Wow... 2 weeks without a blog!

I know, I'm a slacker. I've had plenty to blog about, too. Here's whats been going on...

Amelia is sleeping in her "big girl bed." A.k.a. the side is off her crib and we have her pack-n-play pushed up next to it as a rail. She loves it. The first night she wanted to sleep in the pack-n-play, but ever since then she's loved it. She even stays in it at bed time! We haven't had to work on the whole "Stay in your bed" routine.

Amelia went no.1 on the toilet for the first time. She was excited and loves to sit on the toilet, but I don't know how to get her to initiate it herself. She wore underwear on Friday morning, so I thought she wouldn't like it when they got wet. No, she just kept playing...

I took Amelia to the Dr. on Friday because she had pink-eye, but by the time our appointment came around she looked and seemed fine. He checked her out and she had a bad ear infection and some fluid in her lungs, so she's on an anti-biotic and steroids.

Micah is in a phase of deciding if he wants to be a "big boy" with all the privileges and responsibilities that come with it, or if he would rather be a baby. For example, he whines every time he has to put his shoes and socks on or put his seat belt on and I tell him that its all part of growing up. There are lots of things he gets to do that Amelia doesn't because he's older, like stay up later (she goes to bed about 6:15 and he goes at 6:45 usually), he gets to play quietly in his room when he wakes up in the morning, she has to stay in her bed. He gets "quiet time" while she has to take a nap, etc. (Its interesting that what he thinks are privileges would be punishments to any other kid, but he doesn't know any different.) So, he's in an inner struggle deciding if he's ready to accept the responsibilities of being a "big kid."

Micah has been learning that other people believe different things than him. He's had many discussions at the baby sitter's house about whether he or others believe in God and if he is real. Heavy stuff for a 4 year old to have to deal with, but we've had some great conversations because of it. His teacher at hearts at home is such a blessing. I told her about our conversations and she's been talking to the kids about similar things in their class.

We got Micah registered for pre-kindergarten at a christian school near us that also has day care for two-year olds. I'm so excited that they will be in the same place and I will be able to take them and pick them up (Ryan's been doing all of that for the last 3 years.) We've had such a great child-care provider for the last 3 years. The change will be tough on the kids, but will work out in the end.

I think that's about all for now. Hopefully it won't take 2 weeks to update again. Happy March!

OH!!! AND, Costco carries YAMAHA pianos now! I now know where my kids get their drooling problem from, I did it for a good 20 minutes today at Costco! Finally, they're carrying some quality pianos... if only... $

Look out... I feel a blog coming on.

Do you mind if I deviate from the original intent of this blog (which is to brag about my kids, of course) for a few moments? I just have a lot to say, and frankly, there are no better listeners than the random people that read blogs, right?

Last night I had my third grade music program and in spite of me, it went wonderfully. In fact, I would probably say it was one of the best programs I've been involved in. The program was a celebration of Oregon's birthday (which is today, if you didn't know). We sang "Fifty Nifty" (of course) and some good 'ol favorite patriotic songs including "Oregon, My Oregon." I had a sing-a-long for the parents in the middle with a medley of "My Country Tis of Thee," "America, the Beautiful," and "This is My Country." Despite 30% of the audience wanting to roll their eyes at the thought of standing and singing, I think they really enjoyed it. A few of the parents of my bi-lingual kids came up to me with tears in their eyes saying how much they enjoyed the performance. What an incredible feeling when someone who speaks very little English comes up to you and uses the few words they know to express their gratitude. I know how uncomfortable I am using the few Spanish words I know in front of people who speak that language. So, my point here is, It was a hugely humbling experience.

This program came at the perfect time, when I was starting to feel really inadequate about my teaching ability and my group management skills. Right now, the music teachers in the south area are doing "Honor Choir," which is a select group of kids from each of the elementary schools in the South feeder area. They come together and we teach a choir for 6 weeks and then have a performance with the high school and middle schools in our area. Each of the elementary music teachers takes a turn at teaching and directing different songs that we will perform. Talk about feeling less than! Some of those teachers are amazing to watch. They have this power over the kids. The kids hang on every word the teacher says, they are quiet while the teacher is teaching. I have learned a ton from the other music teachers and am so glad that I get to watch them, but, I am not comfortable teaching in front of them. Besides that, I am not comfortable conducting when there is more than one part being sung. Something about cueing different parts totally throws me off. I would much rather be the singer following the conductor than the other way around. However, I am trying to take what I can learn out of this to improve my skills rather than beat myself up over it.

Sorry about all of this babbling, but I guess if you got tired of reading it, you would have just clicked the X as Micah says. My main point here is that I feel so blessed and want to tell you that God is faithful. I have to remind myself that he will finish what he started. He gave me the desire and skill to do this job and he is continually molding me into the person that these kids need. He faithfully lifts me up when I need a boost and gently points out things that I need to work on.

Now I'm feeling embarrassed about all of this, but I think I will post it anyway. Maybe I should start a blog where I really don't know any of the people who read it and they don't know me. Its hard being vulnerable, but its human and that's what I am... a work in progress. Luckily I have God for a creator.

Milking a Cow

This morning one of Playhouse Disney's mini-shows came on called, "Daniel Cook." This little boy goes around and meets people at different jobs and tries doing different things with them. The theme song came on and I said, "Its Daniel Cook!" Micah said, "Thats where I learned how to milk a cow!"

Fun week!!!

I worked one and a half days this week! With two snow days, we've had lots of fun. So, I can't just sit home on a snow day, especially when there's not really enough snow to play in, so we went over to my friend Christin's house and I helped her organize her daughter's room while the kids played. Her kids are conveniently one or two sizes bigger than mine, so she gave me some clothes for Amelia. Here is Amelia with her new skirt and top. (Yes, I cut her bangs. They were straight when they were wet.)

The other night we had those same friends over for pizza and then we watched the kids while Christin taught her swimming class. We waited for quite a while and I thought I saw their van drive by two times. I figured they couldn't remember where we lived and decided to go to McDonalds instead. As we were waiting, Micah and I were talking about it and he said, "Mom, you should tell her that we live in the white house in West Salem." I giggled and told him that there are many white houses in West Salem. He said, "Oh, there's one over there (looking out the window). Tell her its not the one by the mailbox. Its the other one."

Later that evening after Christin left, I was changing Amelia's diaper and Lici (Christin's daughter) asked me about the desitin cream that was laying on the ground. I told her that I used it on Amelia's bottom when it gets red and has owies. She launched into a whole story about how she gets owies on her "(va)gina" and her daddy puts medicine on her gina and this and that about her gina. Then Amelia was brushing her teeth and Lici saw her toothpaste tube and asked, "Kandi? Is this for Melia's teeth or her gina?"

Snow Day!!!

Yay! Today is a snow day. No school for me. Ryan has to go in two hours late, but at least we get the morning together. The kids went outside for a total of about 30 seconds. They had fun and loved getting bundled up.

My parents offered to take the kids to a cousin's birthday party on Saturday and keep them overnight. Well, I jumped at the opportunity and decided to paint the livingroom while I had the day to myself. It was a tough job with 20 ft. ceilings at the highest point.

I finished the living room using only one gallon! I had purchased two because I was sure it would take two. I used the other gallon to paint Micah's room. They look awesome. The problem now is that the kitchen is painted a different (non-coordinating) color of green and looks awful when you stand in the kitchen and look into the living room. That will have to be my next project.

Siblings

I love that my kids are best friends. Micah just adores his sister and Amelia idolizes him. She wants to do everything he does. This is a picture of them coloring a couple of weeks ago.

Micah has this thing about getting dressed before Amelia does. He has to "win." So he gets really upset if she gets dressed before him. Just now as I was writing this he looked at the picture and said, "Why is Amelia dressed before me?" Currently, they are both coloring because they wanted to be just like the picture.

Oh, and I have one more "Micah moment." Here is a little background... a week or so ago I told Ryan that I love when I have a video to play for one of my classes because I can get my whole room cleaned up in that time and I feel so much better when my room is clean.

On Tuesday I picked them up from the babysitters and as we were driving home, this was our conversation:

Micah: "What did you do today, Mom?" I was flattered by the question.

Me: "Well, I taught some classes, sang some songs, played some instruments..."

Micah: "Did you make the kids watch TV so you could clean your room?"

Me: giggling, "No, I didn't do that today."

So concerned

This morning we were running some errands as a family and first we swung through the bank to deposit a check. As we were stopped at the drive-thru ATM, Micah said, "Dad, you're going to have to teach me how to do that too."

After the bank we went a couple of places and passed the hospital. Micah remembers it as the place where we got Amelia. He often refers to it as the place where the babies live. Here is how the conversation followed:
M: How do the people at the hospital make the babies?
Ryan: They don't make the babies, God does. They just help get the babies out of the mommy's tummies.
M: No, I'm talking about when Amelia was born. Are you talking about when I was born?
Ryan: No, I'm talking about Amelia's hospital.
M: Remember, I looked out the window and I saw the river?
Ryan: Right, that was when we came to the hospital when Amelia was still in Mommy's tummy. Then Grandma came and picked you up. While you were gone, the doctors helped get Amelia out of Mommy's tummy and when Grandma brought you back you got to see her.
M: But how do they make the babies?