Monday moments times two...

Time to catch up with the pictures on my phone.  I don't know what happened last week.  I guess since it was President's Day we were too busy celebrating and I lost track of Monday.  That is my story anyway. 

Our snow came back so we got to walk to the bus stop in a mini blizzard.

My fortune in the cookie I got for Chinese New Year.  It couldn't be better - I will take a happy and peaceful life and love every minute of it!

 

Mid winter break was the time we needed to work on Hailey's much anticipated loft bed.  That right there is my own personal Chip Gaines.  We have always been able to work as a great team on projects - our visions of the finished product are very often the same but we can tweak and make improvements along the way without any major scuffle. 

My three Valentines.  These three always have my heart - just not full of chocolate.

The boys also got a game for the PS4 and Hailey got this cute little charm bracelet with a heart and a letter full of hearts.  It just screamed "her" because for weeks leading up to Valentine's Day she was making us cards and putting them in our little decorative mailboxes.

We made some sugar cookie dough from scratch and whipped up some royal icing to make some Valentine cut out cookies.  They were delish.  Even though dough is a lot more time consuming to make from scratch and it tastes so much better.

Week 2 - The loft bed is complete!  The room is still a bit of a work in progress.  We are trying to figure out where to put stuff and how to re hang pictures and stuff, but for the most part it turned out awesome.  Hailey is thrilled with it.

Evan came home from the bus stop with a bloody nose and continues to sit for hours with that tissue hanging out of his nose.  The kid is a goof ball.

On Thursday Evan and I went to Spencer's choir concert and Hailey and Trent went to the PTO skate night at the roller rink.

Friday was a special hat day to raise money for a local family dealing with a tragedy.  If you paid a dollar or more you could wear your hat around school for the day.  Most kids wear baseball hats - Evan chooses a Viking helmet.

Saturday night Trent and I went on a mini date night at the Brew House down the street.  We had a gift card to use and the rumor mill is churning that it might be on the verge of closing.

Not many phone pics from the last two weeks but it seems like we have been running crazy around here.  This week looks like another busy one -starting tonight with a parent orientation meeting for our High School bound son.  Ugh.  The thought kind of gives me a stomachache.

It's my blog and I can brag if I want to...

In the last week I have been bursting with pride for each of my kids.

It started last week with Spencer.  I had received an email from his English teacher that their persuasive speeches were due to be presented in class that week.  These were three minute speeches attempting to persuade the audience about something to be changed at the school.  I  mentioned it to Spencer in the car while we were driving hither and yon - picking up and dropping off - which is basically my life lately.  He told me he had his speech and was almost ready to present.  I was skeptical since he didn't seem to even be able to start it without his notes in front of him.  I told him that three minutes was a long time to talk and would seem to go on forever if he was not prepared.  I told him that the thought of giving a speech to this day still gives me the cold sweats, but lucky for him he has a father that can stand in front of a crowd of hundreds and pull a completely polished sounding speech out of thin air. The night before he was due to present he did his speech for his Dad and he told me he thought he had a good handle on it but I was still skeptical.  While I was at work the next day the schools' grade system sent a message to my phone telling me Spencer's English grade had gone up to an A.  When I logged into the portal I saw that he scored a 38/40 on the speech.  I guess maybe the kid got his Dad's skills in public speaking.  We can only hope.

Because they are nearing the final weeks of play practice, the kids are not allowed any absences from rehearsal.  That means that Evan has to miss DI which he is really bummed about.   I sent an email to his DI coach explaining the situation and was so surprised when she wrote me back.  She said that Evan had explained the situation to them (shock - since neither of my other kids would ever do that) she said he was a great leader to the team and that they would surely miss him.  She said she had been using a game that Evan made up to keep the kids in line (since DI kids always seem to get a bit out of control from what I can tell).  She said she was looking forward to seeing him in the play and of course having him back full time.  He seems like such a quiet kid, but DI is where he really tends to shine when I asked him about being the leader of the group he was so matter of fact about it as if he just knew that was where he was supposed to be.

If that weren't enough about Evan, a few days later I received an email from his Social Studies teacher saying:

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know what a great job Evan is doing in Social Studies this year.  He is always prepared, completes his work on time and most important to me he is always very respectful.  I really enjoy having Evan in my class.

That made my mama heart grow three sizes that day.  It is always nice to hear that other people think your kids are as terrific as you do.

Then there is Miss Hailey.  Her teacher stopped me in the hallway and told me that mid year assessments would be coming home. My heart sank a little because I didn't know what to expect to hear.  She told me that when she saw Hailey's results she got goosebumps - she was so excited at her improvements since the beginning of the year.  Two out of the three markers they test on Hailey scored above average.  She still struggles a bit in comprehension and didn't gain there but her teacher said she wasn't worried about it at all.  As happy as I am with how well she is doing in school, I was even more thrilled when she came home extremely proud to show me this:

She received an "I am kind" Spirit Stick for helping be a friend to a new girl in her class. (Spirit Sticks are a new reward system the school has implemented this year - they can earn spirit sticks for good behavior, academic progress, birthdays etc. )

 I am always proud of my kids' academic success but I am even more proud of them when they act out of the goodness in their hearts.  Lately they are doing an amazing job at both.  

Monday moments...

Since these seem to be all I ever post (sigh) I am glad I am doing that at least...

Hailey started a kids yoga class last week and absolutely loves it.  I am hoping it helps her with some of her flexibility issues. :)

She has also been a total Daddy's girl lately.  One night this week when he was late coming home for dinner, she filled his plate and set up a whole display for him - notes and flowers included.  I had to laugh at the sign she hung from the light that said "No phons please!" She wanted his undivided attention!

On Wednesday night I whipped up some bouquets for the boys.

On Thursday I felt awful and didn't know if I would even make it to the show.  Luckily I rallied enough to see my little actors in their awesome performance!

Saturday morning we had a Girl Scout Mini Winter fun day.  Hailey got to snowshoe and do a couple other snow activities.

Even make s'mores!

Sunday she wrote out her Valentines.  It is amazing how much easier this task gets as they age.  I used to dread this like no tomorrow with three kids with 25 plus Valentines each to write out - not to mention they could hardly write.  She whipped through it in about 15 minutes!  Check that off the to do list! Plus they are super cute!

For the Super Bowl she was dying to make a "snackadium" that she had seen on Pinterest while she and Trent were looking for appetizers to make for us.  Trent let her loose to do her will and this is the snackadium she came up with.

Monday moments...on a Tuesday...

On Tuesday Hailey got to sit at the birthday table and eat lunch with her principal.  The principal gives them an ice cream treat as well.  The kids love this new tradition.

I dug into my scrapbooks - sadly this is almost the point that I stopped scrapbooking - #nevercatchingup - and found this photo of my baby boys when Trent did the Wizard of Oz back in 2005.

On Friday the PTO had a movie night at the school.  The kids always think it is awesome to hang out on the cafeteria floor in sleeping bags and pajamas.

The big boys in their show shirts.

Two more days until opening night.  I can't wait to see how it all turned out.  My boys have been working so hard.

On Sunday we finally destroyed the second Christmas break puz puz. It was a doozy!  I like having a puzzle out to work on instead of checking FB or something time wasting.  Maybe we will get one out over mid winter break - although we have some big plans cooking up for Hailey's room as well.