Thursday, April 29, 2010

Strange Day…

Luckily today was Thursday, which means that school starts 30 minutes later than every other day.  It gives me a little extra time in the morning without feeling quite so rushed, so I have come to appreciate Thursdays.  (You would think I would just wake up 30 minutes earlier every other day to make things easier… but that just hasn’t happened yet.)

Seanelle and GaryTodd are very well aware that on Thursday mornings they will have extra time to play.  This is probably why they choose Thursdays to wake up early.  This morning was the same, except they decided to eat the leftover spaghetti for breakfast.  This was out of the ordinary.  Not only did they seem to be uninterested in the spaghetti last night for dinner, but they aren’t normally the type of kids that get excited about any leftovers… unless it is ice cream or cake or something.

Then later today I was waiting for GaryTodd to get out of school and was admiring the bulletin board.  Then I saw something that made me take a picture and send to Todd on the cell phone.0429001142

I didn’t notice it at first, but upon a little closer inspection I noticed this…0429001142a

I was going to bring this to someone’s attention, but certainly this will changed by the next time the children attend school. 

The children are celebrating a “May Break” this year.  Friday was a built-in snow make-up day.  Since we didn’t get any snow this year, the kids have been able to have a few more extended weekends.  This will be a nice 4 day weekend. 

Tonight they are both spending the night other places.  This is nice, because I have a lot of things I would like to do in the morning without them making messes faster than I can find them.  But I have some other plans this weekend, and would like the house to be moderately clean before I go have my own fun.

Tomorrow night I am getting together with about 50+ of my friends from high school.  We are having an informal reunion.  I am looking forward to this one because we didn’t have to pay an exorbitant amount of money to just gather together.

Several of our classmates have complained about the cost of attending the reunions, so a few of my classmates are trying to organize the next reunion without having to pay an outside company.  I think I might have volunteered to assist.

And finally… I have to tell you the latest bit of excitement in Seanelle’s life.  April 28th, 2009, I wrote a blog post letting everyone know that Seanelle is anxiously awaiting the day her first tooth would come out.  On May 6th, 2009, she was still waiting, and getting impatient.  On May 16th, 2009, her first tooth finally came out. 

Since that time, she has decided that waiting for the teeth to come out on their own is not fun.  So when she notices a tooth getting wiggly, she will work on it until she is able to twist it and yank it out on her own.

Today was one of those days.0429001512a

She lost the tooth during music class.  (Apparently the music teacher doesn’t notice when a child has her hand in her mouth instead of singing?)  But then when she got into the car and tried to show me her little tooth, she lost it.

My car isn’t messy, but trying to find to that tiny little tooth would be like finding a needle in a haystack.  Much to my amazement (and a slight thankfulness that I am farsighted) I found that rascally little tooth!  So almost a year after she lost her first tooth, this is what Seanelle looks like today…0429001503

Of course… GaryTodd hasn’t had any desire to lose any of his teeth yet.  He would rather go to the dentist.

0429001634b

Friday, April 16, 2010

GaryTodd is 7 for Two Days!

I don’t remember whether or not I have shared this with you or not, but GaryTodd has been 8 years old since his birthday party in August.

Now, let me explain.  On his real birthday last year, GaryTodd’s leg was in a cast and he really couldn’t play.  We had a little celebration for him, but promised him a real party when he could actually walk again.  Part of his family couldn’t bear waiting until he could walk again before celebrating his birthday, so we had a little bigger celebration so that family could celebrate with him. 

In very late July, he was able to walk, so on August 1st we celebrated his birthday at Chuck E. Cheese.  He decided, that he was 8 years old.  He figured that since he had 3 parties, he had to be 8 yrs old.  Of course, Todd and I encouraged such behavior, because after all, how much could it hurt?

Well, much to our surprise, this wasn’t something that he just played at home.  He has insisted all year at school that he is 8.  Please understand, he KNOWS his ‘real’ age is 5.  He just doesn’t feel like being 5.  And after having such a bad year last year, I didn’t feel as if he had to be 5.  But his Kindergarten class had a problem with it.

As the year wore on, many of his classmates decided he really couldn’t be 8.  This hurt GaryTodd’s feelings.  He wasn’t lying to them, his mom and dad wanted him to be 8.  He couldn’t figure out why they had a problem with him being 8. 

This required a little bit of work on his parent’s part.  First of all, we had to make a plan for GaryTodd.  On his next birthday, we agreed he would be 7 on his actual birthday.  Then when we had his birthday celebration on Saturday, he would actually turn 6.  But we didn’t stop there.

In the mornings as we would wait for the teacher to come to collect her children, occasionally a little one would say to me, “Is GaryTodd really 8?” 

“Well, of course he is!  Don’t you turn another year older when you have a birthday party?”

This has confused every one of these little children.  Ha-ha!  They have no idea who they are up against!

As they are trying to figure out why this shouldn’t make sense, I move in for the kill… “My question to you is this, What age would YOU like to be?”  They never say their real age.  So for the next 10 minutes we all pretend to be the age we WANT to be. 

So far, this has proven to work very well.  No longer does anyone complain about GaryTodd being 8.

Nonetheless, tomorrow he is ready to be 6.  I didn’t get a lot of pictures during his celebration, but I did get a picture of the cake that his oldest sister made for him…0415002014

Notice the 7 candles…0415002015a

GaryTodd has a fantastic imagination that we are all interested in keeping in tact. 

 

 

GaryTodd has given us all instructions on what he wanted to have for his birthday.  Everyone has a different present to give to him (very smart) and of course, everyone wants to get him exactly what he wants.  But this year we also decided it was time he had a new bike. 

He has been riding it ever since he got it.  He absolutely loves it!  (Even though it wasn’t on his list…)GT riding his new bike 03

Here is a picture of him getting comfortable on his new bike as he is talking with the neighbor. 

By the way, it is also worth mentioning that he doesn’t have any ordinary bike… His dad bought him THE COOLEST BIKE EVER! 

It happens to be a motorcycle, racecar bike that is super fast!  And he assures us that soon he will be doing special tricks with his feet on the handlebars!

Luckily we have had beautiful weather for bike riding. 

 

I do apologize for not having any updates lately.  We have had many things that I could brag about my wonderful children, but I haven’t been really sure how to address them.

We have the most compassionate children… and recently have been struck by a loss in the family.  Although there are many beautiful things I could share about the caring and love I have witnessed, I didn’t really feel able to share what we have experienced.

I don’t mean to leave you on such a somber note, but I do appreciate that you have read this blog post to the end!  Wow!  I am very appreciative of you!  Thank you, and Love to All!