Life Running Away

I feel like I'm in one of those video games where there are things flying at you all the time and you are just trying to shoot at them without getting blown up. Well, I feel like life is sort of flying around me and I am just trying to catch things here and there before they are gone.

We have had a really pretty good Fall. The boys went through their first soccer season and both did exceptionally well, considering it was their first time playing. They did well with the team concept, loved their coach, loved their teammates and the competition, and just really looked forward to both the Friday practices and Saturday games. It made for some busy weekends when we threw in speech therapy appointments and also some birthday parties on the same days but in the long run, it was a great experience.

The boys have also really enjoyed Kindergarten. They both enjoy their teachers and are enthusiastic about going each morning. They have had two "shows" - the Halloween show, which was the later part of the school day but a full concert where each class sang and performed 2 classes, and the Christmas show, which was in the evening, required some dress up (no tennis shoes - uggggh, I had to buy shoes for the boys!), and again had each class doing a couple of songs. Both shows were amazing and so much fun to watch. They are making friends with their classmates, definitely now leaning toward playing more with the boys and being as active as possible. I wish we had more days in the week to schedule fun playdates with their new friends, their old friends (preschool, music class, etc.) and the neighborhood. It just feels like there isn't a lot of free time anymore.

They kept with the karate as well. Classes now are every Monday and Wednesday from 5 to 5:30. They have moved from yellow to orange to purple belt this year. I'm not sure how much longer they will stick with it but I am hopeful it will be for a little longer as I think overall it is a really great program.

When Winter Break started this last Friday, the four of us flew off to Montana with our neighbors. It was a great trip even though it started with all the kids throwing up the first night/next morning. Once everyone recovered, we ventured into Yellowstone on day and on the same day hit these great hot springs as well. The next day the kids all went snow boarding at Moonlight Basin - it was so pretty as it had snowed the night before. The last day, J stayed in the little local town with the kids and took them to the park and the local lunch place while I went into Bozeman with our neighbor to check out the cute shops. We flew home that evening. And, I have to say, between the boys getting a little older and the invention of the iPad and iPhones, flying has gotten a little easier.

Which brings me to the last update, we were all happy to come home to see our new puppy! We added Blanca to our family the Friday before Thanksgiving. She is a white golden retriever (officially known as an English Golden Retriever) and she has the best disposition. She is definitely in puppy mode and playful but she also calms down at times and snuggles. The boys are really enjoying her and playing with her but definitely are not happy when she gets into their things or tries to bite them. I'm already imagining this being our family dog until the boys head off to college.

Unbelievable

Unbelievable. That's me. Well, that's me according to my 6 year old son, S. You know why he thinks I'm unbelievable...

1. I drew in the afternoon with him and he thinks my drawings are unbelievable.
2. We got take out and, when it was time to stop drawing and eat, he asked if we could eat in front of the TV (which they really never do with me, but sometimes do with J). I asked N to let me take a quick smell, he was ok so I told them they didn't have to shower or bathe and they just needed to get their PJs on first and that then we could.
3. They got ice cream sundaes
4. We watched 3 episodes of the Clone Wars!
5. We read books and even cuddled before bed which we recently stopped doing.

As we were watching the Clone Wars on the couch together, more than one time, S looked over at me and said mom, you are unbelievable! Just such a sweet boy. When he said good night he said it again.

The next morning, when I woke him up, he asked me so kindly if I'd help him get dressed (he normally doesn't ask me anymore). I said sure, but then I needed to get going to work. He just smiled really big and told me I was unbelievable. Made my day starting it off with such a positive thought.

Carried over to last night's dinner when we had sundaes again for dessert. But I quickly bounced off my unbelievable pedestal. I was in the kitchen, S was on the couch and I told him to put on his glasses (which were in the kitchen). He asked me if I'd bring them to him and I just game him a look. He came over and got them and said (not really snarkily but just sort of matter of factly), mom, you aren't being so unbelievable right now. I told him I couldn't be unbelievable all the time and he agreed he'd rather I was unbelievable with the sundaes than with his glasses.

Funny Boy

So E emails me this AM to share this funny story with me... She told the boys that they can't have so many treats and that Mommy will be upset with her if she did and that she likes me a lot and doesn't want to upset me. S thinks for a bit and says "but I thought you liked us more?" Love it! So insightful and yet cunning at the same time.

Insert Foot!

During bedtime snuggle time, I was chatting with S (but N was listening in and piping in from time to time), it came up that one of them wanted a new kitten. I told them we couldn't get a new kitten while we have Cayman (our 14-year old very feisty cat, so feisty in fact she only lets me or J pet her). They fussed a bit so I thought I was being helpful by saying don't worry, Cayman won't be around probably more than another couple of years. Oh gosh, at that point, the flood gates opened. S started crying say he didn't want Cayman to die and even asked me if she died if we could still keep her. N jumped on board and said he was now really sad and started crying too and asked if we'd be able to get another cat just like Cayman and call it Cayman too. There was so much crying and at that point I realized I really hadn't helped and had in fact made the situation much worse. E-gads! No backtracking at that point.

Then the questions started coming (keeping in mind, it is bedtime; we want (need!) the boys to go to sleep) - how will she die, how will we know when she starts getting sick, what if we aren't here, where will we put her when she dies, etc. So many questions that I really wasn't prepared to deal with. I have to be honest, I sort of punted. Actually, no sort of about it. I totally punted. I told them I check Cayman out all the time and make sure she is okay and that I expect her to be around for a long time. And then I kissed them good night and ran out of the room as fast as I possibly could. I know, pretty lame.

J & I chatted later (I totally had to apologize for doing that to him at bedtime no less!) and we were both surprised at how strongly they felt about her (based on their reaction to her dying, eventually) given the fact that she is not allowed out of our room except for rare occasions (remember what I mentioned above about her not letting anyone pet her but J & I... she doesn't just run from everyone else, she actually stalks them and tries to bite or swat at them if they get too close). We figure she is *just* part of our family to them. And that is the way it is supposed to be.

Wow - does time fly!

And I suppose the subtitle could be, and isn't life just so busy! I'd think about doing a new post and realize I have so many catch up items, I'd just stall another day and eventually that would mean even more catch up items to think about writing about. So, for now, I'm skipping the catch up posts (hello - 6th birthday and party!) and just writing about a very recent event.

Yesterday, N was sick, S was still getting over his own sickness (both had bad coughs, plus N had a fever), they both woke up from a crazy long nap (a good thing but so hard to really wake up from those), and J & I were both also very tired. So, we decided to order take out (yum - The Habit!) and all eat together on the couch while watching our movie. Hard part was deciding what the movie would be. We decided on the Empire Strikes Back (up until this point, the boys had seen the original Star Wars movie and the ESB). Sadly, we could not find the disk and were stuck. J suggested (by spelling - and the boys caught on that it was something new when they figured out we were spelling "new"... awesome to have bright kids!) we go ahead and let them see Return of the Jedi. We decided to go for it even though J & I hadn't previewed it - yes, we'd both seen it many times but neither of us had seen it since we had kids with the filter on as to if it was too much for the boys. Both boys were very excited! As one would expect they liked the Ewoks, were fascinated with the whole Darth/Luke conflict and loved any and all battles. But the reason I'm telling this story, is that I LOVED the fact that S' favorite part (according to him, not me inferring this) was at the end when Luke sees the image of the old Jedis that had died and included with them was the "good" Darth (Anakin before he turned bad). S loved that they were all good and that it showed Darth was ultimately good. So sweet.

Lately, I do get so frustrated with both of them at times but I also find myself kind of emotional when I think about how much I love those little men and how awesome they are. I'm sure it is partly because I am faced with the big transition to K. I don't think I'll cry the first day of K but I do think it is reminding me that they are getting older and things are changing but ultimately I think I really am just so very lucky.

Mammoth

We headed up here to Mammoth Friday AM as J & I both took the day off (as well as Monday). There was a storm scheduled to hit CA so we weren't sure what to expect on our drive up. Wound up being really pretty nice right up until the last 1/2 hour when it started storming as we were climbing into the mountains. It was a crazy snow storm - boys were soo excited but I have to admit I was a little nervous driving (J was actually driving) in it. So happy (we all were!) when we arrived safely and got to the hotel.

We had planned this trip super last minute. J did rent the boys their snow boards and boots ahead of time which was nice. We rented our hotel room two days before we headed up here and lucked out getting a two room suite so we had plenty of room to spread, have the kids separate for naps, etc. There was even a kitchen but with all the snow and crazy cold, we haven't managed to make it to the grocery store. It's been room service all the way! I think the boys love that (and who can blame them, especially since we've been letting them watch a DVD during dinner).

Anyway, we got up here late Friday afternoon and it was crazy storming (and sooo cold!). The boys didn't care how cold it was and just wanted to play in the snow so badly. We put on our snow gear and ventured outside. Snow was everywhere and still falling and the wind was blowing in very strong gusts. Boys were in heaven but to be honest I couldn't take it very much. So cold! We headed back in with the promise of hot chocolate. We headed into the hotel restaurant and proceeded to order hot chocolates, fresh chocolate chip cookies, a taster thing of ice cream with 9 flavors, and these fancy restaurant s'mores. We got all sugared up, which after our Carl's Jr lunch and no nap, probably pushed us completely over the top for excessive vacation day! S did say it was his best vacation ever and we had just been here one afternoon.

We did manage to get everyone into bed pretty early so we could have a fresh day the next morning. After a room service breakfast, we geared up (so much stuff to put on!) and headed over to the gondola which would take us directly to the mountain/ski area. S did mention he was a little nervous taking the gondola but he (and N) did great. We found our instructor for their private lessons. We lucked out and got a very nice guy and the boys really liked him. Off they went. J & I hung out and watched and took a bunch of pictures. Eventually, we left them to finish their lesson. The instructor did wind up taking them up the lift and they did great getting down. After three hours of lessons, they had to be tired but were doing really well. The mountain was also giving free snowmobile rides for the kids. S really was so excited and couldn't wait. N wasn't so sure at first and hung off to the side for awhile but once he saw S go off, he changed his mind and decided to go too. They wound up going on 6 -7 rides and probably would have kept going but we told them we needed to get back to the hotel (it had started to snow again).

We got back, the boys watched a DVD while we waited for our lunch room service, and then we had a quick lunch. Naptime for both boys. S didn't want to leave the hotel room again (he was happy to color, watch the DVDs, and have room service). N did want to go out and play in the snow some so he and J went out for a little while and had a great (but cold!) time. Room service dinner and DVD time again... tomorrow we have them signed up for a second day of lessons with the same guy and this time J's going to join them as well. I'm not sure what to do with my morning.

Winging it Daily!

Ok, pretty much two months have passed by since my last post. Yet at the same time it feels like I've just blinked and time just flew right by...

What's been keeping us busy? Well, we added an extra activity to our week nights - karate. We've been going 2 nights a week - Tuesdays and Thursday at 5. That means we have Pizza Mondays, karate, sports class, karate, date night, gym/music/speech therapy, and then free Sunday. Both N & S have done really well with the karate. They look so cute in their little outfits and they really listen to the instructor (sensei). They have good balance and core strength so that helps, I'm sure. One side effect of adding this new activity is two less nights to plan date nights with friends and more importantly it has made it really rough for me to figure out getting dinner made those nights. We get home a little after 6, everyone is starving and so somehow I've had to figure out what to make so it will be ready when we get home.

Otherwise, we've been busy with a couple busy back to back weekends. We took a quick weekend trip to visit my aunt and uncle. We always love our visits there and this weekend was more than awesome. It was a sunny weekend and we headed up (it is about a 2 1/2 hour drive) right after I got off work. My mom drove down and joined us there as well. We wound up playing baseball, the boys learned tennis for the first time (which they both really liked), they rode in the golf cart, played putt putt, and even decided to swim (in a very cold pool). It was great. We barely brought any toys with us and we still had a great time.

The following weekend, President's Day weekend, we had three neighborhood kids over to try out our first attempt at a babysitting group. The first night was at our place Friday night. We had three other kids over, fed them, sang and danced around, and then watched Star Wars (the first, original episode) for the first time (at least for the boys). The kids all slept over and everyone did great - probably helped that the movie lasted until close to 10 so everyone was totally exhausted when they went to bed. The next AM, fed everyone breakfast, walked one child home, the other two went to gym with J & S, and I took N to music. No speech class, so the boys came home and played across the street (with one of the boys that had spent the night) and had a blast. After a late lunch, we drove down to SD for our niece and nephew's combined family birthday party. The boys slept the whole way down (thank goodness!) and we headed back home around 8:30. We let the boys watch the Star Wars movie on the way home so they stayed up until we got home at 11PM!! We were all tired Sunday AM and had a quiet day together (and a neighbor bday party that evening). Monday, J put together the basketball court we got from friends (a hand me down) and the boys were sooo excited! They ran over to get the neighbors across the street and everyone played basketball the whole morning. Lunch, a good nap and then we had a good pizza Monday (no pizza but rather an impromptu Mexican food potluck night). We were all worn out.

This weekend, we had Friday and Monday off and have headed to Mammoth. I'll make a separate post about our trip shortly.

In the meantime, I did have a strange conversation with S. One night when we were done with bedtime stories and were just snuggling, he started asking me why he had to go to preschool for 2 years and why he couldn't go to K with Jett and Brooke (some of our neighbors). He started crying and was so upset. Completely caught me off-guard. He then proceeded to ask me why he couldn't do math and so we did subtraction questions there together for a good 10 - 15 minutes. We've since had to do math homework.