Saturday Update

We did catch one more mouse the evening after Rob sealed the holes (so I DID see one go down the radiator.) Since then, the traps have been empty and there have been no more mouse sightings. We did find a giant centipede under the stereo speaker, however. On Wednesday, I asked Ben to turn on Patch the Pirate and he went to plug in the CD player. He screamed and shot into the kitchen, which caused me to jump onto my chair, which caused Matthew to dash into the living room. Turns out a centipede crawled across Ben's foot. Bugs I can handle!

The boys have both come down with some kind of mild cold. They cough a little in the morning and sound congested but get better as the day goes on. I have felt a little congestion myself, but not much. My game plan this time is to keep them from all contact with other people. I think that works best so they don't CATCH anything or GIVE anything. We had to cancel plans to go to a friend's house last night, but it's worth it to kill the bug quickly. They already seem much better this morning.

We're planning a very small celebration for Anna's second birthday tomorrow. We have all of the presents in place and I'll wrap them up tonight. I plan to give her the gifts over the course of the day rather than all at once. After church tomorrow night, we invited her favorite babysitters over for cake. I still have a bunch of stuff left from her first birthday, so she'll have a girly flower party again. She knows her birthday is tomorrow and also knows she gets to move up to the 2's and 3's class. I filled out her new nursery sheet on Thursday and realized this is my last time filling out a nursery sheet. I almost cried, but I decided that if I keep thinking of all her milestones as my last time to experience that, I'll cry her entire life. Instead, I'm going to think of it as the first time my GIRL does something. :)

The boys have had a great time with the nice weather we had this week. They have gotten good and dirty playing in the backyard. Matthew is working on riding his bike w/o training wheels. We don't have a very level place to work on this and our street is just busy enough to rule it out for a riding area. We're going to try to take him out to the church when the parking lot is empty to let him loose. I think he'd have it already if he didn't lean to one side so often!

Ben seems to be slowly leaving his defiant stage. It's been a real trip training him, but I am starting to see the fruits of our efforts. He really can be a delightful child when he's behaving. He still sleeps with his binky at night, but I think he's just big enough to clobber anyone that makes fun of him. He's indicated that he's ready to read, so as soon as I get my book back from a friend who borrowed it, we'll begin reading lessons. He's not real interested in a schooltime right now, so other than reading books, we're not doing anything. He does want to write his letters, but I let him work on the MagniDoodle for that. This fall I'll start him in Core 4/5 for his preschool year.

Matthew loves his Core K work. Well, most of it. He's still not too keen on handwriting (although his writing is coming along nicely) and we finally did hit a read-aloud book that he didn't like. I'm kind of surprised he didn't like it b/c it was about a boy at a lighthouse, but it didn't float his boat. (heh-heh) He just finished Explode the Code 4 and was BEGGING me to do book 5 on Friday. I love teaching him!

Rob is putting the finishing touches on his resume and is ready to start sending it out. I am enjoying the monthly scrapbooking class I joined and am having fun with that new hobby, as well as making cards. Hmm....I guess that's about all that's new for us :)

Happy First Day of Spring to all of you! If you life near us, you've probably got some snow on the ground to help you celebrate!