Fun stuff

We don't have any pictures of the field trip, but we went to the Creamery this week. The boys loved learning about the dairy cows, how they are milked, and how their milk is turned into cheese. They met a 5 day old calf (the first born this season), as well as many hens, 2 pigs, and a very fast rooster. We tasted some awesome cheese! The boys fed the hens, who came running insanely when the woman who owns the farm clucked to them. K and G also collected two eggs to take home, and had them for breakfast the next morning. K said, "It's refreshing to be able to have eggs fresh from the hen instead of eggs that have been sitting around on the store shelves forever." Heehee. We do, for the record, buy local, free range eggs, so our eggs haven't been sitting around for too long. But he makes a good point! ;-) Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of our visit because we went without the stroller -- I'm just not talented enough to keep two hands and eyes on A and take pictures at the same time! I do wish that I had a picture of A petting a hen -- he loved the hens! Definitely makes me want to have our own chickens.

I do have some pics of K in his new ice skates. He's very excited about them in spite of the roughness of his first time on the ice with them. He fell more than he did in his very first lesson -- something about the stiffness of new skates coupled with the placement of the toe pick (most of his falls were caused by the toe pick catching on the ice -- this never happens to him with the rental skates). By the end of his session, though, he was starting to get the hang of it. We'll go again this weekend so he has more time to practice before his next lesson. G is still skating, too, though he has opted out of lessons. He prefers to skate on his own during K's lesson. I like this arrangement, and it costs less, too! ;-) I've included a pic of A in his Elmo pajamas because he wanted me to put it in -- he loves his Elmo pajamas!

Gymnastics and such

Here's A doing his Elmo puzzle that my mom sent in the mail. He was sooo proud that he was able to do all by himself.






Here are some very blurry pics of G at his third gymnastics class. I had to take the pictures through the glass, without flash, and so ended up with a ton of beautiful colors but no seriously clear pics. :( G particularly enjoys the bars and the beam -- this was his first time on the beam, and he can already walk sideways and backwards on it without help (just a spotter). He's also doing cartwheels and is getting close with his handstands. A is definitely wanting to join in -- he watches the entire hour long class and practices somersaults and handstands with G at home. They both want to be in Cirque du Soleil! ;-)

History Fair

Awww, the History Fair is over, and it was a lovely event. K and G had a wonderful time touring all of the exhibits (ranging in time from ancient Greece to the Moon Landing), and K's exhibit went over well. K was particularly interested in the Civil War Soldier, the Chinese New Year, and the Wright Brothers exhibits. He and G recognized the candy and ornaments used in the New Year exhibit from our recent cooking club trip to the Asian market, and G won the raffle for one of the origami planes in the Wright Brothers exhibit. We decided to forgo the potluck due to time constraints during the day, and so instead went to a yummy Mexican place. I had the best Camarones a la Diabla (not quite sure why they chose to feminize the devil) -- shrimp in onions and spicy red sauce with generous slices of avocado. Their margaritas were above average, too, though I had only the tiniest sip of R's. The chips and salsa were superb, and the boys food must have been good, too, as it disappeared faster than mine did!

Finally Friday

Yikes. This week we had play group, ice skating, gymnastics, storytelling, and Friday Enrichment (a strategy games class and a presentation class), on top of our normal at-home stuff. Not to mention preparing for tomorrow's History Fair. K's topic is Laura Ingalls Wilder, and he's had a wonderful time making his display. G had an awesome time at gymnastics, and did well for the full 60 minutes -- which shouldn't surprise me, except that he rarely does what I expect him to do. ;-) A keeps asking when he gets to ice skate, and I tell him that he can do it when he's three. I don't know what I'll do when all four kiddos have their own activities. Hire a chauffeur, I guess! ;-)

I've signed up for my second ESL class: Bilingual Teaching. It's cool, because it's a one day workshop on teaching your children a foreign language, and how to transition that knowledge to teaching English in a classroom or tutoring situation. Very psyched about this one! The last one was cool, too, but was mainly an introduction to the concept of ESL teaching.

R has been working so much lately. Between the course that he's written and is teaching, and the tempo at work revving up, it's been mightily insane. Today is Darwin's 199th birthday, and that brought some extra work as well. Ah well, I'm not going to complain (too much) about work (as opposed to the lack thereof), but it makes for mighty long days and short weekends.

Ah, here's to a peaceful weekend, History Fair notwithstanding (thank goodness it's in the afternoon!).

Where to Begin

It's unusually difficult for me to blog about frightening or sad events. I have yet to write about the death of Jaka, and it's unlikely that I ever will. But a week ago today, I was rushing G to Urgent Care, and praying that he wouldn't need to go to the hospital. It started innocently enough -- an impromptu lunch date with an Aikido classmate and his mom and brother at a Mexican restaurant across from the dojo. After lunch (and some Harry Potter mischief), the boys were standing in the little courtyard while I waited to pay. Suddenly, K's classmate yells that G is hurt. When I reach him, all I can see is his left leg pinned under a heavy stone fountain that has apparently fallen on him. K is holding the top bowl off of his head, but my first thought is that he is dead. I throw my purse one way and my credit card the other, and try to lift the fountain off of him. I can't remember if he was crying, because everything is silent in my head. A customer and the mom who lunched with us help me lift the fountain, and then I scoop him up. I now know why all of those people in the movies immediately move their loved ones even though it's usually not advised by medical professionals. It's impulsive. I check to make sure that all of his teeth are intact, which is difficult since his mouth is full of blood and tortilla chips and his lip is swelling fiercely. Since he is alert and able to put some weight on his leg, I decide to take him to Urgent Care myself rather than call an ambulance. R meets me there, since I can't go into the X-ray room with him. While in the waiting room, a wonderful woman asks me if I'm religious and gives me a prayer to read. I don't know how much I need to read it until the moment the words bandage my heart. When R and G come out, I find out that while he looks really bad, nothing is seriously injured. He gets a Rx for the cut in his lip, and a wash for his mouth, and that's it. Blessed thankfulness. I block out all of the could-have-beens and hug him tightly but gently. In true child fashion, he recovers very quickly over the next couple of days, while I'm just now starting to mend. I was happy to see today that the fountain was taken down.

With that out of my system for the time being, here are pictures of K at Aikido, a couple of G and A,and my 26 week belly shot (I'll be 27 weeks on Friday). K has started his 2nd session of ice skating, too, and we're ordering him his own skates this week. He loves it so much. He's doing quite well in both skating and Aikido, and I'm thrilled that he has sports that he enjoys so much. This summer, he'd like to try soccer. K and I were talking today about how in 3 months, it will be summer, the baby will come, we will look for and buy a house, my brother will graduate from college, and my mom and brother will move to this area (my mom to be near her only living family, and my brother to go to vet school). A lot of changes in a short period of time! And of course, throw in Easter, a week-long conference to England for R, and a trip for him back home to be godfather for our newest nephew, on top of our normally scheduled chaos, and the end of April/beginning of May is going to be upon us rather quickly. I can't wait!