January 2010

We started our new year off by spending it with some very good friends. That is one thing that has stunk about moving up to the midcoast - being nearly 2 hours away from our closest friends. Chris and A have been buddies since they were Alexa's age and their oldest and Alexa are just months apart in age.

Chris and A took the older kids to a Red Claws game while Mrs. A and I hung out at their house with the other three kids. We did pizza for dinner followed by a bit of Wii where I astounded everyone with my ability to pitch 94mph fastballs. The twins woke up in time to watch the ball drop and then went back to sleep. I got woken at 7am after hearing the older kids saying something about the twins finding a candy stash. Needless to say they weren't too happy when I took it away from them.

Eventually though we had to head home. We needed to beat the monster snowstorm that slammed us the entire weekend, leaving Chris stranded at the Samoset and me home with the kids. I think I probably got the better end of the deal there.

After that it was back to our regularly scheduled programming: work, school, basketball, meetings. Chris was kept very busy with his referring this winter, even managing to score some varsity games. He also came down with a very nasty cough that lasted the entire month of January. At the end of the month he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. All I can do is say "thanks" to someone out there for him not passing the worst of it on to the rest of us. We all had minor coughs but that was it (as I knock on some wood).

Alexa has been busy at school doing writer's workshops. She's developing into quite the writer although she still needs a little work on how to actually spell the words correctly. But she's definitely creative in how she spells things. It's like her own little language - Alexaish. She's been spending Wednesday afternoons at school participating in "winter gym". I think it's great that school has this available to kids, allowing them to get a little extra exercise in. Chris helped out one week by doing a baseball segment (future recruiting for t-ball perhaps?). Alexa and I have also been busy with Girl Scouts. We attended a cookie rally and completed our first cookie selling season. She didn't do too shabby, selling 105 boxes in 2 weeks. And that didn't even involve going door-to-door. We also did our first ceremony, a combination one to welcome Alexa as a new member (and at that time the only Daisy) and celebrate all the brownies that are now juniors.

With the weather not being so nice, and germs being all about I've found myself spending most my time at home with the twins. We were visited once a week by Jake's speech therapist which added a little something to our Tuesdays. It's fun being home with them and able to see them interact with each other. They have good days where they play nicely either together or on their own. Then they also have days that they are 2 year old demons and they destroy the place and fight for toys/attention/tv remote.

And now onto February which will bring a vacation week, a superbowl trip, lots of Girl Scout activities, and some fun (and maybe a few tears).