Friday 27 March 2009

A Vacation from Everything

Sorry it has been a while since I updated the blog. For my Spring Break, I pretty much took a break from everything. I didn't answer email, I didn't blog, I didn't do work, I didn't do laundry. It was great. However, it has made me busier now. Plus, as school rolls to a close, things always get busier. It is hard for me to think that I only have 7 weeks left with my kiddos. Where did the year go?

Jack is cruising along like a champion. He now prefers to walk more than crawl. He is pretty slow, but I am glad that he hasn't figured out the run speed yet.

We had a great time up in Alliance. It was pretty nice weather most of the time we were there. Jack went on several wagon rides with his Gram and her dog Archie. He loved the rides so much that he would just go and sit in the wagon and dream about riding. It was quiet darling! We also went and fed the ducks. When we first arrived, Jack was really freaked out. He was crying and clinging to me. However, he quickly warmed up and by the time we left, he was walking up to the ducks with the bread. He usually seemed to have the philosophy of one bite for them, one bite for himself. He also spent a lot of time trying to learn to blow bubbles. He didn't have any success, but my mom caught some great pics. I have great pics of most of this, but have misplaced the camera, so it will be a while before I get them up online. I am hoping to get that done sometime this weekend.

We are gearing up for a snow storm. I am hoping that it isn't as bad as they say it is going to be. We are running to the store to pick up the essentials. We are also going to pick up some beer because the Jayhawks play tonight and we won't have to run out if it is nasty. We are also going to open gym with our friends. We had a great time last time, so hopefully we are as lucky again this time.

If you're wondering about Nick, he is working hard as always. This project is really "kicking his ass". We are looking forward to taking a nice break in June.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Hand, Hand Fingers Thumb

I love sharing books with Jack. Hand, Hand Fingers Thumb was one of my favorites growing up as kid and now Jack is really enjoying it too. It is so funny to see him ask us to read books and read them again, and again, and again. He's definately getting his favorites.

Sometimes I wish I knew what he was thinking. Today, he sat in the sink for a good 20 minutes just turning the water on and off and playing with the drain. He also played with toothbrushes and anything else he could get his hands on. He looked so engrossed that I really wished he had the verbal skills to express what he was thinking about.

I am enjoying the start of Spring Break. I have several days off. I know that I should plan for the rest of March and April, but I think that I will probably just enjoy going home and playing with the boy. He does enjoy visiting school, so maybe that will be my motivation since playgroup doesn't run when school is out of session.

We hope you are planning to cheer on the Jayhawks during March Madness. Their first game is tomorrow at 11:30! Go Hawks!

Sunday 8 March 2009

A Nice Weekend

We have had a fairly nice weekend here. On Friday, we went to Salina so we could meet some of Nick's co-workers on this project from hell. While Nick was at work, Jack and I enjoyed the pool. It was absolutely beautiful. I tried to get some video of him enjoying it, but it's hard when you are in the water too. I am not sure if turned out well or not. If it did, I will be posting it to youtube soon so that you can enjoy it as well. I did at least capture a few precious pics so I will have to get those onto flickr soon. If we get lucky, I am going to have a great summer because the water play wore Jack out. He took a 2.5 hour nap! Now this was not as great for me b/c I didn't have a laptop to play on, but I was able to get some work stuff and book reading done.

After meeting Nick's co-workers on Friday night, I felt so much better. It was good to see that I wasn't the only wife totally frustrated by the number of hours that their husband is putting in! Nick thinks that it will get better soon and he may only have to work 50 hour weeks. I sure am hoping so.

Saturday, we headed over to Wichita and saw everyone. It was a beautiful day and we were able to keep the door open so Jack could just go in and out as he pleased. He had a good time being the only kid there for a while and getting all his of Grandma's attention. A couple of hours later his cousin's arrived and the mayhem started. Those three are so funny together. They all had a great time enjoying each other. Keegan and Jack really played well together. One of the funniest moments there was is when they were eating goldfish crackers with their Aunt Valerie. Jack would take them from her and feed them to Keegan. I tried to get a photo, but it didn't quite take. It was bust-a-gut funny. What wasn't so funny was the thunderstorm that was on it's way. It took out the second half of the intense Kansas vs Texas basketball game. We got lucky, and were able to dig themselves out of another large hole. I have a feeling the Jayhawks won't go far in the tourney this year because of their propensity to do this, but don't tell Nick I said that.

We drove home and were faced with some beat down rain and hail. It's not 9:30 (granted we've sprung forward so Jack only thinks it's 8:30), but he's still asleep. It's kidna nice being the only one up. The wind is howling outside, so it doesn't look we will be spending much of our day out there. We are lucky in that Nick's dad is going to come and see us for dinner, so that will be nice.

Hope you all are doing well.

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Beer Breaded Out

I have made so many loaves of beer bread that I don't think I can stand to make any more. They ended up being very popular items at the bake sale, so I couldn't deny the school the money making opportunity. I wasn't going to make any more, but my friend Judy put her's back to my instince so we could see if it would sell on Tuesday. So, I made three more loaves for today and she didn't get one of those either. I ended up making three more loves so she could get one of them, but I am done now!

Jack was tuckered out today. He fell asleep in the car on the way home from Mi Ranchito. He hasn't been taking afternoon nap and so he is wanting to crash out and then wake up early. I am not a huge fan of the schedule. I keep thinking we will work on once these darn molars come in. I hear that the eye teeth are just shortly behind so I shouldn't hold my breath.

Nick pulled another 28 hour shift. He came home and got about 2 hours worth of sleep before starting back to work again. He's so tired, but he's hanging around watching the Jayhawks get beat. They keep digging themselves into these big holes. Nick takes it as a personal offense. As if they are playing bad to offend him!

Tomorrow promises to be busy with my reading to daycare children, having a staff meeting, enjoying the beautiful weather, and going to game night at the school!

Monday 2 March 2009

The Family Is Growing

Gotta ya! It's not us, although I must admit I was surprised how many people thought it might be when I talked to them on the phone. We got the news yesterdat that Jack is going to have another cousin at the end of October. Roy and Rachel announced, via video blog, that Baby Number 3 is on it's way. I don't think they will find out what they are having again, but I am hoping for a girl for the family. We've got lots of boys, so a change of pace would be nice.

Jack is walking pretty well now. He will take a good six or seven steps pretty much consistently before deciding that he would prefer to crawl. Sometimes he will even end his journey by walking.

He has also found the power button on my laptop. I was in the middle of writing this blog last night when he powered it down. I figured that it was a sign that it was time for a bath.

He still doesn't like having his hair washed. It's a huge ordeal with him. It's harder for me if Nick is trying to help b/c he tries to go slow to minimize the screaming, while I just try to blast through it so I can distract him afterwards.

He finally weighed 20lbs on the scale. I am sure that we will probably flip him around before our next road trip. We are planning on a road trip to Nebraska in the middle of March and I am sure that I will keep rear facing then if he will let me. It is nice to be able ride so that we can easily look at each other. I guess we'll just have to see how used he gets to riding forwards.

Not much new with Nick or I. We are both looking forward to the nice weather the weather man said is coming! I think Nick's going to go fishing if it gets nice enough one evening. Silly kid...