Second Week of January 2017

Christmas is over but we still have some Christmas stuff up.  It's a work in progress.  :)

Enjoying linking the beaters

Peter made some awesome crepes with the crepe maker pan that we got Brittany for Christmas.

All our crepe toppings

Working on some puzzles

Puzzle time for Maxwell too

Swim lessons with goggles!  She's legit.

Doing great in her lessons

So many faces from Emmalyn...  Smily

Silly

Cheesy

Upset

Shy

Happy Girl!

Getting my walk done (can't wait until it's not pitch dark at night)

Enjoying her baby toys from Christmas

Dress up time

Maxwell brings home a binder from school each day and if he misbehaves, the teacher will sign it with a note about what the behavior problem was.  He made it until January 11 without having it signed (pretty great!).  

I called the teacher afterward to talk to her about it because I've noticed that he's having a hard time staying focused like when he's at Kindermusik or waiting in lines.  My concern is that he is bored at school, not being challenged, and thus he's starting to act out.  His teacher pretty much dismissed my concerns and said that she hasn't noticed anything difference about Maxwell's behavior lately.  I've been asking her to challenge him more since the second week of school and nothing has really come of it.  It's frustrating.  At this point, my take on it is that she is either uncomfortable with how she can challenge him or she just doesn't have the skills to do that for a child in her class.  I can't wait for this school year to be over and hope for an awesome teacher next year.  :(  So much of what I have been told is that he is just only going to learn Kinder curriculum regardless of if he already has that knowledge.  So, we will just keep trying to challenge him at home and keep him growing.

Mismatched dress up day at school.

Emmalyn snuck up stairs to watch tv and eat cereal with Landen.

Funny faces with mom at dinner

Here are the boys

4th week of July 2016

It's interesting.  Most of the time I feel like our lives are pretty simple (boring) and we don't do much.  However, as I am going through and blogging, I am reminded of how much we do in even just a normal, summer week.  Take this week for example, there's nothing big and special but it was a full week!

Emmalyn in her sleep sack with her best buddy, Landen.

Kids all crowded around Peter

This is not posed.  This is how she sleeps.  How perfectly sweet is that?!!? Those sweet hands, those cheeks, and that tousled, curly mess of hair laying on her pillow. (Turtle placed right on her forehead and purple puppy on the other side.)

My handsome big kid enjoying some time at school this week.

Silliness

Max had a splash day at school and for awhile he just didn't want to participate.

Eventually he got into it though.  :)

Splashing Dylan

Going after Mrs. Cynthia

He's coming along really well with his swim strokes.  He loves his coach Katie.

Joe joined the fence staining crew.  The boys decided to see if the sprayer was a better option than the way we had been doing it.

I helped stain the fence and paid the price - look at that mess! (I also got eaten alive by mosquitoes because we were out at dusk. I'm not kidding, like 9 bites on one leg.)

Playing at the park after Kindermusik

Look!!!  I got a tomato off my plant! (It wasn't very flavorful though because I picked it when it was a little green and let it ripen on the counter)

My old boss at work, Marc Rapp, was diagnosed with lung cancer so a bunch of us are showing our support and Running for Rapp (R4R) since he can't run any more right now.  I'm not running but I'm walking and logging miles (and sometimes rocking my hat).

Morning time on the ipad

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

Maxwell asks to do school work when he's at the Montessori school even though during the summer they typically don't do any work.  He loves learning - especially math!  This is a chain that helps him learn his times tables.

We have our membership at the Frisco Athletic Center again and are loving the great outdoor water park.  We've found a few friends who also have a membership and try to meet them there. 

Maxwell and Preston

Maxwell going to Kinder is about a month away (seems unfair to have to start thinking about school when it's still July!) so we went to find a backpack and lunch box.

We found the "one"

It looks so big!  The only thing smaller were little kid backpacks with characters on them and I just don't do characters if I can help it.

We signed Maxwell up to take tennis lessons at the FAC.  He really wants to learn.

I gave up on my bell pepper, jalapeno, and zucchini plants.  They haven't grown any veggies...I guess it's just too hot now.

Oh no!  When I pulled up my bell pepper plant, I saw this little baby bell pepper so I quickly replanted it.  Hopefully it will make it! :(

My helper

Putting in the miles again.  It's hot at night but I'm really focused on hitting my steps and losing some weight.