February 2017

I got the kids Valentine’s all ready before we left for Hawaii.  The boxes were so cute!

I got the mailbox and let Kylee paint it however she wanted.  Easy.

Dylan chose Pikachu (I was leaning towards a pokeball but he liked Pikachu) and I had him draw the arms and legs and stuff.  He was very willing to do it himself, but I had a couple things I still needed to get so we waited and then he was busy when I sat down to do it again so I just did most of it.  But it’s cute!

Sadie loves unicorns, so when I saw this idea on Pinterest I knew she had to have it even if it meant that I did all the work and she couldn’t really help.  But she WANTED to help.  And tried to help a lot.  But it turned out really cute!!  And huge.  And she loved it so WIN!

I let the kids choose from a few different options of valentine’s to hand out.  Kylee chose chips (Pirate’s Booty).  Dylan chose slime (because, duh).  Sadie chose sticky hands, because we had them already and it was easy and they are fun.

Valentine’s is a fun holiday.  And I know there are plenty of moms out there that let their kids decorate their own boxes without any help.  And just pick up whatever little packages of valentines with candy they have at the store.  And that is totally fine!  I get it!  I personally love the cute valentines stuff on Pinterest and really enjoy doing it.  I don’t go all out with every holiday or every project.  I’m in the process of trying to simplify my life so I don’t feel so overwhelmed all the time.  But I had fun this year.

Soon after we got home from Hawaii, Ryan was complaining about Kaden’s hair.  I agreed that something needed to be done, but I didn’t like the way he had trimmed it the last time.  And I liked his long hair, I just wanted it styled better.  Here’s his before picture.

He was having fun climbing the treacherous steps to our treehouse under the stairs, and making me pull him down from the top since he can’t maneuver his way back down (or he doesn’t want to try).

The main reason I told Ryan not to cut it right away is that Kaden hates it.  He hates the clippers.  He hates all loud machines.  Vacuums, hair-dryer, food processor, industrial toilets…  Every time we mentioned a hair cut he said “No!”  And acted all stressed.  I told Ryan it wasn’t worth it.  Ryan was talking about having me hold his hands, or distract him with fruit snacks somehow.  But he was not happy.

So I took all the kids to see Moana, but we left Kaden behind with Ryan.  Moana was really fun to see especially after I had just been to Hawaii.  Ryan and Kaden were gone when we got back, but when they came in, his hair was chopped.  My first thought was “did you get a ‘before’ picture??”  Of course not.  So no more long hair.  And no before picture.  Sad.  But, the funniest thing, when we saw his hair and we were shocked that Ryan was able to do it without any help since Kaden was so against it, we said “did you get a haircut??”  And Kaden smiled big and all he said was “treat.”  We laughed and laughed.  He’s so cute.  It was actually “teet” because that’s how he says it.

Speaking of, I was told about the Infant and Toddler program from a neighbor who heard me saying I was concerned about his speech.  She told me they give therapy to kids for free under the age of three.  I got the information and called and they came out to evaluate him.  It’s been kind of a long process and probably more work than it’s worth honestly.  First the case manager came out to discuss all the documents and legal stuff with me.  Then a lady came out to evaluate him.  She tested him on every level, not just speech.  Coordination, language, etc, etc.  Asked him to do lots of things, mostly playing with toys though.  Sadie is always there and loves to try and help, which is never much help at all…  Anyway, she called me with her results and said he is actually above average on a couple areas such as fine motor skills, etc.  But that he has no deficits, meaning he doesn’t qualify for the program.  However, she felt like his speech articulation might be a special circumstance that they could make an exception on.  So they sent another lady out to test him on speech.  It was cute.  He sat at the table looking at pictures while she asked him questions about what things were.  She got a good idea of his speech deficits and decided that he could benefit from some therapy.  Yay!

Since then she has come to work with him a couple times (in March).  And we play and talk and she gives me ideas on how to work with him, but really nothing I haven’t already known or been doing.  I guess I expected her to work more with trying to teach him how to make his mouth make the ‘s’ sound.  Like someone with a lisp.  Or the ‘k’ sound, just learning how to move the tongue.  But none of that yet.  And I don’t know, maybe he’s too young for that kind of thing.  It is free so it’s hard to complain, but my time is actually pretty valuable to me and it takes a morning that I could be using to run to the library or the grocery store, things I don’t have much time to do during the week.  So I’ve had a bit of a bad attitude towards it.  I’m going to keep trying for a couple more visits, but he’s actually been speaking TONS better the last month or two and so Ryan and I are really not worried anymore.  We never would have really been worried at all if he hadn’t had the set-back when he was 1 where he was talking and then stopped.  I just don’t know how much damage was done to his little brain.  But for now he seems to be doing just fine so my mind is more at ease.

Kylee had her Greek Festival while Ryan and I were in Hawaii.  She had finished all her projects and was all ready.  But I did read in an email something about costumes, but they were optional.  I had enough on my plate.  And I stress every time someone mentions costumes!!  Because I don’t have a bunch of random costume items at my house.  It seems like people are always saying “dress up like a pioneer!”  I don’t have pioneer clothing!!!  Why would I?  And I am capable of sewing some simple things, but I don’t want to go through all that effort for a costume that will be worn for one little thing and never again.  Though, I guess the pioneer costumes would be used more since that seems to come up all the time.  But I don’t want to!  So I ignored the costume part.  Parents were also invited to the Greek Festival but I knew I was going to be gone.  And I had a full schedule of things I needed Cheryl to do for my kids while we were gone so I didn’t want to ask her to drag Kaden and Sadie to the school to see the festival.

Well, Kylee told Grandma about the costume and Cheryl just improvised.  She had this nightgown from many years ago that she decided would work well.  I think they did a great job!  And she went to school to see Kylee too.  Luckily she didn’t have to drag the younger kids along because she had her mother in town hanging out with the kids for the week as well so they stayed home with her.  Worked out well!  Grandma sure is great!

Here’s a pic of Kylee at Activity Days.  She has a fun group of girls!  I miss working with the Activity Day girls.

Kaden was acting a bit cuddly at church and ended up falling asleep on my lap.  I cuddled him and enjoyed it because I know he won’t be little for much longer.  Then we sent him off to nursery.  He went just fine, and he wasn’t cranky in nursery, but when I went to pick him up the leader told me he thought he might be fevering because he was not acting himself, just cuddling and not moving much.  He was content to just cuddle.  I took him home, and sure enough he had a fever.  Ugh!  Poor kid. And nice germs spread to all.  I do enjoy the sick cuddles though.

He was feeling better this day.  He was harassing me while I was eating.  He climbed onto my chair and stood up behind me.  Then wrapped his arms around my neck and was just being really cute.  When Ryan pulled out his phone to take a picture, Sadie jumped in too.  Being a mom is a pretty awesome gig.

And a quick picture of Ingrid and Sydney and I.  I brought her lunch because she’s been working so much that we don’t have much time to see each other anymore.  Love my friends!