2015 Week Twenty | May 11 - May 17

This week is really all about Friday, May 15. It was a busy day in our lives. Darrin and I took the day off to attend Annaliese's preschool graduation. We then treated her to lunch at Spaghetti Works (and I stopped by the administration building to fill out paperwork for my new job). That afternoon, my dad called, voice cracking to tell me my grandfather had passed away peacefully in his sleep. After having a good cry, Darrin and I decided to wait to tell the kids until Saturday, because I was headed out the door to pick up Ian and his best friend from school for a sleep over. It was definitely a day I'll never forget. 

My little graduate 

The director of the program read each child's journal to the friends and family gathered in the room. Annaliese was the first one who went. I have no idea where her Popsicle comment came from. My guess is that another friend said that and she joined along. 

Celebratory lunch at Spaghetti Works

The boys hanging out playing a little B-ball after school.

I posted this picture of my grandpa on Facebook Friday night, along with this for my status:
To steal my sister's status: "Heaven gained a good man today." When I remember him, I'll remember tractor rides and squirts of milk into my mouth straight from a cow. I'll remember him every time I see a farmer- farming was in his blood. I'll remember watching him with my kids- how he'd reach out his hand/foot/cane to try and catch them as they raced around him in his chair, doing whatever he could to get them to smile and laugh. I'll remember his hugs- they always lasted longer than anyone else who gives me a hug, and he'd squeeze just a bit tighter before letting me go and kissing my cheek. And I'd smell just like him for hours afterward.

Saturday Annaliese and I went for a bit of exercise on our avenue. She kept the perfect pace that I was able to speed walk and keep up with her. 

She has figured out how to make her own PB&J, which will pay off this summer for me!

She has also learned how to read a few words (no, on, of, to). She was stoked when she found the book, "No, David!" on her bookshelf, realizing she could read a lot of the words in it. Think she aspires to be a teacher?

2014 Week Twenty - Five | June 16 - June 22

This week we spent a lot of time together with friends, but first we had to make it back home. Monday we ended our visit to our parents and headed back home, but not before a bit of play time. The kids love playing with my Little People sets, and Annaliese convinced Darrin to play with the park and pool this morning. 

We stopped for lunch at Arby's, where Ian got his first grown up meal deal and not a kids meal. He ate his regular roast beef and fries all gone.  He needs to stop growing or I have no idea how I'm going to feed him during his teen years. 

On Tuesday we had the inspection at our new house.  The day after they accepted our offer, they received baseball-sized hail.  Everyone had been asking what it looked like, but we were too scared to go see. This is just a small portion of the damage. Luckily, these were the only three windows damaged. 

We had been told the pool was beyond repair, so were very surprised when we showed up and it was filled and functioning just fine. The kids were super excited, because we had told them that we would no longer have a pool, and now we will. 

On Wednesday, we met Walter and Henry at the library to see some of our absolute favorite book characters- Piggie and Elephant (Gerald).  Mo Willems is one of my favorite authors, and if you've never read any of his books, you're really missing out. They're super entertaining to read as an adult, too, so it doesn't get boring having to read them over and over to the kids like some other books do. You should really check them out!

After the library, we headed to get groceries, but Annaliese was throwing such a fit, we never made it through the second set of doors into the building. We got home, she got sent to her room, and she quickly fell asleep for 2 hours.  I woke her up at 5 so she'd at least go to sleep at a decent time that night, carrying her downstairs and standing her on the floor in the living room. I started to make supper and noticed it was really quiet. I walked around the corner, and found her, sound asleep, on the steps.  Apparently she REALLY needed that nap. And of course, when we went to bed at 10:30, she was wide awake in bed.

We always check out lots of books when we got to the library (at least 15 it seems like) and I found Ian reading one of his to Annaliese on the steps on Thursday.

The library branch closest to us does an Around the Town story time every Friday. This Friday was an ice-themed one and took place at one of the ice rinks in the area.  For attending the story time, we got to go skating for free. They had little walkers the kids could take out on the ice. Annaliese was able to push hers while skating, but was still falling more than she wanted and would whine every time she fell.  Ian had trouble keeping his skates under him; his ankles were at weird angles and his legs were spread really wide. We tried smaller skates in the thought they weren't tight enough to support him, but he still had trouble, and he couldn't get the walkers to go. For most of the time, he hung out near the wall. It wasn't til I had had enough of their complaining and I said we could go that they both started doing really well on their own.  Figures.  I think we'll head back again sometime when Darrin's along, as it was hard to help them both on my own.

Saturday was a busy day for us. Ian was invited to a friend's birthday party at a spray ground. Turns out there were like 12 girls there for the party and he was the only boy, so instead of hanging out with the girls, he made some new friends and did his own thing at the spray ground.

Ian's in the blue shirt dead center.

We stayed for the party and brought Annaliese along as well. Though unlike Ian, who preferred the spray ground, she preferred the regular playground it was next to, or more specifically, the large puddle of water and sand at the playground. 

She had to clean herself off in the spray ground, and then she confiscated her towel I was chilling on in the shade, along with my sunglasses, to rest by her daddy. Adorable!

After a quick run home for showers, we dropped the kids off at Walter and Henry's for a sleepover. Marlena so graciously provided me pictures, knowing I'd want to scrap what they were busy doing while they were there.  They made pizza, Ian read Walter lots of books, and then they watched the movie, "Up".

 

While the kids were there, Darrin and I went to 7M Grill to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. I had coconut chicken and grilled bananas with a really spicy sauce on top and Darrin had a steak with potatoes and mushrooms.  It was really yummy. After dinner, we grabbed some dessert from Cheesecake Factory. And the next morning, loved not having to wake up early!

On Sunday, we returned the babysitting favor, watching the boys for a few hours.  It's been awhile since Darrin and I had responsibility of a 15 month old. Our house is definitely not baby proof anymore, so we had to spend most of our time within arm's reach of Henry. It was exhausting! Even though, it was fun to have them over for a few hours and the kids definitely had fun together. 

 

No Hands!

That is, from Darrin and I.  The weather was beautiful tonight, so we loaded up the kids' bikes , and headed up to the church parking lot so Ian had a flat, straight stretch on which to practice.  We've done this once before, shortly after his birthday two months ago, but that's been it.  It was a rough start, and I thought it wasn't going as well as our first visit.  The next thing I know, I look up, and Darrin's running along side of him instead of holding on, and that scene was repeated over and over.  He freaked out initially when we'd let go, but when he realized he could make it more than a few seconds, that was all she wrote.

Ian wasn't the only one out there cruisin' tonight. Annaliese was flying on her bike and loving every minute of it.

 

2014 Week Two | Jan. 6 - Jan. 12

This week winter break ended and school started again, and boy, was that rough to get used to. By Friday, it was practically impossible to wake the kids. They were definitely not happy campers in the morning.  They did both sleep in this weekend, which means Darrin and I did as well.

Some pictures you won't see below, but that I should have gotten, are of the storage area in our basement.  Sorting through nine years' worth of stuff in there was my goal for this weekend, and I'm fairly impressed with myself that I stuck with it.  Unearthed some treasures (letters I wrote Darrin while we lived apart during college) and created quite the pile for Goodwill and Best Buy (which I learned recycles most small electronics).  Hopefully next weekend I'll tackle another room (or two!) in my effort to purge and organize in the new year.

Here's what else happened this week:

Confession: this actually happened last week, but I forgot to pull the image from Darrin's cell.  Ian earned his first stripe on his ju jit su belt thanks to the great report card he brought home. 

The picture on the left was the temp on Monday when I woke up.  The image on the right is on Sunday night. Quite a temp change in a week, and that doesn't take into account how cold it felt like on Monday.

The kids killing time before Friday night game night playing a friendly game of catch.

We played a couple rounds of UNO Attack on Friday Night Game Night, and then I introduced the boys to Skip-Bo.  It was too long of a game, and too involved for Annaliese to play with us, though.  We decided if we play again, we'd reduce the starting size of the stock pile. 

The picture quality on this isn't great, but the sandwich sure was yummy. Trying a new recipe each week. This week was an Italian Beef Sandwich which cooked in my crock pot all day.

One of my stops while errand running today.  It will probably be the last time I ever walk into an Archiver's, as they are going out of business in February.  Already, just about 10 days after announcing the close, much of the items I wanted to get were gone. 

While I was out errand running, everyone else played outside for a bit.  Yeah, I know the picture quality is bad, but the picture captures the fact that it's the middle of January and there's no snow on the ground here, and it was warm enough to play some football outside. 

This happened on Saturday, too.  Annaliese LOVES her jammies that look like a princess dress, and is always dancing in them.  Usually she just spins by herself (and sings songs from Frozen at the top of her lungs), but this time she convinced Ian to dance with her. 

Ian in Action

Ian had another match today and we caught a couple goals on video. I had Annaliese sitting on my lap as I was shooting, so I apologize if I give you motion sickness... To view larger, you can click the icon with four corners.

Advent Activity Dec. 21, 22, and 23

Our Advent Activity for Dec. 21 was travel through Santa's Woods to see the light show.  The owners had put together several animated light displays.  I was so impressed with the number of different models and the timing they had to have for one display.

Our Advent Activity for Dec. 22 was ice skating. It was the first time either kid had been on the ice, and it had been since I was a tween that I was on.  Annaliese had double-blade skates, so she was able to walk across the ice with no problems.  That didn't stop her from whining and throwing a tantrum every time Darrin and I didn't help her.  She saw us giving Ian help and wanted some for herself; that, and she wanted to go fast. Oh, and she was very opinionated about the direction she wanted to go, too. We'd skate three strides and then she'd say, "No, not this way, go that way!" which was always opposite the way the other skaters were skating.  While she should have had the easiest time skating, she spent most of her time complaining. Ian said this was his favorite activity of all of advent. We figured out he actually did a better job just holding his arms straight out and getting no help from us.  We tried helping him to begin with, so that he could see how you actually glide on the ice instead of step, but his legs would become jelly-like every time we helped him.  

This video is about 2 minutes after we stepped on the ice. Yes, I lost my balance at the end while trying to show Ian how to skate backwards. No, I didn't fall on my bum.  This was the high point for Annaliese. The only time she'd skate by herself again was stomping off the ice while throwing a tantrum. Ian, however, wants to go skating again. I think it might become some boy bonding time in our family.

Our Advent Activity for Dec. 23 was open new pajamas. We do this every year the night before Santa comes so that in the morning, we can get a picture by the tree in our new pj's.  Ian was super stoked with his Darth Vader ones, and Annaliese loved her princess pj's (which were an XS in girls, not toddlers!).