Kindergarten Graduate and Birthday Boys

First this happened:

Alex finished Kindergarten and is now, officially, in grade school.  Oh my.  It seems Kindergarten was great for him and he's learned a lot and has become more confident when trying to learn new things.  In the fall he was very resistant to reading, but now can read or sound out almost any word.  He's still very timid about it and if the word is too big or there are too many words on a page he whines and wants to give up, but we'll be working on that through summer and hopefully help him gain some confidence. 

When he wants to, he is pretty good at sounding things out as well:

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Then these two celebrated their birthdays:

For John we just did a lot of shopping.  He's lost a lot of weight and has recently started running and all of his clothes were just hanging off of him.  We took him to Red Robin for lunch and tried to be nice to him all day long :)

For Max, we threw him a birthday party with friends at a local play and pizza place complete with a Lego themed cake:

On his actual birthday Monday he requested to go to Chuck E. Cheese, so we went there, the boys (including John) played video games and earned something like 225 tickets (which, when redeemed earned them a balloon, 2 boxes of nerds and a small tub of playdough)

Then he wanted to go to his favorite store, Bricks and Minifigs, a Lego store, and we picked up 4 more Lego Dudes.

We ended the day with Happy Meals at McDonald's play land. 

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The festivities began on Friday and continuted through Monday and it was great to spend 4 days celebrating these three guys who I love so very, very much. 

Summer, BRING IT ON!

I am SO ready for summer to start!  While many of my other mom-friends are dreading the next three months, I Can. Not. WAIT!

Alex has been in afternoon Kindy because when he started school last Fall John was working nights and had Alex been in a daytime class, he'd never see his Daddy during the week.  So we opted for afternoons and it worked out great, except for the fact that Kindy was right in the middle of the day, 12:30-3:05, which meant we couldn't go anywhere in the mornings because there wasn't enough time before school, I couldn't go anywhere with Max in the afternoons because Alex was only in school for 2.5 hours, and by the time I picked Alex up from school, once we did homework and had snacks, it was the end of the day. 

Spending the entire school year chained to his afternoon Kindy schedule made me long for free summer days and I made the decision not to put either boy in any classes, camps or sports because I just wanted to be free!

However, last week the boys went with some friends to "buddy day" at their Taekwondo gym and the boys fell in love.  They BEGGED to go back the next two days, so I've decided to put both of the boys in Taekwondo.  The nice thing about this is that we can go to any of the classes during the week for their belt level. We can go every day, once a day, twice a day, once a week...as much or a little as we want, so we still have some freedom ;)

Then I signed the boys up for a summer of free bowling at the local bowling alley (just pay for shoe rental), but again, we can go or not go as many or as few times as we'd like.

Then I remembered that the school district provides free lunches throughout the summer (for kids only) and how Alex loved that last year and he plans to get hot lunch next year as a First Grader, so we'll probably go get lunches at the school a lot as well for both the practice and the free food.

My mom sent the boys some money for Max's birthday and Alex's Kindy graduation, so we went and bought the boys new bikes for the first time ever.  They were really excited, so I plan to put on my running shoes and chase the boys down bike paths with a box of bandaids a fair amount this summer as well.

Of course we'll also have playdates and berry picking and picnics and afternoons by the pool and building sandcastles on the bank of the Willamette and weekends at the beach poking at tidepool creatures.  And I've committed to running in a 5k with a few girlfriends this fall, so we'll spend time training for that (I can only run 1 mile at a slug's pace right now, so we have a LOOONG way to go before I'm ready to run a 5k!). My lazy summer is already looking pretty busy and it doesn't even start for 2 more days!!

Sun Drunk

The sun has finally come out here in the PNW, and we find ourselves in the midst of a Vitamin D high.  It's kind of like being drunk. You love everyone, everything makes you happy, your surroundings are suddenly SO PRETTY, OMG!  Then you overdo it, you don't stop when you should. You stay out too long and the next day you are pink and sore and suffering from your first sunburn of the season.  Sunny day hangover.

We spent our first sunny day in Woodburn, Oregon at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.  Last year we went on Easter weekend, but this year we were too sick that week, so we waited until this weekend to go, and I'm glad we did.  75 degree weather and the fields were in full bloom.

Much frolicking was done.

When we finally got back to our car we found that it had sunk into the mud.  Normally this turn of events would cause me to freak out in a hysterical panic, especially because I had other plans that afternoon.  But still high on sunshine, I found it hilarious, and when John and I couldn't push the car forward or back, we enlisted the help of a carfull of European tourists to push us out.  Even with five extra people, the car had trouble budging.  Eventually we were able to rock it out of the rut and went home, but by then the kids were STARVING and I was going to be too late to attend my friend's open house.  Bummed as I was about that, I still chalked it up to a fantastic day with my family.  We fed the boys frozen pizza and ice cream and I passed out in a sun-drunken stupor until John woke me up to help him tuck the boys in to bed.

 

Construction Zone

When we moved into this apartment, I loved that the buildings were a bluish green color and kind of just blended into the trees and bushes on the hills.  We didn't live here long before the complex was on the market and they began doing inspections and updates to try to sell it.  They painted the buildings this awful tan and orange color and not only were the colors horrid, but they didn't even do a good job, all of the paint on our door chipped off (with the help of paint picker John). 

Eventually the complex was purchased and they began another round of updates.  The roofing, which, being in a bottom floor apartment didn't really bother us much.  But now they're redoing the entire exterior of the buildings and it is a HUGE pain in the ass.  While I am beyond thrilled to get rid of that godawful orange and tan, living in a construction zone (we're in week 3 of probably 6) sucks.  Oh it sucks so bad.

The good news is they are reinsulating the entire building, they put in new windows and doors (THAT was a fun day, let me tell ya) and putting up brand new wood siding and painting it a more neutral color.  So in the end, it will be like living in a brand new building.  But for now I'm stuck inside, shades closed (so I don't feel like I live in a fishbowl with construction guys right outside my windows all day long) with people banging on the walls 8 hours per day.  Our patio is blocked off and when we go out the front door we have to dodge hammers and nail guns, weave our way around the 6 generators (helpfully placed right in front of my kitchen windows for MAXIUM noise), electrical cords, ladders, table saws and try to stay out of the construction worker's way.

If this was summer, we'd be at the pool or at the park to escape the noise, but since it is winter/spring and rainy, and I don't have a car, we're stuck inside turning up the volume on the TV and mommy popping Tylenol to fend off the headaches.

For the most part, I don't really mind apartment living, and though we were planning to move either this summer or next, I'm thinking that to make living through this construction bullshit worthwhile, we'll have to stay in the apartment for a few more years to at least enjoy the finished product.

Completely Uninteresting Resolution Status Update

On January 1, 2013 I would really like to be able to say that I managed to keep all of my resolutions.  To that end, I am adding an element of accountability throughout the year, just a checkin to see where I am at with them every few months.  So, without further ado, is my 3 month report:

Goal 1:  Stay on our current eating plan. We've been doing a Paleo-type diet since October and have been very happy with it.  I say Pale-type because while we eat mostly fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and meats, we're still eating some processed foods and going out to eat a lot.  I want to try to move toward an all whole food diet with far less cheating and really limit our eating out.

Progress:  Well, John has kicked butt on this and has basically turned into a completely different guy.  This has caused me no little amount of anxiety because I have not been able to stay on our plan.  I did fine up until February, I'd lost 20 lbs and suddenly I began emotionally stress eating every damned thing I could get my hands on.  What I DID manage to stick to was whole foods.  We hardly buy any processed foods anymore and I make nearly every single thing we eat from scratch.  In fact I even experimented with making my own ketchup and gummy fruit snacks (both of which were unsuccessful, sadly).  I expect to get my shit together very soon here as the thing that was stressing me out is coming to an end and I can uncurl myself from the fetal position and get on with my life.

 Goal 2: I want to be able to run a 5k.  I can't even do one mile at a slow jog right now.  I don't know if I'll actually do an official 5k race, but I'd like to be able to at least jog a 5k on the treadmill by the end of the year.

Progress:  I followed the C25k program for a few weeks until I was able to jog 1 mile without a walking break, which made me stupid proud, because seriously, this body, jogging?  It ain't easy, let me tell ya.  But then I stopped for a few weeks, and I'm back to square 1 again.  The good news is I am back to working on it and doing the C25k program and I have enlisted some friends to help keep me motivated and accountable.

Goal 3:  Earn some money. I have the ability to earn some money by writing, yet I lack the time and discipline to do it.  I need to start making a financial contribution to our household, even if it's not that much, something is better than nothing.  My goal is to turn in at least one small writing assignment every week day (or at least 5 days per week).  Ideally I will be able to find the time to do several more, but I'll start with one a day and go from there

Progress:  Well here I've had success.  My goal was 5 articles per week and I'm turning in 5 articles per DAY.  So, yeah, kicking some butt here.  

Goal 4: I think I'll unofficially join The Compact. I will attempt to buy nothing new for a year. I suspect we'll still buy new for gifts and some personal items, but my main goal is to THINK before we BUY.  To buy something used you have to go out and search for it, not just stop into a store and pick it up. Ideally I'll be able to buy from local and small businsesses for our new-stuff needs.  I won't enforce this with John or the boys, but I will encourage them to get on board with me whenever possible.

Progress:  Other than food, I haven't bought anything new in 2012.  Which is incredible since I've purchased a lot of stuff.  I've even managed to get John on board with this goal!  The only thing he bought new was a BluRay player (ours died and we needed one since he'd spent the last year or so converting his DVD collection to BluRays), but he bought a floor model at a discount, so it's not REALLY new.  We've both made lists of things we need/want and we hunt around for them at thrift stores, craigslist and garage sales.  We've been able to buy a lot of stuff we wouldn't normally be able to afford on our strict budget and it's been a lot of fun! 

Goal 5:  Learn something new.  Right now I'm thinking I'd love to learn to paint with watercolors, or make jewlery or learn karate.  By the end of the year I'd like to have learned at least one new thing.

Progress:  Well, I've done a lot of new cooking, and jogging is new, but those are part of other goals, so I don't think I've done anything specifically Goal 5ish yet.

 

Good Old Days Today

I'm becoming increasingly aware of the fact that John and I are very likely living the best years of our lives right now.  That today will one day become the "good old days" we look back on with fondness and nostalgia. 

In terms of family life, I'm not sure it gets better than having small children.  Not babies anymore, but not really big kids yet.  They still think we're the most important and most awesome people in the universe and for the most part they can be disciplined and distracted by a reward of going to the dollar store to pick out a cheap toy (or not getting to go, if they've been naughty).  Any bad behaivior they may exhibt at this point is temporary, fixable, not too terribly worrisome because they're young enough to work on it.

That said, raising two young boys can feel like a hellish gauntlet of timeouts, tantrums, picky eating and breaking up brother vs brother wrestling matches before someone gets killed.  Though I realize we've got it pretty damned good right now, sometimes I forget to appreciate it during the day to day grind.  Too often days and weeks go by and the next thing I know someone's outgrown a pair of pants or these shoes got too small or my baby has learned to write his name.  I become worried that if I blink my boys will suddenly be grown and I've missed it! 

I can imagine us in old age saying "remember when we were broke and living in that apartment in Beaverton?"  We'll talk about how much it sucked to only have one car and how the budget was tight, but how much more we enjoyed our weekends togther when we got to "splurge" once a week and take the boys to a buffet and then head over to the Goodwill to look for awesome bargains.  Remember when we were so excited about that old free TV for the bedroom?  Or refurnished our living room for $60?  Remember when you came home and wondered why we had a new coffee table and I sheepishly told you about how I liberated it from the dumpster like that couple on Portlandia?  Remember when we moved into that apartment we thought we'd stay for 6 months and we lived there for years and years? (going on 3 now!).  Remember how being broke made me start writing for money and how awesome it made me feel to contribute to our finances by doing something I loved?  Remembe how even though I had to stay up late at night to write and you went to bed early because you worked that crazy early shift we'd still make time to watch TV together for an hour after the kids went to bed?  Remember how we felt like such a team?  Remember when Alex used to steal stuff out of the recycling bin and tape it to his bedroom wall?  Remember when Max would sneak into the bedroom every single night and snuggle with me? Remember how we appreciated everything just a little bit more?

Yeah, I think this is the good life. I'll try to remember to appreciate more while I'm living it.

 

A Great Way to Start the Day

I'm asleep, but the feeling of being watched is beginning to rouse me. 

I'm pretty sure it's Max, he sneaks into my bed every night, but usually he's curled up in my arms with his back against my belly.  I become aware of the fact that I'm laying on my side and Max isn't in his usual spot.  He's behind me, leaning over my head.

Right about when I'm beginning to wonder if he's plotting some disgusting practical joke, he leans over and kisses me on my forehead and whispers "I love you Mama."

Oh Maxie, you have no idea how much I love you too.