last practice

On the night of Seth's last basketball practice, his coach invited the parents to play against the kids at the end of practice.  We found out the next day, that when the coach asked Seth if we were going to play, Seth said, "I don't know.  My dad might be too tired from counting money all day and my mom, well, she isn't good at basketball."  

 

Alas, the finance guy did have enough energy to play...that is Seth (in green), attempting a shot:

 And here is Nathan dunking on the 8-foot rim:

4th annual Jonah's EB Auction

Happy fourth birthday, Jonah!

As always, I write this post with his mom's permission.  Four years ago right now I was in the throes of admitting Jonah into the nursery. I never took care of him again, but he touched my heart, and I have joyfully (and sometimes tearfully) followed his mom's blog over the past four years.  To celebrate his first birthday, Jonah's EB Auction was created to help raise money for a cure for EB.  For the first three years I donated a diaper cake to the auction.  I wasn't able to do that this year, so I have donated my time by placing auction items on a board on pinterest.  When I sheepishly emailed volunteering to help, starting with a "you might not remember me, but...", I was told I am part of the auction "family".  So as family, it is my duty to tell you that Jonah's EB Auction begins tomorrow (the 28th) at 8pm.  If you aren't on pinterest, you can look at the auction blog to see what's up for grabs this year.  Lots of good stuff.  Make sure you check out the retro quilt!  I know it was made with love, and the quilt donated last year by the same person made a lot of money for the auction!

V is for:

Vampire Viking:

Duh!  



Cub Scout Legos

That night I took Seth to Cub Scouts.  They did a lot of Lego work that night.  First, they had to build their centerpiece for our table at Blue & Gold:

Then they had to decorate the Pack's spirit stick.  They chose to hot glue Legos on their portion of the stick.

They are a few in number, but they are mighty (LOUD). 

Sewing Basics

While the "old man" was at school, I tried to be at the preschool as soon as the doors opened, and then I hustled to Concord for a sewing basics class.  I had found a Living Social deal and it was $15 for a 2 1/2 hour class.  After we all got our sewing machines set up, the instructor handed us each a pack of tissues, and I got very scared:

It was a very informative class and corrected every mistake I had been making.  I practiced straight lines for a little bit, and allowing the machine to do the work:

 Then we worked on our project, tissue covers!

I was so proud of myself.  I didn't get frustrated, I didn't jam up the machine, I didn't cry or say bad words....I'd really like to take the Beyond the Basics class.  It is three sessions for $85, so I'm hoping for another groupon or Living Social deal, or I'm going to sign up as my birthday present!

I finished about ten minutes early, which gave me a couple minutes to stop at Concord Mills and hit a big sale at The Children's Place and grab lunch in the food court before it was time to pick Amelia up from preschool. 

100th day of second grade!

February 5th was the 100th day of school for Seth.  The entire second grade dressed up like they were 100 years old.  He went to school that day dressed like this:

at the circus!

Back in January, I bought tickets to see the circus.  I think I went in kindergarten, but Nathan and the kids had never been to one.  I tried hard to get the best deal possible, and spent over 45 minutes on the phone trying to use two coupon codes. (It worked.)  Flash forward to the end of the month; I won tickets to the circus from Charlotte Parent magazine!  So I sold my tickets and off we went. 

 

Our kids are awesome.  We didn't tell them what we were doing, and by the time we got to Charlotte, they thought we were going to a garden expo at the Bobcats area, and they were okay with that.  And they obviously don't have brand recognition, because they still didn't know where they were going when we took this picture: 

 Seth figured it out as we approached the entrance and a barker was selling programs (for $15!).  Amelia didn't figure it out until she saw the merchandise inside the building.  We were allowed to go on the floor before the show and watch the clowns get everyone warmed up:



Here is a picture of the big opening sequence:

 I did get a couple good pictures of the animals:

 We had a GREAT time.  It was longer than we expected; it even had an intermission!  I'm so glad that we waited until the kids were older to go.  The toddlers in the crowd were dropping like flies as the show went through lunch and naptime.  A Sprite, popcorn, and a pretzel to share, and we were good to go!

 

 

 

in his gullet

Last night, Seth came into our room at about 7:45 asking for dessert.  Our eyes about popped out of our heads, because how could the kid be hungry?  The three of us listed everything Seth had eaten (don't judge...it was a party weekend here...):

• TWO kid-sized cereal bowls full of monkey bread
• an ENTIRE can of Chef-boy-ardee whole grain beefaroni
• a large dish of pineapple chunks
• a bowl of cereal with milk
• half a bag of popcorn at the movie theater
• a whole grain pancake with blueberries on top, an order of scrambled eggs, and one slice of bacon at IHOP

and then the ice cream (which was about 1/4 cup Neapolitan.)

When we finished the list, I asked, "Can I have your metabolism?"  Seth replied, "You can have my autograph!"  Ha!

Scouting for Food

On Groundhog Day, Seth and I bundled up and went to collect bags for Scouting for Food. We had a great time, and Seth was disappointed that there were no streets left when we finished our first run.  

I found out this week that the Cub Scouts collected over 5000 pounds of food.  Wow!

it's in my genes

This is my Great Grandpa B.  My Grandpa B was a superintendent of schools, and my Grandma B was a teacher. My dad and his sister are both avid readers.  I don't remember seeing my mom reading until I was in high school (although I understand why...they are a lot of days I only read in the car rider line and at bedtime!).  I have always loved to read.  My parents said they used to have to read me the Sesame Street Dictionary, and that I could tell if they skipped words.  I was always one of the top in the summer reading contests, and I figured out why in later elementary school...I had become near sighted and it was easier to read in the car than see things out the windows!  There were very few assigned books in high school that I didn't enjoy (although I was a not a fan of the research papers that sometimes went along with it).  I didn't read a whole lot in college but would devour books over the holidays and on Spring Break.  In my adult life, I've read anywhere from 30-75 books a year.  Nathan's dad teased me over the holidays that I have turned everyone into readers.  Almost every time we see each other, books are exchanged.  I can't help it; it's in my genes!  As I mentioned before, Nathan reads every day during his commute (using public transportation), and he is flying through epic series.  I think I have passed the reading gene on to the kids.  They see Nathan and I reading, and I read to them every night, with rare exceptions.  If I am home, I do bedtime for boths kids, and I like the quiet time at the end of the day...I missed a whole lot of bedtime kisses working second shift for seven years.  Seth and I are five books into the Wizard of Oz series.  He has started reading the Lemony Snickets series on his own, in addition to his required reading from school.  Amelia's school recently started a reading coupon program that keeps track of the number of books the kids have read to them.  She gets a book (or two) of her own each night after Seth goes to bed.  I've had to replenish my coupon supply twice so far, and we're only three weeks into the program!  It's amazing how many parents don't read to their kids.  It's a way of life for us, but the preschool feels like it has to do this incentive program to have the kids heckle their parents into reading to them!  Amelia's class has also started learning sight words; we'll have another little reader on our hands soon enough!

just passing the time...

...while her brother does homework.

Amelia has been really silly lately (in case you couldn't tell).

no bento

When Seth started kindergarten, I made a conscientious effort to not use plastic bags with lunch/snack, and I bet I have used less than ten in the whole time he's been in elementary school.  Amelia eats lunch at school four days a week this year, and Seth usually buys lunch two or three days a week.  I bought them both bento boxes last summer.  Amelia will use hers if her lunch is something like boiled eggs, celery with peanut butter, ie no sandwich.  Seth doesn't like his, even after Nathan made the latch a little easier for a kid to open.  Oh, how I wish they liked their bento boxes.  This is one day's lunch and snack containers:



What?  Don't like my dirty dishes?  I really wanted to post the day-3 picture of my broken toe, but I realize not all of you are members of the medical community, and therefore don't really want to see the remarkable amount of color that a third of a foot can possess when a person has a low baseline platelet level.  It didn't even hurt that bad!  I'm going to try to run on it for the first time tomorrow (maybe)...wish me luck!

science field trip

Last Tuesday Amelia's class went on a field trip to see the Science Lady.  The church bus can hold 14 children, so the teachers asked if I could drive Amelia.  The day before she came home in a puddle of tears; she was so upset that everyone else was going to get to ride the bus.  Two children ended up being absent, so Amelia was able to ride the bus, but she still wanted me to go along.  The kids learned about mixing primary colors.  Here they are using pipettes to create new colors:

Then they layered this jelly-like stuff into a tube:

 When they took it to the window, they could see the beginnings of a rainbow as the colors blended together.

 By that evening she had a nice rainbow going on.  We're keeping it in the kitchen window.  It's slowly losing its magic properties and turning mostly green and blue.  We love science!

toothless

On Saturday the 26th at about 7:30, Seth lost his bottom tooth that has been loose since late November.  The next night, at 8:05, he lost the top tooth that has been loose since before Thanksgiving.  The tooth fairy didn't think it was a typo and came both nights.  The bottom tooth has already started to come in, but nothing on the top yet.  After over two years with the other top tooth missing, it looks so strange to see his mouth this way!  Last night we discovered that another top tooth is loose.  Maybe the tooth fairy will have to visit again before Easter!

"Lollipop"

My girl was born fifty years too late.  One day our kids' station on Pandora played 'Rockin' Robin' or something like that, and has subsequently added more and more oldies as Amelia has given them the 'thumbs up'.  One night after I put Seth to bed, I walked into my room to find Nathan asleep, and Amelia watching a silly Bob Hope/Bing Crosby movie cuddled up against him. Last week she watched an episode of "I Love Lucy'.  I bet she would love the Shirley Temple movies. 

big art birthday

Another one of Amelia's classmate's had her birthday party in January at a place in Charlotte called small hands big art.  It was ninety minutes of colorful fun.  When everyone arrived, they colored and signed this "card" for Chloe:

Next they spray painted the banner, where the words "Happy Birthday" magically appeared:

 Then they sat down and painted cute little birdies on canvas:

Here is a picture of the whole group.  On the table you can see the picture frames they made as their last project.

Their goodie bags contained all sorts of craft supplies and a little birdhouse to paint.  Needless to say, Amelia had a great time!

so sneaky

Nathan has been playing Zelda on Wii, and both kids like to sit and watch (help?)  I cleaned up the dinner dishes, and nobody had seemed to move, so I told Nathan my plans and snuck upstairs with a book and a large glass of water.  We have a garden tub in our bathroom, and I have only used it once, and was kind of disappointed when I did because I ran out of hot water before I got the water level how I wanted it.  But on this night, I hadn't started the dishwasher yet, so I had enough hot water, and I took an hour-long bath, and then I went on the computer...I went downstairs ninety minutes later and no one had missed me, but my batteries were recharged and I was ready to face the week.  Genius!  (But definitely not Mother of the Year!)

positive discipline

When school started, Seth's school offered a parent book club based on the book Positive Discipline, which the school supposedly embraces (Seth's teacher, not so much).  The first meeting was mid-September.  I joined for three reasons:  1-to see what the school was doing, 2-to meet new people, and 3-because some days, I need as much help with Amelia as I can get.  I don't 100% drink the Kool-Aid on the concepts, but little tweaks in how I talk to Amelia have helped.  One day I did have a big a-ha moment, though.  When friends whine about how three is worse than the terrible twos, my standard response is that it was like the flicking of a switch the day Seth turned four, that he turned into a sweet kid.  For most of this year, I added "but I'm still waiting with Amelia."  One day in November or December, I thought, "her dad left for Charlotte the day before her fourth birthday.  When she finally got him back full-time, we were in a new town.  I haven't been giving her the benefit of the doubt."  Though she is more strong-willed than her brother, the daily battles are getting fewer.  I think age five is going to be Amelia's year to shine.  That insight in itself was worth the money for the book.  What else did I get out of the book club?  I know what the guidance staff and dean of students truly want to be happening in the classrooms.  I know them, and they know me. I have met a handful of moms, who recognize me if I see them on the greenway or at Target.  I have become friends with someone who lives around the block from me, who is able to give me advice about the ins and the outs of the school.  And that is worth setting aside the entire Friday preschool time a couple times a month all fall and reading a parenting book that I couldn't exactly sink my teeth into. 

lunch with daddy--Seth edition

Seth had a teacher workday the day after the MLK holiday.  We dropped off Amelia and drove to uptown and went to Imaginon.  We ended up spending most of our time getting addicted to a tablet game called Bumpy Road.  Seth requested Bojangles for lunch, so we met Nathan and then ate lunch at the condo, watching some old school Looney Tunes.  Seth and I had both had a bout of the winter blues, so it did us both good to have a day in the city.

dress up days

Lots going on at preschool, as always.  The first Friday back, the kids were supposed to bring in a "wonderful Christmas present" (letter of the week=W).  Amelia brought in her dream light, and wore the dress Uncle B bought her in Ghana:



The next Friday the kids went "ice skating" on paper plates in the gym and drank hot chocolate afterwards.  They were supposed to wear hats and mittens:

The following week was "N is for Nocturnal", and on Friday the kids wore their pajamas to school and brought sleeping bags, pillows, and loveys.

(Her hair has extra body because she slept in foam rollers the night before, as practice for another dress up day coming in February!) Last week they learned all about books, and Friday they had a book character parade.  Amelia wanted to be Alice in Wonderland.  I tried to talk her into something easier (on me), but she wasn't having it.  I found the apron at Hobby Lobby for $2.40.  I bought an adult t-shirt for $2.60, and found an online tutorial on how to turn it into a dress.  It took me close to six hours, but it didn't fall apart when she wore it.  I added a bow to a headband and voila, Alice:

January winter storms

This winter has proven how just moving an hour south can change your weather.  During the summer, it was usually about two degrees warmer here than in Clemmons.  This winter it is consistently six or more degrees warmer down here.  I rarely get out a jacket, usually my vest will do (although it's plenty cold for Nathan when he heads to the bus stop in the morning).  On the 18th we had our first winter storm of the year.  Clemmons got a couple inches of snow, and school was closed (and they have to make the day up President's Day).  This is what we woke up to:

At 11pm, everything was white and fluffy, but the ground was too warm for it to stay.  The next Friday, we had the threat of more winter weather.  It was coming early afternoon, and the school system wisely closed two hours early.  The worst of it was over by late afternoon, but I was worried about Nathan's bus ride/drive home.  This is how the road looked at 5pm.  Basketball practice was cancelled, but it warmed up the next morning and Seth was still able to play his game. 

I will also mention that it was in the high 60s at least one day in between these two storms.  The day of the second storm, the high was 28.  By mid-week, we had two 70-degree days. Ah, NC winters...



giving it a twirl

We decided to sign Amelia up for ballet until it warms up and we can play outside more.  She is taking it one afternoon a week at the Y.  She won't let me watch, but I caught a pre-lesson picture through the window.  She loves it, and her teacher is really nice.  Seth goes to his childcare, and I either run on the treadmill or sit in the lobby and read my book.  It chops up our afternoon, because normally Seth likes to do all his homework the minute he gets home, but so far none of us has minded the change in routine.

big wedding

I asked Amelia if she wanted to play a board game.  When I asked her which one, she said, "Barbies."  Darn it.  I spent hours and hours playing Barbies when I was a kid, but I just can't sit still to play with Amelia.  But I tried my hardest, and made it through about an hour until it was time to make lunch.  During that time, Barbie having a date with Liam turned into a triple wedding and all the folks you see below were getting ready to have brunch before the wedding. 

The wedding has been postponed until Aunt Lisa and Uncle Michael can officiate. 

gross

Which leads me to my next story.  That evening, I was talking to my mom while starting to cook dinner.  I opened the drawer to find my spatula has been shaved down.  I naturally accused Amelia of using the grater on it, but she kept denying it.  I heard Nathan pull into the garage and passed the inquisition over to him.  Amelia is still denying it.  And then I find droppings IN THE DRAWER.  We had a mouse!  Yuck.  So I took everything out of the drawers (three of the four had evidence of having a visitor, if you know what I mean).  I shocked everything in Clorox, and it found a new home on the dining room table for the next two weeks.  The next morning I called the exterminator, because this isn't the garage, it was IN MY CABINETS.  The guy who came Thursday found holes between the crawl space and the kitchen.  He told me my options and told me his office manager would call me bright and early Friday morning.  By noon on Friday I could wait no longer, and I called her.  The guy who came Friday filled a hole from the crawl space to the exterior, did whatever exterminators do under the house, set traps, and then inspected the whole house.  By Saturday morning, we had caught the perpetrator.  Nathan took care of it, and then I deep cleaned the whole kitchen.  We set another trap, and never caught anything else, so luckily, it was a solo operation.  I still waited a few days (okay, ten) to put the utensils, silverware, and pans back in their normal places.  YUCK.  I have a new-dislike for mice. 

liar liar

The kids went back to school on the 2nd.  I spent the morning running all those errands I couldn't run during the break, and was rushed getting back to pick up Amelia.  Another mom said, "Amelia told me what happened to her forehead." Huh?  "The stitches?"  "She doesn't have stitches!"  Later in the afternoon, Parry told me how Amelia had pulled her headband across her forehead and lied straight-faced to four moms that she needed stitches from doing a "difficult yoga move".  Great. 

Friday I was at a book club at Seth's school, and I asked guidance counselors how I should be dealing with this...her acting, because that's what it is.  They loaned me a book about not telling whoppers, and it really helped.  Now we say she's pretending to do such-and-such.  In fact, mid-month at her parent-teacher conference at school, the only negative thing they were going to ask was how I wanted them to deal with the fibs at school, but they said she had not done it again since the stitches incident. 

Our community center has lots of summer camp options.  I think Amelia will be doing a week of theater this year.

her yoga

Here are the kids in action playing the Disney Dance Party Wii game I rented over the new year.  Amelia calls it her yoga.  They talked about it so much after we returned the game that we bought it the next weekend.  It's a fun, active thing to do on cold afternoons.  It's not easy, either! 

starting off the new year right...

We were invited to a New Year's lunch at Hannah's house.  Santa brought Hannah a karaoke machine for Christmas.  So while other kids were building forts and driving remote control trucks, dads were watching bowl games, and moms were socializing, Amelia was rocking out to Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen. It was too much fun for me.  I took a nap on the floor of the bonus room when we got home.  Or maybe that was due to the uber-strong dragonfruit martini I had at the party.  Hmmm.