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!
But it’s all better now 
