Jungle Book

Kate got to be in a 3rd & 4th grade production of the Jungle Book.  She auditioned for the Atomic City Children's Theater in January.  All the kids got a part.  They practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons after school for 1.5 hours from January until mid-March. 

It was an intro to theater play, so they took away all the things that distract kids from the basics of theater, like props and costumes.  The kids did a great job!  They learned lots of songs and choreography.  Kate was in the Jungle Chorus, so they sang every song. Kate loved every minute of it!  She can't wait until next year.

She was part of Kaa the snake.  She had a part...she said, "Thinks he's sssssso sssssmart."

Kate with her friends, Sophi, Nina and Annika 

They put on two performances, one at 2:00 and another at 6:00.  Jack and Ty loved watching both of them.  Here's Jack pretending like he doesn't like holding Naomi. 

Sick Beds

The week after my surgery and strep, Jack came down with a nasty case of the flu/cough that kept him home from school for the whole week.  He would cough so hard that he'd throw up multiple times.  Just as a precaution our doctor gave him antibiotics for pertussis and did a test on him.  We haven't heard back about the test, but there have been a few cases of pertusis at the kids' school.  We spent a few nights sleeping on the couch in the living room.  He couldn't wait to get back to school. 

Then last Monday, Ty came down with something...a cold or something, so we made them beds on the couch in the toy room.  It was nice for Jack because it kept him upright, so he didn't cough as much.

Ty didn't totally love it.  A few nights he woke up in the middle of night and wanted to sleep with me since he was scared. 

After almost three weeks of rescheduling and canceling things, watching too much Netflix, and consuming lots of hot chocolate, orange juice, and vitamin c, it's nice to have everyone healthy.

Ty's Sleeping Chart

Ty earned this Cars car because he slept in his bed 20 nights in a row without getting out.  He had a habit of getting into bed and then asking, "Can I stay up?".  Or he'd sneak out of bed and stand in the hall.  

We made this sleeping chart just like Jack had when he was three.  When he got all of his stickers we went to Target and picked out a car. 

Ty wouldn't let me take another picture with the car in focus.

The Boys' Favorite Videos

Jack and Ty watch these video clips over and over and over, so I'm putting them here, so they're not searching youtube for them

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Handy Dave...and Kitchen Update

Lately, I've been appreciating Dave's handyman skills more than usual. 

I gave Dave an extra project to work on this last week.  I had a little run-in with the planter boxes by our driveway and bent a few rods under the car so the back left tire was crooked. 

Our car is old enough that Mazda doesn't make the parts that we needed anymore.  Dave tracked some down at a junk dealer in Albuquerque.  We drove down there and picked them up.  Then he replaced them.  Now he has his car back.  And...I'll be more careful when I backup.

We've been finishing off our kitchen.  The tile has been done for a couple of months now and I'm enjoying being able to sweep and mop it.  We recently bought new doors that go into the laundry room.  And Dave put up new baseboards and trim. 

 The tile color looks a little weird in this picture...

Now all we need is to replace the kitchen window and the kitchen will be finished! 

 Here's a little flashback of what the kitchen looked like last summer...

 Now...
 Thanks Dave!

Bike Riding Ty

Dave and the kids went over to the nearby middle school parking to ride bikes.  For the last month Ty has been scooting around on Jack's old bike with the pedals taken off.  Dave put the pedals back on and Ty took off on the bike. 

Kate and Jack rode their bigger bikes that they got last year.

The Coxes Visit

My parents and little sister, Emmalee, came to visit for a week.  They arrived on Saturday.  They came to church with us on Sunday and got to hear me play the organ (I'm still working on the pedals, so sometimes it's interesting...)

They hadn't seen Nick yet and so they held him whenever they could.  They loved his smiles. 

 On Wednesday, February 27th, I had surgery on my umbilical hernia.  The day before my surgery my throat was pretty sore.  I wasn't sure if it was okay to have surgery with a sore throat, but it worked out fine. 

It worked out great that my parents were here, because I had to be at the hospital at 6:15 am.  Dave came with me to the hospital and my parents took care of Nick and got the kids off to school.  The surgery was pretty fast and I was home by mid-morning. 

I couldn't nurse for 24 hours, so my family enjoyed feeding Nick a bottle.  Luckily he took it.  I hadn't pumped enough milk, so we mixed formula with the milk that I had in the freezer and it worked out.

It was great having my parents here because I ended up not feeling very well.  My stomach was very, very sore for several days.  Plus my throat hurt really bad.  After my parents left, I finally went to the doctor (when I could walk semi-normally) and found out that I had a screaming case of strep. 

My parents took Kate to play practice, picked up the kids from school, made dinner, did dishes, went to basketball practices, went grocery shopping several times, took the kids on walks, etc.  I got to sit on the couch and watch Downton Abbey (some of the time -- it actually felt better to walk around).

My dad was Ty's buddy.  He "did his letters" with him (abc flashcards), read him many stories, and they even played with playdough. 

I'm really glad that my parents came to visit.  They were a huge help! 

Jack's Basketball Team

Jack played on a 1st/2nd grade basketball team this season.  There were 8 boys and 1 girl on his team, all second graders except Jack and another boy.  Dave was the coach.  Jack loved playing on a "real" team -- so much better than kinderhoops that he played last year.

Jack's jersey was worn out and stained before they even had team pictures taken.  He wore it so much that we had to make him stop wearing it except during games.

Jack's games were really fun to watch.  His team was pretty good (great coaching!) and the kids were really into the games.  Never mind the fuzzy pictures...

Look at his hustle...

 His defense...

 Looking for the pass...

 The concentration...

 The dancing?...

Mesa Jaquars pep talk...

And look at Coach Dave...

Go Mesa Jaguars!

Kate's 2012-13 Basketball Season

Dave coached Kate's basketball team too.  There were 10 girls on her team -- one 4th grader and the rest 3rd graders.  They played other all-girl teams.  There were three other teams, so they played them several times. 

Kate's team seemed like the underdog at first.  Their first two games they finally stopped keeping score because the other team had lots more points.  Then Dave changed their strategy, focusing on defense and defending the "paint".  They won a game and several of their games were pretty close. 

Ice Skating

The kids and Dave went ice skating quite a few times in January until the rink closed mid February.  Nick and I came along too and supplied hot chocolate and tissues.  Sonehow I never manage bring the camera (and the camera card) to take pictures.  I took some cell phone videos, but they are sideways and worthless. 

Here's the one and only picture that I could find on the phone...

We borrowed ice skates for the boys, so we dudn't have to rent them each time.

 

The kids improved so much and really enjoyed skating.  The sores on their ankles didn't stop them from skating.

 

The kids each had their own skating style.  Kate hardly ever fell down and had more of a walking-style skate technique.  Jack was usually the fastest skater on the rink, falling down often and stopping by slamming into the wall, but never complained.  Ty started out by holding onto Dave's hand and pshing a cone.  He got so he could push the cone alone and if he fell down he'd crawl to the cone and stand up.  Dave improved too and learned some new techniques.

 

We went skating three times over President's Day weekend.  We even pulled the kids out of school early on a Friday so they could skate when the rink wasn't busy (and because they had basketball practice at night).