Monday, January 21, 2013

7 years old!

Well, if you can believe it, the kids turned 7 years old 2 weeks ago ! I know I can hardly believe it. Time has gone by really fast. Here's a quick update on their day.....
 
First of all, they were SUPER excited about having their birthday on a day they were at school. Mostly because they got to have their names read on the morning announcements and got to go to the office to pick a birthday pencil. Plus, they got a special book with happy birthday letters from all their classmates. Very exciting for a kid! 
 
Since it was a Tuesday and I had meetings after school and in the evening, we celebrated on the Sunday before. We took them out to lunch to Jimmy John's (their favorite) then bowling, which now they are huge fans of since Brian's work party in October. That night was dinner at home and the grandparents came over for cake and ice cream. Instead of making a cake, they all chose to get an individual frosted cookie from Eileen's, they like it!
 
Another thing I did was have them fill out the "All About Me" robot. I normally will ask them questions on video about themselves then post the video, but I thought it would be fun to let you read what they write. So, click on the robot to see their answers up close. Funny! They had their 7 year old well child check at the pediatrician's on Thursday. Read on to see what the results of that were....
 

 Xander, Xander. What can we say about Xander? When he is in a good mood, he's in a great mood. When he's angry, frustrated, stubborn or tired, watch out! He is a bear! But, he is very smart and can be very loving. He is still enjoying video games, although his behavior hasn't been great enough to earn the privilege of video games lately! He is very much a boy and loves legos, Star Wars, ninjas, and super heroes. He likes to read and play outside. The stubbornness factor for this one is off the charts. He really is amazing in that regard! He's lost 6 teeth so far. He is in the 75th percentile for height and weight (although I don't remember the exact measurements, probably about 51 or 52 inches and about the same in weight) pretty tall and skinny that one. He loves swimming and is very good at it. He does soccer and t-ball, but I think would rather be playing video games. He's very good at playing piano by ear, and runs hot and cold on piano the rest of the time. I think he is also enjoying Cub Scouts.
 
 

 Will is a pretty funny kid. Always ready with a joke or a funny comment. He keeps us laughing, that is for sure. He's very laid back and goes with the flow (which is nice, as Xander and Grace tend to always want their way!!) He LOVES to read anything he can get his hands on, but particularly loves Star Wars and Ninjago books and fact/non-fiction books. Likes science and say she wants to be a scientist when he grows up. Loves to play outside and would play all day if we let him. Always has lots of energy and likes to be roughed up!! He has also lost 6 teeth and is a little smaller than Xander. He's about 50 lbs and 47 1/2" tall (50th percentile on both). He has been eating a lot lately and is really waaaay less picky than he used to be. We think he's in some sort of growth spurt. His asthma is good, very controlled on this new medicine and has been really healthy lately, which we love. Enjoys Boy Scouts, piano lessons, swimming, soccer and t-ball.
 

 Our Grace is a funny girl. Have you ever known such a type-A little girl in all your life? It really is amazing how organized and particular this girl is. It is sometimes good - she's very meticulous about doing her homework right and she spends time keeping her room picked up and (mostly) organized. Sometimes it's a problem - she refuses to play a wrong note when she's practicing piano, so sometimes she just doesn't play anything at all rather than play it wrong! She enjoys arts and crafts and has been learning how to scrapbook. She is also pretty social and would love to play with friends/brothers all the time. Doesn't particularly love ninjas or video games or super heroes, but plays them because that's what everyone else is doing!! Likes lots of attention, especially from Daddy and hates having her hair brushed. Poor thing has only lost 2 teeth but has actually grown some lately! She is 48" tall and 49 lbs (50th percentile for both). We did get the report that her eyesight has worsened over the last year and a half. Her near sight is down to 20/40 from 20/30 a year and a half ago. The pediatrician recommends visiting an eye doctor sometime soon. She will more than likely need glasses sometime in 2013. That is another Niebuhr trait she possesses!! She is participating in piano lessons, Girl Scouts, dance, soccer, t-ball and swimming at various times during the year.
 
 
Some pictures from Sunday the 6th, the day we celebrated their birthday!




 Left handed boy. He did a pretty good job, though!
 
 Look at that height difference. They are both standing normally.
 

 Pouting because she didn't get a strike. Type-A showing through again!!
 
Not a lot of other news to report so I will leave it at that. Another update after this weekend, when the boys have their first Pinewood Derby for Scouts. Also, Girl Scout cookie selling begins February 15th, so you can all buy cookies from Grace!!


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Defying Gravity






For a fun outing over Christmas vacation, we went with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Chad, the boys and Grandma Ellen to a place in La Vista called Defy Gravity. It's a trampoline place that you can pay to have free bounce time on a whole room of trampolines. They also have a dodge ball trampoline court and a laser maze (we didn't do those, though). The kids had a grand time jumping and jumping and running and jumping some more. We had 6 sweaty kids by the end. All the parents (and one grandparent) really felt their age by the end. There's reasons why adults don't jump on trampolines. We were super exhausted when we got done. We drove back to Lincoln, ate lunch, then everyone went home and collapsed. That night happened to be New Year's Eve, so we ended up just sticking around home, relaxing and staying warm by the fire.

The rest of our vacation was pretty relaxing too! After the hoopla of Christmas was over, we had several days at home with NOTHING to do! It was awesome! The kids spent their days putting together Lego sets and playing new video games (and they spend hours upon hours doing these things. Sometimes, we wouldn't see or hear from them for 4 hours!!) Brian and I spent our time reading, watching movies and playing video games (well, Brian played video games, not me). Luckily Brian had off from work until January 3rd, so he also had lots of down time. The kids spent one night with Dale and Ellen, so Brian and I did dinner and a movie in Omaha. I also got in a little scrapbooking time with Grace (that was her Christmas "wish" was to get scrapbooking stuff and go with me one day). I think she had fun and she even made her first little mini scrapbook album!  We even had a fun night out with friends, while the kids stayed with one of their favorite babysitters, Audrey.

It was a rude awakening to go back to school on January 7th. Everyone had a hard time getting out of bed, as we had been in the habit of going to bed super late and sleeping in (Brian and I even slept in a few mornings until 9:30-9:45 while the kids just played video games quietly downstairs!). Luckily, after a week and a half back in the saddle, we're back to our normal schedule and not feeling so tired. The kids were excited to go back to school because they got to celebrate their birthday at school on the 8th. More about the birthday later. Hope everyone had a relaxing holiday season!