I guess it had to happen at some point. Hockey can be a little bit crazy when it is the season. I asked Trevor if he wanted to do the 7 week basketball program at the YMCA and one of those dates, he also had 3 other hockey things at. Two scrimmages and one practice. He did all 4 things and didn't fall apart. We celebrated with a cheers at Baker's Square that evening. Because of the warm season we have had this winter, most of the outdoor times that the team was supposed to have, have completely fallen apart.
We had his parent/teacher conference the second week in February. That was a nice meeting where we came out if it with a few things to work on, but overall, having a kid with a 6th grade reading level, having completed all of the 2nd grade math requirements by mid-year is a definite proud moment for us parents;-) Thanks Trevor!
He's quickly moving up in the ranks of chess club. I'm not really sure how it exactly works, but that he says he is winning more games than he is losing and when he wins a certain amount he gets to move up to a higher group. He has learned notation, but I know he doesn't care much for it. I think he likes when games move pretty quickly.
So, in discussions on facebook, and reading some friends' blogs, it has become very apparent that I have become the parent of two kids...no longer toddlers or babies but kids. Gwen rarely, but does still have a crying tantrum side that can be easy to remind me that she is a littler kid. Trevor has not done the tantrum thing in a very long while but has graduated to the arguing. And the bating. And does not give up. He's too smart for his own good. If' I've had my rest, I can walk away and explain it is not up for argument, but when I'm not well rested enough....he gets me pretty good. And another side to him growing up is his consciousness of being looked upon as "baby-ish". He will still talk about Bubba, but is not a natural word for him to use anymore. He won't use it when he's talking with his friends, and similar to Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear discussions.
Although I do notice that I can still pull out the little kid Trevor when he isn't influenced by peer pressure. For example, we got a disney on ice coming up, and I expected that I could convince Trevor to not go based on the fact that it was very princess oriented. But nope....he wants to come with. I am so glad that I decided to book a hair spray event for Trevor at the same time Gwen is getting her princess makeover at Disney World. He may be my young man, but he still is my baby boy.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Holiday Dance Recital
I'm a bit late in writing this as we have had a lot going on. I also wish I could figure out how to get my video camera to download videos on this computer without having to install archaic software. Dumb thing is, I'm pretty sure my computer could find something on its own, but I just don't ever get that far in having the camera, cords, time and energy to even try it out.
So last Saturday was Gwen's Holiday dance recital. She had her first spring recital last June, and because we started so late last year, I didn't want to jump right in to a recital last year. Luckily, she got to be Rudolph with the rest of the kids her age this year, and if she is in Kindergarten next year, she will move up to dance to "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". That group practiced with them for a little bit so she got to watch them dance their dance.
They had two shows which they were asked to perform in; an afternoon and an evening show. In order to avoid paying for a ticket to both shows, I figured I would volunteer to help with the afternoon one as a chaperon since none of our family could make it to that show and would be attending the evening show. Also, because we were staying for the whole first show, she could go on to do a bow as part of the finale and then we could leave at intermission during the evening show.
The afternoon show seemed to go smooth, although the rehearsal was very bumpy. We couldn't leave until the group got to practice their song, and they started with the bow. Four times....three times with music. I got why they needed to practice that, but I heard that it caused the group to not finish the entire rehearsal until after 10pm. We started at 6.
It was nice to be able to sit in the audience for the evening one, although when she came onto stage, she didn't have her costume gloves on. The chaperons were responsible for making sure the kids costumes were complete. Then, when I went to get Gwen at the end of the first act, one of her friends had drawn all over her arm with a marker. I know Gwen did some of it herself, but I was surprised and we were very lucky that this didn't happen before she went on stage because you would have been able to see it.
Throughout the past week, we have all now had to battle a cold running around the family. It makes just about everyone either cranky, irritable, or just plain different than normal, and not usually in a good way. I'm really wondering if Gwen has developed some ear issues when it comes to hearing. When I brought her in for her preschool screening, she was 3 days off of being diagnosed with an ear infection. I told the screeners, and she did fail her hearing in that ear, but I wonder if through her different ear issues she has developed some hearing difficulties. I have been noticing her asking "what" A LOT...and I know some of it could be related to her being sick and congested, but overall, she also talks very loudly, and has to play music and other things loud as well. Perhaps it could be something as minor as getting something to clean out her ears from time to time, but I don't want her to be missing things at school and such.
***ETA this is much later than I hoped to add to the blog. I had high hopes of adding pictures into this. Maybe I will go back and edit to add pictures. But in the mean time, I need to get a few of these posts going because I have a lot of topics, and not a lot of time!
So last Saturday was Gwen's Holiday dance recital. She had her first spring recital last June, and because we started so late last year, I didn't want to jump right in to a recital last year. Luckily, she got to be Rudolph with the rest of the kids her age this year, and if she is in Kindergarten next year, she will move up to dance to "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". That group practiced with them for a little bit so she got to watch them dance their dance.
They had two shows which they were asked to perform in; an afternoon and an evening show. In order to avoid paying for a ticket to both shows, I figured I would volunteer to help with the afternoon one as a chaperon since none of our family could make it to that show and would be attending the evening show. Also, because we were staying for the whole first show, she could go on to do a bow as part of the finale and then we could leave at intermission during the evening show.
The afternoon show seemed to go smooth, although the rehearsal was very bumpy. We couldn't leave until the group got to practice their song, and they started with the bow. Four times....three times with music. I got why they needed to practice that, but I heard that it caused the group to not finish the entire rehearsal until after 10pm. We started at 6.
It was nice to be able to sit in the audience for the evening one, although when she came onto stage, she didn't have her costume gloves on. The chaperons were responsible for making sure the kids costumes were complete. Then, when I went to get Gwen at the end of the first act, one of her friends had drawn all over her arm with a marker. I know Gwen did some of it herself, but I was surprised and we were very lucky that this didn't happen before she went on stage because you would have been able to see it.
Throughout the past week, we have all now had to battle a cold running around the family. It makes just about everyone either cranky, irritable, or just plain different than normal, and not usually in a good way. I'm really wondering if Gwen has developed some ear issues when it comes to hearing. When I brought her in for her preschool screening, she was 3 days off of being diagnosed with an ear infection. I told the screeners, and she did fail her hearing in that ear, but I wonder if through her different ear issues she has developed some hearing difficulties. I have been noticing her asking "what" A LOT...and I know some of it could be related to her being sick and congested, but overall, she also talks very loudly, and has to play music and other things loud as well. Perhaps it could be something as minor as getting something to clean out her ears from time to time, but I don't want her to be missing things at school and such.
***ETA this is much later than I hoped to add to the blog. I had high hopes of adding pictures into this. Maybe I will go back and edit to add pictures. But in the mean time, I need to get a few of these posts going because I have a lot of topics, and not a lot of time!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
So far so good
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.....
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.....
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Game of Life
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.
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.
Friday, January 6, 2012
The new nomal
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.
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.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Last day of the Holiday Break
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!
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!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Christmas season memories
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.
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.
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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!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
'Tis the busy season
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.
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.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Christmas Traditions
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!
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!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Gwen the puzzler
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....
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....
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