We are so blessed and excited for our trip coming up! I have to pinch myself that it is really happening. This will be the second trip for the kids and the third for Chris and I. But the kids' first trip was AWFUL for all of us, so it is nice for us to go again and wipe out the bad memory. The kids were too young, Thomas got really sick, Nolan was afraid of all the rides... But this time they are raring to go. And we are also approaching it a lot differently, like we aren't planning it at all. We still don't really know what amusement parks we are going to. We have our hotel and airline, we know we are going to Disney for one day. But we aren't sure what we are doing the other days. We figure we will get our tickets when we get there and wing it. It's going to be fun no matter what, right? I'm actually a little proud of myself! I'm usually such a planner.
So we are coming into a little of a lull before spring sports start. Thomas just finished with swim lessons and we are debating whether to start one more session before summer. Religion classes end this Sunday. We have 3 more basketball clinic days. Nolan has been taking a few baseball lessons privately already, and once we hear what team he is on then practices will be sure to follow. It is a little sad to end basketball...both boys really enjoyed it this year and improved their skills a lot. Nolan seems like he loves it just as much as baseball now. I'm glad that both kids seem so well-rounded in that way...loving all kinds of different things. Like Nolan was just in a choral festival recently where he sang with elementary up to high school kids. He loved it and did great (pics soon)! Thomas is excited to start his language art classes soon. Anyway, it's nice to have a little lull before the craziness of spring begins.
With Lent in its final days and Easter coming on its heels, there are a lot of churchy things we've been doing lately. Our church is slowly merging with the church where we were married. Some people are resisting it while others are ready for change. It's in an in-between stage right now. We find ourselves connected to both parishes and know people at both. It's a little exciting to see changes happening that are for growth, but hard to let go of habits that were comfortable. It will be interesting over the next few years to see how it all develops.
Well, I'm rambling now which is a good sign to stop writing!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Geese are honking
I heard some geese flying back north yesterday, and I saw crocuses pushing their way up through the dirt on our walk today. So spring is quietly "honking" its way back to Niskayuna. As I write, Thomas is in bed after a long day at school and then a play date with his old friend Leo. Well, old for a 6 year old. Nolan is at baseball tryouts right now. He is trying to make a higher level team that is mainly 10-11 year olds. They only let a few 9 year olds play, so there's a good chance he won't make it. And he's okay with that. He will just play the same level as last year again if he doesn't make it, and he would have a lot of friends doing that too. So baseball is slowly starting too!
We had our parent-teacher conferences this week which went pretty well. Nolan is one of her stronger students, I'm told. He is also doing great on his violin too. He is hanging in there with the advanced math class, but might need to step it up a little more. Thomas is also doing really well. His reading level is very high...at a third grade level! He is also needing to get a little stronger in math and his speech too. But his teacher loves him in his class...the class clown she says! Thomas will have her again in second grade. They are doing this thing in their school called looping, where they have the same teacher for 2 years. But we are choosing to opt out of looping for Nolan's teacher. We really want him to experience different teachers before he moves up to middle school where there are lots of different teachers. I can't believe he's going to be a 5th grader.
So Thomas is doing better at swim lessons. The weekday class is better than the Sunday class. I still want him to be a little stronger at it, so I think I'm going to sign him up for another session. Between baseball, swim lessons and an art class, we will have a busy spring. It will be great when we can go to Florida to get away from it all...26 more days!
Thomas also had a fun night this week at our neighbor's house. Our neighbors across the street have no grandchildren, so they've adopted ours. Thomas wrote her a note to say that she missed her and her dog Murphy. He got to cross the street by himself and stick it in her door slot. She came over later to invite him for dinner. So yesterday Thomas went over and had pasta, salad and chocolate sundae with them. I think they were so happy to have him for themselves. We had to go over and get him when it was getting close to bedtime! They are the nicest people.
Well, Nolan just got back from tryouts and he thought they went pretty well. We'll find out in an email later. Pinewood Derby tomorrow!
We had our parent-teacher conferences this week which went pretty well. Nolan is one of her stronger students, I'm told. He is also doing great on his violin too. He is hanging in there with the advanced math class, but might need to step it up a little more. Thomas is also doing really well. His reading level is very high...at a third grade level! He is also needing to get a little stronger in math and his speech too. But his teacher loves him in his class...the class clown she says! Thomas will have her again in second grade. They are doing this thing in their school called looping, where they have the same teacher for 2 years. But we are choosing to opt out of looping for Nolan's teacher. We really want him to experience different teachers before he moves up to middle school where there are lots of different teachers. I can't believe he's going to be a 5th grader.
So Thomas is doing better at swim lessons. The weekday class is better than the Sunday class. I still want him to be a little stronger at it, so I think I'm going to sign him up for another session. Between baseball, swim lessons and an art class, we will have a busy spring. It will be great when we can go to Florida to get away from it all...26 more days!
Thomas also had a fun night this week at our neighbor's house. Our neighbors across the street have no grandchildren, so they've adopted ours. Thomas wrote her a note to say that she missed her and her dog Murphy. He got to cross the street by himself and stick it in her door slot. She came over later to invite him for dinner. So yesterday Thomas went over and had pasta, salad and chocolate sundae with them. I think they were so happy to have him for themselves. We had to go over and get him when it was getting close to bedtime! They are the nicest people.
Well, Nolan just got back from tryouts and he thought they went pretty well. We'll find out in an email later. Pinewood Derby tomorrow!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Pinewood Derby Preview
Chris stuck in the tunnel!
Chester gettin' some lovin'.
The cars are done! Chris took pics of construction and the final outcome. Nolan made the Harry Potter and Thomas is, of course, SpongeBob. Thanks, Dad for the idea of using sinkers. We glued them to the bottom of Thomas' car to make it heavier and then covered them up with brown electrical tape.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Not so lamb-y
March, I mean. We've started March with a lot of activity going on. But the weather is like a lamb. Today the sun is shining and 42 degrees outside! I just had to be out in it, so I left all my chores, grabbed my skis and hit the Bird Sanctuary. It was beautiful! I saw morning doves, titmouses and chickadees. The snow was so easy to slush my way through, although that didn't stop me from falling a few times. I'm not the most graceful skier, but I just love it when I make the time to go. So now I'm back home and I'm continuing to procrastinate my chores by blogging here. My day is going to pick up like gangbusters later, though. I have a meeting at 4:15 which means dropping the kids off at Gaba's before that. Then I have to leave the meeting early to go get Thomas and bring him to a swim lesson at 5pm (more on the disaster of swim lessons later). Hopefully we'll be back at Gaba's by 5:45pm so we can slam down some kind of dinner and then go to an art reception that Thomas is a part of at 6:15pm. If I am still functioning, there's another meeting I was invited to at 7pm. Whew! So some down time right now is okay I think.
So swim lessons for Thomas have taken a nose dive. He can swim now, but I'd like to see him a little more confident and able to swim the length of the pool before quitting. Now that he is at Level 3, he has a different teacher and we also switched to a different time. I think that combination is making him nervous and not so cooperative. So we got permission to try another time that might not be as crowded. We are crossing our fingers that he'll get in the water and be confident to swim. I think sports just aren't in the cards for Thomas, at least not yet. But with swimming, it's a safety issue so I just want him strong enough so he can do it and then we can wave goodbye to swim lessons. On the upswing, we did just sign him up for art lessons. Maybe he can put some of his energy and talent in that.
We are in full gear getting ready for the Pinewood Derby. We are in charge of it this year, so there is a lot to organize and not a lot of volunteers willing to step up. But the boys have their cars half-way done and planning seems to be going okay so far. Nolan has a Harry Potter theme for his car and Thomas is doing SpongeBob. The cars get weighed this weekend and then the race is next weekend. As much as we love Cub Scouts, we are getting a little weary now that it is close to the end.
Parent teacher conferences are next week. Nolan has a Choral Festival to attend soon, and baseball tryouts are in 3 weeks!
So swim lessons for Thomas have taken a nose dive. He can swim now, but I'd like to see him a little more confident and able to swim the length of the pool before quitting. Now that he is at Level 3, he has a different teacher and we also switched to a different time. I think that combination is making him nervous and not so cooperative. So we got permission to try another time that might not be as crowded. We are crossing our fingers that he'll get in the water and be confident to swim. I think sports just aren't in the cards for Thomas, at least not yet. But with swimming, it's a safety issue so I just want him strong enough so he can do it and then we can wave goodbye to swim lessons. On the upswing, we did just sign him up for art lessons. Maybe he can put some of his energy and talent in that.
We are in full gear getting ready for the Pinewood Derby. We are in charge of it this year, so there is a lot to organize and not a lot of volunteers willing to step up. But the boys have their cars half-way done and planning seems to be going okay so far. Nolan has a Harry Potter theme for his car and Thomas is doing SpongeBob. The cars get weighed this weekend and then the race is next weekend. As much as we love Cub Scouts, we are getting a little weary now that it is close to the end.
Parent teacher conferences are next week. Nolan has a Choral Festival to attend soon, and baseball tryouts are in 3 weeks!
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