School Play!

Gavin was able to participate in the school play this year, Alice in Wonderland. I have really enjoyed going to all the rehearsals with him and getting to watch from the audience and helping out in little ways when needed. I have enjoyed watching how well behaved Gavin is when he is has been on stage and back stage. It was like watching a completely different kid, listening attentively to instructions, following directions, and working with his fellow caterpillar ensamble actors. A small glimpse of how I hear he is when he is away from me all day at school!

It was an awesome experience for him and he had a great time. He was the only one from his class and one of only a few kindergarteners that chose to participate, so it was really special for him to do performances for the school (one for the K-2nd graders and one for the 3rd-5th graders). His classmates had lots of nice things to say about him and how much they loved the play. Dane and I had fun backstage during the school performances helping to entertain, help the students get ready, helping to ensure everyone was where they needed to be, and keep the noise level quiet. I stayed to help out backstage for their Friday night performance as well, I gave Gavin the choice and he wanted me to stay, I take advantage of any time he actually wants me there because some day (all too soon I am sure) he won't want me to stick around! Saturday we all were able to watch the show. I had seen most of it from the audience at various points in rehearsal but it was so much more exciting getting to see everyone in costume and the amazing sets that were created.

After the Saturday performance, they had the whole group on stage for a group photo and then to show the kids the slide show that the director created from pictures of rehearsals and back stage creating sets and props. Part of their performance is singing a group song after the play is over and the audience getting to see all the behind the scenes hard work from everyone involved. The kids hadn't had a chance to see it yet because their back is to the screen when they sing at the end of all the performances, so it was really exciting for them to get to watch the slide show before getting to celebrate their hard work at their cast party.

Then we went to the cafeteria for pizza, cupcakes, and juice for their cast party. A wonderful end to a fun experience!

It was certainly a special experience because the amazing mom who has been in charge of this the last 5 years will not be around next year, her daughter is moving up to the middle school. I don't know if they have anyone else that would be willing and able to put in the time and effort needed, she truly was amazing with the kids (and with 60 plus elementary school children included that is no small feat) and clearly loved being involved and exposing these young kids to theater. It was a wonderful time for both Gavin and me!

Random Fun...

Assorted fun from the last two weeks...

Play rehearsal...

Just having fun...

Dane passed out from exhaustion...

Google created a panorama from a series of pictures I took... Apparently we have more than 1 Dane around here...

Working Together...

Often Gavin and Dane come up with games and stories to play and act out. I enjoy listening to the stories they come up with as they play so sweetly (because it often eventually ends up as we type of crazy, running through the house and/or wrestling match at some point with at least one, if not both of them hurt). This morning they set their bean bag chairs up, grabbed a few toys and were playing by the front door. After a while it turned into Gavin making a TV and remote out of paper, so they could relax and then take a nap as part of their pretend world. It was very cute and always a nice reminder that they do generally like each other despite the sibling bickering that can drive anyone to madness!

Goofball Dane!

Dane keeps us entertained and laughing. He has lots of crazy faces, stories, and jokes to tell. He loves to pose for pictures. Our goofball for sure!

Brotherly Love...

Dane needed a nap but didn't want to stop playing because he was enjoying Gavin being home from school for the second day, so Gavin said that he would go in and get Dane down for a nap. It was sweet to see them laying in bed together. Gavin told him a story and then just snuggled with him for a bit.

It was a sweet thought and nice attempt by Gavin. Dane didn't end up napping but did rest for a bit in his room and was in a better mood after. A good thing for sure.

Blizzard 2017!

Last year we had hardly any snow, even though we had a late in season (early spring) snow that killed lots of flowers and the flowers on lots of trees. This year we haven't had much more, the two snow days and few delays used were over very small amounts of snow because it was more the timing that made bus transportation dangerous more than the amount of precipitation. Now that is no longer the case. After basically every other big storm missing us the last two years we were right in the middle of the blizzard. It was fun to have snowed in, Gavin enjoyed having two days off. Even though the snow ended yesterday, two feet of snow was too much for them to manage to clean up enough to have school today. We enjoyed several trips out to play before the snow had actually accumulated to two feet. We had fun playing and helping Scott as he ran the snow blower. The kids were thrilled to come in and warm up with hot chocolate. It was fun, until the reality of how long it will take two feet of snow to melt (and that you don't want it to melt too quickly or everyone will end up with flooding issues, even those of us that don't usually have flooding issues) and how the end of winter was in sight and now who knows when it might warm up and everything might continue to grow. The trees were already budding, flowers starting to grow, and the grass was looking more green and less dull.

Hopefully, it won't take too long for spring to show up, since the first day of spring is next week, but who knows. Until then, it was fun to be snowed in and we are grateful that we didn't lose power. 

Morning Fun!

Gavin and Dane often spend the morning before Gavin goes to school playing, sometimes nicely, sometimes bickering. This morning they were playing somsweetly with am assortment of toys Dane had been collecting and storing in his room because they were special. I love when our days start this way!

How is this Kindergarten?

I am constantly amazed at then work Gavin does at school and how much he has grown and learned since September. I knew that the requirements were much higher than they used to be and that they are now expected to be reading when they are leaving kindergarten but I guess I am shocked they Gavin has been reading for a couple months now and clearly advancing in the level of his ability. The higher expectations were one of the ma y reasons we decided it was best to not enroll him until the year it was required (the year he turned 6 before the December 1st cutoff). I was also not prepared for how advanced his writing would also be, he apparently loves the writing center in class and spends a lot of now free time there writing new stories and drawing illustrations. The packet we got before Thanksgiving was impressive to me because they don't receive help, they are expected to use the various site word boards in the class, their abilities to sound out words, and their journal pages for help. The stories he brings home now are multiple pages and sentences. The makes sense they would be developing writing skills as their reading skills improve but it is still amazing to me that Gavin now spends time wanting to sit at home reading and writing on his own. He still loves to run around playing, riding his bike, and all the fun parts of being a kid but he now has an appreciation of sitting in his room or even outside when it is nice and writing and reading. That is amazing and certainly not something I was prepared for! I very much enjoy the stories he brings home and while he is still working on spelling, it is often fairly easy to read because he is using the sounds he hears in the words to spell them. Today he brought home a stack of writing from February and I found this sweet story about his friends coming over to play a few weeks ago. He was so excited because we had not seen them in months. Between Gavin's school schedule and their schedule it just hadn't worked out. It was such a huge thing and they had so much fun! When he went back to school the next week, he wrote about it. Such a fun way for both him and us to remember the important moments of his first year in grade school!

My Helper...

Dane was helping me start dinner and make some granola. He loves to help and taste everything. He loves the finished granola so I let him try the ingredients as we put them in (oatmeal, coconut, nuts, honey, coconut oil). I know he loves all sorts of nuts so no surprise there, but he had not previous tried coconut not mixed in something, he loved it. He has had honey as well and insisted on trying the coconut oil. I gave him a little on a spoon and figured he would ask to spit it out. I was shocked when he swallowed it and calmly said he didn't really like it. He then wanted to kick the spoon we used to mix the granola. He carefully licked it all, then asked for more. Crazy kid. I am grateful for how much he likes food though, it is nice to have one child that isn't crazy picky about food!

Why is it Always Water?!?!

Another exciting weekend with crazy water issues. It seems ridiculous that this is the third major water issue in the basement in 6 years. While I am glad we have not gutted the basement yet, I am not sure I want to because it feels like it would be a ticking time bomb before something else happens! We don't have what I consider normal basement flooding issues either, we don't have issue switch water flooding because if rain/snow/nature issues. We have issues like the main water line to the hour breaking under the concrete basement floor, or the septic tank being directly connected to the toilet downstairs and since it had never previously been pumped/tended to (had nomidea it needed to be), we didnt know every time we used the tub upstairs it was draining out of the toilet downstairs because the tank was blocked (gross), or when pipes from the kitchen sink are leaking into the basement bathroom. I am sure other people have water issues but it just seems like we have outnof the ordinary types of water flooding our basement.

The sentiment water filter that is in our laundry room cracked and was spraying water everywhere. It couldn't have been going for more than 5-15 minutes. I had been downstairs not long before and there was no issue. I am glad we were home and I heard the sound of what I thought was the washer filing but that was odd since I hadn't put any laundry in. I asked Scott and he said he hadn't, so we went down to investigate and found lots of water. Flooded the laundry room, into the entryway, in the main room, the bathroom was flooded and the whole wall from the laundry dry room to the bathroom was flooded. It was pushing into the room as we quickly worked to clean it up. Scott was able to shut the main water off to the house immediately and we grabbed the two shop vacs, emptied them and pulled the filters out. We each took one and tried to get the water up as fast as we could. Even with two of us it still took hours to get it cleaned, Scott had to get a new filter and do some plumbing, his least favorite job around the house, and I tried to prevent he water from damaging anything else we had stored downstairs.

Thankfully the kids played fairly well upstairs and the only trouble they found was getting into the last of the brownies. Unfortunately, Scott had a lot of work ahead of him upstairs as well because before the water issue he had pulled apart the whole entertainment center to clean up the cords, equipment, etc. Since we got the new TV a couple weeks ago, he has been wanting to clean it all up now that far fewer cords are needed, and we had managed to get the TV fully anchored finally, so he still had more cleaned and setting up before he was done for the night.


So, now we have fans set up to finish drying out the basement. I am hoping a couple of warmish days pan out to air out the basement as it dries, and I need to get our carpet cleaner in to be fixed so I can scrub the carpets and hope that it helps to be sure they are as clean as they can be under the circumstances. We also called the plumber because we want to have him come look at Scott's filter job to be sure it is ok and to get some information and advice on our plans for the basement. So, we will wait and see what the plumber says, we are not ready to tackle our plans for remodeling the basement yet, but we also need to be sure that once we do, water will not be an issue and the basement won't flood again!

Signs of a Delicious Muffin....

Both kids go crazy over these muffins and I don't feel bad at all since it is healthy as far as muffins go... Wheat flour, bananas, honey, coconut oil, and a little cocoa powder.

So Warm!

We are thoroughly enjoying a few days of very warm weather for February! It is absolutely gorgeous outside. Gavin was grilled to be able to wear just a sweatshirt to school rather than having many layers to be warm outside. Dane and I are enjoying having the windows open, sitting in the warm sun, drying sheets out in the sun, and preparing some flower pots for seeds (Dane helped pick out some beautiful flower seeds for both inside and transplanting outside when it is warm). I know it won't last since the forecast says Saturday afternoon is when he cold front moves in, but we are going to soak up every second of it while it lasts. Gavin loves getting to change when he gets home from school and then staying outside until dark. I can't wait until the warmer weather is here to stay! It feels great to be out in the fresh air and not freezing to do that!

Brothers!

Dane is thrilled Gavin is off today... They have so much fun playing (when they are not bickering). I love listening and watching as they play together, make up games, share, and take care of each other. It is nice to be reminded that they do actually love each other and love to spend time together. Especially since some days they have to be separated because they are bickering so much. For now, for however long it lasts, I will enjoy the sounds of them playing sweetly together!

Dane "Arting"

Preschool Visit...

I knew the day was coming all too fast that Dane would be visiting preschool for himself to attend in the fall. I know he needs the experience and he will be in great hands. The program is wonderful, the teacher is amazing, and it is certainly the perfect introduction to school, and a nice way to acclimate being away from me for the first time. I know it is truly the right place for Dane just like it was for Gavin, but knowing that does not make it any easier. It was hard to leave Gavin but at least I had Dane to keep me company and to snuggle. Now I will be left alone. Sad. Even if it is the right thing and I know he will have a great time, it isn't any easier than it was leaving Gavin. I just hope he is just as excited as Gavin was.

Dane had a hard time walking in the door today and was a cling monster for a while but he eventually was willing to let Miss Shelley come over to sit and talk. He wouldn't let the other kids (all younger and smaller than him) anywhere near him, he would hide behind me if they even looked his direction. By the end of the hour he was talking a little to Miss Shelley and even said he was excited to go back and play again, so we shall see how it goes in the fall!

Crazy Weather!

This had been quite a roller coaster all winter with weather. We have had warmer than usual weather, a decent amount of snow, cold, rain, and lots of wind. Today we had such high winds the power went out right before going to get Gavin on the bus (he had a two hour delay because of icy road conditions earlier in the day). Scott was already at work and so he ended up coming home at lunch to set up the generator. With it being so cold and windy and not knowing how long the power would be out he decided it would be silly to let the house get cold, especially since Dane was still not feeling well and we would be home all day. So I set Dane up with a snack, a movie on the laptop, and I helped Scott and then ran around doing a few things before Dane would be ready for a nap. Well, he ended up calling asleep watching his movie. Poor kid. He is definitely at the end of this crazy awful virus but still not better.

Hopefully he will be fine for Wednesday since we have the preschool open house tomorrow to! Well, the power was out for a few hours, so it was really nice to be able to keep the house warm during that time. There were a lot of outages so I am grateful that they were able to get the lines fixed so quickly but even more grateful for the ability to still heat the house while they work on power restoration. We haven't needed to use the generator a lot but it is still something that we are so grateful to have for the few times we have needed it.

Poor Sick Kiddos... Again...

It could have been much worse but the kids have been plagued by virus that is especially fun and causes them to run a fever. For a week. Gavin ran just a little warm Super Bowl Sunday, enough to cause a little whining but was otherwise mostly himself. Woke up Monday much warmer and in official fever territory. Stayed between 101 and 102 most ofnthenday. By late afternoon it was warm enough he needed medicine because he was increasingly miserable and starting to refuse all food and drinks. Once that kicked in he said he felt great. Woke up Tuesday in the same boat as Monday. While he was definitely more mellow than usual, he was mostly in good spirits and was doing just fine resting in his bed and patiently waiting when he needed anything. At least he wasn't totally miserable. Wednesday he woke up still warm and adding some other cold symptoms to the mix but nothing major. Despite trying to keep Dane away, apparently he already was exposed and woke up with a fever. Lucky him. Gavin tolerated it all far better than Dane. Dane just wanted to be held or snuggled with on the couch. He was mega clingy and whiney but overall he just seemed headed down the same unfortunate road as Gavin. Thursday we had a big storm (9 inches) come through which was a bit of a bummer because neither child was really able to go out and enjoy it, at least it was one less day of school Gavin had to miss since they closed.

He was still warm by the evening so I already knew he wasn't going Friday, even though I was hoping it was a turning point when he finally woke up without a fever. Friday he woke up warm, again, so Scott insisted I take him in to be seen. So, off to the doctor to be sure that it was some strange presentation of strep and be sure that his nose, ears, and chest were still clear since he was coughing and sneezing a bit. As I suspected, all was fine and it is just some virus (plenty varieties going around) or maybe some type of flu but they opt not to waste time and money to test since they don't recommend tamiflu and she knows I would pass on it anyway.  So, back home for more rest and waiting out the end of the virus. He woke up just slightly warm Saturday, so a definite improvement over the rest of the week. This morning, finally no fever! Hoping that he is past the worst of the virus and the fever is gone for good so he can go back to school tomorrow! Yay! It will also give me hope that Dane will be past this by Wednesday so he doesn't miss the Open House at preschool! Such a crazy week but it could have been worse. Now we need Dane to get past it and Scott and I to not get this one! Is Winter over yet?

Fun Outside!

The kids were still not 100% but they both felt good enough to go out and enjoy the snow! I had to run to Adams since I hadn't been to the store in over two weeks and so after I got for put away and everyone fed some lunch, we went out to play for a little bit. are  It was a lot of fun, it was good to get some fresh air, have some fun, and feel the sun!

After we got warmed up it was fun to finally feel like maybe at least Gavin was past the worst of the virus because even though he was still slightly warm, he was clearly feeling better. We still spent lots of time resting and reading but hopefully Gavin will be able to head back to school Monday! He has really been missing his friends and school routine, so he will be one unhappy child if he is stuck home sick again any time soon!

Two Front Teeth...

Are now missing....

One came out at school last week (super exciting day for him since he was sent home with his tooth in this cute little tooth necklace to keep it safe) and one out today. It was last year in February he lost his bottom two middle teeth, a whole year later he loses the top middle within a week of each other just like last year. Crazy. He looks so much more grow up, ironically, missing those teeth! Where did my baby go!?!?!

A Taste of Winter...

When it seems that our winters now consist of very little snow, let alone any big storms, we have taken to enjoying the little bit of snow when it does come, especially since we never know when some, or all of us, will be too sick to be able to enjoy the snow. So today the schools dismissed early. The storm was only going to be 1-3 inches but it was all supposed to fall between noon and 4pm, so before Gavin got on the bus this morning I had already received the message from the school about the early dismissal. I let Gavin know so he wouldn't be as disappointed when he got to school to find out he was only there for the morning. I was excited to have the afternoon for the kids to play outside. It was fun to have lunch with Gavin and Dane napped early so he was up not long after Gavin got home. It worked out well and we spent a huge part of our afternoon outside. The kids explored the woods, used Gavin's sled, made snow angels, and had a blast just rolling around in the snow.

We went in to warm up some, play, and start dinner but the kids came back out with me when it looked like the snow was nearly finished to quickly push the light fluffy snow off the driveway. They had fun helping and playing a bit more before we headed in for dinner. Although in most ways I wish it was warming up because I prefer the warmer weather, it is a special fun afternoon (or day) with the kids when we get to enjoy some snow!