Cassidy's Spelling B

Cassidy participated in a 2nd Grade Spelling B today. There were about 30 students from the 4 second grade classes. This was just a practice Spelling B. The 3rd, 4th and 5th grade competed for a spot at the national level. Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders were able to do it just for fun this week. We have been practicing a bit the last few days, so she was ready for at least the 2nd grade sight words. Or so I thought. She was out with the word "t-h-e-y-s-e". She said she was a little nervous. She had no problem spelling "these" words with me. That is OK, at least she had fun. And she did much better at brushing it off than few of the other kids, who were in tears. Poor kids, its only second grade!

Thomas is learning how to spend money

Ok, we are actually teaching him how to give, save and spend money. Stewart and I started attending a money class last month. For those of you who have heard of Dave Ramsey, we have been attending his video seminar Financial Peace University the last few weeks. We have been listening to his talk show for years now. We are not in any desperate situation, like most of his callers, we just like listening to his advice. It is just nice to be reassured that debt is a terrible thing. The class also talks about insurance and investing (we have not gotten to that part yet). It is a 13 week program offered here once a week. And the big bonus is the FREE babysitting. So we get to go sit in a room with other adults and converse about grown-up topics, how can you beat that.

Dave Ramsey also has books and a financial kit for the kids. Cassidy was real excited about her kit. Though it is not any different from what we have been doing with her. The kit has a dry erase chore chart that you fill out each day. Cassidy gets to make her bed, clean her room and dust the living room every day. Then on Saturdays, she sweeps her floor, cleans the bathroom sinks, washes the kitchen table, and mops the dining room floor. She has been doing chores for a number of years and we have always had three piggy banks for her, one for the church, one for saving, and one for spending; which is what her kit teaches. She is saving her money for some white dress shoes (though I do not know what she will wear with them).

The new news is Thomas has started doing chores as well. We made him a piggy bank, out of a clear plastic container. He gets to see all the money he has. He has taken over Cassidy's chore of setting the table. He gets everything on the table, just not always in the right places. He also has to pick up the toys in his room and the playroom. And on Saturday his big chore is to dust the staircase. I love Swiffers. He gets $.15 for each chore and gets paid right after he does it. (Cassidy gets paid once a week.) He loves running to the piggy bank and putting the money in, as well as writing a check mark on his chore chart. Zachary helps sometimes too, so he gets a penny for his Nutella jar.

Well a few days after we started this, we went to the store to find out what they wanted to save up money for and purchase. Thomas chose a CARS game. As you see in the photo he was able to buy it this week. We have been playing CARS Go Fish almost every night. He wants to buy a puzzle next.

Celebrating Zachary's Birthday

Zachary turned 2 last Friday. We celebrated by leaving him with a babysitter. After Cassidy got out of school on Friday, we drove to Switzerland. It was a beautiful drive. We drove on the Autobahn through Germany. Stewart found out our Suburban's engine is governed. That means that when the car hits 100 mph the engine loses some of its power. OK, I was fine with it, but Stewart is trying to figure out how to disable it. The GPS took us on the back roads through Switzerland. It was a beautiful drive. Stewart saw a deer. Our friends were going to have pizza ready for us and we were going to have Zachary's cake, but we got there too late in the evening. Our friends, Kent and Emily Cook, are in a band (a garage band as Emily put it), and they were having their first performance that evening. This is why we went to Switzerland. The Cook's arranged a babysitter for our kids and theirs. So we gave the sitters last minute instructions and were off to hear the band. With passports in hand we were off to Austria. The band was performing at a Mexican restaurant of all places. One of the band's friends had reserved a table for 12 guests and somehow it got canceled. So we had to figure out where we were going to sit. The waitress started talking to us in German, I was catching a bit, then Stewart started speaking in Spanish and that worked much better. Stewart was in charge of communications for the night. He was quite happy he understood all she said. He hadn't spoken Spanish in quite a while. We finally got seated at a corner table, and ordered dinner. The menu was in German, except the names of the dishes were in Spanish. We ordered nachos for an appetizer. It came out with 3 half slices of jalapenos. And their sour cream was more like cottage cheese. But it was still good, just not like home. I had Fajitas for dinner and loved the pictures on the menu showing you how to eat Fajitas. You lay the tortilla flat, fill it with the meat and peppers, then fold it and eat. It is just second nature to us I guess. The Fajitas were good, though a little bland.

So after dinner the band started playing. We hadn't asked what kind of music they would be performing, so we didn't know if it was going to be German, American, or Spanish. It turned out to be all American music and it was a lot of fun. Stewart and I sat back and listened. We sang along to some songs and clapped along with some of the fun songs. They really sounded good. Much better than I was expecting. Stewart and I figured out it had been 9 months since we had been out to dinner without the kids. (We went to The Melting Pot last May for our 13th anniversary.) So here we were in Austria, in a Mexican restaurant, listening to an American band and watching the snow fall outside. I never saw this coming last February. We stayed out until 1am or 0100 as the locals say. We got back to their house and were locked out. They had forgotten the house key, so we rang the door bell, the babysitters were asleep. We tried the telephone, that didn't work either. So Emily and Kent went hiking around to the back of their house to knock on a window. It worked. The girls woke up and were rightly startled. Kent went up to check on the kids, who were all in one room, except the babies (Zachary is still a baby). He said Cassidy wanted mom. So I went up there and she lifted the covers and pointed to Zachary who was snuggled up close to her. She said he wouldn't stop crying when they put him to sleep, so they watched Little Einsteins and she put him in bed next to her. What a great big sister she is.

So even with a big night, Zachary seemed to manage to get up on time 0600. And with all the kids sleeping in the same room he managed to get most everyone else up too. Emily was gracious and trying to keep Zachary happy with a movie, but he wanted his mom, so of course I got up to watch cartoons with the kids. We had a nice morning with pancakes and kids playing. Then we opened Zachary's presents and sang him Happy Birthday. Zachary tried blowing out the candles and failed so Thomas was the good big brother and figured he should help. Well, we relit the candles and Zachary blew them out this time. One breath for each candle. (Your wish still comes true for a two year old, who doesn't get it on the first try.) So the kids played with toys some more, had lunch then we drove home Saturday afternoon. Everyone fell asleep (except Stewart of course!)

Zachary's 2nd Birthday in Switzerland

Volcanoes

Cassidy is learning about volcanoes in school. She came home one day and asked if I would bring a volcano cake into class someday. She had a science birthday last year and I had made a volcano cake for her. For her birthday cake, I placed a glass inside the cake and added hot water and dry ice. Her volcano erupted. Everyone thought it was so cool.

I told Cassidy no problem I would love to bring a cake in for her class. Well I forgot we were in Germany. I didn't want to go searching for dry ice. I tried a few places and they didn't have it. So I had Cassidy build her own volcano out of homemade play dough. She painted it with lava coming down and water all around. We took them to school and she made hers erupt with baking soda and vinegar. It was cool and she was real proud of her science experiment. And the class loved the chocolate strata volcano.

Cassidy's Day

This is what Cassidy did while I was at the hospital with Zachary. Stewart did not work today, so he stayed home and let Cassidy play. She made the snowman at the bottom of the hill in the backyard, and had to carry it up to our porch, so we could all see it. It melted a bit and by dinner time it had fallen over.

Payback

Today started great. I got to sleep in until 6am when Zachary woke up, then we both fell back to sleep on the couch. Thomas came down at 7:00 and we watched cartoons for a bit. Then Zachary wanted to get down. He started sliding off the couch and stepped on Thomas, who was laying on the floor. I don't know if Thomas moved to get Zachary off him, or Zachary just slipped, but either way, he lost his balance and went head on into our coffee table. You can see from the picture where he landed. We went through two paper towels and a few Kleenex, until the bleeding stopped. Then like any other child, he was all better and chasing Thomas again. So I took Thomas to school, and came back home to call the Doctor. I woke Stewart up, (he had worked all night and went to bed at 6:30am). So he was pretty tired. We decided to take Zachary to the Dr. But before that could happen we have to make phone calls to a medical liaison team, to find out which Krankenhaus (hospital) to go to, and they call ahead to let them know we are coming. We couldn't go to the Children's Hospital, because they don't do stitches there, so we went to the Emergency room. They wrapped Zachary up in a blanket, so he coudn't move his arms or legs, them gave him his first stitch. It reminded me of my days in the Veterinary clinic. We would wrap cats up the same way, so they coudn't scratch up during exams.

We came home and Zachary has been watching videos on the couch. This picture of him makes him look so sad and miserable. But actually, he is intently watching his new Land Before Time DVD. He loves them. And Dinosaur is one of the words he can say. Well I wouldn't really call this payback, I guess it is just part of having boys.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day started the night before. Stewart worked all night, so the kids and I drove to his work and loaded his car with Valentine's candy, balloons and cards. After I got the kids to bed, I set out Valentine's goodies for the kids to find in the morning. I usually set out a trail of hearts for the kids to follow when they get home from school, but since is was Saturday I thought I would try something different. I hid the candy and gifts around the house with their names on them. Cassidy and Thomas found them before they came and woke me up.




After completing our Saturday chores, the kids went outside for a bit of sledding. The boys downstairs came out and played with them. They had real sleds for them to use. Cassidy thought the sleds were cool and had lots of fun. Thomas couldn't figure out how the brakes worked and ended up in the bushes a few times, until he figured out he could stear away from them. Zachary was the first to come in. He was walking up the hill and took a nose dive into the snow. He had enough. Thomas took one last trip into the bushes and decided he had enough. I set the kids up with Warm Chocolate and heart shaped pizza for lunch. They don't like Hot Chocolate. Event eh Warm Chocolate ends up in the refrigerator to cool off once in awhile.


Zachary then went off for his nap. I played the Wii Fit for awhile. I worked on my Hula and Snowboarding skills, both are a bit rusty. Thomas played Diego on the Wii for a bit, then he helped me and Cassidy play I Spy.





Cassidy's school had a used book sale last week and she used her money to buy some books. She got a few for herself and a few for her brothers. So she wrapped them up and gave them as Valentine's gifts. She gave Thomas a coloring book and computer game. Zachary got a sparkle book and computer game. So, the computer games were more for Cassidy, but it is the thought that counts.



I then fixed our traditional Valentine's dinner. It started sometime after Cassidy was born. Stewart and I realized how much a night out would cost, with dinner and babysitter it added up. Then having to go through the trouble to find someone who was available on Valentine's Day to babysit. Well this was easier. So I make a pink dinner. We have pink waffles and pink milk. Cassidy told me today that I should make the bacon pink next year. I don't think that will happen, but maybe I will try. Thomas got a kick out of it and thought the pink milk tasted better than the white milk. I used food coloring, it tasted the same. We then got cleaned up and watched Mickey Mouse Sweethearts DVD. It is a bunch of old clips all about love. Donald and Daisy, Mickey and Minnie and even Pluto finds love. The kids went off to bed without a fuss. They needed their rest.

Brotherly Love

So the boys were upstairs playing so well while I was getting our grocery shopping list together. Then I heard it. The familiar sound of "brotherly love". Thomas was upstairs crying. Well they had the door to the playroom closed, and there were toys in front of it so I couldn't get in. I finally coaxed Thomas into moving the toys away so I could give him a hug and kiss. The picture is what I found. Zachary had thrown a shake-n-go car at him. And Zachary takes after his Granddaddy, he has an arm on him. We really need to get these boys in sports. So Thomas came downstairs and laid on the couch with an ice pack on his head. He took the ice pack shopping too.

That is not it for our trauma today. We were getting back in the car, after paying for gas and Thomas got hurt again. It was raining and cold, and I was trying to hurry and get the boys into the car. I put Thomas in his seat and told him to get buckled in. Meanwhile I went around the car to put Zachary in his seat. I left Thomas' door open, so I could go back and help him get his other buckle fastened. But as I was walking around the back of the car, I heard the familiar sound of a hurt boy. He had fallen out of the car onto the ground. He had road rash on his scalp, but not bleeding, luckily. My poor boy. But he is up and chasing Zachary and Cassidy around the house as I write this, so he is all better. At least until bedtime. Then I am sure his head will start hurting again and keep him awake.