27 Jan 2013

It was a nice quiet week.  Jeff was home with the kids for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday which meant I got to go to work at a descent time and get home in the evening.  Felicity spent the day with Nana and came home all sugared up and spoiled.  Helen is really enjoying school.  They have a little plastic mailbox by her classroom door where we can write her notes and "send" to them, she really likes that.  She seems to already be learning and making friends, so I'm happy about that.  I can't believe she'll be in kindergarten in only a few short months.

Arlo is cutting some molars so he has been cranky.  He found his spin brush to be the moth soothing, so we've let him carry around his toothbrush for the last few days.  He's at that very difficult, wiggly, and destructive age between a year and 18 months.  We spend most of our day chasing him around and saying "no".

We did water color paintings in family home evening this week and that was a big hit.  We had a movie night on Saturday with movie theater style candy and popcorn.  We made the family room dark and turned up the surround sound.  We watched a movie they got for Christmas, and lets just say Jeff and I should have screened it first.  Oh, well, that one has mysteriously disappeared.

I wasn't feeling well at work on Thursday and by Thursday night realized I was having a gallbladder attack.  That doesn't sound like a real thing, but that is the term for it.  I had a problem with my gallbladder when I was pregnant with Arlo and the doctor said I couldn't really do anything about until after he was born.  So I ate zero fat from Thursday to Sunday and it was finally passing Sunday morning.  I guess I need to make an appointment to see the primary care physician to get a referal to have it removed.  Fun.

We had a peaceful Sunday, I talked Jeff into doing some family history research with me and we ended up having a great and productive time.  In the evening, Felicity and I finally finished reading The Hobbit.  It was long and a more difficult read than I remembed, for a 6 year old anyway.  As we read I asked her questions and she seemed to be following quite well.  My favorite was the chapter when Bilbo approaches the dragon Smaug and introduces himself in riddle.

"'I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air.  I am he that walks unseen.' 
      'So I can well believe,' said Smaug, 'but that is hardly your usual name.'  
      'I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly.  I was chosen for the lucky number.'  
      'Lovely titles!' sneered the dragon.  'But lucky numbers don't always come off.'  
      'I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water.  I am from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.' 
      'These don't sound credible,' scoffed Smaug.  
      'I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles.  I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider,' went on Bilbo beginning to be please with his riddling."

Felicity and I discussed it and she understood all the riddle except the part about being from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.  When I reminded her that he was from Bag End and that the trolls never put him in a bag, she did a face palm, "duh, Mom".  I was very proud of her, she is an amazing little person.

We are hoping for a happy healthy week to come and hope that is the same for all we love.

20 Jan 2013

 So I'm not sure how I managed to miss posting last week, but luckily it was low key enough that I think I can do two weeks in one post!

Jeff went back to school and we are back on our "school schedule".  I am so not a morning person, but I have been trying really hard to go to bed by 8PM so that I can get up in the morning.  Jeff has been great and getting up with me at a quarter to four, which makes it easier.  It also has been giving him an opportunity for some quiet study time before the kids get up and have to get ready for school.

 Helen also started school this week.  She's going to the Early Childhood center for pre-school class on Tuesday and Thursday for three hours in the morning before she goes to the babysitter.  She has really enjoyed it so far and talks about her day with great enthusiasm. Felicity got her second quarter report card, and she is doing wonderfully.  She is well above grade level in reading and spelling.  She is doing fabulously and we are very proud of her and the progress she's made.  The only room for improvement is in math, she has an 80% average, so we've been doing a couple supplemental pages on our own each day. 

It was pretty cold this week and on Saturday we stayed in.  We got out the new Play-Doh toys the kids got for Christmas and we had a blast making food, creatures of all variety, and all sorts of things.

Jeff and I started our training classes for foster care licensing this past week.  It's going to be a big time commitment with eleven three hour classes in Tucson over the next few months.  It was an insightful experience and it was nice to have some one on one time with Jeff.  I was feeling slightly annoyed by all the requirements to be licensed; paperwork, training classes, fingerprint clearance, a home inspection, interviews, and a background check.  Then we did an exercise in our first training that gave me some perspective.  The instructor asked if anyone had a picture of one of their children, I offered one of Arlo and she passed it around while I described him.  Then she asked if for some reason he was removed from our house, how long would I want to know the person who took him into their home.  How much would I want to know about them?  What kind of skills would I want them to have?  It was eye opening for me, I will have to learn to be more empathetic..

 As part of our homework for the week, we had some family background paperwork to fill out.  It included questions about our childhoods and how our families dealt with anger, frustration, etc.  It also included questions about how we run our household.  It had assignments for the kids too.  They were asked to draw a picture of their family, their home, and include a new child or children that might come to stay with them.  I didn't help them, just turned the girls loose with the crayons.  I was so happy at what they drew.  Lots of smiling, happy people holding hands.  Helen included two extra children jumping on a trampoline with her, Felicity added four!  Maybe we are doing a good job.  I question myself daily, hoping and praying our best is good enough, and that our children will be happy and well adjusted, I think they are.

06 Jan 2013

 Happy New Year!  We are off to a great start at our house, we de-cluttered this week and took several boxes to be donated.  We reviewed last years resolutions and we were happy to see how well we did, and we came up with some new personal and family goals for 2013.  We also made some changes to our budget in hopes of finding that one golden system that works perfectly for helping us stick to our monthly budget.

We spent New Year's eve with the Bryson's doing a puzzle and enjoying a good time.  Every night this past week Jeff and I stayed up late and slept in late, it was great.  We took the kids to the park to play with their new softball/tee ball gloves and ball, and we had a great time doing that.  I was really surprised at how well Felicity could hit and catch.  Helen got bored pretty quickly as it wasn't as easy for her.  We went to the play ground when we were done and everyone had a good time swinging and sliding.

My Christmas cold turned into my New Year's cold, so I took Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off from work, esentially extending my holiday break by almost a week.  Now it's going to be even harder to get up early and go back tomorrow.  Jeff and I got to go on a date this week which was really nice.  We had lunch out and then went to see the Hobbit.  Felicity was devestated we wouldn't let her go to see it as we are almost finished reading the book together.  We told her we would see it first and if we thought it was appropriate for a 6 year old we would take her, but not to get her hopes up, because it was rated PG-13, so it wasn't likely we were going to let her see it.  As it turns out, it is not appropriate for a 6 year old, so she'll just have to wait.

We took a few trips to the store as well to spend gift cards and so I could dig through the Christmas sale items at Target.  I love that they mark their stuff down to 90% off.  I bought all the ribbon, bows, cards, tags, and ornaments to go with my candy baskets that I'll need for a couple of years.  I was tickled to get some new stocking hangers as well, for only $1 per pair.

As mentioned earlier, we did some de-cluttering, it is one of my favorite things to do.  It was almost entirely in our bedroom closet, where I keep all of my fabric and craft items.  My mom gave me several very large boxes of fabric and notions, and I had to sort and get rid of some of my stuff to find room for it.  It was fun to dig through my stuff.  I pulled out some cross stitching things to make each of us matching stockings for next Christmas.  It was a great week and now we have to go back to real life tomorrow.  I have work, Felicity has school, Helen will start pre-school on Tuesday, and Jeff goes back to school on Wednesday.  We hope everyone is off to a good start and has a great 2013!