought her downstairs. Usually her naps aren't when she sleeps very long, or well, but something is going on that is making her a little off.

Regardless, I think everyone wants to be back to their normal routine. Hopefully the weather will keep cooperating, and we won't see any more snow or cold weather for another 3/4 of a year. (A girl can dream, right?)

Re-Energized

I seriously cannot believe what 2 hours of adult time can do to my well-being. Or really, maybe it was because it had been missing for so long. Completely my fault, no one to blame but myself. Today, one of my mom-friends suggested we meet for lunch at Chuck E. Cheese. It worked out great because Gwen's Tumble's class is right near there, and it got done at 10:30. I was a little concerned about how busy it would be, due to spring break, but I also knew that not all districts had this week as their spring break.

Anyway, when we got there, we had a good chunk of time where the place was not busy at all. It gradually got more busy, and I guess the kids got more antsy, but for the most part, we got to chat and chat and chat. Because the have such a focus of making sure the kids can't escape, plus the fact that the things to play on are very kid-friendly, and the fact that Gwen was totally interested in putting the money in the kid games - not the rides - that we were pretty much uninterrupted for a good portion of the time.

I have always known that it does my mental mind good to take a break to talk with my friends. And perhaps it was also because I have been able to take a few more breaks recently. But this really, really, really, REALLY made me feel so much better. I know the kids had a great time too. The weather is turning around, golf season is kicking off next week for me, and Trevor only has two days left of spring break. Hopefully I can keep this going in the right direction until and through the summer break.

Backing up.... Easter was very nice. We had great food and great company throughout the entire day. Unfortunately, all 3 fish that we have tried to keep alive in the house have since died. As I was thinking about this, it is probably for the best. We got 3 very small fish that ate usually twice a day. I don't know what we would have done if we had to go away even for a weekend. That's almost worse than having a dog. Having to have someone come over twice a day to take care of fish? We'll try it again at some other point. Maybe we'll get bigger fish that don't have to eat as much next time too.

Monday afternoon until Tuesday, I brought the kids over to my parents for a sleepover. I went too. Right now is the age that Trevor would really enjoy a big yard. Plus they have a nice two wheeling practice driveway that we don't have as well. But I know he can practice on the sidewalk here and he does. He is getting much closer, and knows it. So his confidence is growing.

I will be happy to have him start up all the things he is looking forward to soon. Almost time!