We went on a looong bike ride January 2nd with family. It was great but ended up being almost 10 miles and Carter was mildly dehydrated and tired. He just reminded me today about how he "almost died" on that bike ride. We rode along the Santa Ana river bottom trail and had lunch after at In-n-Out.
Then life got back in to full swing. Daniel continues to be busy as Secondary Language Arts coordinator where he helps teachers be even better educators. He works with a great team and is getting valuable experience. He does demo lessons in the classroom, facilitates trainings, etc.
Awhile ago, I was going to do a blog post entitled "why I never blog anymore" but decided instead I should just start blogging and summarize why it is difficult at times. One word, two syllables: William. He is a busy, busy boy!! A few months ago, he began getting my wallet out of my bag and taking cards out of it. I didn't even realize it until I was at Costco one day and half of my cards, including my ATM card were gone. I searched high and low and one day while I was searching I noticed him putting playing cards in a vent in our wall. I got out the screwdriver and low and behold, there were the majority of my cards, some coins, screws and various other items. Fast forward to this month. I was sitting paying bills at the computer and in a millisecond I noticed he had grabbed my ATM card and it had gone missing! Back to the trusty vent I went. I had to get pictures because he thought it was sooo fun to use the screwdriver.
That's when I realized this has all been a big game for him! What a stinker!
What I found inside the vent!
He keeps us on our toes! He is so fun though and is learning many new words. His favorites all involve things that go. "Vroom vroom" for car and when said with gusto and the sign it means motorcycle. He loves trains and airplanes as well. He now says "dada" as much as "momma" and even asks for him sometimes in the morning! He loves to help me cook and can be often found like this:
Claire is getting ready for full-day kindergarten in the fall. She takes a dance class nearby that has tap, ballet and gym all in one. She said her favorite part is the gym time but she can be found practicing arabesques at home. Since the classes year is half over, they invited parents in to watch and I grabbed a few shots, but I really am not the best photographer:)
She isn't always right on, but she has fun and is a good listener!
All day she looks forward to her "special time" with Mommy while William naps. We do something different every day and the amount of time varies depending on what I need to get done. I have a hard time doing only make-believe (her favorite). We play often that she goes to her imaginary friend (Stacy)'s house and then I call her and she comes over to play a game or read at my house (on the landing of the stairs). The she gets her make-believe and I get my structure. One day she conned me into making a huge fort and was quite pleased with the result.
She also loves to create things in her room and she created her own sleeping area in the house Grandma and Papa gave her from Christmas. She even dragged her shoe rack in there to create shelves. She is very creative!
Carter continues to excel at reading and art. He started an art class downtown on Saturday afternoons and started piano as well. He is enjoying them both. He finally lost his front tooth! It was loose well before Christmas but he didn't want to just yank it. It ended up coming out at school and he was thrilled because he got a special tooth necklace to put it in.
He also lost a bottom tooth that he swallowed during breakfast! All these lost teeth put him over the edge and figured out the whole truth about the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa. We swore him to secrecy from all younger or still believing children and reminded him that if he doesn't believe, he won't receive;)
For exercise in the evenings, Danny will pull both little kids and Carter will ride his bike. It then allows me to cook in peace. :) Two weeks or so ago I got a call and knew immediately they were in trouble. The bike trailer's axle snapped going up a hill! I turned off dinner and drove to get the cutest motley crew I had ever seen!
Every time we pass that area, William says "daddy bike" and sometimes adds a "whoa." Our boys are always up for adventure!
We couldn't start out the new year without some family goal setting.
We ended up summarizing our goals with three words: serve, organize and create.
We have enjoyed as many nights as possible by the fire and are about a third of the way through the novel Indian in the Cupboard with the kids. William usually goes to bed before we read but the other two are enjoying it a lot.
Of course there are difficulties but we are constantly reminded that life is good.
