For Valentine's Day, we mostly celebrated it on the 13th since it was a Friday and we don't like going out on the actual day when we have to fight insane crowds. Plus, the boys' Valentine's parties at school were on Friday as well.
Thursday evening, Cruise realized that he hadn't helped me put his Valentines together when I asked him to, so he was in a panic to make some of his own for his favorite people. I put paper, stickers and crayons together that night so he could make Valentines before he left for school. I woke up that morning with he and Jett displaying their beautiful hand-made Valentines.
I did Cruise's class party and had a couple other moms help, which is always nice because then my hardest job is just delegating. We first did the passing out of Valentine's since last year was crazy and took longer than we thought. After that was finished, the kids made a heart chomper, which looks like this:
Then I did a game where the kids were blindfolded and they had to draw a heart. It actually turned out more fun than I had thought it would be, so that's always good. After that, we had heart-shaped rice krispy treats and called it a day!
After school, Dave & I exchanged Valentine's gifts. I got Dave some cologne that he's been wanting for a while, and of course, a completely inappropriate card. Dave got me a dozen beautiful red roses and some new candles with a very beautiful card.
I ordered a couple heart shaped pizzas from Tenney's for the boys and for Dave's brother Joey and his wife Linsey. They were coming to babysit so Dave and I could go out. They showed up at 5:30 and then we left for Rodigio Grill in American Fork. I always have to physically and mentally prepare myself for Rodigio. As I've gotten older, feats such as this are extremely difficult. I mean, I barely made it out of the restaurant. I had to heal-toe it all the way to the door all while leaning on Dave. But the meal was, as usual, delicious. They had a Valentines Special, which means it costs more and you get either a specialty drink or dessert with your meal. So one of us chose the drink and the other the dessert so we could could share them both. Unfortunately, the dessert was eaten because it was delicious and paid for, not because there was any room left in my stomach.
The next morning I woke up and made everyone heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon, and orange juice. And that was my contribution to Valentine's Day.
A Boys Update
Let's start with Cruise. Cruise has been doing awesome in school. I attended his PTC (Parent Teacher Conference) earlier this month and his teacher was really happy with how well he was doing in reading. His math is coming a long as well, but still behind. He is participating in quite a few activities and classes with the mainstreamed 2nd graders. He has done computers, P.E., and now is is art. He also attends one of the 2nd grade classes during their science time twice a week so he can participate in that. He really loves it and is always so excited to tell me about what he learned that day. He is behaving relatively well in class and is getting along with all his peers.
On February 3rd, Cruise was asked if he was interested in participating in the Storytelling Festival at the school. I almost cried when I got the e-mail. Just 3- 4 years ago I couldn't get this kid to talk, let alone tell a story! And now he's being invited to participate in the Storytelling Festival with his peers!
We got started right away since we didn't have a lot of time to prepare. I asked him what story he wanted to do and he kept telling me he wanted a science story. Since we didn't really have one of those, we decided to make one up! I tried to get his input, but he kept getting confused by the process, so Dave and I wrote it and then I sat down and read it to him. At first he was really overwhelmed and resisted because he thought he had to get it word for word, but I told him to just tell the story how he wanted to tell it.
So every day we practiced. I would just sit on the couch and tell him to go! And he would do it differently every day. Which actually made it so much more fun and exciting because I had no idea how things were going to go. One day, just a few days before he had to tell it to his class, he introduced the character Labro the lab rat. So that evening, I put together a sock puppet lab rat and had it waiting for him the next morning.
On the 19th, Cruise told his story to his class with his lab coat on and Labro interacting with him, and it went awesome! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Then on the 20th, he performed for all the 2nd grade and did AWESOME! We found out last night that he was chosen to perform in front of the whole school next week! I almost peed my pants. I couldn't believe it! Here I was thinking, 'Oh, he probably won't make it past the first round, but he will have fun and it will be a good experience.' I had no idea he would move on to compete with the rest of the school. It just shows that this kid will never cease to amaze me.
Lately Cruise has been really into learning about DNA, growing Venus Fly Traps, and creating electricity.
Jett has been doing awesome! I went to his PTC as well and his teacher only had good things to say about him. He has made HUGE improvements in all subjects since the beginning of the school year. She was so excited to show me how much he has learned. He is very well behaved in school, gets along with everyone, and always does his best work. She said that at the beginning of the year he was embarrassed to sing along or dance and now he is up dancing and singing with the rest of the group. I was absolutely beaming when I left PTC that night.
Jett loves to play with his friends and since it's been so nice outside recently, he spends most of his afternoons playing outside with his friends and brothers, usually playing Ghostbusters. Since the new family moved in across the street, Jett has another friend to play with named Colin.
A couple weeks ago I registered Jett for Kindergarten at Eaglecrest so he could attend the same school as Cruise. I can't believe he's going to be in Kindergarten! I'm so excited to have them in the same school even though it was a ridiculous amount of work just to make that happen. The hoops they make you jump through! Eek!
Lately Jett has been into building things with his toolset, playing computer games, and baking (below are pictures of Jett making banana bread with me). He has gotten so good at cracking eggs; he keeps all the shells out and even does it without getting egg on his hands!
Miles has had a rough couple of months. This month he has been okay, but the rash has still not gone away, which makes us think it's an allergy of some sort. We've tried taking him off of milk, then soy, then wheat, but it just seems like nothing is really helping. In some cases, the rash got worse. So he has an appointment with an allergist next week. The poor kid is itchy and uncomfortable, so we sometime rub a bunch of hydrocortisone cream on him and even give him an oatmeal bath which seems to help with the itch and redness.
Since Miles will be 17 months tomorrow, I figured I'd do his 17 month blog post right now.
Miles has gotten pretty fussy, but I'm not sure if it's the rash, teeth, or just starting the terrible 2s (which we all know starts around 18 months and lasts until they're 4). He will throw an absolute fit if Mom or Dad don't acknowledge him when we enter a room. He will stand and cry while I try to make dinner, so usually I have to pacify him with an episode of Sesame Street. He is always happy if someone is paying attention to him, if he is playing outside, or if he is in a bath. He could spend all day outside and never get tired of it. Just like his brothers. I spend a couple hours a day outside walking around with him. He likes to pick up small rocks and usually fills his tiny fists with them as he goes. He also likes kicking and throwing balls around, playing with the neighbor's dog Taz, "helping" Daddy outside while he's working on his projects, and getting absolutely filthy.
Miles is still a very picky eater. This month I was able to get him to eat a peanut butter sandwich, a carrot, and apple fries. He is still a big fan of rice, noodles, chips, broccoli, and hot dogs/sausage. He also is learning how to use utensils and is actually getting pretty good at it! He still refuses to use a sippy cup, which can be frustrating, and he still hates juice. But he will drink out of a cup as long as it's water.
Miles loves to rearrange everything, like mom's expensive food coloring, hair products, make up, and everything in the kitchen. He loves putting on his shoes and socks (because it means he's going outside). He will bring us his shoes when he wants to go outside and gets downright mad if we tell him not now. He has started trying to say 'ball', 'shoes', and 'Sesame Street' but is still figuring out the different sounds he can make. He will still sign 'more' and sometimes 'all done'. He waves bye-bye regularly now and is really good at communicating things to us, whether it be through pointing or flailing his body while screaming.
So that's the update!
Here are some pictures of the boys from the past couple weeks:
Since Miles will be 17 months tomorrow, I figured I'd do his 17 month blog post right now.
Miles has gotten pretty fussy, but I'm not sure if it's the rash, teeth, or just starting the terrible 2s (which we all know starts around 18 months and lasts until they're 4). He will throw an absolute fit if Mom or Dad don't acknowledge him when we enter a room. He will stand and cry while I try to make dinner, so usually I have to pacify him with an episode of Sesame Street. He is always happy if someone is paying attention to him, if he is playing outside, or if he is in a bath. He could spend all day outside and never get tired of it. Just like his brothers. I spend a couple hours a day outside walking around with him. He likes to pick up small rocks and usually fills his tiny fists with them as he goes. He also likes kicking and throwing balls around, playing with the neighbor's dog Taz, "helping" Daddy outside while he's working on his projects, and getting absolutely filthy.
So that's the update!
Here are some pictures of the boys from the past couple weeks:
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