Palm Sunday

A is super excited about Palm Sunday. She has asked every day this week if it is Palm Sunday or not. We've also done fantastic on not sucking our thumb. We've worked on it for a month now and she's doing really well. The weekends seem to be difficult times for her. She actually likes to climb into the crib with G and snuggle, therefore ending up sucking her thumb some. Maybe this weekend we will break her of that. It is just super sweet to see them snuggling. That and they will sleep a bit longer on the weekends if they snuggle. 

This week continued what we feel is a "string of Monday" type days. We've seen very little let-up from this type of day.  It is at both of our jobs and we are just tired. Maybe someone wants to come visit and we can pawn two very cute children off on you long enough to sleep one night?

In terms of sleeping, G has slept through the night most nights this week. He has put himself to sleep after nursing and simply wants to be put with his blanket in his crib.  He is also very communicative these days. He's pretty adept with again, more, hungry and please as signs. He also has a very distinctive pointer finger on his left hand that he likes to point where he wants to go, which is typically outside to play.

I suppose I'm going to go watch the rest of the OU/Michigan State game and attempt to leave the sleeping children asleep despite the outcome of the game.

Weather is Nice

We are spending a lot of time out doors these days.  Occasionally the kids even play nice together. A is definitely the big sister and tries to be the mom it seems. She will call him her baby even. While we don't have a sunny day today, we still went outside to play. We will also watch the kids through the windows as opposed to actively monitoring them. They are even figuring out how to solve problems with out parental in put!

Busy busy

It seems like our extra daylight is being used up our of doors.  Both kiddos like playing/drawing with sidewalk chalk. They both even scrapped fingers and have boo boos from trying to use small pieces. A and I try to play hopscotch, but she is still working on the finer points of the game. G prefers sticks it seems. He will draw for a bit then wants to go get a stick to hit things with.  Last week he took a vacuum extension and started seeing how high up in the house he could hit things. Luckily nothing broke.

G is also starting to be very insistent when he wants something. He will show you if you all him why he is being so persistent.

A is working hard to stop sucking her thumb.  We've got quite the reward system going, and she is doing well realistically. Night time is the most difficult and we are using the "keep the princess" dry theory we used to potty train her. In the past two weeks she has only ended up with a wet bandaid 4 times. It is a start and she gets a sticker for that dry bandaid each morning. After collecting so many stickers in a row she gets something fun. For example after she got 3 stickers in a row she got to pick the ice cream flavour we made that night. She is looking forward to 12 stickers because that is when she gets to make cupcakes. A also volunteered to pray last night for dinner at church. She did well and it was a sweet 3 year old prayer ending with, "we like you very very much Jesus today. Amen". Everyone wished they had a recording of it. I do have a recording if her singing in the church talent show last Sunday and if you haven't gotten an email link and want to see it, let me know.

Work is work for both Chris and me. We are unsure of what we are supposed to be learning while we are here. We are unsure of the lessons behind what is happening to. We are sure that we are to be here for now though so I guess we just keep going.

Coworker

I regularly work with a lady in India. She has family here in the states and sent this as part of the latest package to them. The dress is a bit big for now, but it will be fun for the summer.

Snow Family

Today we had a nice about day. Naturally the kids' school was closed (if snow even gets mentioned as a possibility they close school here it seems) so Chris and I did a bit of tag teaming to get everyone to work to accomplish the necessary tasks. Before we got out and about we used the nice blacktop to build snowmen. We all worked on the first one and I built the other 3. They didn't really last the day and A was very upset when they fell over. She even got dressed to go outside to stand them back up. 

Need Sleep

Well, we've managed to mend this month. We've gotten through most of the winter and managed to get to a fairly even keel the past few days. So naturally, G starts drooling up a storm and being super cranky. He's got a tooth or two coming in some more, or he is simply growing. Based on his chubbyness as of late, the growing thing may be up there. We continue to have issues with his ears and are trying to find an alternative to look at to putting tubes in. We shall see when the battle comes to the ENT the beginning of April.

A is having a blast at school and learning all the things she shouldn't.  We are having a difficult time teaching her that she can act a certain way around her friends but not her parents. Also, difficulty in her using phrases we'd rather she didn't that she learns from people in authority at school. They don't allow the children to cry and regularly reward with candy. This is driving us nuts, and only a year or so before we have to worry about kindergarten at this stage.

Work for me has been good. I've gotten a title change, and a few things removed from my plate. Hopefully we can find someone new to help me out even more, so we shall see. There have been several applicants, but none that really seem like they'll fit in, so we leave the position open for now. 

Chris is going nuts at work. His role is constantly becoming less defined which increases the frustration level. I think his work is better at communication (or lack thereof) causing issues. Oh, and who is responsible for said communication.

I got to play handbells today for church. A lady has a two week old, so I got to play her bells. I'm not sure I like small bells...I had the A/B so got the naturally discordant seventh note on occasion. I got all the important accidentals as well, so go me! I'll continue to play these bells until she feels like she can play them, then I'll go back to subbing in on an as needed basis.

Chris and I even managed to drop the kids at church this past Friday. That was probably the highlight of our week. We left the kids in the care of the youth group which is trying to raise funds for a mission trip to Costa Rica. Daunting, but we took them up on it. We manged to help some people move (it wasn't us moving this time!) and got to know them a little as they are just moving down the road.

This week we also had some ice, and here are a few of the photos. I took a quick video of the kids skidding down the ice at the park near us, so if you want the link just e-mail me and I'll shoot it to you. 

Love is in the Air

Well we worked on Valentines this weekend. Both kids are having a party on Thursday to celebrate friendship and such. We had beautiful weather this weekend and spent a lot of time outside. A is working in riding her balance bike. G is living the sticks. Yesterday they played with some berries in a neighbours yard. A wanted to see which ones were juiciest, G just wanted to see what they did if you squeezed them really hard. Both ended up with reddened fingers and smelling like dirt and outdoors.

We may be over our bout of viruses around here. Everyone seemed to make it through this week much better than the last several.

Work is much the same for both Chris and me.  Not a lot is going in except getting ready for spring and lent which is starting soon. I got to go with a friend to see Phantom of the Opera today. Chris did a fantastic job of watching the kids. They went to the park for hours and meet several people there. Well it was a busy day for all so I'm going to bed now. Hope all is well with you.