January 2016

Sunshine!

Much of my day consists of this view.  So.Many.Games.

Sierra's first time bowling (at a birthday party).  She beat all of the boys too :)

A teeny tiny bit of snow!

Hmm wonder where the mischievous snowball thrower gene comes from.

We are going to Disneyland!

Jaxon answered these on his own.  I wrote the answers, of course.

Some hard to read ones: Learn to Read Chapter Books, Be better at Jump Rope. I am Proud of Helping Others, My Best Memory A Hotel, I want to Go See the beach.

It's a new year.  They go by so fast.  Sierra is still enjoying school.  Her friendships change on and off.  She'll go through stages of playing a lot with certain kids and then changes it up.  This year I don't see her having as strong of friendships as last year but she plays with a lot more kids.  Last year every time partners were picked there were one or two girls that she always went to and they came to her.  This year doesn't seem to be like that.  She enjoys playing with the boys and sometimes is the only girl throwing the football with the boys at recess.  She's learning that girls can be a little more tough to deal with.  They get upset really easily and sometimes she says it's hard to play with girls because someone's feelings are always getting hurt.  Sometimes hers are the ones that are hurt too, so there is constant talk of what is really hurtful, and what are things that maybe we shouldn't let bother us so much? And how to deal with both of those kinds of situations.  What are things we should tell the teacher about and what are things that aren't that big of a deal?  There is so much to learn!  It's hard but it's life.  Someday she will need these skills in the workplace and to foster relationships.  So I try to help her think things through but also encourage her to make her own decisions and decide how to handle situations when I'm not there to help her.  I'm constantly worrying if I'm giving her good advice or not. But I love having her come home and tell me proudly how she handled a tough situation.

Jaxon continues to grow and grow.  He's a little string bean.  It is still a struggle to get him to eat new things but we are continually working on it.  Now he will usually at least taste things.  It may be the tiniest bite possible, but at least he will put it in his mouth!  He's weighed 39 pounds forever.  Somehow he continues to get taller and not get any more meat on his bones.  He's still in a board game phase and we spends hours every day playing games.  He's had a hard time adjusting to Sierra going back to school and is in a very dependent stage.  It's been a bit exhausting as I am used to him being able to play by himself for bits of time during the day while I do the dishes or vacuum.  Lately he follows me around with his cars while I'm trying to vacuum the floor.  If I take a step back, he's right there.  I've almost fallen on him several times.  While I'm eating my lunch he pulls on my legs until I let him sit on my lap.  He's so tall now that it's pretty hard to eat over his head.  He even pulls up a stool while I sit on the pot.  Seriously.  It's like we are revisiting the early toddler days.  This too shall pass.  I know it will.  And some day I'll hold these memories dear.  I know I will.  But at the end of the day I really need some space.

I won a trip for four to Disneyland last April and we finally finalized the plans this month.  The trip doesn't include airfare but does include 3 nights hotel at the Sheraton and 4 two day passes to Disney and California Adventure.  Now I love winning, and I love a free trip, but I have to admit that if we were to pick an age to take the kids to Disney, I think we would wait several years.  Our freebie expires in April though, so after being given a great book about Disneyland I was able to figures out one of the lowest seasons and we have our dates set for the first week of March.  My parents are going to go too.  Sierra is thrilled.  Jaxon doesn't really get it but he's excited because Sierra is.  I'm really trying hard to be excited.  Isn't that terrible?    I've been to Disney once as a teen.  It was great, but I remember long waits, lots of people, and pretty scary rides.  I'm sure we totally missed the kiddie section, but I just have a hard time picturing the kids being able to stand in lines forever for everything.  And then there's the whole plane ride, and getting to the hotel, and getting to the park every day.  Man.  I'm a stick in the mud.  So I'm trying really hard to get excited and make this a wonderful memory for us all.  I think I can.  I think I can........