5 Year Check up

I usually do checkups close to the kids birthdays but this year I am a month late.  Sara went today and I gritted my teeth the entire day there.  I am so nervous about this crazy flu going around.  Everyone I speak with says they have it over a week.  So we arrived armed with Clorox wipes, sanitizer and strict instructions not to touch anything.  Sara is such a good listener! She even wanted to sit on my lap because she didn't want to touch anything. 

The benches in the office are covered in fabric cushions and they just scream germs to me.  So I told her not to even sit on them.  Well she measured in at 37lbs fully clothed (28%) and 42 3/4 inches (52%).  She is completely healthy and her vision and hearing was fine.  Evans will be in a few weeks he is still only 41 lbs!  Finding pants that fit is still impossible and he hates adjustable waist pants. 

We had a busy day we started by taking my car in for some minor issues.  One thing that didn't get resolved is the hands free on my car is not compatible with the iPhone 6.  After waiting forever to get a smartphone I am really annoyed that it doesn't since with my Accord.  I do love the phone though, but it is a huge waste of time.  The kids asked if we could go for lunch and Sara chose Moe's.  We picked up a Wendy's chicken nugget meal for Evan and Sara had a cheese and lettuce taco and I had a chicken salad.  From there we headed for a haircut with Evan and had a long wait.  We came home for an hour and then I headed to the Pediatricians with Sara.   After that Sara and I went to Target to pick up a few Cartwheel deals and a few 70% off Christmas deals.  Sara is making crafts as I type that we picked up for $1.50.  We also bought Evan a few packs of Football cards. 

He is obsessed with football, he is reading the sports pages in the paper each day.  For Christmas he received a Buffalo Bills helmet, jersey, and football pants.  He has worn this everyday.  He had me put Jim Kelly's #12 on the back of it.  On February 14th, Jim Kelly holds an event in memory of his son, called Hunter's Day of Hope.  So we already have it on the calendar he is so excited to meet Jim.  My first accounting job our firm prepared the taxes of lots of Buffalo Bills and I had the chance to meet many of them.  At one point I almost dated one, but decided to stick with Marc!  Now  he is very bald and lives in the Midwest.  I would have never survived living that far from my family!   Evan loves to hear about the super bowl days of the Bills and what players we have met.  Orchard Park and Hamburg are a small community and we often run into players on our trips to Wegmans or Target.   I don't usually know who they are but there presence is obvious.  The diamonds on the wives usually stand out too! 

Evan is busy playing Madden 15 and building legos.  Sara is busy with crafts, playing school, playing board games and playing with Evan.  Yesterday they played so well upstairs with Evan's football cards he sorted 150 cards into the teams that I actually had an hour nap on the couch!  Progress in our household.

Snowdays in November?

All teachers love snow days, but after 7 last year and 2 this week, I feel like its just one long winter and its only November.  Lake Erie is dumping lake effect snow on Western New York.  I haven't seen a plow since 3:30am on Tuesday.  I attempted to snowblow yesterday and wasn"t successful.  The snow is heavy and deep, and was blowing.  Tomorrow they are predicting 2 more feet. 

Evan is disappointed he missed both of his gym days this week and they are playing hockey.  Sara is just happy to play and do crafts all day long (read between the lines create mess after mess}.  So yesterday I made Minestone and a roast in the crockpots, baked chocolate chip cookies, and made 3 batches of frosting for Sara's birthday. 

Her birthday falls on Thanksgiving so we are having a friend party at Bounce Magic on Tuesday night.  Sara only has 5 other girls in her class, so we will have a total of 9 kids at the party.  It is not cheap to have the party, but I figured we are not doing a family party. and last year by the time I purchased pizza for both parties, drinks, snacks, decorations my expense is pretty simple. 

Happy Holidays

These days go by so quickly.  Even with a 13 day break last month due to snow and almost two weeks this month, I feel like time is moving so fast.  The kids are growing up so quickly.

Santa visit



5 Teeth gone so far!

Evan is turning into a young man and outgrowing his little boy stage.  He shows such gratitude for little things and he makes me so proud.  When we had our snow days I allowed him to stay up and watch a Monday night football game and he has thanked me numerous times for this.  He catches me off guard with his gracious behavior at times and makes me so happy.  Prior to Christmas Sara was asking for everything under the sun.  Evan would say Mom I can wait for Christmas as Sara would be begging for a toy or something at the store. 



Cheerleading with the Varsity cheerleaders

Sara also has her moments of kindness.  We visited the zoo this weekend and Evan dropped his box of popcorn on the way out and Sara said "its ok Bud I have lots left and we can share".  The bud comes from me calling him it all the time.  For all the drama and arguments they have they are still best friends.  A few weeks ago , Sara spent the night at my Mom's and Evan was very upset that she would be gone for the night and teared up over it. 

Christmas was exciting and magical.  The Sunday prior to Christmas Sara and I went to mass and they announced they needed volunteers to clean and decorate the church.  Sara looked at me and said she wanted to help.  So we returned to the church after dinner and scrubbed pews.  She was a trooper. 

The kids had so much fun looking for Gordon the elf.  I even ordered a girl elf from Macy's for next year.  She was 75% off so since these innocent years won't last much longer I decided to make her happy.   All year she said I wish Gordon was a girl and I could of named her.  I also picked up 2 skirts for her at Barnes and Noble. 



Student of the Month - Character trait Hospitality

Evan and Marc have been playing xbox Madden 15 football together and having a blast.  Sara and I have been playing school everyday.  She is also enamored with the American Girl doll we gave her for her birthday. 





Sara's Christmas party

We have one more week off and the flu is rampant with lots of our friends.  I had planned on taking her to see Annie this week but am a little nervous about sitting in a movie theatre.  I am trying to avoid it.  Each year we have Marc's cousins over and they have had it for 2 weeks!  Stomach and respiratory and they have a bad habit of coming sick and getting us sick every year.  This year after hearing they were at the Doctors on Friday and planning to come to our house on Friday I asked to postpone it a week.  Hopefully it works!

We have had such a warm Christmas break, its been in the 50's every day.  The kids are disappointed.  We all received snow shoes for Christmas and they are eager to try them out.  Tomorrow Evan and I are going to head to BJ's for a few things, unfortunately our local BJ's was damaged during the storm and isn't reopening until March.  So we will have to go to the one 30minutes away to stock up on the bacon the kids love and Cascade!  I bought a membership on Groupon that I need to redeem before the 31st. 

Go, go,go..

I am starting to feel like I have done nothing but run since September has begun. 
1.We started the first week of school for me on a Tuesday, the kids on Wednesday, and open house for me Thursday night. 

2.Soccer has been every Tuesday night and Saturday games.  We have made some new friends with the other families, so its been fun.  Evan isn't a soccer star but is slowly improving.

3.Sara has dance on Tuesday.  I rush home from school, and of course one Tuesday a month is faculty meeting day.  She has dance at 4:30-5:30 and Evan has soccer from 6-7, but it has been ending closer to 7:30.  Tuesdays are a nightmare, Marc has been out of town each week.  I have been cooking a roast in the crockpot, making potatoes when I get home and leaving Evan to eat and get dressed with my mom while I take Sara to dance.  Then we rush home to switch clothes and head to soccer.  Well this week we decided in advance Sara wouldn't go to soccer and would stay with my mom.  On the way home from dance, a 3 mile drive, she started screaming.  Blood was gushing from her nose and I had nothing to hand her.  Poor Sara held her nose and managed to save her leotard but her hair and face was covered. 

4.I am the sophomore class advisor.  Luckily most duties are done by the end of September.  I have had to do 2 concession stands for JV games.  One on a Saturday morning and one on a Thursday evening.  Yesterday I had to spend the day with the students making a float for homecoming.  Then return to school at 5:15 to march in the homecoming parade.  My kids had a blast doing this.  I bought a ton of candy and they loved throwing it to the kids and they even saw a few of their friends from school.  The kids even had bagpipers and a live reindeer.  Our theme was celebrate the holidays.  From there I had to rush to parent/teacher night at their school.  It was a marathon of a day.  Tonight I have to chaperone the homecoming dance.  Not only do I have to do that but my students are selling the drinks, so my garage is full of drinks, that I am struggling to get cold.  The dance is held at the fairgrounds, and no cooler is available.  So I am filling my neighbors pool house fridges with Gatorade and water!  I have two more concession stands left and most of my duties can be done.   I feel like I am playing monopoly and I can pass GO soon!  I do get paid well for this, so there is a reward.

5.It was nice to talk with Sara's teachers last night.  Kindergarten is definitely the right choice for her.  She is outgoing and independent.  She also has everyone wrapped around her finger.   My vain little girl hears how cute she is so often that she has learned to turn it on as needed.  They did say she is always happy and smiley.  Evan is the opposite he is more serious and reserved.  They have small classes this year and that is fantastic. 

6. I thought I was finally going to have a slow week this week and then realized I have a dentist appointment, my yearly OBGYN appointment, and a concession stand this week.  The first week of November I am taking 25 kids to NYC... at this rate June will be here in no time!

A new year...

I started this last week... and added more, so its jumping around a bit. 

We started a new school year.  Sara will be wearing a uniform for the first time and told me how pretty it was as she was preparing for bed.  Evan has told her they are very ugly.  She woke up and was so excited.  She was so giddy to put on her jumper it was adorable. 

We have been busy making bows via pinterest, learning sight words, practicing writing our letters, and having lots of fun.  Tonight I read her "The Night Before Kindergarten" and after we talked and cuddled for a few minutes she asked to have it read again.  I wish I could keep her little for a long, long time. 

Evan has progressed into the I want to be with my friends stage.  We have had lots of playdates this summer and he has a good friend that lives across the street.  They love to play together. 

We were fortunate to have lots of fun this summer the zoo, Fantasy Island, Canalside, the beach, our cottage, gymnastics lessons, soccer, dance lessons, swim lessons, Lego Mindcraft camp, a trip to Florida, blueberry picking, strawberry picking, and lots of time to relax together.  Sara is still picking strawberries everyday in our garden.  She loves the garden and loves to share it with the neighborhood kids.  Today they were all pulling up carrots. 

Well 3 days into the year and the kids are happy.  Evan is in a class of 15 and Sara in a class of 16.  This is a big change for us.  Last year many schools were closed and many families joined our school.  Each grade increased from one to two classes per grade.  Sara has Evans teacher from last year, and Evan has a teacher who is certified in elementary but had taught middle school in the past.  So far the kids are fine.  Evan told me Sara has it much better because Kindergarten and PreK were easier and they had time to play!

I have the juniors I had last year as Seniors.  I really like these kids and have them 3 periods per day.  We had open house on Thursday night so I was able to tell there parents how lucky I am to have the kids for the second year.  These are the kids we will take to NYC in November.  I also have a Keyboarding class and a Junior class of College Success Skills, and two study halls.  The good thing is I am not traveling around the building, the bad thing is I have lunch at 10:15, and don't have another break until 2:05.  In the past I had a 11:00 lunch and could run over and have lunch with my kids occasionally.  Unfortunately it won't happen this year. 

We start Dance again this week and Evan is playing school soccer.  Our first game will be this weekend.  I am hoping for sunshine.  I am such a fair weathered fan!nn

Splish Splash

Wow... we had our first recital and I am so impressed.  The studio does a matinee for the under 7 classes.  The entire event was 16 dances and was under one hour.  Sara did fantastic.  She is the teachers pet, and the helpers (this studio has high school girls assisting in class).  It helps that the helpers all attend my high school.  Sara was the first one out on stage and the first one out for the finale. 

She was more worried about getting flowers after her recital than dancing in front of a crowd.  As we walked in and she saw other parents carrying flowers she asked where hers were.  We then passed a table where we could purchase flowers and she was very puzzled.  I kept telling her I didn't know if she would get any or not.  I had went grocery shopping in the am, and picked up two bouquets.  Sara adores flowers, she would pick every flower in our yard if I allowed her to.  This spring she looked out the window each day waiting for the first daffodil to bloom.  Of course we had to pick it as soon as it bloomed!  So after the recital Marc and Evan gave Sara the flowers.  She was so proud.  I had bought a bouquet of miniature roses.  She was so excited to have roses.  I told her you only get roses when someone really, really loves you.  She told me her Daddy loves her lots.  It was so sweet, and worth the cost of the flowers.  She then had to remove the leaves and put them in the vase herself! 

It was  a long week, Tuesday was a rehearsal, Wednesday speech, Thursday my observation, Friday another rehearsal, Saturday a dress rehearsal and a trip to our cottage, and Sunday a 2pm recital, and tomorrow I give my final exam.  She tested above her age level in speech.  She has progressed so quickly through it and she works so hard.  She was trying to tell me queen last week, and after correcting her and making her practice it a few times, she says it perfectly.  I am going to continue the speech biweekly for the summer.  I debated this but Evan has an open bite and he can be included in the hour too.  He has a very slight speech issue with s, sh, z.  Sara will get some extra so hopefully she will completely ready for kindergarten and to start reading!

The past few summers I had to beg Evan to swim, well once again today, my kids were in the pool first and the longest.  I can't wait to go to Florida, I am determined to have them swimming solo when we return.  Last year Sara was swimming underwater independently, but hasn't tried it yet this year. 

Tonight we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow! 

Swimmers...

 Well today we were invited to our neighbors pool and for the first time ever, both the kids were the first ones in and the last ones out.  Sara is the more adventurous, athletic of the two, and usually the swimmer.  Well today Evan was loving the pool too,  although it was way to chilly for me.   The air was around 78 and the pool 76. 

      I can't wait until our trip to Florida it should really give there swimming skills a great start.  When we return I have them signed up for 2 weeks of daily swim lessons.  I may change one of the weeks because I found out at church today there is Vacation Bible School from 10-12 for a week.  I'm not sure if I want 3 full weeks of daily activities.    Although having them in a safe familiar place for 2 hours a day would give me a bit of freedom for a week!  We also signed up for gymnastics once a week for the summer. 
     This week we have Sara's dance recital.  Sara is a great dancer for her first year.  She has the routine down and practices it along with the iPad.  We have been working on rag curls for the recital.  Her dance is "Splish Splash" and she is wearing a pink bathrobe and sequined shower cap($74.... don't ask!)  She is supposed to have two low curly ponytails.   I love her teacher it is my former student and she was also just hired to teach 2nd grade at Evan and Sara's school.  I am not pleased with the studio, the price of the costume was crazy, I had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours to get 5 tickets for the recital.  If I wanted more I had to return on a different day... thank goodness I can get by with 5!  This week we have an extra rehearsal on Tuesday, a rehearsal on stage Friday night, a full dress rehearsal on Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm the recital.  The nice part of the recital is that it is the 7 and under students only.  We were promised it is a one hour recital.  

     Yesterday we made a trip to the zoo.  I just renewed our membership, it takes about 25 minutes to get to the zoo and we stayed for 90 minutes.  The kids had a great time, we had not been since last summer.  Evan had his heart set on seeing the tigers, the were not out.  We found out they only show them in the afternoon.  There are a ton of new exhibits being built and remodeling going on.  So we did see the polar cubs and a baby gorilla.  The kids were happy to just have some freedom after the long winter.
    Sara and I have been busy planting a garden.  Marc has done all of the hard work and we are doing the fun work.  We planted a ton of strawberries and also planted peas, beans, peppers,  lettuce, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, acorn squash, and one lonely pumpkin.  We still need to plant some sunflowers and the cucumbers that Sara started in her class at Wegmans.  I started planting some annuals.  I have spent a fortune and still need to purchase a few more plants.  I love flowers and have four hanging baskets and a ton of pots. 
    Tonight my Mom walked up for dinner and Sara insisted on going home with her.  I love when we can easily wander back and forth to Grandma's house.  My mom only lives 6 house away, but on a different street.  So unfortunately the kids are not old enough to go back and forth on their own yet.  Someday I am sure they will be running away to Grandma's.  After such a cold winter and a chilly spring we are not used to being outside!