Tumbling Round 2

     Big Brother started round 2 of tumbling classes on Saturday. We got up a little early and went up to the Y about an hour before tumbling started. Hubby and I left the kids in child watch and went to work out before picking the kids back up to head upstairs. We took Big Brother in to his class and started to get settled when his teacher asked if we would mind doing a parent-free class this week. It was fine by us and so we scooped up Froggie and headed back out into the lobby. We sat and talked with some other parents while we chased Froggie around until the last few minutes of class when we were told we could go back in.
     As soon as Froggie and I got into the class room Big Brother started stalling in the set up and saying "Mommy, watch this…" so I had to keep urging him to keep going. Froggie started yelling at him and so I sent her back out into the lobby with Hubby. Big Brother did pretty well and sat to get his stamp for completing class.
     Unfortunately, our good start didn't carry though the rest of the day. We were pretty lazy and sat around all afternoon.

Getting Stamps

Showing off his stamp

Love this kid!

Lenten Changes

     I was reminded several years ago that Lent is  time for making permanent changes rather than temporary ones. Many have given things up for the Lenten season but will resume those behaviors and welcome those things back  into their lives with the celebration of Easter.
     For a long time I haven't given anything up during Lent. I either couldn't decide on something or just forgot until after Lent had already begun. This year I'm making some positive changes rather than eliminating things (not that eliminating some things wouldn't be positive). I invested in a Fitbit so that I can hold myself accountable and keep up with being active and taking care of myself.
     I'm also going to be doing a crochet/knitting ministry with some other ladies from my church. We're meeting on Monday evening to meet each other, come up with a name for the ministry, share patterns and have some snacks. It should be a lot of fun and I've ben working on some patterns so I'm really excited about it!

My new toy

A prayer shawl I was working on

Another Crazy Morning

     Mornings with Froggie and Big Brother tend to be a little crazy. They're always full of energy and into everything and I sometimes don't even try to keep up with them as long as I can see they aren't in any danger. (Actually Hubby pretty much handles mornings. He's good at it and it gives me a chance to relax or get ready without trying to entertain Froggie or deal with Big Brother.)
     Anyway, some mornings at school are busier than others and today happened to be a busy day. My boss decided to turn on a Dr. Seuss video (Sneetches, my favorite!) For the kids to watch during breakfast.

Big Brother, Froggie and the Sneetch!

A Blanket for Dolly

     We are beginning a prayer shawl and Baptism blanket ministry at our church and so I've been trying some new projects. I decided to try adding a crochet edge to a blanket and decided to make Froggie's doll a blankie.
     It turned out pretty well for a first attempt but I still have some things to learn about my tools but I'll get there.

Materials

after using the skip cut tool

A close up

a comfy dolly

Dr Seuss Day

     Sunday was Dr. Seuss' birthday so we read a Dr. Seuss book before bed time but Monday started off Dr. Seuss week in the one year old room at work. Of course I had to make Froggie and Big Brother shirts.

Their shirts

     The kids looked adorable in their shirts and both kids had some Dr. Seuss fun in their classrooms today. Big Brother read "The Cat in the Hat" while we read "The Lorax" in the one year old room. After we finished our book I turned on some clips from the new version of "The Lorax" while we played with mustache masks. We also used cotton balls to make truffula tree pictures. Have I mentioned I love Dr. Seuss?

showing off their shirts at school

Froggie with a Lorax mustache

watching a movie before dinner

Friday, food day?

     I love my job for a variety of reasons but I must say that Friday it was because of our parents. I spend A LOT of my time with a room full of kids but spend only a couple minutes with their parents if I have time to say more than "have a good day" to them as they finish dropping off their child.
     I must say though that, despite the brief encounters we have, these parents are awesome! Every so often they'll send in little thank you's to the staff and friday was a day full of love from our parents.

Caffeine covered by one family

Yummy lunch brought in by another family

     Sadly, Friday went down hill pretty quickly after I left work. Big Brother proclaimed he didn't want to nap and we figured Hubby would be working late so we headed out to a store to look for some kids crocs before heading over to visit with hubby. Because I'd of rather taken some time to see Hubby so that Big Brother forgot he said he wasn't going to nap so that he would fall asleep. Big Brother wasn't happy to start off because he wanted to go to the toy store and I promised him that there were toys he could look at once we were done looking for what I had wanted to look at. He was pretty patient looking at the crocs and was understanding that even though they had Lightening McQueen ones they weren't the right size so we couldn't get them. However, the toy section went quite differently… I reminded him that we were just looking and that we weren't getting anything and he continued to pick things up and say that he wanted them. I finally told him that since he kept touching things we would have to go, which sparked a melt down. He screamed and cried at the top of his lungs and the only decipherable words were "I don't want to" and then his comment trailed off. He was never able to tell me what he didn't want to do but I figured it was something along the lines of "do anything" by his behavior. He tried to run away from me and so I had to pick him up kicking and screaming and carry him to the door and unfortunately I had to put him down to get Froggie out of the cart and he ran away again, this time losing a shoe! I had to sit him down and put his shoe on and carry them both out. His tantrum lasted the better half of the way home and he still woke up sniffling from the crying.

    The evening went A LOT better and we met up with Hubby for dinner and he was apologetic for his earlier behavior and assured me he wasn't going to run away from me. 

Welcome Back to the Wild

     Today was opening day of our local zoo! It's nice that the zoo is back open because it gives us another thing to add to our list of activities to do and it gets us back outside. It's been really cold again lately (isn't is supposed to be warming up?) and Hubby said that it was going to be too cold to go to opening day. I decided that it was warmer than it has been and we've been coped up too long so we packed extra blankets and dressed warmly and headed out. Hubby met us there when he was done working and my mom came with us as well.
     It actually wasn't too bad temperature wise and even though not all of the animals were out I'm glad we went and that the kids got to have some fun.

Happy Big Brother

Sleepy Froggie

Big Brother and grandma

up close and personal with the lion

up close and personal with the lion

up close and personal with the lion

Froggie wanted to see the lion too

all bundled up

the swans hanging out on the ice

Todd the 55 year old turtle

Big Brother checking out the turtle

Froggie the popcorn monster

Froggie the popcorn monster

our little family at the zoo

Happy Froggie

     Hubby and I also had a "date night". We don't go out often but friends of ours from the Navy had invited us to dinner and so we headed out to have dinner with them at a local Mexican restaurant and then after that some of us stopped by Menchies for dessert (it's a frozen yogurt bar!). It was nice to get out and socialize and not have to worry about how the kids were behaving and whether they were bored or not.