Spring time happenings

I have been just so busy that I haven't had time to update.

We are definitely enjoying this warmer weather.   Boys love going to the park and riding their bikes.  I'm curious when the right time to take training wheels off is.  Last summer, I told Kevin, I thought we might want to try this year.  So we will see.....

Soccer just started and Austin is rocking it!  He just ran out there at practice and really gave it his all.  We are so proud of him!  We have had 2 games and won both!  Go Sharks.  

So the other day, we were at the library and the boys wanted to pick out a CD to listen to.  When we got in the car, we listened to both, but when we got home, we didn't have a cd player.  I told the boys we'd have to grab a lap top to listen.  Well, grandma had a cd player with headphones, so the boys took turns to listen to their cds. We went to Savers and Good Will and found each of them a cd player for a great deal, I think we spent $8 total.  The boys are happily listening to their music in their rooms.  We do have to teach them to leave them in the rooms and to quit opening and closing the top, but I'm happy to say, they are happy.  It was very cute, listening to John David sing his songs and use his hands to wave during a song.

We are moving along on the reading.  I have seen so much improvement with Austin on reading, but we do have a long way to go.  Practice, practice, practice, they say.  It's so awesome hearing your child read to you.  I just love it.  We started reading a chapter book over the weekend.  Mainly, I read it to them, and ask questions throughout, and yesterday we left at a good part, so I can't wait to get back to it tonight.  I hope this helps the boys enjoy reading more!  We also have been practicing our site words, I must say it definitely helps when we play games with the site words.


John David rocked it as his spring sing.  He was singing all the words and doing the hand gestures.  He brought daddy up when it was time to bring up a parent.  It was so cute seeing my guys up there.  Melted my heart!

The boys have been very helpful lately with "chores."  They both help me fold the clothes, which I HATE doing.  But socks, towels and their clothes are their job and they do a pretty good job.  I won't complain at all, if it's not folded, how I would, I don't care as long as they do it!  Nice work boys.  They have helped me empty the dishwasher, cleaned up their rooms and even helped wash walls.  They rock.

That's it for now.  I'm sure I'll be posting more in the next couple of months because we have a lot coming up!  Boys are turning 5 and 6 :-( :-) :-( :-)  I'm both happy and sad because they are growing WAY TOO FAST!  John David is getting ready for kindergarten, I still can't believe it!  And the warm summer months!  Can't wait.

Christmas and general update

I can't believe I haven't posted since November, where is my post Christmas post?!?!



Christmas was amazing.  We had so much fun and the boys loved every minute of it.  They were your typical crazy, loving every minute of it, spoiled boys!  We did a lot of activities this year, which included, my annual Christmas at the Zoo party, Seeing Shrek and Santa, Seeing the house that lit up to music, using our hand prints to make a tree, making cookies for Santa, and of course Christmas at Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunt Karen and Uncle Marty's and Christmas morning.  It was amazing, exciting, and overwhelming.  I'm glad we have 365 days until our next Christmas season as we definitely need to recover ;-)

Austin's favorite toy was the Batman Robot.  He asked everyone for this today.  Lucky for him, Santa came through!

John David's favorite toy was his Superman Robot.  He loves the noises it makes.

Kevin celebrated his birthday this week.  I surprised him with tickets to Michigan Wolverines basketball game in Ann Arbor.  The smile on his face when he saw that we were going was awesome!  He was so excited. We even got him a program and a souvenir cup! We made it to the jumbotron after tweeting a picture of us at the stadium.  Lucky for him, he's going to another game soon, but this time at Northwestern!  My guy and his Michigan sports! 

We have John David's first school conference in next week. I'm excited to hear how he is doing.  He's writing on the board at school, and it's so fun seeing his writing and his art work.  He has a creative mind. I know he's ready for Kindergarten and he will enjoy it.  I'm looking forward to no naps for him during the week.  He stays up til 830 ish because he's not tired.  Austin goes straight to bed and for the most part doesn't come out, I guess that's what a long day does to you!  Every night JD comes out 3-4 times, to give us another hug and kiss.  I try not to complain because I sure do enjoy the extra hugs and kisses.  John David has been so cuddly with Buster.  The kid won't leave him alone, always hugging him, getting his pillow, so Buster can rest his head on it, it's so cute!

Austin has been a rock start.  I'm so impressed with everything he is learning.  The other day, he said, "Acutally, no".  What?!?!  Where did you learn actually?  Crazy, the things that come out of his mouth.  We were reading together the other day, and he is remembering words.  So cool to see my little man read!  Homework is another story!  I think we do better to do the 4 sheets on the weekend, because he is just too tired to do it when he gets home.  He can be so crabby, and then having him do homework on top of that, well, it never ends well.  Austin is so creative with his pictures too.  You should see all of the stuff that comes out of his backpack, fortune tellers, paper airplanes, pictures of the family or whoever he's making that day, it was batman the other day, so much paper!  But it's cute seeing his artwork. He has been so creative at building, whether it's legos, blocks, or these new locktagons.  He built this cool car!


I'm excited to announce that I won an award at work, "The President's Choice" award.  Our President gives this award out to one person each year.   It goes to a person who shows outstanding contributions towards the success of Edlong.  I just celebrated 10 years in December and I know I had a tremendous year this year, but for the President to see that as well, just makes me feel so accomplished and happy.

Stay tuned for more.

Rock and Rollin

The Artinghelli household has been very busy lately.

We have been adapting to life with a Kindergartner.  Let me tell you, our routine has been changing.  No more are the days when we could go to work, come home, eat dinner and play.  Now we have to somehow get homework and 20 minutes of reading into our routine.  Sure, that doesn't sound too bad, but it's hard after having a jam packed day.  We are all tired and the last thing we want to do is homework.  We want to play and just have fun. I'm not sure how it's going to be next year, with 2 children in school.   When Austin's teacher first started giving out the sheets of homework on Friday, I thought, okay, we can get most of it done on the weekend, but some weekends are busier than others, and when we don't do the homework on the weekend we struggle to get it done after school. Okay, so 5 sheets not so bad, but then to throw in 20 minutes of reading and now worksheets to go with the reading, and then practice the site words, so he can read, and oh here is some modeling clay so he can work on his fine motor skills, that will really help with his writing.  It's just a lot!

But I must say, Austin is a sponge.  He is learning so much and it's so cool to see how he uses his brain, the questions he asks, are priceless.  We played a card game, much like war over the weekend.  And Austin knew right away which number was more than the other, which one was the less and which one was the same.  Proud mom moment.  And John David did too!  It's so cool to be able to play more "games" but also reinforce the learning that he is doing at school.  And I feel that John David will be one step ahead, since he is listening to everything Austin is saying. 

The time change just about killed me, but I'm happy to say that we are finally over the Time Change Hangover as I have been calling it.  Austin had the HARDEST time.  Up at 4:30 a.m. a basket case when I picked him up from school.  He was just so out of sorts and making us all crabby.  John David was the lucky one because even though he was up early like Austin, he got to nap at school.  The first day, I was telling John David how lucky he was, that Austin, mommy, and daddy didn't get to nap.  He was upset that he had to nap, and I told him, No no, we are wishing that we could nap too!  Lucky duck.

Halloween was cold!  We managed to go around the block and that was it.  John David's hands were so cold that he just wanted to stop. Austin was beaming, from house to house, across the street.  He wanted the candy!!!  Even with that, they haven't eaten much candy.  They forget about it since I put the candy away.  Unfortunately, Kevin and I know where it is ;-).  We carved pumpkins and the boys had a blast.  They drew the faces on the pumpkin and Kevin and I carved them out.  None of the boys would get the "guts" out so mommy had to do it.  Eewwww.  Austin and John David really enjoyed seeing their pumpkins light up outside.  They are definitely "proud" of their work. 

The toys r us toy catalog came in the mail and the boys freaked out and went to town circling items they would like.  I think they circled everything on the page!   The boys didn't particularly like it when I said, that we would have to give some toys away to make room for the new toys that Santa would bring. I would like them to get invloved with giving their toys to someone who is less fortunate.  We are also going to adopt a family, like we did last year, but this year, I really want the boys to help out with that.  They get a lot, almost everything they want within reason, and it's time for them to start understanding "giving".  I too, would like to give more.

I really enjoyed my time in San Francisco, the Dreamforce Conference was amazing and I have a lot of great ideas to bring back to Edlong.  I was very happy to make it to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I was just in awe when I stood beside it.  



 Thanksgiving is next week and the Christmas.  We are gearing up for the holiday!  Can't wait!

Living Life

Best friends climbing trees

We are rockin it over here.  We have been super busy, from soccer practice, soccer games, birthday parties, homework and just every day life.  The days are quickly passing us by and the warm weather is turning cold much to quickly, pretty soon pumpkins and Halloween Costumes will be upon us.  It's crazy how time really does fly.

Austin is doing awesome at Kindergarten.  I'm so impressed with him.  He's getting green cards at school, which is awesome.  It's a behavior card, green means great day, yellow means good day and red means bad day.  We want Austin to get the green cards!  And so far, that's all he has gotten.  After 30 green cards, he gets to pick a prize out of the prize bin at school.   He gets 5 sheets of homework on Fridays, and this week he had them all done on Sunday, he has a week to complete it all.  Someone mentioned when they don't have homework, to have them read for 20 minutes.    I'm going to incorporate some of that as well as working on our speech words.  He has 2 sheets of speech words to work on too.  I'm not ready for this homework, it's definitely a new concept for us, but we are doing our best.

Austin doesn't really like to talk about his day.  Although in the past couple of days that's gotten much better.   I read a blog post about questions to ask, so I have to remember that.  Kevin, tickles Austin until he tells him a few things about his day.  Oh and at bed time after things have calmed down, he likes to talk about his day a bit more.  Hoping that gets a little better.

The transition between picking him up at school and coming home has been awful.  I've been really stressed out about it.  He's tired and probably hungry.  Going to start bringing a snack in the car to see if that will help his mood by the time we get home.  It's been rough, that and this whiny stage we are in.

John David is doing very well in pre-kindergarten!  I've been getting great remarks on him!  I knew, I would, he is such a good kid, and wants to please you.  They were a little concerned that he still wore a pull up for nap/bed.  He doesn't nap at home, so I haven't tried to stop the pull up during naps.  So all of a sudden, he just asked to sleep in underwear during nap, so they let him and he's doing FANTASTIC!!!! Woot woot.  He has also asked for underwear at bed time.  And that's a work in progress.  As long as I wake him between 12:30-2:00, it seems to work fine, he pees, goes right back to sleep and wakes up dry.  When I didn't get him at that time, he was wet.  I don't know if what I'm doing is right.  I know I'm exhausted waking up and having both boys go potty and then back to sleep.  It's a good 20-30 minutes of interruption.  5-10 minutes getting them up and back to bed and then another 10-20 falling back asleep <---- I wrote that about a week ago, update, I no longer wake him!  Sometimes, he wakes me up when he wakes up to go and other times, he makes it dry all night.  Here and there he is wet, but I say JD is done with DIAPERS!  Woot woot!!!

JD doing yoga, kids got style too

John David has been a comedian lately, his facial expressions and the way he makes these faces has us cracking up.  And his remarks, one day, Kevin, John David and I were laying in bed, and Austin started walking towards us and John David says, "he comes trouble maker"  just how he said it out of the blue was hysterical. He is definitely a character and we love him.

Austin self portrait

Austin has this new thing, making books.  We get some white paper and fold and staple.  He has been having a blast making these books.  I love how he draws him and John David.  Really shows how much he loves him.  Austin is quite the artist!  He loves making people, self portraits and coloring pictures.

looking good in uniform

I'm not sure if Austin likes soccer.  I'm not sure if it's just too much with school and being tired.  The first game wasn't good.  He got tired quickly and wanted to be done. The second game was better and by the 3rd game, he almost scored!  They take turns in the different positions.  Last week, he was goalie and I have to tell you that is the most nerve wrecking position.  I was timer that day and was constantly looking at how much time was left.  Luckily his team kept the ball on the other side.  I was just so glad when I got to call time.  We still have plenty of games so hopefully it continues to get better each time.


The Artinghelli clan participated in the 2014 lung run.  I ran a 5K and Kevin and the boys walked a mile.  The best part about that run was running in to the finish line, seeing all three of my guys cheering for me.  It made the run.  Kevin and the boys saw a butterfly while doing the walk, and for those of you who don't know the significance of a butterfly, I will tell you.  When someone in your life passes, there is a sign that they leave you, at least for us there has been.  For my mom it's the numbers 333 and for my Father In law, it's a butterfly.  So whenever we see those numbers or a butterfly, we know that our loved ones are with us.  It's nice to take a moment and think about our loved ones who we miss oh so much.  So, since we were doing the lung run in honor of my Father In Law, it was significant to "see" him or the butterfly.  We feel that it was his way of showing us that he's okay and moreso that he's with us.

Can't believe fall is on us.  We have already seen pumpkin decorations and the boys are talking about Halloween! 

Austin and Kindergarten

Dear Austin,

Can you believe it, you are starting Kindergarten.  When did you become such a big boy?

I know you will do great.  You are so excited, as am I, for your new journey.  I will drop you off, give you the biggest smile and send you on your way.  I will be there waiting for you when you are dismissed with open arms and a big grin.  I will not cry...I will not cry...I will not cry.  In front of you.  Let's go out for ice cream afterwards, so I can hear all about your first day!

I'm trying to picture you in your back pack.  We are going out this weekend for your school supplies. You can pick out whichever back pack you want, even the character ones.  But if it falls apart after the first day of school, we will have to get a more durable plain looking one.  You already got your shoes, but we also talked about wearing something cute on the first day. 

Austin, I know you to be the sweetest kid out there, but you do have your wild moments. Please do your best to listen to your teacher, to keep your hands to yourself, to wear your glasses, to share and most importantly learn and have fun.

I really feel like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms for the very first time, rocking you in the glider during the wee hours of the night and being overjoyed in all of your firsts, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking.... and now another first is upon us. 

You are so smart, writing your name, knowing your letters and numbers, counting, now you will learn to read among so many other things.  Daddy is banking on a full ride to Michigan, so we need to get serious ;-)  just kidding, well not about going to Michigan.  That is one of daddy's hopes for you to attend his all time favorite school, hopefully it's a dream you both share.

Please be nice to the girls.  I know you like the girls and talk about how they don't like you.  It's probably because you are a boy, not because of anything you do.

My advice for you.

• If you have to fart, try to do it quietly in the corner, or even better, in the bathroom.
• Raise your hand
• Wait to be called on
• Share the crayons
• Don't talk about poop
• Be polite, say please and thank you
• You like to talk loudly, maybe talk just a little bit quieter
• Get to know the other kids in the class room
• Have fun and learn

I love Austin, to the moon and back.  I'm excited for you as you start Kindergarten.  I know you will have a great time and learn so much.

Love,
Mommy

Vaca

What a magical vacation we had.  Disney was everything I expected, magical, exhausting, fun, and overstimulating.

The boys loved Disney and seeing their eyes light up, made the whole trip, worth it, in my opinion.  They loved Small World, and Petar Pan, the oohs and ahhs and mommy look, daddy did you see that, really made me enjoy our trip.  They loved the rides we went on, especially the Men in Black ride at Universal where they could shoot at the aliens.  Austin hated, and I mean HATED, Despicable Me and Shrek, he screamed his little heart out, and even though John David was fine on those rides, he HATED, Simpsons ride. 

Both boys loved the pool, especially the resort pool.  The pool had zero depth which is comforting for John David and Austin was comfortable jumping in the pool, bigger the splash, the better.  What I did not expect from this trip, was John David going under water on purpose.  He's always been a little more timid of the water, but really has come out of his shell.  I'm so proud of him.  And Austin, he was swimming and blowing bubbles without his floaties.  He has 1 swim lesson and learned so much during that lesson.   The boys are fishes.

I loved Magic Kingdom at night.  I'm so thankful Kevin and I took the kids back.  The electric parade was very cool and the how the castle changed pictures during their presentation was amazing and the Fireworks!  I loved the fireworks.  Boys have only seen the fireworks once before so I felt that this was a special time.  Especially over looking the castle.  It was during this display that I truly saw how magical Disney is!

We went to Chef Mickey's to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.  Seeing the boys face light up was amazing.  They really loved meeting them and showing them their Donald and Mickey stuffed animals.  They still talk about it a month later.

The SHRM conference was amazing and inspiring. Lots of great speakers and break out sessions and I'm bringing a lot back with me.  Tim McGraw was amazing and am glad that I saw him.  We didn't even get seats, we made our way as far up as we could and stood the whole time.  I think I might even have lost my voice.

I also had a free day and I went to the beach on the Atlantic for the first time.  We enjoyed lunch on the beach at a bar/grill restaurant and listened to live music, and he pretty much played country music, my fav.  I looked for sea shells and got a few. We went into the ocean and a wave got me a time or 2.  My flip flops broke and I quickly found out how HOT the sand is!  OMG, I had to run so my feet wouldn't burn.

The Hilton Orlando was wonderful, I loved the pool outside and LOVED the PALM trees.  It was great to just sit on a lawn chair and enjoy the scenery.  The only thing I didn't particularly like about the hotel was the bed, which is a big thing, but the scenery at the pool more than made up for it.  Next time the conference is in Orlando, I will stay there again, and enjoy that pool again!

What I learned about Florida:

• the lights are forever LONG
• the handicap stall has a sink in it
• there are birds everywhere and they like to eat your food 
• It rains almost daily
• They like keep the convention center cold
• The flowers are beautiful
• And most important, I loved Florida!

The boys and I went to Wisconsin with my dad and Mary, aunts, uncles and cousins.  We had a blast but sure did miss Kevin.  He couldn't come since he didn't have the vacation time after our trip to Florida.  We went to Scharenberg's which is where my family would take us when we were little.  We hung out at the lake all day and really had a blast.  The boys loved the water and mostly the sand, sometimes they said they didn't like it and other times they did.  Both brave boys went tubing.  I can't believe it!  We were in the boat and next thing I know they were asking to tube.  What is going on?!?!  I feel like yesterday, I was bringing them home from the hospital and now they are doing big kid things.  It's just surreal and overwhelming.  They also went fishing for the first time and caught a few!  We were only there for a couple of days but we sure did have a blast.  It was nice hanging out with everyone!

We truly did have a wonderful vacation.  I look forward to the many vacations we will take and memories we will make.

A lot is going on now too, t-ball, summer and back to school, which means next month, Austin will be in Kindergarten.  Can't think about that now, must focus on summer.

Happy 4th birthday, John David

Oh Johnny, what am I going to do with you, I told you to stop growing and here we are again celebrating another birthday.  John David, you are the sweetest kid I know.  And you have quite the personality.  You always have us cracking up with your silliness. We love you so much and want to wish you a big happy 4th birthday. 

You have been so patient, you know your birthday was coming up but you didn't ask about it too much, well until now.  Now that Austin's birthday is over, you know your special day is just around the corner.  We have been crossing out the days on our calendar.

Where are you today!  Gosh, it's funny because as I'm typing this, Darius Rucker's, "It Won't Be Like This for Long" is on and boy oh boy he is correct. 

You weigh 43 pounds and are 42 inches
 

 Your most favorite foods are cheeseburgers, pickles, salad, meatballs, applesauce, monkey yogurt, and bagels.  Let's rewind for a minute, salad?  When did you start liking salad?  We were out one night and you told me you wanted salad with the orange stuff.  I played along, since you told me you eat it at school, and sure enough you ate it!  And that orange stuff, it's yummy french dressing.  I like french too!  You also love spaghetti and you get that spaghetti face that kids get.  I always wanted a baby with spaghetti face, loved those Ragu commercials and now I have my very own.  You don't like the spaghetti at school, because, and you tell me this, "it's not mommy's spaghetti"  It makes me so happy that you like my cooking.  Just like daddy, you like vanilla ice cream.

Last year, I really had to help you with your bike.  Now, you are a master at it, going up and down the street.  It's amazing how much difference a year makes.  Pretty soon, we will all be able to ride together.  We just need to get daddy a bike!

You know your letters and your numbers 1-10, how to write your name and draw amazing pictures.  You like to make us special pictures and put them in envelopes.  Mommy and daddy need to lick the envelop though, and then you make a special delivery.  One time, you even put the note in our mailbox and mad daddy go retrieve it.  We need to teach you how to address an envelop and put a stamp on so we can share your precious pictures.

You love to sing.  And of course, it's Frozen, "Let it, go"  You were doing a puzzle the other day and you were belting out Let it Go.  I thought it was super cute. When we came to your Spring Sing, you were front and center singing your songs, and at bed time you like to sing songs together.

Speaking of bedtime, you have your own system, and like last year, you like to change it up.  We never really know how its going to go. Sometimes you want to hold your blankies with the tag closest to you, other times you want them covered over you and sometimes you don't even want them in your room.  You have a special love for your teddy bear and kangaroo or bunny, whatever it is and love to cuddle with them.  You 95% of time need a sip of water before bed.  You love to hear songs, stories and you love to talk before bed.

You have a blast with daddy.  He likes to play ball with you and watch you ride your bikes.  He does his wrestling moves on you but most of the time you aren't a big fan, only because you don't like to be locked down, but you like to lock him down.  Soon, my son, you will be locking him down. When grilling season started, you needed to have your play grill outside beside daddy and you love to cuddle with him

You like to be comfy and only wear jeans sometimes, very rarely, you are much more comfortable in comfy pants and a shirt.  You are very good at dressing yourself and usually match.

If you watch TV and it's still not a lot (like your brother) you will choose, Doc McStuffins, Daniel Tiger and Henry Hugglemonster.

You are having a blast playing Spot It, Go Fish and Memory with me.  You are very good at it too. You always beat me at Memory! 

You also love the ipad just like your big brother.  It's amazing really because when we first started Despicable me, you weren't very good, but now you are awesome!  You like Sonic too.  You love to do puzzles on the ipad as well as on the floor. 

John David, we better start getting ready to call you JD because I'm sure that is what they will call you on the team.  You start your first t-ball practice when we get back from Disney and you will be a star.  I'm so impressed with your ability to HIT the ball with no tee, and you hit it hard!  I feel for the pitchers because they are going to get a lot of line drives right back at them.  Your aim is awesome.  I'm just in awe of how good you are at hitting and throwing.  I hear soccer is in the fall, if t-ball goes well maybe you'll like soccer too. It doesn't matter what kind of ball it is, you love them all.  When we go to the park, you want to bring your football, basketball or just any kind of ball.

We are so lucky because you love to make our coffee in the morning and you love to make pancakes with Grandma.  We like to call it a cup of Johnny and your pancakes are delicious.  You will set the table for us too, so helpful you are!

 You are amazing John David.  Mommy and Daddy just think you are more caring little boy out there.  We hope you have a wonderful birthday and year.  This summer should be so much fun.  Can't wait to see you jump in the pool this year!  Happy Birthday, buddy!