Trying to get a snack

Julianne, this morning, trying to get into the refrigerator wearing her pajama top and her big girl underpants.

Snowy week

It's been a cold and snowy week here. Joel and Gary spent the week working at a trade show across town. Unfortunately, it was a lot of time and effort and very little sales. I worked Tuesday and Thursday at two different schools. The week marks a transition for me because I have been subbing in the same classroom since November. That position was filled this week so I am moving over to another school to hopefully finish out the school year. It's bittersweet for me because I loved the teacher I was working with and I'll miss the kids. The positive side is that I get to finish this year at the same school I started the year. It is always rewarding to see the kids complete a year.

Julianne and I visited Joel at the trade show on Wednesday. When we left, fat snowflakes were falling. Julianne loved trying to catch them on her tongue.

We spent an extra night because the weather cancelled Jace's choir practice. It was fun to stay home. We even made homemade pizza with the leftovers from the Oscar party.

rolling out pizza dough

We are looking forward to Mom and Dad visiting this weekend. Hopefully the temperatures will get warm enough to go sledding.

Home with the girl

Clean up time. We had a fabulous Oscar Party last night. Despite the snowy weather most of our friends were able to attend because they live in the neighborhood or very close. There was lots of food and drinks and laughter an even a little bit of watching the awards. The kids played together great. They watched a little of the Boxtrolls movie but mostly played their own games of hide and seek and a ghost hunt game that involved lights off, flashlights and a lot of screaming. Joel was able to entertain the kids for a bit with a movie character scavenger hunt that had them looking high and low all over the house.

Today Julianne and I are home cleaning up. She loves to "wash dishes" at the sink. More dishes get dirtied than washed because she gets lots of cups and spoons and pours water back and forth. It does keep her entertained for a long time with only a slight risk of flooding. I was able to put away clean dishes and take down party decorations.

Julianne is on her second week of potty training and doing really good. The party was a great test. She was able to twice tell someone near her that she needed to go potty! There are still lots of accidents (one today) but I feel like we have got a good start.

I'm motivated today to make this post because I happened to look back at some of the great stuff I posted a couple years ago. It's amazing how quickly the kids are growing! I also miss the motivation to take pictures of the everyday routine. It's easy to take pictures at holidays but the great stuff that happens each day makes for the best photos (and is easily forgotten if not documented). I can't find time to scrapbook. Maybe I can make time for this.

Little girl shaking her "booty-butt".
This favorite phrase of her own creation makes me crazy and unfortunately she loves that!

First Day!

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for Jace! It was quite a scene as a crowd of parents stood by and watched the two lines file into the elementary school. Jace was nervous but he did great! Tonight we got stories of his day in bits and pieces. He said there are not toys in Kindergarten but there are toys in the other room (the Enrichment classroom where he goes for the afternoon). He said 3 whistles mean: thunder and lightning, 2 whistles mean: line up, and 1 whistle means: someone is not listening. He says he doesn't buy his lunch but he still had to wear a tag with his lunch number on it. These were the snippets of information that he interjected into conversation. It slowly paints a picture for us. I'm sure we will learn lots more as the days and weeks go by.

I wish I could say I was as excited about my classroom experience. After a crazy, week of working way to many hours (even much of the weekend), it was a bit of a relief to start class. Today went OK. I am trying to stay optimistic. I just have so many doubts about this job.
I miss spending the playtime hours with my kids. We had a lot of fun this summer in the hours between lunchtime and dinnertime. I am mourning the loss.


Julianne is practicing her walking

 

And adding to the stress of the last few days, my camera flash suddenly quit working! Camera store says to allow 4-6 weeks and $150-200 for repair. They offered to sell me a flash attachment (starting at $180 and not fixing the problem).  I can't think about it without getting upset. I love my camera. Can't imagine that long without it. Grrrrrrrr!

first swim lesson

poolside after Jace's lesson. Julianne and Joel are about to get in the water

Tonight was the first of a series of swim lessons for the kids that will take us through the month of May. It's my way of easing into swim season. They will be able to get comfortable in the water just in time for our neighborhood pool to open.

Due to some schedule changes at the rec center Jace's lesson is the half hour before Julianne's. They have the same instructor. I figured Joel and I could take turns swimming with Julz while the other gets Jace cleaned up and dressed after his lesson. I did not anticipate how excited Jace would be for Julz to swim. He would not leave the edge of the pool while she was in the water. He danced at the edge giggling and talking to her and trying to talk to the instructor. It was adorable.

 We tucked in two very tired kids tonight.

This face

Little girl was feeling much better last night at dinner time. She happily gobbled bits of spaghetti noodles and meatballs. Then started playing a game of her own creation. She scrunches up her face and makes snorting sounds. Jace thought it the most hilarious thing he'd ever seen in the world and laughed so hard he was falling out of his chair. Joel just made the same face right back at her and the game continued for several minutes. Long enough for me to get a series of these pictures.

racing and resting

Another year, another Cherry Creek Sneak. Today Joel ran the 10 mile race while Jace and I cheered him on. Aaron ran the 5K race and Janet and Lori were on the staff of volunteers for the race. Julianne spent the morning at Grandma and Papa's house. Little girl is not feeling good this weekend. We took her to the Dr. on Friday afternoon after she spent the afternoon crying. Since then we have been treating her with Advil to keep her comfortable as she fights what the Dr. said is probably a virus. She doesn't sleep great when she's not feeling well so all of us have lost a little sleep this weekend.

Wishing Daddy a good race at the starting line

Today Julianne is 10 months old. I can't believe how fast the months have flown by. She is growing much to fast. This week she will have her first swimming lesson. Hope she gets to feeling better by then.

crawling, waving and teeth

I spent the day at home today with the kids. We used masking tape to turn the living room floor into a road map then scattered matchbox cars and wooden blocks all over. It was great entertainment. Julianne has been crawling for a few days now and is really getting the hang of it. She follows Jace around the living room with ease and does surprisingly well of the wood floors. Her major obstacle right now is the step between the raised living room and the rest of the main floor. She can't go up and down it without help or a sad tumble.
This evening Joel got home and put on the front carrier pack to take Julianne on a walk. As soon as she saw it she got very excited, reaching and squeaking. We all enjoyed the cool spring evening. The park was full of teams practicing ball, girls soccer, two different age groups of baseball and even flag football. We made our way around the park playing a simplified version of Frisbee golf.
After dinner we did some dancing around the living room. It was a great stay at home day. Tomorrow will be much busier so I'm off to bed.

waving like she is the grand marshal of the parade

reading the bedtime story (check out those bottom teeth - she has 5 total now)

Ski Day

Today Jace spent a very special day with daddy. Joel took a day off and took Jace for his first ski day ever! They loaded up in the Jeep this morning and went up to Loveland for the day. After getting suited up, Jace got a half day private lesson because there were no other kids signed up today.  I think he had a great time. He said the best part was going fast and that he was a little scared going on the lift. I could tell he was exhausted tonight. He was hyper and could not sit still at dinner.

tired and happy in the bath tonight

Julianne and I spent a quiet day at home. She is trying so hard to start crawling. She is able to scoot and turn around in a wide radius when she plays on the floor. I really think, each time I put her down, this time she will just crawl away.

A magic carpet ride

Jace: "Hey, Mom. I'm Aladdin and Julianne is the little monkey."
That seems about right. I'm not sure what the pots are for. Maybe they will get hungry on their flight.

8 months

Today baby girl is 8 months old. She's been out as long as she was in thanks to her dramatic arrival last summer. She is a wiggly, giggly amazing addition to our family.

adores big brother

This look says it all. He can be rowdy and loud and even mean but this little sister thinks her big brother is the best. Also, the hat Aunt Kadra made finally fits and it is so cute.

Snowy day

It is January, this should be the weather we are used to. That is not the case this year. Jace was excited to get outside and help scoop the driveway. "What are these called?" He asked when Joel handed him his snow pants. Seriously?!? We really need to get this kid up to the mountains this year.

The boys clear the driveway.

Julianne and I watched from the front window. She was practicing her sitting. She's getting better at it everyday but I still only let go of her for the second that it took to get this picture.


Julianne watches Jace out the window.

The kids and I spent the day inside. I learned that Julianne has some ticklish spots on her sides. Jace spread Legos all over the floor and build dozens of little machines. My favorite was the "shooter" that made different flavors of ice cream and a variety of toppings then delivered them to me with "Ka-poosh" sound.
I realized that when Jace asks me to play Legos he actually wants me to sit and watch him build. He was distraught when he realized I had built something out of his "favorite, favorite boat." In my defense, I thought I was just building with loose pieces out of the box. Mommys don't know much about Legos.
I redeemed myself by helping Jace make banana muffins.

Joel came home early today so that I could go to the Dr. for a lung function test. It was a series of breathing exercises preformed while hooked up to machine that made colorful graphs based on my breathing. I didn't learn anything today. I have to wait until next week to talk to the Dr. and find out what all the charts mean.

Julianne enjoys peas. She is the only one in our family who will eat a second helping of peas.

Our evening ended with a battle about who was going to clean up the Legos. It did not end well but Joel and I both enjoyed the excuse Jace used for being on the Ipad when he was supposed to be cleaning up. "I was going to look how to clean up Legos."

Preschool Rodeo

Sheriff Jace, buckled up for safety

Another year, another rodeo at the preschool. This one is a little bittersweet because we know there won't be one for us next year. Jace's Kindergarten paperwork is due next month.  It's amazing how much the little man has grown in the last year! He will be ready for the new challenges of Elementary school. I'm just not sure I'm ready.

Every rodeo has to have a clown.

Today the class entertained us with songs, horse back tricks and square dancing. Jace's trick was unique. The other kids all sat or stood up on the sawhorse with a saddle that was their "horse". Jace laid across the saddle on his belly giving me the perfect picture of his back side and getting laughs from the audience of parents and grandparents.

Little sister in a big hat

In between songs Jace was making faces at the camera and jockeying for position in line next to his friends, Jiohn and Brooke.

Just when you think it's safe to go in the living room!

Poor Julianne, she was getting frustrated with being on her tummy. She started fussing for me to pick her up and instead attracted the attention of her brother.

Gator attack!!!

Little Girl and Grandad

Thanksgiving in Wray this year was relaxing and fun. We ate to much and enjoyed the company of some amazing family and friends.. This was my favorite image from the trip. Grandad was flying the little girl around so there is a little action blur but that face just cracks me up.



highlights of the week past

Julianne and I practicing with the baby budda carrier

We had a full week. The weird thing is it is hard to remember what all we did. We started feeding Julianne a little bit of solid food. She likes the milky oatmeal and she liked the sweet potatoes. The pears were not a hit.

Julianne also rolled over all by herself on Monday. I put her down on a blanket on the floor and went to the bathroom.  I could tell by the sound of her mad little cry that she had rolled to her stomach. Sure enough, she was face down and not liking it. She repeated the roll a couple more times on that same day but I haven't seen her do it again since.

We booked a trip to Florida for December. I'm mentally preparing myself for the trip with two kids. I decided we should practice with the Baby Budda carrier because it is light weight and might be good for the airport. It is a little tricky to get the stretchy bands just right. As I wrestled Julianne into the carrier in front of the mirror, she got tickled and started giggling. That is the first time I have made her laugh. Joel is good at getting her to laugh. I admit we looked funny in the Budda.


Jace helping Julianne to sit up

Julianne is getting stronger and holds her head up we'll enough for Jace to be able to hold her and move her some. I hold my breath as he helps her to sit up. He is careful and she enjoys the attention but I can't help being nervous.

The weather last week was beautiful. It was warm and mild. We went for walks, and raked leaves and Joel cleaned leaves from the gutters. One morning Joel and Jace, still in PJs, went outside with the remote control car. I imagine our neighbors got a kick out of Jace running up and down the sidewalk being chased by a little yellow sports car. 

Joel chasing Jace with the remote control race car

I worked one afternoon in a young threes classroom. The 5 kids in the class are all 3 years old but have varied degrees of developmental delays. It was interesting for me to observe the differences between this classroom and the other preschool classes I have worked in. It also made me appreciate more than ever my normally developing 4 year old. I'm looking forward to helping out in this classroom several more times in the coming weeks.

cute kids

so innocent

stocking hat hair

Kissable

Julianne and Aunt Jessica

Those little round baby cheeks are so adorable it's hard to resist.

Grandma entertains a crowd

This was the scene Friday evening at Grandma's house. The game of peek-a-boo had both grand kids entertained and the puppy (still wearing her Halloween costume) had found a comfortable spot to watch.