Week 7 - 2021

 Week 7 - 2021

This week was a pretty uneventful week. Blake had his kiwi crate club on Tuesday after school which he loves. The teacher is his old kinder teacher so he loves getting to see him again. I love having a day that I get to pick him up a little later. 

Blake has continued to do really well at school and with his homework. I'm amazed at how well he is reading now and his willingness to read. He used to fight so bad to not have to read and now he knows the route and he actually picks larger books to read. I struggled with reading as a kid and it still affects my confidence to this day and I don't want Blake to have to go through that. It took me a while to realize that was why I would buy so many books. Jeremy thought I was crazy for a while and then after talking one day I connected it to my own childhood. I am willing to buy as many books as needed to get him interested in reading so hopefully he will become a strong reader. 

Blake had school pictures this week. He was really excited about it and originally wanted to wear church clothes but after a little convincing I got him to wear something that shows his style a little more. He really wanted a mohawk which ended up looking really good! 

One of my favorite things each day is going on a walk with Jeremy at lunch. Almost everyday we go for a 30 minute walk and it's nice to talk. Life is so busy that we honestly hardly have any time if any to talk so it's been nice to have a time to interact more. 

Friday morning I got a horrible headache in the middle of one of my meetings. I looked out the window and all of the sudden it felt like I was hit by a bus. I got off the meeting and took ibprophen. Luckily I was able to lay down at lunch time which helped take the edge off. I ended up having to work until a little past 9pm and it was brutal. My head hurt so bad at this point and any movement made me feel so nauseous. I went to bed and the rest of the weekend was pretty much the same. On Sunday I decided to get tested for COVID just to be safe. I really didn't think it was but since the kids go to school I would rather be safe. The test ended up coming back negative and by Sunday night I was feeling much better. Still a little sensitive to light but nothing near what it was. 

The house got pretty scary while I was down for the count. I came out of my room to grab water at one point and found Kylie on the kitchen island and the house looked like a bomb went off. It's crazy how fast Kylie can destroy a clean house. 

I've been working on a project organizing all of our photos. We have had them on tons of different flash drives, SD cards, external drives, etc. I decided to clean them out and get rid of the pictures that weren't as good and move everything to one location. After then I will figure out one location going forward. I am almost done but still maybe a week or left. 

 

Week 6 - 2021

 Week 6 - 2021

Blake had his first day back at in-person school on Monday! He was really excited and had an amazing week! I have seen a huge change in him this past week. He has such a positive attitude and he comes home from school and starts working on homework immediately and does not fight me to read books. I am incredibly proud of him and how he has handled all this change like a champ! (Fingers crossed it continues)

Monday night Kylie requested cheeseburgers again which melted her dads heart. He was so excited that she complimented his grilling skills. 

Thursday night I decided to step up my lunch making game a bit and made Blake a special valentines lunch. I NEVER do any type of pinterest lunches due to lack of time but Blake has been so amazing this week that I wanted to do a little something special for him. I cut heart sandwiches for him with a knife (no cookie cutter) and added a few extra valentine treats along with a note. I put it in the fridge and was so proud. Friday afternoon I check my emails and notice an email from the school and my heart broke. I had forgotten to put his lunch box in his backpack so he had no lunch on valentines day. I felt terrible and was dreading picking him up. I brought his lunch box with me to pick him up and waited to see if he mentioned having no lunch. He didn't say a peep and a few minutes in I told him how sorry I was and then gave him his lunch box. He was so sweet and said that he wasn't sad at all and he opened his lunch box and loved it! Side note: He didn't completely starve the whole day. I was automatically charged for a lunchable since his school doesn't have a cafeteria that is the only option if you don't send a lunch. 

The kids had valentines parties on Friday at school. They had so much fun. Blake was so excited to show me his loot when he got home. Sadly, Kylie made a bad choice at school and did not get to take her valentines home on Friday. We also weren't able to go have fun as a family since she was not good at school. 

Saturday, Jeremy and I worked in the front yard from 8am till almost 8pm! The kids were really good and for the most part stayed inside and played. Kylie struggled a little more but honestly she did pretty good. I had fun getting to spend the day with Jeremy having one on one time and getting all his attention. We had fun working together as a team and joking around. We spent the day cutting the tree branches, pulling up plants and putting up our shutters. Pulling up plants was WAY harder than I ever expected but we were a pretty good team and tackled it together. We actually met I think 6 of our neighbors by just being out front. Everyone complimented us on how nice the house is looking! We just have one step left which is to have new rock delivered. I am so excited to see the finished product. Since the house is almost done I decided to add in some before and after pictures and then a few pictures from during the process. 

before

after

Valentines Day was pretty low key. I was SUPER sore so it was nice to have a day to relax and recoup. We decided to focus on the kids for valentines day and Blake was my valentine and Kylie was Jeremy's valentine. Jeremy and I each shopped for our valentine and then Sunday morning we gave them their gift. It was really fun to see their excitement and Jeremy nailed his gift. Kylie LOVED it! She jumped up when she saw it and gave Jeremy a huge hug which is very rare for her. Jeremy also had roses delivered for me. Sunday afternoon we went for a family bike ride.

Week 5 - 2021

 Week 5 - 2021

Blake had three days off of school this week. He only had school on Thursday and Friday which were his last two days of remote learning, hopefully! Sadly, Jeremy and I had to work so Blake mostly played video games and watched TV. We did take Blake on his bike everyday though. It's really nice to get time to catch up with Jeremy while getting a little exercise. Blake LOVES going out on his bike and does circles around us now. 

On Tuesday, the three of us had a special lunch planned but sadly Jeremy had a last minute meeting come up so it turned into a one on one date for Blake and I. We went to Peter Piper for lunch and then played a few games. I was a little nervous about it but overall it was a good experience. They take everyone's temperature and then they serve you the food you want from the buffet. Blake actually ate a ton of food which is an improvement from the past. He usually eats a few bites and then just wants to play but he actually sat and ate for awhile which was really nice. It was so fun to listen to Blake talk and all his ideas. It's actually really sad what kids talk about these days. Blake wants to invent kids clothes that repel COVID-19. He also said how it's not fair that he can't get the COVID shot (vaccine). It's crazy what the kids have to think about these days. After lunch we cleaned up and then headed to the games. We were the only ones for most of the time. Games has always been something Blake and I have LOVED but we haven't played in almost a year. We had a blast and Blake was so well behaved. 

Jeremy and I have talked about doing one on one date nights with one of the kids each month. Doing something special that they love and getting to connect. I'm hoping its something we are able to do and keep up. 

Most of the week the house was being painted! It finally stopped raining so we had a solid week of no rain (at least we thought on Monday). Monday they pressure washed the house and then Tuesday they taped up the house and then primed it. We didn't realize that the doors would mostly be taped up so we couldn't see outside most of the week. It really affected us mentally not being able to look outside. I think you feel trapped or something. Wednesday morning it started sprinkling when they arrived so they went home for the day. About 10 minutes later it was clear skies, kind of frustrating. Thursday they came and did the main color on almost all of the house and the back wall. Then on Friday they finished almost everything up but forgot a few things so they ended up needing to come back on Saturday for an hour or two. It looks so good and we are so excited! We have a few more improvements to do and then hopefully in a week or two I will post a before and after picture. :)

The weekend was pretty low key. More bike rides for the kids and then we watched the super bowl. Jeremy made us cheeseburgers on his Traeger and they were delicious. Kylie loves them! 

Week 4 - 2021

 Week 4 - 2021

This was hopefully the last full week of remote learning for Blake! Monday and Tuesday were rough as usual but Tuesday after school Blake had a remote club. We signed him up for the kiwi crate club with the school. Blake has always loved all the clubs he has attended and he was in the kiwi crate club in Kinder and it ended up getting cut short due to covid. He attended the club through a teams meeting and we worked on it with the teacher together. It was fun to have an activity to do together. We made a box guitar! Blake should be able to attend the remaining clubs in person which he is so excited about because he has a really good friend from Kinder that is in the club so that will be really fun for them to get to connect again. 

Thursday night Kylie came home with some math homework. Blake was so excited and helped her with it. It was fun to watch him try and teach her and correct her when she made mistakes. It was really sweet!

This weekend was filled with lots of fun things. One thing we did was go to the Phoenix Zoo. The kids had fun seeing all the animals. We let them ride the carousel and they really enjoyed that. This was the first time we went to the zoo without a wagon or stroller and it was so nice! We saw every single animal except the zebras so we got a good workout. :)

I took Blake on several bike rides to practice his bike riding. He begs me every second to go out and practice. He has only been out riding his bike without training wheels four times and now can get started and ride without assistance. He has so much confidence and is doing amazing! We are not looking forward to teaching Kylie. She scares me as it is with almost hitting cars. :/

I'm trying to go room by room in the house and see if there are any changes or finishing touches to do to make it feel more complete. We are at home almost everyday all day so we might as well make it look nice and cozy. I started with the office/playroom this week since Jeremy spends almost everyday in there. I went to hobby lobby and Michaels to get some frames and decorations. I really like how it turned out. We have our CPA certificate wall with a few decorative pieces and then the kids playroom side I added large pictures of them. I will keep these frames updated with their most recent school pictures. (Pictures aren't the best because I took them really late at night after I finished the project).

I caught Blake and Kylie having a sweet moment. Kylie asked Blake to push her on the swing and Blake went out there and pushed her for awhile. This doesn't happen too often.