I’ve been promising Angie I’d write about just how crazy life is around here… I keep wondering where April went and then I remember it went to taxes and baseball… and gymnastics and chess and kindermusik!

Here’s how last Tuesday afternoon went (or at least my recollection of it LOL)…

am – pack lunchables in lunch box, take to work, remember to grab from work fridge

2:30 – left work early (driving the van)

3:15 – pick Christian up from Chess class, drive Christian to Maplewood Elementary for chess tournament

3:40 – Bill swapped cars with us at Maplewood, Christian played two games of chess – first one he hung on until time ran out (his lonely king being chased all over the board) – second game he lost in 4 moves – needs to learn to defend against that strategy!

4:30 – leave Maplewood (now driving the Saturn), open lunchables for Christian to eat while we drive

5:15 – drop Christian off at Kindermusik for his class

6:15 – Bill arrives with van, Brandon, and Alyson for Brandon’s class

6:20 – Alyson joins parent time for Christian’s class

6:30 – Christian, Alyson and I take van home (Brandon’s class is 6:45 – 7:30)

7:15 – Alyson’s in bed!

8:00 – Christian’s in bed, Brandon’s home and to bed and mommy sleeps really soundly LOL

Thankfully, the chess tournament part was a one-time thing. Christian does have chess class every Tuesday until 3:30, so I have to leave work around 2:30, but then at least we have time to get home and go out to eat before heading out to Kindermusik.

Wednesdays, Christian goes to Kid’s Club at church and stays there while Bill has choir practice.

Thursdays, Brandon has Gymnastics class from 5:30 to 6:00, which has been FABULOUS for him. It’s SO much fun to watch his lesson.

Christian has also been busy with baseball and homework… it’s been absolutely crazy, but I know June is coming. Then we just have to figure out what to do to help Christian with his reading.

We’re really looking forward to May 12… Christian and Crystal and Joy and I are going to San Juan Island. Christian wants to be a dolphin trainer when he grows up, so we’re going up to the whale museum and we’re also going to go kayaking! I’m excited. The kids are a little nervous about the kayaking part, but I think it will be fun.

Alyson is talking a ton and getting into everything. She goes up and down the stairs no problem. She loves to say ‘no no no’! And ’shoes’. And she tries to say everything else. She’s thrilled when she says ‘milk’ at the dinner table and we know what she means. She’s really good when she’s tired… she just has to go go go until you put her to bed… then she goes right to sleep. She loves her brothers SO much. Her most-used word right now is ‘Brandon’ which she says very clearly (and VERY often). She seems to think everything is Brandon’s.

Christian’s a good kid – he’s trying really hard to keep up with his 2nd grader teammates at baseball. It’s been a bit hard for him to be one of the younger kids, but it’s been good for him. He’s still struggling with reading, but he LOVES joke books. He has days that he’s perfectly happy to get his homework done and out of the way and other days he throws absolute fits and I end up at wit’s end. But one day at a time. He’s really frustrated with Brandon – the typical sibling stuff. He needs his own space and a safe place to keep his treasures. I’m thinking about finding him a locker-type thing where he can lock up his favorite things. He’s looking forward to his pirate birthday party this year – should be fun. We’re going to hide the goody boxes for his friends and give them treasure maps to find them Now I just have to pray that a baseball tournament game won’t be at the same time as his party.

Brandon is looking forward to preschool in the fall. He’s going to go to Trinity Lutheran preschool just up the street. He really jumped right in the day we visited. He keeps saying he wants to play tball, but I think he just feels left out at Christian’s games. He’s really really enjoying his gymnastics lessons with Ben and coach Erin. They’ve gotten to do tumbling and jumping and balance beams and rings and bars… he’s always got such a big smile on his face. I’m hoping to get some pictures this week. Thankfully, his asthma seems to be under control as long as we use his inhaler before class. He’s still pretty wild and out of control sometimes at home and at Kindermusik, but we think he’s outgrowing some of it. We will probaby give him a year off from Kindermusik next year… he’s just not enjoying it. I’d rather put him in another night a week of gymnastics at this rate (the cost would be about the same!).

Well, that was WAY more than I think you were expecting, Angie But maybe now that it’s all typed, I can copy/paste into the kid’s scrapbooks (which I finally started working on again last weekend!). Hugs to all!

Well, this blog entry would have been done last weekend if our internet hadn’t been down for two days. Apparently something blew up and knocked out only our service But it’s all better now

Christmas was WONDERFUL. We had such a nice, relaxing weekend!

The 23rd, Friday, I was lucky enough to leave work early. The boss was on vacation, although apparently she did call around the office to try to find someone around 2. There was no one to be found

Christmas eve was, as always, spent up in Arlington. The kids had a great time with aunties and cousins. Alyson loved all of the food. The previous week at bake day, she even liked a tomato and mozzerella (sorry for the spelling) and vinagrette (ack, spelling again) salad. Alyson didn’t even mind being passed around. All day the kids asked when they could open presents! Christian got both the smore maker and the chocolate fountain he’d been asking for. He was so excited! Brandon got a karate Spongebob toy that he’d been asking for. Alyson got an adorable little chair with a table and light that sings to her and lights up. (There were other gifts as well, but these are the highlights)

We even made it to the Christmas Eve candlelight service. We had to be there at 10 for the 11pm service. The kids got changed in to their jammies and were really good. A little wound up, but good. Brandon slept through the whole service. Alyson desperately wanted the candles! She was so tired but just couldn’t rest. Christian was a little bit bored, but when it came time to light the candles, he perked right up.

By the time the kids were in bed, it was at least 12:30. Bill and I got to bed about 2. At 5, Christian woke up and woke me up (and was promptly told to go back to sleep LOL). He slept on the floor by my bed until 7:30. Much better We were all up and tearing into stockings by 8. Bill was disappointed because he got Brandon the same SpongeBob gift, but Brandon decided he liked it so much he wanted to keep them both!

After all of the gifts were opened, we had a nice breakfast and we had a little bit of time to play before Grandma Julie came over. We really enjoyed her visit. Alyson carried around her new Live Strong bracelet for 24 hours before she put it down for a rest LOL. The kids love the play tent and tunnel too. It was the year for duplicate gifts, though. I know Mom was disappointed that Christian had already received a smore maker. The good news is, I’m sure the Alvord family will enjoy it We’re hoping to get together with them this weekend.

We had Christmas dinner at Grandma Tessie’s house, and more gifts! Uncle Ed spoiled the boys with a Nintendo DS to share!! Alyson got a really cute fuzzy Dora chair to sit in and a nice fleece pillow. Ed found me a nice lamp that’s made of salt! It’s really cool. Bill was excited to get Battlestar Galactica Season 1 on DVD. We still have one more gift exchange there, as Uncle Andrew and Brenda are in Chicago.

The 26th we got to just have a nice relaxing day home playing with all of our new toys Over all, we had a great Christmas! Brandon was funny… he said he hated every single gift (well, except the SpongeBob gift). Alyson, on the other hand, dearly loved every single gift. She loves her Cabbage Patch doll, her bracelet, both of her new chairs, her ball popper toy from Daddy… every single gift. She even loves the clothes! Christian’s favorite gifts this year were his new spy kit and the smore maker and a remote control flywheel that Brandon got him. Brandon’s favorite gift was by far the SpongeBob toy.

I think that about sums up our Christmas weekend! Happy New Year everyone!