Week 8

It has been a full week for us. Gram turned 78 on Monday. We loaded up the whole gang in the car (myself and the kids, plus Mom and Dad) and ran down to her house with cake and presents. Stayed all of 10 minutes. It's hard. I know she loves having us visit but her memory has slipped away so much that the only thing she can still carry on a conversation about is the weather.

Mom and I worked hard on the new quilt for Tyler and finished the top of it. Dari helped me get it on the frame and I am now working on the hand quilting part. I'm sick this week so it's going slowly.

Kaitlyn lost her first tooth! She has been waiting for this for months and was so excited. We took a photo then put the tooth in her tooth box so she wouldn't lose it. She insisted that we print out one of the photos so she could take it to school and show everyone.
The next morning she found $1 and a note from the tooth fairy. The silly fairy must have dropped the tooth because it was still in the box too! (oops!) I think she came back for it later that day.

I thought she was so cute when I found her inspecting the hole in her mouth in the mirror.

I've been really impressed with Kaitlyn this week. She's turning into such a responsible, self-motivated girl. This week she talked me into making her a new chore chart. Yes you read that right - the child LOVES chore charts. I changed it up this time around, using only words (I had been using photos on previous ones but she's also on a "learn to read" kick) this time around, and adding a new line this time - "try a new food." Kaitlyn is a very picky eater and up to this point has been reluctant to expand her horizons when it comes to food. So I was wondering how she would take the suggestion. But she's been all for it! Every day this week (since Tues when we made the chart) she has tried something new, with varying results. Cucumbers and ranch dressing - thumbs up. Burritos (bean and cheese - one of her favs BEFORE she turned picky at 2) - good, but not a fan of the soggy parts the microwave leaves. She decided she did like just plain flour tortillas too. Olives - were first on her list of things to try, but it turns out she thinks they're gross. Oh well. I don't like olives either. And salad - even with her newfound liking of ranch dressing and sunflowers seeds she still had to spit that one out. Oh well. I'm still really happy she's trying!
Kaitlyn had Show and Teach this week too. I had completely forgotten to check the calendar, but she remember all on her own, knew exactly what she wanted to talk about (the theme for this month was "what I love"), and packed up her photos herself (she took her multi-frame one with photos of her family and herself, and the photo of her and her dance class after the recital last year).
She is also making progress by leaps and bounds with reading lately. They only started pushing the learning to read part in January, and even that started out slow. All of a sudden now it seems to be clicking for her. Part of that is because they started a 3 week long reading contest so she's been spending extra time practicing every day. But mostly I think she has started to figure out how it works and has added a lot of words to the list of those that she recognizes. It's so exciting to watch her learn.

Tyler had his first official play date - meaning with a child his age and without me! He went over to play with the neighbor boy for a couple hours on Wednesday. I'm told they had fun. They were playing nicely when I went to pick him up. I hadn't thought about him being ready for friends of his own since he has his sister to keep him company and he plays so well on his own. But he's growing up! I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of back and forth with both kids and the neighbors this summer.

This is Ty on the phone with Grandma. He has started racing me to the phone, trying to answer it himself. Since I saw it was Mom (on caller ID), I let him win that time.

Typical Ty lately. He loves his sunglasses and wears them often, even indoors. He also likes me to take his photo so he can see himself on the camera.

Week 7

Oh my goodness I'm losing track of the time. Was Valentines Day really less than a week ago?!

We had a long weekend, due to parent/teacher conferences and President's Day. I am very much still in "project mode" so I have spent a good part of my time lately gathering supplies or working on things. Mom and I went fabric shopping on Friday (new quilt for Ty in the works as well as pillows for my bed and revamping the dining table). Saturday is a total blank. I think I sewed the pillows for my bed at some point.
Sunday was Valentines Day. I whipped up some fun decorations Saturday night so the kitchen was extra-festive for the kids that morning. We made pink heart-shaped waffles with strawberry milk for breakfast. The kids enjoyed opening their gifts and trying on their new clothes. Then they insisted on going over to Grandma and Grandpa's to deliver their gifts and we ended up spending the rest of the day there. I worked on Ty's quilt for a while then Mom and I went to a movie while the kids played with Dad.
Monday I hit the President's Day sales to get Ty outfitted with a new twin size bed. He loves it. After I got it set up for him, he and Kaitlyn spent the evening watching movies on it with the portable DVD player. The rest of the week was spent doing regular things, and trying to finish up projects. I finally got all the touch ups done in the living room. Spray painted and reupholstered the dining table and chairs. Delivered the crib/toddler bed to a friend who is pregnant with her first baby. And card group last night for me - fun!
Busy busy week. No wonder I'm tired today.

Week 6

Let's see what have we been up to this past week?
-took Sam to the base
-spent Saturday shopping with Gma. Found lots of good deals on clothes.

-painted out bedroom. All by myself - wow that's a lot of work

-Kindergarten Valentine's Party (Wed). Kaitlyn had fallen in love with this dress while we were out shopping so I told her I would buy it for Valentines. She was so excited to get all dressed up and ready for school that day, including her "heart hair". As you can see, the dress is not only cute, but good for twirling.

-while Kaitlyn was at a birthday party Wed night, I went out feeding with Ty and Grandpa to catch it all on camera (Dad insisted). It was so fun to see how much they enjoy being out with each other. My dad spent the whole time with this smile plastered on his face. And every time Ty would demonstrate something new, Dad would look over at me with the look on his face that said "did you see that? Isn't he the cutest?"

-parent/teacher conference. As expected, Kaitlyn got rave reviews. She's right where she needs to be with everything, in the upper part of the class. Likes to help if needed. A very enthusiastic learner. Yay Kate!

Week 5

Oh she was so proud to show us her face painting and the balloon giraffe from the Winter Carnival. Grandma took her on Friday night while Sam and I went to a Jazz game (my first professional basketball game. It was fun). Poor sick Ty stayed home with Grandpa.
Kaitlyn had a wonderful time at the carnival. And she was in LOVE with that butterfly on her face. She refused to wash her face until the paint was mostly rubbed off on it's own. When we told her she should wash it she said "it makes me feel beautiful." How can you argue with that? But those poor tired eyes - looks like she's a bit under the weather too.

His Unibomber look. We put ourselves under house arrest for the weekend, trying to get him to rest and feel better. His eyes were light sensitive so he wore his sunglasses for the better part of 3 days. I spent most of the week operating on very little sleep. Being a mom is tough. And heartbreaking. But Ty's feeling much better now and so far Kaitlyn only has a slight cough. Fingers crossed that's the worst of it for this round.
The rest of the week was mostly unexceptional. Craft day on Wednesday - that was a highlight.