Summer Boys

It's been a long time

Oh man how it has been a long time. The boys are currently spending some time with their grandparents so I missed them a little and revisited this blog. Oh how much I enjoyed re-reading my posts through the years I thought I'd try again...

When I was running tonight I noticed that there was some tagging on one of the walls near the freeway. It caught my eye because there is normally not much graffiti in our neighborhood. The funny thing was that the tag said "DNA" and I busted out laughing. Seriously, if you are going to name a gang, why would you chose DNA? Is this because we live in a area that is full of biotech/ tech area professionals and their kids thought they were clever? I am curious if the rival RNA gang will be tagging anytime soon.

School Days

Well, I am happy to report that PJ had a great week at school all supers on this behavior reports. One day he was the best in the class. He is learning that hanging with the wrong crowd means that he might make some bad decisions and bad choices have very bad consequences. On the other hand, good choices = good consequences. It took a while but I think he is there. His teacher is very happy at his progress.

They are very excited for their soccer game today and got dressed right away. Now they are wrestling with their Daddy: "you want a piece of meat?" and then they punch him in the tummy.

We Are The Panthers

So the boys started soccer this year and Timmer is the coach. It has been a very challenging experience to say the least. All the boys on the team are wonderful and get along great and I also really like the parents. However, I am quite embarrassed at my boys behavior. Both of them are the biggest cry babies I have ever seen. They get so frustrated and break down and cry and tantrum. AJ has even quit (because he wasn't winning) and left practice and gone off by himself to the park. (He had to walk home as punishment for that one and will not being doing that again.) They are just so ultra competitive it is almost unbearable. Games have been a little more fun. AJ has been scoring about 3 goals a game so far and PJ has been a very good defender. I am just thinking that they might need a little more time for them to grow up so that they can handle these structured sports and competition. I don't think we will be doing t-ball in the spring. Maybe we need an individual sport like swimming.

Kindergarten

Sorry for the delay. Life ran away from me. Let's see all that has been happening.... My boys started kindergarten. It has been a little bit of a rough transition, especially for the P. So I thought I was quite clever in that I split the boys up into separate classes so that they could focus on their schoolwork without the distraction of their brother. This worked well for Adam, however, Mr. P got place in a class with kids with much stronger "personalities" than even his brother has. Basically, P has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Yes, this can happen in kindergarten. Consequently, I have been getting some sad e-mails from his teacher that he is an unkind child and displaying bully-like behavior. It has been very upsetting. It is especially distressing when you look up on line and they have all these horrible things to say about the parents of bullies. (There is very little constructive resources- mainly about the victims). Because bullying is taken so seriously nowadays, T and I stepped up to the plate to work hard with P on his behavior- lots of talking to and no treats, no TV, no iphone, etc (yep- it is like AJ is punished too, but I let him know he needs to look out for his brother better to make sure he is making good choices on the playground when they are together). It has been tough because P thinks that these naughty boys are "awesome" and wants to fit in so badly that he will do whatever they tell him to. We have to keep reminding him that he is the master of his fate and in control of his own decisions. I am hoping for a good day today. We got one last week, here's hoping for more. This is going to be a long road.

Sushi Baby

My boys love sushi. They usually plow through at least 2 orders of cucumber rolls each. AJ got brave and wanted one of his parents' spicy tuna rolls.

Parent fun

Part of being a parent is making sure you document situations that will embarrass them when they are older. I think they are awfully cute though.

Fair time

We braved the SD county fair once again this year. It was fun for the few hours we stayed. AJ really liked putting on the fire fighter's gear and both boys loved the ice-cream. All and all, I think we decided we are not fair people and are going to postpone next year until we think we can brave the crowds, high prices and have no more meltdowns.

Silly Boys

My silly boys. They are going to be fun in college.

Baptism

We have been having a fun summer even though it has been pretty cool for SD. We even managed to get the boys baptized- finally. They were ok in church- I kept thinking that they were going to knock over the baptismal water fountain. Stressful! But their new godparents, Debbie and Brian kept them in line. Brian helped them get dressed and everything. Debbie of course brought treats. My folks even came down for the event. Afterwards we had a great celebration in the back yard/pool with lots of bubbly. That's how we roll.

Soccer Mom

It is official- I signed the boys up for their first team sport. The boys will be playing soccer in the fall. They are so excited and want to play now. Hopefully, they are old enough to follow instructions and not have melt downs or leave the game when they are are not winning. P and A have been sharpening their skills and I think they are ready. They even get to play with our neighbor who is so nice to enough to to put up with them and even let them borrow his skateboard.

Graduation and New School

The boys are graduated from pre-K! Now we have started our new summer program at their kindergarten. They have been having a great time and love that they no longer are forced to take naps, get a juice box in their lunch and get to play on the computer games.


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Ready for Summer

We had a fabulous long weekend that we spent submerged in the pool, relaxing and overeating. I was even able to dedicate some quality time to the garden. It was a great kick off to start our favorite time of the year- Summertime!

Summer is so fun in SD. Already we have been playing in the pool and practicing our surfing skills. The boys can't wait to start heading the the beach and get those "boogie boardies" in the water. Maybe they will be able to try the big board this year. We just have to get them in a few more swimming lessons to help learn their strokes.

I can't wait until by veggies start getting into full swing. I think I will have a great crop of yellow crookneck squash this year. My plan is also to be able to make some great home-made salsa with all the fun tomatoes we purchased at tomatomania this year.

Summer is coming

I can't wait! Time for fresh veggies from the garden, home grown bouquets and living in the water!

I've run out of Whup cream

I need to get to the store or think of something new.

Kindergarten readiness

Last week we completed a big milestone- we signed the boys up for kindergarten complete with after school care. It was a big process- we had to print at home a number of forms and fill them out and provide vaccination cards, 2 forms of proof of residency and birth certificates. Debbie told us that we need to get their early so we got there about a 1/2 hour early- we were number 9. Then during the waiting phase, I noticed that we didn't have a form that another parent was looking at. Sure enough we forgot a form. As we overheard that they do not have any extra forms, TJ hopped in the car, printed off the form and made it back in time before our number was called. Phew.

The Motivator

The boys have been waking up, getting dressed (complete with shoes and jackets), making their beds, taking down their dirty clothes to the laundry and picking up their toys all because I promise to squirt whip cream into their mouths. Or as they say "Whup cream". We have been doing this for a few weeks now and 4-5 squirts will get you well behaved twins in the morning. I am worried that I didn't buy another can when I went to the store yesterday after work. We are getting low.

How did it get to be Feb?

Does time move faster as you age? NPR recently addressed this subject. http://www.wbur.org/npr/122322542
One theory is that as we age we are no longer experiencing so many "firsts" and life is based more on routine. I can kinda understand their logic. However, why is it when I am doing something routine it seems to take forever, but when I am doing something new or challenging, the day seems to fly by. For example, most people say the holidays fly by because there is so much to do.
I always thought perhaps the time flying by sensation was more of a perspective thing. For example, one day in a 5 year olds life is a greater percentage of total alive time than the percentage of one day of adult time out of ones total current alive time. Therefore, I guess time will go faster and faster every day. I wonder what time feels for a 88 year old. What do you think?

Singing with Mommy

Yep

December kicked my ass. I am still recovering. I'll update soon.