Church Directory Mug Shot

Our latest family portrait for the church directory. Apparently Gavin and Wyatt thought we were doing the old time photos where you don't smile.

A Weekend of Ups and Downs

Started last week with a night out with the girls to celebrates 40th birthdays of 2 (much older, ha!) friends. Yummy meal at Wildfire in Eden Prairie, just a bit of a fiasco with the room rental minimum not being met resulted in Fred getting prime rib for lunch on Tuesday.

The boys finished up swim lessons at Foss on Tuesday. They both graduated to the next level - Jacob to Middle 4 and Gavin is on to Little 3. We'll do another session starting this coming week and they should be able to keep up with the fish in the lakes this summer.

Gavin in the pool.

Doing the backfloat with Ms Debra.

Jacob practicing his back kicks.

This was suppose to be a picture with his bookmark, but it was either in front of his face or this.

Jacob with his completion bookmark.

On Wednesday Jacob got off the bus and by the time he was at our front door he was sobbing. He has been "permanently fired" from "the club". Oh boy! His sobbing broke my heart. I was hoping with boys, there wouldn't be this cattiness. And it seems so young. We did a lot of talking about what good friends he has and how you don't want to be apart of a club that requires you to do something to get in or excludes other people. On Thursday he wanted me to pick him up from school, but I had him ride the bus. His bus driver was aware of what was going on (without me talking to him), so Jacob didn't sit by "those" boys. On Friday he got off the bus and happily declared that he'd been given another chance to be in the club. Again, I reinforced that he better not be part of a "club" that excludes anyone, knowing how hurtful that is. I hope he's learned a lesson thru this at least.

On Thursday I had conferences with Jacob's teacher. My parents came down to watch the boys, so I could go alone. We met Drea for lunch and I got to take Harley to the vet, so it was a productive day. Jacob's teacher said he's doing a good job. Average marks across the board, except in reading. He's actually one step above of what is required at the end of kindergarten, so I was impressed with that. I have noticed, he's becoming more proficient at reading and that is so fun to see. Now we are working on math, as adding and subtracting was the only category he got a "progressing" in instead of an "x" (meeting expectations). If anyone knows of a math camp...

Friday Fred had a poker night with some friends from work, so it was a long day with the boys, but we survived.

On Saturday morning, Jacob got to go to "Super Saturday" at the District Ed Center. When we arrived we saw Maggie from his preschool class and he flew out of the car so fast to say "hi" to her, I couldn't help but chuckle at him. He got to take a guitar class, play ball hockey, and make a tic-tac-toe board out of clay. Sounded like a fun morning.

That afternoon, Fred, Jacob and Gavin were going to head outside to scoop some of the poop that has accumulated from the 2 dogs over the long winter. Jacob and Gavin were ready and headed out while Fred put on his boots. By the time Fred got out, Jacob was down on the ice and bleeding from above the eye. Same spot as Gavin's, same 5 stitches. Jacob and Fred got to check out the new urgent care facility in Chaska and I am a fan. It was fast, his stitches look great, and we got tons of instructions. Jacob was tough, shed a tear when they gave him the Novocaine, but otherwise had no problem. Fred took Jacob and Gavin to Rango that evening and I shopped a bit with Adrea.

Today we had church, then we met up with Fred's mom, sisters and brother Corey and crew for lunch at a Mongolian grill in Burnsville. Then Jacob and Gavin had a birthday party for good friends Kyle and Avery at Pump-it-Up. Gavin hadn't napped and Jacob has his stitches, so I was a little nervous about my boys' behavior and such, but they were good and its always a great place to burn off energy.

Reaching New Heights

Auntie Drea has taken Jacob rock climbing at REI before and I've seen him scale the wall at the community center (about 10 ft high), but I was really impressed when I went to REI yesterday with him and he rang the bell at the top of the beginner wall. Adrea got us a membership at REI, so he could climb once a day for free, we need to get over there more often.

Jacob ready to climb

Drea reaching the top of level 2 wall.

Jacob on his way up, I was so intent on watching I almost forgot to take pictures.

See how high he is!

Ringing the bell.

Other pictures from last week:

Wyatt has found his toes and loves to put them in his mouth.

He doesn't always like to hang out in his exersaucer or his swing, but he'll lay around in his playpen for a long while and he's happy about it - see.

Finally, they take a suggestion from me. Jacob is "teaching" Gavin to read.

A lego tower taller than mom!

Friday Jacob had off from school, so we went swimming in the morning and then there was a "carnival" at the community center in the evening, so we went to that too. Jacob and Gavin made new friends while waiting in the long line for the bounce house and played many games of tag.

My parents came down on Saturday to take us out to lunch and hang out. Then Fred's parents came down in the evening to watch the boys while we went to card club. Only thing was was that I had missed the email telling me that card club was postponed. The hosts were quite surprised when we arrived on Saturday night and we felt pretty silly. But, we made the best of our pickle roll-ups for supper and hit a movie instead. We say "Just Go with It" and enjoyed it.

Jacob sang in church on Sunday morning - "When we Praise God". It had a lot of actions and Jacob really seemed to like it.

5 Month Update and February Recap

Wyatt is now 5 months old. He has done some sleeping through the night. He was kind enough to start that when Fred was in Texas for the week. I really appreciated it. I also appreciated my mom being here to help me through that week. I don't know how single parents survive or retain their sanity.

Wyatt 4 months vs 5 months.

Wyatt 's sticking out the tongue phase.

Grandpa Jeske with Wyatt.

Wyatt on his playmat, he's found his toes too.

Wyatt had rice cereal for the first time on Saturday night (March 5th). Last night he ate really nice and then slept from about 8 PM to 6:30 AM. So nice.

I was feeling quite guilty about the lack of pictures I've taken of Wyatt, so I've posted about all the ones I have of him. But then realized, I haven't taken pictures of my other boys either lately. I'm going to resolve to do better this month.

February recap:

I helped with stations at Jacob's school. Lost control of the kids at the end because they didn't want to look at the books or play the games that were available. (After volunteering again in March, I have decided that the second group I usually have is just a bit unruly.)

We had "Family Fun Night" for Jacob's school. Qdoba food, games, crafts, book sale, and silent auction (but I had no time to look at the items as I was just trying not to lose Jacob and Gavin). Fred stayed home with Wyatt, which was good as there really wasn't room enough to push a stroller around there.

Jacob and Gavin had dentists appointments and both did really well again. No cavities. Yeah!

Fred headed off snowmobiling in the U.P. even though his chest was paining him. He did have a pretty thorough work-up before he left and thankfully he was fine. I went up to Melrose for that weekend and attended the funeral of a friend's dad.

Upon returning from his snowmobile trip, Fred headed off for a week in Austin, TX for work. My mom was down most of the week, so I had help both day and night, which really made the week easy (but don't tell Fred).

Fred took Jacob and Gavin to "Hooked on Books" at the high school. LOTS of activities, games, and crafts. They were there for over 2 hours and still didn't get to see and do all the stuff.

We took directory pictures at church. Pictures weren't worth ordering.

I got to go out with Fred's co-workers to play bingo in Savage. None of us won. Last time we went to the Hopkin's VFW and won, so we'll be heading back there.

Went to "Oliver" in St Cloud with my mom, Alyssa and Maddie.

Watched Maddie's dance recital. She proclaimed herself as the "best" one there since she'd been doing it the longest.

Went out with friends to Big Bowl and then to see "Black Swan". Would not recommend the movie unless you like slightly psycho films.

This past Friday night my sisters and I went out to eat and then to Mystic Lake for the night. I didn't lose much money. We played "cosmic" bingo at midnight with a bunch of teenagers. We figured out why we were the oldest ones there - it was loud and they did dopey activities in between bingo games. We stayed up too late, so were not well rested upon returning to our families. Fred had a hard time keeping the boys from wrestling while I was gone and I think Jacob had about 4 bite marks from Gavin, including one on his cheek. Poor Jacob, but I do think he provokes Gavin a lot, so I have a hard time feeling too sorry for him.

Booty Butt Shake

Gavin has got a great wiggle to his "booty butt". Jacob does good with his non-existant butt.

Gavin also has a wink that I should get on video too.