A little family update

As I sit here on our 2nd snow day in a row I was thinking about how much the boy have grown and thought I would post an update!

Between yesterday and today we got right at a foot of snow at our house.  Yesterday the boys and I had a lot of fun playing and clearing it (with the snow blower of course).  Today we are spending time inside as the current windchill at 11:30 AM as I am typing this is -21 degrees! I much prefer snow when there is NO WIND!  Sheesh!

This month Erin started back to school with a slightly heaver schedule than last semester.  He is still working on his Electronic Engineering Degree and loving it.  We are so proud of him and I actually think having Erin in school now that the boys are old enough to understand homework, hard work and dedication has been very helpful.  I think showing them that dad sits down and does homework when he would rather be playing or watching TV has been great for them to see.  Kale loves asking what he learned and getting to play with some of the computer "games" (programs) Erin uses in class.  Erin seems to be enjoying everything he is learning, it couldn't be farther from interesting to me but that's ok cause it's not my major!

Kale just celebrated his 100th day of Kindergarten.  He has so much fun in school and really loves his class and teacher, Mrs. Ridge.  Kindergarten has taught Kale many new things, good and bad.  He has really started to enjoy Math. He has his fathers mindset about it too.  Math is easy, it always has an answer, as apposed to Reading where letters have more than one sound.  He really understands the logic of Math and picks up on patterns quickly.  He is right at grade level for Reading but doesn't really enjoy it (mostly because it is not as easy for him as Math, there are no shortcuts to learn).  I think he will enjoy reading more once he starts to get a little quicker at it because he really likes reading/listening to books about anything military related.  He checked out 4 books at the library the other day all about military planes, helicopters and tanks.

Kale loves his dog Charlie!  Charlie enjoys being read too....and maybe the warmth that comes with cuddling/sleeping on the couch!

 Kale is very stylish! Also, well hydrated!

In school Kale has made many new friends (not that we were concerned he wouldn't) he is very social and loves meeting new people.  He had to learn at the beginning of the year that at recess he needed to play with kids in his own class and not the older kids.  Jalen and Kale are in the same class and enjoy playing with each other and adding new friends to their circle.

Maks is in Pre-Kindergarn ( you can't call it Pre-School or he will correct you)! He is doing so well in school the teacher has asked him to bring extra reading material.  He only goes half a day (afternoons) out of both classes (morning and afternoon) he is the only kid that can read.  I attribute that to two things 1. Miss Debbie (his awesome babysitter that works with him on about everything) and 2. Kale. Maks loves watching Kale work on ''homework'' and is always sitting around listening when we are working with Kale.  Because of this a few things have occurred. First, reading has become a competitive sport around our house. Second, Maks has realized reading at his age gets him more attention....Maks isn't really a fan of extra attention so he tends to try to keep his reading a secret! Third he is getting bored at school.  So far he is being well behaved but I fear that may not be the case for much longer. He can already read all of the books/assignments that Kale is bringing home from school so we will see how next year goes.  He isn't as strong in Math so hopefully that will keep his interests!

Here are the boys on the computer. They can run it all by themselves without our assistance! Maks is playing on pbskids.com in this photo.

Maks really loves sports, he specially loves his basketball.  He hates missing a JuCo game and loves watching anyone that may be  playing on TV.  He did really well this past season playing on his YMCA team. His favorite part is dribbling!

And lastly myself. I don't have too much new in my own life right now. Still working at the College as a Transition Coach for the Adult Learning Center and loving it.  Always new changes and budget issues but it keeps it interesting! I also teach online Customer Service classes for HCC.

Spring planting done.....well seeds started!

Last year I planted seeds for the first time and the garden turned out great. We started them because Maks was so into seeds.  Well this year not much has changed but we did do a few things different this time around!!

Last year I knew I planted the seeds too late but it still worked out.  We just didn't plan on doing it until Maks became so interested in growing things. So this year I made a mental note to get them started sooner.  Last year they were started on March 24th and this year on February 23rd. So hopefully that will give them a head start!

Also, last year we lost a few of our Black Krim plants.  After calling the Extension Office we figured out they are very sensitive to dirt temp and soil dampness. So I purchased a heat map (click the word "heat" to see the link to the exact model I purchased). 

Here are the packages of seeds we used! The Petunia's will be a shot in the dark! The package says 'packaged for 2006' so we will see if they still grown!!  I am excited to see the poppies too! They look so pretty! The neighbor behind us has some red ones that she has probably had for many years and I just love them every year when I see them, figured I would try my hand.  I bought those seeds last year and they are past their date too so I guess I will see how lucky I am!!  The foxglove was one that Maks had to have one day when we were in Lowes!

All of my tomatoes were ordered from Gurneys.  This is the site I have had great luck with in the past so I just stuck with them this year.  I do have other seeds from them (different tomato varieties and some peppers) to plant but I found many of my trays to be broken so I need to get to the store before I can do anything with them.

I plan to use the Aggrand on them but I haven't fertilized them yet. I will do that as soon as the initial watering has dried. While inside I will mix it at about 1/4 strength...maybe less depending on what I use.  I hope to keep you updated.

Here is a picture of the stuff so far. In between the first two is Kale's fly eating plant...that's really the extent of his gardening interests at this point!  In between the 2nd and 3rd are the shoots of Aloe that Nicole gave us last summer.  We have perked them up and separated them...they were just getting a little extra light today.