Gymnastics, Cookies and Cake

Another week has come and gone and tomorrow is March, so there is hope for warmer temperatures ahead. The boys ask at least once a week if it is warm enough to go swimming in our neighborhood pool yet.

This has been a mixed week. I had a good time making a birthday cake for a friend's step-daughter and I made cookies for Olivia's birthday which is in a few days (I can't believe she is going to be 7). But the week of school layoffs was also promised to be delivered by the end of February. The good news is that I still have a job, but the bad news is that my half time counselor position has been cut and I will be moved into full-time teacher. I truly dread going back in the classroom. I liked being a teacher when I was one, but since I've been out, I have had no desire to do that again. I will still look for a counseling job and maybe one will open up in a year or two. In the meantime, I am fortunate to still be working. My friend and colleague was laid off and 3 other high school counselors (including 2 tenured ones) in the district were cut. I'll have to go through this again next year and the next and the next until I either make it to tenure (which is concept I disagree with entirely) or the economy/Colorado state funding drastically changes. Or maybe I can win the lottery and make enough money to open up a cake/cookie decorating business :)

In other news, Ryan went to gymnastics on Saturday. I thought that he needed something that was completely his thing. I think he had a blast and especially enjoyed doing something without Luke around.

Practicing jumps and spins.

Other news:

• The boys are now in separate classrooms. We received a phone call Monday night from the school director asking to meet with the 2 of us the next day. I thought, great, my kids are 3 and I'm already having parent-teacher conference. Her term was that the boys "interrupt" eachother's learning. That really means that they bug the crud out of each other all day and fight. I didn't disagree with any of it. We had already planned on keeping them in separate classes once they started Kindergarten. Ryan moved classes because we thought he would be excited about his own new thing. He has done great, but Luke wants to move, too. But I don't know if it is because he really misses Ryan or because he thinks Ryan is playing with new toys.
• At school on Monday, before our phone call, the boys' teacher mentioned in passing that they both peed in the sink that day. Proud moment as a parent. They (meaning the school) wasn't upset about it, but we were really embarrassed.
• Luke likes to wear his jacket unzipped and call it his sweater. Greg asked him tonight why he calls it his sweater and he said "because God told me so."

Soccer ball cake.

I'm going to mail these to Olivia tomorrow. She is going to Dallas at the end of the month to the American Girl store for her birthday. I don't know anyone besides myself and my grandmother who enjoys dessert more than Olivia, so these seemed only fitting.

Luke drew this picture of me - he told me it is me on the right and my makeup on the left. I have it taped to my bathroom mirror so I can use it as a reference point when I get ready in the morning.

Another Snowy Weekend

There has been snow on the ground here since October. There have been time periods of warmer temperatures and periods between snow, but it has not completed melted from our yard since before Halloween. This is what we were doing about this time last year in our back yard. I can't wait for summer. We were able to take advantage of a day at home to let the boys go sledding down our little hill. I know we'll eventually need to find bigger hills around town in the future, but it sure is nice to have one in our backyard.


The boys like for the 3 of to take a picture with the camera on a 10 second delay. So below is of us tonight while I was getting dinner ready.

Nana and Grandad got the boys these super cute aprons for Valentines Day. I had told mom how Luke called me Chef Mama and himself Chef Luke, so we now all (minus Greg) have our own personalized chef aprons. Mom offered one to Greg so he wouldn't feel left out, but he declined, I told her to get him one that said "Dishwasher Daddy."


These cookies took me all day today to make, but I think they turned out really cute (the boys love the Earth one). They are for the Social Studies department at school for allowing the Counseling department to use their classes for registration - the star is one of the school's logos.


New things going on with the boys:

• A couple of weeks ago Greg was getting on to Ryan for playing at the dinner table and Ryan said, "Santa's watching you, Daddy, and you aren't going to get any presents." He now tells us that a lot and then scowls.
  

• Luke has been wearing underwear to bed at night (no pull-up)for the last week and half without any accidents.

• Both boys have a running storyline of their "family house." They make up scenarios of what is at their family house and who can come visit (Luke told me that when my family house is broken, I can come to his). We're not sure where their family house is located, Luke sometimes tell us that it is in the clouds and he takes a rocket ship to get there.

• Ryan loves to play video games on the Wii. He and Greg will play Super Mario Brothers together, but Ryan has an absolute meltdown when his little man dies. We've tried to talk to him about not always winning, but he is pretty inconsolable when he loses.

• Greg was gone for most of last week and the boys and I did just fine. We had a much better week than we had the last time Greg was gone. It turned out that Luke had an ear infection that contributed to his mood, and I was feeling much better. We stayed home each night and even made muffins together on Thursday.
  

Lastly, a video of the boys sledding today. On the video, Ryan is throwing a fit because he couldn't get his sled up the hill. He was fine after I stopped recording and both boys had a blast taking their sleds up the hill and going down over and over again.

Happy Valentine's Day

We've spent part of the weekend watching home movies - Greg has been transferring video from the camcorder to DVD and we've really enjoyed watching the boys from 2008 to this past summer. The boys really like to watch themselves, they get a real kick out of it and it also really shows how much older they are now than even 6 months ago. Plus, watching videos from this summer makes me really look forward to warm weather and it gives me hope that we'll pull through this long, cold, snowy winter.

We went to the Children's Museum this morning and it was packed, but the boys had a good time. The good thing about having a membership is that I don't feel obligated to stay a long time.

Not a whole lot happened this past week - just really busy at work and then the normal busy nighttime routine. I'm really looking forward to Spring Break. The boys and I aren't off the same week - so I'll have a whole week with them at school and myself off (and I so need that break). Nana and Grandad are coming the next week to stay while the boys aren't in school. The boys talked to them last night on the computer and Luke asked Nana to come with him to the Children's Museum, so I know they are all looking forward to playing with each other.


Having fun at Costco today - it was all fun until Luke stepped off and had his foot run over by the cart.

What a Week

We survived the whole week without Greg, but there were times I wasn't sure we were going to make it. The boys and I had a good first 2 evenings - we played in the playroom together, read books, drew pictures, and cooked dinner. Day 3 didnt' go so well. Luke didn't nap at school, so he was real irritable, and I had had too much coffee at work, so I was irritable - it wasn't a good combination. By day 4, I knew I needed to get us out of the house, but that I also needed a break. So we went to Chick-fil-a right after school, where I proceeded to be mother of the year and let my boys play in the playground for an hour, while I read my book. We then ate dinner and they played for another hour. It was a good evening - they needed to run around and be crazy and I needed a little quiet, I don't know why I hadn't thought of this sooner. Greg made it home on Friday (barely, but thankfully, before the massive blizzard hit Maryland) and I went upstairs that evening with a glass of wine and closed the bedroom door and read. I don't know how single mothers with more than 1 child do it, I become more understanding and less judgmental every time I go through my short single mother periods (and I don't have the added stress of being the sole breadwinner).

Ryan's drawing skills have really been developing. He still holds the crayon/marker weird, but he has pretty good control. Below is the picture he drew of his family - I emailed that one to Greg in Maryland right away.

On Wednesday, I went with they boys on their school's field trip. It was a concert for kids and they had a good time listening and dancing.

Ryan took this picture of Luke dancing.

Luke took this picture of me and Ryan.

The boys love to help me cook. It is truly more of a hindrance than a help, but I don't want to discourage them. Ryan helped me crush pecans tonight with his toy Home Depot hammer.

I made chocolate Valentine cookies last week to take to people at work and the boys got to help by sandwiching the cookies together. I was hoping to make and decorate some tomorrow but I think that will have to wait, thanks to the Super Bowl (even though I don't give a flip about watching it). Hopefully there will be some time this week to get that done.


Lastly, a picture of Luke eating a cupcake/licking the icing. Greg promised the boys that if they were good, we could go get a treat when he got back. We're not above bribing them, especially with dessert (whatever works). They weren't perfect this week, but neither was I - so we went to a local specialty grocery store and they got pick out their own treat - Ryan picked out a cupcake with a football on it and for some reason, Luke picked out an Indianapolis Colts cupcake - as for me, I got Key Lime pie.