Pictures from skiing on Saturday.....When we got to the slopes the older two quickly got their gear on and headed to the 'bunny' hill for a few laps before lessons started.

Here is JB coming down the teaching hill.  They did not make it over to the lifts with their instructors.

After lessons were over, the older two made some laps.  JB really wanted to ski on the bunny hill.  He had not learned how to stop or turn and I was not going to let him on the lift for the first time without an instructor.  So, I walked up the hill while he side stepped with his skis on. When we got a third of the way up, I held on to him while he skied down.  He would often yell at me to let go of him, but I quickly reminded him that he was a liability since he could not stop or turn.  We made about 4 trips up the slope.  Then I found a friend of mine who was riding the lift with her son, so sent JB up with her.  He did really well getting off the lift.  I would hike up to the top and once he was off the lift, I would hold his hand half way down and then turn him loose toward the end.  He loved it.  He would get back in line with my friend and I would walk back up.  After the third time, I saw B.  He managed to get ahead of my friend and despite her pleading, he got on the lift with B.  I got to the top and tried coaching B to hold his elbow and help him get off the lift.  B tried.

It was just a matter of time before I realized that JB had missed his window to stand up and get off the lift.  (See B's skis on the snow and JB is still sitting)

Well, the chair lift turned the corner with JB still sitting.  Fortunately, being a beginner lift, the lift operators are pretty on top of it.  She quickly shut the lift down and lifted him off the chair and to me.  I told him at that point that he could only ride up with my friend.  We continued making lap after lap after lap.

Jbird did awesome.  He is in the red group (the second tier up).  However, his instructor said that she is going to try to get him moved up to the next group.  Not sure the class sizes but hopefully he will be a little more challenged this next weekend.  He loves the fact that he can ski down backwards on the bunny hill.  Makes mom a little nervous because he forgets to look behind him sometimes.  Here he is skiing the cones.

Managed to get all three of them in one spot at the same time.

At one point I hiked back up the hill to help JB, only to get to the top and see him on the lift with Jbird.  I hustled over and quickly began coaching JB.  I was expecting a repeat of his ride up with B, but he did awesome.

One last shot.....(I guess B was pretty elusive so not in a lot of pictures.  He would take some laps on the bigger chair lifts, where as Jbird spent a lot of time on the bunny hill with one of his good friends!)

We have an Olympian in the family.  Today JB got to participate in the Olympics at preschool.

Here is the opening ceremony while we sang the national anthem.

JB participated in snowboarding.  I loved their 'cardboard' boards.  He was quite talented in doing 180s.

JB had brought Michael and Douglas to school to watch the Olympics and there they sat, next to the Olympic torch, taking in all the action.

Speed skating......

Playing some hockey......

On the medal podium.....

Here is the medal.

I think he had a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we head to the ski slopes to start their lessons.  Hope to download pictures (and maybe a video) later in the weekend!

Someone is sporting a new look around the house....

As I expected at the eye appointment this past week, B got glasses.  As I watched the exam unfold, I was shocked at how much he could not clearly see at a distance.  Hopefully this will help now with some of his careless mistakes at school.  He will have lots of clarity.

This past week were teacher conferences.  I always enjoy talking to the teachers because both of my boys are adored and loved by their teachers but yet they bring interesting challenges to the classroom.  B's teacher was telling me what an amazing speaker he is.  Whenever she calls on him, he has great volume, confidence in what he says and articulates very well.  Depending on his mood, he is either a passive or active learner.  I told her that is one thing I am finding out about him.  He is never either/or.  He seems to be a great mix of everything.  I always ask his teachers if they think he is a leader or a follower.  As did his 2nd and 3rd grade teacher, his 4th grade teacher said that was a hard question and she did not know how to answer that.  Again, not either/or.  Depends on the day and situation.  She talked about how he will get loud in class, get distracted or want to bury his head in a book.  She said she has an immature class, with a lot of passive learners and arrogant kids.  B was one of the stronger kids in the class.  Despite his struggles on assignments, she has no concerns about him!  One day he was kicked back doing something mindless.  The student teacher went over to stand by him, thinking that it would remind him to get back to work.  She was shocked to realize he had all his work done and was just moving on to the next thing on his agenda.

Jbird is just a bundle of energy in the classroom.  He gets concepts and often finishes his work early.  Then he proceeds to help others, sometimes to a fault.  We were both talking about how it is like he can't stop his words from coming.  He just blurts out answers and then realizes mid sentence that his friends need to do their own work but he can't stop the words.  I think there are 4 boys and 11 girls in the classroom.  He has had at least 2 boys move away but he assures me that Jbird makes up for them.

One thing Jbird loves doing in the winter is finding icicles.  Here is one of the best so far.

JB made his own valentines this year.  He wrote his name on all 6 of the valentines.  He did not need any prompting or help.  All of his letters were correctly oriented!  It amazed me.  Here is a picture of him that his teacher took at preschool.  I guess the teacher's family are big hockey players and she brought all of her equipment in for the kids to try on.

The workouts at the gym are still going well.  I love my new tennis shoes!  Now that my trainer (who I have not worked out with much because of schedule conflicts) has shown me basics and how to build circuits, I am having fun coming up with my own sequences.  I never realized how much one could sweat in 2 minutes if you made them effective workouts.  I do one exercise for 30 seconds, do another for 30 seconds, do a third for one minute then rest for 30 seconds.  I do three different sets, three times each.  I ran the other day for 20 minutes.  I made 1.75 miles and that was with about 2 minutes going at a very slow jog.

We have not had all the crazy bad winter that the east has had.  We have 2 days of good snow and then it warms up and everything melts.  Then it snows, then it melts!  It won't be long before day light savings time and then we know spring is just around the corner!

Quick check in....

Last Friday, all the 4th graders in the valley were invited to a symphony.  They all dressed up and boarded school buses.  I was excited to hear this, because the symphony is nothing that is ever on our radar.  B seemed to enjoy it.  I think he was surprised to hear them play Star Wars themed music, among other things.  They even had some actors on stage doing sword fighting.  Overall a great impression and hopefully something he will want to venture to do again.

Little JB continues to plug away with his speech.  All indications are that he will 'work himself' out of his current preschool.  He will be 5 in August and I am just not comfortable at this point sending him to Kindergarten in the fall.  So, exploring other options.  Just an example of apraxia.....the other day he was eating some nachos.  I asked him how his nachos were and he said "goot".  I said "goot?".  He tried to correct it several times but could not come up with 'good'.  Then he stopped, looked at me and replied "okay".  He could not produce the word but was able to find an alternate word.

Yesterday I headed to the local running store.  Quite impressed with it.  They employees are very knowledgeable about shoes.  The guy helping me was quite amazed that I was still wearing orthotics that I have had 32 years!  He assured me that shoes have advanced now and I won't need them anymore.  They watch you walk and then bring out several pairs of shoes.  They don't have prices on any of their shoes, because they don't want anyone to think that the most expensive is the best or the least expensive is the least.  They want you to buy shoes based on how they feel and the needs of your foot.  So he had me put on several and 3 of the 4 felt great!  Then we narrowed it down to just one and I was thankful that it was the one on sale.  I am excited to try them at the gym today!

B has an eye appt today.  I think he is really struggling to see at distances, not being able to read some signs across the cafeteria at school.  He struggled seeing the super bowl from the couch this year.

All 3 of them start ski lessons next weekend!  Excited to see JB get up on skis.

Yesterday the boys and I hit up the school's annual book fair.  As we walked into the school, I got caught up in a conversation with Jbird's teacher.  The three boys headed into the library without me.  A few minutes later, JB emerged with books spilling out of his arms.  I told him to go back in to the library, put them on the counter and then I would come look at them and help him decide which ones we would buy.  By the time I made it to the library, the librarian was cracking up laughing.  Seems that JB just got in line with everyone else with all his books.  When he got to the cash register, a volunteer rang him up and then realized that his adult was nowhere around.  So she wanted to let me know, as she laughed, that he had $55 worth of books!  It was quite the conversation to get him to understand that we could not keep all the books!  Mom, who had the checkbook, finally won!

The boys are getting excited about a new Lego movie coming out later this week.  They are determined to go see it.  I love conversations like this because when they really want something, it is a great time for me to remind them about how much things cost.  Do they want to each buy a ticket to the movie or each buy a pizza.  Would they rather take that $45 that would be spent on movie and snacks and go to the hot springs instead.  Or maybe they would rather buy a big Lego set.  Just amazes me how they have no concept of money and at this age, probably should not.

When B was talking about the movie, he told me it was one of the cheapest movies ever made.  I asked him how he figured that.  He said all the characters are lego people and not actors.  Then I asked him who provided the voices for the Legos.  He was shocked to think that people would get paid for using their voice  when they did not even have to act.  He has started helping me write checks to pay bills.  I think this summer I am going to give him a set amount of cash for school clothes, shoes, supplies, etc and see how he does with it.  My hope is that he will at least learn to look for sales and think through his purchases.

The other day I was helping JB get ready to catch the bus for school.  I don't remember the particulars, but I had asked him to do something and then I would do x for him.  He was not at all happy with it and proceeded to throw a tantrum.  I told him I would help him but he first needed to obey.  He proceeded in his anger to tell me how rude and mean I was. Well, the bus pulled up and he begrudgingly walked to the bus, with big ol tears.  As he was getting on the bus, he turned to me as and said 'bye' then took his seat and proceeded to wave at me as the bus pulled away.   It immediately hit me how quickly kids forget grievances.  Man, when somebody makes me mad, I try to stew about it and replay it over and over.  Not JB.  He was very angry with me, but when the situation was over, he just moved right along and acted like nothing ever happened.  The lessons we learn from the kids!

Last week I was not able to hook up with my personal trainer...our schedules just conflicted.  Yesterday we touched base.  She suggested I weigh in and take more measurements.  I was not real thrilled about this, as I had been periodically weighing myself at home.  I was not expecting much.  Turns out, I gained a pound but lost 6.75 inches.  That is some serious muscle I am building!  Today she put me through the fitness test again.  I almost doubled the amount of push ups and sit ups.  We got on the treadmill for 10 minutes and I was able to go .98 miles.  That was so close to a 10 minute mile!  I was not even upset that I officially missed the mile mark...I was about to drop.  Seems there is a nice running store in the neighboring town.  They take all kinds of foot measurements, video tape you walking and running on a treadmill, etc.  All to help you determine what type of shoe/arch support, etc you need.  I think a trip into town is on the docket for the weekend!

Well, need to get some sleep.  It has been awful cold here - currently minus 15 - so sure makes it hard to climb out of bed in the mornings.