Winter Wrap-Up

Oh what a winter it has been! We've seen 30-below wind chills, almost a foot of snow in one day, and countless little snow squalls to mess up our routines. Most of the big snow falls have been too cold to get outside and enjoy, but we conveniently had the perfect snow-angel storm before Christmas, just in time for Christmas cards.

Although we've been suffering from some cabin fever, it has been nice to get to spend some time as a family. Thankfully, the really big storms happened after Santa brought presents that kept us all occupied.

 

 

Miles seemed to like his Spider-Man lamp and Ninjago Legos best. Marshall was over the moon to get the "car seat with cup holders" that he requested, and he spent a lot of time playing with his new grill. Of course, the box is always the most fun part, and we spent a good long evening turning the car seat box into a train and doing laps around the kitchen/dining room.

 

 

 



Miles was semi-excited about starting up swimming lessons again. He's still not a fan of getting his ears/eyes/hair wet, but he is getting closer to my goal of swimming without a floatie or noodle. Marshall started his first lessons and seems to be more of a fish. His favorite part is "Humpty Dumpty" and jumping into the pool.

 

Finally, I have a few little scholars on my hands. Miles got his grade card, and we are so proud of what his teacher had to say about him - "He is a pleasure and a delight to have in class". Although he can write all of his letters, we are working on forming them correctly. Did you know that the proper formation of an "o" is counter-clockwise, but a "p" is clockwise? Neither did we. It's been fun switching roles and having him read bedtime stories to us at night.

 
Marshall is truly flourishing in his new school. It was a really hard decision to move him, but he showed improvement immediately and loves it there! Even though he was two months shy of his 3rd birthday, he was moved to the 3-year olds room last week. The director said that his assessment showed he already knew half of what the 3-years olds knew anyway! Plus, he is semi-potty trained. It's still a process, but at least his is in cute kid undies the majority of the day.

Guess you'll hear from me in the spring!

 



Gettin' Schooled

We're already at the end of the first quarter / grading period!

Miles is an old pro at being a kindergartner already. Doesn't he look old enough to be ready for middle school?!?

We had our first parent/teacher conferences, and it reminded us of what a special boy we have in Miles. I just hope that his enthusiasm and energy for learning stays with him always! He'll be starting the first grade reading curriculum soon, and I believe his teacher said he has a "great mathematical mind". Maybe she said that...or the proud mama gene might be clouding my memory. Or maybe that's just what I'm hoping she said, since Miles' latest career aspiration is to be an engineer like his Uncle Davy. Despite his perfect pencil-holding technique, he still needs work on forming his letters during handwriting. I remember getting mediocre marks in handwriting as a kid. I would have Jason write you a note about his poor handwriting skills, but you wouldn't be able to read it anyway. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and we seemed to turn out okay.

Miles still needs work with blurting out answers and distracting others while doing his work...big surprise there. The proudest I was during the whole meeting was when the teacher told a story about Miles using those powers for good instead of evil. There was a shy boy in the class who was struggling, so the teacher purposefully sat Miles next to him to bring him out of his shell a little bit. She said since befriending Miles, she's actually seen a smile on the boy's face every day. So glad that my boy has brightened another's day!

Marshall has wrapped up his first - and last - quarter at day care. After some philosophical differences (and maybe Jason blowing up at the director once or twice), we decided to switch day cares. If asked, Nosy Miles would tell you that Marshall was biting other kids because they let him watch TV, but we adults know things can be more complicated than that. ;-)  It basically came down to that Marshall didn't seem happy, so, hard as it will be, he'll be going to a new place on Monday. We bought a new pillow pet especially for the occasion, and he is excited to take it and show it to some new friends. I'm probably more nervous than he is!

Despite the drama, our little Marshall is turning out to be just as smart as his big brother. He speaks clearly in complete sentences, and he can identify all the letters upper- and lower-case. Here's a video of our nightly routine of "spelling" out the words in his alphabet books. Yes, it's dark, but it was bedtime!

I guess I'll post more after Christmas - the boys have already made their lists, have been watching Christmas cartoons, and are asking when we can put up the tree. We'll see if I can hold them off until after Thanksgiving!

Knock Knock

Who's there?
Choo-choo Train
I don't wanna go down the drain!

So, yeah, those are the kind of jokes we've been hearing from both boys for the last few weeks. The more nonsensical, the funnier they are! Guess it's better than fart jokes...

We're getting into the swing of things with school starting. Miles went on his first field trip today - a two-mile hike to learn about nature - and he actually liked it! Apparently he doesn't whine about his feet hurting to his teachers as much as he whines to us. He has been receiving "excellent" ratings on his recitations and loves pretty much everything about school - learning nursery rhymes, gym class, singing new songs, and buying his lunch on Fridays. We are looking forward to shadowing him at "Saturday School" in a few weeks! No, that's not a punishment like when I was a kid - just a chance for the parents to see what goes on during the school day.

Marshall seems to like school better, but we had some biting issues last week. I'm hoping that phase is finished now. Sad to say, but I would rather have my kid be bitten than be the one doing the biting! He's actually one of the smaller ones in his class, so I guess he just feel like he needs to put on a tough-guy face.

 

OK, OK. The good news is that he actually likes going to school now - he chose going to school this morning over snuggling with Mommy and watching Dora. He is also starting to do a great job at recognizing his letters, so they must be doing something right there. I guess I'd rather think of him as this way at school:

Other than school, we've just been enjoying our free weekends! Lots of staying in our jammies until noon, trips for ice cream, and, of course, football. Jason has been without college football, since, well, when he was in college himself, so I think he's trying to make up for lost time. We've also been going to festivals and enjoying (or annoying) each others' company.

 

New School for All!

My boys (big and small) are all doing well at their new schools!

Marshall had a shaky start at his new day care, but he seems to be adjusting now. The first couple of weeks, he would cry for long stretches of time - always upon drop-off and then when the first kid's parent came to pick him/her up in the afternoon. It was breaking my mama heart, so thankfully Jason took on most of the painful drop-off duties. I was starting to get really worried that things might not be working out until one morning I asked Marshall if he was ready to go to day care to play with his friends. He responded, "Mmm-hmm. I better now!" Here's Marshall's first day of day care and Miles' first day of summer "camp":

 

We thought Miles might have an uncharacteristically rough start after his first day of summer day camp at the new school, but his extrovert self recovered on Day 2, and he was back to making new friends and having fun as usual. In general, he has been so excited about the whole process of starting school. The day before his first day of kindergarten, I asked him to tell me what he was looking forward to most. He said when the bell rings. Then I asked him what he was looking forward to the least about the next day. He said, "When I don't get to be at school!" I knew that everything would be just fine after that. Here is Miles at his new desk - so proud!

 

 

 

 

Jason is also easing into the school year. When I say easing, that is definitely the truth. He started work at the school with nearly two weeks' worth of teacher days. Then school started last week, but he didn't actually have to teach class until today. It's definitely a different pace of life for the Kahls!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

We've entered into Bonus Summer...and Bonus Weekends, Bonus Evenings, and all-around Bonus Daddy Time!

A few weeks ago, Jason accepted a job offer at a new school. As much as we'll miss being a part of the community in his old school, we missed having Jason at home with us even more! Rather than herding kids grades 6-12 in and out of marching band, pep band, concert band, jazz band, color guard, winter percussion, solo and ensemble, plus coordinating booster meetings, fundraisers, etc., etc., etc....Jason will be teaching concert band to grades 6-8, with a side of 5th grade general music. It'll be a big change, but the boys and I are so happy and relieved to have him at home with us on the evenings and weekends. It's been a little strange not having our calendar fully booked, but it's been so wonderful to spend our free time just doing things like this:

It also turns out that Jason's new school is a pretty awesome place, and a perk of his employment is being able to send our kids there for less money than it costs for us to pay for after care at public school. It doesn't hurt that if you had asked me to name the qualities of my ideal school, this pretty much is as close as you could come. So, no surprise, we switched our plans to send Miles to kindergarten at our local elementary, and instead he'll be making the commute with Jason every day. Miles is so excited about it all. When I told him he would be wearing uniforms, he asked, "Like Daddy's marching band uniforms?". When I told him "not quite", he said, "OK. So, like, football uniforms?" Here he is, goofing off while trying on some of his actual uniform clothes:

The new school starts three weeks later than Miles' "old" school - and Jason would have already been well into marching band rehearsals at this point - so we feel like we've gotten a bonus summer. Jason has been spending lots of time with the boys on special trips to the library, the zoo, the Children's Museum, and the playground. I'm personally pretty jealous sometimes that I have to go to work while they get to go fun places. 

At least I did get to join in the fun at Cedar Point over the 4th holiday! Miles rode his first roller coaster with Aunt KK, and Marshall was jealous that he wasn't tall enough to ride some of the rides that big kids Lyla and Miles got to ride.

We are so looking forward to a new life filled with every more fun outings and great times together as a family!

Blame Technology

This really is a sad, sorry excuse of a blog. I blame advances in technology, or at least my adoption of them. The guilty parties include:
 
The iPhone
Now that I can pretty much do whatever I used to on computer, in about half the time, in about a quarter of the space, I never touch my actual computer. Since my fat little fingers would win an award for Worst Touchscreen Typer, I find it torture to write more than sentence on my phone. Believe me, if you've ever received a text from me with the help my my friend Autocorrect, you know how sorry my posts would look if I attempted to post from my phone. And who wants to wait 72 minutes for my computer to boot up when I can just get on to Pinterest in 7 seconds instead? I'd also like to thank the iPhone for allowing me to take a hundred photos of the same scene, just so I can find the best of the buck and delete the rest. Something like this is a standard on my phone. (Idea for future post about why technology is good in general: iPhone apps, like the collage one I used for Miles' PreK graduation).
 

 
 
The Work Laptop
OK, so it's kind of hard calling this one an "advance in technology", since it crashes on me every other day and is as slow as Marshall "riding" his bike down the street or Miles trying to decide on, well, anything. However, when I used to work from home from my personal computer, access to Blogger at lunch breaks or after work (never during work hours, of course) was much faster and frequent. Considering that my company blocks Blogger, Facebook, Yahoo Mail, and sends nasty grams to higher-ups if you so much as think about looking at LinkedIn sideways, I pretty much never do anything non-work related on a computer anymore.

Facebook
Let's face it. I'm friends with most of you on Facebook anyway, and I post all of my pictures there. If you're not on Facebook and am complaining about how infrequently I post here, join the 21st century and just set up an account. Or, if you're on Facebook and still am complaining about infrequently I post pictures there, then let me know. I have a special group set up for family and friends who I think actually want to see my pictures. This is so I don't torture that person who I'm sure begrundingly friended me, hasn't talked to me in 20 years, and still sees me as 110 pounds (yay!) with a mouth full of braces (boo!). On the other hand, if you're sick of seeing pictures like the one below (587th picture of my family at the Indianapolis Indians games), then let me know that too. I'm a proud mama, but not proud in general. I'd rather take you off my special people list than have you block me forever...I might need you someday for an emergency opinion on which refrigerator to buy.

Netflix
I knew it would happen. Like about a million other people, we sign up for the free trial month to catch the Netflix-only season of Arrested Development (Same!) and we decided that never again shall we live without its beauty and wonder in our lives. Blame Don Draper from Mad Men for why I'm watching TV instead of updating this blog. You can also blame Tom Bergerron from America's Funniest Home Videos too. My boys are too busy guffawing at Grandpa Dropping a Cake on His Crotch to do the cute and funny things that I used to catch on video. OK, so I still catch some great moments - they're just all sitting at my YouTube account (refer to Section 1: iPhone on why it's so much easier to upload there).
  
So...if you're still reading at this point, I guess you want to hear a little something about the two gentlemen whose names are on the virtual door. The boys are full swing into brotherhood - wrestling, hogging toys, yelling, kissing and making up - and just plain driving Daddy crazy while he's home with them four days a week on summer break. We had a lovely time on a cheap but fun vacation in the Smokies, thanks to a fantastic Christmas present from Grammy & Co. Miles and Marshall loved hanging out with cousins Lyla and Natalie.

The above picture was about the only time Marshall had fun splashing in the pool. He must take after his mommy, because while the other kids were playing in the sun, he just wanted to be in the air-conditioned clubhouse. We thought maybe the indoor pool might go over better, but, like his Daddy, I think he just doesn't dig the water.

The whole thing surprised me, because he tends to be pretty adventurous and not scared of much. We especially like when Miles was scared of the sound effects at WonderWorks (the "upside-down" house / fancy arcade in Pigeon Forge), Marshall just kept trying to tell Miles, "It's just creaking!".

Marshall is also full into being an independent two-year old and showing his stubborn side. He had his first potty training success about a month ago, but is refusing to try it again, no matter how much candy talk we throw at him. Despite the toddler fits, he is still such a sweet boy, requesting "snuggles" several times a day. The other day, I picked him up in front of the bathroom mirror, and he mushed his chubby little cheek next to mine to look at ourselves in the mirror. Then he just said, "I love you so!"

Miles is transitioning to be a "big kid" kindergartener next month. He's only going to day care one day a week, but he always reminds us that it's not day care, it's "summer camp", because he's technically considered a school ager there now. He loves going on field trips (the pool, the fair, the splash park) and he really likes bringing his lunch in his Spider Man lunch box. We only have a few days left over the next month for him to go back to day care, and I think it will be pretty hard leaving. After all, he's been going there since he was three months old!

As I mentioned about the "creaking", Miles may be working towards big-boyhood, but he still gets a little scared about some things. For his birthday, Miles talked for weeks ahead of time about going to the Star Wars exhibit at the Indiana State Museum. We pulled up in front, he took one look at the 50-foot high Darth Vader poster, and then he promptly decided that he no longer wanted to go there. So, we went to the old standby Children's Museum. Even there, he still didn't want to attempt the dinosaurs (as usual) and this what he looked like on the carousel:

OK - hopefully that will do you for another month or two...on to Kindergarten!!

Moved In and On

What a whirlwind of a spring! I don't normally give advice, but...if you're thinking about moving with two children under five, hosting a birthday party, having a house full of overnight guests, entertaining the Easter Bunny, and traveling to the other side of the country - all within a week's time - DON'T DO IT! What was I thinking? The boys wonder too, "Ooooohhhhh. Mommy, why did you do that?"

Nevertheless, we've pretty much adjusted. We still don't have pictures on the wall, our yard is totally overgrown, and we still have stuff in boxes, but we are living our lives.

Miles is turning out to be such a big kid! He is pretty much reading - can get through a story in the ol' "At Home and Away" reader from 1964 we all started out on. He had his kindergarten assessment today (results to come) and is "graduating" from PreK next week. His new favorite love is Tee Ball. He's really pretty good! He's one of the few on his team that hits in into the outfield and is a good little fielder. He even made a play at home plate!

Marshall knows all of his colors and shapes, can count to 12, and can sing his ABCs. He moved up to the bigger kids room at school and is having a little bit of a tough time adjusting. We have been saying lots of "No hitting friends. No biting friends." So, we've been doing more regular time outs.  Here he is in his time-out spot, before he really knew what time outs were:

Well, my borrowed time is up...after going upstairs after bedtime for the fourth time, Marshall is crying again. Guess I'll call this one a wrap!