01.29.12
Posted in Alex, Beth at 11:21 am by Shannon
So my plan to have all our classes on Mondays has failed miserably. What I didn’t bank on is that the Monday Tae Kwon Do class would be cancelled for low enrollment. This caused us to switch to the Wednesday class instead. We squeeze that in before getting together with the Finnegan’s. Then to add insult to injury, I told my girlfriend that if Beth would make the third child and save her soon-to-be cancelled Petite Poms class, then I would sign her up and save the class. Guess what? Beth was the third child. 
So we added that to our Tuesday nights. I was planning to sign her up in Feb anyway, so it was about 6 weeks early. She seems to like it, although not as much as Ballet. And since Adrianna is not signing up again, I’m not going to sign Beth up again.
Anyway, this means that we are at the YMCA 3 days a week, Mon-Tue-Wed. That will go up to 4 if Eric and I ever get around to going back to racquetball. Seems we’ve just been too busy to get it in lately. Maybe next week. And all three of those days I have to pick them up before the usual 5pm, cutting into my time after work when I try to catch up on things and do short shopping trips.
Next session Beth is going to start swimming again. She’s finally old enough for the no-parent Pike class, so I signed her up. She’ll be going from 4:30-5:00 on Thursdays. Alex will swim from 5:05 – 5:35 on Thursdays as well, so I only have to deal with swimming once a week. He’ll either be a Ray or a Starfish, but since it’s the same class, it really doesn’t matter. I’m not transferring him into the non-preschool classes just yet because he’d have to go into the first level (Pollywog) and I think he’d be totally bored going all the way back to the beginning. So I’m hoping to keep him in Ray/Starfish until he can go into the second level (Guppy) instead. The instructor I talked to was totally OK with that.
Beth will continue in Ballet and Alex will continue in Tae Kwon Do. We’ll stick to Wed because I don’t want to deal with Mon being cancelled again. An honestly, the timing of his class to Beth’s Ballet class was a bit of a challenge. So next session (starting mid-Feb), we’ll be at the Y on Mon, Wed, & Thu. Tue and Fri will be completely free. Hopefully that will be a bit easier than the current schedule since I will only have to pick them up early twice a week (Wed & Thu), and those days are mid-week instead of the entire beginning of the week when I’m most likely to shop.
Alex will also start ice skating again, but on Saturdays at noon this time. It’s a better time for us than the 6pm Sun night one. And since Beth is not ready for ice skating classes, I’m currently planning to sign myself up for Adult 2. As long as I’m going to be there, I might as well be active, right? I bought myself a cheap pair of skates so that I won’t have to pay for rentals anymore.
So that’s our crazy life at this time. Add to that the Beginning Java class that I signed myself up for, and this will probably be the last post I write for a while.
Alex in his Tae Kwon Do outfit:
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Posted in Alex, Beth at 8:16 am by Shannon
Ever since we took Beth’s nuk away, bedtime has been deteriorating. It hit the low point on the day that we allowed Alex to start sleeping in the upper bunk. Beth, of course, also wanted to sleep up there. It took hours to get her to fall asleep that night and it was a fight to get her to stay in bed. After some research online about how to get kids to go to bed, I decided that a bedtime routine was what the kids needed. That way they know exactly what they need to do, and when. And they know when we’re getting to the end and they will have to crawl in bed.
The first night we had a few less steps than we do now. I think we added 3 or 4 during the “trial” run. Also the first week they got a sticker for each step that they completed successfully. At the end of the week, if they got all their stickers, they got to stay up and extra hour on Saturday night. They both got to stay up that first week. But during that first week I decided that 182 stickers (13 steps * 2 kids * 7 days) was a bit much and I went looking for another idea. First I was going to just check-mark each step and they could get sticker for the last one. Then I realized that if I got a set of small stampers and stamp pads, that would work too. So I ordered them with two day shipping and got them before we started the second week. The stamps work great, plus they’re faster than the stickers. The rule is that they can pick one stamp to use per night, and then only one color so as to try and keep the stamp pad clean.
Here’s the list of tasks. I set the order of the first 2 and the last 2, but the kids got to decide the order of the middle ones. That way they felt that they had some say in what was going on. Thus we ended up with story time before pajama time, which isn’t the way I’d do it, but it seems to be working. Note that the last step is key – they have to stay in bed all night or they don’t get their sticker in the morning. This was an attempt to get Beth to stop getting out of bed and coming out to find us. (And it worked!)
- Snack Time
- Put away Toys
- Go Potty
- Wash Hands
- Brush Teeth
- Read Books
- Put on Pajamas
- Put Clothes in Hamper
- Monster Spray
- Get Glow Stick
- Get Stuffed Animals
- Get Tucked in Bed
- Stay in Bed until Morning
And here’s the chart:
(This is Alex’s from last week with the stamps)
Last night was the first night that they didn’t go to bed at the same time. Because Beth refused to put toys away one night and didn’t get her stamp. I tricked her into going upstairs willingly when said she wanted to wash her hands (it was time anyway). Got all the way to putting on pajamas before she balked. When she started to go downstairs, I said she wouldn’t get her stamps and then she wouldn’t get to stay up late next week either. She came back and finished the chart. She gave her usual protests about being scared to go to sleep. And then didn’t cry after I closed the door. She was asleep when Alex went to bed. We’ll see if she gets all her stamps this week.
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01.27.12
Posted in Alex, Beth, Holidays, Jenna at 11:29 pm by Shannon
This year’s Christmas was a little different than past years. Mainly because my parents and my sister were with us. I think my last Christmas with my parents was 1999 and I got together with my sister on Christmas in 2002, less than a year before she moved back to Ohio. So it was really nice to have everyone together. We set alarms for 6:15 on Christmas morning. My parents had asked what time did I think the kids would get up and I said “6:20″. I was off by 5 minutes – it was 6:25! Our very good friend Alica also came over to watch the kids open presents since she was in town for the first time in a very long time.
So the kids went to town on the presents. Alex opened his super-fast while Beth took absolutely forever. We had held one group of presents for the end because I didn’t want something to accidentally get opened before other items. That item was our big family gift – a Wii. I wanted to make sure they opened that before they opened the games for it. After breakfast, I went into the basement to hook it up. Eric came down to help, and then we called the kids down. And then spent a good 2 hours down there (all 9 of us!) playing Wii Sports. I think it was a hit!
So as usual, here’s the list (for future reference if anyone wonders where a certain beloved gift came from or how old it is)
Alex
- Diesel 10 engine (Santa)
- Diesel engine (Santa)
- Sir Topham Hat figure (Santa)
- Zhu Zhu Pets Basic Vehicle – Motorbike & Zhu Zhu Baby (Santa)
- Sticker Book (Santa)
- Cars 2 DVD (Us)
- Cars 2 Wii game (Us)
- Battery operated Lantern (Us)
- Playmobil Sea Serpent “Nessie” (Jenna)
- Hot Wheels Sea Serpent Island Playset (Beth)
- LEGO Sticker Book (Grandma & Grandpa)
- LEGO Cars 2 Flo’s V8 Café (Grandma & Grandpa)
- LEGO Cars 2 World Grand Prix Racing Rivalry (Aunt Leigh)
- Cross-Stitched Ornament (Aunt Leigh)
- Quarry Mine Tunnel (Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa)
Beth
- Thomas the Tank Engine (Santa)
- Annie and Clarabel (Santa)
- La La Loopsy Mini Doll (Santa)
- Zhu Zhu Babies Playset Ladybug Stroller & Zhu Zhu Baby (Santa)
- Sticker Book (Santa)
- Blue’s Clues DVD (Us)
- Sesame Street: Ready, Set, Grover! Wii game (Us)
- Battery operated Lantern (Us)
- Playmobil Girl With Pets (Jenna)
- Team Umizoomi DVD (Alex)
- Dress up Clothes (Grandma & Grandpa)
- Dress up Shoes (Grandma & Grandpa)
- LEGO Cars 2 Mater’s Spy Zone (Aunt Leigh)
- Cross-Stitched Ornament (Aunt Leigh)
- Snow Mountain Tunnel (Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa)
Jenna
- The Storymatic (Santa)
- Photo-opoly (Santa)
- 5: Life Playbook (Us)
- Pokemon Wii Game (Us)
- Artist & Display Gift Card (Us)
- Amazon Gift Card (Us)
- Claire’s Gift Card (Us)
- How to Draw Nickelodeon Avatar: The Last Airbender (Alex)
- Rory’s Story Cubes (Beth)
- Gamestop Gift Card (Grandma & Grandpa)
- Simulated Emerald Earrings (Grandma & Grandpa)
- Simulated Ruby Earrings (Grandma & Grandpa)
- Simulated Ruby Necklace (matches earrings) (Aunt Leigh)
- iTunes Gift Card (Aunt Leigh)
- Cross-Stitched Ornament (Aunt Leigh)
- iTunes Gift Card (Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa)
And here’s a couple of pictures. The rest are in the photo gallery, which has finally been updated as well.
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Posted in Alex, Beth, Holidays at 11:20 pm by Shannon
Bear with me as I’m a little behind. I’ve had this post written for a couple of weeks, but wanted to add pictures and just have not had the time.
On Dec 23rd the kids had a special treat. Santa visited them at daycare! Of course most of you probably already know that Santa was my father. As it turns out, Alex pegged him in less than a minute. They denied it and Dad said that he thought that Alex might have bought into it by the time he left. And when he got home, Alex didn’t say anything about it being grandpa. We think Barb also worked on him after Dad left. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll be able to pull this off again, if Dad ever ends up in our vicinity for Christmas again before the kids outgrow Santa.
So here’s some pictures of the visit:
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12.17.11
Posted in Alex, Beth at 9:13 pm by Shannon
Today we had a busy day. We started our morning by putting together the side walls of the kid’s gingerbread kits. That step had to sit for an hour, so we had breakfast while we waited.
(Lest anyone think I actually had time to mess around with trying to bake these things myself, I bought the kits a few days ago at Michael’s. I bought two simply because I did not want to deal with two kids trying to decorate the same house!)
At 9:15 we put the roofs on. That step had to sit for 2-3 hours. Fortunately for me, we already had plans for the rest of the morning.
We left almost immediately, headed for Discovery World and it’s two day train exhibit. The kids lasted there for 3 hours! That was an hour longer than we thought we’d be there. At one table, the kids both got to run a train.
We moved on after the trains and checked out the rest of the museum. We got home about 1:30 and made lunch before getting ready to decorate the gingerbread houses.
Here’s a few shots of them before, during, and after decorating. Alex did some of his piping, but I did all of Beth’s and the rest of Alex’s. I think they had fun doing it. I would *maybe* like to make my own next year, but I have to plan really far ahead because I’ve heard the gingerbread part can be difficult. (Can you tell Alex just loves having his pictures taken these days? )
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12.12.11
Posted in Beth at 10:32 pm by Shannon
The parents were invited in tonight for the last 15 minutes of Beth’s last Ballet class of the session. Granted, the teacher asked me to stick around for each class after week 3, but Eric had not attended before. I still enjoy watching her after all these weeks, but he also said it was very cute and I think he was glad he came.
I opted to make a video in the hopes that we could get some pictures from it later. Which I’m sure I will. But for now, here’s the video. Please note that the songs range from 2 minutes to almost 5 minutes, so it may take a little bit of time to download the movie. Enjoy!
Frosty the Snowman:
Their usual warm-up song (yes, she did this second):
Going on a Bear Hunt:
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12.04.11
Posted in Alex at 9:12 am by Shannon
Last year before Christmas, Alex brought home a Santa face with rings attached to the bottom so that we could count down the days to Christmas. This year, it was a bell with a really cute poem:
Click to make this bigger (and readable):
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12.03.11
Posted in Beth at 9:09 am by Shannon
Last weekend I was standing in the kitchen when Beth walked in. She headed straight for a drawer, opened it and reached in. Came out with a screwdriver. Then she walked out of the kitchen with it, without saying a word. So I followed her. Then I went and got the camera because this is what she was doing:
She had dropped something down the grate and was trying to get it out herself. Fortunately for me, she had the wrong screwdriver because a few minutes later, she dropped that in too.
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11.30.11
Posted in Alex, Beth, NaBloPoMo at 8:58 pm by Shannon
Well here it is, the last day of NaBloPoMo. Somehow I thought that we’d have plenty to blog about, but at times I didn’t have much simply because of spending so much time at the Y. And time at the Y usually didn’t mean time with the kids, but rather time when kids were in classes and I was doing my own thing.
The new schedules came out for the two sessions running from Jan-April. We’ve scoped things out and I decided that since I am going to be taking a programming class through MATC (Milwaukee Area Technical College) next semester, we’re going to cut Alex back to 2 classes instead of 3. In Feb when the 2nds session is starting, we’ll evaluate if we can handle more. Fortunately my class is online, so I can do the studying and homework on my schedule (i.e. after kids are in bed and on lunch-breaks) and not have to worry about making (or missing) actual classes. This class will help me to be more valuable at my work -and less likely to be laid off! And my work will even reimburse me for the tuition, so that makes it even better. I’ve been considering this for 2 years and could never find the time. Probably should have done it two years ago, but better late than never.
Anyway, the tentative plan puts all our classes on Mondays. Alex had expressed an interest in Karate many months back, so we asked him if he wanted to try
Tae Kwon Do. He very enthusiastically said yes! The only catch was the class was either Mon or Wed at 4pm. 4pm is a little early, even with me getting off work at 3:30. But I talked to my boss and I’ll work a little late on Tue to make up for leaving a little early on Mon. Beth absolutely loves Ballet and asks almost every night if we’re going to Ballet class. She’s so excited on Mondays when I can say yes! So she’s going to do that again for her class. And my bellydancing is moving from Wed nights to Mon nights, so we’ll get all our classes done in a single day, even mine.
So here’s the plan for Mondays during the Winter I session:
4:00-4:45 Alex Tae Kwon Do
5:05-5:35 Alex Swimming (Ray)
5:45-6:15 Beth At the Ballet
7:45-8:45 Me Bellydancing
My co-worker Lisa said that she could bring Adrianna to swim from 5:30-600 and watch Alex for me while I drop Beth off at class. Adrianna is taking the Ballet class after Beth’s, at 6:30, so they have to come to the Y anyway. I’ll come back to the pool and get him dressed before picking up Beth from her class. Mondays will be a little crazy, but it will be worth it not to have to run to the Y on 3 different days for 3 different classes. But since I cut the number of Alex’s classes back, and swimming is non-negotiable, ice skating is off the table for now. I’m a little bummed because I was enjoying it, but we can add it back in when things settle down. And once they open the ice rinks in the parks, I might be able to find time to take him to ice skate, since I can at least skate a little bit myself now.
I know that the Winter II session will change because Alex has to transition into the non-preschool swim classes and I really should get Beth back into swimming. By that point I can put her in the no-parent Pike class that Alex started in a few months ago. I’m looking at possibly Friday nights since that’s the only day I can coordinate their swim classes to be at almost the same time (and therefore only have to deal with showers once a week!) But as Eric would say, “That’s a long time off!”, so we can wait and see how things shake down.
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11.29.11
Posted in Beth, NaBloPoMo at 8:42 am by Shannon
Last night Beth had Ballet again. We got there a little early. The teacher had some music playing. One of the songs is called Going on a Bear Hunt. (None of these versions in the link is exactly the version she has, but the words are the same.) Anyway… This song came on and Beth started doing the actions that go along with it. Then the other two girls started doing it with her. The teacher was just sitting and watching. Made me realize that even with all her playing around during class, something is sinking in because she knew exactly what to do for each part.
We got the book for next session and they changed the age limit on the class from 2-4 to 3-4. But the teacher said that since she’ll turn 3 during the class I can sign her up again. They also shortened the class to 30 minutes instead of 45, which I think is a good call. 45 minutes is a bit long for this age group. Of course, depending on what activity Alex wants to do in the Jan-Feb session, Beth might end up in the Sat class at a different location with a different teacher. But it’s still only a 35 minute class at that location as well.
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