Not the Week I Had Imagined

I had envisioned a Spring Break of quiet relaxation and productivity. What happened instead is that I got a sinus infection, Luke had an ear infection, Ryan jammed something else into his ear, and we got another foot of snow (plus Greg was out of town for the week, sick himself, as well). I did get the living room painted and I started the kitchen (my dad has generously offered to finish it for me), so it wasn't a complete loss.

Luke's cold and ear infection included some respiratory wheezing. He had 2 breathing treatments this week to aid in his coughing/breathing. He seems to be feeling much better. I think his ear is still bothering him some, but the other cold symptoms have disappeared. As for Ryan, he still has a cold, but that hasn't slowed him down any. He came to me Thursday night and told me his ear hurt and that there was something in it. I didn't believe him, he's done this before, but I looked anyways, and sure enough, there was something small and white in his ear. He jammed it further in before I could get it out and we had to make a trip to his doctor after my doctor's appointment on Friday to have it removed.

Thanks to the snow, the boys had another opportunity to play in the snow. We built the very pathetic snowman at the top and Ryan took this picture of me sledding in the backyard.


We are all looking forward to getting healthy and we hope that the warm weather forcasted for this week and the addition of Nana and Grandad will speed our recovery.

Birthday Party Fun

The boys went to their first birthday party on Sunday (not counting cousins). They had a such a good time and behaved themselves so well the whole time. We talked beforehand about telling the birthday girl happy birthday and thanking her and her mom for inviting them to the party, as well as that the presents were for the birthday girl and not them. They had a blast jumping and playing on all of the gymnastics equipment and of course loved the cake. Luke asked to have his next birthday party there, but I told him that the benefit of our big yard and neighborhood pool meant that Daddy and I didn't have to pay to have a birthday party somewhere-I'm not sure if he really got it.




We are all still sick - the boys are really much better and had a good weekend, but Ryan woke up with pink eye this morning and Luke appears to have an ear infection (he told us his ear feels bumpy, which we interpret as throbbing). Fortunately we already have eye drops and Luke has an appointment in the morning. Greg and I still feel pretty crummy. I'm still really congested but I do have my energy back (I even painted the living room yesterday). Greg seems better today, but was out of it this weekend. On the bright side, we have new carpet! My plan tomorrow (besides taking Luke to the doctor) is to clean up after the carpet installation and then relax. On Wednesday, I hope to paint the kitchen and then get some other things done on Thursday. Greg leaves tomorrow and the boys are in school until Friday, so I hope to get alot done around the house and also spend some time reading.

Video of the boys jumping in the inflatable track at the party.


I thought this was a cute picture of Ryan playing Super Mario Brothers. He is actually somewhat good at it.


This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at the boys' school, so I made cookies to take in tomorrow (MSKC are the school's initials).

We're All Sick

Ryan even looks sick while he's sleeping. We've had quite a week around here. Ryan came down with a chest cold on Sunday accompanied by a fever. When Luke woke up on Monday morning, he said he felt bad, too, so they both stayed home. They were both sick on Tuesday, but Luke seemed much better. On Wednesday, I took Luke to school and Ryan stayed home. Luke was fine at school but he started running a pretty high temperature that night, so they both stayed home again yesterday. The boys took a shower last night to take advantage of the steam and when we were all done, we couldn't find Ryan. Greg found him fast asleep in the bed pillows on our floor - we left him there until he woke up and then put him to bed. Ryan seems much better today and I think he'll go to school tomorrow, but Luke will spend the day at home. Throughout all of this, Greg got pink eye and I have a cold. I don't think the boys have ever been sick for this long and we've never all gotten sick from the same thing - first time for everything. We're pretty confident that we'll be on the mend soon and things will return back to normal.

Not a whole lot else is going on around here. I took off all of Wednesday and went to work Monday and Tuesday afternoons - I'm already getting into the Spring Break mindset and I think I'd have a hard time getting through tomorrow whether I was sick or not.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I Have Feelings for You

It is almost Spring Break and I can hardly wait! We are getting new carpet installed on that Monday and then I plan on painting the living room and kitchen. We had a good week and the boys enjoyed getting a hold of my camera and taking random pictures. Yesterday, I took the boys to Lowes to buy seeds and a windowsill greenhouse so we can grow our own surprise garden (one of their favorite books). Luke wanted to plant something the day before and the only thing I could come up with at the time was Goldfish crackers. He "planted" them in our flower bed and the next morning at 6:30 he shot out of bed and ran downstairs and went outside to see if his fishies grew - he was disappointed to find that the dogs had eaten his "seeds." So now we are really growing a garden and maybe we can actually eat something out of it (it is possible, I had an herb garden last year that was successful).


This was Luke yesterday creating his "car parade" on the windowsill.

Silly Luke

Ryan took this picture of me and Luke planting our garden.

Ryan's picture of the stairs.

Luke's picture of me and Ryan planting our garden.

New things:

• Ryan got into trouble last week for being uncontrollably crazy so I took him into the other room to talk to him about his behavior but that we love him, etc. Luke wanted to talk to me too, so when I was done with Ryan, Luke came in and said, "Mama, I have something to tell you, I have feelings for you." He is the sweetest boy - he tells Greg and I both that he likes us often and he also tells me that he likes my cooking (he also says that he likes my recipe, my oven, my camera, my bed, etc.).
  
• Ryan seems to enjoy his new class and we really like his teachers and the information that we get from them.
• We started planning a summer vacation and decided on taking the boys to California. We told the boys the next morning that we were going to go to Disneyland when they turned 4 and they got excited. Then we told them that Mickey Mouse lives at Disneyland and they got really excited. Apparently one of the kids in Luke's class went recently because Luke started telling us about the map of Disneyland that this kid brought to class and about the train we can ride. Ryan told his teacher the next day that we were going to Disneyland and that Mickey lives there - the next night they wanted to call Nana and Grandad on the computer to tell them the same thing.
• Picture at the top: we made pizza earlier this week and the boys got to help me roll the dough out.

Not a whole lot else going on, just looking forward to getting though this week to make it to Spring Break.

Skiing, Sleeping and Ryan's Pictures

I didn't have school on Friday, so Greg and I went skiing while the boys were in school. We had a great day and it was really nice to ski again especially since we never got around to it last year. We were so exhausted yesterday from skiing that we stayed home except for Ryan's gymnastics (which he really enjoyed). Today, the 4 of us headed out to go carpet shopping. What could have been a painful experience ended up being pretty quick and easy. We went to a warehouse that is only open on the weekends and we found what we wanted for a pretty good price. The boys got to watch Finding Nemo and eat goldfish while Greg and I picked out what we wanted - it will be installed during my Spring Break. I love our hardwood floors but the only 2 rooms that have carpet (the master bedroom and the playroom) look awful. This is one of our first home improvement projects since we moved in besides the walkway we put in last Spring - not too bad for a 40 year old house. There are definitely other things we'd like to do (like finish the basement and remodel the kitchen) and I think my next project will be to paint the living room and kitchen during Spring Break.

That is me way in the background - I guess Greg doesn't know how to use the zoom button or it is really hard to zoom with bulky ski gloves on.

I took the above picture of Luke a few days ago. I went to their room before I went to bed and found Luke's Baby Tiger like this tucked into his own bed - which is really the little table he picked out for Ernie back when he was being potty trained. And below I had to add a picture of sweet Ryan sleeping.


As I was going through pictures today, I found these next two. Ryan got a hold of my camera a couple of days ago and he must of taken these pictures of Luke - pretty cute, I think.




Lastly, Luke drew this picture this morning. In case you can't figure it out - it is Super Mario and Luigi.

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.