Ready for summer!

There are only 7 more days of school. We are counting them down. Even though I'm not the student, mom is ready to be done. I don't want to fill out any more reading logs! I don't want to be rushing out the door every morning so we're not late! I'm ready to sleep in a little and eat breakfast in my pajamas.

We have been struggling to get to school on time again. I have to monitor Jenelle's every move in the morning. I'll tell her to get dressed. She'll go in her room and play. I'll say come down for breakfast. She'll come down and start jumping rope. I'll say get your shoes on. She'll walk over to her shoes, but then get distracted by something. It's driving me crazy! I would let her be late and get in trouble at school, but most of the time this happens on mornings when I need to be at work at 8am.

I'm sure you'll be reading a post in June about how I can't wait for school to start again. :)

Moaning and Groaning

I mentioned in a previous post how Jenelle is doing a lot of complaining lately. Yesterday we had a play date with Eme. My very wise neighbor, Jen, gave me lots of good advice on how to handle an ungrateful heart.

I had my first opportunity this morning. We were having pancakes for breakfast. Jenelle made a big face and complained about it then walked away to play. I told Curt not to make her a pancake. Jenelle could fend for herself. Curt and I were eating breakfast when Jenelle walked back in and said, "Where is my pancake?"

Mom: I didn't make you one.
Jenelle: But I wanted a pancake!
Mom: You complained about having pancakes. You can make your own breakfast.
Jenelle: (while sobbing and crying) I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I want pancakes.
Mom: You can have cereal or something.

Jenelle huffed and puffed about it, but she got everything to make her own breakfast. She even climbed on the counter to get the bowl (which she was uncomfortable with). She cut up her own banana. She was so unhappy about having to make her own breakfast. I had to turn away so she wouldn't see me smiling/laughing. I'm not trying to be a mean mom. I'm just trying to build character traits of contentment and thankfulness. These are things I'm working on as well. I've been grumbling a little too much myself lately.

I think we're going to have pancakes tomorrow. I have a feeling that she'll be happy about it.

Egg Hunt

We took Jenelle on her first egg hunt today. We haven't done them in the past because the weather was either too bad or we didn't want gobs of candy in the house. We went to the egg hunt at Ken Caryl church. They provided breakfast. They had a petting zoo, face painting, a bouncy house and of course the egg hunt.

I thought Jenelle got quite a few eggs, but I think she was disappointed that her entire bag wasn't full. Jenelle has been on a complaining streak lately and it's really frustrating me. Anyone have ideas on how to make kids appreciative for what they have instead of complaining about what they don't have?

Most of her eggs were full of stickers, tattoos and other small toys. She got a little candy, too. We had a great time and we'll be heading back there next year.

Spring Break

I think we had the faster spring break on record. Tomorrow is Easter! Where did the week go.

Jenelle's spring break was full of play dates. On Monday she played with Zack. They collected more beedees at the park. They jumped on the trampoline and had a great time.

Tuesday Jenelle went with me to work. I took the kids to the park. Jenelle and Andrew climbed trees the whole time. Jenelle usually stays close to the ground when climbing trees because she is "afraid of heights". She must have been feeling brave because she went up a few branches. I spent my time at the park making sure Elyna didn't hurt herself.

Wednesday we spent another fun day at the park with friends. It was a little chilly that day.

Thursday we were back at Andrew's. The kids did an egg hunt. They played this game for about an hour. The hiding spots became very tricky and we ended up not finding all the eggs. I'm sure they will surface soon.

Thursday night Jenelle has a sleepover at Eme's. Curt and I had a date night. We saw the Valentine's day movie and went out to dinner.

Friday we saw The Tooth Fairy. Jenelle loved that movie. She put wings on one of her Webkinz and has been playing "tooth fairy" at home. Jenelle is counting down the weeks until summer vacation.

Spring is almost here. Or is it still winter?

Saturday was a beautiful day until the phone rang at 7:30am. The weekends are my time to catch up on my beauty sleep. I usually don't roll out of bed until 8:30 or 9:00am. Some of my friend's children will sleep in, but Jenelle is an early riser even on weekends. Luckily, I have an awesome husband who lets me sleep in. Anyway, back to the phone call. Chris got into an accident while heading up to go ski. Curt drove to Idaho Springs to pick them up. We had Zack over for a playdate so Chris could get her rental car and take care of other stuff.

The kids went outside to play on the trampoline, but quickly came back in complaining of bees. Are the bees out already? I don't know, but it was 60 degrees. I wanted those kids to play outside. So I took them across the street to the park. For years now Jenelle has loved that park. One of her favorite activities is to look for BB's there. Older kids in the neighborhood come to the park to shoot their BB guns. The BB's are these colorful little balls. Jenelle and Zack spent a good 45 minutes just walking around the park picking up the BB's. They shouted out every color they collected. "RED", "GREEN", "ORANGE". Occasionally someone would shout out "PINK" and then I'd hear a "NO FAIR". They had to have equal colors. They must have collected close to 100 BB's each. Jenelle keeps all her BB's in a jar in her room.

I was able to get them to play on the equipment eventually. It was just a gorgeous day. On Sunday it was cold and snowy. Today is cloudy and dreary. Ugh! I'm so ready for spring!

Jenelle's many friends

Growing up I had a zillion stuffed animals. I think I slept with 40 animals in my bed at night. (It's probably why I'm so allergic to dust today.) I treated my animals like they were real. I gave them baths. I made them talk. I cried when I lost one of them. Well, Jenelle seems to have that same attachment to her animal friends.

She has lots of WebKinz, a few Build-a-Bears and many other friends. She sleeps with them all in her bed. She rotates who she cuddles with each night. On occasion she has come into our room at night upset that she can't find one of her friends. So Curt or I will have to get up and locate the stuffed animal. They are usually found buried way underneath the covers.

She often arranges her friends. They have been arranged by two's, three's, seasons and talents. Sometimes I find them in odd ways. One was on a bucket. Apparently, the bucket is a bunk bed.

She bought a unicorn at the school garage sale yesterday. She introduced the unicorn to all the other stuffed animals. Some of the animals get quite mangy. They do get baths every so often in the washing machine.

Once we took the frog to Starbucks for story time. She forgot him there. Well she remembered him right at bedtime. Oh the tears! Luckily for her, my friend Angie was in the Starbucks area and picked him up for her. Maxie smelled like coffee. It's all very cute and I'm going to be a little sad when she outgrows this stage.

Happy New Year

It's been a long time since I've posted to the blog. I started working and my free time has been cut short. When I have free time, I'm running errands, cleaning or relaxing. It has been a big adjustment for me. I haven't worked in years and years. I thought I was organized before. I'm not. I feel like we're always on the run now. In the morning I'm rushing Jenelle out the door so I won't be late for work. When I get home, I'm rushing to get dinner going and then school stuff ready for the next day. I hope this is going to get easier with time. I've been neglecting the blog. Sorry.

I'm glad January is over. It's my least favorite month of the year. Jenelle got a keyboard for Christmas and she enjoys playing around with it. We started piano lessons in January. We are taking lessons from another 1st grade mom. We are taking lessons every other week so there isn't a lot of pressure to practice every day. I don't know anything about music. I never had lessons with any kind of instrument. I sit and watch during Jenelle's lessons. I'm learning all about notes: quarter notes, half notes, etc. It's a lot of fun. I hope Jenelle sticks with it.

We also started swim lessons. Jenelle will not be wearing floaties in the pool this summer. She is making a lot of progress. We decided to do private lessons because group lessons seemed to be a waste of time. I will say swim lessons in the middle of winter is a huge pain. We have to shower and blow dry after each time. Her skin is getting dry, too. She came up to me one day and said, "My butt hurts." I slathered her up with lotion which only made it more uncomfortable. Poor thing.