Sking

Well this President's Day weekend I took the boys skiing for the first time. We did our annual trip up to Packwood with Josh's family and Umma and Uppa so it seemed like the perfect time. Dada, Josh, and Beth still went up in the morning but once Umma and Uppa got there to watch Amelia, well an hour or so after they got there we did have to visit a bit and put together some lego kits, we headed up the mountain.

Now for a couple days we had been talking about skiing so the boys were excited. Both said they were scared, nervous and excited on the way up. I kept trying to remind them that they will fall down, a lot.

After we got all their stuff, I even let them get ski poles, we headed outside. Of course I really don't know how to teach someone how to ski but a combination of googling it, listening in on what the ski instructors were saying and a lot of confidence things went smoothly. :)
Jacob did really great. He manged to learn to stop pretty good, turn a bit and fall with control. Jack liked to point his skis down hill and go.

We kept to the free carpet zone for practice, plus Dada was suppose to meet us there. Well after about an hour or so of skiing the boys needed a break and Dada still hadn't shown up so I said we should head in for some cocoa. That worked out to be the best because as Jacob skied to the lodge Dada finally saw him. I guess he had been looking for us for an hour and half! After our warm up and snacks Dada took each boy up a bigger hill.

Overall the boys had a great time. Jacob wanted to keep skiing up the longer runs but Dada was too tired. It is something both said they would like to do again. It may turn into something that we do often.

Jack

So just after we get rid of the lice around the house I realize Jack has mulluscum contagiosum, a contiguous skin rash that causes little bumps with clear fluid in them. They are very common but we defiantly haven't had them before. I took him to the doctor to confirm my diagnose. The doctor gave us some medicine to put on them, it works sometimes. Until the rash is gone the bumps need to stay covered and he shouldn't share any blankets, towels, etc. with any of us.

Jack said he just wanted his legs cut off. He also proceeded to not listen, be defiant and whiny the rest of the day. It was not fun but it gave me an insight to Jack. Jack needed a little extra love and he also needed us to have a straight forward conversation with him about how this was making him feel. In fact Dada did have that conversation with him; asking him how he felt about it and giving him some extra love. After that conversation he was better. Expecting Jack to role with the punches is not a good strategy. He needs help processing changes, not once but over and over again.

Amelia

The dreaded phrase, "My head itches." On the way home from Jack's soccer game today Amelia tells us. Oh geez here we go.
As soon as we got home I start combing through her hair and yup its lice. The thing that upsets Amelia the most is that I call the Mitchells to tell them not to come over for dinner. Amelia was really looking forward to sharing and playing with Gabby and Cami.
Of course we drag all the bedding down, everything she has touched. Dan goes to the store for lice shampoo. It takes me about two hours to comb all the nits and lice out of her hair, its pretty bad. Amelia was great through the whole thing. She sat nice while I combed her out. Let me shampoo her hair twice after finding move live bugs.
All of us doused ourselves with the lice shampoo just in case. Here is hoping this takes care of it.

PInewood Derby

The boys had their first Pinewood Derby today. They created their cars themselves; they were very excited. Now we let them do must of the work. Uppa shaped the block of wood for them but they sanded it, colored it, hammer the wheels in and sanded the wheels. I did help by sanding the wheels a bit.

At the derby both of the cars came in last every heat they were in. The wheels wobbled, the cars weaved down the lanes. It quickly became a defeating experience. Jack was bummed he didn't win and said so several times. Jacob realized his fate by the middle of the first race and turned jokester says, "I'm dead."

As much as I wanted them to win or at least not be last it was a good learning experience: learning how to deal with disappointment; learning how to support each boy as they processed the disappointment.

Jack

Jack came downstairs and announced, "I am changing!" Ok... then Amelia comes down next and stands by Jack. Jack continues, "I am going to change. I am now going to be nice to Amelia." Amelia in turns, "Yes! Best Friends!" and then gives Jack a big hug (Jack looks shocked).
Now I am glad he has decided to change but I think it had to do with Jacob not wanting to play with him.

Amelia

The other day Amelia wanted me to play with her. Now I knew I should, and I know I should play with her more often, but playing pretend with her toys is just about the most mind numbing thing I can think of. It literally makes me want to go to sleep after about 10 minutes. But after all this said I did play with her.

This is how it went:
We started with two Barbies that lived in her new Barbie pop-up camper. The Barbies had a couple of princess pets to take care of. One Barbie (mine) was a firefighter that went to work. Then the Barbies went on a great treasure hunt to "find their destiny." We recovered several "magical musical instruments" each leading us closer to "our destiny." We then went to the ice palace to find the princess pets mom's (bigger versions of princess pets). There we use the magical mist (humidifier) to turn into fairies to fly. The Barbies had to help the mom princess pets find their babies before the moon set so they wouldn't stay humans. The Barbies then flew to "Pixie Hallow" (other side of the bed) to gain the help of Elsa the ice queen. After a show of fairy talents (Barbie's doing various tricks). We then went back to the ice palace and magic mist to rejoin the mom palace pets; followed by gathering the baby palace pets from the Barbie pop-up camper to reunited them.

The story was a continuous fable adventure that took us every few minutes to another location around and over her bed. My brain was still put into a semi-coma state but the story line was entertaining.

**Note my participation in this was basically sitting there listening and watching; following behind with my Barbie to each scene.

Jacob

The other day in the car Jacob was talking to Jack about how he wonders about how other people think or if what they see the same as him. Jack was quite there in his depth of understanding but they did start comparing the colors they saw along the road.
Jacob said he also wonders what Ginny thinks about, about what guinea pigs think about all the time.
Very curious fellow that Jacob is; I pray he continues to consider what other people see and think as he grows up.