January

The contractor that did our basement for us finally came back to finish David's man cave.  After putting up the drywall, texturing, etc., he then told us it would be at least $3000 more than his original estimate.  She we said no thanks, paid him for what he'd already done, and David spent the next few weeks finishing up the room.  We initially left a rectangle on the wall untextured to serve as the movie screen, but David decided later he wanted a real screen.  The boys have loved helping get the room ready, too--it's the Boy Room (no mommy's allowed).  

The one bad thing that happened was the garage floor leaked through the ceiling of the room.  It was good we caught it before the carpet went in.  The builder never sealed the garage floor, and the two things that went against us were:  1. they typically don't unless they are finishing the basement, and 2. we have a suspended garage with a room underneath, so who's job was it to seal the floor--the builder's or the contractor finishing the space underneath?  We moved the cars out of the garage, cleaned it up, kept a heater in there for a week, sealed the cracks, and kept the heater in there for another week.  In the summer we'll take everything out again and seal the concrete itself. 

The boys love running around the room, and David loves his bike set up!  He's good to go now in the winter biking department--bike, trainer, outdoor bike ride simulation program, movie screen, earphones...what else do you need when you're working out??!!

I spent a week of my life organizing Pace's legos.  He loves having them organized according to color and size, because he goes to the bucket and finds exactly what he's looking for.  But we're still working on maintenance.  After a day of playing legos, Pace leaves them all over the floor, buckets stacked all over the place...it's an ongoing process...

OCD much?

Pace also decided he loves sleeping in tents.  Uncle Jon Erik sent a great tent set for Christmas, and the boys spent their whole Christmas break sleeping in tents, magic forts, pirate boats, etc.  It's a rule they sleep in their beds on a school night, so Pace found a compromise: a tent ON his bed.  He sleeps much better, too--maybe it's warmer, or muffles noise.

Between Christmas and the first week of January, we got three feet of snow, maybe more!  Pace's school had 2 hour delays all week, and they cancel half-day kindergarten, so Pace got a few extra days of holiday break!  He was grinning from ear to ear, playing legos all day.  There were some storms that came down so fast that as soon as I finished shoveling, the part where I started needed to be shoveled all over again.  They boys have loved playing in so much snow!  

And it made David's work days lots more fun!

Pace did this drawing at school--They did something about a hat, and the kids had to finish writing the sentence.  It says "My hat is fun because I like storms."  And just in case you can't see the close-up on the hat, Pace phonetically spelled National Geographic, and drew a bunch of tornados on his hat.  That boy.

Another school drawing, the purple bowl under the snowman is a bowl catching his drips (after our three feet of snow, the sun came out and it melted most of the snow).  And the station to his left is the polar science station.  

We built some rockin' marble tracks!  The boys love the new part we got for Christmas:  The marble elevator.

I started my Masters program this month, and it's going great.  I don't feel like I'm out of my comfort zone, and we just have to take it a day at a time.  It's definitely a balancing act, and it's been an adjustment for the boys, seeing me take time to myself to read or do assignments at home.  One particular day, after a full day of spending time with them--a special lunch, games, reading, homework, Upstart, etc., I said, "Ok, now it's my turn for school."  They said "Ok, mommy!"  And went off to play.  Pace came in asking for tape (to tape blankets together for a tent), and I told him no, he could use the tent poles, he didn't need tape.  The next thing I know, Pace is drawing things on paper, and floating them down the stairs at me, running back to his room and slamming the door closed, etc.  Just to interpret the drawings:  The top one is a "No Mom" sign, the middle one is a triple-broken heart, and the bottom one is "Mom making Pace cry huge tear drops".  A balancing act...  

Our neighbor had a birthday party, and invited the kids to the little gym where he has a toddler class.  It was the best idea ever!  The kids just ran around having a great time.  The boys loved the obstacle course and Pace loved jumping into the foam pit.  They slept so well that night!  Maybe we ought to do little gym classes on a regular basis...

Max hung out with me one afternoon, keeping me company and reading to me while I folded laundry.

Pace gave a talk in Primary.  We typed up his talk and he read it and did a fantastic job.

Uncle Jon Erik also sent a cool building set Pace and Max have loved building with Daddy!  Electric car controlled by the iPad?  Yes, please!