The Red & Green Family

So far so good

2012-01-24T20:17:00.001-06:00

We are in the home stretch of the dreaded month of January. My parents are coming back within a week, Gwen has her winter dance program, we are starting to hear about summer programs....and it wasn't that horrible of a winter. Still doesn't mean I wanted to be outdoors at any point within the past 3 months or so. If I have to put on a jacket, it is too cold. Hopefully our trip to Florida will be relatively jacket free...and then I would consider it a successful vacation.

So Trevor has received his first communion meeting schedule and date of his actual first communion. He also, for the first time, was picked to bring the gifts up to the priest this last Sunday. Ever since he started going to the Children's Liturgy over a year ago, he wanted to bring the gifts up. I asked him to wait until I could show him how to do it by watching the other kids do it. Then I asked him to repeat to me what he would do, making sure he understood to wait for the other kids and bow before coming back to his seat. Then it took a few weeks before he was picked. So that brings us to last Sunday. He was so proud coming back to his seat and when I didn't see him with the other kids I knew he had gotten picked. It was one of those moments where I'm pretty sure he will remember. And I know there will be many more times he will bring them up. It just seems like he has a big year in church.

This past weekend, we also got to visit with a few out-of-town relatives. It was Russ's grandma's 80th birthday celebration. Three of grandma's son's were flown in from out of town and two of them were a surprise to her. I know she was very surprised and she got to eat her favorite lobster for her birthday. I do have to chuckle because Russ's cousin is named Quinn and Gwen loved to hang around him. Whenever I called out to Gwen, and she was usually around Quinn, he couldn't help but do a double-take. Their names sound very similar when saying them.

Also, Uncle Mike got to stay with us a few nights, and Gwen also became very attached to him. He was nice enough to leave us with some of his signature crepes which Trevor has been eating as his school snacks and I have been enjoying as a nice snack as well ;-) Anyway, when he left on Saturday, she pulled the waterworks and I think he was a little shocked that she had already become so attached. I also think she thought if he would feel bad enough, he would take her with him.

Trevor started his second session of chess and he has almost graduated to their second quad. I have no idea what that means, but his friend is a grade ahead of him and he is in the 4th quad. He is really enjoying it, and I'm glad we tried it out. I wonder if Gwen will have an interest in it at all. I guess we shall see.....

The Game of Life

2012-01-17T17:18:00.000-06:00

Well most of our activities have started up again, except that this week, the kids have both Monday and Tuesday off of school. I've been trying to give Trevor a little of a break because from now until Spring Break it is going to be busy and a lot of homework and such. So today we had a game hour where he picked out a game for us to play. I was willing to play Life and it is not an old game, so there have been a few updates, but for the most part it is the way I remember it. I explained to Trevor the rules of the game, namely that you don't actually pick your career, but you draw it, and if you draw on that requires a degree and go around the degree path, you don't get to keep it.

I actually played the game the way I normally do, which is to go around the college path, and not get insurance. Trevor drew the "entertainer" career card, and then drew the $100,000 payday card. Um...sweet....Lucky guy. I drew the doctor card but then I drew the $60,000 payday card. Not looking good for me. So the "entertainer" got through marriage, got a log cabin (so he didn't owe that much to get his house, only $60,000) and twins before I even had my career. At this point, he said he was getting tired of having the $100,000 bills so he first asked for two $50,000. Then the next time, he said he wanted three $20,000s and four $10,000s. It took all my strength not to laugh and remark how much like me he sounded when he said that. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't fight be to be the banker. Although maybe that's because when he plays Monopoly or his own game of Life, he always gets to be the banker.

I got a slightly nicer house, and twins myself, but then Trevor got another set of twins.  He made it all the way to retirement without any big hits of payments. I, of course, got hit with two house events that had I had insurance, I wouldn't have to pay for, and another car accident that I did not have insurance for as well.

So after waiting for me to finish, and retiring myself, I discovered that at retirement, there wasn't anything remarkable that happens.  When everyone makes it to retirement, you make sure you pay off your loans but then count up your money. I had thought in the older games you got money for the number of kids you had and such. Not this game. Trevor had two sets of twins and I only had one. Nothing about the kind of house you had or anything.  There are life tiles that need to be counted, but with Trevor's salary, I couldn't catch up. He won, without much fanfare, gave me the "good game" and we left it at that.

It was a great time to be able to play a low key game and have some fun with the guy before the long stretch of stuff coming up.

The new nomal

2012-01-06T13:37:00.000-06:00

With the tree coming down before New Years, that meant that there wasn't too much organizing to do in order to get the house back to regular slightly messy but not too unbearable. A lot of the cleaning came from the gifts from everyone. So now we are back to school for both kids and there has been a shift in things to be doing as is the case with the introduction to new toys games.

Gwen doesn't hold back with anything she can play with. She wants to be a part of all the games, from Trevor's Angry Birds board game to having her own guy that she restarts (exactly like Trevor used to do with Super Mario Galaxy) in order to see Princess Zelda. She also has been Ms. Creativity with all the coloring, play-dough like crafts, marker drawings, and sticker projects. I don't know how long the ream of paper is going to last her. If she keeps this up, it won't be much past the beginning of February. I'm not even sure what to do with them all! I would take pictures, and maybe when I get a chance I will, but I'm just enjoying playing "her" toys with her like her Berry Bitty Market (Strawberry Shortcake).

Music has been a huge increase in our house. I was tired of the "mix tape" CD's not being able to be played anywhere because the quality isn't the same as the regular CDs. Russ has an old iPod nano, but I convinced Russ (and used a gift card) to buy a speaker system and a new iPod nano to put the kids music on. A big hit with the kids is when they get to play Just Dance Kids 2. We haven't done the first one, but with Gwen and her love to learn a new dance routine, this was just perfect. It did get all four of us into the groove and of course Russ and Trevor become very competitive. Gwen wins most of the time and Russ sometimes has to back off in order to make sure Trevor doesn't come in last place all the time. We did find two new songs to put on the nano: "Despicable Me" and "Gummy Bear". They both start dancing to them when they hear the songs.

Gwen has started her requests that she sees on the Disney Channel like a song from the Pixie Hollow Games and songs from the pre teen shows like A.N.T. Farm, Shake it Up, and a Lemonade Mouth song. When I was searching through all the songs that Russ had saved onto an old computer, I came across an album I got called Kermit Unpigged - a take off of all the Unplugged albums that came out at the time. They are all cover songs with at least one Muppet singing along to them. I had totally forgotten about them, but I put a few of them onto the nano for the kids and Gwen found them. Do you want to know what her favorite song is of the entire group at the moment? Ozzy Osborne and Miss Piggy singing "Born to be Wild". I guess I should have seen that coming as she loves Miss Piggy. But just a few minutes ago she said to me her name was Ozzy Osborne. Her last name only. Made me laugh out loud.

Also, Miss Gwen has really picked up her reading. She has been asking me to point out words in books as I read them but just last night, without anyone reading anything to her, she knew the word Rupee on the Zelda game Trevor was playing. She doesn't like it when you ask her what words she can read...but I know they are quite a few. The thing that is really throwing her for a loop now is the difference between a company name and what kind of place of business it is. Like if we go to the grocery store, she expects Grocery Store to be on sign name. She knows that we go to Cub Foods, but that's not what I usually say. Restaurants are easier, but if we go to get a haircut, that is confusing for her too. Our bank says Wells Fargo, but a nearby one says US Bank.

*Sigh...kids grow up...what can you do.

Last day of the Holiday Break

2012-01-02T14:55:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to all! It is hard for me to believe that over a week ago was our Christmas celebrations and two days ago was our New Years celebration. Time has really flown. The kids, I think, had a great time at all of our celebrations. We had Christmas Eve mass where the kids got to bring up two pieces of the manger scene: This year it was Mary and Joseph. Although it wasn't baby Jesus, and I knew both of them wanted to bring it up, I thought it best that neither of them should do it. So they did their part and we had fun with Derek and Kyrsten, Kyrsten's family, Bubba, Papa, Brian and our family. In order to save seats for the entire group, Trevor and I walked (because the weather was SO nice) to church an hour before it started. While walking to church, Trevor says something to the effect of, "Mom, you look really fancy. In fact, if someone saw us walking down the street right now, they would think you looked really fancy." He then started talking about wanting to get me a smoothie which I wasn't sure where it was coming from, but I really enjoyed our short walk to church.

We headed out to Grandma's house for our yummy crab and prime rib dinner with the exchanging of gifts. It always is a great way to wish each other a very Merry Christmas! The kids made out with some fun Star Wars and artsy toys as well as some clothes. As always we had to rush home in order to be back before Santa came to our house that evening.

Also as usual, Trevor was up around 7 and stayed in our bed with us until we allowed him to wake Gwen up at 7:30. Gwen got her big Cinderella doll she asked Santa for, and Trevor got his video games he wanted. Trevor got a bunch more diary type books and a few board games to play as well. Before long, it was off to Bubba and Papa's house to have the next Christmas and my birthday celebration. We brought over a few favorite things from Christmas and were off for an overnight. It makes more sense to not have to rush back home when it is easy to hang out there for the night. So we played a game of dominoes and left in the morning to do our fourth Christmas. After that, the kids and Russ with the rest of the family got to do their skating time. Gwen quickly tried to figure out how to skate on her own. She's not quite there yet, but she learned a lot in a short time.

The time between that evening when we were finally able to be at home to organize and clean until now seems to have passed in a blur. We did get out to see Chipwrecked at some point, as well as take the tree down and put away all Christmas decorations, so we really are ready. Now it is just about deciding what to play with or what to do next. We went out to the lake house for New Years but even that felt like it was two seconds rather than two days. I know I was really worried about how the kids were going to do this break, but it seems to have worked out well. Perhaps it was the change of toys and the want to play with someone else. I'll take it though. Now, if I could fast forward to March I'd be good. January can often be too cold and depressing for me. Only 62 days until our vacation, which doesn't sound too far away! Yay! Just a few more finalizing details that I can work on and we will be all set.

So bring on 2012! It's going to be a great year for us all, I have a feeling!

Christmas season memories

2011-12-23T21:10:00.001-06:00

My memories of the Christmas season this year are for the most part, very joyous. I was pleasantly surprised. This first picture is not really related to the Christmas season. It was a picture that I had to take after Gwen had found my bright red lipstick and tried it on without any help of a mirror or myself. Reminded me of when Trevor got into my finger nail polish and put it on himself and all over my bathroom. Thankfully, Gwen didn't get it anywhere except her lips and face. And of course she was so proud.

Anyway, this Christmas season was eventful, and our annual festivities of Christmas haven't even started. We got the largest tree we ever have...11 ft. It was fun to decorate and admire until the base cracked and leaked water everywhere. Then it tipped over. Since then, it hasn't been able to be straight upright. So next year or before next year we need a bigger tree stand.

I wrote in this year's Christmas letter that I knew by next year at this time, Trevor would probably be able to beat both Russ and I at chess. Well, I didn't even last a week beyond the letter. Granted, I don't know much else other than how each of the pieces move, but Trevor already has such patience and foresight to know how to strategize a winning game.

Music has probably been the biggest change to my family Christmas season memory. As long as there is a song playing on our all-Christmas music station, she likes it. Her new favorite is Rockin' around the Christmas tree. I had a Kidz Bop CD in the pile of Christmas music that has a version of that song on it, which has been played plenty. Along with the Muppets Christmas and a few other songs that I haven't heard on the radio. What I will remember most about this year was that if Gwen heard a song on the radio, even just once or twice, it would often get stuck in her head and randomly she would belt it out. My favorite is when she out of the blue started singing the song that we heard from Wham!...I think the title is "Last Christmas". It really got me because she only had part of the chorus, and I tried to help her out, but I got stuck, and she filled it right in: "Last Christmas...I gave you my heart..but the very next day, you gave it away. This year, I'll save you from....." Quickly, Gwen said "tears mom." and she finished the lyrics.

So now we get into the creative side of the kids. As I said before, Gwen really has been into building things, and while I have never seen that side of Trevor, he is creative in his own way. He prefers to be creative with board games as in this instance. I think he is finally realize that Gwen can be a playmate, especially with board games. This game, doesn't really have a name, other than Trevor calling it a combination of all the games they use: "Monopoly, Life, Jenga". They use the car and houses or hotels from Monopoly, build garages and houses with Jenga pieces, then play out their lives with cards (career cards), money, and spinning the wheel from the game of Life. I almost didn't want to make them move, but it was a school day. I hope there are many of these days in the week off of school. I like that I don't always have to be breaking up fights.

And these last two pictures, are for Gwen. She asked me one day this week to build things with the Legos in the basement. I'm not sure why they were out in the first place, but these are Trevor's legos. He had gotten an airport to build a large airplane, star wars ships and figures, as well as other activities I'm sure that I don't even remember. They eventually ended up in a box or two in the basement. So anyway, they were out and Gwen wanted to play with them, so I put her where she wouldn't get into anything and let her go at it. It took her at least an hour or so to come up with this boat. The bottom part is part of an airplane but everything else she added. I thought she did a great job. It didn't seem like she was very interested in really playing with it once it was built, but I am just amazed that she saw all the pieces and picked them out in order to come up with what she did.

So while there wasn't enough snow this season for it to be a white Christmas, I think that there will be ways for the kids to entertain themselves if they don't have a chance to be outside. Merry Christmas!

'Tis the busy season

2011-12-17T21:09:00.000-06:00

Everyone always seems extra busy during this time of year. It really makes me dread the next month that is coming because I know it will slow WAY down. Perhaps to the point of wanting to shut my door and not leave the house. But I digress....right now it is busy. Last week was very busy for us. Russ was traveling for the week, which in some ways made it less hectic knowing that I just had to know where the kids needed to go, rather than the whole family. I also warned Trevor because I know he appreciates the little down time he does have with the ever increasing demands of homework, piano practice and the want to play video games. That for sure has taken a back seat to everything else going on. He maybe gets to play once or twice a week.

So on to this week. Monday was crazy with Chess, dinner, dance class and then directly to hockey pictures. No time for anything that day. Tuesday, I was off for a holiday PTA event but thankfully the kids didn't have to be brought anywhere to do anything. Wednesday, the kids had their last swimming lesson of the session, but my better judgement said to abandon the swimming lesson to make sure we made the preschool Christmas program on time. It was a very cute show as always, and the bells performance was wonderful.

I decided that because we didn't have anything going on Thursday, we would run on over to the mall for our annual Santa pictures. It was a perfect setting. Just in case, I brought a book for Trevor to read, but in the end it wasn't needed. We walked right up to Santa and no one else came to the line for at least 10 minutes. That meant 10 minutes of in depth discussion with Santa. It also meant that when the three pictures they tried to take of the kids didn't turn out, they were gracious enough to take 4 more before I found one I really liked. Or at least where they both looked ok.

The kids told Santa what they wanted...Gwen wanted a big Cinderella doll...although funny thing, she told her mom the day before she wanted a big Sleeping Beauty doll and I don't think Santa is going to bring her two...I guess we'll see. Trevor was not very specific. He preferred to talk about all the things he has done and ask a lot of questions about how old he was, and if our Frankincense (Elf on a Shelf) could stick around for the rest of the year because he was pretty much a member of our family. It wasn't fair that he had to be away the rest of the year and miss his birthday and such. And Santa thought that it wasn't a big deal if the Elf stuck around. Ummm....maybe our Elf will write a departing note or something.

So apart from that discussion, it was a very good trip to see Santa. I hear that there are some families that ask their teenagers to at least stand behind or next to Santa for those same pictures. I would even promise to keep all those pictures away from the public eye until they had kids of their own....I love to watch the kids grow up with the same Santa every year. That is one tradition I am happy to continue.

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-09T15:44:00.001-06:00

Remembering years past with the kids, I always thought I would enjoy, as they would, the same Christmas traditions. Most of the time, in fact, I insist on them. This year, I have tried to allow for some changes, while keeping most things the same. And then I see how some of the traditions have lost their interest. I don't know if it is their age, or if it is truly not as interesting, or if I'm more of a scrooge than usual.

Here are some changes to year's past: We got our Christmas Tree early, although not significantly, and it is at least 3 ft taller than usual. We have always had it in the room with a vaulted ceiling, but this year we truly took advantage of it. As a result, we had to buy more lights and garland...and maybe an ornament or two :-)

I have had to change out Gwen's Christmas Stocking at her request to a light blue Cinderella stocking. The rest of ours are Winnie the Pooh red ones. She had Elmo last year, but has never really gotten into him, so it really didn't make sense to keep her to that one.

Although the traditions are still there, the feelings have changed: Frankincense was scary at first to both Trevor and Gwen, is not as interesting, unless they use it as a weapon against the other sibling when they are doing something bad....for example Trevor says to Gwen, "Oh...Frankincense did you see that? Gwen wasn't being a good listener. Make sure you report that back to Santa." I've been trying to balance it all out when I catch the kids behaving too, but it for sure isn't as magical as he once was. The chocolate advent calendars are being used, but often forgotten in the morning. I remember last year and the other years, 5 minutes would not go by when the kids were awake and they both had their chocolate in hand for the day. Christmas movies: Gwen has the choice to watch them twice a week or so while Trevor is at school and she would rather not. Trevor, if given the choice currently wants to watch Diary of a Wimpy Kid which he got for his birthday. It is a very good adaptation from the book, but over a Christmas movie? I'm a little bummed. The books are way too young for Trevor now. He has to read 20+ minutes a day and thankfully he has a whole new selection with the series of Magic Tree House and the last three books of Diary of a Wimpy kid. Gwen's only interest in the books are of course the one Princess Christmas book we have. All the others could go out the door. Again, I'm a little bummed.

We still have yet to visit Santa at the mall. I think I'm going to bring the kids next week on Thursday. I have to add to my collection! On the topic of pictures, I took the annual pictures in front of the tree and they both did very well at that. Those are ordered and will be here soon so they will be sent out shortly. I had my annual cookie swap, and got a good deal of cookies that have almost all been eaten. Those were yummy!

Something that they are both excited about is that they are both going to carry in two parts of the Nativity scene at church on Christmas Eve. Gwen will have Mary and Trevor will have Joseph. I couldn't have gotten baby Jesus if I wanted to, but I knew that would not be a good idea. Major fighting would ensue. But that is another thing that has lost interest - our Fisher Price Nativity. It was opened and set up but not played with except the occasional song every once in a while. Oh well. Kids grow up, I guess it cannot always be as exciting as the first year. I'm guessing Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning will hold the same magic. That I'll hold onto for as long as I can!

Gwen the puzzler

2011-12-03T10:51:00.001-06:00

Well, she made it through the big even that was Thanksgiving and Trevor's birthday without a big hitch. She was a big helper the day of his birthday which I was very thankful for. It appears as though she is slowly learning that everyone's birthday is special to them for that one day and she cannot do anything about it, so she might as well enjoy it.

We had her preschool conference last Thursday and it went very well. Right now she is not very interested in drawing or writing, and actually I'm sort of surprised. When she is at home, if I ask her to create a card for someones birthday she loves to do it. If we break out new pens, pencils, or markers she right away wants to use them. But if she is at preschool it seems as though she does the minimum for what is asked and then runs to the next thing. Perhaps preschool is too fun and if she can play first, she would love it. She is also working on her friendships and working out conflicts without the help of the teacher. I'm debating on picking up a few more days of child care here and there to see if that would be fun for her. But overall it was a great conference! She is one great kid!

Something that I've finally put together is that she is different from Trevor in the way that she plays. I have always known that she likes her dolls where he liked his cars, and I simply figured that you play with cars different than you play with dolls. But she also likes Legos. She wanted to play with Trevor's lego people which I just thought was an extension of dolls. She also wanted to put the legos together to make houses or vehicles for the Lego people. And then there has always been her love of puzzles. She can put together the 50 states in under 2 minutes if she feels up to it. I love that if we are ever talking about different states, like yesterday morning I was explaining my love of Hawaii again and Trevor started asking about Texas and Gwen ran to get out the states puzzle so she could put it together and Trevor could show her which state we were talking about.

It seems to me that it she really enjoys putting things together....I wonder if this will translate to a career for her in some way. Maybe a fashion designer...that is something I would see as fitting her interests.... Have I explained how she cannot get enough of my jewelry? She loves the necklaces and one class ring that I have in my jewelry box. When she asked to wear one, I explained when she was wearing a pretty dress I would let her borrow them. Now, whenever she is wearing her two playdresses, she runs upstairs and grabs one of the necklaces and class ring and wears them throughout the day. Putting together the perfect outfit is a must for this girl. And what gets me is that she has a whole box filled with her own jewelry and she will play with it, but she knows it isn't good enough to actually wear out in public. *sigh* Maybe if I hit up Claires she will be satisfied....

Thankful for my little Turkey

2011-11-27T21:29:00.001-06:00

Another year has come and gone. Another year where it is getting harder and harder to remember my life before being a mom. Although in some respects it seems to be getting more challenging, I would say that in the same respect, it brings a bigger rewarding feeling as you get through it.

We spent the day how I thought Trevor would enjoy it. He requested that I make him his eggo waffles for breakfast...I guess I make them better out of the toaster than he does?....I threw in a quick batch of pillsbury sweet rolls that both kids enjoyed. We headed to Benihana for lunch since that is Trevor's favorite place to eat...but on Sundays they are open at 1pm at the earliest. If anyone has ever eaten there, their lunch portions are not much smaller than their dinner portions. So while we wanted to eat dinner on the early side, most of us were pretty full after the big lunch.

But the lunch was a fun time. Backtracking a bit....for the past two days Trevor has had a little head cold. Nothing by far to worry about or to derail him from anything, but as I have previously mentioned, he has a hard time sleeping, nightmares, talking in his sleep, etc. So he isn't exactly well rested. Hopefully tonight will be different, but during the last few days he has been very lethargic. So when we were out to lunch, he seemed tired, but I think he still ate ok and had a good time.

We came back home, had dinner, sang, open gifts, ate more and played with a lot of his gifts. As a slight side note....Gwen did a great job today letting Trevor be in the spotlight. I think it helped having her birthday recently and yet also having some extended family too. She is beginning to understand her day will come again and she respected Trevor's wishes to open his own gifts, blow out his own candles and more than one occasion today both kids hugged each other and told each other they loved them. (it warms a mom's heart)

We were able to drag he away from his most prized possession, the 3DS to play with the dart guns, but he also really enjoyed every single gift he got. The kitten and Trevor and even Gwen got squealing over the spy R/C car. And because we started the nighttime routine early enough I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing much of Trevor until he reads and rereads his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. At least he can put a bunch of reading minutes into his reading log now. But I also had to repeat to him the fact that he CANNOT wake up before 6:30am to read. And that he would have plenty of time to read before and after breakfast if he got a good night's sleep. I am happy that he does love to read.

Looking back at the past year, I know that this year is going to be a significant improvement for Trevor. We have really found a groove and a lot of his interests and can make sure he gets to enjoy life and learn a lot too. I can't wait to see what this next year brings to him.

One crazy week

2011-11-26T15:57:00.001-06:00

It was a busy week for us, ending on a "last day of being 7" for the young man. Both kids had school until Wednesday this week and the only activity that didn't happen was Chess club on Monday. I'm sure Trevor would have wanted it to happen, but at least we were able to keep mostly busy until Thanksgiving. The kids even had swimming lessons on Wednesday, and I'm sure because most people left for the weekend, she had a private lesson. Trevor had a few less kids in his class as well.

Thanksgiving Thursday went off without a hitch...I think. I did my usual turkey, stuffing, rolls, green been dish. The kids were kind enough to help with the cleaning the night before and day of. We had a houseful of 15 people, still missing a few folks but had a good time.

This year Black Friday started Thanksgiving evening. I picked up a good friend at 10pm and we didn't get back home until about 3:30am. Strangely enough, I didn't pick up anything more than some stocking stuffers for Christmas, mostly some REALLY good deals on home stuff and some snowpants for Trevor since his have gone missing. We went from Toys R Us to Herbergers to Kohls to Target. Kohls was a complete disaster and the one store I could have done without. Herbergers was the one I came out of thinking that I got a really good deal and it was very well run. It was a very different night than in the past because of how early the stores were open. I do think I like it better this way because I could come home and sleep for a little while before the kids woke up. It did take me most of the day to recover from everything that had happened that day.

So the rest of the day was pretty low key...finishing up the cleaning...laundry....just relaxing....then Trevor and Russ were going to go to the Wild game, but Trevor decided he didn't want to go. So Russ took Gwen instead. I thought Trevor was going to get upset, but he didn't. He genuinely didn't want to go. So he and I had a little time to ourselves. I decided I wanted to have a little date night with him, and we went to California Pizza Kitchen. He said he was going to be embarrassed only with one other person, but when we got there, and he saw that it wasn't like a table for 10 and only the two of us, he was good. I had a very peaceful and pleasant conversation with him. Because we were at a mall, I also asked him to come and get his Christmas sweater with me because I knew they were still having good sales. That spawned some questions about if I like to shop or not. I know I have said it before, but I really need to do that more often. The night ended with us chatting right before he went to bed about what a good time we both had that night. And I also know that Gwen had a great time too.

And now it is Saturday. We spent the morning seeing the new Muppet movie, and I was VERY VERY happy. I'm glad I had the kids watch the Muppet Show because a lot of it references that as well as a bunch of the Muppet movies. The kids are familiar with The Muppets Take Manhattan but none of the other ones. And I know they probably didn't appreciate the 80's music as I did, but WOW....I have a big appreciation for Jason Segel. I watched him on SNL and learned he co-wrote the story and if that guy doesn't have a perfect understanding of the Muppets I don't know who does. I hope they do well with the movie!

And now we begin the preparations for the kid to turn 8. I think I'm ahead of the game and feeling pretty good about being ready for tomorrow. More to come tomorrow on that event.

It's Trevor's Turn

2011-11-19T21:56:00.001-06:00

With his actual birthday coming up, the time has come to focus on Trevor. Much to the disappointment of Gwen. Which is strange because at least Trevor has to let her tag along to his birthday party and I let her have her friend party without Trevor.

So today was the party, because having a birthday on or near Thanksgiving is not very travel friendly for his friends. We move it usually to the weekend before so we can stay in the same month. During the summer, he had asked to have his party at a place termed Chutes and Ladders. It is an outdoor park that does have some water spraying involved. I tried to explain that even if the actual park was closed, that they turn off the water around Labor Day. Trevor thought that as long as it hadn't snowed by his party, he could still have it there and possibly even involve getting wet. Oh how quickly he forgets how yucky it gets in the fall. Strangely enough, the same day as his party is the day that we get snowed on.

This was the second year in a row we decided to get out of the house and let someone else help with the party planning. Good for me because although I can be organized enough to plan a party, I usually don't like trying to stay low stress when I have to entertain the guests. This year we went to a party place where they had mini golf, batting cages, a soft foam ball pit/ball shooting area, arcade, bumper cars, and laser tag. The place was packed with people. Some probably close to their teens, and some younger than Trevor's group. But really, it was a great age at least for him to be there. They didn't get to do the batting cage because it didn't move as quick as he wanted it to, and I didn't know really how it all worked anyway. But otherwise the kids did get to do everything else. Laser tag was Trevor's favorite. Gwen was happy playing the arcade games, doing a mini golf round, and she got into the ball pit early enough to avoid the huge kids.

Then of course the weather hit throughout the time we were there. Thankfully, we were able to get home at a decent time, but everyone was pretty hungry. Immediately, Trevor wanted to get back outside in the snow. Also thankfully, his snowpants from last year still fit him. It wasn't quite enough snow to make a snowman...I think...but I know he had a good time sweeping the deck off and finding other fun things to do with the snow.

It's Trevor's turn to be in his favorite place - the spotlight. Although officially 8 days away, I think because of the party, I'm calling it in his birthday week now. I'm excited to see what he makes of his special week!

It's Time to Play the Music

2011-11-09T11:58:00.001-06:00

So I have no idea who reads this blog. I do know that it is mostly my immediate family and that my intention for writing this is to give it as a gift to my kids when they are old enough to have their own kids. Regardless, I don't know how many people understand my ~~interest~~ obsession with The Muppets. So I will create a short backstory.... Yes as a child, I watched Sesame Street. I really liked it. Even when my younger brothers were watching it, I would also enjoy catching an episode or two. But really I became a true muppet fan when my dad and I would watch the weekly show when it was in its first run. I know as I was older, I could sometimes catch it on syndication but I will always remember The Muppet Show as an occasion where my dad and I saw it together.

When Jim Henson died while I was in Junior High, I was very sad. I knew there would never be another Muppet Movie or Muppet Show like what he had put on in the past. Granted I was a bit of a snotty teenager thinking about all this at the time, but oh well. I would like to clarify that I am obsessed more with the Muppets associated with the Muppet Show and Muppet Movies, not necessarily Jim Henson, but I also knew of the association of what he brought to the whole creative side of things.

So I grew up, met my love, and brought along with my obsession. I have all Muppet Movies, I had acquired a bunch of VHS tapes that I have let go....I think...and tried to continue to collect any DVDs that I don't have, that I think are worth seeing. Like I said, since Jim Henson's death there haven't been a TON of movies that have measured up to the Jim Henson era. We named our two cats Piggy and Kermie (both girls) that we got in 1998. I have a tattoo of Kermit that I got in 2006. I do have the first 3 Seasons (of 5) that they released via Disney. Oh, that reminds me...how lucky is it that Disney now has acquired The Muppets? It's now a permanent attraction at Disney World much to my LOVE!!! Plus, Disney has got a great marketing strategy and plenty of funds to draw from!

I am extremely tempted to get the whole series via a non-disney supplier of the Muppet Show. I do know that Disney decided to edit the shows individually and not include everything as originally shown. It makes me sad, but I don't know that I'm the type of person to care a whole lot about one particular show, I just like being able to watch a show here or there and get into the big skits like Pigs in Space, Swedish Chef, and Muppet Labs. I do wonder how much longer they are going to wait to release those last two seasons! Maybe after their new movie?

Yes, I am very excited to see the new Muppet movie. Like I said, its now a Disney property and they are promoting the heck out of it. I already got a free movie pass when we do go. But the reason I'm really writing is that although I had watched most of the Muppet Show series, I thought I should break it out in preparation for the movie. I would like the kids to be at least knowledgeable about the music they will hear at the movie.

And so it begins. I decided to start at the beginning even though I thought the beginning was a bit slow. Fortunately, I hit the kids at a perfect time in their lives. Because the show was less than a half hour, it keeps Gwen's attention and Trevor is ROLLING around laughing so hard about everything in the show that he often misses most of the next thing that happens because it is so fast moving. It just gives me such a warm feeling to be able to share this feeling with them. Thankfully, I think I have a good thing to throw on the TV when we are looking for a quick pick-me-up.

For those of you that are interested: I'm pretty sure that Trevor's favorite part is anytime Stadler and Waldorf talk. He knows they do or say something funny. But the one he is currently quoting all the time is a skit that Fozzy did about the Wild West where he came in and held up the saloon with pickles. You have to ask him about it if you really want to see something fun!

So 15 more days until the release! It's time to play the music! It's time to light the lights! It's time to get things started!!!!!

The Deck Project

2011-11-02T21:24:00.000-05:00

Funny thing about how projects always seem to become more than what they are intended to be. And other funny thing, they never seem to be COMPLETELY completely done, there are always improvements to be made or grand ideas to put in to make it even better. But with today comes the point to that we can say the deck project that was originally slotted to take a month, started the beginning of August has come to a close. We had our final final final inspection that was passed in a matter of seconds after the inspector arrived. I went back and looked at our permit record and noticed that although originally it was something that started the beginning of August, we had the first inspection with footings on Sept. 12th....which means from the time that there was absolutely nothing but holes until the final deck board and railing was up was a little over 7 weeks.

Originally the project simply entailed tearing off the old deck boards and replacing them with new ones. However, once the deck boards came off, there was warped boards, no appropriately used footings, and glued ledger boards (instead of screwed in). So basically the frame was completely unusable. Ok...tear everything out. Dispose of old lumber. Draw out new plans. Discuss with city building and planning on a few occasions. I have to say....I LOVE our city building and planning people. EVERYONE that I dealt with, permit approval, inspectors, even the operator getting me to the correct person was so fast in getting back to me, or so helpful with questions I had (even if I had no idea what I was asking about) and generally had a very laid back attitude which for me was nice.

Because we had to go the route of getting a permit, we decided to wrap the deck around our 3 season porch. We had to have 14 footings. We found 5 but the previous builders were only using 2 for the deck and neither was actually doing anything other than leaning on the concrete. So we had someone else come out and dig 11 footings because we could use 3 of the ones they already had. And then the same company came back and poured the cement and put in the anchors. Then came the construction. My dad came over once a week, sometimes more as we were his designated Habitat for the Family house this quarter. Since he has retired, he has been doing Habitat for Humanity via 3M once a week in St. Paul or wherever they are working for that month. Russ had been working on the deck during the weekends whenever he could get a free minute or two. Derek and Brian came over and helped out as well.

And now we have this gorgeous, beautiful, large deck that is fully inspected and good for the life of the house, or at least as long as we are going to be there. We were planning on having a deck party but with the yucky weather coming up and the lack of time with other events going on, I think we are going to try to keep it clean and have a joint Thanksgiving/Deck party on the same day.

Thank you to my dad for making this all happen and thank you to Russ for rearranging your house project plans to help make it happen as well. It is beautiful! I am posting the deck pictures on facebook because I feel like I mess up the format of this when I post pictures. The only picture I did not take is the one of the bench that was added after the inspection today. Perhaps more benches will be built as we have a little bit left over decking material. Or maybe I can get my privacy fence after all.

The month of October

2011-10-31T19:38:00.002-05:00

I feel like a broken record when I say that I cannot believe how packed our months have become, from now until the new year. I know it isn't going to slow down at all until then, and at that point, I wish it would speed up to get through the dead of winter.

October was filled with so many things, and even things that aren't a usual annual event for us. We had two weddings, three birthdays, plus non family birthday parties and Gwen's own friend birthday party and just as it slowed down we had to get ready for Halloween. To say I did not do a very good job being a mom this Halloween would be an understatement. I had to make some priority changes and we had a deck project thrown in there to keep up with as well. So instead of going to a pumpkin patch or even carve our pumpkins this year, we made sure to get vaccinated, put new tires on the car and head over to some fall/Halloween or birthday parties depending on the child.

But let me start with the first part of the month. We went to two extended family weddings, one out of town and one in town. The kids had a blast at both and got to dance the night away. In between the two weddings was Gwen's birthday with the family. She was given princess and fairy toys, games, and clothes which she loved. She is at the point where she does not believe it is her birthday until she blows out her candle after everyone has sung to her. Of course when she had her party with her friends a week later, she then expected to be turning 5, I mean she already was 4 right????

**completely side note, I don't remember if I recorded one of her favorite explanations of rooms in our house. she is quite literal when I ask her to go to the bathroom: if I ask her to go to the bathroom before going somewhere, she tries to go upstairs because those are the two rooms that have baths in them. I have to say that she needs to go to the potty room because the bathroom on the main level only has a toilet and sink (or half bath for those of you knowledgeable enough in looking at houses). The bathroom cannot be called a bathroom unless it has a bath in it.

So she had her party with her friends and we tried to play some games, but she was not happy with the choice of musical chairs. I don't know if she assumed she should win because it was her birthday or had to win for a different reason but I had her doing something else pretty quick. The hit of the party was making their own crowns. Whoever was the buyer at Target that came up with that one got a huge bonus I hope!

The other two weekends of October involved deck work. There will be another post and pictures to follow on that when the final inspection occurs on Wednesday. So instead, the kids did not go to a pumpkin patch, or get to carve pumpkins this year. We were able to partake in a family Halloween party last night, which I think was better than any other cold walk through a corn maze. Although I am a little sensitive to the cold, so it is probably just me talking. The kids got to see a bunch of their friends in their Halloween costumes and hang around with them for a few hours.

So today, being the last day of October, and Halloween I thought I would close up the month with a post. This week is the start of the next month, Trevor's birthday month, Christmas shopping planning, and oh yeah, Thanksgiving. Already planning my black Friday strategy.....

The vacation from school

2011-10-23T21:07:00.000-05:00

Well, this week was a week that Trevor only had school on Monday and Tuesday due to the MEA teacher break. Gwen had school on Wednesday, but not Friday. So the kids had some extra time to ~~harass~~ play with each other. Towards the end of the summer, I knew it was getting to the point where they are disagreeing more than agreeing to play with each other and so when this break came up, I was going to have to plan for some activities to keep them off of the other one. Wednesday Trevor went in for his flu mist, Thursday we did a kid swap at a friends house, Friday we visited the new Disney Store at the MOA, and Saturday my mom took the kids overnight.

Through the past week, it is clear to see that both kids really have such an incredible appetite for playing around: Gwen with her dolls, singing songs, dancing, crafts like painting, coloring, gluing and has now discovered how to pump herself on the swings at school. She has been asking me a lot when we are going to Disney World. Because we are keeping it a secret from the kids, I cannot tell her that we are going, but I also don't want to discourage her from thinking we aren't going to go - because whenever she had asked throughout the past year, I had said that we will go back when she is 4. Now that she is 4 she expects to know. And she wants it to be today.

Gwen is really getting into the tween shows on Disney Channel. Anything having to do with A.N.T. Farm or the songs that the lead actress sings, she has memorized. She also has been wanting to watch Shake it Up....that show deals more with dancing though. So I guess she has a show for singing and one for dancing.

Trevor has been very interested in his Chess learnings and wanting to try to learn how to beat anyone and everyone. He has his next meeting tomorrow and I know he is hoping to move off of pawns and rooks so he can start putting more of the pieces on the board and play an entire game. But I'm not worried. He will keep coming back if he feels like he can learn more...and from what I hear there is a lot to learn. Another thing he recently discovered is a website called Brain Pop. It was a link given through the school but it requires a subscription. I didn't look at it in great detail, but they gave a free 5 day trial membership so I signed him up for it. He spent most of his time learning about the various revolutions and wars up until World War II. Which then lead him to ask about playing Risk. The trial membership expired today, and I think I'm going to have to see how much it costs to pay for the membership. I can see and hear everything that he does on the computer and I was impressed at how it kept his interest yet explained about things like the American Revolution and Spanish-American War.

This week will be all about finding ways to use their costumes. Gwen can wear hers to dance class tomorrow. Trevor's school costume party was cancelled for this year, but he has been invited to go to another location for a different kind of costume party. Gwen can also wear her costume at Sunday school next week too. I wish it was going to be as nice next Monday as it is going to be tomorrow. Unfortunately, the costumes are not exactly warm for the kids.

So we are plodding on. Today is 9 weeks until Christmas. Are we all ready for that??? So much to do, so little time!

So much to do, so little time

2011-10-15T11:04:00.001-05:00

Through the past few weeks, there has been so much going on, and so much to record but never enough time or motivation to get it all done. I know this feeling is only going to get more and more the continual feeling for the years to come, but looking at it, I often wonder why. I have a child in school M-F from 9 to 3 and another in school from 9-12 M, W, F. This is 50% more "time to myself" than last year. Last year I was even in school, taking 2-3 classes and getting everything done. So where is my new found alone time? Gone. I now clean the house, prepare the meals, do the laundry, run errands, and make sure the kids are ready and available for all their activities. Thankfully, I am not a single parent, so I do have help, but we all have additional commitments outside of our immediate family.

For the first part of October, we have had two weddings and three birthdays. Our family has had wonderful memories as a result: Gwen getting to dance her heart out, Trevor getting some yummy food. Trevor has had some sadness in knowing that his birthday is not in the immediate future, but at least he has been planning his own special day.

We also had some new activities: Trevor started chess club and Gwen started her dance lessons. I know both had a wonderful time, and I think Trevor (aw heck...who am I kidding...I was surprised how much he enjoyed it) had a different philosophy about chess club. He said he won 4 games and lost 2, which I was happy about. I knew he wasn't exactly a beginner but I wouldn't move him up to intermediate. Their lesson last Monday was on pawns and rooks. They had to play games with all pawns and see how many games they could win and then they can start adding rooks in. It sounds like a great program and we'll see how often he wants to do it.

We already had Trevor's first conferences. We were given a lot to consider, but told that he was a great fit for the type of classroom that we chose for him, which was a good thing. I had my first big event for the school and seemed to go off without a hitch. We had another monthly meeting where a decision had been made to cancel the school costume party. They will be replaced with an all-school service project that some people are very excited about. But of course there are some that are disappointed too. But the school has to do what is best seeing as how it is less than two weeks out.

I always remind myself that pretty much from the start of school to the new year is crazy busy, but that doesn't mean that our responsibilities lessen any! So until then, I'll just try to do my best and getting what needs to be done, done. In the mean time, we will make sure to do the most important things: making the wonderful memories that the kids will remember for a lifetime!

A conversation worth recording

2011-10-09T22:36:00.001-05:00

So today was the first day of Sunday School for Gwen. That meant Trevor came to church and left for the Children's Liturgy during mass. We were talking about going up for communion, and although we had already discussed it previously he asked to stay behind. I had asked him to come up with me because they will do a blessing for those not old enough to receive the communion. Facts are this: once we hit January, we will start preparing for his First Communion. I believe it is a once-a-week meeting for a few hours and then middle to end of May is when the event happens. So although he has been asking for a few years now when he gets to receive communion, I have always said when he is 8. That is how old he will be. So today, he asked me why his friend, who is already 8 hasn't had First Communion. I explained that unless he has gone through the preparation, he would not be allowed. Trevor also tried to explain that he has tried the bread before (I think he either did it as part of his Sunday School or perhaps in Vacation Bible school.) Without getting into too much detail I explained that there was a difference between the blessed bread at mass and the bread that he had tried. I knew he wasn't exactly happy with my answer because I know he is trying to find out if there is any way he can have communion, but he moved on. Next he asked me how old you have to be to have the wine at communion. I explained that when you receive you first communion, it is the whole thing, you can have both the bread and the wine. He was a bit surprised at that. But the next comment made me use every ounce of patience not to break out in laughter: "So, does that mean I get to have wine parties?" Meaning: because he was old enough to drink the wine at church, that should mean that he should be old enough to drink wine everywhere....right? Oh Trevor, I love your mind. I think he did know the answer to that one but I think the fact that he will get to try it on his first communion satisfied him for the time being.

My Sweet Gwendolyn Caroline

2011-10-03T22:03:00.000-05:00

Well, the mom made it through the big day. It was a tricky one to navigate through, what with a wedding on the weekend that was out of town and a house to get organized for another 15 people. Yes, we probably went overboard with the presents, and Trevor had a hard time dealing with the fact that it is Gwen's special day. But I did my duty and talked with him about it, and had my alone time with him on the walk back from school. He did become very proud when I let him "buy" his own gift for her, and she was genuinely so happy that he got her the only doll that she didn't have yet - Pocahontas.

This birthday was one of the only times where either Trevor or Gwen had a birthday during the week that conflicted with people who worked and this time Trevor going to school. Last year Gwen's was on a Sunday, before that a Saturday, and really, she didn't remember her Friday birthday, I would bet. Trevor's has always gotten into the Thanksgiving break during the birthdays that he would remember. I think it was good for Gwen to be able to celebrate her birthday at school and then come home and have her time to celebrate it with her family....then later on with some friends.

She is very easy to read when it comes to gifts....I guess we are all lucky in that respect. She loves all things princess and you can often find the same gift that comes in variation to each of the princesses. The look on her face when she opened all bazillion presents she got was so happy and grateful (at least that is what I'm hoping). And now we....er...I mean she has so many new toys to play with that she will enjoy them for the weeks to come before she will get more princess stuff.

She is excited to start dance next week, and then she will be in her prime. I cannot wait to see her in her new little outfit and remembering the dances she practices. Little Miss Gwen, you keep me on my toes and can always surprise me with all the little details you put into your playing. She quietly recites the lines from all the princess movies, or songs that she sings (current favorite is "SWEET CAROLINE....BUM BUM BUM....good times never seem so good...SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD" - she's getting ready for wedding number 5 this weekend!!!) and loves to play with all sizes of dolls. From the new squinky sized to the big "sister" dolls she has. She even dresses up as the princess herself and plays out the movies.

Our whole family is so blessed to have a kind, caring, generous and close-proximity family. I don't even want to imagine what it would be like to not have all of you around us. Thank you to Bubba, Papa, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Tinkerbell, Aunt Kelsey, Cousin Ethan, Uncle 'Bacca, Uncle Derek, Aunt Kyrsten, Aunt Tracy, and Aunt Amy. You all did make this the best birthday a 4 year old princess could have. We love you all!

Needs to be recorded

2011-10-02T22:49:00.003-05:00

I am behind, yet again, and I know I'm going to have to take a fast forward, before I can catch up again. Tonight is the eve of Gwen's birthday and I still have to decorate her door, an idea I got from a parent friend. Thanks Shena! Anyway, I have been thinking about the fact that I wanted to record a little quirk about Trevor that he seems to have inherited from me, but a little from Russ as well, as Russ does do some talking in his sleep.

I do know that I do, or have in the past, moved around a lot in my sleep. I do remember that my mom has said that I have walked downstairs and not remembered the event the next morning. Trevor has always had difficulty sleeping well at night. It gets bad directly before (like 1-2 days) before he gets hit with a cold. The way that it gets bad is through nightmares. If he is in the middle of a bad cold where he coughs through the night or has trouble breathing through his nose, he often wakes up uncomfortable throughout the night. So I'm often in his room trying to comfort him, giving him ibuprofin and such.

So he has woken up crying out on a few occasions, but like I said, it is usually attributed to a cold. Sometimes when he has these nightmares, he will get out of bed and come looking for me. And then not remember any of it in the morning. When he is upset, and it seems to be probably something he was dreaming about, he may or may not try to talk to me about it, and if he does - whatever he says is gibberish. I've come to understand that unless he doesn't go to sleep, whenever I see him after I say goodnight, he is sleepwalking and cannot hold a conversation, or will not remember it the next morning. I've tried to ask him to repeat what he said, but he can't even hear that. The only thing I try to do is guide him back to bed and make him as comfortable and calm as possible so he can continue to sleep without being bothered by nightmares.

One night last week I woke up shortly after I went to bed and found Trevor sleeping in Russ's spot. He had pulled his pillow pet and blanket with him but was still sleeping on Russ's pillow. I didn't have the energy to move him and figured when Russ came to bed he would move him himself. Well, an hour or so later, Gwen woke me up because she had to go to the bathroom. I quickly scooted her out so she didn't see Trevor and want to join in the family bed. Russ heard her get up and came upstairs to try to help. I told him he might as well stay in Gwen's room because Trevor was in his spot. So we both went to bed. I woke up before 7 to take a shower and Trevor was still in the same spot as earlier in the night. But when I came out of the bathroom he was gone.

Later on, Russ asked me if I knew why he was in our bed. I told him I thought it could have been a nightmare. But he hadn't been talking to me at all. I asked Trevor if he remembered having a nightmare last night and he said no, why? I asked him if he remembered why he came into my bed last night and he didn't believe me that he did. That one surprised me. I figured that he woke up from the shower and just went back to his room to change for the day. But I don't think he was fully awake when that happened either. We spent most of the next few minutes with him arguing that he never was in my bed and me promising that he was.

So that will be something to watch for the future. Hopefully he wouldn't just walk outside to sleep on the lawn or something like that. That would be pretty crazy. But I guess I will continue to check in that guy for the years to come anyway.

At some point a shift happened

2011-09-18T14:22:00.003-05:00

So yes, kids get older. Their interests change, they discover things that are new and things that they like. And I also know that a big change does happen when they get older...like teenagers. But really, since the start of school, both kids have really surprised me with their likes that have changed recently.

Trevor's change has been very nice from a homework perspective. I know some of it has to do with the ease of his reading now. Over the last part of the summer, he has really enjoyed rereading his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and even started writing in his journal part of the do-it-yourself book. So I've tried to run to the library before we head out on a longer car ride in order to get new books for the kids to enjoy in the car. I want to try to distract the kids in other ways than the movie. So for Trevor, I thought he was more interested in the series books, but nah...he'd rather do a comic strip book like Garfield. And he'll reread the books many times, which is also a bonus for me. For his class, his homework is to read at least 20 minutes every day and record how much he reads in a journal which I have to initial. His teacher then gives out a prize at the end of the month for the kid that has read the most. I haven't even had to set a timer for the 20 minutes, it ends up being close to an hour before he realizes he has been reading for a while. Now we just have to make sure to have books that remain interesting to him. Thank goodness for libraries!

Then there is Gwen. She has always loved music, and has gotten some enjoyment out of some of the songs that Russ plays. A newer show on the disney channel is called "A.N.T. Farm" it is about a gifted program for kids that are 10-11 years old that go to high school. I'm guessing that it is targeted at 10-11 year olds, but Gwen LOVES the show. She made me put a picture of the show on her "about me" poster for preschool. I've been looking on other kids and yep, the shows on PBS kids, Nickelodeon, Disney Jr...and then Gwen with A.N.T. Farm. She loves the songs that the main character sings and the title song from the show. She asks to watch any show that is on the DVR or cable box we have from the series. I guess part of the issue might be from me because I've been having the radio on Radio Disney which plays a lot of the tweener songs on it, and she knows most of the words, but oh well. She still loves her baby dolls, princess dolls, and playing dress-up so she isn't 10 years old yet!

A new routine I am still not used to

2011-09-13T21:18:00.003-05:00

Ah well, you think you are going to get more time, but nah...probably not. I do eventually think it will slow down, but honestly not until next year. I remember this feeling going from back-to-school straight into Gwen's birthday to Trevor's birthday to Christmas. I guess that's what happens when everyone's birthdays are so close together.

Anyway, we went through a few first days of school here! Trevor's was on the traditional day after Labor Day. Gwen actually had a school gathering, what they called open house for her preschool where we went and dropped off her school supplies. It was only supposed to run from 9 to 10 or you could come in the afternoon but do you think I could get her out of there? Even after I had let her go into the childcare the week prior. Nope, she was ready to spend the whole day there.

Thankfully, Trevor was SO excited to get back to school, and never mentioned one word about being sad that he wasn't going back to his old teacher's class. I think it helped that we met his new teacher and she made him feel very comfortable. The weather has been so nice that we have been walking to and from school a lot. Because his classroom is the farthest away from the front door I have also found an alternate entrance that the other bikers and walkers use for the time being.

His second day of school was a "rough day" as he put it. He has a hard time keeping his ears open if something is going on. For example he is watching tv, and I try to call to him, he wouldn't hear it. If he is reading a book, same thing. If he is playing his imagination games, nope...gone. So it didn't surprise me that he missed his class being called in from recess. By 15 minutes even. So he was told that if he did it again, he would get a pink slip (something that he is terrified to get). I guess his teacher also asked him repeatedly to focus on some classwork which he did not do. That got him another pink slip warning. So that day wasn't the best. But on Friday, he found out that for their weekly choice time, as long as they are able to go outside for recess (as in if the weather allows....no rain, or below zero temperatures/wind chills) they are able to use their Friday choice time as additional outside time. I can tell you at that moment, his school year turned around. He LOVES LOVES LOVES recess. His favorite subject in school is gym. I am pretty sure there is no way to tire him out until the clock turns 9:01pm. He is just full of energy. So that was a big score.

So immediately, I knew I had to figure out how to remedy the recess situation. Explaining to him to pay more attention would not do a bit of difference. I decided to get him a watch with an alarm on it, set to a minute before he was supposed to come inside. So far, so good. I'm not sure if we have the correct time set to come in or not. I may have to adjust it a few more minutes, but he knows to be listening or at least come closer to where they call for classes so he has yet to be late back to class since the watch.

And then Gwen has really been trying to adjust to her new schedule. She goes to preschool M, W, F from 9 to noon. It is a half hour longer per day and one extra day per week than last year. She has I think 4 more kids in her class than last year so it is a bit more to get used to. She has enjoyed seeing a lot of her friends come back and meet new ones as well. The strangest thing I think is that perhaps it is because she has a big schedule adjustment, or because she is having a growth/development spurt, but she is ALL out of sorts. She is sassing off to her friends and family (I am not certain about her preschool teachers...I hope not). And then today, she fell asleep in the car at 10:30 in the morning. Her sleeping has been out of whack. I guess I would call this period one of disorganization for her. So probably is some sort of growth thing. I hope she grows out of her choice of words soon. It worries me that she doesn't really have a whole lot of respect right now. Not to say I don't think I could remedy it by taking away her favorite things, but I just don't want it to have to come to that. Goodness....I never would have thought boys and girls would be THIS different!

And then there is my routine. I am so confused right now. I generally don't have any idea what day of the week it is because I'm thrown all off. I volunteered at school a few days this week and will continue to do so at least once a week, plus PTA responsibilities, plus wondering if I have too few or too many activities for the kids....blah...never ending. Only 20 more days until Gwen's birthday. Gotta get that started soon! Here comes the rush of days...weeks...months!

Finishing up summer vacation

2011-09-05T09:04:00.008-05:00

As per usual, I am a little behind on the posting. Over the past few weeks we have been trying to get those last few things done before knowing that school is coming, as well as cooler weather, to not be as hot doing things as used to be. I have had the chance to go to a Twins game, take Trevor on a lunch date to one of our favorite restaurants, and go out to the Science Museum. We did also get a chance to meet Trevor's new teacher last week and make sure that we are all ready to go for the start of school.

Even without all the family activities, I have been also trying to get my stuff together for all the other non-kid tasks I have going on. But really, I want to make sure the kids use their last few days of summer vacation as having fun.

My dad, brothers and I all got to go to a Twins game, and it was always fun to spend a very nice night at an outdoor ball park. AND not have to worry about keeping an eye on someone. We were two rows in front of a person who caught a foul ball, and the game score wasn't very good for the home team, but it was a wonderful event with the family.

Last Wednesday, I was able to get Gwen excited to try out her childcare again before her preschool started up again. I used that time to get a few of my work things done, but also to take Trevor to Benihana for lunch. I have to say it is SO much less expensive for lunch than it is for dinner. We have to remember that for the next time we want to eat there as a family. Trevor was at first not wanting to go because he wanted the family to be there with us. Then he was worried about how much money I was going to have to spend. So he offered to pay for us. I explained that it was my treat, and that I wanted to spend some time with him, just him and me. When we arrived and were seated at a full table, he said he was much more excited. He was worried that it was going to be just him and me at the table. He said he was going to be embarrassed. I let him get an adult order of shrimp and along with most of the table, we ordered double the shrimp sauce. We mostly talked about whatever was on Trevor's mind which, at the time, was how he was sure that this meal was going to cure his cold. He seemed to feel it working and wanted to remember all the steps that he did during the day to drive the cold away. It was a very pleasant conversation and again, one where I didn't have to keep an eye out for the kid running around.

Last Monday, Gwen, Trevor and I went with my dad to the science museum to spend the day. It was meant to be just Trevor, as Gwen is a little young for the science museum, but we made do. We started off in the body section, and Gwen accidentally found the sneezing girl. It FREAKED her out. For those of you that don't know where it is, it is a mist-blowing mechanism that is meant to explain that if someone does not cover their mouth when they sneeze, the germs can travel up to 15 feet through the air. Last time we were there, Trevor loved it. I was surprised that he didn't race right over there and that Gwen found it first. But once he found it, if we were ever in the area, he tried to become the scientist of the area, explaining and demonstrating the activity to anyone around. But then he saw the lab area. It stated it was for ages 8-13 so when Trevor really wanted to get in, the people working the area said that if an adult went with him, he could still enter. So I went with and we did the cheek cell demonstration. It worked and he saw his cells. He also got a small magnifying glass to take with him which he really likes. Gwen tried to play along but was more interested in the things outside the lab.

We headed to the 1st floor which was called the big backyard. I had no idea they had a mini golf course there. My dad decided to be scorekeeper, so the kids and I had fun just playing around. It was a nice enough day so that we even got a splash or two in the water. We came back in to eat lunch and play in the dinosaur and weather area. Finished up with the news anchor jobs and headed back home.

That afternoon we headed up to the school to visit with Trevor's new teacher. Trevor was won over the minute he found out he had a "job". If you don't know, Trevor loves to be asked or find out he can be a helper in some way. I think he sees it as a teaching-type thing, so ever since he found out that he is going to be a lunchroom helper for the first week of class, he has been saying that is why he is looking forward to going back to school.

That brings us to Labor Day weekend. We were at the lake from Thursday night through Sunday night. It is always wonderful to see and play with family. It wasn't warm enough for us to go on a boat ride, although Gwen did get her swimming in on Friday morning before a cool front came in. Trevor also decided he was going to start writing in a diary/journal. He has been reading and rereading his "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books. He has 3 reading books and one activity book and the activity book was where he started his journal. In two days he wrote and illustrated 32 pages in his book. When he finds something he likes, he really goes all out. I don't know that we are going to be able to make it to his birthday without first getting him a new journal. Although with school starting up, I'm not sure how much time he will have.

I am happy to say that I had a glass of wine to celebrate making it through the summer. I hope all you moms did too!

A few more summer activities

2011-08-26T13:25:00.003-05:00

As the summer comes to a close, I have been getting ever more steadily busy. School's starting to request forms, supplies, volunteers for activities, then always my own lists of things to do before the kids start back at school. Luckily some of those things involve not doing what kids would consider boring. Over the past two weeks, we were able to go fishing while boating in Lake Minnetonka, and I took the kids to our nearby outdoor mini golf course.

While the kids do boat in Wisconsin, Russ hasn't been able to make it out this summer due to our busy schedule. He is the fisherperson in our family so when his dad invited us on his boat, we knew we were going to be able to get fishing. Now, let me backtrack for a little bit. Trevor has been enjoying a PBS kids show called "Wild Kratts" which is mostly about a two brothers that turn cartoon and are able to experience what it is like to be animals living in the wild. One such show was about small and large mouth bass. Before and after the cartoon part of the show, they will talk about an animal and explain how even kids can make a difference. So when they talked about the bass, they talked about how when fishing, they never use live bait. And whenever they catch a fish, it is on a catch and release mentality.

So while we were driving out to the lake, Russ stopped at a bait shop. Trevor went in with Russ and came out talking about how even though Russ bought a bag full of live minnows, as well as small canister of worms, he was going to use the fake bait. I think that while we were continuing to drive to the lake, Trevor was talking about how the minnows needed to be free. Which is why Russ made it clear to him that although he didn't have to use the live minnows, he was not to let them go free. Well, it seems Trevor had other ideas. As soon as we were at the boat dock, Trevor, Russ, and Gwen were on the boat and Russ had to come back to lock the van. As I was walking up to the boat, Trevor had a slight smirk on his face, and Russ was very unhappy. Can you guess what happened? Yep, Trevor had opened the minnow bag, and dumped them over the side of the boat while Russ had been walking the keys back to the car. And nope, he didn't have any remorse. He was so happy to say they were free. I couldn't help but chuckle, while my back was to Trevor of course. While there were still worms to use, Trevor refused and just used the fake bait. He caught 5 or so fish off of the docks, then another 3 or 4 off of the boat, all using fake bait. Russ tried to use the worms, but then switched to the fake bait. I'm not sure what was on Gwen's line, but I also know that she put the line in the water caught and reeled in her own fish off of a dock that same day. We were all very successful. And by all, I mean those fishing. I am not exactly up for that type of excitement.

The other day, I found a morning where the kids and I could run out to the nearby mini golf course. It was a beautiful morning, and no one was there right when it opened. So we could take our time and not feel rushed. It is amazing how not feeling stressed, pressured, rushed or anything can make for a wonderful time. Trevor enjoyed keeping score and he and I actually tied exactly. So while he didn't win, I think he was ok that we tied as well. Of course at the end, both kids were amazed at how the last hole collected the balls. So after our round of golf I took the kids to our neighborhood ice cream shop called Scoops. Trevor had been to the ice cream place when he was at the parks program. This year, he missed the one trip they made. Strange thing though - he actually had a choice between blue moon and superman and he chose superman. I had a yummy pineapple coconut flavor and Gwen had her chocolate shake.

So we have one week left to the start of school. We have a few more things to do before school starts and then we'll see what our schedule changes to be. I have hopes of having more free time but something tells me I might be wrong in that thought.

Gwen's luck

2011-08-12T10:58:00.003-05:00

I guess it really isn't luck. She may simply be going through a growth spurt or something when she becomes a bit more uncoordinated and falls down a lot. She is the girl that has fallen down the starts, fallen off of a high swinging swing, fallen off of a playground flat onto her stomach, and then gotten the cuts and bruises from skinned knees and ankles and such. So this past week with it being a bit more stressful than normal, yep she was at her finest. Thankfully nothing ever is a huge deal, but I always feel so bad for her. On Friday before the wedding, she was outside without any shoes on. I asked her twice to put her shoes on because with the hot asphalt and cement I knew it would be trouble with her. Well, she forgot to step up onto a landing and skinned her ankles pretty good. Right where her crocs hit her ankles and she would hate to have a bandaid on her feet. She was already needing a rest time, so this just compounded the fact.

The wedding went off for her without any crashes or scrapes thankfully although she was tired throughout the day, which I expected. She also went to my parents house that night and came back the next day without any incidents. Sunday night, she woke up once complaining that her ear hurt. I gave her some tylenol and she went down for the rest of the night. I asked her about it again in the morning and she said she was fine. She hadn't had a cold or runny nose so I didn't think it was an ear infection. She has had a few of those. So then the next day, she didn't sleep for longer than 30 minutes before she was complaining about her ear again. So I explained to her that the doctor was just going to check her ear and no shots (because that is what she is afraid of now) and possibly get some medicine. Again, no pain in the morning, eating fine, no runny nose so I was pretty confused. We saw the doctor and I explained the situation to him. He looked in her ear and explained that he thought it was swimmers ear but that she had a big buildup of wax that they needed to remove, otherwise the medication would not work.

In order to remove the wax, they had to flush it out with water. Because she had swimmers ear, it was extremely painful for her. So yeah, she was screaming, I couldn't even watch, just tried to console her as best I could. They flushed a syringe full at least 6-8 times and when the doctor looked again, it hadn't done much. So he had to remove it with a tweezers. That also was painful but at least it was quicker. Then they had to put a small sponge in her ear to keep the medicine close to the eardrum. The poor girl was so scared but understood that we were trying to make her better so she was apologizing and thanking the doctor for everything that was going on. He said she was melting his heart and now that everything is all over, they decided to give her a prize out of their prize box. So I took her home after that and she fell asleep in the car.

We've since had the sponge removed and need to keep doing the medicine drops for the rest of the week but pain seems to be much much better. The nearest we all can figure out happened is all the swimming she loves to do in the lake when we were there two weeks ago. She hasn't swam in a pool since then, only her usual dunks in the bathtub. So we are just hanging out until we get the all-clear. Hopefully she gets through her terrible spills and becomes a graceful girl.

A big wedding

2011-08-08T21:49:00.015-05:00

So our entire family was in a wedding this past weekend. The summer has been focused on events leading up to the big day and we took part in as many as possible. I'm pretty sure my mom friends thought I was being my neurotic self trying to make sure the weekend went as smooth as possible. I guess I sort of forgot to include my husband in some of the planning that went on. Sorry honey!

I believe I will have some pictures to add to some of the notes in this blog, but for now I will simply run through what I remember and how we took part.

First off, the kids had vacation bible school at their church for the week. I had told everyone that was involved that we would not be able to attend on the last day, or the singing in church the following Sunday due to the wedding. We were all very excited and although Gwen didn't really understand, she enjoyed counting down the days and me having her and Trevor practice their "walking down the aisle" together.

So on Thursday, I was making my lists...things to bring out to the rehearsal, things to bring the day of the wedding, things to bring for the overnight at my parents house....it was a lot to remember! I'm glad I like lists! Russ got in on Thursday night without a hitch, thank goodness. The boys were off right away on Friday morning to go golfing. The girls got to sleep in a little bit to go meet for lunch, followed by getting their nails done. Gwen has been sleeping past 8am and I knew that she also doesn't like to eat breakfast right away in the morning. So for both days, I packed some fruit in a cooler with her water, some cheese-its, and cheese sticks for in case she was hungry at various times. Yep....we tried to feed her "lunch" of her usual chicken and fries but she wasn't hungry. Or only hungry enough to be hungry again in the car ride on the way to get our nails done. When we went into the nail salon she quickly found the kid pedicure seat and played around in it. She is ok if you want to paint her nails, but cutting them or picking at them freaks her out. She came over and sat with Kyrsten and I while our pedicures were being done, and she made sure to tell me that she didn't want them picking at her toes like they were doing to mine.

So when it was her turn, I asked them to do a modified manicure and pedicure. Gwen did have to stop the woman from using the clippers (I think there was a small language barrier) but she got the pink and even got a little design on both her two fingers and two toes. All us ladies got a pedicure and manicure for the wedding. I was happy that Gwen was pacified until we were done. Either watching us or getting her nails done.

We then had to run back to the mall to pick up a few missing pieces of Trevor's tux. While I know Russ could have picked them up Saturday morning, I didn't want to add to his to-do list because we were getting up early on Saturday and they got to sleep in. Gwen was still pumped up to get onto the next thing, so she stayed awake through both car rides to Kyrsten's house. We headed over to the church for the rehearsal shortly. We had a pretty clean practice where Gwen and Trevor did their practicing with their practice pieces....fabric petals and no rings on the pillow.

Then we headed off to the rehearsal dinner. So, this happened to be at the same place the guys played golf at, and Trevor was at the point where if he thinks he knows where he is, he should have complete run of the place. That, or he simply is going through a phase. He didn't have any interest in eating, or hanging around the inside. He wanted to be outside with some boys, putting or whatever else they could do not around parents. Yikes. Gwen found a few girls her age and loved to show her dolls around and play with them. I could not believe how well Gwen handled herself. Even in comparison to Trevor.....NOT that a parent should compare kids, because every kid is different and unique :-) But COME ON!!! Anyway...I digress. The food was wonderful, the conversation was great, the toasts were awesome! I knew I had to bring the kids home early because the next day was going to be full. I was proud that I kept both kids awake all the way home because I knew Gwen needed a shower before she went to bed. As I gave Gwen a shower, Trevor fell asleep on his bed.

That leads me to the day of the wedding. I didn't even get to talk to Russ much because he stayed behind to chat with the relatives, and there were things I needed to explain and write out for him to do. Namely, because the kids were going home with my parents the night of the wedding, he needed to grab Trevor's pillow (sleeping, not ring bearing). So I explained how the morning was going to go, and wrote down a to-do list for when they woke up. I was up before 7 and I had to wake Gwen up around 7. She wasn't too happy with me, but warmed up to the idea that this was the big day for her! I again packed a cooler full of snacks and water for her, and headed out. We met Kyrsten and Libby at the hotel so that I could leave a car there for Sunday morning. We then were driven to the hair and makeup salon to get our hair done. Again, Gwen was pacified by watching all that was going on and sat still for 95% of her hair getting done as well. I helped a little because I waited to get my make-up done for most of the time her hair was getting done. She also had a bit of play dough from her gift bag from the night before. After hair and make-up was done, we had a little breakfast and headed over to the church to get ready.

We hung around the church, took some pictures, eventually met up with the guys because they had some more food, and waited for the ceremony to start. Pictures were a little tough on Gwen as I think by 12:30 she was already starting to fade. I know they got a handful of pictures but after the first set, she really needed prodding to even step into the pictures.

The ceremony was at 2:00 and the kids did great. Gwen had a little difficulty with the aisle runner, but she didn't show it on her face. Trevor tried his best to look all serious with his "job" of having the real rings and presenting them to the priest.

We all got to blow bubbles to present the couple into their horse and carriage ride. Then there were more pictures. The wedding party got to ride in the limo to more pictures. Gwen and Trevor too. After these pictures, I sent the kids with grandma to hopefully have Gwen take a nap in the car. From what I understand, she did take a nap. Unfortunately, she woke up disoriented and having to go to the bathroom. After some quick thinking by Lee, she got all situated and was ready for the rest of the evening. As soon as dinner was served Trevor was off like a bolt of lightning with some of the family he knew but were helping him get out of his rules that we had set for him. Trevor being Trevor.... We told him that unless he asked either his dad or I to go out, he could not. So he said he asked Grandpa. He was telling everyone that he was going to breakdance, and that he was a really good dancer. Didn't last more than 5 minutes on the dance floor before wanting to go outside again.

It was a lot of fun for everyone involved. The happy couple is now off on their honeymoon and we are the lucky family that gets to watch their kitten while they are gone. If anyone has gotten this far in their reading, I also wanted to thank Derek and Kyrsten for making us a part of their special day and their special events. I know Trevor will remember it for many years, and Gwen has found some new favorites....favorite hairstyle, favorite nail activities....favorite flowers....it was a wonderful time for us all. Thank you!

Beautiful weekend

2011-08-04T15:32:00.005-05:00

Thinking back, I cannot remember the last time where we went to the lake and had a perfect weather weekend. Well, Russ was going to be out of town last weekend, so after the kids' golf banquet, we drove to the lake. Right away we put on our suits, rode up the creek and jumped off the boat. That is quick becoming a tradition with the kids and I. The creek is usually much warmer than the lake because the water is more stationary and absorbs the heat of the sun faster because it is shallow compared to the lake. After a little over an hour of this, we went back to the cabin to have our dinner at the Stone's Throw. Yum. We got to eat on their porch. Heaven. We grabbed some ice cream at the camp grounds. They actually had a brownie treat that I could buy for Gwen because unless it is DQ chocolate soft serve, she doesn't care for ice cream. So when I just asked for the brownie, they gave it to me in a wrapper. Gwen ate most of it after having a pretty filling dinner. Trevor got his favorite - Blue Moon.

We got back and hung out before heading to bed. Gwen had taken a nap in the car because Friday morning was pretty early for the kids. We had to be out of the house by 7:45 for golf. But when Gwen naps, she doesn't go to bed much before 11pm. So after that night, I was rushing to get back into the water. Gwen was game as soon as I was, and Trevor wanted to play baseball. After a while, with the bugs and the heat, he too came down to the lake. Gwen rotated between swimming and playing in the sand. Although there isn't much sand on the beach, she still was able to shovel wet sand into the bucket and dump it out.

We came back from lunch and Gwen and I hit the water again. This time I was on a raft. I was determined to get a strapless tan for the wedding this weekend. There were plenty of waves so I took an anchor and tied myself to it. Gwen jumped off, or rolled off more accurately, to both sides of the raft. Somewhere around 3pm my dad, Brian, Kelly, and I all rode up to the Tiki Bar to have our yummy VooDoo drinks. We were back around 5, or maybe 5:30? And then my dad took both kids back up the creek. It didn't take them more than two seconds to decide. My mom threw some burgers and hot dogs on the grill and had a yummy dinner ready when the kids got back. I heard they got to touch the bridge, were good listeners, and got to go really fast for a bit. Gwen was screaming in glee, Trevor was screaming in terror. I guess that's why he won't go tubing, he doesn't like the extreme speed unless he has some sort of seat belt or similar safety device on. He loves rollercoasters and going fast, but I guess the thought of flying out is too much for him to enjoy a fast boat ride.

The kids enjoyed a movie and crashed pretty early that night. Mom and I went to the casino and both of us came back even money. Sunday, we woke up and went swimming one more time, ate some lunch and headed home. I think the temperature all three days was somewhere in the mid 80's. On Saturday I didn't get hot enough to jump into the lake. It was pretty windy which cut down on the humidity. But for me, it was perfect. Lots of sun. Lots of swimming for the kids. It is how the lake weekends should be. We definitely missed Russ, but hope to have many more of these trips with him in the future.

Trevor's 2nds

2011-07-31T21:47:00.004-05:00

Well, Trevor has added to his trophy collection and now we have used a trophy display that was given to him for his birthday last year. This actually came about more because one of Gwen's bed rails broke off of her bed and has now made to move her bed so the railing can be used again. When Trevor saw how "cool" Gwen's room had become because she was now sleeping directly under her calendar, he wanted his room changed around as well.

So now Trevor's room has been rearranged as well. His one request was that his bed was also under his calendar. His room now has a large space in the middle, all ready for his sleepovers, so I don't have to keep moving the bed around to make room for the air mattress. I saw that we had still not found a good place, other than the floor, for his trophy display. And now that his room was rearranged, I asked him where he would like it. We found a place, asked my dad to help hang it up, and immediately his 2nd place trophy from baseball went onto it, along with his accumulated golf and talent show trophies.

I would say this year's baseball was a great success. The team ended the season 2nd place in their bracket, although their bracket had the upper 4 teams removed and playing in their own bracket. And I know all the kids, and coaches wanted to win that 1st place game, but it wasn't meant to be that day. I think slowly Trevor is beginning to understand that 2nd place is still ok. Given the fact that not every team made it to the weekend, and not every team got a trophy. The trophy that they got was very nice. He loves to show it off to anyone, even the people that were there to watch him get it, because now he can talk about his growing trophy display.

Last Friday both Trevor and Gwen finished off their golf lessons with their own Junior Tournament. Trevor again took 2nd place in his 5 hole league and again was upset by not taking first, but it seems that 2nd is really in the cards for him this year. Add to these two 2nd places, the fact that he is going into 2nd grade this year, and it may have helped him start to graciously accept not coming in 1st place. He is still very competitive but really has had some good experiences with teammates watching to observe how they react to the news. As parents, we are trying to be supportive and happy at Trevor as long as he is a good sport and tries his best.

Congratulations Trevor on a great baseball and golf season. May you continue to enjoy the sports and have wonderful experiences in the years to come.

First boatride of the season, birthday, wedding #2

2011-07-24T21:35:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the lack of effort on trying to get some of these in, but hopefully I'll get through them while giving them their due, or is that do? I don't really know. We were up at the lake on my dad (Papa's) birthday as our first boat ride of the season. The weather had been very warm previously so the lake water was a nice 81 degrees. Everyone except my mom took a jump in the lake, but Trevor was nice enough to splash Bubba so she at least got a taste of the water.

I'm pretty sure the fact that you cannot see your feet or the bottom of the lake confused Gwen a little bit just like it does Trevor. We put her "life jacket" on that she will jump into a pool with, but she wasn't happy to jump into the lake with. I had to catch her the first few times, but after almost losing my contact I had her do it on her own. Really though it was just sitting on the ledge of the boat and sliding in. Trevor was good after the first jump and never did his traditional cannon ball, but maybe that was reserved for the next trip.

So the kids got to take part in their favorite activity with Papa, which is blowing out the candles and opening the cards/birthday presents. I really hope the birthday honorees are ok with how they throw themselves on them and "help" them for these activities. I still have to remind both kids that when they are at their friends' birthday parties, it isn't like our family that lets them blow out their candles and open their presents. It is their time. But thanks to our family for letting them take part!

Anyway, Kevin, Kelsey and Ethan arrived on Friday night and while it rained Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, the kids did get in a little bit of swimming Friday morning and Saturday afternoon before we had to head off.

It was on to wedding number 2 of the year for us which was actually Russ's family friend which I can now affectionately call one of my pseudo-psisters.

We all were invited to the reception but unfortunately Russ was not able to attend because the golf tournament was all out of whack because of the rain the day before. I think it was perfect for the kids because Gwen's favorite part was the dancing and Trevor got to hang out with Derek and Michael, Kyrsten's brother. I didn't have to keep bothering them to sit still, and act polite because they had both had a good nap in the car ride back and made it all the way until 10:30 before coming back home for the night. Tracy was asked to sing before the dance part of the reception and did a wonderful job. Then she danced the night away with the kids there even if she had never met them before. I think everyone had a great night.

So then we get up the next day to run up for a fun shower on Sunday afternoon. It was a pretty packed week! But it was great to be with everyone and say hi and have the kids have as fun of a time as they did.

Next up: baseball weekend!

Atlantic City and the Pseudo-Psisters

2011-07-19T14:49:00.003-05:00

Eventually, we will have some pictures to post on facebook, but I think we are a ways off because of how crazy-busy life has become for the next month or so. And I'm not talking about me! I was lucky enough to get to go on a trip out to Atlantic City, NJ with three lovely ladies, two of which were classified as brides, a "moh" and a bridesmaid (me). The schedule was put on mostly by moh, and a quick snapshot is as follows:

We left on a flight Thursday evening flying direct to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the plane was over an hour late because of a weight imbalance with the luggage. Uh...ok. Nice job with that one. We arrived and went out to rent the car to drive around an hour into Atlantic City. Although it was almost 2am by the time we checked into the hotel, it was a great view of the city all lit up. I'm not sure if anyone in our group had ever been to Vegas before, as I know I have not, so I'm guessing it is a similar sight to driving into Vegas with the lights everywhere.

We checked into our hotel and talked to a very nice check-in guy who helped us by telling us about some local facts. We were near the edge of the shady sort of town, but there were plenty of ways around. He explained that the bar at the hotel closed at midnight. There was a great diner less than a block away. A wonderful seafood restaurant across the street. How to quickly find our way to the boardwalk, and also a menu for a pizza place that delivered late.

So we all went up to our room and crashed for the night. How sweet is it that we got to sleep in until 10:30 before rolling out of bed? It is an extreme luxury for me! We slowly meandered over to the recommended diner and found that they served breakfast throughout the day as well as other foods for a very cheap price. After getting some food, we wanted to check out the boardwalk. We saw the beach, and although it had a funky odor, it was interesting that there were plenty of people swimming and lifeguards every block or so on the beach. There was also a lot of construction. Although the weather forecast was a bit scary coming into town, we didn't see rain during the day on Friday. It was pretty humid but in the mid-80s was pretty tolerable to me. Our first stop was at the House of Blues restaurant to grab a drink right on the boardwalk tables. We said our cheers and then decided to check out some of the casinos. We were happy to find $1 blackjack seats for everyone and the dealer and one other player were very kind to us. No one lost a ton of money, but no one was ahead a lot either, if I am remembering correctly.

I believe it was at the casino where we were told to check out the beach bar back where we started. So we did. It was very nice as how many places have a bar right on a beach complete with dancing? It was early enough in the afternoon so that it wasn't completely packed so we grabbed a table near the dance floor and before we left some people at the bar remarked that they picked up the front row of tables to make more room for later in the evening. They said they had a huge crowd at night. We left after a couple hours but it sure was nice to sit in the sun with drinks and hoppin' music!

We went back to the hotel to grab some drinks at the bar with an order at the pizza place. We all were ready to go out for the evening so we grabbed a taxi to the Tropicana Quarter which is the Tropicana as a casino attached to a little mall that included shops, a few nightclubs and a karaoke bar. That is where we spent the evening on our way out, in the cab, was the only time during our trip where there was rain. And it was HARD rain. I wonder how the beach bar did that night?

We got back early the next morning and slept late again. Some of us headed out around noon to get breakfast from the cheapo diner and then moh and I headed out to the boardwalk for more casinoing. I stink again. We did the $1 blackjack and I won some of my money back after being down $40 but I still enjoyed being there.

We met the rest of our crew after we walked around a bit and sat at the other beach bar. For a late lunch, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then for the evening we hung out at the casino. Pink bride won over $170 in slots that evening! The rest of us didn't get our money back. So for our closing number, we went to the delicious seafood restaurant across the street from the hotel. Yum Yum.

Unfortunately, we had to wake up at 3am to catch our flight back to Minnesota. We had to get back to Philly and arrived in Minnesota shortly after 8am. I had a nap and just kept on going. Russ had to leave that evening for his trip to Tennessee.

Overall, it was a spectacular trip. Except for the flight delay on the way out, it was wonderful! And us pseudo-psisters are going to have to plan next years trip, perhaps to Chicago? Not likely that we will get to go out on free airfare again. Thanks to everyone for making it such a wonderful event!

July is over before I know it

2011-07-14T08:16:00.006-05:00

So with all going on this month, I knew it was going to get away from me. We have already been through the 4th of July, another weekend, and are at the lake for the first chance to be on the lake all year. Too bad the weather was horrible or we had scheduling conflicts until now to be able to get out here.

So short and sweet, our 4th of July was mostly spent at home getting caught up with yardwork, housework, and some "office" work. With the weather finally getting hot, we have been able to be out in the backyard but have found out that all our blow-up toys have holes in them. I'll have to run back and see if I can get some more cheapo things because Gwen can stay outside for a good chunk of time if she has some water to play with.

We did spend a day out at a local winery. It was a beautiful day, and although the drive out and back was a little long, we were able to visit with the great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and owners of the winery. This is the business that I currently do some part-time bookkeeping for, so it was nice to be able to put all my thoughts as real sights.

Trevor had the week of the 4th off from his parks program and he used it to heal from his ankle injury as well as getting better from a summer cold. Prior to the 4th, we had went out to the Mall of America and both kids went on as many rides as they could go on during the afternoon. My cousin and her family were in town and the kids enjoyed having someone to ride on rides with. Gwen was ready to go on any ride that she was tall enough for, and Trevor actually found a ride he is too tall for, so he would go on the crazy-wild Rollercoaster while the little kids went on their bumper cars.

So we have some time at the lake this week, a wedding, a shower, and then the end of the year baseball tournament for Trevor. It is going to be a fast flying month!

First wedding of the season

2011-06-26T11:07:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending one of my cousin's wedding. It was the first wedding in the cousin group that we all had attended as a family of 4, not including my brother's wedding (because he is not my cousin ;-) ). I think everyone had a good time, and I know our family had a great time. The kids got to play around with some kids their age and Trevor tried to hang out with two older women.

At the wedding ceremony, Gwen was very interested to see the flower girl and what she did. Just like the wedding she will be in in a few weeks, the flower girl was dropping petals out of a basket. The ring bearer was my cousin's son which she also knew, so she was always waving to whomever was coming down the aisle and saying hi to them.

It was a bit tricky to keep the kids from not running around up until the dance started, but once that did, it was a chance for the kids to really let loose. Gwen even got permission to teach the group her dance recital piece to "R-O-C-K in the USA". While I did not get any pictures of the occasion, I saw the wedding photographers snap a few so there will be some documentation of the event.

There were two events where each kid lost it once. One I could have predicted since it was the end of the night, and Trevor, not exactly being a night owl, crashes pretty fast after the 9 o'clock hour. During most of the night of dancing, Trevor was playing a chasing game with the older girls, and they would hide out in the girls bathroom. Well, shortly after 9:30, Trevor started crying because he thought the girls didn't like him, or were being mean (which I know they were not, like I said, Trevor was beyond tired at this point).

Gwen's was a bit of a surprise. She was dancing to the "Single Ladies" Beyonce song and then they did the bouquet toss. We had not said anything about a bouquet toss, so she had no idea what it was about. But she stood in the area where they were throwing the flowers and she saw the lady next to her get the flowers. I think she then realized that they weren't going to do it again and she didn't get the pretty flowers. And then she lost it. Dad saved the day by giving her what looked like a bouquet from a centerpiece of small wildflowers. She felt much better after that and made a full recovery.

In the morning, for Father's Day, the kids got to play in the hotel pool for a good 2 hours before heading out on the road home. It was a decent ride home and one where Russ got a surprise gift from his mom and sister who helped remove the remainder of the dirt to the dumpster for us. It was a very nice weekend for all!

Wow...what a week for Trevor

2011-06-24T14:11:00.004-05:00

Granted, the week isn't over, and I'm veering off of my course of trying to recount the past few weeks and fast forwarding to this week. I will try to get back to things soon. I'm feeling like I'm finally getting close to getting caught up. If anyone follows my train of thought.

Anyway, this should have been an AWESOME week for Trevor. It was his first week back at the parks for the summer. Capped off tonight with a sleepover. Thankfully the sleepover is still on, but a lot has happened this last week: I think it may have something to do with a development or growth spurt. As I have learned, things can become a bit disorganized with Trevor during these times. In the past school year, he had two weeks (non-consecutive) where he seemed to be completely out of sorts. It was the only time of the year where he even seemed to approach bad behavior.

So this week thankfully didn't have any bad behavior associated with it, simply lots of injuries. Now that I think about it, I wonder which is worse. At least bad behavior can be dealt with immediately, whereas injuries take time to heal.

On Monday night we found some scrapes that looked more like burns (not that I think they are burns, but they look more like a rubbing scrape, ya know?) on his back. He had been complaining that he felt like his back was sunburned but I explained it wasn't possible unless he took his shirt off at the park, which he said he didn't do.

On Tuesday, Trevor asked to wear his crocs to the park, and while I explained that it was his choice it may not be easy to move around in them. Well, Tuesday night he said he wasn't going to be wearing his crocs anymore because the inside button scraped his foot. Eh, not that big of a deal.

On Wednesday, he had his field trip to the roller skating rink. I'm not sure if he doesn't know his shoe size or if the skates weren't tight enough on him but he came home with big scrapes where the sides of the skates rubbed against his legs.

So on Thursday, we were at Grandma's house, and Trevor came over after the parks to jump on the trampoline. Not more than 10 minutes later, he had landed on his foot wrong and rolled his ankle. Thankfully, I happened to see exactly what happened, and it sure looked like it hurt, but I don't think it is broken. We have since iced, adviled, and elevated the ankle as much as possible. When I went to take off his sock after he twisted it, I noticed that the had an infected toe, probably from a blister. Poor kid! The infection has been soaked and bandaged as well as aired out for most of the day today. So hopefully he is on the mend now. He was not able to go to golf today and he was not happy. He has been able to hobble on it which is more than he was willing to do yesterday, although we might have scared him to even try to walk on it. Another lucky thing is that we did have Dr. Kyrsten take a look at all his ailments and while he didn't let her touch much of his foot, she can take another look at it tomorrow and make sure he shouldn't be taken in.

Ah the joys of having such an active kid. Hopefully next week will be better. And hopefully his growth spurt/development spurt is done soon.

Medals and Trophies

2011-06-22T21:33:00.006-05:00

Trying to catch up here....this is from way back at the end of May and beginning of June. At the end of May, before Gwen's dance recital dress rehearsal, they had their final practice. I had seen a sign-up for parents that wanted to get their kids a trophy for being in dance 3 or 5 years, or maybe even 5 or 7 years, I cannot remember. Obviously I knew we didn't qualify and neither did any of the kids in her class. But on her last class I was pleasantly surprised to find out their teacher was handing out one of these to each classmate. While this picture was not taken when she got the medal, you can tell how happy she was to get it. We have kept all of Trevor's medals on a handle in the play area, so she has seen and even worn them as necklaces for a good amount of time. She was so excited to have one of her own, AND it is different than any of Trevor's. So she has started her own collection and will probably unknowingly be adding to the collection in July or August during her first experience with T-ball which starts in a few weeks. It will be interesting to see how she does with T-ball as she has been wanting to be just like Trevor when he has his baseball games. However, when she plays indoors, she often doesn't quite get the concept of running bases. Perhaps that will be the first thing she has to learn.

Now Trevor does not seem to care a whole lot about medals, perhaps because he has always had a lot of them from being in youth sports since he age of 3. I don't think he dislikes getting them, but he does have a special spot in his heart for this trophy that he got for performing at the talent show the last week of school. I believe this is his 5th trophy and he knows he will be getting his 6th after he completes his golf lessons at the end of July. It could be perhaps that it is due to professional athlete games and their trophy's, but whatever the reason, when he found out he was getting a trophy, he was overjoyed. I MAY have known about him getting a trophy before he performed, but I didn't let him know about it. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for him. You can bet that the idea of getting another trophy is and always will be a motivating factor for him doing any event. That does mean you will see more of Trevor in the golf world, hockey world, and talent shows to come!

Last day of school

2011-06-11T07:58:00.003-05:00

Again, out of order, but this was one I wanted to make sure I got all the details about:

Gwen's last day of preschool was the Thursday before Memorial Day, so she has been out a few weeks now. We have had her go back to the childcare side of preschool, which she identifies as another class, simply with another teacher. She does get that she won't see her usual teacher until September, but I think she enjoys being able to play at preschool with some of her classmates that are also in childcare at that time. I am prepared to bring her back for some random days during the summer if she asks, or maybe if it works out that I have something else going on, but otherwise she has a few weeks of activities, and mostly trying to enjoy the summer.

Trevor, has been a jumble of emotions this year. Because he was a first grader in a multi-age class, most of the year he had been told that he would be continuing in the same class as a second grader, and older helper in the class. His teacher also had her first baby the beginning of April so the class transitioned to a different teacher at that time for the rest of the year. Then we found out that Trevor was accepted into a gifted and talented class next year which will put him into a different class for second grade, not the same class he had originally planned on. So throughout all these changes, he has become a bit upset. For a seven-year-old, it is a lot to handle. He has had a great year, full of growth, blossoming, and yes: change. Thankfully, we do have the entire summer to talk about how he feels about the upcoming change, and he isn't changing schools, simply classrooms so he does get to see his teacher and class from time-to-time.

I have been trying to express my excitement at the end of school, and of being a first grader, but it seems as though Trevor has more apprehension, without the thought of which class he will be in for second grade. When I asked him why he wasn't excited to become a second grader, he said, "But mom, when I am going to second grade, that is a year closer to when I have to move out of the house. I'm going to be so sad when that happens." Oh Trevor, I've been known to be forward looking, but wow...10 years? Poor guy, I never would have thought that the possibility of moving out of the house at 18 was so troubling to a 7 year old.

Trevor also got his report card and yearbook yesterday as well. No surprises on his report card. Trevor knew what to look for, and he was satisfied with his "grades" as we were. He did increase his grade in music, as I thought he would due to his piano lessons. His teacher remarked on his report card as well as his yearbook how she thought he had great leadership potential. I am still surprised at the impression that Trevor continues to make on the adults he encounters. It does not come without challenges, but it is fun to watch his personality come out and grow in a school setting. We just need to control it to the point of using it for the good of the school and not be influenced by the dark side.

Congratulations Trevor, on a successful school year, and I can't wait to see what is next in store for you as a second grader.

Kicking off our summer cabin season

2011-06-10T19:07:00.003-05:00

I know most cabins in the area are open around Memorial Day, but ours always kicks off for Kentucky Derby. It is the first weekend in May and my mom's family has been doing some kind of gathering for over 15 years, although it would be longer if it wasn't considered as organized as it is today. I think the story goes that my mom remembers her dad really interested in the race for a long time. Strangely enough we aren't a race-track gambling sort of family. We love our card games, trivia games, and dominoes as well as casino games, but horse racing with the exception of the Kentucky Derby isn't something we are interested in. However, every year, it is a party date for us. We have a book that my mom has kept of all the pictures she has kept throughout the years. Most years, we noted the winner, as we draw horses in a oldest-to-youngest fashion. It is completely random as to which horse you get, but strangely enough, a lot of the people in attendance are multiple winners.

We haven't kept detailed enough records to know how we did the drawings from year-to-year. Usually there are around 20 horses to be drawn. It had been a good part of the years before the grandkids could get in on the game. So I think there were some years where we had an adult winner and a grandkid winner. Sometimes we had a "win-place-show" year so more people could win, but eventually the grandkids and the adults got to partake in the game. A few years we had to draw two fields of horses to accommodate all the people, and because of that there had been one winner that drew the winning horse twice.

Such was the case this year. Also, this was the first year that a great-grandchild has made it to the winner circle. Unfortunately, there was some heartache involved, but plenty of sympathetic ears. Trevor had a horse that was in the front pack at the beginning of the race. So he was VERY excited. Unfortunately, as is the case many years, the front horses got tired and fell to the back. Trevor was very upset. I don't think it helped that his sister won either. However, we have a list of people that have not yet won a Kentucky Derby, my mom....myself...my brother....my uncle....So while Trevor wasn't really happy to have lost, at least he had some consolation for those of us that haven't won yet, in many more years than he has been alive. Maybe next year bud!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-06-09T21:12:00.005-05:00

I am incredibly behind. I have a boatload of pictures to upload from the past month and many more stories to tell, so I may have many short snip its when I can remember throughout any given day. So here I start: Mother's Day fell on Kentucky Derby weekend, so actually I may have a post about that later, but I came across this scanned picture the other day and I had to write about it before I forgot the surrounding events. This paper was what I found at Gwen's preschool along with her classmates answers about their mom's. It is pretty cute how the perspective is at their age. I saw ages of parents from "really old" to 10 to 100 years. I especially loved the best thing about me.

So I let Trevor look at it, and he was able to correct a few things. He knows his weight to be 63lbs. So he thought based on that, I was 75lbs. Thanks Trevor! He corrected that my favorite food is Shrimp Tagliolini from Ciao Bella (which has been gone for about a year now....so sad) and that I like to be in the sun when it is 80 degrees. I give Gwen a lot of credit that she pays attention to all the answers that I have given to these questions. Maybe I should ask her the same thing for Trevor...what would she say is the best thing about him?

A pillar of strength

2011-06-04T09:30:00.005-05:00

Because of my mom's family, where she came from a family of 5 other sisters and one brother, we were able to have big family gatherings. Thanksgiving primarily was our big event. We (and I in particular) had just been reminiscing a lot lately about all the things my group of cousins and I did during that time. I think a big memory for a lot of us was the haunted house we would make in the basement. I guess we caused a lot of nightmares and even some fears of movies like E.T. that have lasted into adulthood. Sorry about that!

One family in particular was very close with our family. Strangely enough, growing up the two sisters did not get along well. However, since having kids, my mom and her sister have spent a lot of family vacations with us. So again, there are a lot of family memories with my cousin that due to the fact that we are still vacationing in the same spot, it is very easy to reminisce about those fun times. We went on boat rides, we went rollerskating, and played at the beach and in the lake. I remember being typical teenagers or maybe pre-teens where we would giggle and laugh about what our future would bring us. Who we would marry, where we would live, how many kids we would have. Now we are in that time in our lives, and it is fun to be able to share with each other our continued lives. Really, other than my parents and siblings, there isn't anyone else I can share these similar memories with.

Unfortunately, an event has occurred during the past week which has deeply shaken our lives for the continued future. Thursday was supposed to have been the birth of another cousin-once-removed for our family. Baby Lucy's due date was May 25th, and the day previous brought a very normal day, complete with a heart beat monitoring of 150+ bpm. Their family was making the last preparations to become a family of 4. Her brother was getting excited to have a sibling join the family. My family was getting ready to head to our usual Memorial Day vacation to the lake house nearby my cousin's family home. As we were packing the car, I got a phone call from my mom saying that my cousin was heading to the hospital because they could not find a heartbeat for baby Lucy. While immediately I had a thousand questions, my heart went out to my cousin and her family for any peace and good thoughts that were going to happen.

We were kept up to date through my aunt, her mom as to what was happening. We found out on Saturday that baby Lucy was delivered into her mommy's arms at 11:30pm Friday evening, May 27th. Throughout this last week, preparations were made for her funeral. Unfortunately, because of my own family conflict I was unable to attend the event, but have been in close contact with my cousin on a few occasions. I cannot even begin to imagine what they have had to go through, but what I have observed, my cousin has been a pillar of strength, with the help of a very special group that has been with her from the beginning.

I saw my cousin last Sunday, when we were all over at my aunt and uncle's place nearby my parents cabin. At that time I was able to simply express my condolences and sit back and think what a remarkable family we both share. Baby Lucy was so loved from the beginning and will continue to be a part of the family to the end of time, watching down on all of us.

In writing this post, I wanted to recall my childhood memories of my cousin and remark at how unpredictable our lives have turned out. While she and her family have lived through the toughest week of their lives, you all are so wonderful and yes, a pillar of strength. You have reminded me to take the time to cherish our days together with our family.

Her first "Graduation"

2011-05-26T16:50:00.004-05:00

Actually, we missed her "graduation" as it was our ultimately busy day. Family baptism, golf event, Norwex party, graduation, baseball game. The fact that they called her ceremony a promotion one, because they were moving to the 3 day a week classes, not onto Kindergarten next year, kind of was lost on me. Hopefully next year it won't conflict with so many things. She had a spring concert less than a month ago, so by making that, I felt as though we were really not missing much. They took these pictures of the kids in a graduation cap a few days ago, and passed them out at the ceremony, so we got ours today. At her spring conference, I got pictures from the beginning of the year, and so I figure it was time for me to reflect on her past school year.

I have always thought that 3-4 year old preschool isn't exactly necessary. I like it because it gives me a break. This was the first year where it was actually true because when Trevor started his preschool, I had Gwen 4 weeks into the program. So not a whole lot of alone time for me. Regardless, there has been a tremendous amount of growth out of this little girl over the past year. She had a very small class size - only 10 other kids in class with her, her teacher and one helper adult. Even before class started, we filled out a questionnaire explaining what we hoped our kids would get out of the school year. I knew that she needed to work on socializing or "sharing" and her small motor skills, like cutting and writing her name. In both of these areas, I believe because of the small class size, she has made huge strides. We both can read her own writing of her name, she is getting very accurate with her cutting, and when she has playdates, she does take some possessiveness of her toys, but really does a good job of wanting and playing with her playmate instead of hoarding her toys.

I have a lot of hope that next year, possibly with an even smaller class size, she will get most of her letters down and get her cutting skills honed. I'm not sure how much I will have or want to use the childcare, but we are going to already get a few more days before Trevor is done with school. She can do some of the VBS camps with her friends, but I'm not planning on sending her for an entire week for something that lasts 5 hours for a week straight.

We have hit a big fear of bugs lately. Not only do bees break out the horrific screams, which I really would be ok with, if that was the only thing. But even gnats and small, harmless flying bugs are bringing about the screams. I am trying to get her to take ownership and know that she can get rid of these bugs by using a cloth and killing them. If it is inside, she is usually pretty ok with doing it, but not outdoors. I'm also going to try bug spray. I have been bringing a bottle of it to baseball games, being prepared for whenever the mosquitoes come out. Haven't had to use it yet, but I think we will shortly. Anyway, it might be a mental thing for Gwen to think that if she has the bug spray on, bugs won't bite her, or hopefully land on her. I'll have to try it out and see how that one goes. Until then, we are just trying to get organized for the summer.

However; technically, Gwen's summer vacation has started! Bring on the hot weather!

Piano Recital

2011-05-21T21:31:00.002-05:00

One of the first school year ending events is Trevor's first piano recital. He takes lessons through a company where the teachers actually come to your house weekly for a half hour. We have been doing this since January, so almost 5 months worth of lessons and he has come a long way!

The recital itself was nice in that there were a variety of students, all taught by the same teacher. Trevor's teacher majored in Cello, but because of his music background teaches violin, piano, bass, and guitar as well. So there were a lot of different songs, and some of the same songs across different instruments. The concert lasted about an hour and 15 minutes with 25 students. Trevor played his two pieces very well and started the entire concert off.

It was a very good experience for him as he has never done a solo act at a performance and while I would never call him stage fright, that was what he explained when he was done. He said he had major stage fright when he was on stage, but as best as I understand it, I believe it was just his term for butterflies. You could not tell one bit that he was nervous or timid to be up on stage. I was able to video his performance, and he slipped on the keys once, and the look on his face was priceless. It was a more, "I cannot believe I messed up Yankee Doodle. I have played this piece a hundred times. I don't even need the sheet music, and I messed up." His teacher prepared him and (I'm sure) all other students to, if you mess up, just fudge through it and act like nothing happened. He recovered awesomely, and played his second piece wonderfully, with no slipped keys.

One other note, his teacher noted in his bio as I was reading it that he likes to find the type of music each student likes and use that kind of music as much as possible. It was very evident in the recital. Although I'm sure he was quite limited by the earlier level students, the choice of music did vary at the end. A violinist played a song from "Wicked" and the closing number was an electric guitar, and the teacher on cello rocking out to "Rock me like a Hurricane". And the teacher was really rocking out.

We get a two week break until the next big events: Dance recital and baseball tournament. As long as warmer weather comes with it, I will be happy. OH and less rain please???

Bugs

2011-05-17T21:19:00.004-05:00

Darn bugs. I can't remember if I have mentioned Gwen's fear of all things "bugs" or bug related. She has a slightly similar fear of dogs, but does at least warm up to them once she is around them for a while. She also is able to rationalize the dog fear a little bit too. She asks me if the dogs we see will jump up on her, and knows that the dogs are really just over excited when she comes in the door. She climbs as high up my shoulder as she can when we walk in the door and gradually calms down within a few minutes or so.

Bugs, are unfortunately a different story. To the best of my knowledge she has maybe only been bitten by an ant in her croc last fall or late summer. No other stings/bites/etc. But perhaps some of it has resulted from stories from other people or books, movies, etc. Regardless, if something even resembling a bug is around, including but not limited to spiders, ants, flies, bees, caterpillars, and BUTTERFLIES, Gwen screams in fear. She cannot get over something inside her head that makes her think that butterflies have a face and can bite her. That is how she explains it to me anyway.

Strangely enough, her preschool class's last unit is on insects. I have warned her teacher that she hates bugs, but it seems to have been ok so far. I think it is because they don't have any live bugs in the room, so she should be ok in the class. However, the past week has gotten pretty tough and it is probably only going to get worse. It has been tough to get her to go outside because she has seen a lot of bees (or yellow jackets or wasps) randomly. Today we were blowing bubbles until a bee was flying around and then went inside a piece of the retaining wall in the backyard. That killed all fun to be had on what would have been a beautiful day to be outside.

Then this evening, as is sometimes the case, Gwen was freaking out when she was going to bed. There was a small spider on her wall. It is so hard to be patient and calm when dealing with her screaming at what to me isn't rational.

So anyway, we will be dealing with trying to not let our fears determine our schedule. I just hope we don't ever have to deal with a true "sting" or I don't think this fear will go away any time soon.

A Big Night

2011-05-17T10:40:00.003-05:00

With all the things coming up, it is hard not to get lost in the details of the little things. Last night was Trevor's first exhibition game of his baseball career. This is his first year where the teams must keep score, keep outs, and keep track of their batting order and such. There is no walks, but the hitters can only have 7 pitches or three swinging strikes. I know there was a lot of nerves, across the team. From the kids worrying if they could get a hit or not, to the coaches style of pitching, and the head coach making sure that it ran as smoothly as it could.

Thankfully the weather was a bit warmer than it had been, although not quite warm enough to my liking. And I quickly learned that it is a pretty quick game, inning wise although I would guess that it depends on the skill levels of the teams. It took our team once around the batting order before everyone was settled down enough to get some hits. I will say that the team when they were in the field was awesome. It was hard for kids their age to stay awake enough on every pitch but I will say that there was one double-play and if it hadn't been for the other team's coach, their players didn't get more than a double.

Trevor got a hit, and really I thought it was a good goal for him to have when playing. I was proud of him for not flipping out when he didn't get a hit, but I think he also took his cues from the other players on the team. One of the best players on the team didn't get a hit at all, and he was very good at not beating himself up about it.

The team has one more exhibition game on Wednesday before the games really "count". In the end, they lost 5 to 4, but getting more time and experience is something that this team really could use. I hope to say that they will win a good chunk of their games so that the kids do enjoy playing and they learn a lot.

A change is coming

2011-05-15T17:21:00.003-05:00

Of course...the weather can't remain nice for more than one day. The one day it was nice and hot, our air conditioner was not working. Unfortunately, it is bad news for the house, because the house cannot cool down by itself once it is heated up. I believe it got up to 84 degrees, although to me it was nice. Russ was gone on business so he didn't have to deal with it.

This weekend was one of the few where we didn't have any plans. Saturday wasn't really fun as it was cold and rainy all day. But today was very nice. I knew that compared to last year I gained a lot of confidence that the kids could behave themselves while I took care of things outside. I was able to clean the gutters and plant some flowers with the kids entertaining themselves, for the most part. It does make me a little sad to think that there won't even be that many opportunities to do that this year, with how busy our calendar has become. But it does make me think that if I do need to take care of some work outside, it won't be horrible to try to have to keep an eye on Gwen constantly. I am slowly gaining my freedom back!

My other big change is my love of cleaning. Dyson + Norwex is a very good combination. Except for the organization part of cleaning, our 3 season porch is becoming presentable again! And, with Gwen being able to eat at a normal chair, we all have our seats at the table. If I could sing Norwex's praises more I would, but I feel like through all my facebook posting I become sounding like a broken record! I am amazed at how wicked clean our windows look, and I do have a new fear of how many birds are going to die this year by flying into the windows.

The only downside that I am experiencing right now is that I haven't been able to get out golfing yet this year with my usual 9 hole league. It doesn't look like it is going to happen this Tuesday, but possibly next week. I knew that my PTA meetings were going to conflict with them, but there have been and will be 3 other conflicts this year. Oh well. If we can get good weather for it in the future, I guess I can wait.

So for all you people looking to get more green with your cleaning, or anyone looking to simplify your cleaning by only using WATER in addition to your norwex cloths, I am a big supporter of the stuff. I LOVE my Norwex!

The crazy month of May

2011-05-08T21:28:00.003-05:00

I guess with the addition of Gwen into preschool this year, that means that the whole family could possibly have something going on at any point during the year. For whatever reason, all four of us have come together in some sort of almost "crossing of the streams" way during the month of May. Our yearly summer kick-off season has always started with the Kentucky Derby. This year, we were able to attend a bridal shower for a cousin being married in June. Gwen was all amped up to go, and while I know Trevor doesn't like to miss out on a party, he has come to understand that boys are not invited to these things called showers. It made it much easier to take when he knew that all the boys were going to be around and possibly playing some sort of sporting activity.

Meanwhile my minivan, or mommy-mobile, was overflowing with girlie girls during the four hours we were in the car to get to and from the shower. It was an awesome time by all, capped off by the last hour in the car, all three little girls fell asleep in their respective seats. That meant they were all good to go for the race time and directly afterwards to play games outdoors. Contrary to every weather report I could find the day and evening were perfect and almost warm with no rain whatsoever during the time we were at the lake. Unfortunately, I have come to rely on the weather forecast and even guess at a chillier than forecasted temperature. So I didn't pack any cooler clothes for myself or the kids. I packed hooded sweatshirts and long pants. Luckily I packed Trevor's Twins t-shirt because I knew he would wear that over a long sleeved shirt. He is the one that often gets very overheated.

So we got back in time for the horse drawing and watching the running of the race. There were 19 horses this year and 20 people at our party. That meant that we would be drawing horses twice and the two youngest kids didn't get two horses. It changes from year-to-year depending on how many people come to the party. As luck would have it, Gwen drew the same horse on both of her drawings and was the sole winner. She was as excited as she could be, trying to understand it all. Unfortunately, this prolonged my mom's, my own, and my brother's (and has Dave won yet too?) winning drought. I guess a point could be made for all kids, like Trevor and all younger than him except Gwen, but unless you have endured the heartbreaking loss well into your adult life, I sort of don't feel your pain. Trevor had a little hiccup with his dealing with and understanding this little game that we play. He was very excited to know which horse was his, and the horse that he had was up front at the beginning of the race. Unfortunately, it did not win, so come end of the race, he was very upset. It was short lived, but apparent he didn't like that he hasn't won yet, and here comes his sister to win and grab all the attention. Had it been someone else, I'm sure he would have been slightly upset because his horse was in front at the start of the race, but I wonder if he thought she was going to throw it back in his face and tease him about it, since that is a current phase between the both of them right now.

Anyway, so as is per usual at the cabin, we had another late night of dominoes. We were able to get out to the local restaurant for their Mother's Day lunch/dinner. They don't do brunch-type foods so it was a special lunchtime dinner meal. I got a really nice school project from Trevor and hand made cards from the kids. I would have liked to have been given the gift of sleep by the both of them Sunday morning, but I'll take happy, healthy, creative kids any day. Gwen slept the entire highway ride home until I opened her door in the garage. I didn't even have to turn on the DVD player. I have been finding that when I ride in my car alone, I enjoy silence. I don't turn on the radio anymore. Peace and quiet seem to be my friends right now.

I will be quickly signing off here in order to catch up on some of my sleep. I hope soon we can stay in the 70's for a long stretch of time and I can get and stay organized with all the events coming up. It is bound to be a busy May for our family!

School Carnival

2011-04-30T11:22:00.003-05:00

Well last night was our second annual school carnival. Trevor was able to remember from last year, and so was I thankfully, and able to prepare for the night. Gwen was not excited to go, and I'm not sure what she was imagining the night to be. We used the term carnival because that is what the school calls it. However, I do know she calls things the carnival when it isn't. I think what she might have pictured was the mall of america.

At their carnival they have pizza, jamba juice, pop, water, popcorn and mini doughnuts....REAL mini doughnuts. It started at 5:30 so we were there at the beginning eating so we could get on to the games. The kids were pretty hungry so we had their pizza and bought them each a bag of mini doughnuts right away. They headed to the bouncy stuff first, and then went over to the hospital. Last year Trevor got a fake gash in his head, but this year he decided he didn't want to. They played a few games and then we went to the beauty salon. Trevor wanted to get his hair colored, and Gwen was quick to say she did too. Trevor got a green, white, and red striped head, and Gwen got pink hair with some purple and black lady-bug like spots. I would guess that was the highlight of the evening. Gwen won a game of Bingo, and bought an inflatable space shuttle. As my new position of treasurer starts next year I decided to try to shadow the current treasurer to make sure I knew what was going on when I would be solo.

With the change in months, I'm hoping for much better weather and health. With me, they sort of seem to go hand in hand. I've had three antibiotics this month, it's time to move on. I haven't been able to get out golfing on Tuesday evenings, and won't for the next two weeks due to scheduling conflicts. The first two were due to weather. Gwen only has one month left of preschool and Trevor only has 6 weeks. It's time for a change.....bring on May!

Proud parent moments

2011-04-23T08:50:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess if this week had a theme, it would be that both kids have really stepped it up and in school really given their parents something to be proud of. On Thursday, Gwen had her end of year conferences, and we got a very good report. She is smart and even pretty well balanced emotionally. She needs a few reminders during some activities, but I have to remember that she is a full year younger than Trevor was when he was in the same level of preschool. I know she really gets how to play with others well, as a result of playing with Trevor. She may not be the angelic child when she gets frustrated with him, but it only happens with him, never with any of her classmates or playmates.

The way that they are playing is taking a turn for the better in that I'm happy that they have stopped being so physical. It isn't completely gone, but it is far less often than it used to be. Now, it has turned to the whining and complaining directly to me. I am sticking to my guns and explaining that the kids have to work it out between themselves, but it can grate on the nerves, especially this week.

Trevor has decided to take part in the no screen time for a week this week. He has gone every day so far, and I think with as busy as we are, the rest of the weekend will be fine. It has led to more time with each other, hence the headaches this week but if it helps for future events, I'll deal with it. Trevor's substitute teacher has not yet even given him one of his reminder sheets. I think we are already down to 7 weeks of school left. Hopefully we can continue his streak. He took a standardized test before spring break that we got the results of this week, and he did very well. I think I may get more details than the information that was given to us, but it looks like he may be going to be in a gifted and talented class next year.

Silly me and my sickness but I didn't get the Easter decorations out until yesterday. I guess it was a little of a good thing though because their Easter baskets came out, with the plastic eggs and that has been the newest game. One gets to be the Easter bunny and hide all the plastic eggs and the other then gets to find them. It has been proving to be a good few hours of fun.

Welcome back

2011-04-17T13:10:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm pretty much back in the land of the living. For some reason when I wake up in the morning, I have a big sinus headache that doesn't go away until close to noon. From that point on, I'm back to as normal as can be. But yeah, I don't really recommend forgoing your annual flu shot that you had gotten the previous 6 years without incident. Even if it takes just a few minutes out of your day. And then on top of that, I don't recommend getting a sinus infection directly after the flu. Granted, I couldn't control the sinus infection, however I don't believe I would have gotten it if I hadn't gotten the flu in the first place. Silly me. It was so strange. I felt like I was in a fog for the last week and a half. I didn't feel well on Monday, fever came on Tuesday, and then the following Wednesday was when I finally got antibiotics. Yesterday was the first day I felt close to better after my morning headache. I trudged through it as much as I could though. I stayed out of the public while I had the flu but still had to make sure the kids got to their school and activities. I even went to the PTA meeting where I was elected treasurer for the next two years. I'm sure I didn't look the best, but I knew I wasn't contagious and it was important that I was there. As for things going on with the kids, I know there are probably things I'm going to completely blank out on but here is what I know: Trevor's teacher had her baby, and they are now having the substitute for the rest of the year. According to the instructor at his school we should be getting a letter regarding options for Trevor's next year of class. Russ has also decided he is going to be the head coach of Trevor's baseball team this year. Although his travel schedule is unknown, the other coach was also in the same boat so hopefully they can work something out to cover each other. Their first practice is May 2nd, but Russ already got the equipment and their jerseys. If the weather was nicer I'm sure they'd be at the fields outside right now, but as it is, we need to wait for warmer weather. And then there is Gwen. We were able to get her dance recital outfit and boy is it cute. I was a bit concerned about how I was going to do her hair, but on the day of their pictures, they had to cancel because a bunch of her classmates didn't get their costumes in time. She also seems to be going through a big growth spurt that seems to be causing her issues. She has been eating like she hasn't eaten anything in weeks, but for her, that's not all THAT much. She has been complaining of leg cramps, and when she went outside for a walk with my mom, she couldn't walk around without tripping over her own feet. As a result she got a big scrape on her upper lip. So now we are dealing with a major attitude. Russ was trying to teach her that the words and tone she was using was causing her to be sassy. Now that's all she says, "Mom, you need to stop being sassy." She is pretty tired but doesn't get a whole lot of sleep. It just goes along with the territory. No sleep, lots of eating, out of sorts with her attitude. Not the most fun time to be a parent, but I know its only temporary. Thankfully we ordered her flowergirl dress in one size bigger than what she fit in last month. I'm thinking that was a good decision. Its hard to believe that next week is already Easter, and then the week after that is already May. Ahem...if I wasn't clear earlier, it would be nice to have the warmer weather here to stay please?

So yeah, I need a week off

2011-04-07T17:28:00.003-05:00

Sorry for my lack of blogging this week. The kids are back at school and I unfortunately got socked with the flu bug on Tuesday. So I'm a little bit over 48 hours into a fever and I feel slightly better, but it has completely wiped me out. It has taken all my energy to get up in the morning and get the kids off to school and then back. I guess this will teach me to skip my flu shot. Thankfully the rest of the family got it this year and I seem to be the only one affected by it. Also thankfully, Russ is not traveling this week or I would be really messed up. And also also thankfully this week my mom started her Wednesday visits so I could take most of that day and sleep. I will be back soon, once I can kick this thing. I promise!

Another spring break

2011-03-30T13:33:00.002-05:00

Our true spring break was during the time when we were in Florida. However, it did not coincide with the school's spring break and so here we are, in the midst of the other spring break. It has not been the smoothest of weeks so far, and Trevor also has Monday and Tuesday off of next week as well. I'm going about this week as best I can in trying to do a little thing each day in order to get the kids away from the house, even if for less than an hour. Monday is our usual grocery shopping day. Tuesday we went to Target, to get the release of Tangled of course. And today, I knew everyone would feel a little better to get outside. So I bundled them up and we walked to the grocery store. Thankfully it was into the 40s and the north side sidewalk was clear enough to bring the wagon. I was prepared to let them play outside for a little while, but neither was interested after the walk. Strangely enough, Trevor ran a slight fever on Sunday, but nothing ever came of it. I guess I can't say nothing, as he seems to have the sniffles, but I was slightly concerned that we had another ear infection or strep as it has been going around his class. I'm slowly sifting through toys and other odds and ends in the house to try to do a major purge soon. Or maybe my finding all the things I put aside to sell or something. I feel like I have gotten better about getting through a lot of the extra things we are carrying around, but some of the things I set aside haven't been looked at since. Although I should probably also get my resume and other things updated just so I can put myself out there in case of another connection were to take place.

Almost caught up

2011-03-22T09:51:00.004-05:00

Well, we are officially back from our trip to sunny, warm, gorgeous, perfect Florida. It was really hard to leave, even knowing that we were coming back to much less snow than when we left. We could not have asked for more perfect weather. All during the time we were outside, I'm pretty sure that we saw a total of 5 minutes of cloud cover, I'm not joking. Gwen, my fish, was out in the pool an average of 4 hours a day. Trevor had probably a combination of being a little bit nervous of spending a lot of time in the pool after he got an ear infection on the 4th day. I specifically asked the doctor about him swimming and he said that I couldn't keep him from swimming on his vacation. While I saw his point, I had thought that part of Trevor's issue could have been how much he loves to dive down to the bottom and pick things up. I remember how when it is a level deeper than 3 ft of water, there is some pressure that you can feel in your ears. Probably not something that he should be doing until his ears are clear. The antibiotics he got were for 10 days so I asked Trevor to try not to dive down to the deep end for the rest of the trip. I think also part of this lack of extreme interest in the pool was a result of his other interests. While the trip to see a spring training game was good, he loved to be outside throwing his baseball or any ball around and playing catch. He enjoyed (after getting his swing back) playing golf. He built a sand castle at the beach, and did get out into the Gulf, but was more interested in the sand side of things. But his biggest event was the Sunday brunch that we had on the last day. He remembered it from last year, and it is pretty much your standard brunch: an omelet station, waffles, eggs Benedict, potatoes, bacon, sausage, muffins, doughnuts, cereal, fruit, OJ, water, and coffee. Trevor ate four plates of food. Granted on a few of the plates all he had were eggs, but it was clear he tried to save up room for this food event. Our reservation was at 10:30 so I even had him eat a bowl of cereal before we went because he is a morning eater, like me. Gwen was excited the most about the coffee cups which she called tea cups. She was able to get orange juice in them and stir and drink it with her spoon like some of the coffee drinkers do.

Gwen was really able to enjoy her time in the pool. When we went to the beach, my mom found some sand toys left by the owner of the house, and it had two dolls with hair and a small baby doll. She played with them in the sand, but wanted to spend most of her time in the water. Unfortunately, I didn't bring her swim vest and so she couldn't go out on her own. Not that I would have let her have free reign, but she knew she couldn't swim without it so she had to stand where she could touch. The water was chilly compared to the heated pool water at the house, but it was a much better beach experience than last year. Last year we had to have on our coats and the water was really really frigid. As is per usual, Gwen did want to make sure she did everything that other people did so I took her to the driving range and putting green to go golfing on Saturday. She hit a few balls at the driving range and then we headed over to the putting green. She had a much better time there as I think she likes that she can make sure it gets into the hole. Soon, we headed home to go swimming again. But she got to do her golfing! Anyway, the thing that was so nice about Gwen and her swimming was that she was entertained a lot of the time by her toys and did things by herself. She did enjoy it more when someone else was in the pool with her, but she was able to play with her dolls and the "new" dolls that we used at the beach. That left the adults to watch her while eating on the porch, sitting on a lounge chair, or chatting outside the pool. She was also very tired out by the end of the day. A few days she passed out on the couch for a nap around 4:00. I know she too had a wonderful trip. A huge difference was also the change of clothing. When we put on our clothes for the trip she was exclaiming, "No sleeves! Look mom! No sleeves!" It will be nice to be able to wear those again here.

While Trevor was recovering on Tuesday, Russ, my dad, and I all were able to go golfing. It was the first round of the year for Russ and I and he started the year off much better than I did. I was able to get in a birdie but that was about it. Then on Friday, when Trevor, my dad, and I all played 9 holes, I actually made an eagle. I wouldn't doubt that it will be my last, but hey, I'll take it. Because my grandpa came back to visit on Sunday I was able to tell him about it. My dad's side of the family are the golfers, so it was nice to be able to share it with him. For those wondering, it was the first hole, par 4 an L shaped hole to the right. I hit a good drive and chipped it in with a 9 iron, maybe 50-60 yards out. Some lady had driven up and asked to play through because Trevor was with us and I was not pushing him to get going. I had to tell her more than once that no thanks, we'll move along. So I think I was a bit upset at her. Anyway, fun day for me. Friday and Saturday evenings I went back to where Russ and his dad were playing golf for their evening events. Unfortunately they did not win their flight like last year but I think they both had a good time. I also completed my final course for my accounting degree on the Tuesday we were in Florida. So I can check that off the list. Now I can finally look ahead to all the other things that I have been pushing off doing until I have a little more time. I probably should also get my resume together in case I really want to push the job seeking piece of things.

Something that kind of popped into my mind during the trip and has come up on more than one occasion, are family traditions. Not necessarily the ones you think of that are yearly events, but also things like the way your family took care of things. When you get married or even when you date someone, how those family traditions carry forward, even without thinking. I grew up with my mom driving a station wagon then a mini van. I never cared one way or the other about it, but when I had kids and needed to be the driver of the kids, it wasn't a problem for me to get a mini van. I was talking to someone who simply could not see themselves as a mini van driver, not because she didn't like them but because her family never got one. Now, if you family did do something that you yourself detested, I can see why you wouldn't get one or do things that way, but otherwise it seems almost genetic that it follows that same pattern. An example that happened on our trip is that when I was younger, my grandfather that lived in Florida owned a house that had a pool attached. It was so much fun to be able to get dressed (or not...ha ha) and jump in the pool. It was also so easy! If I was hungry, I could get out and sit at the lounge chair with a little table and eat some snacks. I think there were some chairs that went in the water if you wanted to have a beverage while in the water. Could you ever do this at a community pool? Not the getting dressed part, at least. You could eat but you would have to pack it in advance or go out and buy it somewhere. It was just so easy. Now, he didn't always live in this house, when I got older he was married and they lived where we had to go to a community pool. It was fine, but not as easy. Now, my parents are renting a house and it is a priority to have a pool at the house. There have been questions as to why they don't look at condos or other similar areas that have a community pool, and to most people, making the trek a few hundred feet to the pool isn't that big of a deal. But to us, it is what we know and what we like best. Had we never had the pool attached to the house, we may never have even thought about it. But we did, so now it is what we prefer. Just a thought that I had....

Pictures are up from our trip. Hopefully they can make me keep the Vitamin D high until I can get back outside again in the warmth. I keep hoping that the snow keeps shrinking and shrinking faster and faster....

Here we are

2011-03-14T19:51:00.003-05:00

In sunny Florida. Today was day 4. It has been an adventure, as always. The flight was a piece of cake. This was the first trip that I didn't have to haul around a stroller, carseat, diapers, food, and the like. I did bring movie players, but with the planes like they are now, I really didn't even need them! Man how times have changed! Now, they have free satellite on the plane, and one of the channels is Nickelodeon. There were a few shows that weren't really up Trevor's alley, but at least they occupied them when the kids couldn't have the electronic devices out.

We made it through the security and luggage check quickly and when we landed, our bags were literally ready to be picked up. Hopefully our flight home will be just as easy! We got out to the vacation home within a few minutes and the air immediately felt wonderful. I hear that the weather at home has the snow melting, and that is just fine with me! As we were taking off in the airplane on the way, I had Gwen say goodbye to the snow. Guess that will be the truth!

Every day so far, and for the forecast, has the weather as sunny and in the 80's. It has been perfect, in the weather department. Both kids have been swimming for hours every day. Unfortunately a little wrench has been thrown into the mix. This time, Trevor has come down with a bad bad cold. He was inches away from throwing up, and had a fever for a time during the day on Sunday. I was good about keeping Gwen away from the germies, but I think Trevor's hockey party did him in. 4 days later is when he got this bug. Strangely enough, he took two naps on Sunday and was able to swim for a good period so I think he doesn't feel too shorted. He was still not eating and didn't have much energy but we went out to our Twins game. It was a bright sunny day, and he started to wilt after being in the sun for all of 30 minutes. So we went back behind the stands, in the shade and he perked right up. We went down outside the game to watch some players take batting practice, but never ended up with an autograph. Next time we are out there, we know better.

Hopefully Trevor can sleep off the rest of the weakening cold and have a good time tomorrow. Our plan is to shoot for the beach and play some golf. Gwen was asking if we could look for Ariel's sisters tomorrow. I guess we'll have to see what we can see!

Two new things....

2011-03-03T13:39:00.002-06:00

I forgot one major event that took place on Monday, completely by surprise. Also, one thing that just happened today that I also took me by surprise.

Starting on Monday, Trevor decided before dinner that he wanted to write a play, that we as a family would perform. He wrote the play on two pieces of paper. Trevor had parts as did Russ and I on one piece of paper that we had to hand off to each other. Gwen had another piece of paper that she had one line at the very end. So I give you Trevor's Play, as written by him, spelled by him and occasionally translated by me:

Trevor: Hello wecome! to a show of how humans meet ailians.
Dad: here I am at the moon Mom: see anything yet? Dad: yes I see a alian
Mom: waht! Trevor: We come in pace (peace)
Mom: how are thair alians?
Dad: Well I see um (them)
Trevor: come to are planit Dad: okay
Trevor: here we are
THE END

Gwen's paper:
Gwen affter show: Yay! Clap clap

The performance went without a hitch, thanks to everyone's cooperation and Trevor's enthusiasm during and after the performance.

And then what Gwen did today: We were playing with the Strawberry Shortcake Playdoh kit after school and in it is a mold of Strawberry Shortcake and 6 stamps that cut out the fruit that each of Strawberry and her friends represent. Like on the back of blueberry muffin is a blueberry stamp. She was asking me to use the stamps with different colors. What got to me was that she was asking me to do plum with a pink color, but she was giving me the stamp for lemon. Or at least that is what I thought. It was the yellow colored stamp. I looked on the back of the yellow stamp and it still looked sort of like a lemon. When she was calling the blue one the lemon, I really looked. Sure enough, she knew her characters. Hasbro or whomever made the cutouts and mistakenly put the wrong colors to the wrong people and fruit. Only one out of six was correct - Orange Blossom. All 5 others were mixed up. On the box they were correct, but something got mixed up along the way. I could not believe she didn't even pay any attention to the color of the stamp. She looked at the faces of the people and she went off of that. If I can find the time, I'll be writing to the toy company to see what they say. Maybe it'll be an ebay gold mine :-)

What's going on

2011-03-03T10:45:00.002-06:00

Again, this title has dual meaning. There have been a lot of activities going on within the last few days, but at the same time, I'm asking myself "What is going ON?!?!?" particularly with Gwen.

Last Sunday we were able to participate in a fundraiser at the Waterpark of America. The kids and I, Kyrsten and Tracy all went toward the end of summer. It was much more busy this time, but for the price it was very tough to pass up. Trevor enjoyed playing on the jungle-gym type area, even though it was for younger kids. Gwen played on it too, but she had to have someone nearby to help shield her from the gigantic barrel of water that occasionally dropped down on top of everyone. Primarily she just went up and down the slide that was more her size. Trevor did get to go down the big slides with dad on two occasions, but soon enough it was time to go. Trevor was quick to say that the water park plus his goal at the parents vs. kids game for hockey made it the best day ever! He just has the rest of the week before hockey is done for the season, which to him also signals the end of winter. YIPEE!!!

Now, the kids are done with swimming lessons, so that is something gone for the time being, but piano lessons keep coming. Trevor now knows a significant portion of reading music. I'm curious to know if he translates it to his music class at school, but regardless, his teacher remarked at how well he knew his songs for the lesson both playing and in rhythm. What I find very interesting is that Trevor's ability to memorize things is becoming more apparent. It does take him a day or two to learn new pieces but he gets to the end of the practice week and he has the pieces memorized. I don't know that he tries, but he just does. Oh...and one other noteworthy event for Trevor, he has graduated from addition time tests to subtraction time tests. He is 5 answers short of starting his finishing subtraction, and then I don't know what will happen. He knows about multiplication, but I'm not sure if we are going to have to have him memorize those facts as well? I guess we'll see what happens.

Now Gwen....my oh my. She returned to the childcare school yesterday, and seemed to have a good time. She had a special day at preschool on Tuesday where Russ got to be in her class for the last hour. They both enjoyed that, I was told. When I took her to dance class last night, I had been very clear to her that she needed to do a good job listening to the teacher. Well, right away she decided not to listen and one of her classmates accidentally stepped on her finger. Ouch! I gave her hugs and kisses and she did get back into class, but after a few minutes she wanted to come out again. And again. After the third time I had to take her home. Not peacefully, I can assure you. I'm hoping that it just started off bad and she couldn't recover, but I guess last week was Trevor's week to be a bit "off" in my opinion and this week it is Gwen's. She is starting her teenage attitude of mouthing off to me and loving the attention it gets her when I talk to her. Oh the joys of raising such a daughter.

On a positive note, I took out the old playdough that I won during our sibling division of toys a while back, and when I showed her that I could turn playdough into sesame street characters, she was in heaven. DOLLS!!! Unfortunately, we didn't have a wide selection of playdough so last night more colors were bought along with a strawberry shortcake mold, similar to the sesame street characters. I'm guessing that is what we will be playing for a good portion of the coming days. Hopefully, she will also get some more sleep during naptimes so that she can feel better than she does.

And when it comes to me, the time seems to be flying by. I have a final paper for my final class due on Tuesday. I have completed one business tax return, and have been asked to complete another. I love how much I have learned in the past 8 months and now this year's taxes have expanded my knowledge! To add to my resume, there could be the potential of helping out in a non-profit setting. I'll let you all know more about that if it works out ;-) So yeah, that's what's going on.

The personalities of the kids

2011-02-24T16:19:00.004-06:00

Well, after a long wait, Trevor finally lost the second top tooth last night. It has been pretty loose since he lost the first one back in December. I didn't think it would take over two months to lose the second one. But Trevor will never be that kid that yanks his own tooth out. The thought of pain paralyzes him. I don't know if it would be any worse or better to spring something on him, such as if I don't prepare him for the fact that he is about to get a shot or something at the doctor. He doesn't exactly trust me as it is, probably because I don't actually enjoy telling him if he is about to get a shot. As it stands now, he is at least 4 or so years from getting another round of boosters. But he is always asking if we go in to get a shot whenever we see the doctor. And then you take his teeth. This one was number 6, and none of them have been because he has wiggled them out. One even came out while he was telling a story, for goodness sake. As soon as it gets so loose it is about to come out, he doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to touch it, or anyone else for that matter. Eventually, on accident they all come out, but I had thought after that first one, it would get easier. It isn't crippling completely, but he just cannot get over the fear that it might hurt when it comes out.

Switching gears: I had a typical interaction with Gwen at my weekly volunteer at Trevor's school. I come to organize the weekly pile of papers that goes out to all the classes at school on Wednesdays. Gwen comes along with me, and she has developed a playmate in another girl that comes to help mom out as well. They both play with her princess dolls and the organizer brings cookies or muffins or something else that usually the girls take care of. Well, on Wednesday this week she brought Girl Scout Cookies, and Gwen's favorite kind are the Samoa's. I let her have one, and she came and asked me for one more. This is how she does it: "Please, oh please mama, can I have this cookie?" At that time I said yes Gwen, you can have one more. To which she says, "Oh THANK you mama! THANK you!" I honestly don't even really think about it when she says it to me, because she has no filter to use it when it would really get the most bang for her buck. "Mama, can I go to the bathroom? Please, oh please, oh PLEASE?" Anyway, it got a chuckle out of the parents as to how I could ever say no to a face like that. It's pretty easy, at least at this point. I have no doubt that she will learn to use it more sparingly and maybe then I'll be in more trouble. What kind of got me though, was that after I had told her that she could have just one more cookie, she came to me with another cookie in hand. Before she said anything, she looked at me and said, "Mama, don't say no, ok? You can't say no. Mama? Can I PLEASE oh PLEASE have this cookie?" It made me laugh because obviously she knew in her head that I was already going to say no because I had said the previous cookie was the last one. I guess that was a prime opportunity to test my consistency. Would I really hold to the "one more cookie" rule? For anyone keeping track, I did. :-)

Trevor...and the L's

2011-02-20T20:09:00.002-06:00

Ah those "L"s. Gwen has recently discovered, even though there has been significant help from Trevor, that she is not saying her l's correctly. And now she takes every opportunity to say luh-luh-luh ladybug, or whatever word has an L in it. She stops herself all the time to re-state what the word is correctly. She often gets a little tongue tied by saying it, but she corrects herself. I guess her mind decided it was time. It is pretty cute, although I think it is one of the last toddler-like things she has been doing. This girl doesn't throw temper tantrums, she is dry through the night, she draws, paints, plays board games, can even point out a dance classmate when we see her at one of Trevor's hockey games. She may not remember names as well as Trevor had at her age, but I like the she is so friendly and plays just like a girl often does with girls that are almost two years older than her.

It turned into a big weekend for Trevor that I didn't really expect. After last November, I had thought that Nascar was sort of on the downslide. Perhaps because it does conflict with baseball for most of the year. Nascar started this weekend and goes all the way until November. Baseball starts the end of April, and baseball, I believe will always be Trevor's true passion. Regardless, something this year has returned the interest of Nascar, even before the Daytona 500. He remembers everything that goes into it, all the drivers and the smaller model cars he has. He has asked today three different times how he wishes that he had the 2011 Nascar schedule magnet that we have had for the past two years. We have gotten it as part of buying the new car for the year. Perhaps it will be something that he spends his money on.

So after Trevor's hockey practice this afternoon, he was finally able to watch a little of the race today. There were only a handful of the names racing across the screen that he did not immediately recognize. He was remembering the previous numbers for which some of the drivers have changed from in past years. And he even remarked at how at the very start of his interest in Nascar was when he decided that the Budweiser #8 car he decided was driven by Nick Jr. I think that had something to do with him watching Nickelodeon Junior channel a lot, and the driver was Dale Earnhart Jr. at the time. But since then, Dale has switched to #88 and Trevor knows that number as the car that Dale drives. And still has the #8 Budweiser car that he calls Nick Jr.

Fast forward to the end of the Daytona 500, which we were lucky enough to catch after surviving the drive to my parents house in yet another blizzard this year. And wouldn't you know that the winner of the race this year is a rookie. He is a 20 year old kid for crying out loud, and beat the previous youngest winner by 5 years. His name is Trevor Baynes. When I first flipped on the race, Trevor of course picked up on the name right away. And when he won the race, I could see that his love was back. Hopefully Nascar will make this kid's car quick and put it in stores so we can get it. I guess only time will tell. In the mean time there are a few drivers that switched cars again this year. And we still have another two months before baseball begins. Boogity, boogity, boogity, lets go racing, boys!

Little Girl

2011-02-12T08:16:00.002-06:00

As can be the case, it seems as though both kids are going through some kind of growth spurt. Last I measured, Gwen had already grown an inch since her doctor appointment around her birthday. A big event for Gwen was going through her clothes, getting ready for the spring trip we are taking to Florida. I knew she could finally get rid of all the 3T clothes as pants. The tops she could go up to a 5 or an XS in girls, but really I wanted to make sure she had enough swimming suits. As is her usual fashion, she wanted to try all her sundresses and swimming suits on, and then would not put back on her warmer clothes. It was still one of the really cold days outside, but I got a good idea of what clothes still fit her and which did not. I also got a new shipment of leggings and pants that help me weed out the other clothes. I'm taking the temperature increase and running with it. I'm also hoping that these past few days of negative readings are going to be the last of the entire year.

I got information on Gwen's dance recital in June and also information that her recital costume is coming in April. That means two months where I'm going to have to seriously hide the costume. It is right up her alley, but if she goes around wearing it, it will not look good come recital time. She will have an opportunity to wear it for pictures, and maybe even practice once in it, but she is already coming along with lessons and such. She is a very good adaptor. I've been putting her in activities that are probably a bit old for her, but she seems to find a way to fit in appropriately. I'm pretty sure she is the youngest in each of her classes, preschool, dance, swimming, and child care. She is reasonably good at listening and following the directions of the teacher, but not perfect. However, if you put her in a group with kids her age, I'm pretty sure she'd be pretty advanced comparatively.

Unfortunately, she has discovered and really enjoys the hand held game products. From Leapster to Nintendo DS, she wants to do either almost all day. Ug....I guess I'm lucky it has lasted this long. I have resorted to hiding or at least putting them out of her eyesight to distract her to something different. I guess on the plus side, her fine motor skills in her fingers are really improving. I know her preschool teacher is really working on them with Gwen. She has made huge strides since the beginning of the year. She even asks to color and use scissors on a pretty consistent basis. She is working on the letters of her name and can make most of them. Her class made a book and each student got a page to draw what makes them smile. I found her page by reading what the teacher wrote which was a dictation of what the child said the picture was. I then confirmed it was hers by her name on the picture. Anyone care to guess as to what Gwen wrote as to what makes her smile? "Flynn from Tangled." Guess she's a true princess at heart.

Back to the routine

2011-02-06T07:54:00.004-06:00

So this week was the first week back to our usual routine. I did have a PTA meeting on Tuesday that sort of made things slightly different than usual, but the kids were able to hang out at school in the childcare area. We had swimming, dance, but it was too cold to have hockey outside. At least the weather warmed up to give us a slight break from the cold.

The big difference this week was that I had a Norwex party on Thursday. I am really not a party person, and having a business-type transaction at a party I usually feel slightly weird about it. I had been to two already and I know I'll be to many more. We had a good turn-out and I think everyone had a good time. I'll be interested to see how everyone does with the product once it gets in.

We were also able to go to cousin Ethan's baptism on Saturday evening. Trevor started on his storytelling, and as he was doing so, he lost another tooth. It was a funny situation as all day he was having issues chewing things. He didn't even want to wiggle his tooth. I guess things happen in good time as it was mid-sentence.

The weeks definitely go faster with all of our activities going on. On to the new week....Trevor has his conferences and we have a birthday to prepare for! It's another exciting week!

Why does there have to be a down side?

2011-01-30T10:57:00.002-06:00

For the past few weeks, I really think there has been made huge strides in having the kids play together. I have been trying to do my part by staying out of just about any part in it. Even if there involves hitting, I try to keep away. If I were to pull Trevor away every time he swatted at Gwen, she would keep antagonizing him so that he would keep getting in trouble. The other day I did have to pull him off of her because he did hit her square in the face, but after he did it he was quick to apologize because, "I wasn't aiming for her face." I am ok with the wrestling, hitting, whatever else as long as isn't something that could land someone in the hospital. They are both getting pretty good at giving each other the usual jabs, and Trevor knows when Gwen is going to hurt him such as when she bites him, so he runs away or screams at her to stop.

Anyway, for a while they were playing with the Mario characters. The game was something like Mario and his friends were trying to save Princess Peach. In the mean time, some of Gwen's dolls were hanging out in a dollhouse that makes noise. Trevor would be the voice of many of the Mario characters, and knock on the door or ring the doorbell of the dollhouse and talk to the dolls to explain to them everything that was going on and what they were going to do. A lot of the time, the phone would ring in the dollhouse and another character would also talk to a doll also explaining what was going on. Sometimes, it would even get so exciting as to actually get a character and go out and seek the princess.

Shortly after these fun games, Trevor got sick. He started coughing on Monday, and I could tell he was coming down with yet another cold. He had a really rough night Monday, didn't go to school on Tuesday, had another rough night on Tuesday, spiked a 103 fever on Wednesday, and then couldn't go to school on Thursday as a result. A very strange side-effect of Trevor's bad cold or maybe the flu? He did get his flu shot this year.... He has been having really weird nightmares or dreams. And they are such where he isn't ever awake, but he is really upset. Monday he put himself in the bathroom and cried for me, not ever able to finish a sentence. Tuesday, he opened his closet, took out part of a dress that I had worn as a bridesmaid which ended up on his bed and also cried out for me. Again, not able to explain anything...just jumbled words. Wednesday, he was out of his bed and in our bathroom, talking jumbled...looking for me. Every time, I simply try to talk soothing words, put him back in bed, and give him a hug or two. I guess thankfully he never remembers any of it the next day. It is just so weird to be watching someone with their eyes open, trying to talk but not really able to, and then they don't remember any of it when they are truly awake the next day.

Trevor's energy as a result of his sickness wasn't all that great, particularly on Wednesday when he had such a high fever. On Thursday, he was almost his old self but couldn't go back to school. He started playing with Gwen again, and when he did go back to school on Friday, Gwen told him how sad she was that he had to go back to school, and he told me how he just wanted a few more minutes to play with her. I think he was really looking forward to going back to school though as well.

So of course, Gwen has gotten sick and it is a result of playing so close with Trevor. So far, no spiked fever, but lots of yucky coughing and sneezing. She also got her flu shot so maybe it just makes it a bit more bearable for them. This morning, Gwen slept for almost 12 hours and was up a little after 8am, and Trevor slept also until after 8...which is unheard of in his sleep patterns.

A new game has also been started. This is only the second day they have been playing it, and it may not be the most child-friendly game, but it is called, "Robbery". The kids go and rob things. I get the feeling they might not exactly know what it means, but like I'm going to explain it so they stop playing it? I don't think so. Gwen dresses up as a princess, and Trevor puts on his Zelda hat, and they go robbing. I have to record a quote that Trevor said because it really made me laugh. Gwen was trying to play with one of her baby dolls, and she was suggesting things that they could do with it. Somehow Gwen decided they should throw rocks at the baby, to which Trevor said, "If we throw rocks at the baby, we will have to go to jail and eat bugs." I have no idea where he came up with that, and he comes up with such imaginative answers to her questions, that I knew I was going to have to record that one.

Visiting their respective schools

2011-01-30T10:44:00.003-06:00

I meant to post this on the last post, and I will have to update right away again before I forget about this past week, but to keep things in somewhat chronological order, I wanted to post about visiting the schools.

Because Gwen was at childcare on Wednesdays, that made my lunchtime available. I had never eaten lunch with Trevor and as luck would have it, they were having Grilled cheese sandwiches...something that I knew I could stomach. So I told Trevor I was going to visit him at school for lunch. He was excited and I think it usually scores the kid some cool points when a parent comes to visit.

So I went to visit and the kids were getting their outdoor gear on when I arrived. They eat with snowpants on and their jackets on their seats. We walked around to get in line for lunch. Trevor was also having hot lunch that day, so I was able to watch him and his friends get their lunch and watch the lunch ladies as well. I can safely say not much has changed since the 25 years or so when I was in elementary school. They do have more fruits or vegetable offerings than when I went to school, but the whole procedure is much the same. I was also reminded at how while it isn't quite the age range where they have popular/unpopular groups, they already did have their groups. I don't know for sure if it was a result of me being there or not, and it probably did have something to do with it, but I was happy to see that it wasn't split boys and girls sitting at different sides of the lunchroom in Trevor's class. The boys were discussing what they were going to do when they got outside, some of the kids asked if I could help them open some of the packaged food that they got, and the girls were giggling and talking about what they had going on yesterday, today or tomorrow. I'll have to make it a point to keep going to lunch throughout the kids elementary school years. I'm pretty sure it will become uncool at some point. But until then, and as long as they serve decent lunches, I'll have to come and take part from time to time.

So the very next day I volunteered to be a chaperon for Gwen's trip to see a performance of If You Give a Moose a Muffin. It was her first time riding a school bus and I could tell that most of the kids were way more excited about that than anything. It was a good 15 minute ride to the show so they did get a good ride. I was also given one of Gwen's classmates to keep in our group so that was really interesting to gauge how Gwen interacted with her during the events of the day. Neither girl was all that interested during the entire show, but they both behaved very well. I think in general, the boys are a little harder to keep still and quiet. During the last few minutes of the show, both girls wanted to sit on my lap. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a lap to begin with, but I did my best and both girls were still able to fit in the seat with me.

I feel as though I did my part as being an active parent in both of their schools. Pat on the back for me!

More new things

2011-01-24T13:42:00.004-06:00

Well, they really aren't all that new, just a continuation of things that are happening. Last Wednesday during Gwen's dance lesson, they had a picture of their spring recital costume. Holy cuteness. I don't mean to give away the surprise, but it is a red, white, and blue, stars and stripes tu-tu adorable costume. They were still working on the winter recital songs as their recital is this weekend so I have no idea what their song is going to be, but I have a feeling it will be patriotic of some kind.

Second thing, I let Trevor watch the Netflix Super Mario Super Show, although I moved it through to the cartoon because that is really all he was interested in. I remember now that because "Mario" was a former WWF wrestler, he often had other wrestlers that I recognize but cannot place the name. Funny thing, by the end of the first episode, Trevor was asking why the Mario and Luigi had their outfits reversed. Leave it to Trevor to notice. No, the green and red of Mario and Luigi were not switched, it was the shirt and overall colors. Luigi had green overalls and a blue shirt, and mario had red overalls and blue shirt. This was the design in the Nintendo and Super Nintendo version of Super Mario brothers, but now that the Wii version is out, they switched it to blue overalls and red or green undershirts.

Friday, after about a week and 5 days after the instructions said there was going to be "triops" in our triop tank, I finally saw one. Trevor was overjoyed. I guess we don't kill every pet that we get in the water. We'll have to see how long it lasts, as it seems to be a pretty lonely guy. At least Trevor has something to tell everyone he sees again.

This Sunday, we decided to host a Bears party. It was nice to see the family having been weeks...New Years I believe. Unfortunately, it was not a very good game...enough said. Bubba and Papa were missed, but they will be home shortly for the month. Of course, over the weekend Russ asked the kids if anyone wanted to go to Florida, and Gwen believes that is a signal to actually go RIGHT THEN. So since that point, I've been trying to give her some perspective on when we are going to Florida. She is just starting to get the concepts of days on a calendar, but doesn't get months or anything yet.

And today is another day off from school for Trevor. While I know it isn't the most consistent parenting, I decided to let the kids have at each other today, all the while watching and not being an active participant. They are now approaching a full hour and a half of playing. Yes, it is more like Trevor directing the playtime but I feel like it is slowly coming along. There has been more than a few instances of physical fighting, but it isn't one sided, so I'm not really sympathetic to either one if they get hurt...and by hurt it is more like whining to get the other one in trouble. Surprisingly, it has been a mostly smooth day. I don't even want to interrupt them to get Trevor to do his piano or reading.

Now if I can just get some motivation to finish this week's paper, I'll be all set for this week....

SCORE!

2011-01-19T22:03:00.002-06:00

This post is going to be about the uses of the word "SCORE". The first part is my two trips in the past 5 nights to twice winning Gopher Basketball games. My first date night was with Russ, and my second date night was with Trevor.

With Russ there were guys in front of us that made comments as if they were coaches themselves. I am fuzzy myself on a lot of the rules of the game as I don't know that I have watched enough to remember what fouls are called when. But they were two good teams that night.

With Trevor, it was much more unevenly matched, but it was fun to bring him to the game. We got to eat Trevor's favorite meal: hot dog with popcorn. He discovered that there is a player who happened to be player of the game that night and he happens to share the same first name as he does. No comments please from the gallery on the lack of quality off of the court of this player. I did point out that this Trevor did need to work on his free throws. Anyway, I hope to continue both annual traditions if my dad keeps getting season tickets.

And the second score of the week....Trevor's second piano lesson. His teacher is a great fit for Trevor. After his lesson, his teacher told me that he (Trevor) is taking to it very well. He can tell that he has a good sense of rhythm and they introduced the metronome. Before the lesson Trevor was telling me that he was looking forward to showing his teacher how well and how much he practiced. And while the lesson was going on, I could not help but overhear how his teacher was trying to teach Trevor why and how he could learn to keep his eyes on the music and less on his hands. I was entertaining Gwen by having her watch a Netflix on the Wii, so his teacher saw that we had a wii. But he asked anyway, to Trevor: "Does your family have a Wii?" Trevor: "Yes." His teacher: "Do you know of the Mario Brother games?" Trevor: "YES!" His teacher: "Do you ever play Super Mario Galaxy?" Trevor: "Yeah, we have both 1 and 2!" His teacher: "Well, you know how when you are Mario and you see that you have to jump on the TV, you don't look down at the control to push the jump button, you just do it?" Trevor: "Yeah, like when you have to jump on top of an enemy?" His teacher: "Yes....well, just like that game, you should try to watch the music and use your fingers to play without looking down at them." Trevor: "Ok!" Score one for Trevor's teacher....and you will never guess what game Trevor wanted to play for his Nintendo time that day.....yep - Super Mario Galaxy.

In addition to that, for Trevor's assigned practice songs, he has been playing Old MacDonald. I know he read the title of the piece when he was practicing it, but when the song was recognizable to him, he wanted to play it over and over and over and ask Gwen to see if she could recognize it, and play it more and more and more....I knew that once he found a song he recognized he would enjoy it all that much more. And with the addition of the metronome, he has a goal to try to not only play the song, but play it at the correct tempo. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be a huge goal for Trevor to keep playing it and practicing it until he can play it for his teacher at his next lesson. I wouldn't even be surprised if he goes over his allotted practice time, it actually appears fun to him. Score one for mom and Trevor :-)

There went another week

2011-01-15T10:01:00.002-06:00

A crazy week at that. I had thought the day that I brought Gwen to the other room at preschool that I would have time to get some things done, or simply rest at home. Not so. This week was a typical week in that the kids had school on their normal days, we had Trevor's first piano lesson, Gwen had dance lessons, and both kids had swimming lessons. It wasn't that so much that made me feel busy, but then add to that a few "extra" events, Norwex party, Gwen in the other room at preschool, Trevor's school had a fundraiser event that I helped organize, and a Gopher Basketball game.

Looking back, most of these events went very smoothly, but put together it made for a very hectic week. Then throw in the fact that we have had toilet issues to add to the mess. Thankfully those problems are solved for the time being but when it rains, it pours.

Gwen went to the childcare portion of her preschool with huge excitement. When I came to pick her up 3 1/2 hours later, she was beside herself as I'm sure she was a flood of emotions at meeting all the new people, playing with all the toys, and learning an all-new routine. Then the next day she had preschool in her usual fashion. But when I picked her up on Wednesday, she really was not sure how she was supposed to feel and burst out crying when she saw me, but made sure I understood she had a great time.

Later that same day we went to Trevor's school for a Magic Show. It was a fun event to watch and hear the kid's reactions. After next week, with one more event the Fall Fundraiser will finally be complete. Just in time to think about signing next school year's contract. Word to the wise: Do not believe a "simple" committee is any less work than a "complex" one and that even a well run and documented committee takes many hours to keep up with organizing and responding to people's questions even months after the event takes place. Hopefully with my one year of experience under my belt next year will run more smoothly and I can plan the event and my part of it better.

Dance lessons for Gwen, also that night went a bit smoother than last week. I think Gwen is testing a little bit, the teacher's boundaries in what she is having the kids do, but I was glad to see that Gwen got her sticker for being a good listener and I hear their spring recital costumes come in March, so I'll be interested to see what she thinks of that outfit. I have a hard time believing that she will not want to open it right up and have it become part of her princess wardrobe.

On to Trevor's first piano lessons. He has been assigned to a young male teacher, who seems to be pretty laid back. But also does a very good job of listening and trying to gauge Trevor's tolerance for learning. I think it is hard for Trevor to understand, and me to tell him what to expect when neither of us knows exactly what is going to happen. I was able to do some cleaning while the guys were practicing the piano during the lesson but still able to hear what the lesson was teaching Trevor. I completely remember some of the exact same lessons. His teacher told him that he needs to practice 15 minutes a day on the days that he does not have a lesson. I'm happy to have heard that he specified that to Trevor and it is such an easy thing to add to our routine of also having to read for school before he gets any of his Nintendo time. He had his first practice time, but I wasn't able to sit down with him and I think he instead of practicing what he was learning, he tried to attempt a quick song I taught him as his practicing time. So from now on, I think I'm going to have to make sure he at least gets started on a good spot to practice.

So then Thursday evening, Russ and I headed out to the Gopher Basketball game against Purdue. It was a very well-played game, and we got a lot of commentary from older gentlemen about how the gophers were playing that game and during the rest of the season. I will go on another date night with my son on Sunday to another basketball game, this time against Iowa.

Moving to Friday, it was supposed to be low key day. Laundry should have been the most exciting event of the day, however with Gwen still battling yet another cold, I figured it was time she got checked out, just to rule out a lingering issue. Sure enough, she had an ear infection. The last one she had in September, she screamed to me that her ear hurt. This one was a complete puzzle other than the cold and lack of eating. Regardless, it is time she got better as I would like at least a few days or maybe even a week of a healthy household. I even disinfected both of the kids' rooms as a request of my mom's but I wonder if I did it too early or something. At least soon I'll be getting some reinforcing cleaning products soon from the Norwex party earlier that week.

So this week, Trevor doesn't have school on Monday, but we still have a pretty normal schedule. Hopefully it will be a better adjusted week. Maybe....I can keep hoping.

A New Year, a New Schedule

2011-01-06T10:31:00.002-06:00

Well, I knew the time would come where I was beginning to feel like I'm getting the kids involved in a lot...perhaps too much....of activities. However, I believe one of my strengths is the ability to plan and be organized. There are some times of the day and week where I consider it very close to non-negotiable. I also take great care to try to avoid activities being scheduled for the same kid back-to-back on a continual basis. There are also things that I can tell the kids would love to do, or get a lot of benefit out of, so I have to weigh all my options before diving in to activities.

Unfortunately, the new year has not exactly gotten off to the stellar start that I would have hoped. Trevor, then myself, and then Gwen all came down with a bad head cold as we were coming home from our trip to the lake house. Trevor did not go to school on Monday or Tuesday and seemed a little sad because of it. It makes me feel good that he is at the point where he does like to go to school. I took him in to the doctor, just to make sure everything was ok, and two doctors checked out his lungs and said that it had the soundings of beginning pneumonia. He had not had a fever of 100.4 or higher, so he could still go to school, although his energy level was why I was keeping him home, not because of a fever, and he did not wheeze, but that I was welcome to have Trevor go down for a chest x-ray. If I would rather, I could also wait for a few more days to see if he could fight it off himself, or not. The third option, which I chose was to give him an antibiotic because if it did become pneumonia, that is what they would give him anyway. With the option of either letting him get worse, or helping him get better, I decided to help him get better. That was on Monday. He still did not go to school on Tuesday because he was up a good part of the night coughing and didn't get enough rest.

Gwen did catch a cold, but it wasn't bad enough for her to be up at night, or have a fever, so she did get to go to school on Tuesday. So then I decided during that day to call and see what kind of new activities the kids could get in to. Right now we do have hockey for Trevor and swimming for both of the kids. I found a close and reasonably priced dance studio for Gwen to take lessons at which started on Wednesday afternoon. It is a half hour lesson for both tap and ballet. I washed all of her clothes that I picked up at Target, and when Wednesday came, she was so excited to know that she could put all of it on and do her dancing that I promised her after we picked up Trevor from school she could put it on. When she got all the gear on, she was in heaven. The smile on her face was heartwarming. During class, I found it interesting that she actually enjoyed the tap part more because the class was going to perform a show with their tap shoes at the end of the month. I did not sign her up for that show. However, I did get her signed up for the spring recital on our Anniversary weekend. I have a feeling when that costume comes in, it will be added to her wardrobe of princess dresses.

The other thing that I found was for Trevor. There was a daily deal for in-home piano lessons, so I took advantage and called to schedule that session. Those start next Thursday for a half hour. I explained it to Trevor, and he seemed skeptical. He has always loved his own playing of the piano, but I don't think he has ever understood that taking lessons would lead you to being able to play songs that you recognize and like. A few days ago, I showed him an easy song on the black keys of Mary Had a Little Lamb and since then that is what he wants to practice. I think he thinks he needs to be able to show his teacher that he knows a song on the piano. I really like this option because it is during a time when it won't interfere with other activities and we don't have to go anywhere. Perhaps it will even make me keep my house cleaner than usual.

The third and final change to our schedule is something I promised Gwen. At her preschool, they also have a childcare room. Gwen has been asking to go in there forever. They have guinea pigs, different toys, and get to eat lunch as well. So during the time when my mom is not able to come over on Wednesdays, Gwen will be going into the childcare room at preschool. I'll have another four hours to do things for myself on Wednesdays.

So big changes for our family are coming this year. Hopefully everyone enjoys their new activities.

Our Four Christmases

2011-01-02T13:54:00.002-06:00

I believe the last time I posted was to say that Trevor's final day of school was done before the Holiday break. He said that he had 12 days off of school and I asked him if he felt like it was a long time. He said that he did think it was a long time. Coming back from our New Years celebration and driving past his school, explaining that he was going back there in two more days, I again asked him if he felt like 12 days had past. He said no, he felt like he still had 12 days to go. I completely agree....our 12 days have flown by, mostly because we have been able to have multiple celebrations and such exciting events for the kids that it really hasn't seemed like much time has passed at all.

Our first Christmas was kicked off on Christmas Eve with Trevor waking me up a little after 5am. He totally had me fooled because I don't always look at the clock when he gets up. I explain he can go back and play in his room until I come to get him or he could go downstairs. After he decided to go downstairs, I then checked the clock. Our rules are not to go downstairs until after 7:00. I knew how he felt however, as I had been known to wake up extra early on Christmas morning because I was so excited. With his being allowed to bring down the donkey for Christmas Eve church service and the fact that our Christmases started that evening, he was the same way as I was, way back then. And asking him to try to go back to sleep was useless.

We went to church, enjoyed Trevor showing his donkey to the congregation and pose for his picture, and then he crashed. I had hoped that he would make it to the car so he could rest for a little longer, but I guess he took what he needed. Gwen was a hoot to have in church too as she would hear the priest talk about Jesus and want to chime in. They were learning about him in Preschool so she was quick to cue into the service being about Jesus.

We went from church to Grandma's house. We had our yummy dinner followed by the opening of gifts. It is always fun to start out the Christmases with them as I have for over 10 years now. We head home so that we can beat Santa home and put the kids to bed. Santa got some milk and cookies before the kids rushed upstairs to go to bed. I was interested to see if Trevor would pull another early morning the next day, but he didn't. Simply up at his usual time, a few minutes before 7. We waited until 7 to wake up Gwen who was really sad to learn that she didn't get to see Santa. She said she wanted to give him a hug. What a sweetheart. We then got downstairs and saw the kids' joy of celebrating Christmas in our own house. Especially given the fact that Gwen really didn't know what to make of it all. I will bet that she made a lot of good memories for next year.

We then made the trip out to Bubba and Papa's house for the third Christmas and my birthday. As is tradition, Christmas is celebrated first, followed by my birthday. The boys and kids got to go outside for a little playtime in the snow and I got to enjoy peace and quiet for a few moments. It was a good birthday surrounded by great family. Thanks to everyone for making it special.

Our fourth Christmas happened the next day, where we had more gifts and dinner at Grampa's house. We were so blessed to be able to spend that dinner with Great Grandma too. The kids got treated to ice skating after dinner which they really enjoyed.

From that point on, we have had random hockey practices, dinners, and a trip to the lake house before Bubba and Papa head to Florida. I just finished taking down our Christmas decorations so we are ready to head to school tomorrow. I'm also looking at starting Gwen on dance lessons and Trevor with piano lessons. It may just be a busy year for us, but it will be great. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new year brings us all!

And that brings us to Winter Break

2010-12-22T15:45:00.002-06:00

Trevor just got out of school and that starts his Winter Break. He's obviously very excited for being so close to Christmas but this past week has been very interesting as well. Last Thursday we went to the golf course where they had a Santa Bingo night. We had dinner there because kids eat free! Yay!

I had never stayed for Bingo before, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. They had one of their staff who had dressed up as santa. Her name was Brooke, and Trevor right away was asking why it was a fake santa. Gwen still says it is a girl if you ask her. There were some real ringers playing the game as they did charge $3 a card, and some people had 3 people each with 6 cards each. But we actually won a game. The kids decided to pick out a tiny billiard table. And they would not be talked out of it. Gwen wasn't really into the game after the first one, so we decided to leave before the game was done.

Saturday, I was able to get out to go bridesmaid dress shopping with my soon to be sister-in-law, in-law. Or however that works out. It was so nice to be out away from the kiddos. I even bought myself clothes. I seriously don't think that has happened before in years. It was very peaceful and nice to be out with an adult and not have to talk about the kids even. Now if I can find time soon for Russ and I, I'll be set!

Sunday Trevor, my mom and I went to the performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I don't remember the exact year I saw it with Donny Osmond, but it was another great show. Trevor said he enjoyed it as well. We had great seats for viewing, but not great seats to catch the streamers that were thrown at the end. It was very nice to get to see that story again and start a new tradition with my own son.

Monday was almost a typical day. Gwen didn't have school for the rest of the week, but we were able to hang out and organize the house a little bit.

Tuesday, I went over to visit Ethan and Kelsey while Gwen was at my mom's house. He's at the cooing-smiling age, and very fun! Yet I was able to hold him while he slept too, which really works for me!

Tuesday evening was our Benihana birthday dinner for me. It. was. awesome. We sat at a table with 3 other people, one of whom was a boy, the same age as Trevor. They yelled across the grill at each other for a lot of the dinner, Gwen was actually mesmerized by the chef and ate a bunch of shrimp with shrimp sauce for the first time. It was a chunk of change like it always is, but when you use the big coupon they give you for your birthday, it was well worth it!

Also Tuesday evening was the end of my school term. I am not sure of my grades yet, but I'm happy to have them done. It was a big "to-do" off my list when Wednesday morning came.

And now today, Wednesday, I helped out with Trevor's class party. I was in charge of the games so I organized snowman bowling and pin the carrot nose on the snowman. It seemed to be a big hit and it was fun to see the dynamic of the class. Trevor decided he wanted to get all spiffed up for the party and asked me to do the same. I tell you, that Trevor is a pretty cool kid when he wants to be. I'm pretty sure he's off Santa's naughty list this year.

So now the real craziness begins. Trevor has 12 days off from school, hopefully we won't be driving everyone crazy. I have started to use helpful hints of the book called "Siblings without Rivalry". It's all about how to encourage good relationships between siblings and promote your own feelings about the kids in a more positive manner. Gwen of course is fighting me the whole way, but I think the kids really are starting to work together more often than they used to.

Case in point, this week Trevor came up with an idea of feeding all of Gwen's baby dolls. She has recently gotten two princess babies as rewards for potty training. These dolls came with musical bottles. So it works out since that each of them can have a baby bottle and feed all dozen or so baby dolls that they have lined up on the couch. HA Trevor, if only that were so easy, although thankfully I've never had to take care of more than one bottle-feeding baby at a time. Anyway, I was quite surprised when the next morning, Trevor asked Gwen if they could feed the babies again. They also like to play a delivery game with the train setup around the Christmas tree. They each sit on one end of the tracks and put an object to be delivered to the other side of the tracks. I know it isn't probably related to my changing habits, but I'm going to try to promote any group activities for the kids that I can so that maybe they can always have a playmate. Who knows in this parenting thing....

The Big Snowstorm

2010-12-14T22:07:00.003-06:00

I guess I need to record something about the giant snowfall and blizzard that we had last Saturday. It amazes me that although I can get through a week or so of having the kids home because of breaks from school, one day where we could not really go anywhere as everyone was confined to the house, and it seemed like everyone got the crazies.

As luck would have it, Russ was scheduled to touch down from his return flight to Minneapolis around 1:45 or so. On Friday, I emailed him a story about the projected weather for Saturday. Thankfully he knew he wouldn't have to wait for that Saturday flight in order to get his work done. So, he decided to call Delta to see if he could go standby on the flight that left California at midnight. They said that it would require a change fee because his flight was still on time. After he had checked with his company to make sure it was ok to change his flight, and then called back, strangely enough his flight for the next day was delayed 15 minutes. By their definitions, the flight status had changed, so he could change flights without a charge. The flight was slightly late taking off, but it arrived only a half hour later than scheduled here in Minneapolis at 6:15 or so. It had snowed a few inches, but he still got a taxi and made it home a little after 7:00. The next flight due in from California missed the airport closing by 15 minutes and was re-routed to South Dakota. Russ's original flight was then cancelled.

Trevor's basketball was cancelled on Friday, and hockey was also cancelled during the day. So we were all stuck in the house for the day. I did my gingersnap cookie baking for the family that day. They are all gone as of today. I stuffed my Christmas cards and wrote our Christmas letter. I tried to get all the last online orders I could that day as well as some homework for school.

In the end, what really amazes me is the plowed, drifted, and huge piles of snow. I remember them when I was younger, but I don't think there has been this much snow this early for a very long time. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that the grass will remain hidden now for the next three months at least. It sure does make for a long winter.

A Giant up and down week

2010-12-11T09:54:00.003-06:00

Thankfully the week is ending on an up swing, but it was a crazy week here. We were planning on Gwen's preschool program on Wednesday night, swimming lessons on Tuesday night, but things quickly became more busy as the week went on. Gwen's program was great, she made it through the entire 30 minute-or-so portion of the kids program. There were the older preschool program and 3 kindergarten kids that also go to school there involved in singing. Gwen was front and center for all the world to watch as she did the typical waving, dancing, and fidgeting as is a typical 3 year old. She even called out to Trevor and I on occasion during a song or two. Guess that must be a hereditary thing as well.

On that very same day, Trevor lost his first upper tooth. While Trevor has always talked about all of his loose teeth, this one really came out quick compared to all the wiggling that he had done with previous teeth. It came out over the course of three spoonfuls of Cheerios. He was totally excited that he would get to put a tooth sticker on a chart for December in his classroom. Additionally, he came home that day with enough stickers to finish his sticker chart in order to go to a water park. Later that night, Russ had to rush out to California on business for the rest of the week. It was a shorter week than usual as he was planning on being back on Saturday.

Then on Thursday, it all went downhill. Actually, it was all isolated to one event, but after the great high of the previous day, I took it pretty hard. At 2:45 I got a call from Trevor's school that he had to sit in the "quiet room" based on an incident on the playground. Trevor then got on the phone and explained that he had punched a girl in the stomach. He also quickly noted that he lost all of his stickers. I was able to keep it together with him in order to understand that he had apologized to the girl, and that he was pretty devastated after he did it. But after his teacher called me that afternoon to answer any questions I might have, it really hit me. Boy did I feel like the world's biggest failure. I understand that it was a choice that Trevor decided to make, and that since that time a big light bulb finally went on in his head, but the big hit that I felt was just a big deflation after the great day we all had the previous day.

Friday came and went without incident. Trevor drew an apology card to the girl and we decided not to allow him back out for recess that day. He instead spent the time reading a book in the lunchroom by himself. We will be continuing to discuss his thoughts and choices he needs to be making, but it was pretty obvious from our continuing talks that he is pretty shaken by what happened. I guess I am happy at his reaction for this whole thing, he didn't claim that what he did was justified. He feels horrible for it. And from what I understand, he isn't at the age yet to completely control all of his quick responses to situations. But of course none of this justifies anything. We are trying to find more and more ways to make up for the act. I think next up is to take some of his money and buy a gift to donate to Toys For Tots at his school. He came home on Friday to show me that he got three of his stickers back because he had a perfect report.

Because of the impending blizzard I told Russ he might want to consider coming home on an earlier flight. Because his flight was already delayed, that was able to allow him to switch flights free of charge, and actually be booked, not on standby. He arrived home at 7am this morning, well before the blizzard conditions. Hence the upswing of the week. I'm pretty sure we'll be confining ourselves to the house today.

A New Tree

2010-12-06T15:48:00.002-06:00

I guess I will still have a few surprises in store for the years to come. Through the past few days, a lot of things have happened that make me want to write them down and remember them. Last year, our Little People Nativity set was used mostly by Trevor, or at least in the year's previous, but this year, it was all about a new "house" for Gwen. We have a 2ft tall Fisher Price Dollhouse, that was a quick grab for $1 at a garage sale 3 years ago. The family that lives there is our family, with Elizabeth and baby Sam as the additional kids in the family. We have a Little People dollhouse that is used by any other dolls or figures that appear in the house. They can be princesses, little people from various toys, like we have a carnival playset and Noah's ark. We have two castles for the small princess dolls. Yet she still loves to have anything that might be like a house used as one, hence the excitement with the nativity set. She is learning about baby Jesus in preschool and Mommy Mary and the angel but the animals seem to travel among the houses. I remember when the nativity was used for Lightning McQueen and his friends.

On Saturday, we went to our usual tree place, and I was quite unhappy with the selection. We have a vaulted ceiling so we can and do usually get an 8ft + tree. I was surprised not just at the lack of height in trees, but usually I can find a few that have a good girth to them. Not so this year. Pretty much all of them I could wrap my arms around no problem. The one we got is no exception, but I guess it is better than some of the ones I saw. I did also settle for the 7ft one, so I did save about $20 on what I usually get.

Sunday after church we decorated the tree. Gwen had found the Cinderella doll-like ornament when I brought all the Christmas stuff upstairs and had been playing with her like a doll. Except after a while I think she realized that she wasn't meant to be as a doll because she didn't have any legs. After that experience, I figured that a lot of the ornaments she would see would become dolls, similar to how Trevor had played with all vehicles and toys that he liked to play with, rather than put them on the tree.

Not so: she loved opening all the boxes for the ornaments and having me put them on the tree. She didn't care at all to play with them and keep them off the tree. Trevor's annual tradition has continued though. All of his Star Wars ships, Luke, and Toy Story ornaments are not on the tree because he would rather play with them. I tired to sneak one on, but he found it and took it off the tree. As if that weren't enough, the ornaments he does play with he will put them on the tree, not as ornaments but as if they are hiding. I guess the tree is part of the game now. So other "ornaments" are now on the tree. He has lego ships on branches, our Super Why vehicles, and even a Luke figure that he got for his birthday that looks identical to the ornament we have of Luke.

Gwen, on the other hand takes or asks to have ornaments taken down to be played with and then put back on the tree. Her favorite are: what looks like a wedding topper with Russ and my anniversary date written on it, a stuffed crocheted Christmas tree in the shape of a small rectangle that Gwen uses as a pillow for her dolls, and my dried clay figure of when I graduated from High School in 1996 - she calls it the red doll. She does not bring these upstairs, and once she is done she asks to have them put back on the tree. She will also spend time just looking at the ornaments she can identify and talking about them: Look, that's Trevor with his nuk from when he was a baby. That's Mrs. Potato Head. That's my name with a crown and a princess.

One other tradition that has been recently re-started is Elf on a Shelf. For those of you that don't know, you can buy a book with this elf that sits on a shelf in your house. Once you name him, he travels to Santa each night to report to him how the children in the house have been. On Christmas Eve he reports for the last time and does not reappear until the next year. Last year was our first year, and Trevor named our elf Frankincense. We weren't sure when he was going to reappear, but he did right after we got our tree. New to our tradition is that Trevor has been giving Frankincense a piece of chocolate from his advent calendar to eat every night. I don't think he understands the concept of bribery yet but I do wonder if he thinks it will get him better reports.....

Then on Sunday afternoon we went as a family to watch the movie Tangled. Very well done movie. The kids would have done fine but they each had their own bathroom break during the movie. Gwen asked me today if we could watch it again, so I know she liked it. Plus her miniature Rapunzel doll has a whole new life which she can reenact. Trevor thought he wouldn't like it because the main male character is sort of a bad guy, but he said afterwards he was going to be unhappy if he would have died, but otherwise I think he did like it.

So that's it for now. Less than 3 weeks to go! I have to start checking things off my list!

He's 7 and it's Christmastime!

2010-12-02T13:11:00.002-06:00

Wow...I had no idea this weekend was going to take so much out of me. For some reason I was so on top of Thanksgiving, I thought that I could handle Trevor's birthday just the same. Not so. Compared to Thanksgiving, I was a disaster. I forgot to get half of the things we needed for the party, the cake fell apart, and because it was on a Saturday, there wasn't a whole lot to do. It seemed as though Trevor didn't notice, because he seemed to have a good time regardless. We were able to watch Toy Story 3 and some of our guests had to leave early. Russ got the kids ready for bed before he had to leave, and although it was 7:30, both kids asked to get to bed. Usually, Trevor asks me to read stories up until 9:00 if not later, but when I was done a little before 8:30, he didn't complain at all. I guess everyone was a little tired from the busy weekend.

The day after Trevor's birthday is usually the day we bring up Christmas decorations. We won't be getting the tree for another week or so, but I still get the movies, CD's, stockings, and toys out. It was a very different feeling from last year. Trevor was all gung-ho about getting the stuff out, and this year he seemed almost bored by it all. Maybe because the books are now too young for him, and the Little People Nativity set is really too young for him. I have a feeling when we get the tree out and decorated, it might be more of the same for him. Gwen loves to look at any Christmas tree decorations, and I remember last year how she loved to give me all of the decorations, one by one. Trevor likes to look at them, but doesn't really care a whole lot about getting them on the tree.

It seemed to be a little better with the turning of the calendar. Perhaps a little chocolate motivation was needed. Gwen keeps asking if she can have more chocolate, and the kids seem to be ok switching off with our Mickey Mouse Christmas Calendar.

I do have to admit I have found my weakness this season. Last year and this year we are using amazon's wish list for our Christmas wishes. I keep getting notifications for a free amazon prime trial, so I figured I'd try it this year. I never thought about it, but they often price match with Target, and they don't charge sales tax, plus free two-day shipping with this trial membership. I think I've ordered at least 8 or 9 different orders. It ROCKS.

On a slightly different note, I believe my 38 month old daughter is completely day-time potty trained! I knew it was all about letting her do it herself, and motivating her with sticker charts, and she has done it. Gotta love the decreased cost of diapers about to head into the house, or at least be dramatically less.

So it has been quite the busy time. I only have 3 more weeks of classes then this session is done. And I will be very close to being done. Hopefully I will be able to organize the house like I want it to be. Maybe there can be a light at the end of the tunnel!

It's another new year

2010-11-27T08:19:00.004-06:00

Another new year in the life of Trevor. Dearest Trevor, how you have changed the lives of so many people just by being you. While it hasn't always been simple, and it has often been something I, as a parent, have to sort my way through because it is a whole new experience for me; I have loved watching you grow to become the little man you are quickly becoming. It is one of my favorite events to watch you have a huge glow of excitement coupled with quick jumping and wrist flapping at the things that make you happy. One of your most favorite activities is anything social. You love baseball, playing with your best friend, or having people over for one of your events.

I love that you are inherently helpful and I will continue to use that to my advantage. I know it makes both our hearts sing when you can do something for someone else and gain the pride from doing it. I love that you love to read and have finally found a series of books to read. I love that your school has programs that fit your learning style and your teacher has helped tremendously in working to make your experience the best possible. I love that you are always noted as a kind and caring person to other classmates.

Although some may think it is strange, I also love that I know you well enough to know what you are thinking most of the time. This is the first school year that you are gone all day, and I have been a little sad by that, but like I mentioned, it is wonderful so see and hear about all the things you are learning and enjoy doing. Maybe genetics has a lot to do with temperment and spending so much time together in the early years is working in our favor.

I love your love of video games and games in general. Your love of baseball is very apparent even at this age, and I know it is going to be something you will be thinking about or doing for a long time. As soon as it was done in October, you were asking when spring training started and when opening day is. You love to make baseball lineups, not with family but various celebrity (by your standards). Yes, most of the people are Twins players, but then you'll throw in Obama and Tiger Woods into the mix as well.

You memory is fantastic, and I suppose it can be detrimental on some occasions, it is another way you can get excited. You ask questions on more than one occasion about what I like, not because you don't remember but you want to find some way to make it happen so I will be happy. You know that I hate the cold and snow, but want to remind me that my birthday and Christmas are in the winter so that has to be good for something.

And it is with that that I shall say, Happy 7th Birthday Trevor! I can't wait to experience all your jumping wrist flapping that you have planned for today. It is your special day.

Thanks-giving

2010-11-27T00:11:00.003-06:00

As this part of our season comes to a close, I am remembering all the things to be thankful for this year. Health, happiness, family, financial stability, preparing for the future, vacations, warm weather thoughts right about now. It was a very happy Thanksgiving here at our house. We host it every year, and invite everyone to come, and people who are able to make it do. Of course with Trevor's birthday either on or nearby, it can be a lot to ask people to do both Thanksgiving and his birthday at our place. But we are thankful to not have to split Thanksgivings ourselves. There was a time many years ago where that is what we would have to do.

I was also able to not feel very rushed as I'm beginning to really get down the rhythm of things that need to get done and the timing of it all. Other than cleaning and buying all the ingredients, I don't really do a lot of prep work. I finally feel confident to pull it all together. I wonder if that's a signal to getting older.

I was also able to get out early with a friend this morning for the Black Friday deals. Usually I don't go unless I have a specific must have deal in mind. Next year, if this becomes a tradition, I think I'll wait and plan for more gifts. There were some great deals if I wanted to get them, but I felt like I had the gifts covered already. We were in line when Target opened at 4am, which was at least an hour earlier than previous years. It wasn't crazy, like pushing people over, but it was very busy and the line wrapped around two buildings.

We went to two other stores before getting too tuckered out. Gwen didn't sleep well the night previously and I wasn't able to get much sleep as a result. But I did get a nap when I got home. But now starts the new season. Trevor has his birthday and then we formally celebrate the coming of Christmas. Although Gwen's birthday is "first", Trevor's birthday kicks off Christmas and I think he likes that as part of his birthday.

Hope all my friends and family had a wonderful day and knows how thankful I am to have everyone in our lives.

There went another week

2010-11-22T20:37:00.004-06:00

Those of you that are keeping track, we are now less than 5 weeks from Christmas. I suppose I better get ordering/shopping or whatever it is I am going to do. I think it is hard for me to get motivated before Thanksgiving. Maybe this year is an exception because with Trevor's birthday I kind of have to plan out what to get for his birthday and what to save for Christmas.

Anyway, the weekend was crazy busy with hockey, basketball, the kids got to see Curious George the live action show, and then we had a birthday party as well. Because both kids were busy at the show on Saturday I actually got a lot of organizing and cleaning and homework done. I'll have to remember that. Usually when the kids are gone, we have an event to go to, so nothing still gets done around the house. But this weekend was the exception. I actually feel pretty good about the condition of the house right now. Granted, I'm not even touching the family room or the kitchen until Wednesday because the kids would destroy it again before Thursday anyway.

And that brings me to a new event. I was actually able to get Trevor to vacuum for me. I explained that tonight we were going to clean and that everyone had to pitch in. I was pretty sure that Gwen would do the opposite of cleaning up, but I had to give her a job, to keep it fair. Trevor's job was to dust and vacuum both sets of stairs. We have a loud but small hand held vacuum for doing stairs that I have used for many years. While I'm sure the dyson we have works better, I knew he couldn't handle the big thing. Luckily the hand held has a lower and higher setting, so at least he could tolerate the lower setting. I knew I was going to have to show him exactly what he had to do with the vacuum but he did it to perfection. He didn't whip through it like some people do, he took his time and got through it all, and they look great. I was able to clean up the laundry room in the mean time.

I think I can safely say, he can start doing some real chores now. He has liked to clean his room, probably because it doesn't really ever get all that messy. Actually, he has never really been a messy kid, perhaps because he doesn't really own that much stuff, or I get rid of it really quick. But what ever the reason, I'll take his thoroughness in cleaning and enjoying to the point of not complaining. And NO, he is not for hire because I don't want to ruin this for us. Even offering him money does no good because he thinks he has so much money he needs to give it away. He won a small chuck-a-puck game this weekend and was trying to give it to me because he knew I had to buy birthday presents for him. Did I mention he is impossible to buy gifts for because he doesn't want anything? I'm all out of ideas for this kid. We'll see how we make it through this week.

What a wonderful day

2010-11-15T22:42:00.002-06:00

Well, we are on the downside of a bump....I can feel it. Gwen has been clingy and upset for a while now and I think she is slowly getting over it. Usually our Mondays are pretty low key, and that my only for sure plan is to go to the grocery store. I was able to get through the entire store and picked up everything on my list, so I can say I'm ready to start the Thanksgiving Day planning. Gwen did a great job as always, and as long as Trevor isn't nearby she can stay still for quite a while, especially with the bribe of a free cookie.

When we got home, she played in the car for a while, and I started to unpack the groceries. I also do the laundry on Mondays, so that was something I was also keeping an eye on. She asked to play Candy Land while I was in the middle of unpacking, so I asked her if I could finish unpacking, change the laundry and I would play with her. I got the box down so she could set it up for us.

As soon as I came into the room, she knew we were ready to go. I know she had previously played the game with my mom, although I don't know how "by the rules" they played it. So I tried to teach it to her, and she picked it right up! I got stuck in the molasses, and I picked the beginning candy, in this one a plum, right towards the end, so I had no chance. I explained that you are just trying to get to the end, which again in this game is a castle. She never cared if she was winning, and waited for me to finish after she was done. It is so nice to think of her starting to play the little kid games! I'm sure Hi Ho Cherry O is next, but for now, she still has the gingerbread guys out and playing in the Cinderella Castle or laying down in the bed (because every toy quickly becomes a doll family accessory, don't you know?).

That and now that she can do every 24 piece puzzle we have, by herself, has just shocked me into believing that she is quickly growing up. But what is even more amazing, after I spent the time playing Candy Land with her, she pretty much let me clean the rest of the house. That is a wonderful thing, when I get to do that. I'm pretty good (or should I say bad about the housework) about putting down the unimportant housework and playing with Gwen when she wants to, but that leads to a pretty messy house.

So what a wonderful surprise today turned out to be. Thanks Gwen! It was a heart warming and successful cleaning day for me!

Is it a funny story? To me anyway...

2010-11-11T17:36:00.003-06:00

Seeing as this blog is meant to be a reference for the kids someday, I suppose they deserve to hear the story of how Russ and I met. I am taking a slight risk since there are other people involved that I am currently friends with on facebook and this does get published on facebook, so hopefully I don't step on anyone's toes.

Russ and I have talked about this enough to know each other's viewpoints on the situation which is why to us it is slightly funny. He was a junior in high school, I was a senior. Neither one of us were looking for a relationship, let alone trying out for husband/wife material. Russ's best friend and my good friend were currently dating, and both friends asked us to come along on a sort-of meeting, date, whatever you want to call it. I just thought I was coming to go to watch a cross country meet. I also wasn't sure what my "role" was because I got the impression that it wasn't really a set-up situation, more just a bunch of people getting together.

By the end of the night, I was practically begging my friend to go back so we could hang out again. We ended up circling the parking lot trying to figure out which apartment complex they were in because we weren't exactly sure. Remember, this was way before the time kids had cell phones.

I guess what really strikes me is how un-set-up the set-up was, and how neither of us was really going into the evening expecting to come out of it with a serious relationship, let alone find our life partners. It just goes to show, finding things comes when you least expect it.

Do you remember what you were doing?

2010-11-11T09:38:00.004-06:00

15 years ago? I do. I just happened to be meeting my future husband and wonderful father to my two beautiful children. While we don't ever plan anything for our pseudo-anniversary, I do think it is always nice to remember the date and always laugh about the circumstances that we were brought together.

And also, because it seems to be a wonderful way to recognize and give thanks for all relationships, I give you:

The 11 reasons why I'm thankful to have such a wonderful husband that I do:
1. That you are able to provide for our family to the extent that I have the opportunity to stay and home and raise the children. It has been such an invaluable experience and while there were plenty of times that I was driven crazy through not enough adult-time, I wouldn't give it back for anything.
2. For your stubbornness. While disagreements can be tough on both sides, I do think that it has taught me to become more flexible and listening to another side of the story.
3. For your movie quoting ability. Something both kids have inherited which makes me giggle, although Gwen has also taken it to a different place in that she loves to memorize song lyrics.
4. For your sense of humor. My family knows you are good for your quick comebacks and memorable thoughts in a situation: Kettle, black and Remember baby Jesus to name a few.
5. For your intelligence. You are always going to be the parent to go to when the kids are in high school and have questions in history, english, social studies, science, and probably math. Although I'd like to try the math part since I did enjoy it. I'll take the music side of things when we get the kids in music lessons.
6. For your way with children. Both as a coach and as a parent, kids love to play with you. Must be that inner child or something.
7. For being a techie. I'm pretty sure the amount of money you have saved us by being able to fix things is at least a year's salary by now.
8. For loving nintendo like I do. While we may not agree on all the same games, at least I can try to kick your butt in Mario Kart or Super Mario Brothers once in a while. Not to say I win all that often, but I still like to try.
9. For being my partner if I am too sick or need to get something else done by taking the kids.
10. For being my golf partner. It is so much fun to share that time with you as I enjoy it - assuming we are in Hawaii, or a warm stretch in Florida or Minnesota.
11. For letting me be who I am - a disney nut job, accounting-loving, cheapskate mother of two. To steal a movie line, "you complete me" yet know not to change me and love me regardless. Only two more years and I will have known you for more than half my life (only one for you, you youngun :-)

Of course I could continue to go on and on with this list, but 11 being the lucky number here I will stop. I love you Russ.

You would think they would be more different

2010-11-09T07:45:00.002-06:00

Well yesterday was a busy day. Happily so, as nothing was too much, yet the day went by so fast because we had so much going on. Grocery store, playdate, closing on our refinance, getting Gwen's new dresser, playdate, and Gwen's preschool conference. In addition, it is nice to get some things done that needed to finally be over with. Our refinance started before Labor Day, and we closed in November. Wow.

And we went to Gwen's conference at her preschool. The kids were able to play in the childcare room where there are tons of toys, and the meeting was just 20 minutes. Now, I do have to remember that Gwen is going to preschool a year earlier than Trevor did, but really, just about everything that she was evaluated on, she came out just like Trevor. I guess there is something to say about the strong characteristics of nature and nurture. Gender and birth order don't have a whole lot to do with it, at least in our family. Wait, I do have to say that she was reported to be in love with their dress-up corner, and playing princesses and house. I can't say that Trevor was ever that into those things. He much preferred cars and blocks.

She is doing a great job learning to share, developing friendships, knowing her number relationships, and she is working on listening to instructions, and fine motor skills with cutting and drawing her name. She also is learning about her emotions and how to label them and deal with them. I guess that would be one other difference between her and Trevor. She is a lot more emotional quicker. At the conference, I hit a big light-bulb moment. I had been noticing that she had been a lot more whiny lately, even to the point of not wanting to talk about what she wanted, more cry about it. All you really can do in that situation is explain that I need her to tell me what is going on, that I cannot understand her when she cries. When her teacher said that she noticed it had increased in the last week or so, that is when the light bulb hit. While we don't have a new baby in our house, we do have a new baby in our extended family, and one that I have been lucky enough to spend a decent amount of time with, and Gwen knows that. I'm guessing that if we were to have a new baby in the house at this point, this behavior would only be many times worse. So her teacher noted that she would read some new baby books to see if maybe that may help her understand her feelings more. I'm very thankful that she can get this experience without me having to have another baby!

But bottom line, we were very pleased with both kids' conferences this year. So bring on the holidays!

I'm already behind

2010-11-06T07:55:00.004-05:00

We've had a pretty good week, and I've been meaning to post earlier this week, but haven't found the time. I'm already in my 4th week of classes (we have 10 weeks in class) and they are actually manageable. No more papers, which usually take up the most of my time. Trevor's school stuff is in process for being done. Maybe I can catch up a little on that during his and Gwen's two days off of school next week. But that is when our new furnace is coming and we are closing on our refinance. Blah.

We had a really good Halloween. A family friend threw a little party for everyone to say hi and see everyone's costumes. Then we could go off and do trick-or-treating. We decided to put a bowl of candy out so that we could head out with another family. Our immediate neighborhood isn't exactly filled with young kids so I figure it would be better if the kids could be out with someone they had fun with to enjoy the evening a bit more. We were only out for an hour or so. It did get a bit chilly and we got to see a pretty cool decorated house. We came back and also got to hand out candy to three groups of people. At which time I unloaded most of the rest of the candy. The kids did have fun unloading and organizing their stash, but since that time, they asked about having more candy the morning after and since then haven't said a peep. Trevor likes more types of candy than Gwen but because it is all out of sight, he doesn't really remember to ask about it and would prefer other snacks after school. I also have my favorite candy, but I don't even care about it enough to eat four or five pieces during the season.

Hopefully this weekend I can take down the Halloween decorations. 3 more weeks before we get out the Christmas decorations (the day after Trevor's birthday) and 7 more weeks until Christmas. Hopefully soon I'll start making my lists so I can search for good deals.

This past Tuesday was the kids first swimming lesson of the season. It was the first time Gwen was able to have her own swimming lesson. I never took her to parent/child swimming lessons, and I don't do them during the summer since we go swimming at the lake. When I started talking to her about lessons, she started to freak out a little bit. When I described them as games, she seemed a bit more willing to do them. I was also able to snag similar lesson times so that they both started at 4:00 and she got done at 4:30, and he got done at 4:40. I explained to Trevor's teacher that I couldn't come and get him because I was helping Gwen get ready. He seemed willing to help me get him into the locker room after his lesson.

When we got all ready for their lessons, I think I discovered that the part Gwen was more concerned about was that she thought I was going to leave her and go upstairs behind the glass to watch the lessons. Instead I sat on a ledge right next to the lessons so I could encourage her. She was a bit timid at first, but they had a belt and a noodle so she could try to swim on her own. There was one point where she swam all the way to the ladder and got out to walk over to the locker room. But then she got back in and kept going. I know she also got a kick out of going into the "warm pool" and found out she could touch. Hopefully, once she learns the routine, and understands what they actually do at her swimming lessons it will be easier for her. She did great for her first time. Trevor did his lesson and came back to the locker room when he was done. I'll have to talk to his teacher this week to see how he did.

I will admit that because I wanted the afternoon to go well, that I used McDonalds and watching Toy Story 3 as a bribe. It seemed to work, and I know based on past swimming lessons that Gwen was pretty tired afterwards. We'll have to wean them off of the bribes next week. Hopefully their swimming classes will continue to work out like this.

The end of the Birthday Month

2010-10-31T20:26:00.002-05:00

Well, I didn't get around to formally asking my mom if it was ok to post these things, but when I thought about it, I really couldn't come up with a reason why she wouldn't want me to post this. And since I posted the ones about my dad, it is only fitting that I post the ones I did for my mom. I also believe that affirming good thoughts keeps them coming. I'm sorry I didn't get these out on your actual birthday, but it was a birthday month, wasn't it? So happy birthday month mom!

Here are the 60 reasons why I love you:
1. For being Bubba
2. For keeping an eye on us kids by working at school
3. For being a stay-at-home mom
4. For being so close and open about your family
5. For trying the family meeting
6. For bringing us to the Children’s Theater
7. For making my birthday special
8. For being there to take care of Trevor when Russ and I were sick
9. For being a night owl
10. For the way you make chocolate chip cookies
11. For your love of late night games
12. For letting me see a little of your relationship with your mom
13. For helping me learn from your mistakes
14. For being involved at school as a chaperone for field trips
15. For helping organize and run events like the school carnival
16. For taking me school shopping every year for new clothes
17. For allowing me to date before I could drive
18. For teaching me how to sew
19. For teaching me how to cross-stitch
20. For letting me have my own boy-girl party
21. For not forcing me to do activities if I said I didn’t want to
22. For showing me the value of the Catholic religion
23. For the countless times you have cleaned my house
24. For praising me about what a good mom I try to be
25. For showing me through example that it is important to take time out for yourself
26. For sharing the time of being mother of the bride with me
27. For generally not showing dissatisfaction with any of the guys I dated
28. For not trying to live vicariously through me
29. For taking us on trips without dad
30. For standing in such outrageous lines to be on TV and getting me my own Cabbage Patch doll
31. For taking care of me whenever I was in the hospital, had surgery, or had major testing done
32. For shielding us from your and dad’s arguments
33. For finding ways to keep me learning in school
34. For piano/music lessons
35. For finding ways to continue “Grandma with glasses” traditions with her great-grandchildren
36. For participating in your grandchildren’s favorite activities (currently baseball and playing food)
37. For doing my hair all those years
38. For teaching me about family responsibility and how to clean (I really needed the teaching) through chores
39. For once-in-a-while breaking your own rules – for example food fights
40. For sewing and creating so many of my Halloween costumes
41. For teaching me about pets through Cleo, Corky, and then Rudy
42. For your love of reading and kids books
43. For your love of crossword puzzles
44. For making family videos
45. For the annual Christmas Cookie decorating complaining-fest
46. For organizing and allowing me to take trips by myself: Paris and Madison by train
47. For trusting me enough to let me babysit both inside and outside the home
48. You may not remember this, but letting me play with your jewelry and organize your underwear drawer
49. For taking care of your grandchildren during any previous or future Tiki Bar trips
50. For creating and reciting our evening prayer: “Now goodnight, Jesus sweet, let me kiss thy little feet
51. For singing us lullabies
52. For TV trays with TV dinners!
53. For donations during casino trips
54. For all your words of encouragement to me about being a good parent
55. For creating lunches like a beefstick sandwich
56. For your rice krispie treats
57. For your “love” of playdough yet providing us with toys in order to play with it
58. For your Orange Juliuses
59. For the way you decorate for major holidays
60. From Trevor: How kind and loving you are to people when they are hurt.

Also from Trevor: That you don’t kill people. That you tell us to back up when something is hot like the stove. You read to us a lot.

The story about the Trevor post was that he gave me such a good answer when I asked him what he loved about Bubba I thought I might add a few more. Except when he gave me the few more, I felt like they belonged more to him and didn't fit with my 60 reasons. So he got one, and a few added ideas.

We all love you so much Bubba!

8 weeks and counting

2010-10-30T19:15:00.004-05:00

Granted, counting as in I'm sure it will be here in less time....8 weeks from today is Christmas. 4 weeks and it is Trevor's birthday. Tomorrow is Halloween. As with all other retailers, I'm feeling like although most count the "holidays" as Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm thinking our "holiday season" kicks off with Halloween. The kids are already feeling the excitement of an upcoming holiday, even though I've never made a huge deal of Halloween. Last year Trevor was barely getting over the flu and he didn't get to go to the school Halloween party. I let him go trick-or-treating but he was finally on the mend. This year, we kicked it off with the school party last night and tomorrow is the big event. Pumpkins are being carved tonight and we will be bundling up to make the rounds tomorrow.

I've been meaning to include a little taste into the life of a first grader in our neighborhood elementary school. Someone decided to come up with something called "Cheese Touch". I have no idea how far reaching this game is, but I would guess that it actually might not be in other elementary schools in the area. I could be completely wrong though. Anyway, the Cheese Touch is kind of like a secret tag, probably done throughout the school day. If you are it, you are trying to give the cheese touch to other kids in school. Your first two fingers must be crossed and your thumb must be out when giving the cheese touch. If you don't want to be it, you must cross your own fingers before someone declares "Cheese Touch". Trevor knows all the rules, as I guess you can also declare that you are not playing in order to avoid it. Anyway, it is a good conversation starter with people that he doesn't go to school with and I love to hear about all the rules that may or may not be real. As long as no one is hurt by it, I think it is pretty cute.

And for those of you that were expecting other news when I was talking about 8 weeks...sorry to disappoint. Although I have heard similar news twice in the past two days! Congrats to those special people!

Pumpkin Patches

2010-10-22T07:46:00.002-05:00

As might have been mentioned previously, I am not exactly an outdoorsy person. My enjoyment outside is pretty much sitting in the sun on a hot day or golfing on an equally hot day. While I can think that the leaves do change beautiful colors in the fall, I am often more upset than anything because it means that summer is over and winter is coming quickly. Besides winter, I think that I also don't like fall because of the changing cooler weather, so I guess I'm a bit of a grump when it comes to fall activities. But as a mom, I know that it is much more important to get out and have your kids enjoy the activities in each of the seasons rather than sit in my grumpiness and make them unhappy too.

In this past week, I have been to a pumpkin patch twice. Two different locations, so it was fun to see the differences and what each of them had to offer, as I have not been to either before. On Sunday, we were able to head out to Minnetrista to the Minnetonka Orchards with Derek and Kyrsten. Although their pumpkin selection was a little picked over, the kids still got to enjoy the goats, corn maze, hay jumping, hay riding, and doughnuts. It was a fun afternoon and yes, a little chilly, but I did survive.

Then on Wednesday, Gwen had a field trip to a pumpkin patch in Shakopee. This location was actually someone's home that had the pumpkin patch, corn maze, face painting, hay ride, necklace making, and picking out your own pumpkins within their yard. It was nice to not have to walk such a distance to get from one thing to another and get too chilly. Again, the temperature was not as high as I wanted, but at least the sun made it a little warm.

Trevor has been off of school since Tuesday, and since Gwen has still had two days of school, it has been nice to chat with Trevor and spend some extra time with just him, not having to worry about homework or other "duties". We played some board games and got some more of his series books at the library.

Our family has slowly gotten back to healthy, although this cold bug was a doozy. I think everyone except Gwen has a lingering cough. Trevor just finished his antibiotics for his ear infection yesterday. Of course our house has suffered because of it. I just hope our neighbors don't disown us for our yard work. Perhaps that will be on the list of things to do today since it is going to rain all weekend.

And one last thought for all you planners. Did you know it is 9 weeks until Christmas? All those Black Friday ads are popping up, so you better start your shopping lists! I guess it is time to think about birthday gifts for Trevor.

TTFN!

I win!

2010-10-16T16:39:00.003-05:00

I have been wanting to do a pumpkin muffin of some kind for the past month or so. When I first wanted to do it, I went to our local grocery store only to find out there has been a shortage of canned pumpkin for the past two years. They do occasionally get shipments, but it is gone quickly. Well lo-and-behold, this past week, they got a big shipment in. I had no idea how much I would need for a batch of muffins, so I just picked up three cans. I hadn't even found a recipe to use at the time.

So I went too allrecipes.com and searched for pumpkin muffins. The one with the highest rating had was a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin. I looked down the list, and didn't see anything else I was looking for, so I figured I'd try it out. The recipe only makes a dozen, so I figured it was a good test. The recipe includes seasonings of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves so it really smells harvesty. When I opened the pumpkin can, immediately I was brought back to the time where I was making baby food. It smelled very similar to sweet potatoes. And each recipe called for less than a half a can of pumpkins. Guess I have a few recipes worth of canned pumpkin. But the real kicker is that both kids really enjoy them, I feel entirely good about letting them eat them for snack, and I have already made three batches. I'm getting quick at preparing them, so now that Russ has had one, I think the final verdict is that the entire family enjoys them. It is a great harvest snack, and if we really wanted to, I think I could omit the chocolate chips, but it gives them a nice kick.

So I'm stating, I WIN on this one. So rarely do my ventures into baking or cooking turn out well that it is the reason I rarely venture out to begin with.

On the other front, the family is slowly getting back to the healthy side of the spectrum. After 6 straight nights of coughing from Trevor, he only was coughing for a few minutes last night. Next week is 3 days off for school, but none for Gwen. I guess I'll be getting some alone time with Trevor. He has been really enjoying some of the recent books we have been reading.

An up and down week

2010-10-13T07:32:00.003-05:00

It is only Wednesday and it feels like it has been double that. I don't get what is up with Trevor and his cough. He got a cold starting on Friday and it has manifested itself in the form of a horrible hacking cough. The normal stand-by Delsym does not work and he was able to take a nap on Monday, but not since then. He wants to try to go back to school today, but I really wish his cough would hold up. Last night was no better than the other 4 nights. It is tough to think he's going to get better fast if he can't sleep well.

Gwen has probably the same thing but only coughs on rare occasions. She went to school yesterday and her spirits have been fine. I took Trevor to the doctor yesterday in hopes to get a cough suppressant but turns out they would rather give him a antibiotic for his ear infection that he hasn't been complaining about. While the doctor we saw did have kids, I have a hard time believing that they have been through things like this. Or I wonder if they are bound by some sort of statement by the company that they work for that they cannot suggest cough or cold medicine to children under age 12. But I'd love to see how many of these decision makers have children who go hours before being able to cough themselves to sleep.

A wonderful day was had on both Sunday and Monday earlier this week. Bubba had her big party and a nephew was born on Monday. Lots of early October birthdays in the extended family! I have to say that with the lack of sleep, it has been tough to keep my happy attitude, but I have explained to the kids that I do not have a lot of patience because I often wish that it was the end of the day so I can go to sleep. I don't necessarily know that it makes the kids behave any better, but I think it may make Trevor understand that I don't have a lot of tolerance for the normal bickering. I'm only human.

School starts again for me today with two classes, and I'm going to try to get as much done early as I can. We'll have to see how I pull that off. Time to start the day!

Absolutely amazing

2010-10-07T09:26:00.003-05:00

I really need to take time to be very thankful at the wonderful children we have been blessed with. There are times where I wonder what I am doing wrong, but after the past few days, I know I am remarkably blessed to have two wonderfully happy, healthy, and smart children. On Monday evening, we had Trevor's fall parent-teacher conference. It was a great change from last year where they had been doing conferences in November. Instead they wanted to get a jump start on evaluating and identifying goals to have for the whole year, rather than the last two-thirds.

I thought I had done a good job of filling out all questionnaires that the teacher sent home, and even emailed her making sure that I gave her suggestions on what helps Trevor learn, in terms of his behavior. Although his conference was 15 minutes, it was such a pleasant experience. In Kindergarten, it was kind of a nervous situation for me because I wasn't sure what I was doing, and wanted to see how best to help Trevor in a new situation. This year, it is not new, he knows what he is doing. It is a new teacher, but she is wonderful. He loves being able to see last year's teacher to say hi to her. Academically, he knows all the 1st grade sight words, and only did not know 2 of the 2nd grade sight words. He is challenged with his reading partner, and in math, they are doing timed tests. I'm excited to watch him grow with that. I remember we didn't do timed tests until 3rd grade. We are working on doing extra math homework when we feel like it. He is making good choices in his friends, and as I had the feeling, he really likes the 2nd graders in his class. His only behavior that would be nice to be changed is that if he gets antsy, he starts to want to move around. Totally normal for his age and his temperment. Unfortunately, it isn't a behavior that is something he can really control. It is more of a subconscious thing. So we keep asking about it to continue the reinforcement at home, but there really isn't anything that he is going to get into serious trouble doing. Such a relief!

As we were walking out, we saw his Kindergarten teacher and had a fun conversation with her. We told her how much better he is doing with his behavior and how she was much to credit for that. She said that she loves that he says hi to her every afternoon. And that when she too met with his teacher and tried to give her some hints as to what worked well with him last year, she quickly dismissed it because they were not having any similar issues this year. Who would have thought that he just needed to do some growing up this past year and it would all be behind us? This year is going to be much more fun for him. And we even have some suggested books for him and us to read at home. Anyone who has a similar aged child, check out the Magical Treehouse series. We are almost done with the first book and there are 40 more to go.

On to Gwen: We had her well-check on Tuesday. It tickled me a little bit to get a questionnaire about my concerns with her development, either physical or emotional. I couldn't think of a single one. I do know part of it has to do with her being a second child, but it is nice to be able to have her look forward to and learn about all the check-ups she will be getting. And look forward to them because she is a very healthy girl and isn't going to need shots for another year or so. She got her flu mist, and didn't put up a fight at all. Next I have to get Trevor in for his mist. The doctor and I chatted mostly about kids in school and how everyone was doing. Gwen got to have her first hearing and vision screening. It was pretty cute. She had no fear and got to wear silly glasses. I love that these visits can be quick and almost fun for her. Of course I forgot to ask about her measurements, but the doctor said she was right at 50% for both height and weight. I have a feeling we might have been a little off for her growth spurt. I think she is just about due for one.

My classes are done for this term. I have a week before they get going again. Thankfully I aced both classes no problem. Only three more classes to go. Then what? I'm not exactly sure. I'll have to look at contract-type work that I may be able to do from home. I would like to start making some income but on my own time. I'm not sure how available it will be for bookkeeping stuff, but maybe something else will fall into my lap.

I did want to say an extra-special thank you to everyone that attended the Gwendolyn Princess Party on Sunday. The presents have been extremely fruitful in occupying her time and imagination. Contrary to a family member's thoughts, I have a feeling we won't have any problem finding more things for her to play with come Christmastime.

It's time for the princess

2010-10-03T20:59:00.004-05:00

My darling Gwendolyn,
Who would have known that having a girl would have brought such completeness to this family. Three years ago today you entered the world and nothing has been the same since. This past year has been a year of growing, both physically and otherwise. Obviously your personality is really shining now. A few weeks ago we stumbled upon the home movies from when Trevor was in preschool. I know that everyone says it is hard to imagine life before kids, or even when your babies were babies, but wow. I always knew that you talked early, but I feel like I was a spectacular mind reader compared to everything you talk about and communicate to me now. It is wonderful that you can rationalize even just a small amount, such as being able to predict things that happen. I can tell you something like, at 1:00 (our movie time if we are not out and about) and you know how to look for it. I can explain what we are going to do tomorrow and you know that doesn't mean in a few minutes. You really enjoy playing with people, especially kids around your age. While I do love to play with you, I finally feel happy to have kids over because I know what kind of a joy you get when you have someone to play with.

Your strong independence has been challenging, yet I have found ways to use it to my advantage. It was what caused you to be potty trained in less than a week. I made it as easy for you to do as possible. You used a stool, a chair that made the seat smaller, and you had shorts that were easy to get on and off. If there is anything that you want to fight me about, I often give you the choice to do it yourself or I will help you and that often speeds up the process.

Your kind and caring nature has been wonderful for everyone. Although Trevor isn't that way naturally, I have been using your hugs to teach him that it is a wonderful way to share love between family. You love to dance and sing songs. If I can find a good fit, I would love to get you into dance and gymnastics this year. And swimming.

Your party this year was amazing. It was an all day event that so many of your loving family was able to attend. We will be having a lot of fun playing with all the toys for many weeks to come. Then Christmas will be here and even more toys! (Note to self: Now I really need to gut more toys, or at least make more space for the new ones...) The look on your face as you were opening gifts was perfect. Now we have to duplicate the feeling for Trevor. As he was going to bed tonight, he said he felt sad because it wasn't his birthday. I asked him if we tried to do the same thing for his birthday if he would like it, and he said yes. (Note to family, plan on another all-day thing on November 27th!).

As it is after every party, I'm beat. But I wanted to record on this special day these special thoughts for my princess daughter. I love you Gwen!

I guess sometimes things happen in threes....

2010-09-27T15:52:00.002-05:00

I wouldn't have believed it unless it happened here first, but the kids were in for a doozy of a weekend. And by weekend, I mean Thursday - Sunday. As I wrote about earlier, Gwen had a crazy ear infection that except for the medicine you never would have known she had. She is so unlike Trevor with ear infections. It is a good difference, and maybe it is because by this time, Trevor also was trailing off of his ear infections.

So anyway, on Friday, Gwen and I were playing around, and she always loves going upstairs, sometimes to pretend to tell someone to go to bed as if she is the mom. Anyway, I heard a thud at the top of the stairs and I knew she was coming downstairs, not of her own power. I looked up to see her on her head flipping downwards. Thank goodness our stairs are carpeted or it would have been a much harder fall. She landed on her knees and fell forward to her face, but caught herself a bit. She was crying after she landed, but by the sound of the cry, it wasn't from pain, it was because it scared her. I double-checked and asked her if she hurt anywhere and she said no. I wonder if her balance was a little off because of her ear infection, but regardless, she wasn't hanging onto the railing, and I reminded her that she probably should be doing that. And now she does.

Then on Saturday, Trevor was able to go golfing with Russ and his family as well as to a Wild preseason hockey game. According to Russ, he was fine at golfing, and then when they got to the hockey game he was complaining about his stomach hurting. He didn't eat much at the game and was saying he was tired. They left after the three periods were done and stopped by McD's for some food because Trevor will never turn down McD's. He eats three bites and asks Russ to pull over so he can be sick. But he doesn't get sick. He is probably really zoned out by the time they get home and he changes into his pj's and goes to bed. When I get upstairs to get ready for bed at about 11:30, I can hear Trevor getting sick. I go into his room to find him on the floor, out of bed getting sick. I rub his back, put him back in bed, clean up the mess and go to bed myself. Nothing else happens that night.

The next day, I had him eating a bland diet of toast and noodles, and he wasn't really that hungry. But when I told him that he got sick last night, he didn't believe me. He told me that he felt like he was going to be sick in the car coming back from the hockey game, but he did not remember being sick that night in his room. Sorry bud, but I would not make that up. Anyway, he never was sick again, but does now seem to have a cold. Don't really know what that is about.

So things happen in threes for the kids this weekend. I'm done for another year or so, thank-you-very-much!

What is with ear infections, anyway?

2010-09-23T14:41:00.002-05:00

So Gwen has had a cold for a week or so, and the coughing started a few days ago. Trevor and I also have the cold, but no one (including Gwen) was really run down all that much. No fevers to speak of. Gwen had taken a nap yesterday and woke up with her ears hurting a little bit. But no big deal, she woke up, we had dinner, we went to get Trevor's hair cut and came back home. No complaining at all. We made some chocolate chip muffins for dessert and all of a sudden she went down to her knees and cried out that her ear hurt a lot. It really freaked me out and because we recently changed clinics, I immediately started wondering if I was going to have to take her to the ER or if I had any other options since it was so late. Then I started thinking what I was going to have to do with Trevor.

But once I calmed down and called the nurse line, I remembered these times with Trevor way back when. Again, like Trevor, no fever, but didn't want anyone near her. I gave her some tylenol and let her watch some Super Why. I brought Trevor upstairs for his shower and bedtime when 10 minutes later Gwen yelled upstairs that her ear felt all better.

Unfortunate timing, I had to get Trevor down and attend my last class of this session, so Gwen going to bed had to wait until 10. She was able to stay awake no problem. The Tylenol put her in perfect spirits. After class we got her ready for bed and said goodnight. I thought for sure I was going to have to give her another dose of tylenol mid-night, and surprisingly I was wrong. She slept all the way until almost 7:30, but did wake up and say her ear hurt again. More tylenol and she was her normal self. I made an appointment for 9:45 this morning and called to say she wouldn't be in school. Trevor went to school and we went to the doctor shortly after. I think when we saw the doctor he was surprised at her normal attitude and lack of even pulling on her ears, but the second he looked in her ear there was no doubt.

I can't quite remember how long it has been since she had an ear infection. The last one I can remember for sure was at 18 months. I think I might have taken her in one other time to Urgent Care because I thought she had one, but she didn't. At least now she can clearly tell me that her ear hurts, and if she does, I know what that means. And because she has had so few infections, she is still on ammoxicillin.

Seriously though, what is with ear infections? They are so strange. I had heard one of our previous doctors say that ear infections can inflame in a manner of 15 minutes. Crazy.

Glad to know that she should be good by her birthday. Actually, she has had one dose of her medicine and she is her normal self again. Strange....

So what are the kids up to?

2010-09-21T14:25:00.002-05:00

Before I remember to write what the post is going to be about, I just wanted to say what a fun, and even lucrative wine tasting we had at our house on Friday! It was really cool to see everyone's favorite wines of the bunch and to hear everyone say they wanted to do it again next year. Hopefully it will be a tradition for many years to come!

With birthdays and Christmas fast approaching, I think it is interesting to take stock of what the kids truly play with and how they play with it before new toys and games come into the mix. I have yet to really weed through the toys, but it is coming in about a week or so. I'm mostly getting frustrated with all the accessories of Gwen's toys that she can't even play with yet, and the dolls that go with the accessories are so beat up that she isn't going to want to play with them by the time she is old enough to. So that will probably be the biggest group of stuff to go.

First of all, Trevor has gotten rid of his rectangle tv of past, and while he does play out a few different Mario baseball games, or maybe they are Twins baseball games, he doesn't jump on the trampoline much at all. What he does do, when he remembers, is take a little notebook that Russ once used to write notes to himself, and create a batting order and field position for the Twins baseball team. It is pretty cute as he has been learning the why of certain positions in the field as well as your number in a batting order. Rather than have him go into the Children's Liturgy where he usually messes around, I let him stay in church with me and plot the next batting order or two.

Gwen, on the other hand has plenty of toys, and she does use her old stand-bys of dollhouse dolls, princesses and fairies, but what she is really interested in is her food. Not really cooking it, but using the food like a grocery store. She takes the food out of the grocery cart, and puts it on an arm rest of either the couch or recliner and wants me to take it off of the arm rest. That means she bought it. Then, I have to buy it back. I put the food individually back on the arm rest and she puts it back in the cart. This game literally can go on for over an hour. I have no idea why it is so interesting. Maybe I should introduce the bagging concept? I have a lot of little bags she could use. But really she just wants to keep buying the food.

Then today, the best thing happened....she started playing "preschool". I always thought it was the cutest thing when Trevor did it, and when I volunteered at his preschool I loved to see all the kids playing preschool. Today she was mimicking music time and library time. She said "Boys and Girls" a lot so I knew right away what she was doing.

So anyway, that is what the kids are up to for now. I'm sure it will change soon, but for now, it is what they enjoy.

So much to update

2010-09-18T21:41:00.002-05:00

My classes are almost wrapping up and greatly increasing their projects and papers and such. Add to it PTA responsibilities and Fall Fundraising Chair stuff, it makes for a very busy time. It was the first full week of school and it has been flying by. I can't believe we are halfway through September. Practically two weeks until Gwen's birthday, then we have to get ready for Halloween. If I haven't said it lately, I love being crazy busy like this. I had a wine tasting party yesterday and I did some crazy cleaning for the previous 3 days and it was really nice because I know it won't be as hard to keep up for another two weeks, then another 7-8 weeks for Thanksgiving and Trevor's birthday as long as I can quietly and secretively get rid of the really little toys or pieces of toys that we don't even have the whole set for anymore.

I digress.... Gwen has become very attached, as has most of her class actually, to being in preschool. I went to pick her up on Thursday and she practically refused to leave. I did have to talk with her explaining again and again that she could not stay because school was "closing" but she also knows that they have childcare next door that she toured and it is obvious she wants to stay there after school is done, or go back so she can spend more time there. What is crazy to me is that while she is only at school for two days a week, and while I get anxious for her on Thursdays, having to wait and explain that she doesn't have school for another 5 days, but the time goes so fast, I don't think it really occurs to her to think it is something she is missing out on. We do grocery shopping on Monday, I have an envelope stuffing thing at Trevor's school on Wednesdays, and we run errands on Friday or just hang out with a friend if we can. She started library day on Tuesday and he brought home her favorite book from the lake house. Then when we read the book she wanted me to take out the folder that held the check-out card stating who checked it out. It is a pretty fun time for her to tell us what she learns in school.

So for Trevor, I have spent a good chunk of my time at his school. I am a volunteer that stuffs all the kids' weekly envelopes on Wednesdays. I am the chair for the school's fall fundraiser. Thankfully the previous chair is sort of helping me out with my job since it has almost been done for most of the year. I have set up 3 display cases at school prior to school starting, picked up the envelopes and applied labels to them with each kid's name only to find out that because of our enrollment increasing over the previous year, we don't have enough packets. Minor problem, but had to get the vendor guy on the phone to drop more off the morning of the first day of the fundraiser. We had a PTA meeting that evening to boot. Between the weekly envelopes, labeling the extra envelopes and attending the kickoff for the kids, I was at school a great deal. I think Trevor got a big kick out of seeing me at his meeting and his teacher let him say hi to me afterwards.

Our fundraiser is unique in that they don't offer individual prizes for the kids, it is a group goal that the principal offers things he will do for the school. It is pretty nice, he likes to promote the team feeling.

Trevor has been doing well, settling in, and seeming to have a good time. He came home with his first math homework on Friday, which he tried to convince me he didn't understand it. So we are slowly remembering the old routine. I heard about the whole Silly Bandz craze a while back, and Trevor has never shown an interest. We got a note from the teacher that she is considering banning them from her classroom because they are causing a lot of distractions for the class. I asked Trevor about them, and he says that there are a lot of kids getting in trouble but he isn't one of them. Mostly because he doesn't care I'm sure, but it is such a welcome change for the way last year started out for him. Another change from last year is that they are having teacher conferences in two weeks so that we can talk about year goals now rather than in another two months of school. I think it is smart.

I'm trying to get a sense of Trevor's school life, and it is pretty hard. It seems like he sits with different kids at lunch and plays with different kids at recess. He always tells me which of his former classmates he sees during the day. I'll be interested to see what his teacher has to say about the social side of class. She called me after the first few days of class and said that he is such a sweet kid. That day she had given him a kleenex because she thought he might need a tissue. Later that day, she had a few sneezes and after their math lesson was done, he told her that he didn't use the kleenex but that she might want it for her sneezing.

It will be interesting to see where the next days go.

First day of school time!

2010-09-08T07:23:00.006-05:00

I have to say that it was pretty special to have both kids start school yesterday. I think it was that much more special for Gwen to be able to head over for her first day of school right after Trevor. She was very tired at the end of the day, but she could talk about her own first day of school and teacher right along with Trevor. It will be another few years before they have their first days of school on the same day again. Kindergarten starts a day later to avoid the craziness of the other kids on the first day of school. Makes sense, but she is not going to be the same day because of it.

I had to wake both kids up, although Trevor was already up, he just didn't want to get out of bed yet. On those cold mornings, neither do I. Gwen was pretty happy to get up, which is a change for her. Trevor took a bag lunch for his first day because I wasn't sure that he would like whatever they had for the first day. I had also sent a few papers with him to bring to school. I dropped Trevor off first and had to head out to drop Gwen off right away. We were a little later than I wanted to be because it was a little tricky to get both kids smiling together. This is the best I could do:

Gwen only has 11 kids in her preschool, and I got a good report for her on the first day. No crying or anything. She was happy to know she would be going back again soon. It was nice to have a few hours of quiet time that day. I didn't really think about it, but when Trevor first went to preschool, I had about 3 weeks before I had Gwen that were those quiet hours to myself. I think I was too preoccupied to actually enjoy them. But now they are back.

Trevor had a great time at school as well, although I wasn't really worried about it. He was able to talk to all his friends, and talked about how he saw all of his Kindergarten classmates at lunch and recess. We will be working on the new schedule and doing things like bringing papers to class. I asked him where the papers I sent with him ended up and he doesn't remember. They could be in his desk, they could be somewhere else, but they are not in his bag anymore. Also, he said he couldn't find his snack that I packed him. Of course I put one in where he had had snacks during his summer classes, but he didn't look there. So we'll try again next time. He also wants to do lunch today. I explained that we still don't have a menu so I'm not sure what it will be. He explained that he is sure he can find something. We'll see what he comes up with after today.

It's time to get ready for day number 2!

The Last Hurrah

2010-09-06T08:11:00.002-05:00

Well, it is the last day of Summer Vacation, and we all made it relatively unscathed. Surprisingly Gwen is a little more anxious/bonkers than Trevor has been. The past week has been kept busy by going to the State Fair, Back to School night, and taking one more trip to the cabin for the summer. I went with the kids to the State Fair on Wednesday. We got into the grounds at 9:00 and left after 1:00. It was my first time going solo, so rather than even attempt the rides this year we just walked around leisurely. We did go on the sky ride, the big slide, and sat down to eat, but otherwise the kids were on their own power walking around. They both did really good. I think we are starting to get a good routine down where we do the animals and a few snacks first, then end with the kids rides. By the time we were going to do the kids rides, I could tell the kids were running out of steam. But it will be a good goal to have for future years.

Then on Thursday evening, we were able to go to the back to school night at the Elementary school. I had already introduced myself to Trevor's teacher earlier in the week, so it was nice to know that I didn't need to try to talk to her for longer to get to know her more. As is normal Trevor, I'm pretty sure he would have chatted with his teacher forever, but he was easily distracted as soon as he saw a few of his former classmates. I think it is really going to be a different situation with him really knowing a few of his classmates, knowing his school, and being really excited to be at lunch and recess. That and I'm sure he has matured since last year too. Gwen was surprisingly timid and a little scared by the whole thing. I think she wanted Trevor to go back to his old room with his old teacher. We put Trevor's supplies in his desk (first year for that!) and picked up his paperwork and then headed out to the cabin for the weekend.

We had been really lucky this summer to get such warm weather at the lake. Both so we could swim and that the water temperature was so warm. We were hoping to be able to swim one last time this summer, but no such luck. Looking back over our family Labor Day vacations up to Brainerd, we never had warm enough weather to swim, or at least it was rarely. I will take the summer weather we had over being able to swim on Labor Day anytime. Although I am sad to be chilled and have to get out the long pants and shirts for fall.

So this closes another summer vacation. I know we will have many more adventures in the next year. Here we go!!!!

Maybe I will get more time

2010-08-26T15:46:00.003-05:00

Once both kids are in school for a total of 4 hours a week, I will have more time to run errands. I am worried about the time I'm going to lose when I need to go pick up Trevor from school and then wait to put Gwen down for her nap. But we will have to see how it all works out. Right now I'm just trying to get things done on my mental to-do list.

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to run up to Derek's and Kyrsten's house to say hi to the pets before heading out to Dave and Busters. The kids had a blast, like I knew they would, but both were a little questioning when I said it was like Chuck E. Cheese. They had been to that place before, but never a Dave and Busters. It was a little too old age-wise for Gwen, but she still found her favorite places to be and pretend to play games. Except for Deal or No Deal. She knows how to play that one, and had gotten the top two prizes out of the 3 times we played. Trevor probably could have played all day. When it came time to pick out prizes, Gwen immediately found a Sleeping Beauty nightlight that she wanted. Lucky for us it was the last one, and the lady felt bad giving it to me without a box. I think it would have been worse if it would have had a box because she wanted to play with it right away. Trevor got a Twins teddy bear and Viking's mini helmet so we were set with the prizes.

Then on Tuesday this week we headed out to the waterpark of America. It is right near the Mall of America and we had never been inside it before. Tracy and Kyrsten were generous enough to go with us, so with a ratio of three adults to two kids, we were golden. It says on their website that they keep the air and water temp at 83 degrees, but when they have the fans blowing, the water by the fans seems much cooler. We were swimming for over an hour before we took a lunch break, and the air temp in there was even cooler. Gwen had just begun to get chilly before lunch, and the break didn't help her. Although she did get a bit dryer. When we went back to the water, I think she only lasted 15 or so minutes before she was blue and shivering. I had found a nearby pool where she couldn't touch, but the water was much warmer. She could tell and she pinked up within 5 minutes. Not only that, but by a few more minutes she was asking me to let her go underwater after she jumped in from the steps. I have a feeling if the water temp is warm at the lake again, she might be jumping in by herself without jumping to anyone. Trevor also enjoyed the pool area so he could do his somersaults and such. While I know he feels safer in the lake with his lifejacket on, it gains his confidence when we are in a pool that he can touch and practice swimming in shallow water.

Yesterday we split the kids up and my mom took Gwen to the Children's Museum and I took Trevor to Edenborough Park, an indoor climbing gym. He went at it for over 2 1/2 hours. From what I heard from my mom, both kids enjoyed their day.

We are on the brink of refinancing our mortgage to a 4.375% rate and a three year term reduction. Who knew that could be so easy. Next week, we will hopefully be golfing with a couple that we both know at the golf course we play at. Then maybe going to the fair one day. After that, bring on the school! It is almost time for summer break to be over.

Trevor's behavior recently has had it's ups and downs, and right now we are in an up stage, so I almost don't want to jinx it. But he has been doing a lot better with completing tasks that I give him. Or maybe I've just been better at sticking to my promises. Either way, I had to give him a big hug today for all the help cleaning up that he has been doing when I ask. He has even been reading an occasional book to Gwen if it is a book I know he can read. Pretty cute I must say.

Now Gwen, I'm pretty sure she can sense a big shift in schedule coming up. She has been fighting going to bed, especially her naps. She has developed a screaming fear of bugs, any and all. So that is what happens for her day-naps. She gets into her room and she thinks there are bugs on the ceiling, in her bed, if she is outside and sees one, she screams. Poor girl. I've been combating it every way I know how. I even told her that Prince Naveen (the stuffed frog that she has from Princess and the Frog) loves to eat bugs, so if she sees one, she can tell Naveen to eat the bug. She got a chuckle out of it, but I wonder if it doesn't calm her down a little bit.

Now if I can just stay ahead of the homework stuff....

It's been a week?

2010-08-19T13:51:00.002-05:00

A week ago we were at the lake for an extended week-end. The weather was so nice and hot. The water was so nice and warm. Even Wednesday afternoon when we got there, the kids didn't want to get out of the water for dinner. It was calm and so warm that Gwen could swim and swim for hours. We did it again on Thursday after Trevor, Russ, my dad and Dave were golfing. I was so surprised and had really forgotten what it was like to swim while the water was like bathwater.

There was no air conditioning in the cabin, but as everyone knows, I like that. By opening the door to the bedroom and the windows as well, a breeze blew around in the room so it kept it non-sweating at least for me. We had a really fun shower, mom you really can throw a good one :-)

We came back early so Russ and I could play in a couple's tournament. I guess my luck finally ran out when it comes to golfing. I played as bad as I had all year. I hit two balls out of bounds, and I hadn't done that all year...honestly I can't ever remember hitting a single ball out of bounds on these two holes ever. I made it over one water hole, only to hit three balls in a row off of trees and backwards. I had a 10 on one hole and an 8 on another. I was nowhere near close to where I wanted to be on my round. It would have been nice to play with a couple we knew, but maybe next year. It seems we have a pattern of winning one year and then losing the next. So we are due next year.

After that horrible round, my attitude stunk. The kids were crabby and so was I. Trevor has been taking the bus to his sports camp this week, but after Friday we are done with activities. Hopefully he will behave for the two weeks until school starts.

I played golf again on Tuesday, and had a very good round, so I guess that improved my mood a bit. I haven't even started my reading for class, which is very unlike me. Someday soon, I'll have lot of catch-up to do. My two professors this session have been very absent the last week. So I haven't gotten a lot of information on how I am doing in the class.

Wednesday, I met with some of our PTA officers because I had gotten my responsibility as Fall Fundraiser Chair. They were stuffing envelopes, and we ended up staying over an hour after they were all stuffed sharing ideas for the next year.

My mind is a flutter with lots of random things to get done soon. While school is just over 2 weeks away, I can't even get there yet mentally. Thank goodness I have already gotten the school supplies or that would also be grinding on me.

On to a few more things to try to check off the list....

There went the weekend

2010-08-11T08:33:00.002-05:00

Well, at the end of the week, I could tell that Trevor really enjoyed his Tennis lessons put on by the Summer Spectrum group. He had the class with a few kids he knew, and got to ride on his bus for the entire week. We picked him up on Friday and headed to my parents house for the weekend so Russ and I could golf. I was excited that the weather was going to be hot, although there was a good chance of rain, which is never fun to play in. It never got called off, so all that meant was that there wasn't any lightning.

On Saturday, I was playing in the rain until hole 12. I shot a 99 and was tied for first place after the first day. Then on Sunday, the heat and humidity really kicked in. I don't know why I tried to make it through without taking an electric cart. But I did. And I was pretty exhausted after that round. I shot a 105 that day, which ended up winning my flight. I feel kind of bad because I didn't care at all if I came in first or last. As long as I shot under a 110 both days. Russ came in a tie for 2nd in his flight, so he did well as well.

The kids seemed to have a blast as they always do when they are with their extended family. They got to go to the county fair, teddy bear park, and play in the sprinkler. Trevor also lost his 3rd tooth there. I knew it was a possibility, but I forgot to send his tooth "pillow" with him so he had to make do. It is a bottom tooth, but it still changes his smile. Looks like his top two teeth might not be out for a few more months. Maybe it will be a Christmas time event. Then he can sing the song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."

Trevor's attitude seems to have slowed down over the past week. I wonder if it is getting him back to the park for a few days, or just his cycle. Gwen has turned it on in the mean time, but I seem to have more patience with her because I know she doesn't get it yet. But today, when I came downstairs this morning, Trevor had turned on the FSN channel and they were recapping yesterday's baseball scores. Trevor was loving it. He was able to tell me scores and what was going on around the country. I thought it was really cute. I would have thought he would have been tired out with baseball by this point, but it sure doesn't sound like it!

We are off today for a longer weekend at the cabin. We are celebrating the new nephew coming into our family! That time sure is getting close!

Hoping to give myself a break

2010-08-06T10:56:00.003-05:00

It has been a little better week all around, with a little trouble from Trevor, but I'm actually confident that I'm letting him make his choices and if he wants to keep making not good choices, it will lead him to not getting things he wants.

It has been a pretty good week from the perspective that I've been playing a lot with the kids. While I don't get all the other things I need to take care of done, it at least relieves some of the mom guilt I have.

Gwen has been wanting to play food or babies all the time. So that is where I have been spending most of my days. While she is starting to imaginatively play, she can't quite grasp the concept of naming something. I think she thinks that things either already have a name or that whoever is playing with the toy, inherits the name. So we have mommy baby, baby, and daddy baby that we play with. She plays with them similar to a real baby, we dance, we change diapers, we put them to bed, we give them bottles, but she is not the mom. She is Gwen. I am mommy. Because it is my name. Now she gets that my mom and other people call me Krissy, but my name still is mommy.

We went school supply shopping for Trevor, (more on that later) and at the end, because the kids were good we headed over to look at the toys. Gwen is starting to understand that you need to get something in order to take it out of the store. So she is starting to ask to get things. Target just set their toys that will be in the stores for Christmas, so they have a bunch of new toys. The one she found that she really wants is the one fairy that she doesn't have. She was kind of a "bad" fairy in the first one, and not even in the second one, but I hear she has a bigger part in the new movie coming out. So when she saw it in the store, she wanted it. Now is the time she needs to learn how to wait for her birthday. It is under 2 months away, so she won't have long to wait, but she now is asking to have her birthday so she can get the fairy. What I thought was a cute sidenote: Trevor asked in a quiet voice if he could get that for her for her birthday. I thought it was a nice gesture, so I think we will be doing that.

So we brought Trevor's school supply list to Target last night and I read the list off while he searched for the items. We found everything we needed, so we are all set. I could see his excitement growing, and he even said it himself - yes doing the wrist flap and jumping up and down - I'm so excited for school to start! I thought it was another moment of cuteness for him. Or maybe I just like remembering what it was like to be in his shoes.

And one more cute moment for Trevor, but this has to be something that is not teased because I know it could easily be. Hopefully those that would think of teasing will remember the many times where they themselves could have been teased for what they enjoyed doing. Anyway, after Gwen went up for her nap, I left it to Trevor to decide what we were going to do. Sometimes it involves a game, a card game, me watching a Nascar race of his, or playing Cars. That day, he wanted to play with Gwen's Fairies. I wonder why he chooses things like that, and I think it is because he likes the Tinkerbell movies, and always likes to act out or slightly change the stories in the movies. I acted out whatever Fairy he asked me to be, and I think we had a good time. Not having a sister around screaming at you to stop playing with your things is nice for him from time to time. There isn't going to be much more time of that, I don't think. I'm not sure how much time he will have to himself once he is back from school.

So this weekend, the kids are going to the fair with Bubba and Papa. They are both really looking forward to it, and I hope the weather is good for everyone. I have plenty of homework to get done in addition to having some fun times at golf. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

And of course the guilt comes back

2010-08-01T21:31:00.004-05:00

I feel like it was too much of a downer to leave everyone (all two of you) that read this thing on such a down note. I believe as a result of letting it all go, things have turned around, even if only a little bit at a time.

Things that have been happening with the kids: Trevor finished vacation bible school at our church this week, and also had his last golf event of the season on Friday. Since Russ does not have a similar outlet to record his stories, I think he would appreciate me recording this one for him: So we were at the closing lunch for Trevor's golf league on Friday. There were close to 100 people there. Some grandparents, some parents, but someone had to have been a member at the lunch. Russ and his dad had won their event not more than 2 weeks previously, so he introduced me to some of the people that he wanted me to meet since I had not been there. The pros have always been really nice to the kids in that they give trophies and pictures in frames of the kids as well as little prizes when they play their fun games afterwards.

So Trevor was in the three hole league this year, and they had a very low turn-out in their group for the season. He played with 3 other boys and two girls in the league. They never mixed guys and girls, so when they announced the winners of the 3 hole group, there were only 3 boys total and gave prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Trevor had a good final round and ended up taking first place with a score of 27. They read off the scores by something to the effect of, "in third place, with a score of 32 was Joe K. In second place, with a score of 28 is Danny M. And in first place, with a score of 27 is Trevor." Immediately following his announcement, you hear a grunting, belted out "YES!!!" And see a fist pump after he jumped out of his chair. After finding the floor pattern by my shoes, I couldn't help but overhear the table next to us say, "Well, I never would have thought that was something that is genetic." And anyone who has ever played with Russ or his dad would know exactly what sound that Trevor made. But what can you say? He enjoyed his win. I hope someday he can be convinced to change the way he holds his golf club.

And then a side event that happened today, as a result of something I did yesterday really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Yesterday we went to the library. It just so happened that they had a museum pass available for the MN Zoo. I checked it out and saw that it was good for two people for up to a week. Spur of the moment today we took the kids out there. They accidentally rang up two passes, so we actually got all 4 of us in for free. Saved us $42 bucks! That's not a little coupon deal! We didn't have a lot of time, so we headed out to the farm and then spent all the rest of the time on their splash pad. On an almost 90 degree day, I don't feel all that bad. We may not have had the most nutritious meals this weekend, but I didn't spend a whole lot of money on them either.

So it is the start of a new week, and new activity for Trevor. I'm curious to see how it compares to his park program. There are only 3 weeks left of activities. One of these days we will have to have the fun school supply shopping day. I like to get there before things start to run out.

It is time to get going. I stayed up late last night to get through the final episode of Lost. I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe because I didn't have high hopes, but I liked the corny way it ended, exactly like it started. Anyway, I'm going to try to catch up on some of my shows that I have been neglecting. Hopefully I can find the time.

Where did this funk come from?

2010-07-31T13:58:00.004-05:00

Ug....hasn't been the best week for me. No real big events that have contributed to it. It might have something to do with getting my grades back for my classes and starting my next session. I am really looking forward to my tax accounting class, but not my sociology class. The end of this session marks the start of the family birthdays. I'm excited to get there, but know that it is going to be a hard process. I have also been hit with a huge "mom guilt" blow this week. I feel like I haven't paid enough attention to both of the kids individually lately. Gwen has been doing great with her potty training, and I think she is just hitting her milestones, so she has been more clingy and upset more than normal. Trevor has been going through a frustrating "won't listen" stage. Coupled with everything and I've been taking it out on myself more than normal.

I know all of the feelings are sooo temporary, and that my current mom guilt is so unfounded. But still frustrating. I think I need to get something on the calendar to look forward to. When my plans involve indecisiveness, that never helps my situation. That and maybe more vitamin D is in store for me. Ok...time to turn it around. I do have a golf tournament to play in next weekend!

Still a lot going on

2010-07-24T08:35:00.002-05:00

Well, as I told my mom, my week off from school usually entails cleaning and organizing for another 10 weeks of classes coming up. I do usually get to a point where I can just do a little bit to keep it up, but there are always things that get pushed off because I don't have time to keep up with everything.

I took Gwen to where Trevor calls "the jump-jump place". It is an indoor climbing contraption and bouncy house. I figured she was at the age where she could get up the levels by herself. But I always struggled with if I should bring Trevor with because he seems to find the kids that can get him into trouble and play with them. So on a park day, I took Gwen. There were a few kids there, and then a busload of daycare kids came as well. I noticed a few new toys from the last time I had been up there. And I was right, she could get herself up very well. The only problem was there were a few steps that were still of a height that she could get herself onto it, but they were made out of lego material. So not the best to try to squeeze and pull against your skin. I'm surprised I wasn't more sore than I ended up being.

Trevor had two adventures this week. On Wednesday, his park group went to a Twins game. Then on Thursday the group biked to a nearby ice cream shop. He had been on longer bike rides with Russ when he would go running, but I think this was longer because they had to bike down and back. I'd have to measure it but I'm pretty sure it was a few miles away from the park. The best part was that he found someplace in Minnesota that has Blue Moon ice cream. It is his favorite. While they didn't have it that day, he got his next favorite which is Superman ice cream.

Thursday during the day, we were able to squeeze out a golf round with Kevin, Brian, my dad, and me. While the forecast was calling for rain most of the week, we avoided it. It was overcast the entire round, but it made the temperature cooler than if the sun would have been beating down on us. So for them, it was a great day for golf. For me, I'd rather have had it be a little more warm. But a chance to play golf with the family is always welcome. Thank you to Kyrsten for watching the kids!

Next week is VBS at our church. On to the next week!

Just a little bit of stress

2010-07-21T14:05:00.003-05:00

Well, I can finally breathe. At least for a second. Trevor had his last baseball game a week ago today. We left for the cabin directly to the cabin for the weekend. We had to stop in Eau Claire because I'm a nervous nighttime driver anyway. I couldn't see when you add heavy rain on top of darkness. We stayed for a half hour maybe? Then made it the rest of the way. Gwen had fallen asleep, but Trevor was trying hard to stay awake. When Gwen woke up in the morning, she had hives on her legs. Trevor, my dad and I all went golfing the next morning, while my mom stayed with Gwen. I called our doctor's office and talked to a nurse who thought that it was unlikely something that she ate, more likely something she came in contact with on her legs. As long as she didn't get a fever, and the bumps didn't turn dark red/purple, she was ok. On top of no fever, they didn't even itch her.

Trevor was pretty exhausted after golf, but he was still able to ride on the waterski trainer that afternoon. Poor guy is so scared that he is going to be thrown off into the water that he is very nervous to do anything new. Gwen slept most of the rest of the afternoon. We went to our local restaurant and had the usual wonderful dinner. Gwen had her usual french fries. I decided to try to get to sleep early in preparation for late weekend nights. Unfortunately, I was awoken to Gwen getting sick multiple times. Poor girl. I remember the hungry/thirsty feeling associated with it. I also know enough to try to keep her away from food and water at this point. I let her sleep in my bed so she would feel better. Trevor stayed asleep through it all. But when he woke up, I warned him that if Gwen was still sick, we were going to have to head home.

She was starving in the morning, but never got sick again. We stayed with dry food or bananas and water until dinner time where I allowed her a handful of french fries. She would have eaten more, but I thought not to tempt it. Also on this day her hives had spread up to her stomach and back, and arms. Still no itching. Brian had joined us overnight and was able to take Trevor swimming during Friday afternoon. Friday evening was another dinner at the local restaurant followed by dominoes. Saturday was the birthday celebration evening and again swimming for both kids. I have to say, I love Gwen's love of swimming. The life jacket swim thing I got really is helping her not get as high in the water as a typical life jacket, yet keeps her floating a bit. When she got the hang of it, she was ready to swim to the middle of the lake.

We headed back home on Sunday to say congratulations to Russ and his dad for winning our local golf course's member/guest tournament. The rest of the week has been a blur. I had my final for my auditing class which I am sure I will have destroyed my gpa. I really wish we had the summers off from classes. I guess there is only 6 weeks before school starts now anyway, but it would be nice to get things a bit more organized.

As it is, I have a week off from classes, and will try to get as organized as I can.

As a p.s. Gwen is completely potty trained with the exception of #2. However, she will get a diaper for herself and ask to change into it. I have even had success at going to bathrooms outside of homes and going. Goodness, if I had known it would be this easy, I'd have done it years ago!