Dinner Time

Dinner last night...
We got home and played a bit and then I started dinner. Ryan was doing puzzles and Haley was coloring. I decided to try a new pizza. Rolled out the dough, put on the goods, and went to slide it onto the new pizza stone. It wouldn't slide off the wood onto the stone. Many toppings slid right off into the stove. Ryan needed help with his puzzle. I left the sad pizza to help him. He then bumped into Haley and she spilled her cup of milk all over herself. Cleaned up. Josh got home and was able to help reconstruct the pizza and help with the kids. Dinner was served 20 minutes later. Haley helped serve each plate while Ryan stood in the corner with his cup saying that he didn't want to sit in his chair. The food was served and Josh finally just plopped Ryan in his chair. I was about to sit down when Haley asked for more milk. I got up to get it. All 4 of us had been sitting for 27 seconds and had just started talking about our day when Haley got up and announced she had to go to the bathroom. Josh and I started talking when Haley yelled from the bathroom, "I am going poop!" At that moment Ryan pushed his chair back from the table and said, "all done." Haley then walked into the kitchen and asked, "Mommy, do you like my undies?" Yes, her pants were down. She went back to wash her hands and eventually joined the table again. We each went around and shared about our day and listed something we were good at (per the prior post). Josh was mid sentence when Haley commented about the food. I told her she had interupted her dad. She said, "oh sorry, Daddy. Finish your story." Ryan pushed his chair back again and said, "all done." Haley said, "Hey guys! Look at my plate!" she had finished almost everything. We excused both kids from the table after about 8 minutes total.

I shared this because this dinner was not unlike all dinners in our house. Last night I just soaked in how most moments are just organized chaos. Dinner was just a snapshot of how life works in our household. Gotta love it.

Report Card- Ours or Hers?

Yesterday afternoon was Haley's spring conference at preschool. I could not go since it was during the school day, so Josh went solo. The conference was great and Haley is doing so well all around. They said she is social, but shy in the instructional setting. She is afraid to make mistakes and won't raise her hand unless she is sure of what the answer is. They said they asked her a series of questions about the year...what she has learned, about her friends, etc. When they asked her what she loved about herself she said she didn't know. WHAT?! This broke my heart! How could she not know when the list is endless? I spoke to a friend about it after school and she said that she was like that at school. Shy and modest- would never feel comfortable to tell a teacher what she loved about herself. I decided I would ask her the same question and see if it was a comfort level issue. I asked her in the car and anticipated her long list. Nope. She responded that she didn't know. PUNCH TO THE GUT! What have we missed that our own daughter doesn't know what she loves about herself? I ran through a list in my brain...we praise our kids, we celebrate accomplishments and mistakes, we talk about our days, our favorite and least favorite parts, yada, yada, yada. Have we failed in building our child's self confidence? We were at "Grease" and I kept looking over at her and seeing her dancing and clapping and bopping around. Was this a girl who lacked self confidence? On our drive home I decided to take a new angle. I asked Haley what she was good at. I felt so much better as a long list flowed from her mouth ranging from being a good friend to being a good reader. I could feel myself relaxing and smiling and feeling much better all around. I thought, "ok! she knows! she feels good about herself! We haven't failed as parents!" Last night at bedtime we each listed 3 things we love about ourselves. This will now become part of our bedtime routine. Parenthood has a steep learning curve.

Grease is the Word

Yesterday I told Haley that I was going to take her to our school's production of "Grease." Every night at bedtime we talk about our day and what we will be doing the next day. Last night she asked, "tomorrow are they going to sing a lot of Greek songs?" She thought we were going to see "Greece." Loved it!

San Diego

We got back from San Diego Wednesday. It was a great trip and a much needed get away. Haley was up bright and early on travel day, 5:30. She marched in and announced she was ready to go to San Diego. About 2 hours later she complained of a tummy ache, as she was over the toilet ready to vomit, it came out the other end. This had NEVER happened to her before. She was very upset that she had pooped her pants. The potty visits continued through the morning and changed to vomiting by the time we got to the airport. She was a great sport and made it into bags every time. Poor thing!

We all survived the ride. All the kids did a great job of traveling. Ryan loved the airplane and "flying in the sky." We enjoyed the wedding on Saturday and the love stay at the Pauma Valley Country Club. We then moved the party to La Jolla on Sunday and spent the rest of our trip playing in the sand, playing at the pool, enjoying great food, and seeing the awesome animals at the zoo. A GREAT trip!

Getting Up To Date

We are so excited to be leaving for San Diego tomorrow. We have a wedding this weekend and then fun until Wednesday. Looking forward to getting away and playing.

Ryan is very excited about riding on the airplane and going to "an-deego." He is also excited to play at the ocean and go in the hot tub. He is getting so big. He is a chatterbox. He will sing you the ABC's or Twinkle Twinkle and would rather you not sing along- he likes his solo act. He will count to 14 and at the end "blast off." He still can detect veggies and pull them out of any food. He is good about sharing-most of the time. He still gives his music requests when we get in the car, mostly PapaHugs.

Haley got her 2nd tooth, again behind the baby tooth. Her dentist said to give it 3-4 weeks and the baby teeth could loosen up and fall out. If not, he will pull them...ugh. She is reading big books to us. The kind of books with 5-6 sentences on a page. She is starting to understand punctuation and how to end a sentence based on it. I love that she loves to read and feels so accomplished when she finishes a book. It's truly amazing to watch children constantly develop new skills. Haley is starting to ask when soccer starts again. Glad she wants to play again. She is also asking about kindergarten on a regular basis.

Josh got to meet Will.I.am from the Black Eyed Peas the night before their show. They chatted it up throughout the night and took a photo together. At the end of the night Josh said "Will, you better give my wife a good show tomorrow!" His response, "You got it Russell!" What?! How?? I should have been at that work event.

I am ready for spring break for sure. Although I feel much better, professionally, than I did a few weeks ago, I do feel a bit ready for this year to be over. This group has put my partner teacher and I through the wringer. 8 more weeks...

The family is good. We stay busy with all fun/good things and trying to keep balance in our lives. Life remains pretty darn sweet.

Almost Real World

In my math classes, right now, we are working on a project called "Almost Real World." This gives each student a scenario with a job, family and salary. They need to figure out their finances and create a budget, etc. Yesterday's lesson involved them receiving their salaries and figuring out how much they net after taxes. Here are some of the comments I heard as I circulated the room.
"You're lucky! You don't have 3 kids to support!"
"My husband makes no money. I am making him get a job."
"Dude! I make $1,345 per month! YES!"
"We are going to have to eat mac and cheese every night."
"Uncle Sam is taking all my money!"

I love it!

They Rocked!

Saw the Black Eyed Peas last night (my birthday present). Had seriously high expectations and they exceeded them. The show was unreal! Still high from the fun.