gymnastics and valentines

So I think my last post about gymnastics (last year) was about how Evie was most likely going to get kicked out. Well, guess what?!?!!? She is doing AWESOME! She has moved up and is now in the class without me, which is why I think she is doing so much better. She is such an independent little thing, so I think she needs her freedom. Anyways, she is doing great and loves it. Gavin is still the only boy in his class but I think he doesn't mind ;-) Brenna and Alexa (his buddies) are also in there and he has gotten to know the other girls too. I think he is just excited about gymnastics as Evelyn is! I love thursday mornings when they realize they are going to gymnastics and they listen to me, get dressed on time, Evie asks for her 'gymnastics hair', and they play with their friends there. It rocks!!!

This week, we also had the Welshes over to make Valentine's cards. Special Agent Oso (a tv show) had on how to make v-day cards, so the kids were all into it. Gavin even remembered how they describbed to draw a heart, and did a great job, ifidosaysomyself. He also made a card for himself... "because it is important to love yourself." I couldn't have said it any better!

Now...things I DON'T like about having a girl...

Sure, I love doing hair, and I will be excited to ONE DAY help Evelyn with make-up...but this is ridiculous!

swimming

Gavin is the one on the left...

Gavin has been enrolled in swim lessons for about 9 months. He has moved up twice - but will probably stay at the level he is on now (Ray) for a long time. He can swim on his back all by himself for the length of the pool (but only by doing "chicken, eagle, snake" not the back stroke) even if the picture above shows him with a floatie. He can also put his head in the water when he swims, but often ends up coughing. He loves his swim lessons :-)

Friends forever

Patrick and I have been talking more and more about Japan and have been asking the kids what they thought about moving there. The first thing Gavin asked was "Will I meet new friends"? So we said "Of course, you will meet new friends throughout your whole life, no matter where you are. Meeting new friends is very special, but it is also very special to have friends that you have known forever. Like Aunt Eileen and Uncle Matt have been mommy's friends forever. And Uncle Tony has been daddy's friend forever."

After much thought, Gavin later told us, "Ok. My friends forever are going to be Kelly and McKenna, Nathan and Carter, Brenna and Ava, Greg, Seth, Hannah, Big Boy Sam, Silas and Hailey." Breaks my little heart, but also makes me feel warm inside that he has such good friends...

Why I love having a girl...and other random thoughts

This is just a cute pic of blue eyes!!! Sorry for the bad quality - it was from my phone.

This is why I love having a girl. When I was in elementary school I absolutely HATED having my hair done (just ask anyone who knew me and my hair then). In middle school, some of my friends taught me how to do fun things - like braid and french braid, etc. Those techniques got more education from my aunt who would teach me while we were on vacations and from friends who became hair dressers and from college roommates and from sorority sisters.

So as soon as Evelyn started getting hair long enough to grab, I got her used to me tugging and pulling on her strands to make cute hair dos. She is very fortunate to have beautiful hair to begin with, it looks cute even when I don't do anything. But all the new bows, and bands, and hats, and barrettes...make doing her hair even more fun. I follow hair-do blogs now and learn fun new techniques. Today I did an inside-out braid (reverse braid, bone braid - it has different names). It looks super cute - and Patrick thinks I am wonder woman for being able to do cute things with her hair.

Today we also put up Gavin's storage unit (thanks Autumm) and labeled his toys. The kids get so excited to clean up and they help one another pick up their rooms. It is by far, the best parenting move I have made :-)

Chili Cook off 2010

Some of the Chili line-up



Socializing before the eating began

Last night we hosted the 2nd Annual Chili Cook off in our neighborhood. We had 9 families over (8 entered chili in the cook off) and had such a great time! We had 3 unbiased judges who did not participate in making their own chili. These judges were given cups of chili to taste and critique. After the judges scored each one, I added up the totals for each and the highest points were the winners! There was also a second place prize and we had everyone vote for their own personal favorite, who won the prize for overall favorite. The competition was fierce, but in the end, Kevin and Jodi were able to take away the victory (and coveted trophy) from last year's winners, Christa and Justin. 2nd place went to the Wendels AND Hiles (it was a tie). And the overall vote went to newcomers Peggy and Talbot! They were so excited, as were all the winners :-)
The New Champs!


2nd Place


Overall Favorite

We had tons of kids running around also, but were surprising well behaved. Evie put herself to bed at 8:30 and Gavin literally passed out on the couch around 10. We had some people stay for some crazy Rock Band playing - which was so fun!!! The kids passed out on the couch slept right through it :-)

We made mac and cheese and some pizza for the kids


Looking like angels


Mom of the year!


"Who says you can't drink wine and play the drums?" - me
"You look like the drummer from Def Leppard." - Christa

Overall, the night was a huge success and one more reason why I will be so sad to leave. It is hard to find such cool neighbors to hang out with and do things like this with. Sure, some people do block parties, but this is a group of real friends who truly enjoy each others' company. I am sure whoever moves into our house next (or rents it - Mary, are you reading this?) will be thrilled to be part of such a lucky, friendly neighborhood.

crazy week

I haven't posted in a while because this week has been crazy. And not the crazy I am used to :-) We started getting emails about our upcoming air force assignment so that has put us into a tizzy so to say. More options have opened up for us (overseas now) so we have to re-think our previous rankings. The latest includes an option in Tokyo. That's right folks, Japan. How fricken' cool/scary would that be?!?!?!?!!!? I am pretty sure we still won't know for sure for a few weeks/months - but the fact that we are getting communication is great. So, this week I have been researching more bases, housing, schools, etc. This planner really just wants to know what is going to happen!!!! I want to buy furniture and bedding and fixtures - but, have to wait. Oh well. I guess my normal retail therapy with clothes will have to do for now :-)

Rock Band

This week, we started letting our kids watch us play rock band so they could learn how to play eventually. Well eventually turned out to be the next day in their minds - so every night before bed, we play rock band as a family. Although we only have 3 controllers, the 4th person pretends to be part of the band. We rotate positions so each of us play on instrument. Gavin is actually pretty good on drums (God help me) and Evie loves to sing in the mic. Here is a picture (from my camera phone - sorry) of Patrick and the kids jamming out!!!

Smart Organizing Technique for kids

I know things are much easier to do when they are organized and well labeled. I was never (and am still not) an organized person, much to my husband's dismay. But, having a type A hubby has made me want to teach our children some of his techniques to help make their lives more orderly. So this morning, Evelyn and I went through and organized her room. She has these 6 cute pink buckets that fit in storage cubes, as well as a toy chest. So we grouped her things into categories and found pictures on the internet that represented each category.

We have:
1. My Little Pony
2. Disney Princesses
3. Dress Up clothes
4. Dress Up clothes (she has a lot of dress up things)
5. Hair accessories
6. Stuffed animals
7. All the rest (to go into the toy chest)

This way, she can pull out ONE bucket and play with it. When she is done, she is allowed to get another bucket, etc. But she has to clean up the first one before moving on. If she has friends over and things get wild, it also helps when it is time to clean up. We also found some sneaky extra storage for some of Gavin's toy also in his room (an empty drawer where we used to keep diapers). Now, he can keep his batman accessories in one place! Here are some pictures!

A big week of changes

Gavin in his big boy seat

Gavin waiting while Evie got her hair cut


Before


During


After

My kids are growing up. I know it is inevitable - but it is so easy to try to hold on. This week, we did a LOT of milestone reaching.

First, we converted Gavin's car seat from a 5-point harness to a high-back booster. He was perfectly content in the 5-point, until we bought a spare booster to keep in Patrick's car and he realized how much "cooler" it was, so he wanted the one in mine to have the seat belt "that goes down like a hill". Luckily, my girlfriend Jessica is a car seat nut (aka technician) and came over to help properly convert it and install it. She also made Gavin listen to ground rules and promise to abide by them (since we all know that kids won't listen to their own mom - so it was best this way).

Second, I have been doing my quarterly cleaning of the closets. On of my friends, Keren, is going on another mission trip to Honduras and is taking as many clothes as possible for the families there. In the past, I have passed down the kids' clothes to other friends - in hopes that one day we may need them again (although we have no intentions on it, it was nice to know they would be around if we wanted them) - but this time, the clothes will be in a different country!!!! It's a bit sad to see some of my favorite outfits go - but I know they will be going to a good cause.

And most recently, today we took Evelyn to get her first hair cut. She has the MOST beautiful hair, so I have been very hesitant to do anything to it for fear of changing it's texture, fullness, etc. But the ends were starting to get straggly and she was starting to chew on it (yuck, I know) so I decided it was time. We go to Cookie Cutters, a national chain, that is great for little kids. Gavin has been going for years, so Evie is used to the environment. We always go to the same person (Wendy) so Evie was really excited that she would be able to sit in the cool car and watch a DVD while Miss Wendy cut her hair. Well, she must have been REALLY excited...because as soon as she sat in the chair and Miss Wendy spritzed her hair with water...she peed herself. I didn't even know until we were getting in the car and I realized she was wet. I asked her what happened and she said "I peeped when she sprayed me". Oops!!! But, hey, her hair looks great!

I am also taking the door knob cover off of her door. She is finally good enough to be trusted (a little bit) to go in and out of her room as she needs. This is huge - since containing her was about my only option in discipline. Please send good thoughts our way that she will not tear our house to shreds while we sleep!

Buckeye Land

As a tried and true Penn State fan, it was a little weird coming to a place like Columbus. I have never lived in a place where EVERYONE was so crazy about their college teams. OSU is literally 10 minutes from us - with no major pro teams around (except ice hockey) so the entire area is filled with Buckeye fans. It is actually really cool to experience. Places shut down for business when football is on, kids learn the "We all hate the whole state of Michigan" song in preschool, and every single person owns something grey and scarlet.

Last night we went to our 2nd men's basketball game. The 1st one, we were given first row seats (thanks Ashli) and this one I won from a financial presentation at the hospital. They were in the Huntington club box...and although the excitement wasn't as cool as on the floor, it was much easier to view the game and they were playing another Big Ten team, so it was exciting. Families with newborn children were there, super old men who have been Buckeye fans for decades were there, and of course a ton of OSU students were there. Although the college kids looked eleventeen to us, it made us proud that WE ARE allowed to be part of that (get it...a little Penn State mantra thrown in there :-). Seriously, it has been fun being a part of this crazy Buckeye community - and I know that they will always be a close second in our hearts. The kids have jerseys and cheerleading outfits that I promise we will continue to wear (as long as it is not against Penn State)!


A bad camera phone shot from the box level.

quiet time

I am typing this on a friday night...my husband just got paged in (again) but I am strangely comfortable with it. Sometimes it is nice to have an unexpected evening of quiet time for myself. Tonight, my head is spinning though. We finally sat down with a financial planner/advisor to start thinking about our future. IRAs? 529s? When did we become those people that need this?

It also starts making me think about how our time here in Columbus is rapidly coming to an end. We have been here for over 4 1/2 years and have less than 6 months remaining. Should we sell our house, even though we will take a hit due to the economy? Or should we rent it to people we know for a few years in hopes the market will pick up? If we sell now, we may lose some money - but we get back most of the 20% deposit. If we rent, we get the tax breaks. Sell, be over it and move on altogether. Rent, have a reason to come back once and a while to visit.

As frustrating as it is to not know where we will be stationed, it is also kind of cool. I mean, we HAVE to look at it as an adventure. It FORCES us to be flexible and open to seeing new places and meeting new people. It would be so easy to grow roots in Ohio. I love our little house (although I wish there was one more closet and one more bathroom sink in the master), I love our neighbors and neighborhood, and I love the school system we are in. I had a doctor appointment today (my annual lady doctor visit) and my OB and I cried as I left the office. I love my OB so much I cried because she won't be my doctor anymore and she is so personable and close to patients that she cried too. The kids pediatricians - who are amazing - won't be there for us after June. Hair dressers, babysitters, doctors, dentists, house cleaners...all these people who I have developed relationships with will be left in Ohio when we move. And don't even get me started about my friends, or God forbid, my kids' friends.

I don't say it much, but anyone who knows me knows how important the Advocates (wives' club) and our playgroup have meant to us. And the thought of leaving here, even though I will keep in touch with most, is truly devastating to me. These women and kids are like my own personal "war buddies". If you watch "Scrubs" you will know what I am talking about... "When you spend the hardest time in your life with a group of people, you're bonded forever." I will always remember each and every person that touched our lives during this time.

picture by jreshenroder

Ok Ok...enough sappy for now. I am going to go take a bubble bath and enjoy the rest of my quiet time.

Karate

Since the weather has been so cold, I have been looking for some more indoor activities for the kids to get their energy out. We already do swimming and gymnastics...but my girlfriend, Sarah (who I have known since elementary school), told me about a great little karate class for 4&5 year olds. You can go up to 3 times a week (35 minute classes) but we just have the boys going twice a week. So far they love it, and I think it will be good for listening, respect and discipline. The kids have to say "Yes ma'am" after all instructions and they have to stay in line and wait for their turn. They even get a cute little outfit (a gi?) with the cost of the class. I am attaching Gavin in his uniform :-) Too cute!

snow days

Snow angels with friends


Daddy's new car - MazdaSpeed 3


Sliding into a pile of snow


All bundled up!

We have been getting bits and pieces of snowfall, but last week we actually got some that accumulated into 6 inches or so. Tons of fun for the whole family! Patrick has an easy schedule right now - so he is home to help shovel and enjoy playing with the kids.

I attached a picture of Patrick's new car. He was not very happy with his last car (basically he just got the cheapest car available to get through residency) but we were able to finance the car through my mom's 'bank' at 0%...which meant we were able to get a whole lot more of a car for the same monthly payments. Patrick has been eying this car for a few years now and even went to get one last year - but they were screwing him on his trade in and for the new car. We ended up finding this great deal on this car...basically it was left over inventory from a dealership that closed but it was acquired by a different dealer - so it had to be sold as used. It only had 200 miles on it, and we got it for about $4000-$5000 LESS than a new one. He adores it - and I am happy that he finally has a car he loves. He deserves it!