Her birthday week...and the end of baseball

As has been the case for most of Trevor's almost 10 years of life, we make a big deal of birthdays in this family.  So no, Gwen didn't have a good birth-day. She had a great birth-week.  It started off prior to her actual birthday with her "friend" party.  Due to other extended family members having a nearby birthday, we decided to go a weekend earlier than her birthday.  It seemed to work wonderfully.  It had been a few years since I have been at a place that puts on birthdays for you, and I will say it was spectacular.  We did a gymnastics party, and everyone there had a great time.  I ordered an extra 30 minutes in the gym, and didn't even spend the whole 30 minutes in the party room, so they got even a few more minutes at the end.  I couldn't believe the girls had that much energy and didn't collapse!

We were at baseball the next day and she couldn't wait to tell everyone about her friend party...because she also knew she had two more parties to come.  She wanted to be able to tell everyone that she was 6 after that Saturday, and I think she did, but she also knew that she really didn't turn 6 until the 3rd....in the afternoon as Trevor had to point out again and again.

So on the 3rd, she went to school to celebrate it there as well.  She brought Hostess cupcakes for her treat.  She was very excited.  She was able to stay at the after school program and get some extra treatment as well.  We had both kids school conferences that afternoon so before we picked them up, we got an earful about how well both kids are doing in their classes.  Gwen actually gets to split time between all three first grade teachers because of her reading and math ability.  I have heard nothing but great things about all three first grade teachers so I'm happy about it all!

We picked up the kids to go to Benihana for her "real" birthday dinner that evening.  We brought our gifts and she unwrapped them and got her big picks for the next Lego Friends stuff.  And yes, that was what had to be put together right away, as soon as possible.  Add another 1000 pieces put together by my hands.  She can do it entirely by herself, but she gets sidetracked by the new characters.  I wonder how many of those things she has now.  My guess would be approaching 30 now.  However, I feel like my kids each have their things.  For Trevor, it has been Pixar's Cars characters, with a few Ninjago characters.....although that show is done.  For Gwen it has been a little bit of princesses with a lot more Lego Friends stuff.  And now that the Lego Friends stuff are both boys and girls, they have taken over inhabiting the Princess castles and such.  So at least that princess stuff is sticking around.

And last but not least, she had her family birthday party on Saturday.  We were missing a few key players in said family, but we hope to see them soon.  With only consideration of our family, it was tough enough to find a day when something wasn't going on that would have conflicted with this day.  But the day too was filled with fun times and good food and wonderful presents for the birthday girl.  At the close of that day, was the close of her birthday week.

So today was the last day of Fall baseball for Trevor.  Today Gwen was again talking about her birthday party the day before, but this time it was her family party.  And through it all Trevor did his best to grin and bear it.  I feel like I have to have the same talk with him every year about how it will be his "turn" soon enough and actually this year, he made an effort to help her on her actual birthday.  On this last day of fall baseball, Trevor had good games.  He did well both batting and pitching.  Hopefully he got a chance to get a little bit better, but for now, it will be good to put it away for a few more months.  I explained to him tonight that it was up to him if he wanted to find time to go to a batting cage or something similar.  And the fact that today was the first day of hockey tryouts was the signal that we are gearing up for hockey as well.

It was a great year 5, but now on to year 6!  Happy Birthday Week Gwen!

In the groove

Well, here we are, second full week of school and I'm beginning to feel like I know what it is like to have two kids in school full time.  It is a whole other world.  I can run errands for more than one consecutive hour.  Granted, that isn't my idea of fun, but now I don't have to split it into multiple days if I don't want to.  I'm trying not to over-schedule myself with volunteer work and such, but I just can't seem to stop.  Library, envelopes, fundraiser stuff....and the classroom helpers haven't even been contacted yet.  Yes, we are still in the baseball/hockey overlap timing, but that will be done soon enough.  I'm needing to get ready for a big birthday coming up.

As far as the kids go, we have had a pretty smooth week.  Only hiccup was that Trevor got a nasty cold on Sunday night.  I thought he wasn't going to go to school in the morning, but seriously both of my kids make me feel like I'm running a psych ward the nights that they are battling the start of colds.  Gwen started her nighttime screams on Monday night, a day later and Trevor was at least down to moaning.  Although there have been some bumpy mornings and afternoons, it does feel like nothing is a surprise to the kids.  We leave the house whether the kids have everything they need or not.  We do as much as we can the night before.

Gwen has had a few school lunches now, and she still seems a bit puzzled by it.  Especially so by the fact that there are two main choices, but whatever your choice, you still get the same side dishes.  And yes, she has admitted to eating very little for lunch and come home starving, but I think this next month, she will know a lot more about the food she does like to eat at school.  I just hope it doesn't turn into bringing her own lunch 100% of the time.  She has one "homework" activity every night which is to read or be read to for a total of 20 minutes.  We were having a hard time finding something that she was interested in that could keep her interest (because of the length of the book) for more than 3 minutes, so I decided to bring out the magic tree house series.  Well, that was a major hit.  We are on book 6 in the series.  I know she is a ways off from wanting to read those kinds of books by herself, but I'm happy to have found a good bunch of books that I know will help her get through her reading time here at home.  She has started to have some math homework as well, and seems to be grumbling about doing her homework instead of being able to play with her toys.  She isn't as into screens as Trevor is, but I'm still trying to teach her the same habits of homework before playtime.  We got a call from her teacher after last week's school to see if there was any concerns on our part.  No she seemed to be loving school.  And her teacher thought that Gwen was doing a great job too.  Our conferences are scheduled for both kids on Gwen's birthday, so it will be a great place to put together the kids' goals for the rest of the school year.

Trevor seems to be gliding through his new year as well.  We had a hiccup as Trevor is known to do from time to time, but thankfully no real continual issues, so far.  I'm trying to maintain his independence on things that he needs to do for school and piano and such.  It is hard to not know if he is doing the work appropriately, but judging that is for his teachers.  I do not need to get in the way.  I'm thankful to have started our homework meetings again, so I can at least talk to him about newsletters and things we are getting communication about to see if there is anything I can help him with.

All in all, the house is getting cleaner and more organized, and I'm helping out a lot more with the school projects.  This is shaping up to be a great school year for everyone.

The First Day of School

I have to say, I enjoy Facebook on days like these.  It was filled with friends and family posting their pictures of the kids on their first day of school.  I, of course, added to our yearly ritual as well.  Thankfully, I'm not getting groans from the kids yet, but I'm sure they are coming.

Last week was our last hurrah.  We went to the state fair, ate lots of food, went to back-to-school night to drop off school supplies, Trevor forgot his, baseball practice then headed out to the lake for the only time all summer our family of four was there.  Thankfully, thankfully, THANKFULLY we got gorgeous weather both Friday and Saturday we were there.  We were able to be lazy and gradually enjoy waking up and walking around, and then the four of us went on a boat ride for the afternoon.  The kids stopped and jumped into the lake at three spots, and since the lake has not gotten rain for a while, the algae had started to bloom.  It is a river/creek fed man-made lake, so at least it doesn't have completely still water, but it was still bad on shorelines.  Saturday, we got to say happy birthday to a very fun girl, and visit with my cousins kids.  Again, THANKFULLY the weather was spectacular, so the kids played for hours in the water, went on a pontoon ride, and then got showered and changed for dinner.  After dinner, the kids got a little more time to play, girls on the ping pong table with Russ, and Trevor and JJ played their video games.  Then, they played a baseball game before ending on charades.  Gwen requests that every time.

We came back on Sunday, and it wasn't very good weather anyway.  We had a fun birthday celebration to get to!  First birthdays are always fun, mostly because the kid has no idea what they are getting into, but seem to understand that for some reason it has to do with them.  It was a great evening.

Monday, I spent the entire day getting ready for today.  Grocery shopping, whoops, I forgot one thing, so I had to go back a second time.  Major laundry to make sure all the right clothes were washed (more for the girl than anything).  All the darn paperwork that needs to be turned back in to the school.  Making the kids fill out their lunch wishes for the first month of school.  It took all day, but it all got done.

Then today:  Gwen was excited for the day, and found out the night before that Trevor said he was nervous.  At first, that shocked me, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  He's hitting that age where he really cares about what other people think of him.  Its not so much anymore about doing the work.  He has no issues with that.  His words about being nervous were something about how he was afraid the new kids would be mean to him.  I made him make sense of that thought by asking him what he would feel in the reverse situation.  I told him I had been a new kid and I was more worried than anything because I thought that everyone would have already made their friends.  He was also sad to see the summer go, but I think that is normal.  Thankfully neither kid was up late with nerves or excitement.  I remember 4th grade was the year I was up past 2am on the first day of school because of my nerves.  In the morning, Trevor didn't want to get up, but that's him not wanting to get moving.  He was up.  Gwen was not up, but was good getting moving, again because she was so excited.

We decided to walk to school, and while protesting at first, Gwen made it, and she told me that she did not want to walk home.  I figured I could accommodate because she would be exhausted and probably not willing to walk back.  Trevor was out the door and running to school.  Guess those nerves wore off!  We got to school in plenty of time.  I asked Gwen if she wanted me to walk her to class, and at first she said no.  I told her that I would say good bye to her at the office, and then she said she wanted me to walk her to class.  I was fine with that.  She found her hook and took out her stuff, and seemed very confident to walk right into class.  She said good-bye with a giant smile on her face.  I'm pretty sure she didn't see me choking up.  But I took a deep breath and moved over to Trevor's room.  I saw him going 100 miles and hour with a fellow classmate from last year.  No worries from him.

So I had a whole day to myself.  I treated myself to dinner with a friend at Crave.  I had a salad and dessert and didn't have to keep checking the clock!  It was amazing!  I filled the rest of my day with little things.  And quickly it was time to get the kids.  I met them in the front area, and Trevor was good, but Gwen was on the fritz.  She was SO crabby and I could tell hungry, thirsty and exhausted.  Now, she would never admit it, but immediately she was yelling at me that she didn't want to walk home.  I explained that I brought the car, but that wasn't good enough.  She couldn't even walk to the car.  *scream scream* *whine whine* I asked her to talk about her day and she didn't want to.  So I asked Trevor.  Then she wanted to.  We got home and she wanted to eat something sweet.  I had her finish her lunch.  It wasn't as uneaten as I thought it would be, but after she had eaten, it helped a bit.  She had homework to do, but didn't seem like she wanted to do it.  Anyway, bottom line, Gwen was tired, Trevor said he had a great day and was all smiles.  He really enjoys how often he rotates classes for different subjects.  They have about a third of their class as not being in their last year's class.  That is nice.

So for now, we will plod ahead to get into some sort of routine.  I have some big events to plan for in the coming weeks already, and I don't know how I'm going to pull them off.  We shall see.

The Summer? The End

Well, I won't dwell on the fact that there are some things about the summer that weren't exactly perfect:  Namely the weather and the fact that labor day weekend is the first time all summer that we as a family will be traveling to the cabin.  Yikes.  But no, instead I choose to remember the great times we had this summer.  These last two weeks were done in style.  We had a few days of nothing on the schedule so the kids could just hang out at the house.  But mostly we had to pack in all the things we wanted to make sure we did before the summer was done.  I look at the list, and thankfully we did all the things we had to do, but did not do things we could do when it was winter.  Last week, the big event was Valleyfair.  It was a hot day, unlike last year, so we spent a few hours in the water park.  Gwen was happy in the splash pad, and going around the lazy river.  That's up my speed to at this point.  Trevor went on all the roller coasters this year, and even the giant swing.  Next year, he'll have to try Steel Venom when it is not closed for repairs and maybe the Power Tower.  New for him this year was Wild Thing.  To which he said, "was that supposed to be fast?"  Good for him.  He should ride those coasters while he can!

This week, we went to a friend's pool one day and the State Fair today.  Both gave us some great memories.  It was a hot day today, but luckily a friend gave us a great free giveaway and I never knew how many places had free water, as long as you had your own container.  We ate everything we could, and barring any investigation by CPS due to lack of nutrition today, I think we had a great one!  Cheese curds, mini doughnuts, frozen grapes, milk shakes, french fries (a LOT), chocolate chip cookies, lemonade, Icees, beer (for the adults), a giant pickle for Trevor, and there could have been more.  We visited the Twins shop, the skyride, agriculture building, the cows, pigs, horses, sheep, giant slide, butterfly building (Gwen lasted 3 minutes because she couldn't take the things flying in the room), the maze, trampoline, and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  Did I mention it was hot?  Thankfully they had a lot of "mist-ers" out spraying people or blowing a fan with a mist-er on it.  It was very nice.  And we lasted 8+ hours.  Gwen had a few piggy back rides, but really she did great walking around.  No big complaints.  Lots of smiles and good times!  That was really the theme to the summer.  Lots of smiles and great times!

This summer the family got to visit Dr. Johnson and family in South Dakota.  The kids were excited to be in a new state for them.  It was a lot of fun to see so many fireworks on the 4th of July.  We got out to play golf on the small par 3 course by our house.  I did not golf much at all this summer, but we had lots of fun other places.  We visited the city pool a few times and had some great weather and not so great crowds.  I was happy about that!  Trevor got to camp and I didn't have to do anything except bring him to the place.  He did not come home with a million mosquito bites, and he wants to do it again next year, so I'd say a success!  There was a lot of baseball played, by both kids and I'm sure it will ramp up from here.  Even Russ got in on the action when his Twin's Fantasy camp reunion game was played last weekend at Target Field.  Trevor got to really see him pitch and pitched himself on the very mound that the Twins also pitch off of.  It was a great experience for everyone!

Although Trevor says he's not happy that summer vacation is coming to a close, I think there is a part of him that will be happy to see his classmates again.  He knows that with summer ending, comes winter and cold and says he doesn't like the cold.  We'll see.  Next summer will be here again before you know it.  And with the kids having little tastes of fun things to do in the summer, I know we'll be doing a lot more of this summer, in the future summers.  But for now, I too am happy for school to be starting.  I love that I'm going to have time to volunteer more at the kids' school, and get a better idea of what I can do with my time having them at school.  So we'll see what this next change brings.  Hopefully lots more fun to come!

One month to go

We have one month left of Summer vacation.  This month will be remarkably less busy than the other two months.  Baseball is done for both kids.  Gwen was happy to be done playing with the boys.  She did really well and I think it really helped her get a feel for being pitched to.  She can usually get a hit, and did the last few games of her season.  Trevor wrapped up his season just two weeks ago.  Unfortunately they didn't get any hardware, but played their hearts out.  He was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to pitch in the playoff games, but his last game, he played 1st base the entire time, and I have a feeling that is where his calling is.  The kid knows the rules of the game and loves getting the opposing players out because they turn the wrong way off of first base.

Last week we had their team party at a local park.  It really was good to get together one last time with these people.  I hope to have the same experience this year at hockey.  I only wish it would be under warmer circumstances.

Also this week, the kids were for the first time in Camp Kota.  I had heard good things about it, but decided that this year both kids would try it out.  I had thought it would be a great fit for Trevor, but not sure about Gwen.  Turns out she loved it, and was very upset that she wasn't old enough to do the overnight outdoor camping experience that Trevor did.  Although Trevor had a cold all week, he still made it through and said he wants to do it again next year.  That week was the most time I had by myself all summer, and will be for the rest of the summer as well.  So count that as a win for everyone!

We have already gone to get the kids school supplies, so we are well on our way to being ready for school.  There are a few family or group activities that we have yet to cross off our annual summer list of things to do.

Oh...one thing I do have to document.  Gwen had her end of the season golf event a few Fridays ago.  Although Trevor was not in golf league this year, I asked and he could come to the event if he wanted.  They play a few games and such, so he said he would come along.  I honestly don't know what had gotten into Gwen but right away she started whining and yelling at me.  Before finishing the first game, I explained that if she did it again, we were going home.  Sure enough, she continued, so that meant we were going home.  Once she realized that I was serious, an all out temper tantrum ensued.  She was on the ground kicking and screaming.  Trevor was looking at her dumbfounded.  I know the entire golf course was looking over at us.  I finally got her to walk, although she did not stop screaming.  Trevor thought we were just going to move to the next game, but I explained to him that we were done.  So home we came, and after she had calmed down, I think she too didn't know where that came from.  I know kids do things like that, and I know it does happen a lot in the 2-3 year old range, but I'm trying to think of a time where she EVER did something like this before and I can't.  She can usually calm herself down to the point of at least quietly pouting somewhere.  Regardless, that day was shot for things to do.  So we just hung out at home.

So here's hoping for the last month of summer to be actually summer like!  Cheers!

Gwen's weeks

Ah yes...the girl of the group.  That week of the last week of school was also pretty active for Gwen.  The Saturday morning was her dance recital.  She was able to sit with me and watch the other performances so she didn't have to entertain herself in the waiting room.  Her's was the 3rd performance of the day.  I can't help but laugh that I get the "get away from me, mom" picture as well as the pretty, posed picture after the performance.  She loves her dance.  I have a feeling that we will be spending a lot more time at dance lessons in the future, once she can sign up for more than one.

Similar to previous years, her dance recital falls on the same weekend as BAA baseball tournament weekend.  She is in BAA this year, and unfortunately, her first game was too close to her recital so she couldn't play in it.  Trevor is in traveling baseball this year, so he didn't have a tournament this weekend.  Thank goodness, because I don't know how we would have been able to pull it all off.  Actually, Gwen is liking going to most of the games because there are a group of 4 girls around her age, or at least willing to play with her in most of their activities.  Anyway, this year, it still was a dance/baseball weekend, but Gwen did both and Trevor didn't have his baseball that weekend.  So below is a picture from the game that Gwen did attend.  She is getting good at watching the ball hit her bat and getting a hit most times she is up.

 Fielding is another story.  She would rather play in the dirt than watch what is going on.  Now, to give her credit, hardly any of the kids are ready at every pitch when the other team is up to bat.  So when it does get faster paced, hopefully she will be ready.  I do think she has learned a lot so far!  And she hasn't had to miss too many games.

So on Monday, was her Kindergarten graduation.  There are a few pictures here of her with some of her classmates, during the singing presentation, one with her teacher, and the picture they take when the kids are in a high-school sized cap and gown.  I still have Trevor's from when he was in Kindergarten.  I for sure am going to use it for pictures at each of their grad parties.

Gwen did not participate this year in the Talent Show.  She had quite a few people in her school that were in her dance class.  Maybe if there are still a group of them, they could get together and dance their performance.  I could see her doing that instead of a piano performance, like Trevor has done.
 Gwen had a wonderful time at the zoo as well. However, she was a lot more timid when it came to the giraffes.  I guess the size was slightly overpowering.  She also didn't care to look at the sharks in the tank, or really, any animal that would have the potential to "get" her.  I don't know why it extended to giraffes, but it did.

So as a result of being a younger sibling, Gwen got the chance to tag along to the tournament last weekend.  She loved the pool, and loved the fun she could have with the other girls that she knew from the siblings of Trevor's teammates.  I think all of the parents appreciated the break that the kids could get from their siblings during the weekend and that they always had someone to entertain them.  Hopefully we will have that as long as Trevor wants to play both baseball and hockey.  

Finally, the last two pictures, I couldn't help but take because at her game last night, Gwen was able to play her favorite position: catcher.  She played it one other time, but I was not there to see it.  She practices her throwing, back to the pitcher, and I would say that she practices her catching, but really, she practices her dodging, more than anything.  She moves to the side and sticks her glove out hoping to catch it.  It is pretty cute.  And she loves being in all that gear.  Thankfully it wasn't too hot.

She is also starting her week long camps, through the summer program here.  The first week out of school it was a VBS program, and this week it is Gymnastics.  Boy does she love her gymnastics!  I signed her up for two consecutive weeks.  She is finally able to put it all together, and is really working on her cartwheels.

So there you have it!  The month of June is more than halfway done!  It's only about 75 days until school starts again...but who's counting????!?

The end of another school year

While these past few months have flown by, it is hard to believe that it is the end of 3rd grade for Trevor, and the end of Kindergarten for Gwen.  We got their report cards on the last day of school, and for the 3rd year in a row, they told them which teacher they were going to have to start next year.  I got the teacher I requested for Gwen, but did not for Trevor.  They changed the configuration for the Gifted and Talented program.  They had previously had two multi-age classes - 4th and 5th combined - but decided to start the year next year with one teacher for all 4th and one teacher for 5th.  So that means, that for a lot of these kids, they are going to be with generally the same kids for 4 years straight.  I guess there are pluses and minuses to both, but it is somewhat hard to see the more positive aspects of it when there are some hard personality conflicts between a few of the kids.  I was so hoping for a relief from that for next year.

Regardless, the reports for both of the kids were great.  I didn't even think it was possible to improve on Gwen's report card from midway through the year, but she did.  I think she got along and listened very well to her teacher, and loved all of her classmates.  There isn't anything I would do any differently over the course of the school year.  She has grown so much, with the help of her classmates and teacher.  I hope she will have a wonderful 1st grade in her transition to eating lunch at school.  That's really what I think is going to be the most tricky for her.  I can bet though, that she won't be the first person who will have a big adjustment to that part of school.  So I'm not really that concerned.

Trevor also either improved or stayed the same as to his report card elements.  I think responsibility-wise we have really made improvements on how he handles his school work, and hopefully can carry that in to the next year.  One thing that I hope to work with him on is his ability to realize when a problem presents itself that he doesn't know with certainty, that it is ok to ask for help.

Gwen and I were able to help out at the all 3rd grade party the last day of school.  It took place in the morning, so that's how Gwen got to come with us.  She loved feeling like a big kid, as she always does.  She even got to have a sno-cone since they had some leftovers.  Their theme was Hawaiian.  To bad the weather was more winter like than Hawaiian.  This weather has just been so crazy!

Both kids got their yearbook, and while Trevor doesn't really pay much attention to his, I think it may be interesting for him to have and look back on when he is older.  Gwen on the other hand, eats that stuff up!  She is able to tell you all the kids that she knows, and it is primarily the older kids because they help them being the bus patrol.  She also knows a bunch of kids from dance, Kids Safari (after school program) and any of the siblings that go to Trevor's sporting events.  When she got her yearbook, she spent a good hour plus paging through all the pages of her yearbook noticing who she knew from each class.  Because she is in the afternoon class, she was able to participate in the 5th grade clap-out.  The 5th graders get to walk around the school at the end of the day while the rest of the students and staff clap for them.  Gwen said she got a little sad to know that they won't be back at her school next year.  I have a strong feeling that she is going to be one of those kids that during her clap-out, she will be crying.  Maybe even Trevor's too.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  The summer vacation has started.  We still need to do a little bit more work on setting expectations for the summer.  We might have to invest in something to keep the mosquitoes out of the backyard because Trevor doesn't to be out side when they are swarming.  Next week Gwen's activities start, with Trevor's 3 times a week hockey clinics.  I'll just be happy to get the long sleeves packed away.  Maybe even the winter jackets?  Please?  Bring on the summer weather for summer vacation!

Who knows which is more busy

You know, you go through your head, you look at your calendar, and you think...."well, if I could just get through May....June will slow down", or "If I could just get done with school, then my time will really free up".  Or how about, "Once my baby is in 1st grade...all day school...then I'll REALLY have a lot of free time."  Yeah, right.  It's all a big joke.  I ran into one of Trevor's classmates family at a garage sale, and she was talking about how that idea never ends.  It goes well into "when the kids are out of the house...." to "when I retire....."  You always think you will have more time on your hands.  And it NEVER happens.

So you do your best to enjoy as much of it as you can.  Having two kids in various activities does make it hard to make it to everything, but with the help of the village, you do make the best of it.  I decided to run out to Chicago for a day and a night to see the Rolling Stones in concert.  I think it was the first time I was actually old enough to remember all the sights of downtown.  We didn't see it all, but I really think I got a taste of it all.  Thanks to Russ, we stayed in a ritzy hotel for the evening, and thanks to the weather, we didn't get rained on at all.  It was overcast for most of the day, with rain threatening, and actually during the concert, there was a flash flood warning but we never saw any of it.  We went to the park and ate at the park cafe, we found a speakeasy and had a few martinis.  We enjoyed over 2 hours of great Stone's music and had no problems getting back home the next day.

The kids got some extra time playing around:  Gwen got a playdate in the morning, to stay in the after school program, and then had a playdate at night during Trevor's baseball practice.  She LOVED it.  That girl and her social wants.  It sounded like everything went smoothly too...no fighting or what have you.  When I came back, she had her dance recital practice, and then had another small playdate.  Now, I would think that once school gets out, this time may be a little less hectic, but I'm thinking, probably not.

Trevor, also got to be in the after school program, but he's enjoying playing baseball as much as he can.  Last night, they had their first winning game!  Unfortunately, they had the late game so they weren't done until after 11pm.  On a school night!  I took Gwen home at about 9:30 and she crashed as her head hit the pillow.  I was able to keep track of the scores through an online scoring program that one of the dad's uses.  It was so FUN to watch that winning game.  Trevor pitched two innings and did really well!  It was for two innings that I was able to be at, so I was happy that I didn't miss that.  Hopefully it will give the team a little boost that they need to get some more winning games!

This next week continues to be busy with Kindergarten "graduation", talent show, Gwen's dance recital tomorrow, baseball practices/games, and year end parties.  It was a very fun year, I think, for both kids at school.  I can't wait to see which teachers they get for the next school year!  And maybe the weather will warm up soon???

Two weeks into heavy baseball

So it has been about two weeks since baseball has started for both kids.  Technically, I guess it is only 10 days or something, but I look at a week as Monday - Friday.  Since we are almost at Friday, then it is almost two weeks ;-)

Trevor's first game, which was the same night as Gwen's baseball pictures, ended up being washed out.  The field was unplayable, so I guess that means that they will have to make up that game at some point.  So then his first game became the tournament over the weekend in West St. Paul.  It was a late game on Friday, and two games during Saturday, where there was snow, wild wind, and rain.  PERFECT weather for baseball, let me tell you!

The first game was a bit of a disaster.  The team didn't even score a run.  Most of the batters looked scared. The pitchers were walking everyone or the fielders couldn't field a ball to help the pitcher.  The two games on Saturday were more of the same.  Trevor pitched for an inning on each of the games on Saturday.  He struck out 4 of the 6 outs, and threw a ball to first for another out.  So he was feeling pretty good about his pitching.  He is a very nervous batter, and so far has only got on base by walking or for a fielder's choice that  didn't put him out.

He's had two games since then, and pitched in the first one.  He struck out two, hit a batter, and walked another, but ended up with quite a few hits, so much that he went over his 50 pitch count.  So he didn't finish that inning.  The good thing is that he isn't not throwing strikes.  If the fielding was better by everyone, I think the team would do a whole lot better.  And from what I know, they know how to field, it's just they have all the bad luck during the games.  If they could put it all together, I know they could win a game.  Because of their coach, and the good attitude of the kids, they are still happy to be playing!

So for the past two weeks, Gwen has also been gearing up to play her baseball games.  Her season was pushed back a week because of the weather, but they had two good practices last week before their games this week.  She is the only girl on her team, but she knows 3 other boys from being at her school, 2 of them in her class.  The reason I put her in baseball was because they don't have a similar option in softball.  If I wanted her in softball, she would already be in a league where they kept score, outs, standings, etc.  I thought this league, where there are no outs, everyone gets to bat, and no score is kept would be a lot less stressful.  Plus, if it was impossible to be in two places at once, if she had to miss a game, I wouldn't feel bad.

Unfortunately, for her first game, I had my last PTA meeting of the school year.  So I had my mom bring her to her game.  Trevor had a baseball practice, so he hitched a ride with his friend.  I don't know how I could have done this week without Trevor being on the team with a good friend.  Anyway, I was getting texts from my mom about how Gwen was doing.  They actually had a half hour practice before the game, had one inning and then they were done.  It was a hot day, so no one complained.  She was up to bat, and was told she had two more pitches before she got her hit!  She was so excited!  Then, she got to be the catcher!  Super happy to be doing that as well.  She got to tell the batters where they were supposed to stand and where to go after they hit.

Not without noting though, watching her with all these boys, she is definitely out of her element.  All the boys are so rough and high energy, part of the time she just stands around and watches them.  She has tried to keep up with them, but it really isn't in her nature.  After pictures last week, she asked me when she could play softball.  I think she really misses her girl friends.  I'm glad we tried it, just to see how she would like it.  It would also be easy to keep her in baseball if she really enjoyed it.

So this week, Russ is out of town in Canada.  Looking at our schedule we have 6 baseball events, 1 dance event, 1 meeting for me, all within the span of 4 days that Russ is gone.  I was doing my best to make it all work, and really looking forward to yesterday (Wednesday) being our least busy day.  It was just a home game for Trevor.  It started off fine, Gwen and I went to our usual envelope stuffing at school during the morning, but when we got home, Gwen was barfing.  She tried some sips of water, but it came back up.  Again and again.  Waiting a little over an hour, and trying again.  Nope...well she didn't go to school, but I was trying to figure out how baseball was going to work.  Luckily my mother-in-law works so close and has offered her help whenever I need it.  HELP!!!!  So she came over after work to sit with a sick Gwen while I went to watch Trevor play.

She only got sick one more time, and took a nap as well.  She had a freezie pop (because she can't tolerate carbonated beverages and doesn't like gatorade) that she did keep down and went to bed when we got home around 9:00.  Thankfully she slept through the night and has not gotten sick since last night.  We are still not going crazy with food or liquids, but she is slowly getting her energy back up.  We won't be going to school or her baseball game tonight, but I think I'll be ok to let her come to Trevor's baseball game and sit by me.

During the day yesterday, it really brought me back to going through the exact same thing in grade school.  When I had a stomach bug, I got it bad.  I couldn't keep anything down, but after you are sick you are SO hungry and thirsty.  Gwen was begging to have water, just like I used to.  But as soon as she got a sip, she was sick.  Within 2 minutes.  Then she was crying that she was sick.  I remember going so far as to suck on a wet wash cloth because that should slow down your water intake, only to get sick 5 minutes later.  It was SO not fun.  Gwen seemed to find some understanding when I told her that when I was a girl I went through the same thing.  I am slightly worried in that she said that she is looking forward to going back to school so she can tell her classmates she got sick 5-6 times that day.  Good grief.  Well, at least she is looking on the fun side of being sick!

Then, to ad icing to the cake, I have a cold, in addition to getting some not so good health news from members of the extended family.  Lots of prayers for everyone involved.  It just hasn't been a great week this week.  I'm hoping to hit the hot yoga on Saturday morning to let it all just melt away......

Things are changing.....

It is so cliche to say that the kids grow up in the blink of an eye.  But really, over the last month, the kids really have grown up and come so far from where even I once was in my life.  Facebook is amazing in that you can keep in touch with people from all points in your life, and I am further amazed at how many different ways people's lives can go and yet still feel connected to everyone in some strange way.

But back to the kids:  Last week, we got an installed Gwen's bedframe for her bedroom.  With that, came the end of a 7 year era where someone was sleeping on a bed that was on the floor.  Gwen was thrilled of course to be getting off the ground, but it also made me realize that she didn't need any of her 3 step stools that we had for her to help get up higher to things in the house.  She can reach all the faucets to wash her hands in the bathroom, brush her teeth and the like.  

This week, Gwen and the whole Kindergarten class went on a field trip to the nature center.  It is amazing to see these kids and how much they have all grown in the past school year.  They are almost first graders!  Gwen had her first lunch at school, well, on the field trip anyway.  I will say, I'm concerned about next year and her speed of eating.  She, like me, is a slow eater.  She is also a picky eater.  She is also a social eater.  So put all these things together, and I have no idea how she will get through the day eating probably less than half of what she eats now.  She averages about 20 minutes to eat, but that is without any friendly distractions.    When she got back from her field trip she was very hungry and had eaten about half of her lunch.  Today at school they talked and made a note to their parents about going on the field trip.  Gwen's favorite part of the trip, and she mentioned it again and again and again, was the bus ride.  I seem to remember that it was the same thing for Trevor.  But I also know that she was telling everyone she could that she got to go to school in the morning.  She is looking forward to starting 1st grade, being a big kid, and all that it entails.  That's going to be a totally different ballgame!

For Trevor, we have been working on becoming more dependent on me for reminders and such.  I have been amazed at how much it has taken off my plate.  I think he thought that it meant I was going to leave him alone completely, but because of our weekly touchbase meetings, we can evaluate things that are happening and find new ways of doing things.  It has been a drastic shift for me to be much more hands-off, but I know that it means he has to figure out his own way of doing things.  While I know he can't grasp what it is going to be like in high school or even middle school at this point, I think it is a good idea to at least put some thoughts in his mind now, rather than have a whole shock to the system in a few years.  He is in the middle of some standardized tests which helps determine if he is accepted into the next gifted and talented program at his school.  

He's also ramping up and getting into the swing of things for baseball.  We have found out that for our first really traveling tournament, we will be going to Rochester.  With hockey this year, we will also be traveling, probably out of town as well.  So here we go.  The weather could use some improving.  Poor kids have only been able to do some fielding in the school gyms until the ground is good enough to play on.  Yeah, the weather is a whole other issue.  Everyone has stopped selling winter gear, but both kids have changed shoe sizes and don't have good boots anymore.  With the snowing and melting, raining and such it sure has been wet on the snow gear!

As far as my life, I have been reflecting on that as well.  Having been volunteering as my main source of time commitment outside of family, that has been shifting too.  My two year stint as PTA treasurer is coming to an end in a little over two months.  We have a great replacement named, and since I'm not going anywhere, I know it will be an easy transition since I can be asked questions if something is in question.  But as of this September, I won't have a kid to look after an average of 5 days a week.  I'm goaling myself to find something part time, or get more involved in church/school volunteer opportunities.  It depends on what we need to do.  I for sure would love to get more time at hot yoga.  With the summer, I know I won't go as often as when the kids are at school, but it sure is nice when I get the chance to go.  So peaceful.  

So there is time to think about the coming changes, but they sure are coming.  And coming fast.  Did I mention that Trevor and I can almost wear the same size shoes?  Yeah, he's growing up....in the blink of an eye.

Wow...it has been a whole month

I would guess that is the longest I have gone without blogging.  I know a year ago, I was doing it almost every day while we had our Disney trip in early March.  When you really want to remember things, you know you have to write them down right away or they will slip away from you!

As is true with our lives these days, so much has happened in a month!  A month ago, Trevor still had two weeks of hockey left.  He finished out those last few games strong and we also had the year end hockey party.  It was at an indoor batting facility that also allowed us to use an open space to play dodgeball.  The kids and the coaches also used the batting cages, and we ate and had a very good time.  This was Trevor's 4th year as a mite, and next year he will be a squirt.  I'm learning so much about hockey and it seems as though Trevor really enjoys it.  Hopefully he'll have a great team next year and I'll know a bunch of the parents that I have gotten to know over the past 4 years.

Out with hockey and in with baseball.....Trevor had his first tryout experience a week after hockey was done.  Being new to the tryout experience, I had no idea what to expect.  Neither did Russ, except he had his own tryout history to rely on.  However, since we were young, they have really restricted the ability for parents to watch their kids try out.  I guess there have been parents who have taken it upon themselves to argue about a kid's tryout to try to get him/her onto a different team.  So now parents don't get to watch.

Before we left for Florida, Trevor found out he made a team with his best friend, and knew 3 other kids on the team.  That means he know almost half of the team.  He had his first practice this week, and anything I tried to assume based on the previous year's schedule is completely thrown out the window.  This weekend, the coach will be signing up for tournament/game schedule and he asked to send him any dates that weren't good for us.  His reasoning is that because the team is only 11 kids, if there are more than 2 of them missing, I don't know that they can even have a game.  Unfortunately, we did find out that this year (for the first time) their Bloomington team is hosting a tournament over Memorial Weekend.  Similar to the Bloomington Hockey tournament, parents are required to volunteer and be there throughout the tournament.  So this isn't one that we can miss, even if we wanted to.  Bummer!  So baseball will be a learning experience for us.

Gwen has been signed up for "instructional" baseball, which is what Trevor did in Kindergarten.  The alternative option for Gwen to play softball would have her on a team with 1st and 2nd graders where they keep scores and outs.  Since she didn't have any t-ball last year, I think she needs more of a less pressure setting so she learns how to hit the ball, rather than throw her in somewhere where she doesn't know yet even how to make an out.  Also, this way, if there is a scheduling conflict, I won't feel bad at her not making a game because they aren't keeping score yet.  Fortunately, we have about a month before baseball for her starts, so one less thing to worry about in April.

Also on the Gwen subject, she has really taken an interest in drawing and coloring.  She has gotten a variety of writing instruments and coloring pads which she does at least once every day.  She even wrote a note to hear teacher (at my request) asking if she could bring her sketch pad to do during choice time.  He approved, so she has been enjoying the attention she gets from her classmates when she shares her drawing toys with them.  She is still very happy with her Lego Friends toys and got another set for Easter.  I *think* she is done with all the major sets.  I have no doubt that they will come up with more....what a goldmine that stuff is.  Gwen found an older girl in Florida while we were at a restaurant that had a small Lego Friends set. She brought her sticker book about Lego Friends so she made a quick friend with this girl.

This month we also had our first full week of a family vacation in which we didn't have a major event planned.  Don't get me wrong, I love Disney trips, but they can be a bit tiring, making sure you get the most out of the trip.  Going to Florida for an entire week where we just had to worry about when to golf and meet up with people we wanted to see was a very different experience.  We did go out to see a Twins spring training game, and it was a very nice day for it.  It was windy and cooler than we would have liked, but the stadium remarkably kept out most of the wind.  #7 didn't play that day, but we did see a home run and the Twins did win the game.  We had three rounds of golf scheduled.  Trevor played two of them.  Gwen was asking to play golf with us, but I think it is another few years off before she is going to be able to make it at a nice course for 18 holes.  We did take her to the driving range and putting green.  She was satisfied that she got to use her clubs.  We found a morning to head to the beach to get some shells and to bury Trevor up to his neck.

My Grandpa turned 90 earlier that month, and we got to celebrate with him one day that he came over to visit.  It sure is nice to see him and for the kids to get to get to see him as well.  Gwen pulled out all the stops with Grandma Joannie as they both enjoyed basking in the sun by the pool.

But we are back home now, having had two baseball practices, primarily indoors.  Sounds like there will be a strong possibility that Trevor will be a major pitcher for the team.  Between my nerves and trying to get Trevor to understand the reality of what being a pitcher actually involves vs. what he thinks about in his mind, it is going to be a very interesting season.  After his first practice, he said he was glad to be back doing baseball stuff.  He has already started throwing the ball at the wall even though there is still snow in the yard.

Apparently, it is also the season for everyone to need new shoes.  Gwen doesn't exactly have a functional pair of sneakers at this point in her life.  She has many fashionable pairs of shoes, but with her feet outgrowing most of the current pairs, it was time to get a few new ones, and Trevor actually also complained that he thought it was soon going to be time to get a new pair for him as well due to his toes hitting the tops of his shoes.  So I just had a big box of shoes sent this week and T is only one size away from being in the same size shoe as me.  My mom was remarking how again, he seems to have shot up another inch in the past few months, so now he hits me slightly above my chin as opposed to by my shoulder like he did last year.  I was seriously hoping to make it until he was a teenager before he outgrew me.  Fat chance of that I'd say.  Now we are going to have to hope that it isn't before he's 11.

So anyway....before this post ages another day, I'm going to submit for now.  Pictures are something I haven't updated in a long while, except for the occasional mobile upload.  I have so many things on my to do list.  And the days seem to fly by.  Wherever will I find the time....until tomorrow I guess???

Oops...there went half of January!

The holidays seemed to get away from me pretty quick this year.  Or I should say blogging about the holidays and after seemed to get away from me pretty quick.  This year was pretty similar to past years.  Christmas Eve mass, with dinner and gifts at Vicky's.  Then Christmas morning at our house, so Santa can come and visit.  Then Christmas afternoon and evening dinner with my folks for my birthday and gifts, and then the day after it was ice skating, dinner and gifts at Jerry's house.  It just so happened that Russ's alumni hockey game was that morning, so we watched Russ skate at his old home rink while the kids and I huddled under my new fleece Bears blanket, also under the barely warm heaters.

The next day was Vicky's 12/12/12 birthday celebration so that everyone could come and visit.  We saw some out-of-town guests that we don't get a chance to see very often and got ready for Trevor's hockey practices and games.  Gwen had caught yet another cold, so we spent 120 minutes at the minute clinic to get a prescription for an ear infection before driving out to the lake for New Years weekend.  We got to see a few more families there before heading back on New Years Day since the kids had school the next day and my parents left for Florida that morning.

The kids got spoiled and the family got some new toys that we are still trying to work the kinks out of.  But it was a wonderful holiday season to spend as a family.  It was hard to get thrown right back into the heavy routine of all the activities the kids have.  I decided to finally cave and let the kids try out the after school program that working families sometimes use.  I knew it would save me a trip to school on Mondays since Trevor already stays after for Chess club and also knew I couldn't get away with only letting Gwen use it since Trevor had been asking too.  So now, twice a week, I get an extra hour and a half without the kids.  Assuming the weather is nice enough, the kids also have the option of going outside and being on the playground.  Gwen used that to its full potential on her first day and was complaining that I should leave again to give her more outside time.  It's a pretty sweet deal for me!

Russ went on a little vacation with his dad and brother to play baseball with the Twins.  Sounds like they had a blast and only got rained out one day.  He was gone 10 days, over the stretch of two weekends.  That was a strange adjustment having him gone on the weekends.  Poor Gwen didn't like all the extra hockey things she had to come along for.  Trevor ended up asking to not play in a hockey game on Saturday because he came down with a bad cold.  I was watching for a fever, but it never occurred, thankfully.  Even with most of the entire day that we never left the house, it was such an exhausting two weekends.  But it does keep the time flying by.

Now, since the holidays are over, it is already time to start thinking about the summer.  By the end of the month, the summer programs are usually published and we already have the traveling baseball tryout dates.  It always makes me feel a little warmer to start pushing forward towards summer, after the holidays.  There is a lot to get done to make it through to that point next!  

Trevor growing up

Since the wonderful Monday luck that I had a little over a week ago, many things have changed.  Mostly our luck...but we'll start with the first big event.  Trevor had a well-check for being 9 years old.  Not really surprisingly, the kid is growing up, literally, quite fast.  I was asking if he would please start to slow down, at which the doctor explained that no...he goes faster before finally slowing down.  So he's now less than a foot away from over taking me.  92nd percentile for height and 76th percentile for weight.  Not exactly a string bean, but he's leaned out over the years.  We had a little conversation about how he'll probably be the tallest one in our immediate family and I don't think the idea really makes sense to him.  I'm guessing its one of those things you can't really imagine what it would be like to be that big.  I don't know that I ever really thought about it.  I was usually one of the tallest girls in my class.  Anyway....it was a good appointment and we had some good conversations about what is expected for his age.

Then, this past week, the kids have been pretty pumped to get close enough to Christmas to see it coming within a week.  Unfortunately, Gwen got a bad cold starting on Monday night.  She had a low grade fever, and didn't have any energy on Tuesday.  So I explained she wouldn't be going to school.  She was SO mad at me.  She was crying "Mommy, PLEASE can I go to school.  I REALLY want to!"  Man, if I could have recorded that conversation to play for her later.  It really gives me a peace of mind that we made the right choice for her this year.  She got better that day and night so she was able to go to school the next day.  So on Wednesday when she went to school so was so happy.

As a side note to all of this:  Russ and I volunteered to help with the winter party in class on Thursday.  They were playing a game that put the kids in a line to hand the game to the player sitting behind them.  The class spontaneously chanted "cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-CHA" while sitting down and their teacher remarked...."this class is so fun...they will be remembered as the class that spontaneously breaks out to cha-cha."  Russ and I see it too.  The kids get along very well as a class, have fun and still know how to get down to business and do what is expected of them.

So on Wednesday, our traditionally busy day, we went from school to swimming to religion class.  Trevor reported that he got two rocket rewards that day...at the beginning of the school day.  The kids got their last day of swimming classes in, and we had to run to church after eating a quick dinner in the car so they could practice for Christmas Eve mass: bringing the nativity characters up to the manger.  We made it just in time to practice and then get back home for a half hour before religion.  This religion class was really just their Christmas party, which I volunteered to help for.  When I got to his class, it turned out that they had more than enough people to help organize the snacks for the party.  So we tried to get as much done as we could, but there was a lot of waiting around.  Then my special time happened.  The religion leader came in looking for someone to help drive a person that came in for confession, but broke their key off in their car lock and needed a ride back home to get their spare set of keys.  I jumped at the chance.  It was a perfect opportunity to pay it forward since I was the one in need just a week prior.  The woman offered to pay me for gas, but I declined.  She then said that she would pray for me and my family, and that was something I could accept.  She needed a ride about 5 miles away and back, but we got back in plenty of time to do what was needed to help for the party.

I had a chat with Trevor about how lucky I felt to be able to pay my help back to someone that needed it.  Because of his day of rocket rewards, and my luck he thought maybe it was just a lucky day for the Johnson family.  I said that because of Gwen being able to get back to school that day, I knew she would agree that it was a great day for her as well.  We decided that because Russ was in town to enjoy the day, that would be his lucky day as well.

So the kids are now off of school until next year.  It started off with Gwen having a difficult sleeping night last night with her cough but she seems to be handling it ok.  Trevor has been playing Ninjago/Lego Friends with her nicely for most of the morning and we have activities to get them through most of the next week.  Christmas will be here quick!  Happy Holidays everyone!

Man she would have fit right in to the 80s....

Ah Gwen....how you have really shown your true colors and how interesting it is for me to watch.  SO many things you like have to do with what was "cool" in my childhood.  Also interesting enough, when there haven't been things that I have kept, or able to pass down, they are back in style so I can go out and get them for her.  Part of it does have to do with her wanting to be older than she is...for example when we went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago, I broke out my heeled boots, and Gwen whined: "When can I get high heels?"  The kids ones, sandal-like with about a half inch are not good enough.  High heels are the one guilty pleasure I allow myself.  I know I wasn't even kind of interested in them until I was in high school though..so yeah, she's ahead of the curve on that one.  She also just asked me the other day to teach her how to braid her hair.  She knows she isn't quite strong enough to do what she wants to her hair, but she is doing everything she can to become as independent as possible.  She picks out her clothes, brushes her hair and teeth at night and puts her pjs on.  

That goes to one of the things that remind me of the 80s....she was invited and went to a Halloween party a few weekends ago.  In her gift bag, she got a Halloween hair scrunchie.  Once she remembered she got it, she wore it every day.  Hair pulled back into a ponytail, with the scrunchie.  Since we are past the time of Halloween, and rather than wear that all year, I found a pack at Target.  Man was she in heaven!  They didn't have bright colors, but I at least found a purple one...so now that is the scrunchie of choice.  Her "style" of clothing also is typical 80s....leggings, ruffle skirts...I'm tempted to do her hair in big bangs, but thankfully her bangs have finally grown out.

Toys....she has seemed to pass by her princesses in order to play with my old Barbies....yeah...I kind of forgot about those.  I knew they were going to be kept around because my grandma made a TON of clothes for the dolls.  I never really got into them.  When I had friends over, sometimes they would play with them.  I think I had more fun organizing the collection than actually playing with the dolls.  But lo-and-behold we have a winner with Gwen.  And yes, the high heeled shoes are probably the biggest hit.  I'm guessing we'll have to get a Ken doll with a tuxedo since I have two barbies with two different wedding dresses.  She's right now using her Aladdin doll, but he isn't in his wedding garb.  She has been talking about cabbage patch kids...she got one on one of her first birthdays and I have one that I can give her as well.  So I'm guessing those will make a comeback.  She has been hearing a lot about American Girl Dolls, so I went to borrow a book from the Library (I have a few of them in my old book box) but it is a little too old for her.  We are still reading one-sitting books.  I think next year is when the teacher starts reading chapter books, so I bet she might be more receptive next year....

Back to her style choice....she was wearing a long sleeved shirt today, and I don't know what possessed her to change, but she put a t-shirt over her long sleeved shirt.  Now all of Trevor's "winter" shirts are like this.  He can't wear sweatshirts without getting so hot, he wants to take it off.  So he has long sleeved shirts that look like a t-shirt over a long sleeved shirt.  I don't know if she is noticing other people with the same style or not.  But she so knows her styles.....

What a little girl she is.  And how fast she is becoming a little young lady.  Maybe if she gets all of her style choices now, I won't have to fight with her later???  Something tells me her teenage years are going to be very interesting......

Fun times

Coming back from our Disneyland trip, the fun for the kids just doesn't seem to have slowed down at all.  Because of Halloween, and the part that the school does not do a costume party during school hours, that left for a lot of "parties".  Trevor got to wear his costume at the school's Costume Party that took place the Friday before Halloween.  I was with Gwen during the party where she met up with two classmates and spent most of her time dancing at the dance party.  They also had a photo booth set up to take pictures, so now she has a photograph to remember the event by.  I have to say, it really made me want the time to slow down because it really was very easy to see her just a few years older going to a middle school dance.  She behaved exactly like those kids do...giggling and running around, dancing to the music.  I don't even know if they have dances like we did in Jr. High.  I do remember how much fun it was though.  After the party, Gwen was excited that she became good friends with one of the classmates she doesn't usually see.

Then last weekend, Trevor had his hockey tryouts.  This is his last year of mites, and he is hoping to make the advanced mite team.  Last year he was in intermediate.  He made the callback scrimmage on Sunday, and we found out on Tuesday, he made one of two advanced teams.  He was overjoyed.  So was I.  I knew it meant a lot to him to be able to progress every year.  The team already has 4 practices this weekend...so let the hockey begin!  Also on Saturday, we headed to an Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch with Derek, Kyrsten and Adam.  It was a little chilly, but we got our warm cider, apple doughnuts, pumpkins, pictures and a hay ride.  Harvest time complete!  I couldn't believe what a well-behaved kids Adam was!  It was so nice of him to let us play around while he enjoyed snuggling in his warm clothes.

Gwen was invited to a classmates Halloween party last Sunday.  She was REALLY excited to go, because she had yet to have any actual playdates since school has started.  We know the girl from both school and she is in her dance class for the past two years.  It was a two hour party and when I picked her up, she didn't want to leave.  So we'll have to have the girl back over to our house sometime in the coming weekends.  Unfortunately, her parents work during the day, so she attends a daycare place when she is not at school.  Weekends are the only time.  So Gwen was able to get out her costume again for that party, and she got out her Jasmine costume again for her dance class costume party.  It was nice to be able to use that one again and I know it was much easier to move around in, than in her Merida dress.

Then, last Tuesday was the All-Star lunch.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my previous posts or not.  This lunch was set up by the school as a prize for selling their goal amount of fundraiser product in September.  The school's top 2 sellers were to be at the lunch and 5 more were drawn from the entire school.  At the lunch, would be Tony Oliva, who is a former Minnesota Twins baseball player.  The lunch was catered by TGIFridays and they had candles, flowers, a nice tablecloth, plates and made it all fancy for the kids.  After the lunch, the kids got to ride in a limo to Dairy Queen for a blizzard and back to school.  I made it a point to order all the product from family and friends through Trevor's name because I wanted him to have as many chances as possible to go to this lunch.  I did buy one ticket for Gwen so she could be in on her class drawings for treats.  So the drawing happened, and Trevor was one drawn!  I was so excited and so was he.  Shortly after, Gwen was drawn.  I was shocked....well, not really since I know she has a wild good luck streak.  Her odds were something like 1 in 400 or so.  I was just so glad that Trevor was already going, or I'm pretty sure there would have been a quick Hunger Games situation:  "I, her brother, nominate myself in her place to go to the lunch!".

I made sure to lay out the expectations for both kids, in order to behave at their "fancy restaurant" and had Trevor think of some questions he wanted to ask Tony.  He did, and I also said he probably would want to get his autograph.  Because both kids were at the lunch, I asked if I could go to take pictures and really to observe Trevor and his awe.  The other 3 kids that were drawn were two second grade girls and one first grade boy.  The two top sellers were two 3rd graders that Trevor has had in class before.  Yes, Trevor was in his element.  He sat across the table from Tony and chatted his ear off as much as he could.  He asked him if he remembered him from when he met him at the Metrodome.  I guess he did a meet and greet there when Trevor was...4???  Tony politely said no.  Trevor asked him what it was like to play for the Twins.  He said that he was very lucky.  He came from Cuba and didn't really know what it meant to play professional baseball.  He just knew he liked to play it, and loved the people he was with.  Although Tony has retired from playing baseball, he has had a lot of different roles with the Twins.  I believe he was a batting coach during one of the times the Twins won the World Series, so he had a World Series ring on.  He passed it around so the kids could take a look at it.  Trevor's eyes lit up.  Then he started rattling off all the baseball facts about the world series that he could remember:  How many times the Twins won...how the Twins weren't always the Twins....then started veering off into history lessons...why WWI started....my eyes started rolling at this point, but Tony was a good sport.  He found out that he was my son, and he told me that I must have raised him right because he really knows his baseball stuff.  He would love to sit down with him more to chat about it.  Trevor was giddy at this point.

Tony had brought some pictures that he signed for the kids, and on the picture had some of his stats.  It stated that he has had 220 career home runs.  Trevor was again, in awe.  I felt bad that I didn't have him study up on Tony Oliva before we got there.  But all was good....the lunch ended, we got some pictures in front of the limo, and the kids were off to have their ice cream.  I knew Gwen enjoyed that part the best.  Limos are cool!  The principal was riding along with them, which was good since the kids were contained.

The kids got back to school at 1:00, and Gwen headed right to class.  We carved more traditional pumpkins than we had in many years.  And then the next day she got another treat:  Another kid from her class asked if we would like to have a standing playdate on Wednesdays where every week they would go to each other's houses - trading off.  That week it was her friends house.  And it was Halloween...so the day was extra special.  I was able to get my windshield replaced on my car and have it back before the kids were done with school.  I made sure everything was set, and we headed out for the night.  It was chilly so I rode in a car while the kids walked.  We were able to hit a lot of different neighborhoods and get plenty of candy.  I was glad when that day was over.

Too much fun!  It should be illegal.  It sure is tiring on a mom.  It is now November:  another birthday month, and party month.  Less than 8 weeks until Christmas...I guess I should be starting to organize the Christmas stuff as well.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Gwen's week

I should say, that before the continuation of Gwen's week, we did have a day where we had to give the kids equal treatment.  Gwen's birthday was last Wednesday, and the next Thursday we had the kids' school conferences.  I was a little bit nervous, seeing as how I had hoped that both kids were making a good impression on their teachers this year.  My concern for Gwen was simply that we had made the right choice sending her early.  From what she has told me, she loves it and wants to go all day.  I was hoping that the teacher would feel the same way.  With Trevor, he had a bit of a rough year last year, and I was just hoping this year would be a little bit easier on him.  Similar to Gwen, he was remarking how well he was doing, and I was hoping his teacher would say something similar. 

With both kids, I was blown away.  With Trevor's teacher, she didn't focus on his "issues" simply noted how Trevor was also aware of them and working to minimize those things.  She had wonderful things to say about him and has done a wonderful job of complimenting him on the things he does very well in order to build his self esteem.  With Gwen, her teacher wouldn't have even known that she was young compared to her classmates except that she was telling everyone the day before that she was turning 5.  He had to ask her a time or two to be sure.  She has been conducting herself very well and in line with the other classmates.  He also remarked at how well her class gets along with each other and that it is a really fun class to be a part of.  It was so heartwarming!

So after that meeting, we picked the kids up and told them that we had been planning a trip to DisneyLand!  We had just planned it a few weeks before, but wanted to make sure that they were doing well at school first.  Russ was expecting yelps of joy and utter excitement, but in reality they weren't exactly jumping up and down.  NOT because they were bored with the idea, but kind of like me, they needed time for the information to set in.  That weekend, I got out all of our pin trading that we had done in March, and the kids got PUMPED for that.  I never would have guessed that part would be really exciting, but it was.  Kind of like a little treasure hunt for them.  I got a bunch of pins sold in bulk off of ebay and they picked through them to decide which they were willing to trade and which ones they wanted to keep. 

On Sunday, it was Gwen's family birthday party.  We did have a small recognition for her on Wednesday, with just Russ, Trevor and I to sing Happy Birthday, blow out her candle on a brownie and open her Merida (Brave) costume and big Heartlake City Stables Lego Friends that had over 1000 pieces.  We got her Olivia's house that had over 600 pieces around Easter and she has put that together by herself.  She got about the same distance through the stables before she handed it over to me. 

So Sunday, we had burgers, brats and hot dogs for dinner with french fries and chocolate cake for candles and singing time.  Gwen was PUMPED for her party....so excited that everyone could come, that she got to play with and see both of her cousins....she did want to play party games, which was a little difficult given the age range of the guests...but she did have a windfall of gifts.  More Lego Friends again...I believe she is 2-3 sets away from the entire Heartlake City.  And she got a wonderful Barbie-sized Merida doll and horse that she is able to play with when she wants a little break from her Lego Friends.  We were able to complete all 6 sets within 4 days but now she has in the teens, the number of Lego Friends characters.  It is because we have so many friends, that I cannot throw away the boxes that the sets came in.  She can look at the faces of the characters and know which set they came with, then will look at the box to remember the name.  It is very confusing.  Especially because none of the names are also friends of hers.  It would be easy if their names were Megan, Ellen, Elizabeth, etc.  But they are Stephanie, Sophie, Ella, etc.  Cute names, just hard to remember. 

Rolling right into Monday, we went to her 5 year check-up.  Because we had already gotten her immunizations for Kindergarten, it was a very "boring" check up.  They measured her height at 43.5" and weight at 44lbs.  She's still a square...virtually.  Both her height and weight measured at the 75%.  The doctor told her she won't have to get shots until she is 11, which hopefully she believes him rather than asking me every week if she has to get more. 

And then to round out the week, the kids' school did their drawing for their Fall Fundraiser.  The "big" prize this year is a lunch with Tony Oliva, followed by a ride in a limo to DQ to eat a blizzard and drive around for a bit.  They had a mid-range prize that was given to the top seller in each class, and one drawn student from each class.  I had chosen to put all our purchases with Trevor so he could have more of a chance to be drawn for the drawings, because I figured, Gwen being in Kindergarten and only half-day wouldn't really care a whole lot about the lunch, or even pay that much attention to it.  Found out that Trevor was not the top seller in his class, by about $50, but that he did get drawn for the classroom drawing.  The overall lunch was drawn from the entire school, and Trevor was SUPER excited that he got drawn for the lunch with Tony Oliva.  Would you believe Gwen got drawn too?  Her name was in the bucket one time.  I gave a cash donation in her name so that she could be included in the drawings, but like I said, I wanted Trevor to have more of a chance.  Trevor's name was put in 5 times.  Gwen was put in once.  The entire school drawing, only 5 names were drawn.  I'm pretty sure her odds were around 1 in 750 at least.  That girl has always been crazy lucky.  But I'm very thankful that Trevor was drawn too because I don't know that he would have been very happy had Gwen gotten to go, and he couldn't. 

Regardless....we will be in warm California next week enjoying the company of Mickey and Lightning McQueen.  I can't wait to be warm again!  I know its only been a few weeks but I don't want to have to wait until March before I feel warm again!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Yep, it was that old starting phrase....5 years ago today....I remember where I was.  Strangely not a lot had been going on at this time in the morning.  I had a fast labor.  First contraction at about 11am, born at 3:33pm.  But I remember feeling I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of being pregnant with you.  I had a doctor appointment to see how the pregnancy was going and being a week past my due date I had just about had it.  As with your life, you are your own person with your own ideas of how things should go. 

It has been a great 5 years, and so different than your brother when he was the same age.  Different interests, different friendships, different communication.  This year we started you in Kindergarten, a year earlier than is the norm.  But you were ready.  If you had your way, you'd be in first grade this year.  You love school and all things about it, which is why you would prefer to be staying as long as you can.  You love dance class and all things music.  I think in January we will start you on your own piano lessons.  I know you are ready for that as well, but we need to get through our busy season first.  You love all things girl/woman/princess.  You love getting your nails done (as long as they don't use the clippers!!!), you love having your hair done.  You want to wear as high heeled shoes as possible and have asked me to keep the ones that I wear for you when you are older.  You want to wear make-up and thankfully are ok with chapstick on your lips as a substitute.  You enjoy telling people about all your boyfriends and talk about who you want to marry.  You are accepting of being carted off with me on our many adventures.  Granted, they don't end up being especially exciting adventures, but are accepting of bringing a book and some dolls and making do.  You love to help, whether it is baking, cleaning, or running errands.  If you think there is some way you can help you are all for it.  Yesterday was spent raking leaves and while you liked to jump in them, you were very eager to help put them into bags when it was time.  At age 4, when asked what your favorite subject was, you knew it was reading.  You do have a love for reading already.  You don't get frustrated easily so reading has a lot of joy for you.  You are willing to spell out words so you can keep reading to yourself.  We still have our nighttime reading sessions where I read to you, but other times you are more than willing to read to me or to yourself. 

I feel as though you have grown up so much in these first 5 years.  I cannot wait to see what this next year brings as well as the future years.  You have taught me so much because although you may look a little like me, I have learned how to embrace my inner "princess".  Thank you for being my teacher darling girl!  Have a wonderful birthday with all the fun activities we have planned! 

Getting geared up....

Not as though I had any time to gear up for anything....it was a weekend where I had two nights of something going on.  It was then followed by a Sunday of family time at the last home Twins game of the season.  Unfortunately, that left little time for anything else.  And we have a birthday in 3 days.  I have not yet even planned her friend party.  Thank goodness she hasn't even asked about it, because as I said previously, I think she would just prefer to have a bunch of her friends over for a playdate at her house.  We will see how it all works out after this week. 

Friday night, I hosted our 3rd annual wine party hosted by Vicky and Richwood Winery.  Wow....do I have a wonderful group of mom friends.  And a wonderful excuse to get us all together for a very fun time!  It was great to see everyone again!

Saturday night, I invited myself to the Upper Midwest Regional Emmy awards.  Brian was nominated so I asked if I could come along as his "plus one".  Guys were in suits and ties, girls were in dresses.  They had it all ironed out so that the actual handing out of awards were done in groups of 5-6 at a time.  Not everyone was allowed their 15 second acceptance speech, so really it didn't take very long at all.  Unfortunately, their group didn't win as they were a city cable High School football broadcast up against FSN Twins, FSN Wild, and FSN Timberwolves.  Maybe one of these years they can pull out a win!  It was a fun time to be downtown all fancied up.  Funny thing, I ran into one of our golf pros at the course we play at up on the rooftop of Crave that night. 

Then Sunday, it was Kid appreciation day at the Twins game and we called and found out that their autograph session was not worth being there early for and headed out to the game.  Russ won the tickets for a contest he entered at his work and he picked that day's game.  Unfortunately he had to fly out to San Francisco that evening so he couldn't stay until the end of the game.  Because it was a Sunday, they invite the kids to run the bases after the game, which the kids both wanted in on.  Sadly, the Twins lost but being able to be on the field was pretty cool, I thought.  Trevor jumped up on the wall in center field so I got a picture of that in mid-jump.  Running the bases was more of an experience than getting a picture was.  There weren't very many good places to take a picture but I got what I could. 

This week its back-to-school with the little one's birthday on Wednesday.  She can bring treats for her class, we will have a special birthday dinner, dessert, and opening of presents before her family party next Sunday.  She is very excited, and actually after the kids conferences on Thursday, we plan on telling them about our spontaneous (at least from my perspective) trip to Disneyland in the middle of October for MEA break.  Then I'll have to get those last minute details finalized. 

So on the list of things to do, I can check off:  first day of school, first PTA meeting, and fall fundraiser.  Unfortunately (only kind-of) I have to add many more things to the list including:  Disney plans which include lots of reservations and tickets needed to make the trip a success and finalizing costumes for both kids.  Because we are going during the time we are, we are also going to attend Mickey's Halloween Party.  It will be a trip to remember because we don't plan on doing it again!  It just worked out so nicely with Russ traveling to San Diego and the kids being out of school for 3 days before a weekend.  I love planning for Disney, I just hope I don't mess it up too bad!

Another few weeks of school

Time always seems to fly on by once school starts...for me it goes from school to birthdays to holidays to the new year.  So while I know Trevor's birthday and Christmas are a ways out, I am already thinking of things that involve those two events.  Tonight I even double-checked with the kids on what they wanted to do for their "friends" party and I think both of them have changed their tune a bit.  Gwen had been saying Chuck E. Cheese for a bit, and while I would be fine with that, I think she still likes the idea of having a bunch of friends over to her house to play.  So that might be a change.  And then Trevor has said he wanted to do a sleepover, but when he came down to his guest list, I suggested maybe doing a waterpark birthday and having a few friends sleep at the hotel if they could.  I just don't know many of the kids well enough to know if they would even want or have been on a sleepover.  A different choice may be an option for more of them.  Oh well, it is a ways off, and we have time. 

Gwen is loving school, although not loving her quiet time after school.  She thinks that if she gets homework, she shouldn't have to go upstairs since Trevor has to do his homework right after school.  She has just started to get a cold, and this morning Trevor woke her up before 6:30 to see the planetary nebula from his window....I have no idea what he was talking about but Gwen has been pretty crabby ever since.  Hopefully she can get some better sleep tonight to keep the cold away.  But after her rest time, she is free to do her homework...which really isn't homework, it is just activity pages and books she didn't completely color at school.  To watch her work, it is amazing the complete difference between Trevor and Gwen.  She has yet to complain, she has a huge amount of patience (in order to do her "quality work" - as directed by her teacher), and she genuinely loves doing it.  I still remember Trevor's work, which even now, he prefers speed to accuracy so as to get it done with as fast as possible so he can move on to the things he wants to do.  I remember the fights we would get in just to get him to complete his reading of a book.  So I would say she is loving school right now. 

Trevor is off to a wonderful year so far.  He has gotten two rewards from school for being kind to his fellow students and won a drawing at the first school assembly.  The school has introduced a new planner system as well as an academic coach that has already given us one seminar on how to encourage and teach the kids to succeed by staying organized and owning their job as a student.  I'm struggling on letting it all go, and letting him find his own way, unless he asks.  So it seems this year he really has grown and is having a highly successful year...I'm hoping his conference in two weeks is along the same lines.  It would be such a relief to feel as though we really have turned a corner for him this year. 

Similar to his summer at the roller rink, he has already had a few chances to get to know girls a bit better to.  MAN does he have charisma...at age 8!  What.the.heck?  We have had 2 swimming lessons already and although Gwen and he start the lessons at the same time, she ends 10 minutes earlier.  I told him on the first lesson he had to get himself out of the pool and into the locker room because I would be getting Gwen ready when he was done.  Didn't listen and went into the leisure area to have fun.  Typical Trevor.  So this week, I explained that he can't do it again, or he won't get McDonalds for dinner or his Nintendo for the night.  Didn't listen again...but this time, he was chatting up some girl.....probably in his class, who then walked by us and into the 10+ age women's locker room.  An older girl again?  Who does that?  Try to get older women?....oh wait.... it must be in his genes.  Well, its not from my side of the family anyway ;-) 

So that's it from me for the weeks of school so far.  I'm crossing my fingers on two wonderful conferences....It seems like it just might happen!

That first weekend in June

It is always going to be busy.  I wonder how we are going to do it in the years to come, because Gwen has been lucky having her recital on Saturday evening the past two years, the only time it works where everyone can make the show.  When she is in 2nd grade, in two more years, she will have to attend more than one recital, have more than one dance, and as soon as next year, she could have a recital that conflicts with a baseball game, or even softball when she starts playing. 

But I digress, we had two baseball games and a dance recital this past weekend.  It was an event-filled weekend, but actually kind of glad we get it all done in one snap, so it doesn't drag out over the summer.  It also happens to be around our wedding anniversary, so we seem to have to postpone any event or outing for another time, once we get past this crazy weekend. 

Trevor's baseball team lost its first game of the year on Saturday, and it was pretty tough because this team can't seem to get enough kids to show up, or at least let the coaches know in advance that they won't be at the game.  Saturday, they barely had the required 8 kids there to play the game.  And in the mean time, they had to rearrange the positions at the last minute.  It was a tough game, but they didn't play too poorly.  Trevor made a silly mistake when he didn't watch his coaches while running the bases.  He hit a good ball out to the outfield and tried to make it a home run.  The team they were playing had really good fielding ability and got him in a hot box, and got a few more kids out too the same way. 

Saturday evening was Gwen's dance recital.  This was the first time she explained that she was nervous, or scared, but once she got on stage, she was all smiles.  She did a great job remembering her steps and looking like she was having a great time.  She was able to come back out at the hokey pokey, dance around smiling, so she was getting a two-for-one night!  When asked after the recital, she said she preferred the hokey pokey so she could shake her backside at the audience.  She also enjoyed watching her performance that I had recorded on the camcorder. 

Sunday's game was much better for Trevor's team.  They were fairly evenly matched, but came out on top.  I must say, that Trevor has really developed his swing and his throwing since last year's baseball.  The team counts on him to be the pitcher for the majority of the game because of his arm.  Also, I believe there have been 2 or fewer times this year where he has struck out.  He has been thrown out at first base a few times, but he is one of a handful of players that consistently makes contact with the baseball and with power, he also gets extra base hits as well. 

Although the weekend was over, the baseball team had another baseball game on Monday evening, the third one in three days.  The team that they played really struggled, both fielding and hitting.  And this was the day that Trevor hit his first home run, and it happened to be at a time where the bases were loaded.  So it was also at the same time he got his first grand slam.  Thankfully this time he was watching his coaches at the bases and they waved him home (Russ was the 3rd base coach).  It was a fun game to watch him hit in.  Along with his skill, he also has a lot of confidence.  It is a good chance to teach him respect for his teammates and the opposing team, by not getting too crazy or mouthy with his good fortune.  I was explaining to him after the game that he had a GREAT game, but that to make sure that you understand that the other team probably feels horrible at that point.  It doesn't do any good to make them feel even worse by celebrating and not telling them "good game" at the end. 

So even though it was a game that didn't come on the weekend, it was a good baseball and dance couple of days.  Trevor only had 4 more days of being a 2nd grader!