Ready for school

The kids watch videos together while waiting for the bus to come.

Morehead Planetarium

We took the kids to the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill for the first time. I was expecting more of a science museum experience, but the exhibits were pretty minimal.  However, they did have cool movies in the theater, and they had some "science stage" shows as well, where a teacher gave a little lesson and did some cool experiments. The kids really liked it, and shy little Simon even raised his hand to answer some questions during the second show.

Art?

For Christmas, my parents got Simon a little craft kit for making paper bag monster puppets.  The kids got into the kit one morning when we were sleeping in, producing mixed results.

For these last ones, we explained to Simon that he should not show private parts in art, especially not to depict urinating on dogs.  But you gotta admire his creativity, right?

Wintertime Blues

I'm still taking my walks. The beautiful fall colors are gone, and are replaced by the stark outlines of tree bones against the blue sky.

Cam's visit

Since we didn't get up to Ohio for Christmas this year, Cam came and visited us for a long weekend in January.  She and Zac had fun excursions during the day, and she helped Simon learn sight words in the evenings.

Unfortunately, Zac's phone broke and died before he had a chance to get the pictures off, so we lost a lot of footage, especially of this visit.

Card shark

Simon loves playing (and winning at) Go Fish.

Door decorating

When the neighbor girl Elli was over, she and Simon worked really hard to decorate his door. They got a bit carried away and Simon ended up writing on his door.

Quiet Time Together

If we're home in the afternoon on a weekend, we usually make the kids go up to their rooms for about an hour of "quiet time."  That means they can't bother us, whine, tattle, or run around the house.  In my original vision, I had hoped they would stay in their rooms and read.  But often times, they'll play together. I figure it's good sibling bonding time, especially because they know they can't fight or we'll banish them to their separate rooms.

Donovan's birthday party

Donovan had his 5th birthday party at the Chavis Park community center near downtown Raleigh.  For the first hour, Simon was just not in the mood. He didn't even want to take his coat off, let alone socialize or participate in any of the games in the gym. A lot of the kids remembered him from daycare and were coming up to say hi, but he just gave them a cold stare that said, "You're dead to me now."  It was weird.  Finally he warmed up enough to sit at the coloring table with Donovan.

Thank goodness Oscar was there (his youngest brother Xavier is still in daycare) to help keep Alice occupied.

After the party, all the kids wanted to go down to the playground.  It was really cold (about 40 and not sunny) so we didn't stay long. But they had fun, until Simon fell off the teeter-totter and Alice got sand thrown in her eyes by another kids. Then it was time to go home.

Movie Night = Nightmare Night

For Zac's birthday, I got him the Mononoke Hime DVD, a Japanese anime we watched back when we were dating in college. Alice had been begging to watch it all week, so Friday night we had family movie time.

Unfortunately, this movie was a lot more violent and scary than the other Miyazaki animes we'd been showing the kids, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Ponyo.  During parts of it, Alice would nearly hyperventilate or scream into her pillow.  

Needless to say, she had trouble going to sleep that night, and woke up in the middle of night from nightmares. She hasn't wanted to be alone since. 

Simon wasn't scared at all. But that's probably just because he didn't understand what was going on in the same way that Alice did.

Alice's spelling words

Alice has barely any homework this year. The one thing we make her do is practice her spelling words every week. It's like pulling teeth to get her to do it, and she struggles a lot with spelling. It's going to be rough when she has real homework every night. Anything with writing is going to be rough.

Bow boy

Sunset with moon

 

There was an awesome sunset on the drive home with the kids today. And a little tiny sliver of a moon.

me and the cat

Simon writes a lot of notes these days. This one says, "Daddy, can you play with me and the cat."

Alice's door signs

Alice was inspired by Simon's door decorating and made her own door signs.  

On the outside of her door it says:

"Please don't disturb"

On the inside of the door is taped this sign:

"You may come in."

Spelling is not her strong suit.

Simon's snuggles the cat

Zac's 40th birthday!

Zac entered his 40s today. A long time ago I entertained the idea of having a big party or doing something extra special, but those ideas were another casualty of my health crisis. It's hard to plan anything when you don't know what's going to happen and you're just trying to survive each day.

But it was still a nice evening. Anything involving chocolate cake can't be too disappointing.

Unfortunately, Simon was sick and fell asleep on the couch right after school. He missed supper, the cake, and even the first part of the presents.

Finally he came to and helped open some of them.

Durham again!

For Sunda,y I had arranged for a playdate at Durham with Robyn and Chris and their kids. The weather was unseasonably warm and it was really a lovely day. However, between the 3 adults and 6 kids, and it felt like we spent the entire time going to the bathroom. 

The kids were pretty tuckered out from the late night yesterday, and both fell asleep on the way home.

And then napped some more on the couch when they got inside.

 

Today was the last day of Zac's 39th year. After supper, I made him a cake for tomorrow. I unfortunately didn't have any good design ideas this year, but I did get to bed at a reasonable time.

January Saturday: A Day with Friends

Simon loves writing sentences with his sight words.

Alice and I played a game of Chinese checkers with the board from grandma Cam. I helped Alice as much as I could but I still beat her.

I had arranged a playdate with Parker for the afternoon. Alice had been asking for one for a long time. Although they go to the same school, they're in different grades so they haven't really seen each other much since Parker moved away. They immediately fell into their old pattern--building forts in the living room.

Elli came over to play with Simon.  

They decorated his door.

And played in the bath.

Late that afternoon I escaped for a walk.

That evening we went to a neighborhood get-together at the Snows. It was nice because the kids played well and we were actually able to visit. Our neighbors are a really nice group. It went so well that we accidentally stayed very late, until almost 11pm. It was amazing the kids lasted that long before breaking down. Here is a little private feast Elli and Simon prepared for themselves.  I just love it that he has a playmate!

Last day of the kids' winter break

Today was the last day of winter break for the kids. Zac returned to work, so it was just the kids and I today.

They had a dentist appointment in the morning. They both did great.  Unfortunately, x-rays showed Simon had more cavities--this time in his top teeth. Poor kid.  After his last set of cavities, we cut way back on gummies and other sticky sweet snacks like raisins, but it wasn't enough to prevent another round of cavities.

After the dentist, I took them to nearby Ritter Park.  They played for a bit, but mostly seemed to whine and squabble.

So we came home for lunch and legos. After taking the tree down, we moved the lego table up from the basement to encourage more lego playing.

Then, after quiet time, they got to watch the Monsters, Inc. movie while I graded some midterm exams.

New Year's Day 2019

We are excited for the new year!  This year will surely be better than last.  The weather was warm and balmy.  We had no plans for the day.

Zac and Alice played battleship.

I took the kids out to ride bikes in the cul-de-sac.  Ellie came out to play for a bit.



Alice went to Linda's (the neighbor) and brought back a surprise present she had been working on for me. Linda has a loom and helped Alice use it to make me this beautiful scarf.

After lunch, I took the kids to the park for a bit with Victoria and Christian (Niu family).

That evening we watched the OSU football game and Zac took down the tree.

Eventually it was time for bed.