Cooper got his hands on Dwight’s basketball whiteboard and did a little artwork. He drew a picture of himself, along with Noah and Joshua, playing Guitar Hero. After he was finished, he left it propped up by the microwave on display, so I couldn’t resist snapping a photo for today.
Today we all (with Grandma & Grandpa) went to the basketball game to cheer on the Vipers. Even though they didn't win, Noah got in a few good shots and had fun playing. Mr. Scott (the ref) called Dwight over and complimented how good Noah has been playing this year and that he can really tell he's improved since last year. That was a really nice compliment and I know it made Noah (and Dwight) proud.
Grandma & Grandpa came up to spend the weekend with us today. We had a great dinner at Mah Jong, did some shopping at Walmart, and played cards until the morning hours.
We will all be going to Noah's basketball game tomorrow. I know that he is excited to have them come watch him play. It's nice to have them here to cheer him on!
We finally have something we have never had before...a brand new, nice stove. Both of our houses have had the cheapest, contractor-grade stove and we'd had the last one for almost 13 years now. We decided to use part of our tax return this year to get a nice stove and it arrived yesterday.
We were getting ready to go to Moe's tonight and Dwight noticed that we were under a tornado warning. We turned on the TV and found that they were pointing out a cell that was just a few miles down the road and that it was heading our way. We have had several tornado watches and warnings over the years, but this was the closest we had seen on the news. About 5 minutes before they were predicting the cell would be over us, we started gathering blankets and pillows to take to our interior bathroom. Dwight moved the dogs to the hall, we gathered up the cats, and we all moved into the bathroom to wait it out. We got a lot of lightning and quarter-sized hail. It was quite scary and the kids were very worried, but luckily the storm passed without any tornado or damage.
This week is one of the weeks where Noah gets a few days off from school and Cooper is at home all week, so Aly invited us over to play after Joshua was home from school. Noah couldn't have been happier, since he hasn't been able to see as much of Joshua lately. The boys spent most of the time playing Guitar Hero. It was a fun, and much needed afternoon with friends.
Noah is really getting into making scrambled eggs for breakfast. On the mornings that Cooper doesn't have school Noah gets up first and cracks an egg into each bowl, adds a little salt and pepper and then beats the egg and sticks it in the microwave. By the time I am dressed and into the dining room, Noah and Cooper are happily eating the breakfast that Noah made for them.
When I was 6 years old my Papa bought me this piano. I wasn't even old enough for the lessons and had to wait until I was 7 to start. I took lessons until I was 14 or 15 years old and have rarely played since. I don't know why...maybe it was the piano teacher that wasn't very inspiring or caring, or maybe it was more Papa's dream than mine.
Even though it isn't played much, it is one of my most precious possessions. I remember the way I felt seeing it for the first time almost 34 years ago - this large, important "thing" that appeared in the house and it was mine. I knew it was expensive and I couldn't believe Papa had bought it. Today it reminds me of the potential and the trust that was given to me in a big wooden package.
I truly wish I had cared more about playing, but I have always cared about my piano.
Today is Valentine's Day. Dwight brought me these beautiful pink roses last night. We ended up having a nice dinner at home and giving the boys a sweet Valentine's treat while playing Sorry together. Even though we tell each other often, it is always nice to have a special day to take time to show how much we love each other.
Today Noah got a much needed haircut. He wants to have it longer again, but it has been hanging in his face lately, with no real style. He didn't want to get it cut, but I explained to him that he would leave it longer, but he needed some shape. We came up with a compromise...the front is longer layers, but the back is trimmed and neat. I think he looks really handsome and after a few hours adjusting to his new look, Noah likes it too.
Lately, Noah has started giving Cooper piggyback rides. I don't even know how he carries him, since there is only about 12 lbs. difference between them, but he does and Cooper loves it. Today was Cooper's school conference and Cooper hopped right on Noah's back for his ride through the school halls as we were leaving.
The weather has been so nice the last week or so. I don't know if it is going to last long, but it sure has been a welcome change from the freezing temps we were having a couple of weeks ago. There are definitely some signs of spring popping up. The daffodils are coming up and little buds are sprouting everywhere. We are really ready for spring to arrive this year!
Tomorrow is Cooper's class Valentines party and he decided to make his cards. We got out the construction paper, scissors, markers and glue and went to work. I drew the heart shapes on the edge of the folded paper and Cooper cut them out. Then he wrote each classmate's name on the card and signed the inside. On the front of each card he glued one of his hearts and added a cute smiley face. Each card had a pack of heart-shaped chewies attached. He also used the heart shapes to make a flower card for each of his teachers.
While Cooper was working on his class cards, Noah drew cards for our family. He designed some really great cards.
There is almost nothing the boys enjoy more than doing art projects. They get so quiet and work so hard for what seems like hours.
Today Noah did some crayon resistance paintings with textures he found around the house. He really loves art and I enjoy seeing him learn more about the different painting styles and approaches to art. In the next few days he will be using his texture paintings to create Renaissance clothing, so that his art lesson ties into his history lessons...one of the things I really love about our curriculum.
Cooper had gotten to the point where his book shelf was completely packed and his room was just at the point where it needed a little more organization. It took hours to do, but I was able to get everything moved into these cubes with room to spare. Cooper's room looks great and it is nice to be able to put everything away again.
We went out for pizza and Noah and Dwight were in rare form, being silly. I love my goofy guys!
The weather has been a little warmer this week and the cats are loving it! They have been snoozing in front of the window, curled up together to soak up all the sunlight they can.
Over the months we have noticed the funniest thing. Every time Noah sits down to do his math, Lola jumps in the chair and watches us. She will sometimes get all the way into Noah's lap and raise her head up to "read" the paper. It is so funny because it almost always happens during math, not the other subjects. Noah kids that Lola must be a math cat and he talks her through his work. It is really cute!
Noah woke up at 4 am with a completely spasmed neck muscle. He had never had this happen before and it really scared him that he couldn't move his neck at all without major pain. He was able to get back to sleep, finally, but the next day he couldn't do much beyond lay on the couch with a heating pad. It was so stiff...you could feel the muscle completely locked up in his neck. It took a couple of days, but it finally loosened back up.
Today was Kindergarten registration. Because Cooper's school only has one kindergarten class, I knew I was going to have to wait in line to ensure his spot (there are 39 four-year olds at his school and only 13 Kindergarten spots). We got up early and arrived at school at 6:45 to start our wait and we were the first in line, so we knew we would make it in. The temperature was in the mid-20's so I was very glad that as the first few cars arrived, everyone waited inside. Unfortunately, after about an hour people started getting out to line up so I wrapped up in a blanket, let the boys sit in the warm car with a movie playing and stood in line until 9:15. Finally they let us go in to register and I was so relieved to have our spot guaranteed for next year. Our preschool is so wonderful and I couldn't bear the idea of Cooper not continuing there next year.
The rags...about a week ago, Noah told me that he didn't want them anymore. I packed them up and put them away. Today he found another one under his bed and we realized that it had been a week since I put them up. After the excitement of realizing he had succeeded, the last rag went to join the others. The rags are officially gone.
Dwight prepared a Superbowl feast out on his smoker. He made a Boston Butt with a dry rub and Italian sausage. It was so delicious and well worth all of the time he put into it.
The game was really exciting. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals with seconds left in the game, 27-23.
Dwight has always loved weather. A couple of years ago, he got a weather station that monitors most of the weather factors at our house and then uploads the information to his computer. From there it is posted to his online weather station web page on Weather Underground. It is a really nice station, but he still couldn't stop looking at all of the more advanced systems out there. Finally, the station he had been admiring went on sale and he decided to treat himself to an early birthday present.
Today we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. My mom sent us these beautiful flowers with so many lovely pinks and purples that I couldn't help but feel that spring must be on the way soon.
We had all been sick here for about a week, so we didn't have big plans but we had a wonderful evening. We took the boys to our favorite Japanese restaurant and had great food, great laughs, and great entertainment. Our chef was the nicest one we had ever had and he had a lot of new moves that the kids hadn't seen before . Both kids were so great and it was nice to share the joy of the evening...coughing, sniffily noses, and all...together as a family.
I am so happy to have been married to such a wonderful man for 16 years!
After letting his hair get too long, Dwight decided that it was time to give himself a haircut. Apparently he was adamant that he didn't want longer hair anymore because he ended up going WAYYYY shorter than usual. When he walked into the room and I saw him I was shocked and kept asking him WHY he cut it so short. The kids told him they didn't like it either, LOL. He likes it though, and it will grow back (at least that's what he keeps telling me).
Today ended up being all about snow. It started at PreK where Cooper's class had a pretend snow day. They ice skated around the halls with wax paper skates, wadded up their wax paper and had a snowball fight, and then covered all of the tables with shaving cream snow to play in.
After school it was time to drive to Noah's science class. While Noah was in his class, Cooper and I were invited to go to a Little Hands class for the younger siblings. Guess what the topic was? Snowflakes! We made a snowflake refrigerator frame, cut out snowflakes, and made glitter snowflakes. We also learned about Wilson Bentley and saw his snowflake photographs. At the end we watched the teacher make a bucket of artificial snow from a polymer that looks and feels like real snow. The kids got to take the bucket outside in the rain and throw the snow around.
It was a great, *snow*-filled day!
