Ski School

Here are some distant pics from the kids' ski school. My camera is not the greatest, especially from a distance. Cohen is the one in the navy coat and camouflage hat (talking to his teacher in the first pic):

Piper is the one in the navy/lime coat and pink ski bibs:

Water park

Chad & Cohen on the lazy river:

The boys hanging out at the baby pool:

Abe enjoying the warm water:

Piper riding the flow rider:

And Chad:

We're back!

We had a wonderful vacation week, although it is nice to be home! I am much happier with my own bed and shower; traveling always challenges me. I do not like sharing bathrooms and beds with strangers, I know they clean them but not to my standards :)

Anyway, we spent Monday, Thursday and Saturday at the indoor water park. We had such blast! Since I was not preggo this year, I was able to go down the big water slides with Piper and play endlessly with the big kids in the water-y play area. Abe seemed content playing in the baby area and enjoyed the lazy river too. Overall, it was great family fun!

Chad took Piper and Cohen snow tubing Tuesday for 2 hours, and then they had ski school Wednesday. I got great reports on both of them and Piper was going down the big slope when I got there to pick them up! Cohen's teacher said he took him up too but he wanted to go back to the training area. I found out later that Cohen's teacher was kidding about a bear being at the top of the slope, so Cohen got scared and did not want to go back :(

We had about 4 inches of snow fall Monday night! The kids were thrilled; that might be all the snow they see this year. I guess we have another month or two to get some snowfall, but considering it is 70 outside right now, I am not counting on it.

Here are some random pics from the snowfall Monday night and Tuesday morning:

And Cohen after a yummy chocolate treat!

Another week in review

So it has been rather boring in our world lately, if one can get bored with 3 small kids at home(?). We are homeschooling regularly every day, which goes great one day and then it's a total disaster the next! Piper had her annual testing (required by the state yearly, but we did it pretty early in the year to gain some insight) on Wednesday. She was so nervous about the test although I had told her there were no right or wrong answers, just to do the best she could. We were very pleased with the experience and she tested very well. Overall, the average scores were excellent (considering she is Kindergarten, 5th month):
Basic Reading Skills - 1st grade, 1st month (84%)
Academic Skills - 1st grade, 2nd month (93%)
Academic Knowledge - 2nd grade (92%)

I talked at length with the lady that tested her and was able to pin down some of the problems that we are having. So hopefully we are heading down a better path as we finish up the year.

The rest of the week consisted of carting the kids to dance (Piper) and gymnastics. Cohen's gymnastics teacher let me know how great he is doing and gave him some skills to practice at home. Cohen seems to have natural talent for gymnastics which I hope will translate into skills he can use in whatever sports he enjoys playing.

Also we are heading out of town today for the week! We were able to get a last-minute timeshare at our fave winter resort, so we are off for skiing, snow tubing and indoor waterpark-ing!! This will be our 4th year going, so this makes an excellent family tradition. I am looking forward to some quality family-time!

Week in review

We've had an uneventful week, except the usual running around. Monday night I went out with a new girl at church. We went to Chili's and ate & talked for 4 hours! We had a great time, but I know Chad was wondering what happened to me, as he had all three kids!

Wednesday we went to the farm to get our fresh eggs and milk which was pretty cool. Elizabeth had been picking them up for me, but now we are going to rotate Wednesdays picking up. Church was OK on Wednesday night however it was the "business meeting" so I kinda skipped and hung out in my kid's classrooms!

Yesterday was full with MOPS in the morning and gymnastics in the afternoon. It was "Spa Day" at MOPS so I got a short 10 minute massage. My back is such a wreck from Abe that I would flinch every time she touched my mid-lower back. She said she could work that out with hot stones and massage, but I might just get a heating pad to lay on and call it quits!

Chad has had a slow week so he has been able to help with the kids and carting them from place to place. He is such a huge help with Cohen especially, Piper and Abe seem to be stuck to my hips these days!

School this week has been such a challenge. Piper's attitude has been very hard to work with and she is either bored with what we are doing or it is too far over her head??? I am having her tested next Wednesday to get a feel for where she is academically and as I understand it, the test administrator will be able to tell me her learning style and offer some curriculum recommendations. I am looking so forward to having some insight into that head of hers!

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, 33 years old now, wow! I always thought 30's were so "grown-up" but I still feel like I just graduated college. It surprises me all the time just how old I am!

I had a good day overall, still a little weepy over Max but I am getting better each day. Just thinking about him makes tears well up and a knot form in my stomach even writing this :( It's been so bad even the poops in the yard make me cry!

But on a happier note, Chad watched the kids yesterday morning so I could go to a card-making class at a friend's house. I actually made these:


Not too bad, in my opinion! I wish I was artsy enough to create them on my own but following someone else's lead is just more my style, so I will have to accept that!

Then Cohen returned home with a yummy ice cream cake for me! He was so proud of it and started licking the icing off before I could get this picture :)

Piper had spent the night with Nana (my Mom) and returned to me last night with a 1/2 dozen red roses and a pretty black necklace. She knows Mommy needs some jewelry and is always so thoughtful in her gift purchases!

Overall, a good day!

Max

I didn't know it was so hard to lose a pet. We had a few dogs growing up and still keep cats around but I obviously never "loved" any of them like I did Max. We spent yesterday crying every time we would think about something he did or some way he drove us crazy. And seeing Chad so sad has made my heart hurt even worse. I dreamed about Max last night and woke up unable to go back to sleep, Chad has been up half the night and so has Cohen. Finally everyone is back to sleep but me, so I thought I would blog some Max memories to help me always remember him.

MAX

December 21, 2007 - January 14, 2009

1. Max was such a licker! He would lick you from now on if you would let him and he constantly licked on the cats to the point that they would actually drip his saliva. George (Cohen's cat, the one in the dog bowl in the above pic) in particular would look like he had a bath after playing with Max.

2. Max would take off barking towards any and every noise in the woods during the night. We have so many deer around here, so he was always waking us up barking at the "deer butts" as my kids call them!

3. Max lived inside until the day I went into the hospital to have Abe, and every night while I was still pregnant, we slept together on the couch. I guess he helped me prepare for my baby coming as I would wake at his every move.

4. After Max moved outside he developed a special relationship with the cats (some relations better than others) and the cats would sleep with him as the nights became colder. George would sleep on top of him and Sam (Piper's cat) would sleep in front of him on his legs.

5. Max was a chewer too! This was one of the parts that drove me crazy. More than once the kids left my van doors open and he would get in and drag out everything he could find and chew it up. As I was walking around gathering his things yesterday, tears would come into my eyes looking at the remnants of items he chewed up in the yard.

6. Max loved to chase Chad and the kids on their four-wheelers! He could outrun Chad at his fastest speed for the first few laps through the trail then he would fall back behind him. He loved to hear the engines revving on the four-wheelers and would bark so excitedly until they took off.

7. Max loved a good wrestling smack-down too! When he was inside Chad and the kids would wrestle every night and he loved to get into the mix. After he moved outside, he would sit and watch them wrestle through the window and whimper wanting to get involved.

8. Max was always peeking in the windows to see what we were doing during the day. He would be on the porch furniture looking into the living room or on the roof over the basement looking into the kitchen. I would always walk through and say "Hey Macadoo!" when I saw him.

9. He would sit with the kids while they played in the sandbox or in the backyard; I always knew he would let me know if there was a problem.

10. He loved to climb into any and everyone's vehicles! I even saw him jump up into the UPS man's truck one day when he was making a delivery at our house! I hid in the house and laughed at the scene :)

11. Max spent his last night inside with us. We had just begun to let him in for the night to escape the cold. I am thankful that he spent his last night near us on his blanket by the door.

12. And he was such a beautiful dog with his shiny brown coat and bright green eyes (blue as a puppy), and he had the perfect personality to fit right into our family. He was wild like our children. With a little rearing and a lot of love, Chad and I always said that all the kids (including Max) would turn out to be amazing adults! Max didn't make it to adulthood, but he definitely left his mark on our family.

We love you, Max!