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...