Friday Update #7 (2/20/15)

Seth will probably never be convinced to care about Valentine's Day or celebrating most holidays, for that matter (due to upbringing and scorn of commercialism, I guess), but I wanted to make a big deal out of it for the boys. Isaac's favorite shape is the heart and Ezra noticed all of the red/white/pink decorations all over and admired my sisters' bouquets, so he asked several times what we were doing for Valentine's Day too.

I was happy to oblige such a cute kid, so we spent several hours cutting out and gluing construction paper hearts, both the make Daddy cards and to make collages for the wall, and then had heart pizza and heart cake. 

I made a chore chart for Ezra that was a big hit. I think it's something we will continue to do for a while, because he really liked it and it was a great way to keep him motivated to do the things he's expected to do. It took a bit of pressure off of me too, because I could use the chore chart as "the heavy" (ie, "well, before we do ____, let's check the chore chart and see what we need to do first!").

Seth had a morning off work so he got to do school with us and then go to the Y with us. Ezra appreciated the audience and I appreciated the extra pair of hands.

Seth's been pretty focused on brushing up his basketball skills, so he's tried to get to the Y to practice as much as he can. I think he was a bit disappointed to find (during the high school basketball season) that his basketball abilities had diminished as much as they had since college. It's to be expected, of course, that if you don't play for seven years you at least won't be any better, but still frustrating.

Then boys came down with what we were initially worried was conjunctivitis, but turned out to simply be a weird sinus infection, so we had a pretty low key week. We skipped the Y and such for the rest of the week so as to be careful and not infect other people.

When Caleb was here he gave the boys an old baseball jersey he wore and Ezra has gotten a kick out of wearing it. He thinks he's so cool.

We had a busy weekend too. On Saturday I took the boys to the zoo and to the waterfront for the day. We had a lot of fun but my goodness did it wear me out! We definitely need days out and about, though. It's rejuvenating to explore, especially in the sunshine. And then on Sunday we had our monthly dinner with three other couples from church. This was actually our last (of four) dinners with this group and we hosted. Seth came up with the idea to make homemade pizza the morning of, so he took the boys to my parents and then did some last minute shopping while I did some cleaning and then we made pizza together. It wasn't meant to be a "date" but turned out to be pretty fun, despite the company. ;) And then we collapsed in front of the TV and watched a silly cooking show we used to watch and procrastinated on picking the kids up. We don't get much, if any, time without the boys to just relax. The babysitting we get always has a specific purpose, like to allow me to teach piano lessons, so this was quite the treat.

Friday Update #6 (2/13/15)

Caleb and Jim left Sunday morning, but we had a meeting after church and then our monthly dinner with three other couples from church, so it really wasn't until Sunday night that we collapsed into bed.

I spent a lot of time cleaning the house and washing sheets and so on Monday morning so the boys pretty much played by themselves, but we went outside for a little while and then packed up in the car for a drive down to Fredrickson for some piano lessons.

Tuesday began our second week of classes, this session, at the YMCA and then I dropped the boys off at my Dad's house and taught lessons for the rest of the day. I have a good group of kids this year, both in terms of their emotional maturity and their work ethic, but I love days when one of my students has obviously practiced so hard and we get so much accomplished in our lessons - but to have all six lessons go so well in one day? That's certainly more than I hope for every week.

The hardest part of Tuesday (which then affects the rest of the week) is that Isaac really struggles to nap when he sees Grandpa and knows that if he sleeps Grandpa and Ezra will still play. So then he hits a wall around 5pm ish and sometimes takes a nap... and then wakes up arond 6-7pm and wants to play for another 6-8 hours. My dad struggles to keep Isaac awake instead (so that Isaac falls asleep around 7pm, without a nap), which I of course understand. I don't like keeping Isaac up when he doesn't nap either. So that is a very huge kink in my Tuesday plan that I really need to figure out.

One of the things I want to figure out soon is a good phonics curriculum for Ezra. He is almost constantly asking me about letters and their sounds and I do not remember anything I learned in phonics!! I'm not entirely sure if we'll try to follow a program consistently at this point in time (probably wait another month or so) but I need to hurry and learn my vowel sounds, especially!

We had a rough morning, Wednesday, partially because I let Ezra watch a show in the morning so I could get a few things done (which I knew was a bad idea...) and partially just because he was having a bad attitude anyway. The drive to BSF was full of tears, but thankfully Ezra went to class obediently and then, as an "extra boost" of encouragement for me, Isaac practically ran into his class.

Isaac cried for a few minutes at the beginning of his class for the first few months of class. He was just starting to get acclimated and not cry in December, but then of course we took a break for Christmas. So the first class or two in January he also cried, but for about the last four classes he's been excited to go! Ezra's class is downstairs, as is mine, so we usually drop Ezra off first and then I take Isaac up and drop him off (and then go back downstairs to my class). It helps for Isaac to see his big brother go into class and then we get to talk about "Isaac's class" the whole walk up the stairs to his class. Two weeks ago when we dropped Ezra off, Isaac said "my class now? my class now?" before I had a chance to say anything! I thought it was a fluke, but he kept talking about it and the closer we got to his classroom the more he was visibly excited. Then last week he reached out for his teacher and said "bye Mommy" and this week he hardly even looked back at me. I'm so very happy he loves his class and is thriving in it. His teachers say he is super cheerful and participates well, which seems to be the case every time I go to check in on him. But... there is also the part of me that is a bit sad that he is growing up and becoming more independent. I know, I know - that's my entire job as a parent, to to help him learn to become independent. But my baby is growing up and it does make me weepy now and then.

The plan for Thursday was to go to the zoo but Seth had the day off, unexpectedly, and went to the Y with us to swim a bit (which was mostly a flop because the water in the main pool was sooo cold and we didn't have much time anyway before gymnastics) and then shoot hoops. We stayed longer than we'd planned and all needed naps so we just came home and played and did chores (yeah right on those naps).

Friday morning Ezra woke up with his eyes crusted shut with what we thought might be pink eye, so we had to cancel all our fun plans for the day (play date and curriculum planning!). His eyes weren't ever red, just swollen and crusty so we didn't take him to the doctor. And then he woke up Saturday morning with completely clear eyes, so we're not exactly sure what the problem was/is. Still, we're keeping him quarantined for few days just in case. We did go outside and cleaned up our flowerbeds and planted some primroses, though!

Friday Update #5 (2/6/15) **needs photos

There were some tears after the Superbowl, for sure. It was a pretty rough game that will take a long time to recover from. Unrelated to the Superbowl, though, there were some really hard parts to this week. Some hard but good conversations and a lot of disobedience (on the kid's part, primarily) and frustration (on my part, primarily). I got pretty exasperated pretty quickly all week and had to do a lot of apologizing, as well as a lot of disciplining. It's cyclical, I suppose, and most likely because I start to slack off a bit on consistent discipline and prayer and then this week I let it escalate before I finally caught myself and spent a whole day praying before I said or did anything!

I'm actually pretty pleased with where we are, discipline wise, right now. We have some good things going on. Now to just keep it up!

The original plan was for Seth's brother, Caleb, to fly in for a visit and attend the Superbowl parade. Since that *didn't happen* he was just here for a visit, from Tuesday through Sunday, and then Seth's dad, Jim, drove over Thursday night and left Sunday morning.

We definitely did a lot of just hanging out at our house, but Seth and Caleb went bowling  and maybe even to a movie? and we all went to the YMCA for the boys' classes and plenty of hoops, lots of TBS basketball (two regular season games and an elimination round to determine playoff seeding) and the LeMay Car Museum. The museum was actually a lot bigger than I thought it would be. The website said they had 350 cars on display but it sure seemed like more! I was probably more critical than necessary of the curating, because as a non-car person, I felt pretty lost through most of the museum. The signage was pretty inadequate, with the exception of a small exhibit on British invasion cars that actually presented a coherent and thorough narrative. If someone already knows a lot about cars, however, they would probably enjoy it quite a bit. If anything, perhaps it was good for me to walk through the museum and force myself to pay attention and try to enjoy it because that's more likely the experience that most people have going into most museums (or at least history museums).

Ezra is in this phase where he says rude things in an attempt to be funny. I'm 95% sure he's not trying to be mean, but the things he says when he's trying to joke actually are mean. It's pretty hard to deal with, actually, because he doesn't understand why we're chastising him. We definitely need wisdom for this phase!

It was fun to hang out with Caleb, since we don't get to see him often. Seth and he talk on the phone pretty consistently, and play fantasy sports together, but I almost never talk to him. He always asks about the boys and I while he and Seth are talking, but I need to be better about asking after him when Seth gets off the phone. And texting him. We want to go visit him as our next trip (after visiting Seth's grandma in the LA area), perhaps this winter or next spring.

{photos to come}

Friday Update #4 (1/30/15)

I took the boys to their favorite "castle park" at Fort Steilacoom for FOUR hours! We didn't mean to stay that long but we were having such a great time that we just stayed and stayed. And then they fell asleep at 6pm, on the drive home!

Then on Tuesday I had a couple of cancellations so we had a few free hours in Sumner so we got to hang out with two former piano students. They love Ezra and Ezra loves them. Well, they love Isaac too, but they don't know him as well because they stopped taking lessons right before he was born. But we've actually been pretty faithful to see them every other month or so.

Wednesday I had another cancellation, which was quite providential because I had a lot of paperwork to finish up for the quarter. The poor boys had to entertain themselves inside while I finished that.

Thursday they helped me pack Seth and I up for Snow Retreat and we spent a while outside. They got new umbrellas for Christmas and love stomping around in their rainboots and umbrellas.

Our playgroup got cancelled Friday morning so I got a lot of cleaning and last minute paperwork complications done and then Seth took the kids to my parents and we headed off to Snow Retreat.

I actually went on this same Snow Retreat, at the same place (just outside of Leavenworth) with the same churches, when I was in high school and then chaperoned a few times in college, but I hadn't been for 7-8 years? It was rather amazing how little it has changed.

We only had 12 students go with another three or four students that couldn't go, so it's not large enough a "youth group" to plan a winter retreat ourselves, so it's been nice to be included (and have all of the planning done for us) with these other churches. Seth has gone the last few years but this year he and the students talked me into going. I wasn't sure that I should leave the kids for "so long" but, as he said, it was really only 48 hours. There wasn't a reason not to go, since my parents were willing to watch the kids. (Although, next time we get overnight babysitting it's going to be to go on a date/trip!)

We had a great time, not surprisingly. It was great to spend so much time with the high schoolers and get some snow time in and hear some great lectures.

This is a photo from one of the students. I think it's edited - well, I know it's edited. But isn't the location beautiful?

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I think we both missed the kids but it was refreshing to have a bit of a break. And they did really well for mom and dad. They got to go to the zoo and do all kinds of crafts and watch movies!

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​We made it home just in time for the Superbowl and were reunited with the kids, but that's about all I can bear to say about Sunday. It's going to be a looonnnggg time until we recover from that game. Good thing baseball season is only a few weeks away.

Friday Update #3 (1/23/15) **needs photos

Oh goodness, how are we three weeks into January already!?! So much for already being so organized by this point.

We had a low key rest of the week last week. The last of our friends didn't fly out until Monday afternoon, so we didn't get home ourselves til late Monday night. Tuesday is my busiest/longest day (because I teach most of the day) so I didn't really get to unpack until Wednesday or finish laundry until Thursday! So really, counting preparations for and after, it was a very long "trip".

I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the week at home and for the most part I think we were able to make that happen. We even got to spend a lot of time with Seth because he took some time off work. It was nice to get that family time in.

After Bible Study on Wednesday morning the boys and I spent a good hour exploring the grounds of the church that we meet at. We had a few hours before we had to be somewhere so I let Ezra lead us around and show us all sorts of bushes and trees. Isaac is most content to do whatever Ezra is doing so he was quite happy to point at the bushes and trees Ezra had just pointed at, even though he didn't have anything to say about them. I need to pull out a book on the flora and fauna of this area and brush up so that I can answer Ezra's questions. We mostly just talked about deciduous trees.

On Thursday I had to make up some lessons that I had missed earlier in the week, lessons that I get to take the boys to. They play pretty well in the living room where I teach or, if they're feeling adventurous, go upstairs to play with the kids who aren't taking lessons. This is a family that I've been teaching for six? years and they've graciously welcomed the boys to come tag along. We actually ended up staying there for several extra hours, so I could talk curriculum with the mom and brainstorm a bit about what I want to do school-wise with Ezra. She's been homeschooling for many years but also loves looking at curriculum and had a lot of great ideas for me.

We're definitely not planning on "always homeschooling" or "never homeschooling" all of our kids. I don't anticipate that we'll ever subscribe to a "one size fits all" education policy. I grew up with too many homeschool apologists, insisting that homeschool is the only way to go, to ever subscribe to that mindset myself (even though I greatly appreciated my homeschool experience!!). Seth is pretty set against sending our kids to public school and I probably am too. I just have less familiarity with the system and am therefore not as disillusioned. And we both had positive private school experiences and have identified local possibilities, but we're not set on sending the boys to any of them either. What we are determined to do is take the needs of each year and each child under consideration before deciding what to do that year. I definitely feel well-equipped to homeschool, especially with Seth's help in math, so it's hard to justify other options without giving homeschool a pretty good look.

I started doing school work with Ezra at the beginning of the school year but after about a month and a half it became obvious that we needed to focus more on his attitude and obedience and so for the most part we just read a lot for our "school". And then the holiday season was pretty busy and this month has been focused on getting the house cleaned and organized and paperwork done and visiting with our friends at MBR, so we have yet to start our new semester. I did get a new workbook for him that I think he'll really like and he is so ready to formally work on phonics. He's constantly asking what this word or that work starts with and beginning to figure out a lot of the sounds himself.

{I didn't take many photos, but I'm having a hard time attaching the few I did take so I will work on that another day and send this instead of waiting to attach photos.}

Friday Update #2 (1/16/15)

We have yet to have a "normal" week this month, because this week we got to get together with four of Seth's friends (and their families) from college. This is our fifth year of doing so, so we called it MBR V. Exactly what "MBR" stands for changes depending on who is telling it, but this year we said it stood for "Multiple Baby Reunion" since there were six kids (two 3 1/2 year olds, two 1 1/2 year olds, an eighth month old and a pregnancy). Every year we rotate locations, and this year was our year to host. We've rented a house each year, since splitting the cost of a rental house five ways is cheaper than hotels and more pleasant than squeezing into one person's house. So we rented a place near Greenlake in Seattle and had a great time! We watched football, played a lot of Apples to Apples and telephone pictionary, had very late night talks, ate ice cream sundaes, worship... it was wonderful.

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But it was exhausting too! I finally feel a bit caught up on sleep but poor Seth is far far behind. That's what he gets for staying up so late, but he also has had to get up really for work and taking people to the airport. He'll catch up soon.

Isaac is talking up a storm these days! Often complete sentences. He is trying to hard to pick up new vocab words and never stops talking. So there's never a quiet moment, because Ezra hasn't stopped talking since he was about 22 months old either.

We missed some of our Y classes this week, unfortunately, so I am totally feeling the lack of exercise and I think the boys are too. But hanging out with friends was worth it! Things should settle back to normal pretty quick here.

Friday Update #1 (1/9/15)

Well, here we go! A new year!

We were really grateful for the week and a few days between Christmas and the beginning of our January schedule. Since we were sick for a week plus right before Christmas we didn't get to do many of the Christmas-y things we had planned originally or get to spend time together (I'm not counting several days on the couch with fevers and coughs as "quality time"). Seth took a few days off of work and didn't have basketball practice, so it was so great to see him! We went to Zoolights and celebrated his birthday and played with some of the toys and puzzles the boys got for Christmas.

Monday morning dawned bright and early and I left the house while it was pitch black to head off to my new early morning swimming lessons at the YMCA. The boys have been taking swimming lessons at the Y for months and since I'm in the pool with them so much (and since classes are included in the membership fee) I decided to take the beginning adult class. It's been 15-20 years since I've taken lessons and I wanted a refresher. We'll see if it's a good fit!

Mondays are usually our day at home, but this week Seth took the morning off to play with the boys while I tried to get some things done. I'd started several organizing and purging projects at the beginning of our Christmas break... that I didn't get to finish and my half finished piles everywhere were severely cluttering up our house. I was able to get most of the boys' clothes sorted and their too-small clothes packed away. I have a growing pile that needs to go to Goodwill on my porch. I also caught up on the bare minimum of bill paying and paperwork, but I still have a stack of Christmas and birthday cards that I need to open! My goodness. It helps so much when Seth is able to spend some time with the boys while I get to be home.

Tuesday is our longest day. We have the Y from 10:40-12:35 and then I leave the boys with my dad and rush off for piano lessons. I am still trying to figure out my exact schedule for this semester, but I should have most of my lessons on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday is also usually a game day for Seth (until mid February when the season ends).

Isaac is a big fan of reading books. He'll go find a blanket and drag it over to whoever he has decided to victimize and as "book me? book me?" until they succumb.

Wednesday we have BSF until noon, which the boys are really loving. They get to do some pretty fun stuff - always a story and art and snack time and singing time and often a special project. And then we just came home and crashed on the couch and read a bunch of books. I was worn out from the day before, haha! I guess I also felt like I'd hardly spent any time with the boys Monday or Tuesday, so I needed to rectify that.

Thursday is another kids swimming lesson and gymnastic class day at the Y. We're trying to get our money's worth! And then we got to go to our friends' house for lunch and play time! Ezra really enjoys Joel, who is six months older than him, and they do a pretty good job playing with Isaac too. I've really enjoyed getting to know Joel's mom and she's qucikly becoming a very good friend.

Seth's hair is almost as long as it's ever been and he keeps saying he's going to get a hair cut. I'd be surprised though, if it really happens anytime soon. I took a few pictures of him and Isaac, though, to document their identical curls and then Ezra wanted in the photo too.

Ezra rediscovered his stuffed cat (now named "Butterfly") and made a bed for the cat by the furnace. But that turned into a bed for all of us, so we camped out on the floor for a few hours. I don't know why, but Ezra tucked Butterfly in next to Seth and I had to document the cuteness.

Friday we have another gymnastic class, but this one is pretty free form and the boys get to run all over the gym and play on the trampoline or foam pit or swing. And then we go to church to play with a group of moms and kids that are about 1-4 years old. We started the playgroup in October or so and it's been really good for all of us to spend more time together.

Saturdays are usually Seth's busiest day and usually "everyone" is usually busy because it's the weekend or it's so crowded because it's the weekend so we often stay at home. But I did sign Ezra up for a soccer skills class at the Y (yes, that's six days of classes at the Y. It might be really crazy but we also really appreciate the exercise... so we'll see how this session goes. We might need to cut back a lot.) This week he actually had to take off work and go to Ocean Shores for basketball. He didn't get home til midnight. And, sadly, the games were scheduled during the Seahawks game, so he didn't get to watch the game! He's going to try to watch a recording of it, but I'm kinda doubtful that will happen. =(

So that's just a long list of what we did this week. I need to figure out exactly what I want these emails to be. I want to document our activities and what the boys are learning and doing, but I don't just want a long list of activities either. I also haven't been able to spend much time on the computer writing so I feel like I need to get back in the swing of things again.