Winter activities

Austin is done with his basketball practice now.  He did a good job listening to his coach and learning triple threat position.   He now dribbles with one hand most of the time now.  He would run laps around the outside of the gym track.  The coach would work on listening skills by they were not able to start until the start of the whistle.  Coach would say go but they weren't supposed to go until the whistle.   At his last basketball he got a trophy and got pizza afterwards.

Sydney and I were not able to go to the last basketball practice because Sydney had a school friend's birthday party.  Sydney was so excited.  Sydney doesn't get invited to as many parties as Austin and that makes her sad.  She finally got to go to one.  She had a great time!

Sydney continues to do her gymnastics.  She loves it.  She can now do a backwards somersault.  She is also can do a handstand next to the wall with the teacher holding her.  She flips over on bar too!

Austin, Sydney and Kaitlyn have been taking swim class together.  They are in level 2.  They all do a great job.  It's fun going because we can talk with our friends while there.  We are going to change to different night since we have more Cavs games to attend at the end of the season.

We took the kids to a Monster's game.  Austin loves it!  He enjoys watching the puck and loves it when they score.  Sydney enjoys going for the snacks.  Austin likes to wear his Monster's shirt he got from the airshow last year too to the game.

Both kids can spell their last names and they can spell each other's name.  They also can spell cat.  They both like to spell "at" words like cat, bat, mat.  Austin knows how to spell zoo.  Austin can read words me, we, my and are.  We are working with Austin and sight words.  I made a matching game with words on them.  We also have sight word Zinga.

Austin and Sydney love art projects.  They had a large box and they decorated it and made it into a car garage.  They have a lot of matchbox cars and they put them all in there.  They also love to use tape.  They put tape all over the box.  They like to tape pictures to the walls too.  I don't mind much in the downstairs play room but don't like it as much in the main level of our house.

They also enjoy playing school together in the basement room.  They like to play by themselves there.  They will do that for 30 minutes at a time.  They have notebooks and will take attendance.  They do a good job taking turns being the teacher and kid.  The one time they played I was the kid.  Austin was the teacher. Sydney was the mommy.  She dropped me off at school and picked me up.

Also I finally took them to go get their hiking sticks.  In the fall, we walked 8 metroparks together.  I had the forms completed but had not dropped them off.  I took the kids to go pick up the sticks.  They were excited.  They can't wait to walk the trails again next year.

Kindergarten Registration (5 years and 3.5 years)

Now we have a 5 year old that means kindergarten is coming soon for him.  It's amazing that in February we had to register him for school.  We always knew that we were sending our children to a private school.  Brian always went to a private school and he had a great education.  I went to public and it was okay.  We feel that private will work best for our family.  We did most of our research last year. It was a good choice since we were not nearly as stressed to figure out what school to go to.  We went to the open house and it seemed to feel right.  Austin is now registered for Kindergarten.  He is very excited about.  He likes that he will we on Daddy's work schedule when he starts.

Austin has also started playing basketball.  He absolutely loves it.  He can make baskets and are learning triple treat position and dribbling.  He is good at it too.  He does a great job listening to his coach!  Some kids in the class have a hard time listening.  Sometimes I feel the kids don't listen well especially at home but they always do great at school and at activities.  We are thankful for that.

Because Austin started basketball, I felt it was only fair to start Sydney in an activity.  I am not a fan of dance so I thought gymnastics would be a good fit for her.  She loves it!  We toured two gymnastic studios and decided on one that worked best for us.  She is learning basic gymnastic moves.  She jumps up and down in excitement while waiting her turn.

Austin had his 5 year check up.  He got all of his vaccines to start Kindergarten.  I was so proud of him. He did not even cry after getting all 4 shots.  He doesn't get a shot now until his is 11.  He is very excited about that!  Austin weighs 42 pounds and he is the 60th percentile for weight.  Austin is 42 inches tall and in the 75th percentile for height.  I am still able to pick him up and carry him.  I usually do that in the mornings.  It makes me sad because I know soon I am not going to be able to do that.  He is getting too big.

We got to bring home our camper the other weekend.  We went down together and had a walk though with it.  We are clueless with it. Brian took videos so we will be able to remember once we are able to use it.  We are all very excited to start camping as soon as the weather breaks.  Austin and Sydney love it!  It's like their own little house.  They enjoy climbing all over the camper especially their bunk beds.

I continue to do a lot with the kids while I am home with them.  The other day we had art class then gym class then I took them swimming.  Sometimes the kids like to stay home and play too. I try to make that happen.  At home they like to play magnetic blocks, marble run, race cars, and board games.  One game that Austin really likes now is checkers.  He learned it at school.  He loves to play it!  They also like playing the squirrel game and engineering ants.

Graham turned one this month.  We were planning on going to his party.  However a major snow and ice storm came and we were able to go.  Austin was really sad!  Sydney was sad too but did not fully understand.  She kept saying we are leaving on Friday.  Friday came and went she kept saying we are leaving on Friday.  We wish they did not live so far away!  It's a really long drive.

That weekend since it snowed so much we took the kids sled riding for the first time.  They played outside with the kids across the street on our hill.  Then on Monday, we took them to a real sled riding hill.  We went to the store and got sleds.  We got the last two.  Austin went first and loved it.  Sydney went next.  I thought she wouldn't like it.  But she did!  Brian even taught them to carry their own sleds back up the hill.  They were proud of themselves.  At first, I kept going down the hill to help them up.  Soon they were doing it all on their own.  They seem so little but so big at the same time.  We all had so much fun!