Weekend chores

This was the first weekend that we've all been home together in a while.  We started our Saturday morning with pancakes.  We are trying to eat more whole grains, so we had buckwheat pancakes opposed to our usual kind.  Leo was excited about pancakes for breakfast (who wouldn't be?), but was pretty mortified by what he was served.  He asked his dad, "why would you make these disgusting pancakes?"  Poor guy.  I told him that I'd get him some frozen "regular" pancakes, so when we make the buckwheat kind, he can have the type he likes.  Serafina happily gobbled up the buckwheat pancakes.

Leo helped Tom with some chores this weekend.  Up first: harvesting the oranges from the tree.  You may notice that the tree isn't actually ours but hangs over the fence.  We only take the oranges that are on our side of the fence.  The tree's owner gave us permission.  Actually, the previous owner did.  I have no idea how the current owner feels about it.

He was wearing his bike helmet because he had been riding his scooter, but I encouraged him to leave it on in case any oranges came falling down on his head.  He thought that was a good plan.  

Up next was dealing with the dirty pool filters.

Spraying them clean.

I'm not sure if she was actually providing help, but she was having fun doing it.

The weekend wasn't all work and no play.  There was plenty of scooter riding, soccer playing, ball throwing, and even a dip in the pool.

I'm currently trying to finish up the school yearbook, and I keep asking myself "why did I volunteer for this misery all over again?".   I'm not going to do it again next year though.

More blankets

Pre-K Open House

Tonight we headed over to Leo's classroom for an Open House. Leo was looking forward to showing off some of his work to his dad. I ran into his old teacher, who will be Serafina's teacher next year, and I just had to tell her the good news about Serafina's progress. She thought it was great, because, well...it is! 

Anyway, this is suppose to be about Leo and his open house.  Here they are headed over to the school.

Waiting to go into the classroom.

Leo showing Tom all his favorite things in the classroom.

Serafina was so thrilled to be able to play in the classroom.  

Smiling with his teacher, Mrs. Rasmussen.  

Here is one of his projects that was on display that we got to bring home.  It's a decorated plate with our family depicted and the year on it.

This is another project he did during a visit from the art teacher.  It's George Washington, but I think it looks like my dad, Leo's Ito.

Right on track

Two days ago the speech therapist from the elementary school called me because she had received Serafina's file.  She will age-out of the early intervention program she's currently in at age three and the school district will take over and likes to line up services for the next year before current school year ends.  Based on her last testing, the therapist thought she might not qualify for services.  I told her she's made great progress, but she's still hard to understand and sometime is reluctant to talk.  Oh and she's terrible at listening.  She thought it would be best for her to have a quick meeting with Serafina and she would determine from there if she was in need of a full evaluation (and the stacks of paperwork I would need to fill out to accompany it).  So this morning after I dropped off Leo at preschool, we walked over to the office (Leo's preschool is on the elementary campus) and met with the therapist.  Serafina wasn't 100% cooperative, but she was talking up a storm and repeated all the words the therapist prompted.  I could tell it was going well and in the end, the therapist said not only is Serafina on track for her age, she's a little ahead in some areas.  I felt like doing an end-zone celebration dance with lots of fist-pumping and hip thrusting!  I was so relieved and proud.  There are a couple sounds that Serafina still doesn't have, but it's expected those will be acquired later.  The therapist said I can call her down the line if I have concerns.  I asked her about some of the issues Serafina's current therapist has brought up, like sensory processing problems and lack of eye contact.  The school therapist said that most kids Serafina's age have trouble processing and that the lack of eye contact was probably her way of avoid doing what is asked of her.  The therapist also noted that Serafina seemed to be strong-willed and have her own agenda.  Truer words have never been uttered.  So we won't be continuing services after we are done with the current program, though the therapist said starting preschool in the fall will be very good for Serafina.

Anyway, I was so thrilled with the news that I bragged about it on Facebook.  I never do that, but this is shout-it-from-the-roof-tops type news.

Here's Leo giving Serafina a lift home after we picked him up from school.

Here's a sample of Serafina's recent artwork.  

Afternoon stroll

Serafina...fashion maverick, noted hat critic, upside down glasses wearer.  

The Thinker

Earth Day Fair

The boys are back safe and sound, and it seems like they had a good time.

Two days of spring skiing...

 and a stop at their favorite diner on the way home.

Serafina and I hit the annual Earth Day Fair at the farm.  It was hot and crowded, so we didn't stay too long but I like to support the farm since it is a big part of our lives (and our source for endless amounts of kale).

We visited the petting corral and Serafina walked right up to this peacock first.  Since there was a not so pleasant pheasant encounter in our past, I was a little on edge.  It turned out okay though.

Poking a bunny.

Visiting the baby chicks.

She planted some seeds - corn for herself and peas for her brother.  I had to fashion the container out of newspaper.  The gentleman in this picture was a patient instructor, but I really just wanted him to do it for me.

No event is complete without an impromptu dance performance by Serafina.

Girls Weekend

Last night, Tom and Leo went up to Tahoe to squeeze in one last last ski weekend of the season. Since I'm quite fatigued from the traveling up and down the mountain, I stayed home with Serafina.

Yep, a relaxing mother/daughter weekend with this girl...

Except that it isn't all that relaxing because she demands a lot of attention and for at least a few brief intervals throughout the day, Leo provides that attention and interaction.  Of course, it usual ends up in tears.  Without Leo to be her mostly companion, it's all on me.  Thankfully, she still takes a good nap so I can have a breather.  On Wednesday, during a particularly difficult speech therapy session, the therapist speculated that some of her hyper activity and more challenging behaviors are a result of her trying to compete with her brother for attention or just keep up with him.  Well, I can say without a doubt, she doesn't need her brother to egg her on.  She does a fine job by herself.  She also did a good job of keeping me company while I shopped today, which was nice.  She was very encouraging in the Target dressing room, though she identified every article of clothing as a "dress".  I was trying on blouses and yoga pants.  When we got home, I put on the black sunhat I picked out for myself and she said "No, mommy.  Take that off.  Too boring."  Wow, okay Anna Wintour.

I've heard from Tom sporadically, but it seems like after a late start, the boys skied until late in the afternoon in 70 degree weather and then headed to a pizza parlor where they were hitting the arcade before heading home.  I can only imagine how exhausted they both are.  I miss them both but I'm glad they get to have a little guy time together.  I asked Tom to take pictures and video but I'm not sure if he will remember.  

Here's Serafina at the park on Thursday.  

Here's Leo combing a My Little Pony mane before going to the mountains last night.  Gender roles are very fluid in this house, which I'm very happy about until they have a huge fight over Serafina's new pompoms and I have to promise Leo I'll try to find a pair of his own.

Last ski trip of the season

This past weekend was our last trip to the ski house for season.  Well, at least for Serafina and I, but Tom is considering going one more time with Leo this coming weekend.  Even though it's April, a storm blew in and brought a ton of snow.  The drive up on Thursday night was a little slow and wet, but there were no road closures so we made it without too much trouble.

 Friday, the boys went skiing and even though it was cold and snowing, Leo put in a long day on the slopes and mostly enjoyed it.  Tom said he got a little tired towards the end and frustrated with getting stuck in the powder.

Serafina and I hung out in the lodge and she found herself a new daddy.  Here she is trying on his goggles.

Then she put on Leo's gear while her new daddy watches with amusement.  He was a nice guy but I'm not sure why she became so attached to him.  She was hugging on him and wouldn't leave him alone.  He was very sweet about it but couldn't understand a word she said.  By that time, Leo was back inside, feeling clinging and needed to sit on my lap, so I was happy to have Serafina's attention focused elsewhere.

Friday night, my good friend Cara drove up to the house with her oldest daughter Addison.  On Saturday, Cara and Tom hit the slopes while I hung out with the kids.  It actually wasn't too bad dealing with three kids except for trying to get them all geared up to go outside.  There were a lot of layers and hats and gloves and boots to deal with.  And once we were out, the girls wanted to go back in after about 15 minutes.

Sarafina isn't a big fan of her boots sinking into the snow.  Here she is getting upset.

Throwing down her mittens in protest.

They had all the snowman accessories out but no man was actually assembled.

The next day we did something we haven't done at all this season - pay out the nose for some snow play.  All of the tubing and sledding type places are overpriced and many were already closed for the season, but we found a place not too far from the house and gave it a whirl.  The kids wanted nothing to do with the snow saucers we have for the hill next to our house, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  But after a little bit of convincing they got into the tubes and tried out the "carousel".

Serafina only watched.  I was pretty sure she wouldn't want anything to do with tubing so I didn't even bother to buy her a ticket.  

Of course her dad wasn't satisfied with that so he got her in a tube despite her protesting.

He started out with just pulling her around a little and eventually her cries turned to "wheees" and requests for more.  

Addison and Leo had a blast and were ready for some bigger hills but that required a separate ticket, so it will have to wait until next year.

Serafina's bravery increased as the day went on too. 

Family photo.

Healing up

Leo's face is healing up well, but last night he had a little blood and discomfort so I pulled a bandaid out for him. They are Muppet bandaids and some have familiar characters on them, others have just the eyes, and this one was a Muppet mustache.

It worked out nicely.  I'm not 100% sure whose mustache it is suppose to be.  Possibly the Swedish Chef.

Easter fun

Coloring eggs is always fun, even though you can't tell that by the looks on Tom and Serafina's faces.

We tried to let our eggs soak in the dye for a while to get nice vibrant colors, but we had to pull them out to check them often.

Leo didn't want to wait for the Easter bunny to hide the eggs and ate two during our coloring session.

This morning Serafina had a lot of fun searching for eggs.  We've had a lot of practice egg hunts over the last couple days.

Serafina wore her tutu to bed.  It's pretty common around here.

While his sister was finding the eggs, Leo was inspecting the contents of his basket.

Serafina got a new tutu from the Easter Bunny.  Hopefully, that means we can rotate her favorites and have them in the wash more frequently.  Should I be worried that my two year old can strike a pose like this?  She's standing on my new yoga mat, which is a huge improvement over my old mat.

Tom checking out Leo's new space book while Leo tries out the slide whistle.

It takes concentration.

Playing together.

Serafina has a number of super cute spring dresses, but she didn't want to wear any of them for Easter.  In fact even trying to put one on caused a full blown fit.  

She begged and cried to put her ladybug pants back on.  They're her favorite.

Nana worked as fast as she could.  See those adorable rejected dresses on the ground?  Sigh.  Maybe some other time.

The day didn't improve much when she spilled popsicle all down the front of her.  

She had to give up the ladybug pants to be washed.  She ended up in a dress, but not any of the extra pretty ones.