The groundhog had it right!

Six more weeks of winter, he predicted.  And he was spot on!  I think February and March got themselves mixed up.  Our March has been more like February with random bouts of snow and cooler temps.  If it's not enough snow to re-open the ski resorts so we can get some skiing in, then I'd rather have no snow at all.

The kids on the other hand didn't seem to mind last weekend.

Evan's reaction to getting to play out int he snow and do another round of sledding last Saturday expressed how both of the boys felt.  It was actually really pretty Saturday morning.  Huge snowflakes brought a good inch and a half.  We rushed the boys outside knowing that it would melt by the afternoon.  They shoveled, threw snowballs, and built a snowman (with perfect packing snow) complete with a real carrot nose and blueberry buttons.

We ended up having a pretty relaxing weekend at home.  Our goal was to not spend any money, except for groceries.  So, we did board games, puzzles, books, movies, and toys in every room of the house to keep occupied.  It wasn't the most exciting weekend, but it's probably a good idea to have a "no spend" weekend every once in a while.

I'm happy to report our weather is starting to feel more like spring today.  The boys and I took Bailey on a walk to the park before dinner to soak up some sunlight and get some fresh air.  With the temps forecasted to hit the 60's this weekend, I'm ready to say goodbye to winter.  Even if it rains all weekend, I'll still take not having to wear heavy winter coats and snow boots.

And it totally made my Tuesday night to see Sean FINALLY be able to swing by himself from start to finish!  He must be working hard on practicing during recess.  Proud mama here!

Back to winter...

It's March!  Know what that means?

It's Disney time!  That's right...we are 20 days away from our trip!  And we are sooo ready!!  Dining is booked, fastpasses are booked, our touring plans are almost finalized, Tinkerbell gifts have been bought, and call me crazy, but our clothes are already laid out.  In fact, I might start laying things in suitcases tomorrow to see how much room we have...or don't have.

The countdown chain started at 30 days and we've already had to move it down since we've cut off 10 links!  We almost had to cancel our Disney movie night this Friday because of our power outage and crazy weather.  This week was flat out nuts.  We started with a very exciting night at swim.  Sean passed Level 5 while my mom and dad were there watching!  It felt even more exciting having an "audience".  Of course, that meant we were doing ice cream cones from McDonalds on the way home.  I'm so proud of him and I'm excited to see him do the crazy amount of laps they do in Level 6.

Tuesday, was my field trip to the DIA with 60 of our Spanish 2 students to study art and lead them ourselves on tours.  It was a success, but it took a lot of panicking and preparation to get to that point.

As I picked up Sean that afternoon from school, it was his turn to have Buster overnight again.  Luckily we were headed to the library for Lego Club so we had something interesting to write out about in the journal.  But, seriously, adding that to the mix on a Tuesday night almost put me over the edge.  I believe Sean's words were, "These are the best two days of my life".  Well, in that case, I'll suck it up and write in that journal for you, kiddo.

Wednesday brought on the most ridiculous weather I've seen in Michigan in a long time.  Snow storms are one thing to expect, but 60-80mph winds?  Nope.  It was very stressful picking up the boys from school and driving by so much damage to people's houses, yards, trees, cars, etc.  And of course, coming home to dim lights and no functioning outlets was no picnic either.  The boys used the last of the hot water for their shower that evening and from Wednesday evening - Thursday night we were out of power.

Thursday was an adventure and one that I would not like to take again.  I used ice cold water to wet my hair in the morning so that I could put it in a bun.  Of course I had parent-teacher conferences that evening so it was awful not being able to shower and feel put together.  Sean and Scott both had school closed for the day so they were home in the cold house together with no ability to cook.  They used coolers and bags of ice to keep the refridgerated food cold and I took an ikea bag full of freezer food to work.  It was such a good decision since we had to throw out next to nothing in the end.

Work was a drag.  I was exhausted and I worked until 6:30pm when my principal let me leave an hour early to be able to pick up the boys, pack a bag, and head to Troy to sleep at my parent's house for the evening where it would be warm.  It was a bit of a drive in the dark to get there, but it was for the best.  We had a warm house, a warm shower, and some time with Grandma and Grandpa.  Scott called me at 9:30pm to tell me our power was back on.

Friday, Scott and Sean were off school again.  So, Sean and Evan stayed at my parent's house all day in Troy and Scott put the house back together and was able to wash some dishes and get some laundry going.  It made coming home after work more tolerable since everything was clean and back in order.  What a week!  We made some homemade pizza and snuggled in to watch Beauty and the Beast for our Disney movie night.  I made "grey stuff" and put it on graham crackers as the only treat for the movie.

This weekend has been so relaxing after a very stressful week.  I feel at peace this evening after a great day with the family.  We took the boys to Jungle Java this morning to play.  We finally got around to playing with the Short Circuits activity we bought Sean for Christmas and it was so much fun - although definitely hard for a 6 year old.  The boys and I colored for a while (I can't believe I'm actually saying that!).  We ate dinner at The Burger Stop in downtown Plymouth and did some browsing at the toy store downtown.  It was just a nice evening.  I ran on the treadmill last night and tonight and it felt good to get back into routine.

Last weekend was nice with the family too!  We finally have our weekends back with Scott's basketball season over.  We went to Trader Joe's, did a Home Depot kid's workshop, got ice cream at the opening of Dairy King downtown, and just enjoyed time with each other.

I'm kind of liking our March weekends.  :)

Evan at 4.5 years old

Today Evan celebrates his half birthday!  And it also marks the week that I signed him up to attend elementary school in the fall.  It's hard to believe this guy will be done with daycare in a few months!

It looks crazy to see him sitting at a desk in my classroom in this picture here, but come fall, he'll be a big kid at Farrand in Young 5's (hopefully he gets a spot!).  His Pre-K class this year at Tutor Time has been such a blessing.  His teacher, Miss Kim, is phenomenal!  He has learned so much!  He now knows almost all his capital letters and lowercase letters.  I'm most impressed with his letter sounds.  He's getting really strong at letter sounds and always asks questions like what does this word start with?  He can count beyond 20, but always misses number 15 for some reason.  He can write his letters and is proving to be a leftie!  Most surprising is how he'll come home from school with stick figure family drawings or conversations about all kinds of topics ranging from meteor showers to Chinese New Year.

He has lots of friends at school and as you can see here in this picture, tons of boys to play with!  Evan is such a shrimp compared to all his buddies, but that's okay.  He'll have an extra year to catch up!  He loves bringing in a toy from home to share with all his friends and he's great about letting others have a turn with it.  We're really proud of how much he's progressed this year in Pre-K!  His teacher does a weekly show and tell based off of the letter of the week, they have a class pet named High Five (a bunny), and they're constantly doing creative and engaging activities relevant to the time of year.  They even have pen pals in Spain!

At home, Evan loves to do a variety of things.  Sometimes he's in the mood for puzzles and he's getting better at doing them and doing them independently.  He likes the big Melissa and Doug ones that are 25-50 pieces right now.  He also loves board games...when he's winning!  Candy Land is his favorite, but he also enjoys BusyTown, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, I Spy, Slapjack, Go Fish, and even Uno.  We're trying to get him interested in Rush Hour, but it's a tough game.  We just recently went to the board game place downtown called 3 and Up.  We'll definitely be returning this summer!

He also still loves to bake!  My little chef.  Anything from cookies to muffins to cake.  He's my go-to guy to help in the kitchen.  I think I'm going to get him more involved with dinner prep this summer and even cutting things with a knife.  I've been busy pinning ideas on Pinterest for how to give him more kitchen responsibilities.

He's starting to really take an interest in building things.  Not Lego's quite yet, but mostly Duplo, wooden blocks, and Magnatiles.  He's really big into imaginative play too.  Dress-up clothes are a big hit with Evan!  His top favorites are being a pirate or being a superhero.  He'll line all his Imaginext Batman toys up to create a Gotham City or he'll build a tower with blocks and put character toys in it making them a house or a castle to live in.  It's something both him and Sean can do together and it's nice to see them building off of each other's toys.

He's a little stinker about bedtime this school year, but that's because daycare makes him take a nap.  He really doesn't need a nap anymore, so he likes to be a night owl at home.  He keeps busy by playing in his room, which is a mess all the time because of it.  But, some nights I like listening to him talking to himself, reading himself books, or playing with toys giving them voices.  The best part of my evening, after having a chance to sit down and read for a bit, is walking by his room and tucking him in after he's asleep.  Such a cutie when he sleeps.

His personality can sure be challenging at times!  He's got some serious sass and defiance going on over the past year, but he also has some really sweet moments.  I'm trying to soak up all his snuggles while he's passing them out.  It can be a struggle to get him to do anything for himself, even though he darn well can.  He just says, "You do it".  Ugh!

When he's not being sassy, he is so goofy!  He's always making us laugh at home with the things that come out of his mouth, but I love watching people's reactions in public when he decides to just do a crazy dance down an aisle at the store or make funny noises while waiting for swim class to start.  He's definitely going to be a class clown...I wonder who he got that from...

Snapchat filters are a favorite of his...

Outside of school and home he's enrolled at Aqua Tots for swimming one day a week.  He just recently passed from a level 4 to a level 5, which was a complete shock to us!  He suddenly started swimming the length of the pool doing freestyle and elementary backstroke.  Crazy how it clicked for him after months of being in the class.  He's now in Sean's level, although Sean is getting ready to graduate soon too.  I'm so proud of the both of them for how much they've been progressing!  While Sean is going back to soccer this spring, Evan wasn't interested.  He'll sit on the sidelines with me while Scott coaches Sean.  But, he said he'd be up for trying t-ball this summer if Scott coaches that again.

He just went to the doctor so I know his stats.  Right now he's 35 lbs and 41".  He's wearing 4T everything for clothes and size 8.5-9 in shoes.  He's dominant with his left hand in both writing and sports.

To my Moana-obsessed, goofy, bright little chef - Happy half birthday to you!  We're so proud of how much you've grown and learned the past 6 months.  And now you're big enough to go on Splash Mountain!  Despite your picky eating, you grew enough for the rides.  You're just a normal demi-guy.   :)