January Blah

I haven't written much lately because there hasn't been a lot to write about. January always seems a little long and draggy. The weather has been hard, school has been tough and not a lot of exciting events happening. But now February is here! Nice and short, a week of vacation and a holiday for chocolate and love to boot! We had a fun day today. We made a tunnel in a snowbank, made our own kettle corn and now all the boys are squished on the couch to watch the Super Bowl. So I'm blogging, having no interest in all that testosterone!

Nolan is the one having the tough time in school. They are writing short essays now in school, and he just isn't a fan of writing. His handwriting needs a lot of work. And math is another tough subject, especially the tests. So, he's doing some extra stuff to keep up. All of this has created a bad attitude about school, compounded by not being good friends with anyone in his class. He really is shy underneath it all, especially with adults. It gets him self conscious I think. Anyway, he's turned a corner. He's getting more positive about school and we're having different friends come over to hang out. I think report cards come on Friday. His teacher and I are talking about other ideas to help him out. So again, I think February is looking up for him. He loves basketball and often makes several points for his team. He's really good at dribbling and passing the ball. Next week is the final tournament. Cub Scouts is also going great. We went on a fun outing to Saratoga Battlefield to learn about colonial times and go tubing. They saw a cannon shoot off.

Thomas has also been making strides this month. He can read a little now, mostly 3-4 letter words. He started swim lessons again but this time we're taking them at the high school. It was an adjustment the first day because it's a bigger pool, new instructors and he's never been there before. But today he did great and even asked to stay in the pool longer to swim. He's becoming good friends with a little boy Will in his class. He even went to the last Cub Scout meeting with Nolan and Chris. He's excited to join next year and wants me to be his Den Leader (ugh!). We are slowly being consumed by scouting! Also, he just signed up for baseball. We had no intention of him playing this year since last year was a bust, but he desperately wants to try it again. He's getting older.

This week, all the kids in their school are going to learn square dancing in gym and show off their new skill at a dance on Friday. I'm really curious what they're going to think of it. I have a feeling they will want nothing to do with going to the dance, but we shall see! Lots of other little adventures this month too. I'm helping in Thomas' classroom tomorrow with a groundhog project. Thomas ushers in church (That will be interesting. He signed up for it himself!). Valentine's Day. The Reeds are coming to visit over break and we're going to visit my sister. The boys are also going to start some after school programs once a week--Nolan will do Tae Kwon Do and Thomas is going to do Computer Fun. I think it's funny that Thomas is Korean but he wants nothing to do with Tae Kwon Do. So we are passing the winter by keeping busy. We seem to be staying inside a lot; I'm hoping ot get us out sledding and walking on some trails more.