The 3rd quarter at school is finished. Both boys always seem to get better as the year goes on. You would think if anything they slack off as the year goes on, but I just think it takes my boys so long to get in the groove.

We had one of the Saturday ski lessons cancelled due to cold. So the makeup class will be next weekend. Then we are done with sports for a while. I made the decision, for several reasons, not to play spring sports. One of the biggest being that we can't seem to get homework and other necessary things done when we have after school things/practices going on. I have already taken away most of the toys. I have recently put up all but about a weeks worth of clothes. Just amazes how much messy the house can still get. The boys don't even miss the toys! They always find something to entertain them.

A few random pictures that I have found on my computer! Enjoy. Can't wait for the green grass to return.

20 plus elk

The boys are loving day light savings time.  More than one evening they have been out past 7 playing.  I foresee lots of independence this summer.  All three of them rode bikes several blocks with the teen age neighbor boy down to the school to play.  Seems there are more kids in the neighborhood now and they get games of hide and go seek going.  This is when I wish we had front yards for them to play in, but they always make do and they don't seem to know the difference.

I have taken away most of the toys because we were just having too many issues with clean up, etc.  It amazes me how they are able to entertain themselves.  They are playing more games, coloring, etc.  I even think they may be getting along a little better.

I continue to plod through work outs.  There was about a 3 week period where I felt like I had quit making progress and just maintaining.  Part of it was due to my knee hurting.  However, I have rebooted and hopefully back on track.  I have been running sprints at a speed equivalent to 7.5 miles an hour.  I am finding that it is much more comfortable to run at this speed than a slower jog - although I tire much quicker.  I have not run outside yet...I am told it is much different than a treadmill.  I like the treadmill because it keeps my pace consistent.  Maybe this week if the weather holds I will get outside and run.

Found some pictures of when Jbird had his birthday cake that never got posted.  He wanted to put all the candles on his cake.

Another great day on the ski hill....the sun was out most of the day and once the cold air warmed up, it was really nice.  So thankful the boys have taken to it and can find their way around the mountain.  One of these days I will ski with them and get some pictures that are not on the bunny hill.

The ever elusive B...He is figuring out the ski poles.

A rare shot of Jbird still....

You can't tell in the photo, but this kid dances as he comes down.  Next time I need to get a video.

Jbird on the lift....

And guess who is big enough now to ride solo...I was a little nervous, but the lift operator had been watching him all day and she said he does great!

Happy 7th birthday to this guy!

Just a quick check in!

Spring Break is winding down quickly.  We are having some beautiful weather!

We wrapped up our hotel stay and the boys had a great time.  JB was taking off the life jacket and swimming some without it, although he loves the security of it.  He continued to want to do back flips into the water.  However, he was not getting the height or the distance, so we moved him to the top rung of the ladder.  It was more like back dives at that point, but he would jump and climb back up, jump and climb back up.  He did probably 20 in a row.  Can't wait until next time we are in the pool again!

Jbird had his sleep over.  There were 3 friends and it was so nice out, they play outside until dark.  One of his friends decided at 10pm to head home, but the other 2 stayed and they were still awake at 11pm.  Unfortunately they were up at 7:15.  So, my boys are wiped out.

They are currently up skiing today!  Two more weeks of ski lessons.  We are contemplating soccer for the spring.  One of the leagues is not doing a spring session, so I am inclined to sit out a season.  I must admit, I really love the slower paced days and it is so much easier to stay on top of homework.

This past weekend the boys went up skiing with JR.  The weather was beautiful!  From all accounts they had a great time.

Last week B went to the orthodontist.  As expected, all of the work that has been done has been undone over time.  I did not realize it but B has an open bite.  Which means that when he closes his jaw there is a pretty significant space between his top and bottom front teeth - they don't nicely overlap. Every time he swallows (which doc said is about 3,000 times a day) he thrusts his tongue forward because his mouth is so small.  There are 2 palate expander options.  The first one did not work well and is not sturdy enough to handle B's issues.  So, we are going with a RPE-rapid palette expander.  Basically it is an appliance in the top of the mouth that will be cranked every day to expand things.  In forty days we should have gotten a 6mm expansion.  The doc said that in all his years, this is the first time he has had to do both options on a patient.  I told him I was glad that we could be a first for him!  That is scheduled for mid May.  So, we have to expand things, then pull front teeth down and out over the bottom teeth and then bring the teeth together.  Time to start saving for the additional phases that are coming (first phase paid for :-))

The other day I was talking with Jbird's teacher.  He told me, as he was chuckling, that he had to keep getting on Jbird.  He said "I know it is a cliche but just no other way to explain it...he is just 100% boy."  I just laughed.  He said that J tries so hard but just gets excited, blurts and continues to escalate.

So, I recently listened to a radio program on kids learning styles.  It discussed auditory, visual and kinestetic learners.  Audio learners are those they had to learn, not through listening to someone else, but to listening to themselves.  They are the kids that are always interrupting with questions.  The kinestetics learned can't learn unless he is busy.  There are also 2 ways that kids process information.  I don't forget the first but the second is global.  Meaning they can't focus or follow through very well unless they know the end results first.  They are the ones that like the read the first two and last two chapters of a book first, then they read the middle.  Really trying to work through some issues particularly with B, so will be looking more closely at these things and how to implement these things with them.

Spring break is here!  We are currently chilling in the room, in between swimming.
We are here with another family.....

Here is the soon to be birthday boy.  I struggled with what to get him and I was in Costco and found a snorkel set, something he has wanted for a while.  We gave it to him early so he could try it out....

This kid though stole the show....I was shocked at how adventurous he was.  Still not wanting to take the life jacket off, but a crazy jumping little guy.  He will run and jump and spin before hitting the water.  Often times he would jump so high he would touch the bottom, even with a life jacket on.

He was attempting to do a back flip in the water but was unsuccessful with his life jacket.  I was sitting in a chair and talking to one of the other boys.  He walked up and said "watch this..".  I was not really paying attention but saw him do a back flip INTO the water.  I freaked out, turned to my friend and said 'did he just do a back flip'.  She said 'yep!'  He did a back flip from the side of the pool.  Something he had never done before and to my knowledge had never seen anyone else do either.  He got amazing height and was able to fully rotate.  He did it several more times.  We tried to get it on video and camera last night, but to no avail.  Today he obviously did not have the same adrenaline rush but caught it on film.  He was not getting very high so was scaring me how close he was coming to the end of the pool.  We are now trying to teach him how to stand on the edge and jump up and back.  (You can see in the picture how he is too far from the edge.)

 Hoping for better flipping tonight.  He was so cute earlier...he would not flip until all of us started chanting his name.

 This past weekend ski lessons were cancelled due to the cold.  I was very thankful as I read that the wind chill that morning on the slopes was -57.

We are gearing up for spring break next week.  Sounds like Jbird is wanting to have a sleep over for his 7th birthday, so that is on the calendar.  As well as trying to head to the slopes for a day of skiing, as well as another day with the lessons and half a day of free skiing.  We also cashed in our jar of coins and ended up with $143, so we are trying to work in 2 overnights at a local hotel so the kids can swim.  We will go with another family, so should be a lot of fun.

Last week B participated in the Gran Prix at AWANA.  He made a car and ended up getting first in design and third in speed.  He was so surprised, excited and proud.

I am still hitting the gym, but have hit a mental block I think.  I have been having a few issues with my knee, so going lighter on a lot of the exercises.  Still trying to run some.  Slowly getting stronger and faster on the treadmill.  Looking forward to when the roads clear and I can run some outside.  I decided not to do the March 15th 10k run.  However, I did find a 9k Memorial Run in our little town that I am hoping to sign up for.  I actually found all the runs in our whole state and hope to at least sign up for 3 or 4 this year.

Not much else going on. Just desperately wanting to pull out the shorts.  I have told the boys that I will pull their out after spring break.  (I had to take them away because they wanted to wear them when it was 32 out).

JR is staying busy.  We have met expenses 3 months in a row and he has not looked for any work.  It is all seeking him out!  We are talking about what the summer months will look like and trying to plan for some growth.

B goes back to orthodontist on Thursday.  At one point they had put brackets on his two front teeth to pull them together.  Well, all that work has been undone!  They have moved back apart.  I really think we started a year too early for him.  I don't think the doctor anticipated how slowly he would lose his teeth.  Jbird will be 7 soon and we are still awaiting the loss of his first tooth!

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.

Few pictures....this was when we went swimming recently.  Somehow B managed to escape the camera.

JB loves his little life jacket.  The tag says 'infant' but he still insists he can wear it.  All the boys still wear swim shirts, even though we were inside. Jbird loves to wear his big mask, instead of goggles.  They just crack me up.

Another weekend of no plans!  Yay.  Just might hunker down under the blanket and read some books.  I have been slow to blog because it just seems like we don't have anything going on these days.  I know it will pick up once the snow starts to melt!