Nana, the super sitter

Nana was in town for only one night but we took full advantage. While she was with the kids, I test drove new cars with Tom, went to yoga, tutored my student and had dinner out. I didn't get to spend much time with her but the kids kept her super busy.

Drippy face and healing tongue

It's been a long week of just dealing. Dealing with school stuff, dealing with sick kids,  dealing with errands, dealing with house maintenance (I finally got my washing machine back to 100% reliable).

Leo's tongue is almost completely healed.  He's still complaining about certain foods bothering it, but I think that's probably more for the sake of complaining.  Right now, he's obsessed with Legos.  He wakes up in the morning and gets right to it.  And from the time he gets home from school until bedtime, he's assembling and playing with Legos.  I have to pester him to stop and eat.

Serafina  has been a bit under the weather.  She had a very runny nose when we were in Tahoe and the frequent wiping combined with the dry air left her skin very chapped and raw.  I bought her some "cool touch" tissues.  I have no idea what weird chemicals make the tissues "cool" (and I probably don't want to know), but they don't hurt her tender skin and she likes them.  Her eyes have also been watery and now she's coughing when she lays down.  Yesterday and today, her nap was cut extremely short because of coughing.  She was so exhausted this evening, she completely melted down because of a tutu and then needed me to hold her.  She came very close to falling asleep my shoulder.  It was a rare moment that I wished I still had my glider chair.

Here's a picture from Tuesday night when she was particularly watery and red.

Here's tonight.  She's rocking some seriously crazy hair.

Always an adventure

Here's Leo tearing it up on the slopes on Sunday morning.  He's getting so good!

Here he is on Sunday night.

Yep.  He's in the ER.  And it's not from skiing or even slipping on some icy stairs.  It's all because of a bar stool.  We were waiting for a table at a restaurant and Leo was passing the time playing a game around a bar table with some big kids.  He slipped off the bar stool and slammed his face on the table on the way down.  He tried to hold it together for a minute since the big kids were watching, but his dad scooped him up and he burst into tears.  Tom passed him to me and I sat him down to examine the damage.  He had bit his tongue...bad.  There was a lot of blood and the cut was big and deep.  It flapped around in an unsettling manner.  I wanted to take him to the ER and Tom agreed he should be seen.  We both kinda knew there wasn't going to be much that the doctor could do, but we wanted to make sure.  Thankfully, it was the easiest, quickest ER visit I've ever experienced.  The doctor confirmed our suspicion that Leo didn't need stitches.  It would have required sedation and the doctor said that tongues heal fast and it wouldn't be worth the hassle.  He recommended Leo eat soft or cold food.  Since we didn't eat at the restaurant, the kids ended up having popsicles and pancakes for dinner.  

He was feeling better this morning, but we still took it easy with the food.  He was so brave about the whole thing; I was very proud of him.

 Okay, on to some pictures from the rest of the weekend, which was much more typical.

On Saturday, we went to Sugar Bowl, which is Leo's favorite place to ski.  Here he his giving his sister a hug before heading out to ski.

 Tom had to get Leo a lift ticket, so I took him outside to wait.  He was very pumped to get going.

 Serafina and I played inside for a while.  I made myself an infinite scarf and Serafina thought it was very fun.

We headed outside for a little walk and snow eating.  Eating snow is as important to her as skiing is to Leo.  

 On Sunday, the boys skied at the near-by spot so that I could run to the store while they were out and pick them up in time for Tom to watch the football game.

There was a game of Twister during halftime.

 The kids and I all cuddled up in bed and took a nap.  It was cozy and much needed.

After that, we bundled up and headed out for a snowy walk.  Apparently, Tom had other ideas in mind.  Not everyone was enjoying the snowball fight though.

He made Serafina cry too.  So we got him back.  A face full of snow was a good punishment and the kids were satisfied with that retribution.  I made them all call a truce.  

See, they recover quickly.  

 Leo was proud of this snow angel.

That night is when the tongue incident happened, but since Leo was feeling good this morning, we went to the snow park.

He was excited about all the fun he was about to have.

First up was a tube ride.

The boys had fun, so I took Serafina.  She was crying and objecting when I stuck her in the tube.  I'm sure everyone standing in line thought I was so cruel for forcing her to get in that tube, but I told her that she was going to like it and when we got to the bottom, she said "that was really fun."  See, mom knows.  

The sledding was our favorite part.  We didn't have to wait in line and we just went over and over and over.  

Yep.  We sent our kid flying down that hill with his injured tongue. 

Here's evidence that mom was in on the fun.  

The climb back up wasn't as fun.  

Serafina was a good sport about it.

We all did one final tube ride.  I went down with Leo and Tom took Serafina.

There was a lot of traffic on the drive home and we arrived pretty worn out, but it was a fun weekend with just a little detour into nerve-wreaking on Sunday night with the badly bitten tongue.  But, as we learn over and over in life, a popsicle solves almost every problem.

Pizza Party Field Trip

Today was Serafina's Pizza Party field trip. Leo had this same field trip two years ago, but it happened in the spring on an unseasonably hot day.

This is a picture of her from Tuesday though.  She is always so happy to see me waiting outside her classroom when she comes in from the playground.  The little girl behind her is named Isabella.  She's rocking a Dorothy Hamill hairdo because over the holiday break, she took a pair of scissors to her head.  I fear this for my own kid, but I think Serafina is too attached to her hair to whack it off.

Anyway, we met at the pizza place at 10am, which isn't really the time of day I associate with pizza.  It was my assigned work day, so I was dressed in my school shirt and tried to be as helpful as possible.

Each kid was dressed in an apron and paper hat.  

The pizza lady (I didn't catch her name) asked the kids to keep their arms behind their backs since they were walking by hot ovens and such.  I couldn't believe how well they did with that direction.  From left to right: Natalie, Ashley and Serafina.

We were in the freezer and Pizza Lady (PL) showed them different veggies.  It was really cold in there and the kids were only slightly interested.

PL showed them a pizza coming out of the oven.  Yep, we let a bunch of three year old right up next to a giant pizza oven.  It smelled delicious. 

Tour over, time to make pizza!

Saucing it up.

Sprinkling the cheese.

She loaded on some topping, though I knew she would make me pick them off before she ate it.

The pizza came out pipping hot from the oven and it was hard to convince the kids to wait for it to cool down.  You can tell from her face that it was still too hot.  

Cheese face!

Lego domination

 I organized the Legos very recently.  As I was sorting them (which was very therapeutic), I knew that my system wasn't going to serve us well while attempting complex constructions.  A couple weeks ago, Tom and Leo had the Legos out to create something and were frustrated they couldn't find what they needed.  So I started resorting the Legos by type.  A better system for sure, but not easy to store.  There are a lot of different types.  I did some research and Leo and I headed out to Home Depot today.  We were in search of a tool box type item that is intended to hold lots of little nails and screws and washer and bolts and...well, you get the point.

We completely scored.  We found a storage box that came with three trays.  The trays has dividers and you can make small compartments or not-so-small compartments.

Ready to be set up.

Filled with Legos.  

 Happy Lego boy.

The kids constructed while I was still sorting.  

 All three trays fit into the box with a handle.  Some of the large items, the assembled creations and instruction books will still be stored in the large bin.  Also, he's already at almost capacity for this storage unit, but since it was only $16, we can always invest in another one.  They also sell the trays individually.

 I'm pretty happy this system.  I don't consider myself an obsessive compulsive type of person, but this fed an organization need it me in a very enjoyable way.

Here's Serafina with a big grin because I let her loose with a bag of marshmallows.

First full week of full day

It's been quite a week.  When I first decided to send Leo for a full day of school, I figured he'd start by going just twice a week until 3pm and I'd continue to pick him up at noon the other days.  Though when I discussed my plan with his teachers, they recommended three days a week in a row, so he could have more continuity.  Then I spoke to the bookkeeper and she told me it would cost the same for the full week as three days a week.  So we paid for full time for the full week, but I thought I could still pick him at noon some days.  I figured especially in the beginning he might not be ready to dive right in to full day for the whole week.  I was wrong.  Every day this week, I asked him if he wanted to stay the full day and every day he said yes.  Mid-way through the week, I realized the other kids had comfort items in their cubbies for nap time.  I asked him if he wanted to bring a rat (his specially buddy) and a blanket.  He did, but I realized that all the rats we have at home (yes, we have more than one) were too beat up and gross looking to take to school.  So Serafina and I took a trip to IKEA while Leo was in school to pick him up a couple new ones.  Of course we had to get other random items as well.  Here's Serafina trying out a bed.

It's strange and wonderful to have Leo gone for so much of the day.  Serafina and I get to spend a lot of time together and don't have to rush through errands to pick him up on time.  I like hanging with this little girl.

                                        

But I miss Leo!  By the time he gets home, we don't have that much time before dinner and bedtime.  It's been tricky to squeeze in his homework.  He's also exhausted and emotional since he's had to keep it together at school all day.  He's not napping during nap time, which isn't a surprise since he's in a classroom with 20 other squirmy little bodies.  I made the mistake of going to the bank after picking him up from school.  He had a major meltdown over the flavor of lollipop he got from the bank.  It was quite a display and luckily it happened at a branch I don't usually use.  I guess he's not up for an outing right after school.  I've been letting him come home and watch a little TV and eat.  Boy oh boy, has he wanted to eat.  He brings home an empty snack bag and lunch bag, but he's appetite is still ferocious when he get home.  I let him feast a bit and then he plays with Serafina.  She clearly misses him too.  He's very happy going to school all day and that's all I can ask for.  

Full day

One of the reasons we choose Leo's school was because they had the option of Leo attending for the full school day when he was ready. At the beginning of the school year, I knew he wasn't ready to stay until three pm. He was still napping regularly and the emotional demand of being away from home all day seemed too much for him. But over the last few months, he has matured and he was ready to stay through lunch and into the afternoon. Today was his first day staying for the full day. I was anxious the whole time but really enjoyed having just one kid for so long, especially since she napped for part of it.

She also dressed up like this.    

I was 15 minutes early to pick him up.  I knew he was fine, but I couldn't help myself.  Serafina enjoyed playing on the slide while we waited for her brother.  

He did great.  He said that "rest time" was boring and too long, but the teacher said he seemed like he would have fallen asleep if it was longer.  It does take him a long time to settle down and fall asleep.  I made sure he went to bed at a decent time tonight.  He's happy to go for a full day tomorrow too since he has to continue playing a game he started today.  Tomorrow morning they will be going on a field trip, which usually wears him out so he might actually fall asleep during rest time.  Either way, he's happy to be going full time and it is a wonderful milestone.  He's such a big kid now and I'm proud of him. 

Start of ski season

We kicked off the ski season this past weekend and everyone had a fun, but exhausting time.  

We are staying in a different place this year.  It is very spacious and the main living space is very open and perfect for hanging out.  Unfortunately, we are on the second floor of the house (the bottom is a studio apartment with a long time resident), so we have to hike up a flight of stairs to get in and out, which isn't easy with two kids and a ton of gear.  Also, no view of Donner Lake, which I loved about last year's spot.  But we were really happy there this weekend and I think we'll have a good season at this place.  

 Here are the kids stretching before going out Saturday morning.  

We dropped off the boys and went to park the car.  Serafina walked back to the lodge with me and it was slow going.  Last year, I was still carrying her in the pack on my back almost everywhere on the mountain.  I can't do that any more, so she's got to get around on her own.  

             
Getting geared up and getting excited.

 

Daddy helping with the mittens.  

Look at these Mirrione boys.  They look alike, especially when they are about to do one of their favorite activities.

Serafina and I went out to see them just finishing up their first run.  Here's Tom coming down the trail.

Here comes Leo.

Tom said he did great on his first run, not too rusty at all.

Getting a tow back to the lift.

Here's the second run of the day (and the season).  

All Serafina wanted to do this trip was eat some snow.  She got her wish.  Then she got cold and wanted to go inside.

Today, Tom and Leo went to a small ski spot very close to our rental house.  I appreciated the convenience since Serafina and I went back to the house to pack up and clean up.  Tom took this video of Leo tearing it up.  He's getting so good!  

Despite Leo being a very capable skier and Tom being an excellent chaperone, I still feel anxious when he's on the mountain.  The lift makes me extremely nervous and he's just a little peanut out there. He loves it so much though, and I'm happy the boys get to enjoy this together.  We'll probably get Serafina out there at some point this season.  We'll see if she like it as much as her brother.