2013 :: week 10

I introduced Will and Lauren to the magic that is The Children's Video Songbook Sunday before church. My sisters and I grew up watching this on VHS and I knew it was something the kids would enjoy. "Everybody's Gotta Have a Body" is now on Will's most requested list. It's pretty awesome to watch him imitate their choreography. If you've never heard the song before click on the link and start the video at about 12 minutes in.

Nana and Papa gave Will this kid's digital camera for his birthday. He loves taking pictures, but lately he's enjoyed playing the games on it even more.

Typical breakfast scene at the John house. Even though the kids always wake up about 20 minutes before I'd like them to, our breakfasts are usually pretty peaceful. I think I'd even go so far as to say that I like our current breakfast routine. Lately Will has been eating Honey Nut Cherrios (dry) and a slice a bread with some nutella ("chocolate bread"), which he washes down with some milk (1 or 2%). Lauren has a bowl of rice cereal and fruit (typically a banana but occasionally strawberries), and a tall bottle of rice milk. I've been eating Smart One's breakfast wraps and a grapefruit. Anthony usually has cold cereal or a poptart, which he eats before the rest of us are up.

On Wednesday it was my turn to host our co-op preschool. We read the book Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC, and talked about letters of the alphabet. Specifically lower-case letters. I bought a bunch of dry pinto beans and buried lower-case letter magnets under them, then let the kids take turns finding the letters and matching them to letter flashcards. After they matched all the letters I let them play with beans for a few minutes. Will has played with those same beans for at least an hour each day since. Best $5 I ever spent at Aldi.

On Thursday I attempted an epic shopping trip--HyVee, Aldi, Costco and Target. We only were able to make it the first two stores before the kids had had enough and I realized I left my Costco card at home. My goal is to shop less by really planning our meals, including breakfast, lunch and snacks. We made some baby steps on Thursday, even if we weren't able to get everything done I had hoped.

Friday I had to get out and go for a run. Back in December I signed up to run a 5K this spring to keep me motivated to exercise. I guess the warm winter we had last year tricked me into thinking I would be able to train outside for one this year. Yes, I see the dedicated runners out there even in the adverse conditions, so I shouldn't use the snow as an excuse, but I am not in that class of runners. In fact, I am more of a jogger. Anyway, this is what I was up against. Most of the snow had melted, except for the spots where it had been piled up after it had been pushed out of the road.

I had such high hopes for this weekend. The weather was supposed to warm(er)! The sun was gonig to shine! We were going to get out and do something fun as a family! In the end it was cold and rainy and between Anthony and I being busy for various reasons and the kids being uber grouchy, a quick trip to Price Chopper to see the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile and a walk around South Lake Park was the best family activity I could come up with. Luckily our kids are still pretty easy to please, and had a fun time. Will keeps talking about seeing the big car that looks like a hot dog and they both loved watching the ducks at the park, so I think we were able to salvage the weekend after all. Also worth mentioning, we put the kids to bed at 6:30pm Saturday night. They were both really grumpy, and we figured with the time change we might as well let them get the extra sleep. They both fell asleep almost within minutes and Tony and I got to watch some movies together.