Highlights from the Week: January 5-11
10:12 PMI feel like this week has been busy. This is the first official week back to life after the holiday break: Chris started back to work, the boys went back to school and Will and James also re-started swim lessons.
On Monday the boys restarted swim lessons. I was nervous since our last session of lessons ended so poorly. I'm not sure what happened but they went from enjoying them to being completely terrified. So going back after a month break was a big deal. We talked about what they were going to do in the lessons, how the boys could pick and choose which activities in the lessons to try until they felt more comfortable and how if they participated we would go and get a special ice cream treat. Well after all the prep and promise of rewards the lesson was sort of a success. Both boys sat on the step in the pool for most of the lesson, so I called it a win and wanted to reward them for doing something that scared them. We ended up going to Cold Stone for Ice cream and then playing in an outdoor mall play structure for a little while.
William and James got new bikes for Christmas and have taken to riding them in the house especially in the kitchen around the island like a race track. They were riding so quickly that I made them put on their helmets just incase they fell off their bikes.
I had hopes to get out of the house on Tuesday with the kids and go outdoors somewhere but we ended up having to take Brando to the vet because he woke up screaming in pain at 3:30am. The vet wasn't able to find anything necessarily wrong with him and just guessed that he possibly had a pinched nerve in his back. Thankfully he seems fine now and we haven't had any repeat problems with pain.
A little one on one time with Benjamin while Will and James played with Legos and Ellie was supposed to be napping. (She came down the hallway moments after I took this picture)
Wednesday was the boys second swim lesson and while they didn't do a whole lot more than on Monday they did both stay in the pool the entire time and practiced doing the swimming strokes on the steps. Will did jump in with the teacher once. One of the other students in their class is a boy from their preschool so maybe he will be a good influence on Will and James to participate more. We again went for a treat, but this time it was just to McDonalds for Ice Cream Cones (much cheaper than Cold Stone).
Ellie was laughing because the ice cream got on her nose!
Thursday was the boys first day back to school after break. They were excited to go back. Its fun to listen to them tell me about their day. They were telling me all about the items other kids brought in for show and share. Ellie, Benjamin and I went to the commissary to pick up groceries and then prepped dinner while the boys were in school.
Playing outside after school. We recently woodchipped in part of the backyard so we can actually enjoy it. We've been enjoying playing out back now. I love watching Will and James play together. They have really started using their imaginations and creating stories for their toys.
Benjamin enjoying the seat Santa brought him for Christmas, watching his siblings playing outside. He has been enjoying sucking on his two fingers (pointer and middle) a lot lately.
Friday was our most exciting day we went out exploring to Point Lobos with our friends Alex, Ailey and Paxton. (Ellie loves Paxton. When I said he was there she said "PAXTON! I see him!" We've never been to point lobos before and when we arrived we pulled down into a parking lot to wait for our friends and were lucky to get to see a fire truck that was just finishing up doing some sort of training. The fire fighters were so kind to the kids and gave Will, James and Ellie stickers and fire helmets. Once we met up with our friends we found a place to park and went exploring. We hiked a little and did a lot of climbing on rocks, looking in tide pools, and throwing rocks into the water. It was fun watching to kids explore and try new things. The weather was beautiful, we couldn't have asked for a better day.
We spent Saturday at home. The most exciting thing we did (at least for me) was make our snowmen Christmas ornaments. I have made these ornaments every with the boys since they were one and I love doing it each year so I can watch their snowmen hands grow. This year I used Benjamin's foot for his since he still doesn't keep his hand open.
Ellie also decided to paint herself and our floor blue. This is what happens when Ellie is quiet and I just assume she's hanging out with Chris. I was wrong, so wrong!
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