President's Day Hike

We drove more than we hiked,
but its all good.
The boys were just excited to use their new backpacks.
I'm glad they are excited to carry their own water and snacks.
We weren't anticipating all the snow and ice on the trail
and it held us up a bit.
It was so nerve racking watching the boys make their way
on very narrow sections of trail.
I was so afraid they would slip in the snow and plummet off the edge.
We did a lot of hand holding and grabbing
until my heart couldn't take it anymore and we turned back.
I do think we'll go back to this place again
when it is warmer out
so we can finish the whole hike.

Snow Day #4

An inch of snow on the road
a sunny day
and they call it a snow day.
No school.
again.
I love being with my boys and all,
but I really
do
not
want there to be school
in July.
And at this point, we're only 3 days short of that.

To keep us entertained,
we went to our little school room (aka guest room),
and did phonemic awareness activities,
wrote stories,
and played math games.
Always a teacher, I am
I guess.

Then I copied an idea my friend had
with her kids on a snowy day--
a Read-a-Thon!

We got our blankets and pillows,
and snuggled next to the fire with lots of books.
And of course snacks and treats.
To motivate Kacin and keep him somewhat engaged,
we set the timer for 15 min.
When the timer buzzed,
we put down our books,
picked one more snack and did some jumping jacks.
Then we set the timer again.
We ended up with one hour of reading time.
And full bellies.
I'm certainly excited for another Read-a-Thon someday!

The Point?

Eric swore off playing Blokus with me.
He hates that I don't just win,
I destroy him.
So for entertainment last night,
we resorted in
a GMAT question competition.
We tied.
I think he felt a little better about himself.

Kacin said Article of Faith #2 in Primary today.
He hardly practiced because he totally has it memorized still.
But when he got up in front of everyone,
he said the first word into the microphone,
froze,
hid behind the podium,
curled up into a ball,
and crawled inside the podium
before I could go up there to stand by him.
Holding my hand, he said it all by himself just fine.
Then it was like our sealing all over again
and without warning he jumped off of the steps into my arms,
buried his head in my shoulder
wrapped his legs around me
and would not let me put him down.
I carried him,
in a most awkward fashion,
back to his seat.

Eric says he needs his hair cut.
He won't let me do it though.

I played Legos with the boys the other day.
I was the Lego man with the beard.
He had an evil looking face.
We gathered all the Lego men together
and they voted me king.
But Kyler thought his face was too creepy to be the king.
He helped me change his head for a happy face.
And then my happy bearded king
united two groups of people
at a breakfast meeting in my castle.
We decided on a secret word to shout out
if you were ever attacked
by bad guys.
But we would never kill the bad guys.
Just teach them to choose the right.
If they chose to be good they could join our people.
If they didn't,
we shot them off onto another planet.
It was almost as cool as what I remember
My Little Ponies to be.

Eric grilled asparagus and steak today.
He just gets better and better at this grilling thing.

It took us one hour and forty-five minutes
to walk 3 miles
this afternoon.
Only one person broke down into tears
during our family walk.

We went to Costco yesterday
and I saw so many people with birthday cakes.
Now I want one.
Not a birthday.
Just a cake.

I checked out my book club book from the library.
But it reeks like cigarette smoke.
It's putrid.
Every time I open the book
I plug my nose
with one hand and
with the other hand
hold it as far away from my face as possible.
But the stench remains.
So I just keep putting the book back down.

What is the point of all this?
hmm.
to. be. decided.

Poor Kid

Kacin turned down dinner last night so we knew something was seriously wrong. He started complaining that his ears were hurting him. He's such a tough little guy, but he was feeling a lot of pain. It was too late for a visit to the Dr.'s, so we had to wait until this morning. When he woke up, both of his ears were oozing and one of his tubes, you know the ones put in last week, was out. That's not good. When the Dr. saw him this morning, he said over and over, "poor kid". He said the word to describe this boy is not easy. He put Kacin on two weeks of the strongest antiobiotics. Kacin has had a little cold this week which must have triggered the ear infections. Terrible ear infections. He's been laying around, napping, and I finally convinced him to eat some ice cream and watch Aladdin.

What else has he been watching lately?

It's Steve Urkel in Family Matters.

Red Pink Hearts Love

Happy Valentine's Day!
just a few days late

Oh, I do love this holiday.
It's simple.
It's fun.
It's an opportunity to let
the creativity flow red and pink
and heart-shaped..

Last week, the boys made Valentine's for all the kids in their classes.
Kyler started questioning the school system and class sizes
when he was on number 17, with 10 more to go.
But they both loved making these Valentine's
and that's what it's all about.
We cut out squares from cardstock
and mixed 2 parts white glue with 1 part water.
We spread the glue on the cardstock,
placed tissue paper squares,
and painted more glue on top.
I loved watching them experiment
with different ways to layer, pattern, and place the squares.
We put To:/From: stickers and a piece of candy on each Valentine.

We also made some Valentine's to send to grandparents.
After trying some different ideas,
we agreed on creating Valentine's wheels.
"Spin for your Valentine's message."
We cut circles and used a Valentine's shape and brad for the spinner.
Each circle had three messages you could land on.
The boys came up with and wrote each of these messages.
Each wheel was different.
They were things like "Be Mine, You are cute, Smooch, XOXO"

Kyler's Valentine's Day party was on Friday.

Kacin celebrated at school on Monday
and came home in all this cuteness.

Both of my boys enjoyed
heart shaped sandwiches and red applesauce for lunch.

I also gave each of my boys a Valentine's card and red silly putty.
It was so exciting to me
to hear Kacin reading his whole letter from me by himself.
(I love being part of the process of learning to read.)

Eric came home from work with flowers.
That sweet man.

And of course we celebrated this happy happy love day
with a Monday night FHE and party.
Kyler started the evening out with a lesson
about loving one another.
He was so proud of himself when he played
"Jesus Said Love Everyone" on the piano
for us to sing to.
His piano teacher (our friend) was there
and he was jumping around before she arrived
excited to show her that he could play the song from memory.
The rest of the evening was spent playing
Valentine's pictionary
Do You Love Your Neighbor?
and Pass the Parcel.
The challenges during Pass the Parcel
included
stacking candy hearts, reading love poems,
sipping sparkling cider through red vine straws,
dancing, delivering Valentine's while blindfolded,
and a race to dress in pink and red.

There were prizes for the winners,
well, really for everyone.
We made scratch tickets to pass out the prizes.
how? here and here

For munchies
we served heart-shaped cheese, crackers, candy hearts,
and our traditional candy bar cookies.

I'll say it again,

I do love this holiday.

It is just the best.

Ears

Two ears.
Two infections in
Two weeks.
Two hospital bracelets
(one for Kacin, one for Teddy).
Two tubes
(again).
Recovered with
Two Popsicles
Two apple juices
Two bags of crackers.
In less than
Two hours
Back at home
as happy as ever.

Praising My Family

I think I tend to notice the bad and all the problems
more than all the good that happens,
So today I am making an effort to notice
just how cool my family is.

I'm so impressed with Kyler for lots of reasons.

He has been so responsible

with both his homework and piano practice.

There's the occasional reminder, but usually

he's very independent in doing it and doing it well.

We worked so hard

on getting his room organized right before Christmas,

and for the most part, he has kept it that way!

I've also had a few teachers at his school stop me and tell me

how caring he is.

There's a little girl in his class with Rett Syndrome.

Kyler chooses to sit by her almost every day at lunch.

His teacher said he was the first one in the class to be her friend.

He is typically very obedient when we ask him to do something.

How lucky I am to be his mom!

Kacin is such a loving little boy.

He holds my hand

and tells me after his mission he's going to live by me always. 

He caught me in a big hug today

claiming he needs his mommy cuddles every day.

Lately, he's been full of compliments for me and Eric

about how we're great parents, and cute, too, he says.

He is working hard at school and learning quickly.

He has become very creative in his play,

and will actually keep himself entertained

for twenty minutes at a time (some days).

He's my little friend

who loves to help me cook and join me in whatever I'm doing.

And he can beat us all at Blokus.

Eric is just too great.

I'm so grateful when he helps with dishes at night

and puts the boys to bed on the evenings I'm not home.

He makes me laugh every day.

He's getting so much better at the guitar.

Even when things are stressful at work,

he keeps a good attitude at home.

I do love my little family.

They teach me

and make me very happy.

I am a proud mommy and wife.