Into the BIG pool!

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Did I mention that Lex is taking lessons now as part of a free deal for 2nd graders? They bus the kids over after school. They play for an hour, then have a lesson, then have a snack. Not the order I would have done things, but I’m not in charge. Anyway… Eve and I have been going over after school as well and swimming. The first day of lessons I noticed that two of his classmates, boys that he really wants to play hockey with, were having their lesson in the competition pool. I watched for a few minutes and saw that Lex can swim just as well as they can! During the following week I put on some mommy persuasion and encouraged him to try the big pool with his classmates. I reminded him that he can’t play hockey with them because he can’t skate well enough yet, but he certainly can swim as well as either of them! I guess he was feeling brave at his second lesson because he did it! He got right in and swam in the big pool. The staff there is pretty amazing and I had talked to them about it ahead of time. They had tried to take him in that pool a year ago when he was doing lessons last time, but he wasn’t up for it. They are kind and encouraging with him.

He has since done two lessons in the competition pool and seems pretty confident! Another mother told me last week that he was jumping off the start boards! I wasn’t there as Eve and I took the week off to stay home with a recovering Alan. When I asked Lex about it he was all nonchalant, like of course he was jumping off the board, why wouldn’t he?! :) He told me they were comparing splash heights of their cannon ball jumps!

Today we went swimming and I was eager to get pictures of him in the deep pool and jumping off the board. Sadly the lifeguard said you’re not allowed to use the start boards during free swim, so he couldn’t show off that skill, but we did have a great time in the big pool! Lots of jumping in, not a lot of lap swimming. Eventually the lifeguard kicked us out, claiming the lanes were filling up. I think he thought we were bothering the actual lap swimmers. Oh well! We moved back to the kid section and met up with some friends and had fun there too!

I’ll try and get some pictures of him jumping off the board during his lesson this week, but for now… into the big pool!

into the pool

Easy peasy, right into the pool. It wasn’t even super cold today!

swimming

I talked them into doing laps. We made it to the other end and they were done with laps.

eve

Eve

lex

Lex, doing the crawl stroke.

We spent the rest of the time jumping into the pool. It would have been a fun day to have an underwater camera! :)

We spent the rest of the time jumping into the pool. It would have been a fun day to have an underwater camera! :)

ready

Ready… set…

go

Go!

post swim

We got home and they were drawn to the tv, like moths to the light. I let them watch Colbert with Alan while I made lunch for everyone. I took this picture just because it’s so cute how they’re sitting together.

A secret friend

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Eve has a secret friend. Her friend left her a secret note under her pillow the other day.

a note from a secret friend

A note from a secret friend.

She was pretty excited!

eve

Eve, showing off her note.

She thought and thought about to do and then remembered an episode of Super Why that the had seen recently. When the Super Why guy got a secret note, he wrote a note back inviting the friend over to play. Eve did the same.

note to friend

A note to her secret friend.

Can you guess who it might be?

More skating

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Are you tired of my skating videos yet?  We went again today and the kids are rocking!  Another time or two on the ice and they’re going to be better skaters than I am… which isn’t really saying much. :)  Today Eve figured out how to stop by dragging a skate.  I don’t know if that’s the proper way to stop (remember my skating skills?) but it works for her.  Often it results in a fancy figure skating spin at the end. :)

It looks like she fell at the end there, but really it was a fancy figure skating move and she recovered nicely. I should have left the camera running for a few more seconds! :)

Neglect

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I’ve been neglecting this poor blog lately.  For some reason I’m just not in the mood to write.  I’m not even sure when I last picked up the camera!  So much going on.  So little time.  I thought I’d have a calm, slow week home with Alan, but nope.  Life is busy.  He is doing very well, by the way.  Healing nicely and enjoying hours of TV, video games, and card games with the kids.  He got to spend his birthday on the couch eating cookies!  And diagnosing heating issues.  Today he and I replaced a circulator pump that may or may not have failed.  The upstairs pipes have been frozen for a few days an the old “space heater in the knee wall” wasn’t working so he was the brains and I was the brawn and we replaced the pump.  The good news is the heat is back on!  :)  And the temps outside are above zero!

As I was putting the kids to bed tonight I was crafting a long blog post in my head.  How’s that for completely not “present” and “in the moment” at bedtime tonight!  However, it’s now hours later and I’m just getting here and my tired brain has forgotten it all.  It was just my ramblings anyway.  About what, I forget.  Oh well.

We are looking forward to a quiet weekend.  Dinner with friends on Saturday.  Hopefully get the kids to the ice skating rink again.  That’s about it.

Hope all is well with the rest of the world.  I’ll try to get myself mentally back here again soon.  At least a few pictures or something.  :)

All better

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image

Just before they wheeled him into surgery.

Alan had his hernia surgery today.  They found the hernia had grown quite a bit and apparently they found another one as well!  They patched up both and promised us he’ll be as good as new.

I dropped the kids at school then met Alan at the hospital.  We hung out in the hospital room for a few hours until the OR was available.  Then they gave me a pager and sent me on my way.  I hung out, had lunch, tried to do some work, made friends with a teacher in the waiting room, and generally kept myself busy until they paged me.  Order up!

After the anaesthesia wore off we headed out.  Home by 5:00.  The kids went to an after-school program for the day and I picked them up once Alan was settled on the couch.

I have no catchy ending for this.  Sorry.  Tired!  Send warm wishes to Alan for a speedy recovery.  I suspect he’ll be up and at ’em in no time!

A Valentine’s Day Sneak Peek

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Valentine’s Day is coming up (in four weeks!) and the kids are eager to get started with their cards. Last week I showed Lex several cool ideas on Pinterest (this, this, this, and this). He said, “Cool!!” I asked if he wanted to do one of them this year and he said, “No, let’s just make our own the way we do every year.” Ok then. So out came all the crafty reds and pinks. Our table has once again become a perpetual craft table. The kids also decided to use the rest of our Christmas candy canes on the cards. They are red and white after all!

card to me p1

Step across…

card to me p2

… to my heart. Isn’t he sweet!

He’s made many creative cards. I guess I only took pictures of the one for me. :) I’ll take a few more before they get delivered to friends and family.

tablet

E-card for Eve

eve

We’re having fun with a Valentine’s Day Mad Libs I picked up in the grocery store. :)

Today we made Valentine’s Day sandwich cookies, a la Martha Stewart! I haven’t had one yet, but the filling I licked off my fingers was delicious!

cookies

Sandwich cookies

A few days ago Eve spent a very long time building “Cupid.” At first I had no idea what she was talking about and it appeared as though she were randomly gluing and cutting. But when it all came together I finally was able to see her creation. It kept falling over so she smartly pulled a yogurt container out of the recycling bin and glued the whole thing onto it, thereby providing a solid plastic base. Smart girl!

cupid p1

Eve’s cupid

cupid p2

The other side of cupid. Here you can see the “bow” and the tip of the red “arrow” coming through.

cupid p3

Eve took several pictures, but she framed them all such that my 6am face was included!

Real quick…

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I’ve been working full-time lately! I just finished my 4th day as the art teacher at school.  It’s fun, but this working full-time thing is for the birds! Here is a quicky of what we’ve been up to:

  • Lex started swimming in the big pool today! Two of his classmates have their lessons in that pool and today he joined them. I’m super excited that he got over his fear of the big pool because he is a great swimmer and the big pool is necessary for continued development. Today he took the plunge and loved it!
  • Eve has started reading to me! I’m so excited! She read all of Runaway Bunny last night, and Hop on Pop, and Freddie and Flossie books. She caught on recently that if she reads to me she gets to stay up a lot later. :) I’ll take it!
  • Alan is prepping for his hernia surgery next week. Logistics are difficult, but it will happen and we’ll all be happy when it’s over. I’m secretly looking forward to a few forced days at home to take care of him.
  • I have decided to apply to the Upper Valley Educators Institute and get my teaching certificate!! I’m really enjoying substituting (some classes more than others, of course!) and the more I think about it the more teaching feels right to me. If all goes well I’ll start in August.

That’s it for now. I’m not working tomorrow, but I am spending the morning with my volunteer family and trying to figure out which of the six things that need be done can I fit into the afternoon before picking up the kids.  Working again Friday for a few hours.  Life is busy, but good!

Another picture update

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I realize my posts are getting lame. Sorry. Life is going well, but busy. I’m working every day next week and already exhausted by it! (sob story, I know) Here are a few pictures and videos to give you the low-down.

After school one day last week we went bowling with a few friends. Just for something to do on a Tuesday afternoon. Everyone had a really great time!

bowling

The little guy in the blue pants is in a bowling league. He showed Lex and Eve how to bowl with the big ball!

eve bowling

Then Eve taught some other friends. Like her technique?!

Weekend fun.

pony

A castle for the pony.

Alan lets the kids play a computer game called Tux Cart sometimes, which I think is a Linux version of Mario Cart. Lex decided this weekend to make a real life version. He’s has built and rebuilt it several times so far and has a great time driving around.

Tux cart

Tux cart

Last night we had a movie night. We decided on a movie and then Alan went out to pick up dinner and rent the movie (he had errands to run as well) and the kids and I stayed home. They got all ready for bed, did a ton of chores, and then we played Uno until he got home. It was a great night!

laundry

The kids were so excited that they did a ton of chores while waiting for Alan to return with dinner and the movie. Mostly Eve, I guess, did the chores. She decided to fold, and put away, the basket of clean laundry that was sitting in the laundry room.

eve dessert

Last time we had movie night I gave them little ice cream sundaes for dessert. We had no ice cream this time, but Eve wanted dessert, so she made yogurt sundaes with honey and minty chips.

dessert

They were actually pretty good!

Today Eve and I went to a birthday party at the pottery place. She was very excited. Lex opted to spend some time at our neighbor’s house entertaining his poor buddy who broke his leg last week! Everyone had fun and everyone came home exhausted!

present

I love how much effort my kids put into birthday presents.

Mema, thank you for the MyPlate plates! The kids LOVE them and request them for every meal!

eve dinner

Eve’s dinner tonight consisted of yogurt, watermelon and honeydew melon, dry cereal, and cucumbers.

lex dinner

Lex had watermelon, bread/butter/yeast, and carrots, with a yogurt on the side.

Back in the pool

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I have some tired fishes tonight! The aquatic center offers free lessons for 2nd graders. One session, six weeks, not the whole year! The kids get transportation to the pool, free swim for an hour, then a lesson. Eve and I went over after school and swam as well. I renewed my membership on Monday. Me and the rest of the developed world, re-upping gym memberships in January! I’m back at the gym and we are planning to do lots of swimming now.

I realized tonight that I missed my boy today! I left him at school at 8am and didn’t get him back until 5pm! I guess that’s normal for some folks, but not me.

If anyone wants to come swim with us, now’s the time! :)