Frozen doors & a lost tooth

Ok, I am really ready for spring.  This nasty cold air can go away anytime now.  The last two days have been a bit frustrating so I just need to vent.  For starters, I had to work yesterday and there was a lot of yucky winter weather coming our way.  I get very anxious about driving in snow and ice so I'd planned to leave the house at 6am so that I could have plenty of time to get to work.  By 6, all of the other area schools had cancelled for the day except for ours so I headed to work.  On my way to work I got the the 2hr delay phone call from the school.  Ok, no big deal - Kye could still take them to daycare and make it to work if it was only a delay.  Then, at 7:10 I finally got the "school is cancelled" automated message!  I couldn't believe they waited to late to make that decision when all the other school knew by 6am.  So, since I was already at work Kye had to stay home with the boys because their daycare closes if school closes.  I expected it to be a crazy day at work because many of my coworkers travel in from quite a distance, but only 1 person couldn't make it to work so it was actually a good day.

Then, last night we got notice that school would be on a 2hr delay this morning.  That was a problem since I had a dentist appointment at 8:45.  I had planned on bringing James along with me, but there was no way both boys would behave long enough for me to get my teeth cleaned.  Luckily, the dentist called and needed me to move the appt back a little later so that worked out.  I've never taken James to my dentist before but he did really well since I brought along the Kindle for him to play on.

My other frustration this morning has to deal with my van.  Due to the frigid cold weather, the sliding doors would not open this morning.  So, the kids had to crawl through the front doors to get into their seats, then I had to crawl into the back to buckle James into his seat.  After the dentist, James and I went to Costco.  We sampled many yummy treats today, many more than normal.  I've found the key is to go no earlier than 11am.  In the past, we often went just after they opened at 10 and none of the workers had their little sample carts ready which just upset James.  The highlight of my day came when we left Costco and the van's trunk door had become unfrozen.  I was so glad that I didn't have to load my groceries in through the driver door.

The next couple of hours in my day were uneventful.  Then it was time for Haden to come home.  He wanted me to meet him at the bus stop when he was coming home today, so I had to bundle us up to go outside and wait for him.  James and I were out there less than 10 minutes, but I wanted to cry it was so cold.  It truly hurt the exposed skin on my face - the wind was just brutally cold!

My other bad part of the day came after leaving the gym this afternoon.  I tried to use my keychain to see if either of the sliding doors would open yet.  Neither of them opened, but I guess one of them must have opened a tiny smidge because as I tried to drive away I heard the "door ajar" alarm.  I tried to shut all the door, but it didn't help since everything was frozen in place so I had to drive all the way home with the crazy loud alarm going off - the kids thought that was pretty crazy!

So, I am so over today and this cold crappy weather.  The problem is that we already have another 2hr delay for tomorrow so our routine schedule will be messed up again.

On a happier note, Haden lost his first tooth this past weekend.  It had been loose since early December and I thought it would never come out.  It came out while Haden was bathing - he tried to use his teeth to open something and the tooth popped out.  He was totally hysterical for about half and hour, screaming that it hurt.  But then he calmed down and remembered that the tooth fairy would come and then it was all good.  We was so excited that he had to email his teacher right away to tell her about it.  I had big hopes of finding time to sew up a cute little tooth fairy pillow but never got around to it (grandma mary- want to make one??).  So, Kye found a small wooden box and that is where the tooth was placed.  The tooth fairy brought Haden a $2 bill.  He was so excited and commented "Now I can buy 2 Matchbox cars!"  He thinks of every new dollar as a new car since that is what he always spends his money on.  He'd truly rather buy the more expensive Cars brand vehicles, but doesn't have the patience to save enough money for those.

On a personal note, I began 1/2 marathon training this week.  I found a local race at the end of April that I want to do, but haven't officially registered yet.  The mileage isn't really much more than what I've already been doing, expect there will be one long run each week that will gradually get longer and longer.  Kye just hooked up Hulu for me on the xbox so I'm hoping to find some good shows to watch while I'm on the treadmill to help kill time.

Skating & Dancing

So, today was MLK Jr day so there was no school.  I'd been trying to think of something fun to do with the boys but hadn't really come up with anything.  My only plan for the day was to take them to the gym so I could attend my favorite class this morning, but it starts at 9:15 and Haden was still sleeping at 9 so that didn't happen.  At 10am I finally woke him up because the presidential inauguration stuff was on tv and I wanted him to watch some of that.  (Little did I know that it would be on ALL day!)  It was so cold outside so we ended up stuck in the house all day and the boys fought with each other the entire day.  James even bit Haden while I was on the treadmill and it broke the skin and left a nasty mark.

I've been on a 9 day stretch off from work.  Initially, I was so excited to get some stuff crossed off my to-do lists since 3 of those days the kids will be in daycare/school and I'll have the entire day to myself.  But, with one more day off, I am kind of ready to head back to work.  Some days I really think going to work is so much easier than watching the kids all day, even when working means I have to get up early and be gone for 12 hours.

Haden started ice skating lessons at the mall a few weeks ago and is having a great time.  He had only been on skates twice before the lessons, but is doing great with balance and coordination.  He falls alot but gets right back up and continues on.  Last week I took both of the boys ice skating so Haden could practice and James could try it out for his first time.  James hated it and wanted the skates off after one lap!
Sorry: I couldn't figure out how to rotate the video.  So, just tilt your head sideways and it'll be fine :)

I didn't have any new pictures of James so I thought I'd include a video of him dancing.  He is dancing to the song that comes on at the end of the movie "The Lorax".

  Kye started his diet today.  Each year IDT does a team weight loss challenge and Kye has joined in for the 2nd year now.  He has much more willpower than I do so I'm sure he'll do great and lose the extra pounds easily.  It just means that I won't have anyone to eat late night snacks & candy with for a while!

So, as part of my new year goals, I started a 100 pushup challenge.  The goal is to be able to perform 100 good form pushups after 6 weeks.  Kye was supposed to be doing this with me, but stopped after the first day.  I'm learning he is as bad at fitness-based goals as I am at nutrition-based goals!

December, etc..

Well, we made it through Christmas and into 2013.  The month of December really flew by and included a lot of fun times with the kids.  Each morning leading up to Christmas the kids had a blast searching for Buddy (our elf on the shelf).  Haden is a bit too wise and a few times said that mom and dad are the Elf.  This may be his last year believing in Santa also. Here is a picture of a naughty thing the elf did one night - and the kids are still talking about it.  Buddy drew on our family picture!

Both kids enjoyed helping me wrap Christmas gifts and place them under the tree.  Haden also helped me make some holiday crafts that we gave to teachers, family, and friends.  On our first day of christmas break we got a nice snowstorm and the kids loved helping Kye with snow removal, but I think they enjoyed coming inside for hot cocoa even better!  Speaking of snow, Kye eagerly awaited the snowstorm because he was itching to use his new snowblower.  I'm glad he loves doing that stuff because I prefer to stay warm inside sipping my coffee.

So, for christmas this year, Santa brought Haden roller skates and James got an art easel.  They both really love their gifts and have spent hours painting, and playing "teacher" with the easel. They also each got R/C trucks and Kye got a R/C helicopter so he and Haden can "battle" now that they each have helicopters.  Some of Haden's other favorite gifts included homemade street signs from Grandpa & Grandma Roth, new legos, erector sets, magnetic chess set, and cars.  James loves his new trains, art supplies, and gumball machine.  James has my sweet tooth and just can't get enough candy or sweet treats!

By Christmas morning, we'd already visited both sides of the family and were able to stay home and hang out as a family.  After opening gifts and playing with some new toys we headed to a park to go sledding.  This was the boys' first encounter with sledding down a hill (although it was a fairly small hill).  We all had a blast.  I'd forgotten how much fun sledding can be.  Now we're in search of a bigger hill, North Liberty is so flat that it's hard to find hills!

This was the first year that we ALL stayed up until midnight to ring in 2013.  We started the evening at a friends house for a kid-friendly party.  We were sure the kids would fall asleep on the ride home, but no luck.  We arrived home at around 11:40 and Haden was determined to stay up the extra few minutes to watch the ball drop, which he has never seen before.  I'm not sure what he was expecting, but he was very disappointed with the ball drop.  Not sure if he was expecting an explosion, but I guess the pretty color didn't do it for him!

I'm going to backtrack a little since I haven't blogged in so long...  We got a new family picture taken in December.  It had been 2 yrs since the previous pic and I had put it off for so long because James had been acting terribly shy at photo studios for the past 18 months or so.  The boys did great at the pictures and hammed it up.  We were excited to get some great pics.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Another great thing that happened in December has the arrival of our carpet for the main room in the basement.  I had been anticipating getting that room done for so long and it finally happened.  We are loving our new space and the kids use it for watching videos and playing cars.  After the carpet arrived I was able to have my new treadmill delivered.  I'm loving my treadmill and have put many miles on it already.  I can't wait for warmer weather so I can run outside, but the indoor running will help me reach some goals I have for 2013.  The gym I belong to encouraged members to submit a list of their 2013 fitness goals and total number of hours you plan to exercise in 2013.  I have never really written down my exercise goals previously although I always have small goals in my head that I'm striving for.  So, 2013 will include mostly running goals for me including my first 1/2 marathon and, fingers crossed, I can continue after that to run the full QC marathon in Sept.  I think that would be a great place for my first marathon since I grew up in that area and it's where I first learned to love running.

I don't like to call them "resolutions" but my other goals for 2013 include:
*walk & brush Moose 5x a week
*Be more patient with the kids
*Be more lax about continually picking up after the kids make a mess- goal is to clean up just once at end of the day (and make the kids help!)
*schedule regular date nights/days for both kids individually so they each get special mommy or daddy time without the other brother tagging along
*aiming for 1 date night with kye/month