Beginning Writing...

Fellow teachers will understand my excitement from these photos.  Last summer, Jack and I tackled the big "learning to read."  It is something he picked up rather quickly given the task, and something he still continues to surprise me with everyday.  Writing however, has not been a particular area of interest for him.  A few months ago though, I began to notice him starting to add letters to the pictures he would draw.  I've had some field experience interpreting writing, but I couldn't make these out without his help and many times the letters did not match the sounds.  Lately though, he's been leaving me little "notes" to tell me things (see photo #1).  I loved this note, it says "My tummy hurts (and the heart means I love you)."  Phonetically, it makes perfect sense and I am so excited about it!!  The second photo is writing we did together.  He placed stickers on the top of the paper to make a picture and wrote a sentence to describe it.  We used this to talk about spacing, capital/lowercase letters, putting the vowels in our words, etc.. Clearly a "light bulb" is going off and I am so excited that things are starting to connect!  Go Jack!!

Jack Is 5?!?!?!

It's bittersweet.  I would compare this year's Birthday (the big "5") to the first Birthday.  I still can't believe five years have gone by; where did they go?  I still feel like I had Jack, let alone Maren.  Those of you who know me well know I'm pretty sentimental about all of this.  Five sounds so big.  It means big things, Kindergarten being the biggest of course.  Despite all my trying, I didn't get out of it though, the Birthday came. I still don't want to admit that my little monkey is 5, but he is and I'm adjusting.  I'm continuing to try to "freeze-frame" everyday and ignore all those out there who tell me "it just starts to go faster the older they get."  It's already going fast enough; I'd really like a set of brakes that could slow more down than my Tahoe.

Unlike last year, Jack was very excited to have a new number this year.  He was so excited for his party and was not disappointed!  He got to play with cousins, eat pizza and cake, dress up like a transformer, and open presents!  What a day!  Here are a few pictures from the big day...

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Shame On Me...

Shame on me for breaking "mommy code" and blogging out loud that "everyone (was) healthy."  I should have known I was jinxing myself.  Last Friday we ended up in the Emergency Room with Maren.  She fell off her chair at lunch and split her lip open on our kitchen table.  Thank goodness Craig had just gotten home from his last business trip and was there to help us get to the hospital.  Four hours and two stitches later, we got to come back home.  As promised while the doctor stitched her up, Marsy got to wear her purple tutu and eat purple ice cream when she got home.

Indecision and Craziness

A couple of months ago, Jack and I started discussing his birthday.  In the beginning of the discussion, he was pretty sure he wanted a Transformer party with his preschool friends at Paradise Park.  (I started making plans.)  As the days passed, Jack altered his plans-this time, wanting a family party with a Transformer cake at our house.  (I began alerting family and changing plans accordingly.)  Soon, a party catalogue arrived in the mail with a "Mario" themed party package.  (Are you seeing where this is going?)  Jack was awestruck by all the Mario plates, napkins, etc..  (Starting to get a little frustrated, I made new arrangements.)  We went into Party City to see if they had any of the Mario party ware.  They did not, but they did have Transformer party ware.  Suddenly, we were back to square one.  I bought the transformer party pack and ordered the cake.  (Yes, I did say ORDERED the cake.)  I could soon tell though, that Jack had mixed emotions about giving up his "Mario" idea.  Trying to make it a "Happy" Birthday, I suggested that we could make Mario cookies for him to take to school and share with his class.  (What IS wrong with me?)  I looked for ideas online and showed Jack something I thought I could tackle.  I told him I could probably do the star and Toad.  Disappointment ran right across his eyebrows, "but Mommy, I really want the Mario cookies too."  I tried to justify this in my mind; surely if I'm not trying to tackle the cake this year, I can make make Mario cookies, right?  (WHAT???)  As if I weren't crazy enough already, I decided (while Craig was out of town) to start these in the middle of a sleet/snow storm while, my kids were AWAKE.  Six hours, and many inappropriate words later, the cookies were done, and my kitchen was a wreck.  Although I would like to toss them out of the window (really I'm willing to throw out anything that leaves my hands feeling arthritic and my kitchen in complete disarray), Jack loves them.  Thank God!  I'm going to pray no other birthday ideas entice him prior to his party, and that next year I will remember not only my skill level, but my time restraints when Birthday season comes around.  (I really wish I would have taken a picture of my kitchen in the aftermath.) 

All Is Well....

I almost don't want to say it aloud (because all of us mommies know; when you say it out loud, it always backfires), but all is well in the Stout household.  Jack and I took Maren into the ENT this week for her follow-up appointment, and not only is her infection gone; she actually still has both tubes!  Hooray!  We won't mention the 90 minute wait with no bathroom in the office, or the 90 seconds it took for Doc to tell us all was well.  For now, we will say our prayers tonight for healthy children!

Getting Better!

I am so happy to finally say that Maren is getting better.  After a couple of really rough weeks with yet another scary round of croup, Maren is slowly coming off the nebulizer.  I'm not sure how many times we ended up back in the doctor's office during the last two weeks (probably enough to get us a "frequent flier" status); but thankfully, all of  her allergy and immunoglobulin test results came back fine.  Amen!   We are awaiting an appointment with the ENT at the end of February which should let us know if we need to replace her tubes.   The doctor's think her right tube came out when Maren's eardrum ruptured last week.  We are hoping this is our last doctor's visit for a while.  Either way, Maren is feeling much better and getting back to her old tricks!!

Winter Fun!

We finally found a day above 20 degrees to go sledding.  (We tried last week, but only made it for about twenty minutes.)  We have a great hill in our neighborhood to sled down, and it is so much easier this year not to have to carry Maren up the hill!  The wee ones had so much fun!!!