Spring Break ReCap 2013

So I know that no one reads this anymore but that's okay because it's now become my own personal journal of family goings on.

Spring Break this year was great. We stayed home, given that we are leaving for a real family vacation in seven weeks. But this year we managed to have something special each day of the break, which was my goal for the week.

Personally, a week of NOT stressing over my job was the biggest bonus of all. I hadn't realized HOW stressful this job had become until I had a week free from the panic feeling I was experiencing each day. Another nice thing was making dinner each night, being able to try new recipes and being home to EAT with my family each night rather than rushing off to piano lessons that may or may not show up on any given weeknight. Steve certainly liked not having to rush home every day from work to be with the boys so I could leave too.

The last day before break is always the school's fine arts fest (talent show) and BOTH boys chose to participate this year. Aaron played a piano solo and Noah played a trombone solo. I was very proud of them both for their efforts.











The first weekend of break was Easter weekend. Saturday I found a local church Easter egg hunt outside, which  was finny because we have never done a local hunt and this is the last year Noah can do it because he "ages out".  Normally, we try to do things outside on Easter Sunday after dinner, but given that the day was rainy and cold, we found ways to spend time together inside instead.  The boys picked out some projects for us to do together over the week so we started on them.

Boys loved their Easter baskets this year. In past years, we've given them quite a few gifts in their Easter baskets, but this year I really wanted to scale back. And the cool thing is, they didn't even notice. They LOVED their stuffed friends (yes, ANOTHER sock monkey for Noah) and each got an mp3 player for our trip next month.











That afternoon, Noah and I started on one of the projects for the week, a 100+ piece wooden 3D puzzle of a dragon. We really enjoyed working on the project together and it did indeed take the entire week to complete.  He is so proud of his accomplishment and is asking when he can work on another one.












Easter evening we took the boys to my parents for a sleepover, which they LOVE. The next morning, they were treated to a movie with their cousins before coming home Monday afternoon. I enjoyed a day to try to get my house in order before the busy week started.

Tuesday was the day Noah had been waiting for for weeks. He FINALLY had a play date with a friend. As I have said in the past, one of the problems with the boys going to a VERY small school is that friendships are a tricky thing, especially this year, which has been very rough for both boys. A new boy moved into the class this year, and...fingers crossed...could FINALLY be a friend for Noah worth having that could be a lasting friendship. I really really really hope so. He really needs a good friend... don't we all? So this boy came over for a few hours Tuesday afternoon, which Noah loved but Aaron not so much. Hopefully this friendship will last and we can have many more play events with this young man. He was a pretty nice kid.

Wednesday began my goal to have fun with the boys over break. I wanted to do some activities that were different than the norms that we always do, but not break the bank in doing so. We took advantage of the reciprocal membership we have to the local museum and took a road trip to Lansing to visit a science museum there. We went once last summer but haven't been there since. The boys had a great time and even found some activities that we hadn't discovered the last time we visited.









Thursday we tried out a new attraction in Grand Rapids. Given the cost, we only paid for an hour, which ended up being plenty of time. SkyZone is an indoor trampoline park with wall to wall trampolines, a huge foam pit, two dodge ball arenas, and a basketball court. The boys had a good time until Noah was told he couldn't play dodge ball without wearing these big nasty goggles. I even told them I was okay with me if the glasses broke but they still wouldn't let him so he was pretty upset the rest of the time and I am not sure that he will want to go back. Definitely disappointing.




Friday was another attraction that I went back and forth about. A  local arena sets up an "indoor amusement park" which cost a little bit of money but with the coupon online I figured it was the last day of break so we had to go out with a bang. The kids got to try their hand at trampoline bungee, bull riding, and other inflatable fun. There was even a "game show" that we tried to be part of but it was still fun to participate in the audience. Boys even got to try  "jousting". It was a fun day but probably once was enough.

Saturday Hubby ended working longer than we anticipated so I brought the boys shopping with me and then they went to the free movies at the mall while I got more shopping done. Afterward, it was home for taco dinner and then the two semi-final basketball games.


Sunday was an at home get ready for the week kind of day, which is good to have once in awhile.


 It was a great week with my boys. It wasn't because of the things we did, although I think they had a good time. I think we all just really enjoyed the break in the routine and had some much needed-low stress- fun time together.

Although I am panicking about finances this summer, I know that a summer of three months of hanging with these two special boys is going to be wonderful.

Free Paint Saturday

This is NOT an advertisement for Ace Hardware in any shape or form.

But....every so often that particular store hosts a "free paint" Saturday and each time, I go to pick out a fun color to inspire my next painting project, which are of course my favorite projects around the house.

This past Saturday, among a bazillion other activities we had planned for the day, was a free paint Saturday.

The boys were kind of in a funk so I decided to take Noah out of the house for awhile and we ended up at the hardware store and I told him to pick out his favorite color paint to paint his loft bed.  I can't believe it was exactly three years ago to the weekend that Steve and his friend built Noah's bed. But in that time, the bed has gotten drawn on, scraped up and banged, bruised and dirty. So, I bought four cheapo paintbrushes and set Noah to work.

We really didn't know how far a pint of paint would stretch and I was shocked when Noah actually asked me to help him so as Steve headed upstairs to take a nap, (it WAS his birthday after all) Noah and I set to work. Aaron was feeling a bit left out so I put him in charge of photography duty during the project, as you will see soon.

As it turns out, a pint is just enough to do two light coats of MOST of a loft bed. Just enough to make a ten year old VERY happy and just enough for his attention span to take.

 It all started a few weeks ago when Noah had a slight case of stomach virus and decided, rather than running to the bathroom to get sick, he would do it OVER THE SIDE of the loft, splattering nastiness all over the carpet remnant from my parents.

Middle of the night, not gonna wash carpet so Steve and I cut out the nasty stuff and decided to get to the rest later.
 What does that have to do with painting the bed you ask? I figure, if we have to get the floor all nasty from paint, why not have Noah paint the bed BEFORE we clear out the rest of the carpet remnant, saving us the trouble of covering the entire floor.





Here is the room BEFORE the project began.
















Everything cleared out and ready to begin


















Noah really did a great job for his first attempt at painting. After awhile, we settled into a routine of him doing the first coat and I would follow behind with a second coat.

 And so begins Aaron's photo shoot of the vent.

Yes,  I spared you the many many many pictures Aaron graced us with of our rear ends




























Yes, this is how we were all feeling after about two hours of painting :)

















The finished product!

It's March...

...and if I check back, I wonder if I'll see any posts written during the month of February. Yes, it was a busy month for the Wheelz Home, as I am sure it is for all of you as well.

What have we been up to? I will try to summarize but I will most definitely miss some stuff.


Basketball
Yes, this pretty much takes over our lives in January and February but what an amazing and wonderful program Upward is. It is accepting of all children, no matter their ability, it includes learning bible verses and half time devotions, and really gives the boys a deep sense of belonging. This was Noah's second year and he really found his forte at being a solid defense player. He only scored one basket all season but he is so proud of his defensive playing that it didn't bother him that much.

This was Aaron's first year and it is definitely a learning curve. He had some down feelings when he wasn't doing well and it was nice for Noah to reassure him that his first year he didn't very well either. Aaron did, however, play amazingly well his last game of the season and I wish I had video from his first game to compare to his last game so he could see how just far he progressed over the three month season.

The final celebration was a magician who called Aaron up on stage to be the helper, which of course Aaron loved. Their prize for the season was their very own Upward basketballs. Now if the snow could just melt so the boys would stop bouncing the balls in the house.

Snow, Snow, and more snow
We certainly made up for our snow-less year last year. We have had a snow event  almost every week, and along with it various school closings and delays, which made the month very tricky indeed. There have been two days where the boys' school was closed and mine was only delayed so the boys had to spend the day in a preschool classroom. The second one was much better than the first, but I am really hoping this doesn't happen much next year. It is trying for all of us.

Snow was also the activity of choice every weekend in February. After discovering that Aaron, like his big brother, wanted to snowboard rather than sled, we spent the entire month in search of a snowboard for each of them and finally found one. When we weren't sledding/snowboarding at various hills around he city, the boys even made their own hill in our front yard. It is so cool to watch the boys start at the top of a huge hill and make it all the way down, even steering. Yes, there were some mishaps, including Noah trying to do WAY too big of a jump and injuring his knee (that we even thought was going to take is to the ER) but it's all in the name of the game.

We live in Michigan because of snow winters and warm summers, but now that it's March, we're definitely ready for the snow to go away for the season.

School
The month of February brought fun school activities like Valentine's parties, Crazy hair day (the boys went purple), Noah got to be Student Spotlight and bring Minnie Cat in for a visit, and conferences. The conferences went as expected for both boys. Same things as always needed to be worked on, test scored are of course fine for both boys and I let the teachers and principal know that the boys will be ending school a week earlier than everyone else,m due to our birthday trip to Florida in May. I was pretty honest with Noah's teacher about how he is feeling this year so we'll see what happens with that.

Work
GSRP is chugging along. I am still pretty frustrated at the limitations that Creative Curriculum creates and don't often know what I'm "allowed" to teach and what I'm not. I am just praying that I am doing a good enough job to keep my job next year. I am also so annoyed that the teacher I am teaming with is leaving at the end of the year and I have no idea what to expect at the start of next year with a new lead teacher. Too many unknown s at this time.

New Pet
After taking Minnie to school for Noah, Aaron mentioned yet again that none of the pets have ever been his so I decided that it is finally time for Aaron to have a pet(s) of his own. So we headed to the pet store and Aaron picked out two Tiger Danios for his tank. Now, I have never been able to keep a fish alive for more than a week so this will definitely be an experiment. As I write this, I know we need to go do our first tank cleaning. He loves to watch them and I am hoping this will be a good thing for him. And I REALLY hope they stay alive for awhile.



Planning 
February was a month of looking at the calendar for the five months and saying, "huh".  Trying to figure out schedules of many big events coming up, and figuring out the money to spread them all has taken a considerable amount of time . The first is figuring out the "big trip" to Florida in May. I really didn't want to go to big parks for this trip. I wanted it to be a relaxing beach and water trip for my birthday. But then. Hubby put in his two cents worth and now we will be spending two of the days in "big" parks. Lots and lots and lots of money :(

On top of the Big Family Trip, we have other trips to start working on. Hubby is on the verge of his dream of performing in a barbershop quartet on an international stage coming true. International will be held in Toronto Canada this coming July. After much discussion, it looks like I will NOT be able to accompany him on this dream adventure, which makes me very sad. But in reality, right now we're not even sure how we're going to find the funds to send HIM to Toronto so that is causing much worry in my mind. Frustratingly, he doesn't seem to be worried about it which really is ridiculous. I shouldn't have to be bearing all of the worry all the time.

So since we won't be going to the big competition with him., we decided that we are going to go to the preliminary in Traverse City in April, which again is creating more planning havoc, and another chunk of money that we just don't have.  I wish I wasn't the only one worrying about everything all the time. It would be nice for someone else to share the burden once in awhile.

And of course, I am already starting to worry about how we're going to survive financially this summer.


Getting Skinny
Looking at the cute little sun dresses that are out this season and knowing that we are heading to Florida in a couple of months for my 40th birthday has started a panic within. I have spent the last year deleting EVERY picture taken of me due to the large weight gain I have had. I want to actually have pictures of me when we go to Florida and I don't want to cry each time I look at one. All of these things, combined with the shocker as I stood on the scale last week have created new resolve. SOOOOO...I re-joined Weight Watchers a week and a half ago. I don't have time to attend meetings so I bought a three month online package, which was quite inexpensive compared to the alternative and I have jumped in with gusto. I have let everyone around me know that I am doing it, for accountability, and in doing so have found two other people also just starting it and have even found a girl at work who will do it with me, weighing in together on Monday mornings.

I have tried numerous times over the years to try to get back on the bandwagon. But for the first time, I am truly motivated and I am going to do it. I don't want to be unhealthy anymore. I know I don't have enough time before our trip to get skinny, but even a little bit will set the ball in motion in the right direction and I will hopefully begin to start feeling good about myself for the first time in a very long time.

And I want to wear a cute sundress in Florida.


So here goes March...

Weekend Top Five 1/27/13

Well, it was definitely an interesting weekend. After a very interesting week. The week was insane since the boys ended up with two snow days, which would normally have been wonderful if I hadn't had to bring them to school with me since our school DID NOT get a snow day. Which also would not have been so bad if the boys had not walked out into the hall right when my principal was walking by and questioned why kids she didn't know were in her school. It was a BAD situation.

That on top of some pretty unruly, mouthy, irresponsible boys has now resulted in a complete ban on screen time (TV and video games) until further notice in the Wheelz Home, which also contributed to a very interesting weekend.

5.Celebration Dinner
Friday was my first paycheck from my new job. Even though it is pretty much gone because of the difficult month we've had in transition, we did decide we needed to splurge and took the boys out for a celebration dinner at IHOP, their favorite restaurant. It was very yummy and the boys loved their happy face pancakes.






4. Basketball Week 4
This was an interesting week for basketball. Aaron's game was first for the first time and Noah spent the time "critiquing" which was funny since he isn't really a whole lot better per say. HOWEVER, having watched his brother first must have lit a fire in him and the kid was amazing during his game three hours later. He was not only focused, but fast, energetic and a mad man playing defense against some pretty fast guys. He didn't get any baskets but it totally didn't matter since he played such amazing defense. The game actually was the most fun game I've ever watched as the teams at this age are really starting to play the game rather than having to be TAUGHT how to play. Even the coaches and other refs who had been there all day were commenting on how fun that game had been. It really makes me look forward to next week's games. Aaron will get there too, it just takes awhile. It is still his first year.

3.Griffins Game
Steve got free tickets to another Grand Rapids Griffins game Saturday night. This is definitely a fun perk from his company. The boys were excited because it was "Griffin Gnome" night and everyone got a free Griffin gnome to take home. Noah was hilarious as he took his out of the box immediately and kept it out to dance with during the entire game. Although I have never been a big hockey fan, I have to say that these games really are a lot of fun and I find myself hoping that Steve gets a few more free games before the season is over. We got home after 10:00 and I have never seen the boys beg to go to bed as much as I did that night.

Oh, and yes, Noah is back to wearing a constant Sock Monkey Hat on his head again :)




2. Sledding Snowboarding
We bundled up Sunday afternoon for a fun adventure at a new sledding hill. Unfortunately, as a result of how tired we all were from the night before, the adventure was extremely short lived but Noah did make it down a more steep hill on his snowboard than ever before and even Aaron made it down on the snowboard about half way before wiping out. I really hope there will be a better snow outing before the snow goes away.




1. No Screen Time
It makes one realize how easy it is to simply say, "okay yeah, let's turn something on" when you make the rule of no screen time in the house. I have set parameters of how they need to act before we let them have it again and I wonder if they will ever be reached. We did play a few more games than usual, that's for sure. I hope when we come out on the other side of this experiment, whenever that may be, then we won't have to do it again.

The Week Ahead:
Who knows? That's kind of how I feel about my whole life right now. Who knows?

I know that if the kids get a snow day then I'd better get one too since I don't want to have to deal with that again. Also, Aaron is getting sick so I can only pray that that doesn't get worse this week since I have to work every day. What's ahead this week? Who knows?

Weekend Top Five 1/20/13

5. Movie night and A Good Cry
Talk about ups and downs in a short time. After dinner we settled in for Family Movie Night. The movie of choice was Tooth Fairy. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I highly recommend it. It was very funny and we all really enjoyed watching it together. Afterward, we put the kids to bed and I finally had a chance to let down from the emotion of the week (really the past two weeks) and sat and cried. As silly as it sounds, it felt really good. The last couple of weeks have been so overwhelming and frustrating that I have been working so hard to hold it together that I needed a chance to finally just let go and let it overwhelm me. I was shocked at how may tears came but when it was over I was just exhausted enough to fall asleep and was ready to face the morning fresh on Saturday.

4. Growing Independence
I have been working so hard to try and make the boys be more independent with their school supplies, but I didn't realize that there are a million things around our house that we still do for them that they could (or SHOULD) do for themselves. The funny thing is that it took working with four year olds every day for me to have that light bulb moment. So this weekend was our first foray into building the boys' confidence with more independent choices.  It was definitely a learning experience for all of us.  At dinner Friday night, and again at lunch on Saturday the boys were shocked when I gave them a "sharp knife" to cut their own meat. How did they get to be this age and we were STILL cutting up their meat for the? Crazy! Aaron also turned his own water on for is shower and even tied one shoe for the first time. And taco night Saturday night? Rather than making their tacos and salads, we put a bowl of meat and the toppings on the table and they did it all themselves.

I know you are probably all thinking I am a terribly mom for doing it all for them this long, but at least it hit me and we are fixing it now. The bets thing is that if they start doing more "little things for themselves, then I think the bigger ones will become easier going forward.

3. Basketball Week 3
Two games a hour apart made for our first travel challenge of the season. it worked out though but I unfortunately missed Noah making his first basket of the season. My parents came to the games and the boys were excited to have them there. As I have stated a million times before, we are sooo lucky to have my parents as part of my boys' life. I wonder if there is anything so special as a strong relationship between kids and their grandparents. Aaron struggled to find a place for himself on the court and Noah made his first basket, even though I missed it bringing Aaron to his game.

2. Playworld
It was a really cold weekend and the boys were bursting with energy so I took them over to an indoor play place for awhile Sunday afternoon. This is a place that Noah has been going to since he was a toddler and I haven;t taken them in a long time, really figuring that they'd outgrown it.  I was right in one respect. The don't really PLAY on the equipment anymore. Instead, the spend time finding ways to make little kid equipment play worthy for big kids, not always ending up in the most appropriate play for everyone. They weren't naughty, just showing that they're growing up. Noah, as always, made me laugh when he stuck play balls up his sleeves to "show me his muscles". Too funny.

1. Church Service
This series has been interesting, about upgrading our lives in different respects. This week's message was about upgrading your "thought life" which was a good one for me to try to get my view of the things that are worrying me in my life into perspective. Looking forward to next week and the message it will bring.

Weekend Top Five 1/13/13

Coming off of my first week of my new job I had really wanted to spend some time relaxing this weekend, and I kind of did a little. My first week at work was a mixed bag of stuff that I will probably not talk about on this blog but it's going to be a rocky ride for sure.

5. Haircut One (and Two)
I avoided getting my ID made at my new job since I was waiting for money to get my haircut this weekend. That was apparently a bad decision since I now look like a fifteen year old boy. I went Friday night to get a haircut but the girl did not understand what I wanted and I left very unhappy. Saturday morning I took a shower thinking it would be better afterward. However, quite the opposite was true and I headed back (with boys in tow since Hubby was gone all day) for another attempt to remedy it but it ended up that she pretty much hacked it all off in an effort to "fix" it.  Good thing hair grows back :(

4. Basketball Week 2
Saturday was a long day since one of the games was at 9 in the morning and the other not until 2 in the afternoon so the boys and I were pretty much dragging time all day, since Hubby had to work and then go to Lansing for a barbershop performance that night. Neither boy scored and Noah didn't even get a shot in. There was not particularly great playing by either of them but they didn't complain and Noah finally got a "Christ likeness" star for his behavior on the court so he was proud of that. Aaron's coach doesn't give stars to every one so he was sad that he hadn't gotten one that week.


3. Shopping One and Two
We finally got a paycheck on Friday so I was able to get some groceries. The boys were so funny since they woke up Saturday morning, went to the fridge for milk and Noah says, "Whoa Mom, look at all the food!" Pretty sad when your ten year old has a fit of gleeful hysteria just because there is actually food on every shelf of your fridge. We are still in transition so it will be a few more weeks before we actually get into a comfortable routine but at least we can eat for this week so that's a good thing. Then, Sunday afternoon I went to attempt to get a pair of pants for work, which of course was depressing and unsuccessful once again. I'll try again in two weeks.


2. Flat Stanley travels again
We took my nephew's Flat Stanley to the Presidential Museum Saturday afternoon and then Hubby also took him with them to Lansing (capital of Michigan) so as soon as I get the pictures developed he will be on his way back to Illinois. I hope he enjoyed his stay in Michigan with us.








1. Church
I was very tired Sunday morning and Noah didn't have to run soundboard so since Steve slept in from getting home from Lansing late, I toyed with the idea of staying in bed too,rather than going to church. I was glad that I fought the urge though. The service was about how to bring happiness into your work life which is a message I needed to hear after the week I had last week. I also had invited my partner teacher to the service and I am not sure if she went or not, but if she did, I am excited to talk about the message with her tomorrow. In addition, the music was uplifting as always and I got a chance to chat a little with the mom of a friend of Noah's about the situation at my new job and get some perspective. It was definitely a good thing that I decided not to skip.

The week ahead:
 Hopefully armed with the message from church I will be able to stay positive this week, despite the negative attitude of my partner teacher. This week also holds my COURT DATE to fight the ticket I got two months ago for supposedly running a stop sign. I can't imagine how I am going to fight it but I have to at least show up in the off chance that the nasty officer won't show up and I can get out of it. Otherwise, our insurance is going to skyrocket and we are going to be in BIG trouble.

Weekend Top Five 1/6/12

Let's see...first weekend of 2013, last weekend of Christmas Break. Should have been a biggie, right?

Nah, more of a weekend to try to get our affairs in order before life changes for  the Wheelz household.

Not a huge weekend but enough to write down I guess

5. Dinner out

Thursday night the boys went for their promised sleep over to my parents and Steve and I finally got a chance to go out for our anniversary (which was three weeks ago). We went to our favorite restaurant and had yummy burritos/enchiladas but really just enjoyed some lengthy time of just being able to talk. We talked about how things have been up until now, we talked about how really really really bad they are at this very moment and how there is actually hope for them to get better (hopefully) next month. We talked about two possible trips this summer as well as other planning we need to do for the future. Basically, it was just really awesome to sit and talk without being interrupted every two seconds but a child feeling left out whenever mom and dad try to talk for a second without them being part of the conversation.

4. Flat Stanley is Visiting
My nephew's class has sent Flat Stanley to visit. If you don't know who Flat Stanley is, you probably haven't had an elementary school child in the last ten years. So we spent some time taking him around to various venues. We have a few more visits for him to make next weekend and then we will be sending him home to Illinois. This weekend though he got a chance to visit his cousins at their grandparent's house, see a Lake Michigan lighthouse and the beach, and help Noah run the soundboard at church.

3. Clothing Misery
Since I am starting a new job tomorrow, you would think our money solutions would be solved. However, things are worse than ever until my first check on the 25th and I have a total of three outfits to wear for my new job this week. So while the kids spent time with their grandparents, I spent the better part of two hours at a Goodwill store trying to find something to wear this week. I came away with two pars of pants and a pair of shoes for $15 and then proceeded to put one of the pairs in the wash not realizing it was "dry clean only" and had to throw them away. So I am now starting this new job with a total of two outfits to wear in five days. Yeah, I'm not a loser or anything :( I don't even know what teachers wear at this school and I am likely to be labeled a nerd within the first five minutes of my first day no matter what anyway.

2. Basketball
For the next eight weeks, basketball will be taking over our Saturdays. With both boys playing at different churches and various times every Saturday we will definitely be busy. Their first game was this past Saturday and they both did pretty well. Since this is Noah's second year, he kind of knew what to expect and he was much more active and aggressive than last year. He even tried for a few shots. Aaron did great too and even made the very first shot for his team. Both boys' teams lost but that totally doesn't matter in a church league and I think it is going to be a great season for both of them

1. Haircuts and Mall
So thankful for free child haircuts at JCPenney on Sundays. I was able to take both boys in for much needed haircuts on Sunday afternoon, and then follow it up with a trip to Panera Bread for free smoothies and sweets thanks to their little rewards card. Afterward we wandered through the book store for awhile and really had a nice couple of hours wandering the mall together. I even ran into a Gymboree family that didn't know I was leaving which was kind of funny.

The Week Ahead
As I sit here pondering the week ahead I feel a gush of anxiety, worry and fear. I start back to work full time tomorrow but still have a full piano load every night as well. I am panicked because I don't know much about this program I am teaching, I have NOTHING to wear, my kids were NOT doing well in school before break so I don't know what is going to happen there, I am going to be completely exhausted from all of the double work load, and I don't know what I can sell to get enough money for gas this week. So really what should be an exciting evening for me is really just plain PANIC. I can't really do anything about it tonight except for planning out lunches for all of us tomorrow, trying to get the backpacks packed, and praying that my lead teacher will be patient with me as I try to figure out where I fit in.

I don't know...I just don't know...