Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about our upcoming trip to NYC! The kids are excited.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that the weather will be wonderful while we’re in NYC as we have some outdoor plans (but we can always find indoor alternatives, at least!).

Something happening around the house: We bought a new kiddie pool (which happens to look just like the old one), and we had our first pool day of the year. It was warm during the day, but it was still a tad too cold for the kids to be in for too long!

Something I’m reading: Since the last somethings post, I started and finished The Sociopath Next Door (May book club), Julie and Julia, The Age of Miracles (July book club), and Mockingbird. I was disappointed in both The Sociopath Next Door and Julie and Julia but enjoyed them both well enough. I loved The Age of Miracles and Mockingbird! I just started reading Room, which has been on my list for a while.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished Elantris and started and finished The Martian.

Something I’m watching: We watched the Amazing Race finale last Sunday, and tonight is the Survivor finale. We’ve been watching Game of Thrones now that I’m done reading the books. I went to see 42 today with a girlfriend and thought it was funny that I went to see a baseball movie on Mother’s Day without Gabe! I loved it.

Something I’m creating: I’ve been taking a lot of photos, inspired by my photography class.

Something tasty: We’ve been trying a lot of new recipes, focusing on lower fructose to see if that helps Gabe feel better. We are missing some of our staples, but we are enjoying some new things!

Something about both kiddos: I wish I wouldn’t get lazy and skip a week here and there because it’s hard for me to remember everything that they did in two weeks! The kids missed their rollerblading lesson last week due to Maddie’s strep throat, and yesterday was their final session and the medal ceremony. The kids were losing their motivation for rollerblading lessons, so we’ll take a break from it for now. They still seem to want to rollerblade, so hopefully we can do it some at home now that it is warmer outside. The kids are loving play outside more after more than a week of rainy days.

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): Maddie had strep throat AGAIN. This may be her 5th time now…at least her 4th. She’s following in Mommy’s footsteps. I can’t tell you how many times I had strep throat when I was growing up, though I remember getting it when I was in middle school (not preschool!). What can I say…she’s advanced! Maddie had her third book club meeting on Saturday. We are having so much fun with the kiddo book club! This month’s book was the Magic Tree House Dark Day at Sea. Each kid made an octopus, and every tentacle was at a different art station. I loved seeing the creativity of each kid! The weather was awesome on Saturday, and the kids had so much fun with water outside. Maddie made a heart necklace for me in her classroom with her fingerprint. She told me that she made a necklace for me on the day she made it (5 year olds aren’t the best at keeping secrets, ha!). Maddie is now officially riding her two wheeled bike. She made an amazing transition this week. I’m so proud of her! She finished her level 1 preschool swimming lessons and started level 2 this week. She’s loving the swimming lessons, too! Maddie is pretty comfortable on her rollerblades as well. We had teacher appreciation week, and Maddie wrote a letter to each teacher. She did a great job, but it’s a struggle to get her to actually sit down and do it! She came up with both what she wanted to say and how to spell everything. I loved her letters.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen told me, “Mommy! I made you something special!” on the day that he made my Mother’s Day gift. I said, “That’s great, Cullen! But be sure you don’t tell me anything about it since it’s supposed to be a surprise.” He quickly said, “That’s all I know about that!” He then followed it with a sing-song voice, “It’s not an annnnnnnngeellll!” The next day, he told me it wasn’t a necklace. It turns out that he made me an angel necklace. So sweet, and I love how he thought he was being sneaky by “not” telling me! Cullen is still a little timid on the rollerblades but has made a lot of progress. He was showing off for his favorite instructor (the only female of course) at the end today, and skated backwards a pretty good distance. Cullen also made letters for his teachers. I wrote out what he wanted to say to his teachers, and he wrote his letters quite well. At bedtime one day last week, Cullen said, “Mommy, you are the best Mommy in the whole wide world.” He then leaned over and gave me one of his signature sweet kisses. I love his sweet kisses! And then three minutes later, I wouldn’t give into a bedtime stalling demand. He said, “you…you…you are some kind of peepee head!”

Something I’m looking forward to: I have another photography class tomorrow, a division picnic lunch at work, and a haircut. We have a seminar about the kindergarten transition. And we’re going to NYC!

Something random: We went to see Greg Proops on Friday, and it was great! It’s been a while since I’ve been to a comedy show. We should definitely do it more often.

Something captured: My only request for Mother’s Day each year is a photo of me with the two kiddos! This year’s is my favorite so far!

Something that makes me happy: Finally finishing A Dance with Dragons. I have been working on reading that series for more than 6 years, and some of it has just been a chore. I guess that means I don’t love the series quite as much as others do!

Something I’m thinking: I knew after the yard sale in 2007 that I would never have another one, and I relearned this on Saturday at my sister’s moving sale. The yard sale subculture is fascinating, but it’s not worth the trouble. That being said, Gabe and I were happy to get rid of a few big items at the sale that we might have had trouble offloading otherwise. It was also nice to spend some time with my sister and brother-in-law, though I think next time we’ll pick a different activity!

Something happening around the house: I’ve been forcing the kids to pose for pictures next to windows and open doors for my photography class assignment this week.

Something I’m reading: I finished A Dance with Dragons, and now I have to figure out what’s next!

Something Gabe is reading: He finished Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Book Store and started and finished City of Bones. He enjoyed both of those. He’s now reading Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

Something I’m watching: We’ll probably get back to watching Game of Thrones this week (after I finish the book).

Something tasty: I’m looking forward to dinner with friends tonight at a tasty Italian restaurant!

Something about both kiddos: They both had their bike days this week! Maddie zipped around on her strider at her last bike day, and Cullen plodded around on his new scooter at his first bike day. Both seemed to have a good time, and I had my best two sessions as far as taking photos of them at bike day! We are ready to take a break from rollerblading. Both kids have lost some of their motivation for it.

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): I can’t believe that Maddie has now had her final bike day! She is making progress on her big girl bike without training wheels, but she was nowhere near comfortable enough to try it at bike day. She will be zipping around unassisted on that pretty soon, I’m sure. Maddie continues to do well when going to bed at night and has been sleeping through the night most of the last month. It’s an amazing difference, and I think that it has positively affected her in other ways. It has certainly been positive for her parents! I signed her up for two more sessions of swimming classes. She’s taking a level 1 preschool class now, and I thought she’d be ready for level 2 after these are finished. Her instructor wasn’t so sure at the beginning of Tuesday’s lesson, but by the end of the lesson she agreed that Maddie was more than ready for level 2. She jumped into the pool without any assistance from the instructor, and she was comfortable submerging her head under water several times. Considering how terrified she was of the water at the beginning of last summer, I’m extremely proud of her progress!

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen is excited about his new scooter. He wasn’t very fast at bike day, but he seemed excited. He was exhausted by the end! We were laughing on his last laps as he tried to “sleep” on the handlebars. He even stopped in the middle of the course to sit on the scooter and take a rest. Cullen continues to be accident free with potty training during the day AND night. Of course, now that just means we’re in the phase where he goes to the potty by himself but yells from the bathroom for someone to wipe him. Cullen didn’t seem to be into rollerblading on Saturday, but he ended up doing some drills with skating around cones and even enjoyed skating backwards.

Something I am struggling with: I’m FINALLY feeling better with my bronchitis. It seems that the new antibiotic didn’t try to kill me, and it actually cured me instead. Hooray!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’m taking another photography class, and this one is called “Photographing Children.” I have been wanting to take it for a while. The class started last Monday, just in time for me to use tips for both bike days. I struggled a little with our assignments this week. The kids aren’t the best subjects on demand. I took about 400 shots to submit one for my “homework.”

Something I learned: I learned some useful tips for shooting the action of bike day!

Something I’m looking forward to: We have swimming lessons for Maddie on Tuesday and Thursday, photography lessons on Monday for me, strawberry picking for the family on Friday, and rollerblading for both kids on Saturday. Maybe this week’s assignment will have something to do with strawberry picking or swimming??

Something captured: Two pictures this week, two of my favorites from the bike days.

Something happening around the house: I tried to flood our “water closet” in the master bath. I guess I truly wanted it to live up to its name. It took all the towels in the house to clean it up. Yuck! I’m just glad that Gabe was here to help in my panic as the water filled up the room. He’s able to do things like think clearly and turn off the water. I am only capable of panicking and yelling for towels and help.

Something I’m reading: A Dance with Dragons…getting closer to finishing, then I guess I’ll have to tackle next month’s book club book before I get into anything else. I have a few library books that I should probably read before they expire, including one that had a long waiting list.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished Fall of Giants and started and finished Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Book Store.

Something I’m watching: We decided to skip a few episodes and catch up with Survivor. I’m glad we did as the last tribal council was one of the best I’ve seen!

Something I’m playing: A little Qatqi, but that’s about it.

Something I’m creating: I wrote a few more paragraphs on Maddie’s letter. Maybe I should try to finally finish the thing this week. I’ve also been writing thank you notes for the MS Walk fundraising.

Something about both kiddos: They weren’t too excited to go to rollerblading on Saturday. We’ve missed a few lessons in this session, and the sporadic attendance has hurt their motivation. I think we’ll probably be taking a break from those. We’ll be trying to do more swimming lessons this summer, anyway. We took the kids to the cafe this week, but both of us were feeling under the weather and the kids acted up a bit. We had plans with a big group, and the kids were going to be disappointed to miss it.

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): At dinner the other day, Maddie said, “Mommy, my brother was making me laugh so much that my mouth opened, and my juice fell out.” While we were walking into swimming lessons on Tuesday, a guy in the parking lot was wearing only a speedo. He was walking towards us, and when he was about 5 feet away, Maddie pointed at him and laughed. “Look at that guy! Why is he wearing underwear?!” We had a little talk about why we don’t point and laugh at people (even if we think they look a bit silly). She’s doing great at her swimming lessons. I’m impressed with how she’s warmed up to the instructor and made a new friend. It’s been good for both her swimming skills and her social skills. Maddie asked Daddy if she could take the training wheels off of her bike this afternoon, so they did some practice on the big girl bike without training wheels! She doesn’t quite have the hang of it yet, but she’s getting closer. We’ll have to get her some more practice soon. Maddie’s been asking for ballet lessons. I’m not sure if she will enjoy “real” ballet lessons as she’s done the “pre-ballet” a few times. I think mostly she wants to twirl around in a leotard and skirt. Maddie was excited about the graduate field trip at school. They visited the on campus construction site for the new building and saw a parade of construction vehicles. She enjoyed telling us all about it.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): He had a small poop accident in his underwear this week at school. Instead of telling anyone, he decided to just turn his underwear and pants around backwards. I noticed they were backwards when I picked him up, and said, “oh, I see you put on your own pants!” When we got home, I asked, “Cullen, why are your pants on backwards?” He triumphantly exclaimed, “I pooped! Wanna see??” and dropped his poopy pants right there in the kitchen. Other than this incident (which was somewhat amusing), he has been doing really well and been mostly accident free. He hasn’t had a change of clothes from school in a while. He even went to bed last night without pullups and woke up dry! He was dry after nap this weekend, too.

Something I am struggling with: I was feeling better for a few days, and then I woke up on Friday feeling much worse. I went back to the doctor and got a new antibiotic which will hopefully get rid of this stupid bronchitis. I’ve had it for almost two weeks now.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We raised some more money for the MS Walk this week with some late donations. Our total is up to $5,591!

Something I’m looking forward to: We have a busy week with Maddie’s continuing swimming lessons, my new photography class starting on Monday, book club on Wednesday, maybe poker on Friday for Gabe, helping my sister with her yard sale, and rollerblading. Whew.

Something captured: I don’t know if I took any new photos this week (it’s rare, but it happens), so here’s a picture of our Triangle Walk MS team!

Something I’m thinking: Just thinking about the upcoming week.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to feel better this week (and that nobody else in the family gets sick).

Something happening around the house: My parents came for a quick visit for the MS walk.

Something I’m reading: A Dance with Dragons for at least another week or two…

Something Gabe is reading: Fall of Giants (his is a long one, too!).

Something I’m watching: We took the kids to see a Winnie the Pooh play as part of the Storybook Theater series. They had a good time!

Something I’m playing: My mom convinced Gabe and I to start playing QatQi on the iPad/iPhone.

Something about both kiddos: The kids pretend to play “baby school.” We have no idea why they call it baby school except that maybe they bring their dolls to the school? No idea. Baby school involves dragging all of the toys from around the house into one room. Baby school was in our bedroom for a short time. It’s been in the library, the foyer, guest room, Maddie’s room, and the bonus room. Currently, it’s in the bonus room and neither of us have had the energy to get them to straighten it up. Better there than anywhere else in the house, I suppose! Also, I can’t really explain why Cullen likes to play that he is “baby spider.” The two games aren’t related. They didn’t have rollerblading because our MS walk was on Saturday morning. We have been enjoying a lot of outdoor play time (even with the constant pollen cloud, ugh!). Until the pollen attacked the area, we had been having some dinners outside. The weather has been beautiful!

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): Maddie started her swimming lessons this week, and she’s doing great. She seems to have lost her fear of the water, and she’s doing very well listening to the instructor (and being responsible when it’s not her turn). I’m so proud of her. I was surprised when she recently brought home a math problem that she had done in class adding two 4-digit numbers where every column needed to “carry the 1.” So cool! Maddie has done very well the past few days with her walkie talkie. She hasn’t called us very much, and she hasn’t been “scared” every night. Progress!

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Poor little guy had a high fever on two nights (not back to back) and a bad cough. He was out sick for 3 days this week. He didn’t act sick most of the time, but he was more sensitive then usual. He played some new iPad games while he was out. Gabe downloaded some Lego based games, and both kids have been enjoying it. It is amazing to see how they navigate around the tablet! Cullen has an awesome imagination lately. It’s so fun to hear his stories, and he’s very good at recounting movies or books. He has been writing his name on papers at school, and he’s been working on writing other letters as well. I’m impressed by his penmanship!

Something I am struggling with: This bronchitis has me extremely tired. Parenting doesn’t stop for illness.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We finished up our fundraising for 2013, and I’m thrilled with how we did yet again! Every time I get discouraged, I’m reminded about how wonderful people can be.

Something I learned: I’m allergic to azithromycin (in addition to the sulfa drugs).

Something I’m looking forward to: We have a crazy number of appointments this week. I think we might have to try to reschedule some of them. I have an evening with a friend, swimming lessons for Maddie, rollerblading for both kids, and an iPhone photography class.

Something captured: The kiddos before today’s play!

Something I’m reading: I finished I’ve Got Your Number, which was cute and my favorite of her books. I finished the Sisterhood series as well, Sisterhood Everlasting. I read Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Book Store for April’s book club, and I loved it! I’ll be interested to see how the rest of the club likes it. I started A Dance with Dragons, so that may take me a while. Sigh.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished Blackout, the last in the Newsflesh trilogy. He started reading Fall of Giants.

Something I’m watching: We watched seasons 1 and 2 of Downton Abbey (free on amazon prime!). We were disappointed to find that the 3rd season isn’t free (or at least not yet), so I guess we’ll take a break or decide whether it’s worth buying somehow. We’re really enjoying our Roku box lately!

Something I’m creating: I made periscopes and disguises with this month’s kiwi crate (this month has a spy theme).

Something about both kiddos: The kids had a great time making their disguises, but they weren’t willing to let me take photos of them! Both kids enjoyed their Easter goodies! The day before, we went to the Life and Science museum for the dino egg hunt. We skipped a week of rollerblading (no classes Easter weekend), so they were both a little rusty at this week’s lesson. The weather has finally warmed up, so we have been playing outside quite a bit. It’s nice that it is warmer (and still light) after work, so we can get in a little play time before dinner. The kids had team spirit day at school, and Maddie chose to wear her Kentucky sweatshirt while Cullen represented NC State.

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): Maddie loves for us to take her to the cafe, yet she melted down when we picked her up for our last outing. It was pizza day. Maddie hates pizza, except for the pizza at school. Apparently she LOVES that pizza, so much that she wanted to make sure that we didn’t come to lunch on Fridays anymore (just in case). She has had some rough nights, but the last few nights have been better. Fingers crossed that this is yet another new trend! We had our second Magic Tree House Book Club meeting, this time about Leonardo da Vinci. Maddie is having a great time with the book club. I hope to continue to foster her love for reading. Her swimming lessons start this week. Maddie’s reading speed has been improving.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): We discovered a tick on Cullen’s belly this evening after bath. Yikes! He was a little concerned but a brave boy while I removed it. When I was putting him to bed, he said, “That tick was sneaky!” Yesterday, Cullen spotted a deer crossing sign and said, “that sign means that reindeer aren’t allowed to gallop on the road.” Cullen has been writing his name on some of his paper at school and has been writing lots of letters at home. I’m surprised at how well he is doing with that! He is excited about his “readers” that introduce pre-readers to the letters and phonics.

Something I am struggling with: Meh.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: Our walk is on Saturday, and we’ve been raising funds for the National MS Society!

Something I’m looking forward to: MS Walk, Maddie’s swim lessons, Winnie the Pooh play.

Something captured: Cute kiddo book club!

Something happening around the house: We all stayed home yesterday which was a cold and rainy day. We were glad that we didn’t have plans! The kids entertained each other pretty well, and Gabe and I spent quite a bit of time being lazy.

Something I’m reading: I finished the third and fourth book of the Sisterhood of the Pants series. They were quick, fun reads. I also finished A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash and The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. Both books were for our new online book club. I didn’t love either one, though the habit book had a lot of interesting anecdotes. I enjoyed the first section of the book the most. It got repetitive, and some of the organizational/society things weren’t as interesting. The last section had a few more interesting bits with night terrors and gambling. I’m reading I’ve Got Your Number. I had been on the waiting list at the library for a while, and it finally became available recently. I’m not sure how much to expect from it!

Something Gabe is reading: Gabe has been reading a lot, too. He finished Deadline by Mira Grant and is now reading the third book in that series. He also read the first book of another series, The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett in the Demon Cycle series.

Something I’m watching: We are thinking about streaming Downton Abbey to see what all the fuss is about. It looks boring to me, but people seem to like it. It’s free to stream, so we’ll see if we like it. I guess.

Something I’m playing: We had games night yesterday. I was able to play Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar twice. I liked it, but I wonder if I’ll be able to get a handle on a good strategy to use in that game! I’m glad I finally got a chance to play it as I have heard about it from several friends.

Something I’m creating: I haven’t finished the 2011 photobook or worked on it much. I started an 8×8 book about my Disney adventures with Audrey early last year. I guess I finished about a third of the book so far.

Something tasty: I can’t stop eating Brach’s Hiding Eggs and Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs. I’m glad Easter will be over soon.

Something about both kiddos: The kids and I had a great time while Gabe was gone. When he returned, they said, “Daddy! Daddy! You missed all the fun!” We went out to dinner almost every night which kept us out of the house and kept me from needing to figure out what to cook. Keeping us out of the house was an even better benefit as I didn’t have much energy to keep up with cleaning and laundry and all that. We went bowling (their first time). They loved it, but I’m not sure I’ll do it again for a while! We went to the Shiny Diner for the first time (well, theirs, I hadn’t been in at least a decade). We had rollerblading lessons and spent the weekend with Sophie and her mommy doing all kinds of crafts, Easter egg hunts, and cookie decorating. The kids had their first official slumber party. Marie and Sophie ended up sleeping in the guest room, but Maddie and Cullen slept in sleeping bags on Maddie’s floor. They took forever to go to sleep. The kids made a sign for Gabe to welcome him home. We had a lot of fun, but we were very happy to have Daddy home again. Surprisingly, I kept everyone healthy and happy and kept my sanity at the same time. It’s a miracle. They had rollerblading again this weekend, and both kids did great. Maddie claims that she doesn’t like rollerblading anymore, but I don’t think that’s true. She has a big smile on her face while she’s doing it, and today she asked to rollerblade on the hardwoods in the house. They are both making big improvements! Oh, and we got some “journals” while Daddy was out of town, and the kids have been drawing and writing in them frequently. One of the crafts that we did while Sophie was spending the weekend with us was to make things out of toilet paper rolls. The kids all decided to make binoculars and used them to “explore” the backyard. They then returned and wrote what they saw in their journals. Some of the pictures are mostly scribbles, but the process was great!

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): She’s not been doing particularly well at bedtime. I think part of this is her usual stuff, and another is both the time change and Daddy being out of town for almost a week. She went to bed at a pretty reasonable time tonight, so I hope that’s a good sign. She has been staying awake until 10:30pm or 11pm almost every night. That made for an exhausting time while Gabe was out of town as I couldn’t really go to bed until I got them settled (and then one or both of them would be up bright and early in the morning). Maddie is still reading every day. I’m glad she’s so motivated! It seems like in the past couple of weeks she’s gotten a lot faster with her reading. I’ve been impressed. I wonder when she will make the leap to read to herself. It’s rewarding to see all of her hard work (and mine) paying off after months of daily practice.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen has been enjoying his journal and enjoys drawing random pictures and writing his name (not always with the letters in order). We are wondering whether Cullen may have a food sensitivity. His cheeks have frequently been flushed, and we used to think that it happened mostly when he had been playing outside and it was too hot or too cold. Recently, I have noticed it happening at other times when he hasn’t been in any extreme temperatures (though the temperatures didn’t have to be all that extreme). We think we are noticing a correlation with things like pizza and other tomato things. Since tomatoes are one of his favorite foods, that could explain why his cheeks have been so flushed lately. I feel like it happens even without tomatoes, but I found out that many of his other favorite foods contain some of the same things that can cause sensitivities with tomatoes. We may have to do some more investigating. Cullen has been doing well at preschool! He is excited about being at Children’s House, and he was even more excited when I volunteered in his classroom on Pi Day. We made mini chocolate pudding pies in mini muffin pans. I had so much fun! Cullen was so proud to share his mommy with the class.

Something I am struggling with: I knew I would have a hard time writing this one while Gabe was out of town, so I’m not surprised I skipped. As long as I write this every other week, I think I’ll be happy. I’m having trouble finding time for writing…and still need to write Maddie’s 5-year letter. I’ve worked on it, but I have a ways to go to finish it.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I did some fundraising for this year’s Walk MS. I’m having a slow start, and the walk is coming up fast. I always wonder at this time of year if we’ll make our goals, and somehow we always do. Somehow I still find myself doubting it each year.

Something I’m looking forward to: Book club is this week! We are discussing Little Bee (and it sounds like many of us didn’t like it, so we’ll see what everyone has to say!). We also have some doctor appointments and dinner and games with friends. We are going to do a dino egg hunt next weekend, and the Easter Bunny is coming to town! Just in case I don’t write next week, the following week brings a movie outing with some book club peeps (The Host), the second kiddo book club meeting, and a birthday party.

Something captured: At the Shiny Diner while Daddy was out of town

Something I’m thinking: I just didn’t get my act together to write one last week, so here I am covering two weeks again. I don’t even have a good excuse!

Something I’m reading: I finally finished A Feast for Crows. I’m going to take a little break to catch up on some other reading before tackling the next book. I started and finished Little Bee for this month’s book club. I didn’t love it, but I liked it well enough. I started and finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and enjoyed it! I started and finished The Second Summer of the Sisterhood after a friend suggested that I continue the series. I’m now reading the third book in the series.

Something Gabe is reading: Gabe finished The Blinding Knife and he is now reading Deadline by Mira Grant.

Something I’m watching: We saw a live play, Rapunzel, last Sunday. We all had a good time at the theater, though the play wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. This weekend, we went to see Charlotte’s Web at a different theater. We had another great experience there! The kids are having fun with their cultural events.

Something I’m playing: We played some Catan Junior this week. We’ve also been playing outside a lot. I love spring.

Something I’m creating: I only had one of the two scrapbooking days that I mentioned with the last Sunday Somethings, but I did manage to make quite a bit of progress in my 2011 photobook. I hope to continue doing a few pages almost every night so I can finish that one.

Something about both kiddos: My sister brought two of her baby goats for a visit on Saturday. We all enjoyed watching the “kids” frolic in our yard. Several neighbors enjoyed them as well. It was just so much fun. The goats were adorable. Oh, and they loved seeing Aunt Kristin, too. We took the kids to the cafe on Friday, and that was Cullen’s first time for that special privilege! Both kids did great. Hopefully, we can take them more often now.

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): She got some practice on the new bike this weekend, and she still loves to ride the balance bike. She really zips around on that thing now! We found out that she will be attending the year round school that we were hoping to get into…though we don’t know which track yet. Somehow, I don’t feel as relieved as I thought I might. I guess I don’t fully trust that we’re in yet. Maddie attended her first book club meeting! It was great. We had activities, crafts, and snacks related to Irish history and folklore. The kids seemed to have fun!

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen has continued to do well in his new classroom. He seems to be more tired in the evenings. He’s more sensitive as usual and ready for bed! This has caused a little extra conflict between Maddie and Cullen. Hopefully, things will settle down as he adjusts to the new routines at preschool. They had their first jammie day to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Cullen was excited, and they did some cute activities to celebrate. Prior to this weekend (before he saw the baby goats), he said, “When I grow up like a Daddy, I’m going to have baby goats. I’m going to name them different names. One is named carrot.” He was excited to see the baby goats in theory, but he was a little nervous about actually seeing them. He warmed up after a little while and held and petted the goats. He brings up the baby goats at random all the time (even before meeting them, so we’ll see how much he talks about them now!). Cullen’s been doing great with potty training lately, and he started wearing underwear at night. We have had to change sheets a lot more than usual!

Something I am struggling with: I’ve had issues writing…I’ve had some writer’s block on Maddie’s letter. Fortunately, I’ve made a lot of notes and wrote about half of it, so hopefully I’ll be able to capture all of the important things.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m not sure I’m looking forward to Gabe’s trip to Phoenix, but we have some plans while he is gone. We’re having a slumber party with friends, rollerblading, and a Lego event. Hopefully, the kids will not be too crazy while Gabe is gone.

Something random: I had a dream last night that I was trapped on a resurrected Titanic filled with mostly zombie pirates.

Something captured: Cullen and my sister with a baby goat!

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about Maddie’s letter which I hope to get done this week. I’ve had a hard time finding all the right words.

Something I’m hoping: Well, to get Maddie’s letter done.

Something happening around the house: We have two new bikes! We decided to get a (smaller) regular bike for Cullen, too. I dusted off my bike and rode with them a little bit, too.

Something I’m reading: Slogging my way through A Feast for Crows.

Something Gabe is reading: King of Thorns.

Something I’m creating: I am trying to get started on Maddie’s letter, but I’m looking forward to two scrapbooking days with friends this week. I’m taking a vacation for one of them, woohoo! I’m hoping to finish at least one photobook in the near future. Still many more to go… Oh, and the kids and I did some crafts.

Something tasty: We have had a lot of cake lately. Oh, and the best was homemade marshmallows. YUM! Now I want to make them more than ever. I need to find a good candy thermometer.

Something about both kiddos: Both kiddos are so excited about the new bikes. We had intended just to get one for Maddie as her birthday present, but we ended up with one for each kid. I guess we’ll have to find something else special for Maddie! We had wanted to wait to get Cullen a regular bike with training wheels (or without) until he had gotten better on the balance bike. He was zipping around the store on the bike, and he just looked so cute…and he *does* need one for bike day. So, anyway. Gabe and I were suckers and both kids took home nice, shiny, new bikes. We played outside all afternoon which was nice! The weather was beautiful and a perfect ending to a wonderful family weekend. They have started watching all kinds of new shows in the past few months. Some of these include the Pink Panther, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, the Mr. Men show, and Sofia the First. They will still watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Doc McStuffins, and Super Why when they have new episodes. We got this month’s Kiwi Crate this weekend, so we made some of the crafts this weekend. They made cute little pom pom pets out of yarn and a little pet playground. We all love our monthly craft boxes! We had a break from classes this week (no ballet or rollerblading).

Something Maddie is doing (5 years old): We really thought that Maddie would be able to handle going straight from the balance bike to the real bike without training wheels. We didn’t account for how much heavier the bike is or how difficult it is to teach a kid how to ride a real bike! I don’t think any of us are ready for it yet. We took them off briefly this afternoon, but we decided to put them back on for now. Maddie enjoyed having us come to her class for cake on her birthday, and we had a nice dinner to celebrate that night. She’s very proud of being 5! She continues to do a lot of reading every day. She has been in a phase where she enjoys tracing her coloring pages to make a “copy.” The walkie talkie and ticket system continues to work well for us. Nights are not nearly as frustrating as they used to be! Maddie has seemed like a very happy girl lately, so I think a lot of different factors are contributing to that.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen had a big week, too. He started his new preschool class! He had no problems with the transition. He’s already doing well in the new class, and it sounds like the teachers are very pleased with his transition. I’m so proud of him! We made birthday cards for two birthday parties this weekend, and Cullen wanted to write “Happy Birthday” on his just like his big sister was doing. I didn’t think he’d be able to do it, and I was shocked when he wrote every letter. He didn’t write them in order, but he wrote them! He then wrote his name really well (and in order) several times this weekend. I couldn’t believe he could do it. I was very impressed. He’s excited about his new bike which he definitely earned by his utter cuteness in the store.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We were excited to take two large boxes to the shred-a-thon. Woohoo! We still have quite a bit to scan and shred, but it’s a big start.

Something I’m looking forward to: Appointments for Maddie, book club, two scrapbooking (photobooking) days, the new session of rollerblading for both kids, and Rapunzel (live play) for all of us.

Something captured: Two pictures this week…each kid on their new bike! The kids picked out their own clothes today. Cullen insisted on that snowman sweater.

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about the school application process. Ugh. I just want to know where we are going and what the schedule will be. I hate not being able to plan for anything.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping we will get into the year round school.

Something happening around the house: We have been getting rid of more things, but we still have a lot of things left to sell or donate (or trash). Little by little, we are making some progress. Oh! And we finally got a new mattress!!! So far, so good, but we will have to see how we feel about it in a month or so!

Something I’m reading: I finished Son and remembered how much I like that series! I finally got back to reading A Feast for Crows (again). I had started reading it (for the second time) about a year and a half ago and got distracted. I hope that I can get through it this time. I didn’t start at the beginning, but I started pretty close to the beginning. A lot of it has been coming back to me, but I also remember that this one had chapters of people that I find myself going “um, who? do I care?” I hope that I can stay on task…then finally, finally read A Dance with Dragons and be caught up to everyone else. Reading this series is a bit of a commitment, and I haven’t felt all that committed to my reading in the past 5 years.

Something Gabe is reading: King of Thorns.

Something I’m watching: Amazing Race started last night!

Something I’m creating: I helped the kids with their Valentine’s Day boxes and the rest of their valentines. That’s about all of the creating that I’ve been doing lately.

Something tasty: I had oatmeal raisin pancakes for breakfast on Maddie Special Day. Yum! It’s like having a cookie for breakfast.

Something about both kiddos: I’m thrilled about how much Maddie and Cullen love each other. I know that the sibling lottery is a crapshoot, and I’m sure every parent wants their children to be best friends. I’m encouraged by a study mentioned in NurtureShock that says that how siblings relate at a very early age is a pretty good predictor of what their lifetime friendship will be like. They are great buddies. I’m interested to see how the dynamic changes as Cullen starts preschool and as Maddie starts elementary school. Maddie has been telling Cullen all about what to expect at Children’s House. It is funny to hear them talk these days. This evening, they were upstairs playing and laughing. It was one of those times where Gabe and I looked at each other and just knew they were up to no good. Then there’s the debate of “do we go up and investigate? or do we enjoy another couple minutes relaxing downstairs first?” They had discovered the drawer with a bag full of flossers and had them all over the floor. I think they each put them in their mouths first before putting them on the bathroom floor…the same bathroom floor with a mostly-but-not-quite potty trained 3-year old boy. Yuck. But, I must say, there were worse things that they could have been giggling about doing! We were amused by how much fun they were having. The kids had fun at the science museum on Saturday, and they were excited to see the Titanic exhibit. At the beginning of the exhibit, you are given a boarding pass. At the end, you get to find out whether you went down with the ship or whether you were saved. I found my name and Maddie’s name first. We both survived. Gabe’s was next, and he made it, too. Then we got to Cullen’s. I finally located his name on the list that went down with the ship and in parenthesis, it said, “band.” Cullen asked, “did I sink?” I knelt down on the ground with him and said, “Cullen! You were in the band! That’s exciting! You played music for everyone as the ship was sinking!” “Was I saved?” “Um, well, um, no. But you were in the band! Isn’t that cool! What instrument do you think you played?” “The drums!” He was a little bit upset at first, but he seemed to like that he was part of the band. Later, I heard Maddie telling him that he went down with the ship, and Cullen replied, “Yes, but I made sure that you and everyone was happy.” The kids liked touching the iceberg and a piece of the Titanic’s hull the best. I have to admit that I was pretty excited about touching the hull! In the rest of the museum, they enjoyed talking to people and doing various crafts. The kids loved seeing all the pretty snow on Saturday, but it didn’t stick around. It was pretty to watch as we had big, fluffy flakes. The kids had their last “ballet” class, and it will probably be our last one for a while.

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): Maddie was so happy all day on Maddie Special Day. We started with our favorite breakfast place where she had orange juice and chocolate chip pancakes. By the time we left breakfast, it had started to snow. We decided that the roads were not going to be too bad considering that it had been 65 degrees the previous day. We headed to the science museum. The kids were most excited about seeing the Titanic exhibit, as I mentioned before. Maddie spent a lot of time with some entomologists talking about bugs that she was coloring. She also told them all about her Special Day. We headed to lunch at her favorite place after the museum and then to the toy store. She was very convinced that she wanted a racing car set. We started in that aisle, and we visited lots of other aisles. She would examine other interesting toys and comment, “I really like this! I’m going to stick with what I have, though.” We happened to glimpse the bikes when we were getting ready to leave, and Maddie thought a big girl bike was the only thing worth trading away the race car set. We told her that we might have to shop around, and we praised her when she made the choice to get a bike tomorrow or later this week versus going home with a new toy right away. She picked out a Hello Kitty bike on Sunday. After the toy store, we headed home where we were joined with good friends for dinner and cake. She requested chocolate cake, chocolate icing with chocolate sprinkles and “rainbow sprinkles for good measure.” She decorated the cake herself, and she decided to put chocolate graham cracker bunnies around the edge in a border. Oh, and she had hot chocolate for the first time. I’d say it was a pretty perfect day for an almost 5-year old chocolate-loving girl. She was very happy. She’s still reading to us every night, and we picked up a couple of new readers when we bought the bike. Reading is definitely her passion right now. On the way to school last week, she was reading road signs. It occurred to me that she can read just about anything she wants now. I asked her how it felt to be able to read whatever she wants, and she replied, “I’m freeeeeeeee!!!” Perfect response.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen starts his preschool transition today. One of his teachers visited him today, and tomorrow she will come to his old classroom to take him to his new one. They are hoping that he will stay through at least lunchtime. He will have the option to stay the whole day, so we will see what happens. When I asked him this afternoon, he said, “I’m going to stay all day and then I will hear Maria [current teacher] crying.” Awwww! Last week, the kids and I were listening to Mumford and Sons on the way to school on my iPhone. It was paused all day, and I started again just before picking up Cullen. As soon as he got into the car, he said, “This is a very long song!” Also last week, he was making noise in the kitchen, banging on something. I asked him, “Um, Cullen, what are you doing?” He replied, “I’m fighting DRAGONS.” Oh, ok, then, carry on. He then said, “Maddie, you should be ok now.” Maddie said, “But they are still alive!” Cullen replied, “Yes, but they won’t growl at you now.” He then ran over to Gabe and me, “Mommy! Daddy! Be careful. Watch out for dragons. They could roar fire on you. They are still alive.”

Something I’m looking forward to: This week, we have Cullen’s transition to Children’s House, and Maddie’s birthday including a celebration in her classroom and her birthday dinner. We have two kid birthday parties to attend this weekend, and we need to get to a shred-a-thon on Saturday. We have a couple of giant boxes full of papers to be shredded. It will feel good to have that done!

Something random: My sister’s goats started having babies this past week. She has a whole bunch of new baby goats.

Something captured: I know how to make 3 preschoolers happy – hot chocolate! I’d say that Maddie and Cullen’s first hot chocolate experience was a success.

Something I’m thinking: We have too many appointments this time of year. Ack!

Something I’m hoping: I hoping that appointments go well.

Something happening around the house: I’m working on scanning again. Scanning, scanning, scanning. Pretty soon we’ll be recycling, shredding, recycling, and shredding. We’re taking several boxes to an upcoming shred-a-thon.

Something I’m reading: I finished Nurture Shock, and I enjoyed it! It gives parents a lot to think about. I should reread some of the chapters from time to time. I finished reading State of the Onion, and I would enjoy other books in that series. I’m now reading Son, the fourth book in The Giver series by Lois Lowry.

Something Gabe is reading: Gabe finished Book 8 of the Wool series, and it was great to finally be able to talk about it to each other. We’ll be watching for the next book in the series. He’s now reading King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

Something I’m playing: We had fun playing Tichu with friends on Friday night. I played The Castles of Burgundy, Telestrations, Big Boggle, and Forbidden Island at our games night on Saturday.

Something I’m creating: I helped the kids create their Valentines for this week. Maddie still needs to make her mailbox. I think real homework is going to stress me out!

Something tasty: Gabe and I have a bad Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts habit this time of year. Yum!

Something about both kiddos: They had their last rollerblading lesson for this session and got their medals! They were excited about that part, and now they can get a free donut every time they visit Dunkin Donuts for the next couple months or something? Anyway, we went and treated the kiddos (and ourselves) to donuts after the lesson. The kids both created their Valentines. I’m not a big fan of the store bought ones (though that doesn’t mean I won’t buy them some years!).

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): Maddie has made huge improvements in rollerblading! She’s getting more comfortable, and she’s actually picking up her feet to get speed. We’re so proud of her. She’ll be in the intermediate class for the next session in a few weeks. Maddie had her own design in mind for her valentines for her classmates. She drew hearts inside of a circle for each one, and then she decorated with stickers and wrote “from Maddie” on the back. Twenty valentines is a lot to do, so we split it up over several sessions. We were also proud of her when she used stickers to cover up her mistakes. Usually, she has to start over when making a mistake, so that was a big step for her! We continue to be impressed by her reading. She’s reading every day, and I’m surprised by the words that she no longer needs help with. Gabe and I are constantly introducing a new book to her and then asking the other parent, “um, did you read this to her? Has she read that one before?” and continue to be surprised when the answer is no. She’s been reading a Level 3 reader to me the last two nights. Maddie now has a walkie talkie that she can use to “summon” us to her room. This has been working fabulously. She is allowed to summon each of us once after we leave her room, and she has been using it in the middle of the night. This is a welcome change to her outbursts and screaming and yelling and crying both at bedtime and the middle of the night. It’s quite pleasant. Thanks to a good friend for the suggestion!!! Ultimately, we are hoping that she won’t need us to come every time she calls us, but for now this is a welcome change.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen made very cute valentines. He drew himself with each of his friends, and I labeled the people and wrote what he said about the picture. I hope that the one girl that he said he was “connected” to isn’t too creeped out by it. Haha! This morning, the kids and I listened to Mumford and Sons on the way to school from my iPhone. It was paused all day, and I turned it back on in the van right before getting Cullen. As soon as Cullen got into the car, he said, “this is a VERY long song!” Yesterday, he was telling Maddie stories which all seemed to be a variation on “Mickey and the Beanstalk” (a story he’s been getting at bedtime).

Something I am struggling with: Writing this on Sunday.

Something I’m looking forward to: We have several doctor appointments this week (two for Maddie and a dental appointment for me) and the last ballet class for the kids. I’m looking forward to my long overdue hair appointment on Wednesday! We’re all looking forward to Maddie’s Special Day this weekend. I also have a baby shower for a friend on Sunday. Busy week!

Something captured: Daddy and the kiddos after their medal ceremony on Saturday (which reminds me that we lost a knee pad!).

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking that a Sunday party allowed me to prepare for the party all day on Saturday, but it did not account for recovery time from the party. I should have taken a vacation day to compensate for that! Of course, we also went to a Super Bowl party at the last minute.

Something I’m hoping: I hope we can finish up the thank you notes before too long…but I think we still have a few from Christmas. I’m sure the notes will be appreciated when people get them, right??

Something happening around the house: We had a small joint birthday party for Maddie and Cullen…which reminds me why I didn’t really want to have another home party. It turned out well, but home parties are definitely more stressful than the alternatives!

Something I’m reading: I finished City of Bones (and plan on reading more in that series). Book 8 of the Wool series (Third Shift – Pact) came out this week, so I started and finished it. I am looking forward to others finishing it so I can discuss it! I started Nurture Shock, which I have been planning to read for years.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished book 7 of the Wool series and started on Book 8.

Something I’m watching: We went to a Super Bowl party this year, but I can’t say I really watched much of the Super Bowl itself.

Something I’m creating: I created cupcakes for the party. I went through several iterations of “the plan,” but it all worked out great. I was very happy with how they turned out in the end. We’ve also been putting together lego kits and puzzles with the kids.

Something about both kiddos: The kids enjoyed their birthday party! They were excited about the cupcakes and decided that we should have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry cupcakes. Maddie insisted on chocolate for herself and vanilla for at least one friend. Cullen insisted on strawberry, and I’m not even sure he’s ever had strawberry cake. Maybe he thought that’s what Maddie’s new Strawberry Shortcake underwear is all about? One of the games that they like to play in the car is “Rapunzel.” They put their scarves on their head (hanging down like long hair) and secure them with a knit cap. Then they take turns saying “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair” while the other flops their hair over the edge of the car seat. Hilarious. One of the gifts that they received for their birthday was a Wii Fit game for kiddos with Nick Jr characters. They look adorable while they try it, and they have been loving it so far. I think it will come in handy on rainy or cold days, too!

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): Maddie orchestrated her first practical joke. I’m so proud (and a little scared). She came up with the idea on her own and got Daddy, Nana, and me with it. She put a path of paper on the floor and asked us to walk on the path. She had coated one of the pieces of paper with glue from her glue stick. So we’d walk on it and then the paper would be completely stuck to our foot. Pretty clever (and hilarious). I’m impressed she came up with it on her own! She continues to read to us every night, and we continue to be surprised at what she can read on her own. Maddie had her first incident report at school this week with an injury to her lip after falling off of playground equipment. Maddie did great at the rollerblading lesson last Saturday and was picking up her feet and gaining speed and confidence.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): We now know which teachers Cullen will have and that his move up date is on February 19th. He’s excited, and I’m sad about leaving the daycare building after almost 5 years. I can’t believe it’s time. I will enjoy being able to drop both kids off at the same location for the next 6 months. We had Cullen’s 3-year old check up. He was a little over 31 pounds (46th percentile) and a little over 39 inches tall (86th percentile). Cullen definitely took a little more time to adjust to the rollerblades after missing a week due to the ice day. He was doing pretty well towards the end and even skated a little on his own.

Something I am struggling with: Dry, itchy skin.

Something I’m looking forward to: This week, I have lunch with a friend, dinner and games with friends, ballet, rollerblading, orientation with Cullen’s new classroom, and games night. Whew.

Something captured: The party table and kiddos

Our first magic shots were offered to us at Animal Kingdom, and we didn’t even have to ask. I already knew that I was going to ask for the Simba shots. The same photographer offered us the Stitch and Simba shots without prompting. We had the Stitch shot taken at the beginning of the day, and again (unprompted) at the end of the day on our way out of the park.

Shot: Stitch coming out of the ground
Location: Animal Kingdom, near the Tree of Life / Animal Kingdom, near the entrance
Other Locations Available: Hollywood Studios (Sunset & Hollywood Boulevards)

Baby Simba was one of my favorite magic shots and one that I definitely wanted to do on this trip. We did it once as a family where both kids had the opportunity to hold Simba. Cullen’s arm wasn’t quite right, but it wasn’t too bad for a 2-year old. I later had a few photos taken just of me on my way back from getting the PhotoPass+ card.

Shot: Baby Simba
Location: Animal Kingdom, near the Tree of Life
Other Locations Available: Only at Animal Kingdom, also in Asia shots with Everest in the background

I asked the photographer if he had any other magic shots, like the balloons, on our way out of the park. He was able to do the balloons, and it turned out pretty well. I think this one can be done at a lot of places, but it seems like not all of the photographers are trained to do it.

Shot: Holding Mickey Balloons
Location: Animal Kingdom, near the entrance
Other Locations Available: Epcot (near the entrance), Magic Kingdom (Mainstreet and entrance to Tomorrowland)

I knew I wanted to get the Tinkerbell shot, one that I got by chance in April with Audrey. There is a similar shot of Tinkerbell sitting in your hand, which is available at different spots. Cullen and I did this shot our first day at Magic Kingdom, and I made Michelle do it with me on our last day at Magic Kingdom.

Shot: Tinkerbell standing in your hand
Location: Magic Kingdom on Main Street
Other Locations Available: Magic Kingdom (Town Square), Epcot (entrance)

The next set of shots were totally by luck. It’s hard to find them, and I’m not sure you can even seek them out on a normal day. I had seen them before, but I didn’t know how to find them. The photographer who did them for us was in a random place that we stumbled upon on the way to something else. She said that the shots were rare these days. We had one pose where we were looking at Stitch like we were disgusted, but somehow that didn’t make it. It’s too bad, I’m sure it would have been more interesting than the one of us just smiling next to him.

Shots: Mickey, Minnie, and Stitch with ice cream “bench” shots
Location: Hollywood Studios (near Hollywood Boulevard)
Other Locations Available: Hollywood Studios (other locations?), Magic Kingdom (Main Street?)

I had to hunt a bit to get this last one, and we finally got it on our last day. I had wanted to get Earl and Michelle to do this one, too, but they weren’t with us when we found the photographer. The photographer disappeared by the time we regrouped. It didn’t turn out as well as some of the others. I think that they could have given better direction. Maddie wasn’t really in the mood for photos. We had Gabe and Maddie do the photo since they are the ones who rode Soarin’.

Shots: Soarin’
Location: Epcot (between the Fountain of Nations and the entrance to World Showcase)
Other Locations Available: It’s only available at Epcot, not sure if it is available at other spots than the one mentioned

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about what needs to be done for their joint birthday party next weekend.

Something I’m hoping: I’m sorta hoping that a local bakery can make the cake. It would take a lot of pressure off of me if I could get someone else to handle that detail…

Something happening around the house: I’m constantly amazed at how quickly my kids can trash a clean house.

Something I’m reading: I finished Pandemonium, the sequel to Delirium. I’ll have to wait for the 3rd book to come out later this year. I did see that she has released a few companion books that show the perspectives or backgrounds of some of the secondary characters. I was able to get Hana from the library, but the other two don’t seem to be available. They seem a little pricey considering they are only about 40 pages each. I’ll probably want to read them eventually. I did start reading City of Bones from The Mortal Instruments series. I’ve been wanting to read this since I knew it was going to be a movie (this year?).

Something Gabe is reading: Gabe finished book 6 of the Wool series and is starting book 7.

Something I’m creating and playing: The kids and I made their games this weekend in this month’s craft crate. We had fun making and playing the board game. Cute craft!

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): Maddie is very interested in reading right now! We have been reading every night (though of course she wants us to read to her, too!). She read one of her picture books this week and was so proud that she read a “real book.” Ha! It wasn’t really more difficult than the Level 1 readers that she has been reading. She wants to get some Level 2 readers now, but I think it might be too overwhelming to have too many words on each page. We still read some of the easier phonics readers, too, as it helps build her confidence. I’ve also been making sure that she rereads ones that she has already read. She likes to read new stuff, but it’s good for her to practice the same patterns over and over. Of course, she ends up memorizing parts, but that’s all part of reading. She sometimes anticipates the wrong word, and a lot of times she ends up laughing and correcting herself. She is very proud of herself. She’s had some bad nights this week, but she had a couple of good ones, too. I guess that’s progress? It’s been frustrating. She may be getting sick. We’ll see how she is over the next few days. She had the sniffles last week along with Cullen, but tonight she was not feeling quite herself, it seemed.

Something Cullen is doing (3 years old): Cullen woke up on his birthday and said, “I’m 3 already!” He also spent the day before saying, “Today is the last day that I’m 2!” We had a cupcake party in his classroom on Wednesday (the day after his birthday). We went out to dinner the evening of his birthday. He requested fried pickles and a hot dog for his birthday dinner. Fortunately, we actually do have a place around here that has both. He had so much fun at his birthday dinner. He was in a wonderful mood and ate quite a bit. He didn’t end up eating too many fried pickles, but he discovered the wonders of fried cheese curds. They were quite yummy! He had a bit of a cold this week, but it didn’t seem to go much beyond sniffles and a little extra crankiness. We are still waiting to hear which classroom he will be moving to (and when he will be moving).

Something I’m looking forward to: This week, I have a couple of lunches with friends, Cullen’s 3-year old check up, and ballet and rollerblading for the kids. Next weekend, we have a combined birthday party for the two of them. I also have book club!

Something captured: Gabe loves his new office! More pictures coming soon…

Best Restaurant: Considering how little we go out to interesting restaurants these days, this is always a tough category for me. We make sure to go out each year to somewhere new and fancy on our anniversary, but most of the rest of our meals tend to be at boring kid friendly places. I’m going to pick Draft. Sadly, it closed at the end of the year for reasons unrelated to its popularity. We went with friends before a concert in February and again with Gabe’s parents just before they closed their doors. YUM!

Best Book: I actually read quite a few great books this year. The candidates for the “best” of the year were Ready Player One, The Kingkiller Chronicles, and the Wool series. It’s hard to compare the three because they were different, but since I’m forcing myself to pick one “best,” I’d have to pick The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I highly recommend all of the finalists from this year, though! And I can’t wait to read the next one in The Kingkiller Chronicles as well as the Wool series (by Hugh Howey). I really did have a tough time choosing between the two.

Best Vacation: I might as well rename this category to “the major vacation that we took this year.” Of course, our best vacation this year was our big trip to Disney World! We had been looking forward to it for a long time, and it was great (though exhausting). We’ll do it again in a couple years! We did have a good number of wonderful shorter vacations this year, too.

Best Movie: This one is difficult for me because when I look at the list of movies that we saw in the theater, nothing stands out clearly above the rest. I guess I would pick The Avengers.

Best TV Show: My favorite show this year was Hart of Dixie.

Best Music: I don’t pay attention to the newest music these days, but we went to a fantastic concert in July with Kristin and Chad. We saw Roger Waters perform The Wall in its entirety. That was quite an experience! I wish we had had better seats, but it was still great to be there.

Best Board Game: Our favorite new game this year was Village. We need to add this one to our collection!

Best Lighter Game: I really enjoyed Riff Raff which I played at TBGT. I haven’t been able to find it for sale anywhere.

Best Party Game: We have had Cranium Hoopla for years, but I finally played it at TBGT. It was a perfect game to play with family and friends! We had fun with it on Thanksgiving with Gabe’s family, with my family at Christmas, and with friends at New Year’s. Fun game!

Best Video Game: I guess this one has to go to NintendoLand since it’s one of the only video games that we played this year. I look forward to playing more of the Wii U. With all that free time that I don’t have…

Best iPad Game: Gabe and I both spent quite a bit of time playing Mystery Manor on our iPads at the beginning of the year. It was fun while it was lasted!

Best Kids’ Game: We played a lot of kids’ games in 2012, and my favorite of those is Catan Junior. It plays somewhat similarly to the real game, and I love this intro to Eurogames for the kids. They are loving it. The kids ask to play “the pirate game” often.

Best Toy (for Maddie): My favorite toy of the year for Maddie is her Olivia’s House Friends Lego set. It’s awesome! It’s a dollhouse made of Legos. FUN!

Best Toy (for Cullen): Cullen was very into the wooden trains this year, and we all enjoyed them. We had fun making huge layouts, and they got some motorized trains for Christmas. Good times!

Best Maddie Moment: My favorite Maddie moment was riding in the front car of Goofy’s Barnstormer when she put her hands way up in the air. She was so happy. It was a wonderful experience! Loved it!

Best Cullen Moment: Cullen and I spend quite a bit of time together, and we have so many special moments together. He’s so sweet, especially every night when we go through his bedtime routine. We had a lot of great moments at Disney, too. I think that my favorite may have been when Cullen told Rapunzel that he would protect me from the dragon. He was so sweet with Minnie Mouse and the princesses!

Best Reunion: I didn’t think I’d be able to think of one this year for “best reunion,” but then I realized that Audrey and I reunited our travel relationship! We had a wonderful time at Disney in April. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take some more trips together in the future.

Dear Cullen,

We were all excited to celebrate your third birthday today! It was a regular school day, but we had plans to go out to dinner after school. You requested both fried pickles and hot dogs. Fortunately, we found a place around here that has both. We weren’t sure if it was going to be possible. I’m glad that you weren’t disappointed! You were a happy boy at our dinner. I think you enjoyed the fried cheese curds more than the fried pickles. I have a feeling that you may be requesting this in the future.

You and Maddie wanted to have another joint birthday party this year, so the two of you are having a small Lego themed party in a couple weeks. Since you are sharing a celebration, we once again declared that we would have a “Cullen Special Day” around your birthday and a “Maddie Special Day” around hers. We had your special day on Sunday and had a wonderful time celebrating you!

We started with breakfast at our favorite breakfast place where you had chocolate chip and gingerbread pancakes, turkey sausage, bacon, and scrambled eggs. We went to the toy store next where you could pick out anything you wanted. You started with a large stuffed dog and ended up with a Cars race car set. In between, you were in possession of several Lego sets, a game, and a Minnie Mouse pillow pet. After your shopping spree, we headed to lunch and a movie at our dinner theater. We saw Wreck It Ralph, and you seemed to enjoy most of it. You thought a few parts were too loud and a little scary. We explored a new park after the movie before heading home to have your requested spaghetti dinner. Of course, we followed dinner with cake. You wanted the color of the yellow cake to be purple, yellow, and blue. It was all wonderful.

You are such a pleasant boy. I love being around you, though I will say you sure can throw a fit! Most of the time, you have a good underlying reason. Usually when you are very unhappy, it’s because you’re hungry, tired, or sick. Every once in a while, you will tantrum when you’re just not getting your way or fighting with your sister. You have days where you are absolutely defiant, like on Christmas Eve. When I told you that I might email Santa about your behavior, you said, “Yeah, email Santa. Somebody of my friends or family will bring me a LeapPad.” Yeah, good luck with that, kiddo! You’ve had your “terrible twos” moments, but most of the time you’re extremely easy to get along with. You’re sweet, happy, and funny.

We have had some big moments since your last letter. We spent more than a week at Disney World in October, and we had a fabulous time. We were all exhausted, but we loved every minute. Well, so we might have had a few questionable minutes here and there, but overall we made fantastic memories. You even were completely accident free for the first five days…and then you got some kind of tummy bug. We had a bit of a setback, but we were encouraged that you still tried to get to the potty when possible. It just wasn’t always possible, unfortunately. Sleep was pretty good in the hotel. Everyone was so tired at the end of each day that we didn’t have too many fights at bedtime, and you and your sister slept pretty well through the night (well, for the most part). You experienced your first flights, and those went well, too.

You loved riding rides and meeting characters. Your favorite rides were Dumbo and Small World. You loved the Winnie the Pooh ride, particularly the part where we bounce with Tigger. You had a great time driving your own car at the Tomorrowland Speedway. You were scared by a few other rides. The animatronic ones in the dark were scary the first time, but you seemed to like them better when repeating. It helped you to know what to expect. You rode Goofy’s Barnstormer rollercoaster twice, and it was scary both times. You wanted to get off the ride and screamed that it was TOO FAST.

You enjoyed the shows and parades. The highlight of your trip was probably meeting characters around the parks at character meals, especially Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse. You were so sweet when you gave kisses to Minnie Mouse! Your sister didn’t want anything to do with the princesses, but you wanted to meet them. One of my favorite moments was when you told Rapunzel that you would protect me from the dragon. She told me that I had a special prince! I sure do.

It was fun hearing you talk about your experiences. When we got back, I asked when we should go to Disney again, and you said, “In 3 days!” Your communication skills are awesome, and I feel pretty lucky that you are able to tell us the things that you do. When I put you to bed on “Cullen Special Day,” you recapped quite a bit of the movie. Of course, we never quite know what you’re going to talk about! Sometimes I really wonder what you’re telling your teachers (and often they tell me little funny things that you have said). The day after we decorated the Christmas tree, you told your teachers that we put “a hat and hair bows” on our tree. Our tree topper is a lighted Santa hat, and we had put bows on the tree as well. You don’t miss much!

We started our Christmas season while we were in Kentucky for Thanksgiving. We visited Grandma, Grandpa, and Heidi for a few days around Thanksgiving. In addition to our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, we visited Santa. You told Santa that you wanted a LeapPad like your sister, Legos, and a soccer ball. Later, you said you wanted Santa to bring you rollerblades and a Dream Lite Pillow Pet. You and your sister were convinced that it would transform your room into a wonderland. One morning leading up to Christmas, you came up to Daddy and said, “Daddy, I have to tell you something.” You were very serious and continued to say, “Dream Lites transform your room into a starry night sky.” Santa brought you everything you wanted and a few little surprises. You must have been very good this year.

While in Kentucky, you and Maddie decorated gingerbread houses. You had fun putting candy on the house with Aunt Heidi, though you wanted to eat it, too. You and Maddie did some Christmas crafts. For Christmas, Nana and Papa gave you and your sister a subscription to the Kiwi Crate. The Kiwi Crate is a monthly delivery with nice quality crafts. So far, you have each made a xylophone, jingle bells, Aurora Australis postcards, and a penguin bowling set. I’m looking forward to this month’s kit. The theme for it is board games! You love doing crafts and have been recently getting into drawing our family. I love how you draw our legs and arms sticking out of our heads and how you narrate what you are drawing.

On Christmas Eve, we decorated sugar cookies and made Chex mix. We love sprinkles in our household! We used bright icing colors this year, too. We left cookies for Santa and Chex mix for the reindeer and read Twas the Night Before Christmas. You and Maddie had a slumber party, and we told you not to peek at the tree when you came down to get us in the morning. I’m pretty sure you peeked on your way down, but we knew you would! Christmas Day was spent with just the four of us, and it was wonderful. We opened presents and stockings, put together Legos, and enjoyed our time together. I think it was our best Christmas yet!

You have started putting together big boy Legos, and the whole family is having fun with that. You still need a bit of help putting them together, but you are pretty good at figuring out where the pieces go! You get excited about the sets, too. When we look at Legos at the store, you and Maddie get very excited about many of the sets. You aren’t too interested in the girl sets, but you love fire trucks, space sets, car sets, and Star Wars sets. I see a lot of Legos in our future.

You have experienced a few other new things in the past few months. You took a session of soccer lessons, and you seemed to enjoy it. At some point, you were learning how to do a soccer stop. When you did it the first time, you turned to Daddy and said, “that was easy!” After soccer was over, we signed up you and Maddie for rollerblading lessons. This was Maddie’s second session and your first. You were excited to join your big sister! You’re a little nervous at times, but you’re getting better each week. Maddie has taken several sessions of pre-ballet through my work, and you were thrilled to be able to finally join her for a session. You two are awfully cute together. Your sister watches out for you in both classes.

You and your sister are best friends. It makes me so happy to see the two of you being such great buddies. Of course, you do fight over toys and who gets to be first or who gets a particular cup at dinner here and there, but most of the time you love each other. I hope that your special relationship continues to be this positive through the years. Nothing would make me happier than for the two of you to be lifelong buddies. You two play together almost every moment that we are at home. You pretend to be in marching bands, play hide-n-seek, and play a somewhat disturbing game of “Titanic” (sometimes you get to be the iceberg and I have heard Maddie tell others that they don’t have a lifebelt and are, therefore, going to die). One of your Magic Treehouse books was about the Titanic, and you have both been a little obsessed since then. Maddie’s bed is the Titanic, and you jump from her bed to a blanket or mattress on the floor which represents the life boat. You two love making forts out of furniture and blankets. You like to put on “magic shows,” and it cracks me up when you point your “wand” (your recorder) at someone and say, “Abracadabra Alakazam! The magic is going straight for ya!” You both love making giant train layouts with your wooden train set.

You’ve had a good number of slumber parties both for fun and out of necessity when we swapped your room with Daddy’s office. You and Maddie love sleeping in each other’s rooms, but it doesn’t always go well. You keep each other up all night chatting and giggling and getting out of bed to play with toys. The two of you take turns having sleep issues, and we tried putting your beds in the same room for about a week. That was a disaster, so I don’t think you two will be sharing a room any time soon! You just keep each other up way too late, and then you wake up far too early in the morning regardless of the amount of sleep that you have had.

In my last letter, I explained how you figured out the childproof gate and can roam freely around the house at night. At some point, you stopped coming by to let us know that you were awake. I think you didn’t like the times we sent you back to bed because it was “too early.” You often just come to the living room to play. Who knows what time you get out of bed to do this on some mornings. One morning, Daddy came out to find you sitting on the couch with his iPad playing Angry Birds. You really know your way around the iPad! You’re a pro at opening the games and switching between apps.

For months, we have been talking about your big boy room with your big boy bed and a space theme. You told everyone about your new room and how it would have stars and rockets. Your dad and I gathered things for your room for months, and we put it together over the break at Christmas. It looks awesome! We still have a few more things to add to it like the planets hanging from the ceiling, a few more stars, and a valance to match the bedding. You love it. Your sister is jealous and wishes she had a space themed room, too. She tries to trick you out of your pillows and comforter.

Speaking of which, your sister is quite manipulative at times. And you love her so much that you often let her get away with it. She will say, “Hey, Cullen, didn’t you want to give me that toy?” and you say, “yeah!” and hand it over as if you wish you had thought of it earlier. It doesn’t seem to bother you most of the time. I guess you make up for it at times by antagonizing her in other ways. You know how to push her buttons by saying things she doesn’t want to hear over and over or screeching at her. I suppose that is fair. You snicker and say, “heehee, I get under Maddie’s skin!”

Maddie also didn’t like it when you went to see the Disney Ice Show instead of her. She was supposed to go, but the night before she was complaining about how she didn’t like princesses and didn’t want to go. After much of her whining, we decided that you would get to go. You were excited about it, and you said that you loved princesses. She regretted her choice the day of the event since other friends at school were talking about going. We had a great time. We saw Merida from Brave, Rapunzel from Tangled, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We even got to see Mickey and friends. You were a great little date, and we had a very special night.

I was a little nervous about taking you to the event since you still have potty accidents here and there. It seems like you’ll do really well for a few weeks, and then you’ll have regressions. It has been a frustrating road, and I’ll be glad when we don’t have to worry about taking back up outfits when we’re out and about. I will say that you do pretty well when we’re away from home, most of the time. You seem to get lazy at home or wrapped up with something you’re doing (or worry that your sister is going to take your toy while you’re gone). You have the same problem at school sometimes, but most of your accidents in the past few months have been at home. Of course, part of your success when we’re out of the house is that we take you to the potty more frequently.

You still wear a pull up at night. We had a couple of days where you requested to wear big boy underwear. Since you have never been dry in the morning, we all agreed that pull ups were a good idea for now. We’ll try again in a couple of months. It’s hard to know when you wet your pull ups since you are often awake before the rest of us. You definitely take advantage of the pull up in the morning, and you often poop in it before waking us up. For a while, you were coming to Daddy to say, “Daddy, I pooped in my pull up. I’ll let you take care of it.” Sometimes, you take care of it yourself. We don’t encourage that since it can be a mess for you to do it, and who knows where you might leave the dirty pull up. One day, we found some poop tracks on the carpet in the hallway and Maddie’s room. You had gotten some on your foot and tracked it around the house. Yuck!

For a while, you were having daily accidents at school, so I’m glad that you have gotten a lot better. We were worried that they weren’t going to let you move up to Children’s House. They require a bit more stability with using the potty, so it has been stressful. We should be hearing about your new teachers any day now! You turned in your move up paperwork recently. We are going to be sad when you leave the daycare building, but we are excited for your new adventures. I am particularly sad about your move to Children’s House because that means we are permanently done with the daycare building. For nearly five years, they have been a significant part of our lives. I will miss them.

You are such a sweet boy. When I drop you off at school, you always give me hugs and kisses. You’ll say, “I want FIVE hugs and FIVE kisses.” You like to kiss me on the mouth. You tell me that you love me all the time. At night, I usually put you to bed, and now that you’re in the big boy bed we can cuddle. You like to “save me a spot” and are so happy when I lay down with you “for a couple minutes.” We tell each other “secrets” which usually go something like, “I love you so much! I love you to Jupiter and back!” You are very cute about this. I’ve never know a more loving, sweet boy. I love when you sneak little kisses for your Minnie Mouse buddies, too.

Another sweet thing that we have been doing lately in our family is our nightly “good/bad” routine. We all go around the table and tell everyone at least one good thing about our day and, optionally, something bad about our day. If we have dinner with friends or family, we share this “game” with them as well. We have all enjoyed this bonding experience. You say almost the same thing each day. When we started, you would always say, “Reading was good about my day.” This was one of the first things that Maddie said, and so you picked up on it. Now, you almost always say, “Um, something good about my day is eating with my family. Everything was good about my day! That’s all I know!” We all declare “eating with my family” to be one of our good things almost every time.

We had a very busy fall. Halloween this year was a lot of fun. We started early with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney in mid-October. You and Maddie wore your costumes to the park. You were such cute pirates! As I mentioned in my last letter, the two of you wanted to be Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. We coached you guys to say “Trick ARRRRR Treat, mateys!” When we went trick or treating, you didn’t say much at the door. You enjoyed it for the most part, but the first house had a dog. After that, you were tentative about approaching the door until you were reassured that the household did not have dogs. As we did last year, you and Maddie traded most of your candy to the Halloween Witch who brought Legos. It was fun to see which ten pieces of candy that you each kept for yourselves.

Sadly, we did not get a chance to visit Great Grandma in Atlanta just before Thanksgiving as we had planned. She ended up having surgery and was in the hospital when we were supposed to visit. We had hoped that we could visit her a few months later when she was recovered, but she had complications and passed away on Thanksgiving Day. Your Great Grandma lived a long, wonderful life and she loved you so much. I know you probably won’t remember her, and that makes me sad. I am glad that she had the chance to know you. She was so proud of you and Maddie and loved all of us very, very much. Your Great Grandma was a special, amazing woman. I wish that you could have had more time with her.

I never knew how wonderful it would be to have a son. Since I grew up with a sister, I think I always imagined that I would have two girls. I didn’t picture what it would be like to have a boy until I was pregnant. It is better than I ever imagined. You are sweet, loving, and full of energy. You keep us on our toes and keep our hearts full. I love you to Pluto and back and more. You are my best buddy.

Love,
Mommy

Something I’m thinking: I can’t believe that my little boy will be 3 in two days.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that we will continue our tradition and that the kids will have fond memories of it. I know we will.

Something happening around the house: We still need to purge a bunch of things that we started to organize last year. I’m thinking we should probably do this before my parents come to visit in a couple of weeks. Right now, we don’t have a good place for them to sleep.

Something I’m reading: I finished Delirium and started the sequel. I’ll probably have that finished tonight. I’m enjoying it well enough, but it’s not as good as other dystopian series that I have read.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished the first 5 books in the Wool series and started on book 6! I learned that book 8 should be out by the end of the month, so I’m looking forward to that.

Something I’m watching: We went to see Wreck It Ralph for Cullen’s special day today. It was cute!

Something I’m playing: We played Kids of Carcassonne tonight before bed.

Something I’m creating: I sorted through my 2011 photos for the general photobook. I haven’t started on it yet, but I think I’ll be able to fit it all into one volume (which is my goal now with the yearbooks. 2010 was 3 volumes, and that is just too many.).

Something tasty: Gingerbread pancakes at breakfast this morning and Cullen’s birthday cake this evening.

Something about both kiddos: Sleep was a big issue when I wrote the last report, and it seems to be getting better. We separated the kids, and that was like hitting a reset button for them. We have changed up the routine a little (with a little more swapping of parents here and there), and I’ve been going back after a short time to praise them for staying in bed and being quiet. I have been doing this several times, and they love when I come back to “check on them” and love the praise and extra attention. Both kids actually slept through the night TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW. I know I probably shouldn’t speak or type that or I’ll probably jinx it all. It’s a miracle, that’s for sure. I can’t even tell you the last time we had two nights of uninterrupted sleep. Possibly never (well, not since Cullen was born). They both had rollerblading yesterday, and they did fairly well. Maddie is getting more confidence and skating a little faster. She’s still one of the slowest kids in the class (well, apart from Cullen, of course). She does a lot better when she isn’t trying to look out for her brother. We are signing them up for another session, and I’m glad that the kids will be in different levels. That should help Maddie, anyway. We took them both for haircuts yesterday as well. Maddie’s is super short. It’s cute on her, but I think it’s a little shorter than I had wanted it! She loves it. Cullen’s is fine, but nobody can seem to get his bangs straight. They tried to compensate this time, but it’s still not quite right. Maybe we’ll have to try something different. He did love going through the day yesterday with “spiky hair.” Today we had “Cullen Special Day” and went out to our favorite breakfast place, Toys R Us where Cullen could pick out any toy he wanted, the dinner theater for lunch and a movie, a park we hadn’t explored before, and Cullen’s choice of dinner and cake at home with friends. What a wonderful day!

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): She’s bringing home lots of readers from school, and the ones that she is bringing home are super easy for her. They are mostly short vowel readers, and she has progressed into more complicated readers. She did a great job with a long Amelia Bedelia Level 1 reader. We read it over several nights, and I was impressed sometimes at how much she could read without help. I had to help her a few times for each new type of word, and she started to learn many patterns on her own. She’s very interested in practicing right now, so that is exciting! She finally earned her butterfly and flower lights that we told her she could have when she had a good night (no getting out of the room or screaming for us until 7am). She now has had two good nights in a row, so let’s hope it’s a new pattern… I know better than to believe that it is a new habit after two days, but I can still hope. She still loves to create artwork and gets creative with her art projects and cutting. She has been getting more creative with Legos and making her own models. Yesterday morning, Maddie said to Cullen in the car, “Hey, Cullen! Let’s pretend we’re dorks! Haha! Cullen, I’m a dork! Are you a dork?” Gabe and I thought this was hilarious.

Something Cullen is doing (2.5 years old): Cullen will be THREE this week. I can’t believe it! He’s been such a funny boy this week. One night, he created and sang the following song to Puff the Magic Dragon: Puff the Magic Spider, lived in a web, and when he was hanging, he pooped on Daddy’s head. He loves to sing, and we all love to make up silly lyrics. I cracked up when he did this one. He’s very good at the iPad and iPhone. One morning, Gabe came out into the living room to find Cullen sitting on the couch playing Angry Birds with Gabe’s iPad. He loves eating veggies. This weekend when we went to PF Changs, he kept asking for more tomatoes and cucumbers. He also likes the crab wontons from there. He turned in his papers for Children’s House, so we should be hearing news of him moving up any day now. I can’t believe that the kids will both be out of the daycare building. It’s bittersweet. Today, when we took him to Toys R Us, he started with a large stuffed dog as his first selection and kept trading until he ended up with a Cars racetrack with microcars. He did say that he wanted to get some kind of race car, so I guess he ended up with what thought he wanted! In between, he had a Minnie Mouse pillow pet, different Lego sets, and some other race car sets.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We booked two trips…NYC in the spring and a Disney cruise next year. I can’t wait! The kids are excited, too, but they have no idea what to expect, of course.

Something I learned: My point and shoot camera has been set to a lower exposure for more than a year. I wish I had realized this before now! Oh well. A similar thing happened with our SLR for the first year that we owned it. We had some funky custom white balance setting that screwed up the majority of our photos.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to Cullen’s 3rd birthday and a dinner date with a friend. We also have a games day with friends, ballet, and rollerblading. Busy week!

Something random: I don’t write anything for this most weeks. That’s pretty random, right?

Something captured: Putting the finishing touches on Cullen’s birthday cake…sprinkles!

Something I’m thinking: I didn’t feel like writing this week’s Sunday Somethings either, but I figured if I didn’t I might drop the habit. I don’t want to do that. It’s the only way I can remember things.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that we can get the kids sleeping reliably again. We’ve had a terrible time with both kids in the past two weeks. Our latest solution is to try to get them to share a room. So far, that has been rough, too. (and between writing this and getting ready to publish, we declared it a failure and moved Maddie’s bed back to her room)

Something happening around the house: We’ve been getting rid of baby clothes and paper lately. We have been giving outgrown clothes to friends and scanning, shredding, and recycling paper. It is great to get these things out of the house, but we have a long way to go.

Something I’m reading: I finished Valley of the Horses, and I didn’t feel like the second book was as good as the first. I don’t think I’ll continue the series. I started reading Delirium.

Something Gabe is reading: He’s almost finished with the first 5 books of the Wool/Silo series.

Something I’m creating: Last Sunday, we did two of the Kiwi Crate crafts – penguin bowling and aurora australis postcards. Fun! I also finished the first draft of our cruise photobook (yeah, from 2011). I’m so happy to have that done! I ordered it Monday and got it a couple days later. Gabe finished his fancy Lego firehouse.

Something tasty: I made my grandma’s chicken divan recipe for the first time in a while (last week). We always enjoy that!

Something about both kiddos: The kids have been absolutely terrible with sleep. For almost a week, we’ve been trying to get them to sleep in the same room. That has helped in some ways, but it is a disaster in most other ways. We just don’t know what to do or how to get them the sleep that they (and we) so desperately need. When they are awake and happy, they continue to be best buddies. They have a few new games that they play. One is “dark” or “light” monster where they go around the house turning off all of the lights. This is both amusing and inconvenient (like if we’re trying to do something that requires a light). They dress up and pretend they are going to New York City (Maddie especially asks frequently when we are going to go there). They have been playing an entertaining yet slightly disturbing game of “Titanic” since we read the Titanic book in the Magic Treehouse series. This involves a variety of play including Maddie determining who has a “life belt” and who doesn’t (“you’re dead”) and various versions of jumping to the life boats. Sometimes Cullen puts a blue blanket over his head and declares that he is the iceberg. It’s their favorite game when Sophie comes over. They love building forts out of the furniture and blankets. Both had a great week at rollerblading. We had them practice in the bonus room on the carpet the night before their lesson, and that seemed to make a very big difference. I think we’ll sign them up for another session after this one. Cullen and Maddie are both taking the pre-ballet class that my work offers for preschoolers. I was impressed with how much Cullen followed along.

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): For breakfast every morning, she has Kix cereal and orange juice. She typically eats the Kix dry, but sometimes she has it with milk. We toured another school, and we registered her for kindergarten. After a ton of research and analyzing and thinking about schools, I think we have a plan. We are probably going to be trying for a year round school. We hear that the chances are very good that we’ll be able to get in. We won’t know for another month. If she gets into the year round school, then she will start kindergarten in early July. Yikes!

Something Cullen is doing (2.5 years old): Cullen’s daily breakfast consists of “breakfast toast” and milk. I’m not sure why organic toaster pastries are known as “breakfast toast” in our house. I love how Cullen says some things, and one of my favorites is how he says “alright” – it sounds more like “oh-right.” He’s been doing a little better lately with potty training and had no accidents at school last week. I am not sure whether he might have had one or two at home, but he’s been doing well at home, too.

Something I am struggling with: I’m struggling with the same thing I do every January…I’m resisting adding too many plans to our calendar since we already seem to be quite busy! At the same time, I am itching to plan a few things here and there. Some vacation plans are in the works at the moment.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I decided in December to start scanning all the paper that comes into the house (and then to shred it). I’m so excited to eliminate stacks and stacks of paper and hanging folders of filed mortgage statements and such. I know there will be a few important pieces of paper that need to be kept, but the majority of it can be digitally stored and shredded. I plan to do this with a lot of the artwork that comes into the house from the kids.

Something I’m looking forward to: We don’t have too many plans this week. Both kids have pre-ballet and rollerblading as well will for the next several weeks, at least. Next weekend, we’ll have a “special Cullen day” like we did for each kid last year. We are all excited about the “special Cullen day” with Cullen’s birthday coming up fast!

Something captured: The kiddos were cute at the first ballet lesson. I was glad that Melisa was taking pictures and caught this one of the kids.

Something I’m thinking: I didn’t feel like writing this for the past couple of days. Our break hasn’t been very restful, but we’ve had a nice time with family and friends. We also had a wonderful Christmas! The kids enjoyed their gifts from Santa, and Maddie and I put together the big Olivia’s house set.

Something happening around the house: We had our annual New Year’s Eve games night last night! We also managed to get Cullen’s room mostly finished, so he has a room again! The office is in disarray, so we have a lot of work to be done there.

Something I’m reading: I decided to continue the Earth’s Children series with The Valley of the Horses.

Something Gabe is reading: He’s reading the Wool Omnibus, and I think he’s on book 3.

Something I’m playing: We played Phoenicia on Sunday. The kids have played some games with us in the past week. We played some NintendoLand on the Wii U this week, and several people tried it last night. At games night, I played Wits and Wagers Family, Cranium Hoopla, Telestrations, Password, and Trivial Pursuit Genus 6. We went out while Gabe’s parents were in town and played Photo Hunt and NTN trivia.

Something I’m creating: I started on the Allure of the Seas cruise photobook from 2011! It feels great to get started on that one, especially since we promised it to family as gifts over a year ago. Better late than never? I’ve also been creating lots of Legos. Our family has been Lego crazy over the break, and we’ve almost built every model that we have (displayed proudly on our shelves in the living room). Gabe and I even bought a few sets that are decidedly more for ourselves than the kids.

Something tasty: A friend made a tasty s’mores no bake treat for New Year’s Eve games night last night. I think I might have eaten half the tray. Ooh, and we took Gabe’s parents to Draft. That was tasty, and we’re sad that they are now permanently closed.

Something about both kiddos: The kids were excited about Christmas and Santa’s visit. They have been playing together so well lately (for the most part). Of course, they still fight at times, but they can play together for hours. They are sad when they can’t play with each other. Maddie complains that she has “nobody to play with.” I hope that they will continue to be buddies throughout their lives (though I do realize it will have ups and downs through the years). They are incredibly cute together much of the time. This week, they have started putting on “magic shows.” We aren’t sure where they got that idea, but they insist that it has to be done in Cullen’s new room without the lights. I guess the glow in the dark stars add to the ambiance of their show. Their signature trick involves showing us some balls and then throwing them under the bed or on the floor or in the closet as they “disappear.” They were having slumber parties in Maddie’s room with Cullen’s crib mattress on Maddie’s floor. They have slept in separate rooms a few times, but they are still having slumber parties but now in Cullen’s room. Once, they even slept in the same bed all night. We are trying to get them to sleep in their own rooms, but sometimes it’s just easier for everyone to let them have their slumber parties! Both kids have been playing the Wii U a little bit, and they are starting to get the hang of some of the games in NintendoLand (especially the ghost one and the Mario running one).

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): Maddie and I put together Olivia’s House on Christmas Day. We actually managed to put together the entire house in one day. I love all the details! Maddie managed to put it all together by herself with the exception of the last portion of the yard. She ran out of steam but wanted to finish it “all in one day,” so I helped her finish it up. She was so sweet while we were working on the project. She kept saying things like “I really love you, Mommy” and “I’m so happy!” and “I’m so happy to be doing Legos with you, Mommy.” Maddie got a bunch of new readers for Christmas, and she has been interested in reading them to us. Most of them are phonics readers (some of those are focused on sight words). She’s been making a lot of progress! She’s jealous of Cullen’s new room and says that she also wants a “space room.” Maddie helped us apply the decals around the room.

Something Cullen is doing (2.5 years old): Cullen is very excited about his new room, and it looks great! We still need to put some finishing touches on the room, but we were very happy with how it turned out. Cullen has had a lot of accidents in the past couple of weeks, but we are making some progress. He has gotten to the point where he has no interest in starting to poop on the potty (but will finish if we are able to catch him in the act or see signs that he needs to before he starts). It’s a bit frustrating. He’s had a few wet accidents, but we have gone back to reminding him to use the potty a bit more frequently and making him take potty breaks regularly. Cullen really has gotten great at knowing his way around the iPhone or iPad. He knows how to go back to the home screen, choose new apps, go to a different screen, open folders, and play a variety of games. Cullen is still making a lot of train layouts with the wooden train set. Santa brought both kids a motorized train, so they have had a good time setting up huge layouts in the living room and running the trains.

Something I am struggling with: Clutter, clutter, clutter. We have been organizing and purging in our house. We did manage to take a van load to Goodwill with more to come soon.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’m finally making progress on my photobooks. I’m also pretty much caught up on my photos. I have a few more to sort from December, and I’ll be caught up! It has been a long time since I have been caught up like that. Now I just have a bunch of photobooks to create…

Something I’m looking forward to: We don’t have too many plans for the rest of this week, though I am looking forward to the kids using their new rollerblades for the first time on Saturday morning! Santa brought both kids rollerblades for Christmas.

Something random: I read 42 books in 2012!

Something captured: It was a full week, and I’m posting two pictures from this week.

Cullen in his new room.

A proud Maddie with the completed Olivia’s House.

2011:

2010:

2009:

2008:

2007:

2006:

Something I’m thinking: Christmas arrived so fast this year, and I feel a bit disorganized with our house in disarray (see “something happening around the house”). I’ve reached a breaking point with clutter, and I’m ready to get rid of stuff.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that we will have a wonderful Christmas morning. I love our tradition of Christmas morning with just our little family (while visiting with family and friends in the days surrounding it).

Something happening around the house: Gabe and I are doing a lot of purging. We are putting Gabe’s office in the nursery (Cullen’s current room), and we’ll be making the office into Cullen’s new big boy space-themed room. We decided it was time to get rid of outgrown kid clothes (keeping a few sentimental pieces). We boxed up more than 7 boxes of boy clothes for a couple of friends, and we’ll have more girl clothes soon. We also have a lot of other stuff that we are going to donate, sell, or give away. Currently, Gabe’s new office is full of piles of stuff, and Cullen and Maddie are having nightly slumber parties until Cullen’s room is finished.

Something I’m reading: I couldn’t resist and finished books 6 and 7 of the Wool series. Now I’m forced to wait to read more until they get published. Great series! If you’re a fan of the dystopian genre, you need to read it. Just be patient with the first two books and trust me that it gets better and better. I want to learn more about this world!

Something Gabe is reading: He started reading the Wool series. Yay!

Something I’m watching: We watched Love Actually last night (instead of writing my somethings). I love that movie!!!

Something I’m playing: We played Cranium Hoopla and a little NintendoLand with my family. Gabe and I played a little of the new Super Mario for the Wii U, I think (was that this week? It’s all blurring together now).

Something I’m creating: I sorted through some photos, and I’m getting close to having the Disney photos organized…finally! I still need to get rid of a few, but I’ve been making a lot of progress. Otherwise, I’ve been creating crafts and putting together Legos with the kids. It’s our goal to assemble all of the models that we have collected so far and creating a Lego village over the break.

Something tasty: Oh, man, we’ve had too many tasty things…cookies, fudge, Dad’s meatloaf, Chex mix, etc, etc.

Something about both kiddos: They are excited about getting presents from family members and friends (and especially Santa!). They have both been enjoying putting together lego kits. They had fun making sugar cookies this afternoon. We are not afraid of icing and sprinkles in this house. Most cookies looked like someone dumped a bowl of sprinkles onto them, and that’s pretty much how they were created. The kids have been having daily slumber parties since we’re transitioning Cullen’s room and the office. We are hoping to make progress on putting his room together this week.

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): Maddie is on her best behavior, and I think she really is concerned that Santa is keeping an eye on her. She spent an hour in her room this morning and was very quiet. When we checked on her, we discovered that she was cleaning. She wasn’t doing her usual cleaning which consists of piling everything from the floor onto other surfaces (at random). She had put things away properly and even made her bed. It’s a Christmas miracle! This week when I asked Maddie whether she thought that Santa would bring her presents, she said, “Yes, I don’t see why not!” Maddie is getting really good at Angry Birds and prefers the Star Wars version these days. She will quit the level if she knows she’s not going to get 3 stars, and she says, “It’s not just about winning, is it Mommy?” (meaning it’s also about getting the best score).

Something Cullen is doing (2.5 years old): He’s been having a good number of accidents. I guess we should go back to Disney World which apparently inspired him because “Mickey wouldn’t want poop on his table.” Santa doesn’t appear to have the same effect. Oh well. This week he had an accident in his underwear at school and told his teachers that another kid at school did it. Today, when I asked whether he had poop in his underwear, he told me that he didn’t do it and that somehow *I* had put poop in his underwear. He also told his teachers that he had a secret hiding place in our living room and that he was “very sneaky.” When I picked him up from school that day, I said, “Cullen, what am I going to do with you?” He said, “Eat me” and I asked if that’s what his teacher said (she says, “I could just eat him/you up!” sometimes). He said, “yeah, because I’m a turkey!” The other day when he was playing Fruit Ninja on Daddy’s iPhone, he said, “I’m GREAT at this fruit engine!” He’s getting pretty good at angry birds, too. He was defiant today and wasn’t listening very well. At some point, he told me that he wanted me to email Santa because he was sure family or a friend would bring him a LeapPad.

Something I’m looking forward to: Christmas!!!

Something captured: Sweet kids on Christmas Eve!