2 Special Teddy Bears

When Elliot was younger, he got croup so bad one night that we called the ambulance to the house.  We were so scared because he was having such a rough time breathing.  This was the stuffie that the ambulance attendents gave him after we arrived at the hospital. 

When Isaac was born, Pat and Robert gave him the white blanket that he still uses as well as this orange stuffie that he also still sleeps with.  

Pizza Day!!

I was done my errands around 11:30 this morning so I headed to the school to give Elliot his new boots and to help deliver pizza to classrooms.  

I think their school is pretty cool looking.  Lots of paintings on the wall..... I didn't see Isaac, but I wrote on his pizza napkin that I loved him. 

Got back to camp to see this ; he's having a rough day. 

This camp is amazing.... What isn't amazing is the battles that go on and hurt the people who love this place and who stand up to fight for what is right.   Andy is the fighter right now.... We stand beside him and are so proud of him but even after so long, why does there have to even be a fight??  

Tooth ripper

Only 5 minutes after Rachel warned the boys to. 'Watch their dental work and just suck the suckers'.....Isaac came out of the zalinkos Lego room with his tooth attached to his sucker.  

Nice start to the day.....

Such a nice friend. 

And such a sweet baby. 

Self portraits. 6 and 8....

On the bathroom door: 

Student Lead Interviews, Swimming and Family Dinners....

Here is my little guy showing me all the stuff he is learning......Marg was nice enough to fill in the 2 hour gap between their early dismissal and when I got off work.  This was a nice meeting and Elliot was happy to show me things in class.....

Math, numbers in french up to 100.  As always, its hardest from 60 and up in french....tricky.

Art!

Then we hit the pool.....mama needed a swim, so I did some laps, had a sauna, changed in the girls change room.....afterwards....Chris says to me in the car "What part of swimming is supposed to be fun?"  haha....I guess the part when you aren't dealing with the kids?

Steak and Chicken at Auxano.  Actually a nicer evening than I had expected.....Kelly made me laugh alot, and we brought ice cream sundae stuff for dessert.....

Everyone was having fun, and warning this little girl that she shouldn't put her fingers on the pool table as crazy boys are whipping the balls around because her finger may get pinched....well, guess what happened?

Rook.....boring....

Now we are home, everyone is in bed, except Chris, he went back to work.....he's crazy.  He is working on the promo video and going back to Dave Wallace days for footage because what he has to take from is so bad.....it was a good day. My thumbs are mangled though, which means I am not balanced but stressed...so I need to work on that....they hurt...and thats my gauge.

My boss rocks....

Not enough sleep ?

Not sure what's going on with this guy.  Rough night maybe?  Been tough to get him going...... Yet it's hard to take him seriously when he really has no problems on Saturday!!!

Piano, Mel, and Amanda.....

It was a busy, and lovely day.  Kids are happy and healthy....full of beans, just as I like them!  Elliot got in the car after school, and my typical question these days was "how were you for your teacher today?" and often, the answer isn't awesome...but today he said his teacher asked what reading level he was at "7, or 8?", Elliot proudly said "11!!!"  She looked narrowly at him, and said "you read to me!!"....and he did!!  I think he was quite proud!  She sent me an email this evening confirming this story and said his reading was such an improvement!

After work, I met Mel for lunch.  It was so nice to see her face and talk about how life was going...we didn't have enough time to really touch on much!  I mean, we didn't talk about Isaac, the funeral she went home for last weekend, our families, much of what has been occupying our thoughts and minds the last few months....don't get me wrong, there were no gaps or silences, just not enough TIME!!!  Piano at 2:30, so I had to run!

Malea was saying that Elliot is doing really well with his piano...'since he was a little guy, he has always been very conscious of the notes on the keyboard and coincide them with the music.  Isaac is working on conservatory songs now and is pretty lazy when it comes to the songs with TWO pages! "hey mom, can i just play this song once because its so long?"....oh man, he is so much like me!!  But he breezes through songs and she needs to keep things fresh to keep him interested...she does a great job....I love that my kids love going to piano.

We got home and cleaned up, did homework, packed lunches, prepped dinner and headed over to Amanda's for some time together.  Its so hard to carve out time with friends and kids when we work.  But my kids have been asking for hers for awhile now....

Perfect shot of this girl.....encapsulates her to a tee!!!! 

Her stairs in the backyard are similar to the stairs going up to our attic...perhaps a little less steep, but still scary.....the kids used it as a toboggan run!!  Here is Isaac trying to fix the edging....

And here is Elliot after his first terrifying run.  I could hear them all at the top of the stairs "hey elliot, are you scared?"  "YUP!!" .... and he still went!  Pretty proud.....I loved watching all 4 of these kids just self regulate and play....sometimes together, sometimes seperate...they just seem to have an easy energy that is nice to be around.  Amanda and I sat on the other side of the room while the boys took over the table.....fun listening to their conversation and still be able to hold one of our own......like 'old times'.....

SOAKED......

Not the best shot of either of them....but it makes my heart happy that they are still friends.....Alex is his oldest friend (next to Olivia)....I love that.

SUNDAY FUNDAY!!

It was pretty great to have nowhere to go today.....this morning, Chris talked me into coming with them to the BMX track to go sledding.

Remember being so hot outside in the cold, that you could walk around like this???

On that next ride down, he decided that gloves could stay on!

Best shot ever!!!!  The next run wasn't so hot....he tried to graduate to STANDING - didn't go so well!

I don't think anyone is going to look at snowmen the same way now after seeing Frozen.  The boys favorite song is Olaf singing "In Summer"

Fun ended when Elliot got hit in the back of the neck with a snowball.....fun always ends when he gets hit with snow (or water)...he can deal it but can't take it.....and who threw the snowball?  ME!  So, I gave him my hat.

And that night, we played a game -- Chris was using us guinea pigs in a new game he thinks will be fun for the campers!! 

Elliot and Chris vs Mom and Isaac - you get hit, you either sit or touch the back wall for 30 seconds

Isaac sat down, kinda involuntarily as dad came AT him at full force.....oh man, lots of laughs.  Its scary with the sound of the guns, but with just foam balls, it doesn't hurt...but there is the rush.

Quick pee and a trip to the grocery store for ice cream....and it was a fun day.

Level 10 reading.

So proud of this guy.  Back in November when I was unaware that he was struggling in class with his reading, he was reading at a level 3.  When Julie Marie told me that by the end of grade two, Elliot should be reading at a level 13.    Hearing that, we've kicked it into gear at night time.  He is supposed to bring home 2 books a night, we started bringing home 5.  He's become so fluent and confident in his reading that I am calming down about the latest emails from his teacher about him 'falling way behind with his French speaking'.  That will come as he gets older.  His math, reading, writing and French comprehension is fine!!  With time and confidence with his speech, will come voluntary French speaking too.  Such a smart kid.  I need to breath and relax and we will just keep working!!!!

My dad thinks he's hilarious.

Can you see why he was crying he was laughing so hard?

Made this all homemade for dinner:

Isaac trying out Chris's new game of 'bazooka ball'

Walks, curling and chocolate mohawks....

Fridays day off; got up with Chris to drive the kids to school.  Then it was time to take over his office to get te women's retreat sessions online.  Had a nice surprise when JL showed up for a 'walk' which ended up being more of a 'Stand around and watch Everett play in puddles' kind of walk. 

Curling that afternoon.  The boys did great .... Actually played a few games.  Yes, that is my paperclip without his jacket on!  Amanda and I had a nice walk at the beginning but the poor girl tweaked her back this week so it was hard on her.   But it's always good spending time with her.  I had to laugh as we walked past a building in town that was for sale, I said 'hey, nice building, only $200,000'.... She looks at me sideways and asked if I'd bought it because years ago we walked past a house in town during our house flipping days and I showed her the house we just bought and asked what she thought?  I think she said something like it was ugly...it was then I looked at her and informed her that we had just bought it.  Oh man, we laughed.  

Sweet coaches made the kids all hot chocolate ... Which Jax spilled all over himself and the chair.  A coach came to help clean him up and was looking around for his parent.... I started looking around too until I remembered that Paul had dropped them off and left .... So he had another hot chocolate made for him which he didn't finish in time.  So, we took it with us.  Putting 5 kids into the car is no carefree task..... But once everyone was in, and we made the drive home, I realized that the cup was still on the roof.  Zalinko boys thought it was pretty hilarious to see my car with a brown chocolate Mohawk down the back....and the cup still on the roof.  Sigh. 

Saturday morning!!  

Heading into town to see Elizabeth for a much needed manicure and the boys have a drop off piano recital at 1 at Malea's.  Looking forward to getting home and putting a fire on and maybe taking the kids sledding at the BMX track maybe?!

Sorry card....

Called the school yesturday to let the boys know they were going to take the bus.  To my surprise the principal answered the phone and told me Elliot was actually with him!!  Turns out Elliot got into a bit of a kicking fight with another kid who wanted to be 'boss' of their little club and Elliot didn't think there should be bosses.  

It was hard to be mad at him..... He's often so misunderstood.  Here he is this morning and he had to write a card saying sorry to the other kid.  So Chris and I weren't much help.  

Here were our suggestions;

'Sorry you got caught kicking me'

'Next time I'm going to really kick your butt'

And Elliot contributed wanting to draw a picture of the fight, or at least a skull?

In all honestly,  these boys are friends....

Parenting should come with some kind of manual.....

*This was the card Tyson made Elliot.