Sean at 7.5 years old!

Sean officially turned 7.5 on April 1st, which fell over spring break and on Easter this year!  Not that we do anything to really "celebrate" half birthdays in our house.  But, it gives me a chance to pause and reflect on how much Sean has grown over the past 6 months. 

1st Grade has been a bit of a challenge for Sean this year.  Behaviorally, he's been amazing!  He only went on yellow once at the beginning of the year and since then it never comes up in conversation after school.  His favorite friends in his class this year are Kidanni, Caiden, and Abby.  He's talked about Abby being his crush on and off the past few months.  She's a cutie!  At recess and lunch he meets up with Corey and Nevaeh from other 1st grade classes. 

He loves to see his neighborhood friends in the evening as much as he can now that the weather has finally turned to spring.  In fact, it's caused a few arguments over homework when he sees them already outside playing without him, but we've switched to him doing his homework right after school so that he can go outside after that.  If we're stuck inside, he's always choosing to play with Legos, blocks, army figurines, and board games.  He loves to play Stratego with Scott and the Game of Life.  It's funny listening to him name his future children as he drives a full minivan of plastic pegs.

He recently had his first sleepover at his cousin, Adelaide's house two weekends ago.  They had so much fun we invited her over to our house this past weekend to spend the night.  It was so cute seeing his backpack packed with a sleeping bag and pillow as we dropped him off.  It feels like such a "big kid" thing to do!

At school, he's had to really transition to the workload for first grade.  He brings home math homework four nights a week and a spelling contract that's due the following week.  He usually has 10 spelling words and 5 sight words to work on throughout the week.  His teacher will quiz them randomly on spelling and math.  At first, his spelling quiz scores were low.  He would have the majority of the word spelling right, with the exception of one letter.  It's been hit or mess all year so far with spelling.  In math, he's made some big strides.  At one point, his teacher recommended he see the math interventionist, but after two months, he tested out of it.  His last math test he got 100% on! 

He started seeing the reading specialist back in February.  At that point he was still stuck on level D books (which is what he finished his Kindergarten year at according to his Kindergarten teacher).  He should have been at a G in February.  Since then, he's moved up to F and we're working hard on closing that gap.  We've found a tutor for him to use this summer so that can start 2nd grade off at grade level for reading.

He's very interested in science and history!  In fact, he chooses to bring home books from library every week about The Titanic or about other historical events.  He loves the I Survived books that we read to him and Magic Tree House.  We recently started using his Chain Reactions books he got for Christmas from his aunt at home with Legos and it's been fun.  He's quite the Lego builder these days.  He loves collecting things outside - rocks, sticks, and other "treasures" he finds. 

We had to take a break from piano, even though we were very close to the end of the school year and close to his spring concert.  It was becoming a nightly battle to practice and with him needing the extra help in math and reading, we knew we needed to prioritize how we spend our time in the evenings with him.  He completed a few months of swim again at Level 6 at Aqua Tots and has really gotten his side breathing down!

Spring soccer kicked off at the beginning of April and Sean has a new coach and a few new players.  Their team had their first game on Saturday and they did amazing!  8-1 with a huge victory and Sean had a few great plays!  I'm really excited to see what he can do this season.

He also just had his first school concert last night with the entire first grade classes!  His music teacher did a great job with a program called, "How Does Your Garden Groove?"!  It was so fun watching him sing and get into it with the hand motions.  We're very proud of him!  He wasn't nervous at all!

As the year comes to a close over the next 7 weeks or so, he'll start up baseball on a coach-pitch team (first practice is this weekend) and he'll continue with soccer.  Catechism and swim ended this week (we'll start swim back up in July).  I'm sure he'll enjoy the extra time to play with the neighbors and his friends outside with the nice weather. 

Oh, and just for fun, he's wearing a size 13 shoe and size 7 in pants and tops.  He weighs just over 50 lbs and is about 50" tall too!  He has his big top teeth growing in with some wiggly ones next to the top teeth, although it will be a while before those are ready to come out. 

We're so proud of how much he's grown!  My big guy!

Power Outage Adventures...

It seems to be becoming a trend in the spring for us to go through a major brown out at home.  Not a full power outage, but worse, a brown out where we have to worry about our major appliances getting fried.  We essentially have no power, no hot water, and no heat.  Sounds fun, right?!

Last spring a big storm came through ripping up trees in our neighborhood.  We were out of power for a little over 24 hours.  It happened during parent-teacher conferences for me.  Nothing like an ice cold shower that morning so I could at least look and smell presentable to parents.  We spent the first night in the cold house, but the second evening I took the kids all the way to Troy after my conferences.  Our power came back on two hours later...

This year, we had an "ice storm" Saturday night-Sunday morning.  Our power was on and went out about 15 minutes after we woke up.  Sean had spent the night at his cousin, Adelaide's house.  We got up and took Evan out to breakfast at Leo's where they had power.  We were going to go grocery shopping before picking up Sean, but we didn't want to with the power outage and I'm glad we didn't.  We picked up Sean, came home and took the last of the hot water to get everyone dressed and ready to drive in the pouring rain and sleet to Auburn Hills to celebrate Nana's birthday with some fowling and lunch.

At least we had fun fowling to take our minds off of the power outage.  And the lunch buffet at the Hub was amazing!

We came home and used the last of the daylight to get things ready for work and school the next day.  I luckily was able to make the boys some PB&honey sandwiches, an apple, and a bag of chips for lunch since none of that needed refrigeration.  Scott ran out and got some ice for us to move the food in the refrigerator to coolers and a few other essentials for our power outage.  The kids helped pick up broken sticks and branches in the backyard.  And then, it was pajamas, books, and a candlelit dinner of Taco Bell before bed.  Both boys opted to sleep in our bed with all our camping lanterns set up and a sound machine app playing on the iPad.

Monday morning came with no power, a freezing cold house, and no option for a shower.  Yuck!  I dressed for work and packed up the contents of the freezer to take to work.  Scott had the day off since his school district was out of power too - lucky!  He got the boys up later and took them to school.  By mid-afternoon with no estimate of restoration, we made the decision to book a hotel in Plymouth.  Scott took the dog to my parents' house and packed an overnight bag for us.

The boys were so excited to be greeted by both of us at pick-up after school!  And Sean got to skip Catechism.  We ate dinner out at Zack's Coney Island and went on the hotel.  Our neighbors, Tim and Annie, got a room there too so we had a little pool party.  Shelley brought Nevaeh up to swim (their side of the street had power) and I invited some friends from the boys' school, Andrea with her two boys.  We made the most out of our Monday night hotel adventure!

We got the boys in bed after a hot shower by 8:30pm.  We read some books and they had some snacks and then it was lights out...for all of us!  Tuesday morning we enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel.  They even gave us warm chocolate chip cookies as we were leaving for work and school.  We had another thick layer of ice on our cars in the parking lot overnight.  Where in the world are you, spring??

We were excited to hear by Tuesday around lunchtime our power was back up and running!  I ran out during my lunch and prep hour to plug in our fridge, clean it out, and move back the items from the cooler.  It was a busy evening of grocery shopping, unpacking, and getting our house back in order.  We lost about 30% of what was in our fridges and freezers, but I know it could have been a lot worse.  It was definitely an unexpected expense with the hotel and all the eating out.  

We did the best we could and it was actually kind of fun to sleep at a hotel with our friends on a Monday night!  When else would you do something like that?!

The best part was realizing our fish, Flame, survived!  His tank was pretty cold when I got to the house on Tuesday afternoon, but this guy is a fighter!

Our Spring Break Staycation

Well, if I'm being completely honest, this Spring Break was pretty lousy. 

I mean, the temp was probably never higher than 40 degrees the entire time.  We saw snow, sleet, and rain throughout the week.  And as if suffering through this miserable weather after months of it being even worse, my Facebook newsfeed seemed to be full of friends and family traveling south and enjoying themselves at the beach and yes, Disney World.

I really think the hardest part for me was knowing that the previous year we were those people.  We were in sunny, warm Florida.  We were in the most magical place on Earth. 

Even if the weather was awful and we weren't where I would have liked to be, we still tried to enjoy our week off together.  I let the boys pick some fun activities and I had an overnight in Kalamazoo with Sean planned over the final weekend.  It wouldn't be a break from work/school without some fun things up my sleeve!

After our Easter festivities died down, we started our week on Monday with Sean under the weather.  I spent most of the day cleaning the house, putting way Easter decor, and doing laundry.  Sean was on the couch all afternoon watching more TV than we've ever let him watch in one sitting.  But, a low grade temp, no appetite, and no energy left with no other options.  Evan played outside in small chunks of time since it was so freaking cold. All-in-all it was a productive day, despite Sean's disposition.

He had a "miraculous" recovery Tuesday morning.  He woke up wide eyed and bushy tailed.  We decided to give him a chance and we went to the Legoland Discovery Center out at Great Lakes Crossing.  We knew we wanted to take the boys there over break, but we were trying to figure out the best day for it.  We went mid-morning and arrived to the mall around 11am.  We let them wander around Bass Pro Shop sitting on four-wheelers, looking at the fish tanks, and playing with toy guns.  We easily spent 30 minutes in the store. 

Scott wasn't too thrilled about it, but we ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  I know the food isn't the best, but I absolutely love the experience there at the restaurant.  The kids were fascinated by the "show" and tried to figure out how frequently the jungle would come alive.  Scott and I split nachos, which were pretty good, and the boys each got a kid's meal.  It honestly didn't cost us any more than it would for us to all go to a Coney Island for dinner. 

Finally, it was time for the Discovery Center!  We've been a handful of times over the past few years when it was first built, so the boys knew exactly what to expect and what they wanted to do.  But, man, was it packed!  We had to improvise a bit with their agenda, but we were able to get everything in.  We spent several hours there.  They had a new exhibit with underwater fish and animals, a different 4D movie, and Sean built a different model during the class.  It was a really fun afternoon!

Wednesday my plans to meet at the Impression 5 Museum in Lansing fell through with some of my girlfriends since there was some bad weather coming down in that area.  It was definitely freezing here at our house, but not snowing.  So, I decided to take the boys to the Henry Ford Museum to renew our membership after taking a year off.  We had a blast!  There were some new things to see and some "oldies but goodies".  We brought a bag lunch and I dropped them off at my parent's house in Troy for a sleepover afterwards.

On our night out without kids, I got a pedicure and then we went to get Chinese for dinner at a "new-to-us" restaurant.  We also stopped at World of Beer for some...beer and a giant pretzel.  We came home and just watched some TV. 

After breakfast out at my favorite spot on Thursday morning, I spent some time cleaning the floors and baseboards before picking up the boys.  That afternoon we just played at home and took them to get ice cream for the first time this "season" and we went to the library to do some fun activities they had planned (mini golf and the end of the March is Reading Month activities). 

Friday, we went to Belle Isle with Shelley and Nevaeh (see previous post) for the day.  It was a blast!  I had never been to Belle Isle and I was amazed at what we were able to see and do for free!  I came home and had a little bit of time before I met up with a former student for dinner at Leo's and then on to my Cardio Sculpt class at Hale. 

Saturday my parents picked up me and Sean in the morning to head to Kalamazoo to see the Lion King at Miller Auditorium.  We stopped on campus to go to the bookstore and stock up on our Bronco gear (yay!) and we grabbed lunch at Bell's Brewery.  My aunt and uncle met up with us and it was actually my uncle's birthday! 

The musical was amazing!  It always is.  Sean really liked it, but I think it was a long time for him to sit still.  Between the car ride, sitting at the restaurant, and then sitting at the musical, he was antsy the second half.  But, I'm glad I took him!  I hope he grows to enjoy the theater like I do.  Gosh, the music is so awesome!

We ate dinner back at my aunt and uncle's house (she made some delicious lasagna and salad).  We had her homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert with some ice cream sundaes.  And then it was time for Sean to hit the hay.  The adults sat up and talked about my parent's trip to Tucson. 

Sunday, we hit the road after breakfast to head home.  Once we were home, we enjoyed our last day off playing board games, making some Lego STEM models, eating pizza, and playing outside with the neighbors.  Spring break was over pretty quickly.  Isn't that how it always goes?  Now the countdown is on for summer vacation.  Feels so far away when we're supposed to get an ice storm tomorrow...