Red Pink Hearts Love

Happy Valentine's Day!
just a few days late

Oh, I do love this holiday.
It's simple.
It's fun.
It's an opportunity to let
the creativity flow red and pink
and heart-shaped..

Last week, the boys made Valentine's for all the kids in their classes.
Kyler started questioning the school system and class sizes
when he was on number 17, with 10 more to go.
But they both loved making these Valentine's
and that's what it's all about.
We cut out squares from cardstock
and mixed 2 parts white glue with 1 part water.
We spread the glue on the cardstock,
placed tissue paper squares,
and painted more glue on top.
I loved watching them experiment
with different ways to layer, pattern, and place the squares.
We put To:/From: stickers and a piece of candy on each Valentine.

We also made some Valentine's to send to grandparents.
After trying some different ideas,
we agreed on creating Valentine's wheels.
"Spin for your Valentine's message."
We cut circles and used a Valentine's shape and brad for the spinner.
Each circle had three messages you could land on.
The boys came up with and wrote each of these messages.
Each wheel was different.
They were things like "Be Mine, You are cute, Smooch, XOXO"

Kyler's Valentine's Day party was on Friday.

Kacin celebrated at school on Monday
and came home in all this cuteness.

Both of my boys enjoyed
heart shaped sandwiches and red applesauce for lunch.

I also gave each of my boys a Valentine's card and red silly putty.
It was so exciting to me
to hear Kacin reading his whole letter from me by himself.
(I love being part of the process of learning to read.)

Eric came home from work with flowers.
That sweet man.

And of course we celebrated this happy happy love day
with a Monday night FHE and party.
Kyler started the evening out with a lesson
about loving one another.
He was so proud of himself when he played
"Jesus Said Love Everyone" on the piano
for us to sing to.
His piano teacher (our friend) was there
and he was jumping around before she arrived
excited to show her that he could play the song from memory.
The rest of the evening was spent playing
Valentine's pictionary
Do You Love Your Neighbor?
and Pass the Parcel.
The challenges during Pass the Parcel
included
stacking candy hearts, reading love poems,
sipping sparkling cider through red vine straws,
dancing, delivering Valentine's while blindfolded,
and a race to dress in pink and red.

There were prizes for the winners,
well, really for everyone.
We made scratch tickets to pass out the prizes.
how? here and here

For munchies
we served heart-shaped cheese, crackers, candy hearts,
and our traditional candy bar cookies.

I'll say it again,

I do love this holiday.

It is just the best.

Ears

Two ears.
Two infections in
Two weeks.
Two hospital bracelets
(one for Kacin, one for Teddy).
Two tubes
(again).
Recovered with
Two Popsicles
Two apple juices
Two bags of crackers.
In less than
Two hours
Back at home
as happy as ever.

Praising My Family

I think I tend to notice the bad and all the problems
more than all the good that happens,
So today I am making an effort to notice
just how cool my family is.

I'm so impressed with Kyler for lots of reasons.

He has been so responsible

with both his homework and piano practice.

There's the occasional reminder, but usually

he's very independent in doing it and doing it well.

We worked so hard

on getting his room organized right before Christmas,

and for the most part, he has kept it that way!

I've also had a few teachers at his school stop me and tell me

how caring he is.

There's a little girl in his class with Rett Syndrome.

Kyler chooses to sit by her almost every day at lunch.

His teacher said he was the first one in the class to be her friend.

He is typically very obedient when we ask him to do something.

How lucky I am to be his mom!

Kacin is such a loving little boy.

He holds my hand

and tells me after his mission he's going to live by me always. 

He caught me in a big hug today

claiming he needs his mommy cuddles every day.

Lately, he's been full of compliments for me and Eric

about how we're great parents, and cute, too, he says.

He is working hard at school and learning quickly.

He has become very creative in his play,

and will actually keep himself entertained

for twenty minutes at a time (some days).

He's my little friend

who loves to help me cook and join me in whatever I'm doing.

And he can beat us all at Blokus.

Eric is just too great.

I'm so grateful when he helps with dishes at night

and puts the boys to bed on the evenings I'm not home.

He makes me laugh every day.

He's getting so much better at the guitar.

Even when things are stressful at work,

he keeps a good attitude at home.

I do love my little family.

They teach me

and make me very happy.

I am a proud mommy and wife.

New Chore Charts

My old system for the boys chores was working great.
I actually loved it.
But I just felt like mixing it up a bit.
So we're giving this a try for awhile.

I printed out and laminated a personalized checklist for each of us.
The top section lists the things each of us needs to do daily.
On the boys cards,
the bottom section is a list of ten House Help jobs--
one for each week day over a two week period.
Basically, the idea is that in the morning,
after they finish the top section,
I choose a House Help job from their list.
We mark it off.
By the end of the two weeks
they've done all the jobs once.
But that does mean that I put empty the dishwasher on there twice
because that needs to be done a lot more than once a week.
On my card,
I listed the cleaning jobs that I need to do weekly and bi-weekly.
So I can have the satisfaction of checking a box when I do the laundry
and help to prevent myself from skipping the showers.

A Little CCR

Without fail,
this is Kacin's response
every time CCR's song comes on in the car
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?,
K: "Yes!! I have seen the rain.
A LOT of it."

Unless it Had Been a Blind Dancing Llama with a Mullet

The afternoon couldn't have been stranger.
When we got home,
Eric shook his head in bewilderment.

We intended to find Kyler some new shoes
and then hike a nearby trail.
We stepped into the mall to check out a shoe store.
A stage was set up at the center of the mall
and a local performance studio was putting on a show.
When we walked by we were quite intrigued.
A man was singing a show tune, and he appeared to be blind.
He was blind.
He was really good.
And like fish in a river,
we were lured in.
We saw ballet dancers and singers.
We eventually managed to pull ourselves away for a few minutes,
quickly found Kyler some shoes,
and went right back to the show.
This time we found a bench in a perfect viewing area.
We watched a skit, break dancers, tap dancers, and more.
Eric was highly entertained by the young breakdancer with the mullet.
Though,
I think it was the mullet more than the dancing that did it for him.
The boys gave their full attention to all the performers.
Two hours later
we got up from that bench.
"I guess we're not going hiking," someone said.
We got in the car and started to drive
through the parking lot toward the street.
In front of Sears,
a man was walking his dog.
What a nice day to walk your pet.
We turned the corner.
A man and women were walking their pet Llama's.
What?!
Who takes their Llamas on a walk around the mall??
Wait, who has llamas??

With visions of performers
and llamas
dancing in our heads,
we got home,
grabbed some headbands,
and put on our own little show
with Eric acting as audience.
There was couch flipping, singing,
and dancing around the room.
If only we had our own stage . . .

Random afternoon?
I think so.

Lund's Gulch

A picture overload

from our hike this afternoon.

I think this is by far our favorite shorter trail yet--

A 2.5 mile round trip with lots to see and explore!

In a Vase

Flowers from my E
on MLK day.
How many wives can say they got flowers from their husbands
on MLK day?
Thanks my sweet Eric!

However,
This probably means
I won't get any on Valentine's Day now,
doesn't it?

Frustrated Me

I try to be supportive of public education, since I worked in public education.
I try to go into my children's classrooms with open minds.
I don't go in there to spy or search for fault.
But I feel so frustrated sending my son away to school--
a supposedly safe place of learning--
when so many frustrating things are happening.

I generally say don't complain, just do something about it.
But I've tried
and so far nothing's changed.

I see
*Teachers teaching curriculum, and not people. You are not hired to teach your reading program, you are hired to teach kids to be readers. If they are ready to learn and use strategies and skills that are "more than one grade level ahead of curriculum", than by golly why can't they?
*Teachers shaming kids in order to get them to behave, i.e. name on board, "everyone point to the person who is talking", "You are such a naughty kid today."  For serious, I saw and heard all that.
*Teachers speaking in the Third Person. Do you know how hard it is to get your children to speak correctly when they hear things like "Mrs. ___ (refers to self) told Brandon (who she is looking in the eyes and talking to) to get out his book." "Go put it on Mrs. ___'s table." "Mrs. ____ said to line up." all day at school. From someone who is supposed to be instructing children in the language arts. Yes, these are all direct quotes from the teacher, all referring to herself, all things I heard while volunteering in my son's class. No wonder at home he looks at me and says "What does mommy want to do now?" "Can K(himself) go outside?" No more third person please.

I know that not all teachers are like that.
There are some amazing educators out there
who see themselves as professionals
and strive for best practice.
But why can't my son by in their class?

On the Court

Kacin is so happy basketball season has started.

He loves it.

He's been talking about playing basketball

for over a year now.

Once he got rid of his first-game jitters,

he had a blast running around

and he was so proud he shot a basket.

Kyler still says soccer is his number one,

but he's loving basketball

and playing well with his team.

He has some awesome coaches

who are teaching him well and helping him have fun.

Go Wolverines and Dragons!