I'm certain I'm not alone when I say that we have been loving this winter/spring weather! I can't remember a time when our winter was this mild. I don't even mind the snow, knowing we've had so many warm days, and I am wishfully thinking that they are on their way again. I'm also pretty excited to get out of school in May this year (due to no snow days). The past few weekends we have spent playing outside and running around with neighborhood friends. When we get home every day Crosby says, "Ousside? Ousside?" and then cries if we have to play inside. Bless his heart; he really does love to play. He also loves to RUN. You have to keep an eye out for him, because despite his chubby stature, he's QUICK. He loves to run up and down the sidewalk and wear Gwen's old (purple) helmet. I'm certain he'll keep me on my toes this summer! We have been amazed at how much Crosby is growing verbally the past few months. He says so many words that we can't even keep track. He surprised us yesterday by saying, "App-o." He loves his fruit! He is also a pretty greedy eater. He always wants to try what we're eating. He loves books and will bring book after book to us to read to him. Right now, his favorites are Where the Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon, and Pat the Bunny. He loves to read at bed time, too. Bath time is always a fun time for him. He climbs in the tub many mornings when I'm getting ready in the bathroom and plays with his bath toys (without water). At night, if I say, "Do you want to go swim?" He'll run to the bathroom and try taking his pants off :) I'm hopeful we might have two future swimmers on our hands!
Corey has also been taking advantage of the weather by doing some home improvement projects. Recently, he has been working on getting us more storage in the garage and he has built these awesome hanging storage... things... out there. When we begin moving things out of the basement to finish it, we'll have so much more space to store the important items. Speaking of cleaning out the basement, we have so. much. stuff. When we got married, I moved all of my things to our current house, but the majority of it went in the basement. I love to clean and purge, so I can't wait for the day that the basement is FINALLY cleared out.
Gwen had her spring conferences at school on Tuesday night, and we are so proud of her. We knew she would do well in school, but even I was surprised by how much she has grown and mastered in such a short time. I am stunned by what kindergarten teachers can accomplish with so many little ones (and some of them are quite needy) at one time. We are so grateful for Gwen's teacher and school. Her report card indicated that she has mastered most of the kindergarten skills and is well on her way to mastering the others. She even had several "E's" which mean she was already exceeding the standard. The goal is that they master the standards by the END of the year, so if they had a "P" which means progressing, that's still a good sign because it means they'll likely master it by the end of the year. Gwen had mostly "M's" and "E's." Both Corey and I were SO PROUD that she had the most "E's" in math! She has always been a little ahead verbally and in reading, and she has always loved books, so we both assumed that is where her strengths would be, but we were so happy to see that her math skills are thriving, too. In terms of reading skills, she is ahead of grade level in her lexile and comprehension, and can read so many different texts now. She works hard at de-coding and sounding out complex words. We're so proud of her. Daddy is especially proud of her math skills. She definitely takes after him! What we are most proud of, however, is that she is kind, respectful, and a good friend. We want our children to succeed in school, but even more so, we want them to be kind and respectful. Gwen has many friends and absolutely loves school. She is proud to do her homework, and even recently signed up for a leadership role at school. They find out this Friday if they got it or not. She signed up to help the janitors (Yuso and Drake--she talks about them all the time) keep the school clean and environmentally safe.
I have very little to update on me. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and the baby is doing great (had a high heart-rate of 174 because he/she was moving around a lot. I'm in good health and I feel great (maybe a little tired, but that's mostly due to life :). School has gone really well this year. I teach English IV (seniors) and AP Language and Composition (juniors). My students are wonderful, and I really enjoy my job. I am, however, drowning in grading. I currently have some 300 essays that need graded. I love teaching AP, but the amount of writing we do is insane, and for students to grow and learn, I need to give feedback. I am usually more on top of it, but I have fallen behind! I should be caught back up by next week, though.
This spring break Corey and I will pack up the car and both kids, and will drive the 12 hours to visit my grandma in Ohio. We are so excited, and so is she. Because of her age and health, she wasn't able to travel to our wedding a few years ago, and when my grandpa died, I was very pregnant with Crosby... so we couldn't travel there. We haven't seen them in several years. She has actually never met Corey, Gwen, or Crosby. We chat with her on the phone, and she sends them wonderful gifts, but it isn't the same as being together in person. We plan to do the trip in two days so we can do some fun things with the kids along the way (and shop at H&M :) While I dread the long drive (because I pee pretty much every hour), I can't wait to see my grandma.
We are already planning for summer, and because both kids love to swim, we plan to spend a lot of time at the pool! While Gwen is timid and safe in the water, Crosby is an animal. Last summer he would crawl in the water until it came up to his face, and if I didn't grab him, he'd keep going! The kids are excited for swim lessons this summer (Crosby will do the parent-child lessons with me), and we are so proud of how Gwen did last summer. Her goal is to pass two more levels (she started in preschool last year and worked up to Level 2 by the end of the summer). If she gets through the next two levels, we told her we'd buy her a Mono-fin. She has been asking for one for years, but we aren't comfortable with her wearing one until she is a stronger swimmer. She loves swim lessons, and she really wants her fin, so I know she'll reach her goal. This is the first summer that we will have pool passes, too. We'll likely go 2 to 3 times a week, so we will certainly get out money's worth. We love summer because we have time to play with all our friends that we don't see very often. We plan to go to the zoo, Science Center, parks, and any fun new things we find. In addition to swimming and playing outside, I have signed Gwen up again for Princess Dance Camp at our dance studio, and we plan to do cheerleading classes again. We will also travel a lot for Corey's bike races on the weekends, and often find fun, unique things to do on our way. The kids love the racing atmosphere, and they are always so family friendly. We love to support Corey in his races! My plans for the summer are as follows: try and keep up with the kids, work on my tan (just kidding, I freckle), and drink all the smoothies.
