My little gymnast...

Today was definitely an "A letter" day for Katherine. She was in her element at gymnastics this morning, and she literally radiated happiness. It was all over her -- from the smile on her face to the unmistakable spring in her step. Today was her day... and she knew it.



It all started about half way through class when the girls were working on their cartwheels. The gym has mats that they put on the floor for the girls to tumble on which shows proper hand and foot placement. They also have large circular mats that are put right beside the floor mats so that the girls have to kick their legs over the top of them. Evidently, it helps them get their legs up over their heads and helps them land properly... So, in the middle of this practice time, Mr. Terry, their coach, stops the class and has all the girls watch Katherine. He claims that her cartwheels are nearly perfect and her legs are positioned perfectly above her head. Wow... she was beaming.



Then, after Mr. Terry dismissed the girls for the day, he came out to the parent viewing area to ask us if we'd like him to show us how to spot a few tricks, so that the girls could practice at home. He immediately reached down for Katherine and took her back into the gym and used her as his "example". He took her into the middle of the floor and had everyone watch her turn a few tricks --- cartwheel, backward rolls, handstands, etc... and then he showed us how we can spot them at home. Again, pure elation. She was beaming!



She wanted to show me a few other things in the gym (as if I don't watch through the viewing area) and took off. Mr. Terry came over to me, pulled me aside, and told me that he thinks Katherine is really REALLY good for her age, and if she were 5, he'd ask me if I'd be willing to let him put her on the competitive team. I was shocked. He told me that her class has a lot of talent, and out of all of them, she's probably the most competitive one of the bunch.



*** Apparently, US Gymnastics rules state that you have to be 5 to be on a competitive team, and also 5 to perform certain tricks -- like a bridge.



He wants to take her to a meet at the end of this year (after the all important 5th birthday), and believes that Katherine's class will blow away the competition, and that individually, she'll be a standout. (She's the youngest girl in this class by several months, and the only one not yet 5). This summer, he wants her to be on the gymnastics team and start competing. As we got talking, he looked at me and smiled, and said that he couldn't promise me an Olympian, but based on what he sees, I definitely have a full ride college scholarship on my hands. Evidently she's one of the best 4 year olds he's ever seen... However, being on the gymnastics team means practicing at the gym two nights a week. That seems like a lot for a 5 year old...



So, wow... I'm thrilled for her. As a parent, there is no greater joy than finding your child's passion and giving them the opportunity to excel. Not only have we found what she truly loves, but she's good at it, and that definitely puts a smile on my face.



So now I'm a little torn. I was going to move her to Chow's Gymnastics this fall, but now I'm rethinking it.... I want her to have the opportunity to spend as much time practicing gymnastics as she wants, but not be burned with the pressure of being on a competitive team. I want it to be FUN for her. I want her to enjoy it then as much then as she did today. I want her to keep that smile on her face and that spring in her step. So, now I need to do a lot of soul searching, and try to do the right thing for my little girl. If only I knew what that was......

The fog has lifted...

and *thankfully* the grouchy, irritable, intolerable mom my kids had to put up with is gone. Life is back to normal, which is definitely a good thing!

The past two days we spent a good deal outside playing in the snow, having snowball fights and building forts and a snowman. Today, however, the 50 + degree weather is gone and it's freezing. Literally. The actual temp is in single digits and the wind is blowing to the point of taking your breath away. Definitely not the kind of weather to play outside in! So today, the kids and I, along with Michelle and her kids, went to the Playground for Kids.

Katherine really wants a birthday party for her friends only -- and at a fun location of her choice. I had been planning to have it at the Playground for Kids, but after visiting today and talking to the owner, I'm rethinking.... Let me know what you think...

Pros:
1. Super fun for the kids. It has several inflatable jumpy things that the kids adore.
2. It has this super cool tree climbing structure with a clubhouse, tunnels along the ceiling, and slides coming back to the ground.
3. It's immaculate. Not that I'd recommend it, but if the kids ate something off the floor, I wouldn't go into freak out mode.
4. Katherine can invite 22 kids.

Cons:
1. It's located in Ankeny which is a good 15 minute drive from our house. Significantly longer if you live to the west of us, which several kids do.
2. The structure of the party is, well.... almost too structured. There are 3 rooms (smaller room which contains 3 jump things, a larger room that has the tree house and more inflatables, and then the party room where you open gifts and eat cake), and you can only be in ONE room at a time. Which means that the kids can not run around and play as they choose. Even though it would be a "private" party, two other parties would be going on simultaneously, which means that it's not really "private".
3. If we decide to bring in pizza, it must be from Godfather's and it's $17 for a large single topping pizza. OUCH! Especially considering we'll have 20+ kids and their parents.
4. We can only invite 22 kids. Each child after that is $10 and I'm not sure how many kids could realistically play in the small room comfortably. I can already think of several siblings that will be there.....

So I'm thinking of having it somewhere a little closer to home. I don't really like the Chuck E. Cheese idea. There's way too many kids, it's dirty, chaotic, and far too difficult for a handful of adults to watch 20+ kids properly. So I've already eliminated that in my mind.

Katherine and I have thrown around the idea of Backyard Adventures and Rainbow Play systems. Both of these would be private, and the kids could run around as much as they wanted and could be supervised much more easily. Oh, and I can have more than 20 kids -- comfortably.

So what do you think??? Even though I really like the idea of the place in Ankeny (Playground for Kids) it seems a little far for everyone to drive and could get super pricey if we decide to do pizza..... I don't want to "cheap out" on her birthday party, but I want it to be fun for all.

Oh, in other Hanson news.... Matt has been thinking of getting a new car for AGES. He's been emailing/calling the Infinity dealership in Minneapolis for a few weeks now and finally decided to take the plunge. He just put down the deposit on an Infinity G35x, and is planning to head up there on Friday to see it in person and test drive it. I'm thinking the kids and I won't go. Katherine has school that morning, and it'd be a REALLY long day for the kids in the car. Anyway, it looks like the days of the Camry are over!

Monday morning ROCKS!

AAAHHH, Monday morning.... I'm so glad you're here!! Actually, I haven't looked this forward to a Monday morning in ages. Strike that -- I can't remember EVER looking this forward to a Monday morning.

Typically, Monday morning means the end of a great weekend. It means taking the kids to school and getting up early. It means laundry and running errands. It means that Matt will be gone to work all day. It means reality.

Well today -- I sooo welcome that reality. I'm glad the weekend is over! It *should* have been a great weekend. My in-laws came down to spend the weekend with us. Todd and Caroline had their new baby boy that is beyond precious. He has a wonderfully thick head of dark hair, blue eyes and fair features. He's gorgeous! (Oh, and I do have pictures, but haven't had a chance to upload and edit them yet). On Friday night we ate at the Cheesecake Factory and went shopping for the little guy. His name is Augustus (Gus) Daniel. After we went to the hospital on Saturday, Katherine had a birthday party for a little friend of hers from preschool and then we went home and ordered in pizza. Should have been a fabulous weekend, right???? WRONG!

Nope. I totally ruined it. I single handedly made the weekend miserable for everyone involved. I was irrational, cranky, rude, and intolerable. Oh, man... I was something....

So here's the deal....

Saturday morning, Todd (Matt's brother) called and said that we could come down to the hospital as soon as we were ready. Matt and his dad were out "getting coffee and picking up a newspaper" and an hour after they left the house I tried to call their cell phones. No answer. You know why????? They FAILED bring their phones with them!!! So I got myself and the kids dressed and we were ready and waiting to walk out the door, but Matt and his dad were no where to be found. Instantly I could feel myself getting irritated. I was pacing around the house and could feel my blood pressure rise. UUUUGH!

They finally get home and we take off for Target. We had to get a baby card for Gus and I had to pick up a birthday present the party Katherine was going to later in the afternoon. While Fran and I ran inside, Matt and his dad hop in my Lexus so that they could sit with the kids so we didn't have to bring them in. When we get back out to the car, my steering wheel was in the upright position, and Fran and I couldn't figure out how to move it back down. We fiddled around with it for a few minutes and then realized that Matt and Wendell didn't wait for us. They just took off. Again, I'm fuming. Actually, I'm ticked. I can't remember exactly, but I'm sure I fired off some "not so kind" words...

Since I didn't know what way they were taking downtown, I took the way I knew. (Since I don't work downtown anymore I'm not sure what exits are open with all the construction). Matt beats us down there by a few minutes and makes some "smart" comment about how to "remind him that if he's ever dying, not to let me drive him to the hospital." OMG. I wanted to jump down his throat. Instead I fire off a mature comment about the steering wheel, which (let me assure you) was well received.

So at this point, I'm complaining to Matt's mom about her son. I tell ya..... I couldn't help myself. I'm fully aware how irrational and quite frankly bitchy I was, but I just couldn't help it. It was like Oscar the Grouch had overtaken my body, and I felt totally justified to be WAY upset with Matt.

Without going into more details of the day, let me assure you -- I wasn't pleasant to be around. I know it.... But it was like there was nothing I could do about it. If Matt so much as breathed wrong, I was all over him.

I had planned to stay at the birthday with Katherine, but knew that I needed a little time alone, so I stayed for about the first 20 minutes or so and then I left. I sooo needed a little time to myself.

I must confess.... my behavior on Sunday morning/afternoon was even worse than Saturday -- if that's possible. I don't really ever yell at the kids, but Sunday -- yea you guessed it. Not only did I yell at them, but it was right in front of Matt and his parents. Oh, it was classic trashy behavior. Here's what happened....

I bought the kids a game for Christmas. They call it the Treasure Game, but it's made by Cranium -- I think it's Cadoo or something. Anyway it has 6 bouncy rubber balls and the kids decided to remove the balls from the game and bounce them as high and hard as they could off the walls and wood floors. I asked them to stop it 3 times nicely and then since they didn't listen to me, I took the game away and put it on top of the refrigerator. So Caleb starts crying and I cave. I give them the game back and it's the same song and dance -- bouncing the balls off everything. (All the while, Matt is lauging and making some comment about how they can't help themselves, they're just having too much fun). When one of them hits some Waterford in the living room, I snap. "IF YOU DON'T START LISTENING TO ME DAMMIT.....". As soon as the words came out I wish I could take them back, but it was too late. So there you have it.... My in-laws are there to witness the first time I swear at my kids. It was horrible. Totally shameful...

Oh, and in the middle of all this, Katherine and Caleb are blowing these high-pitched recorder whistle type things that are grating on my last nerve. Noisy toys never bother me, but today they made me want to scream, yell, stomp my foot, and act like an immature baby.

It was a horrible weekend. I was a mess! I'm not sure what got into me, but man.... I HATED every second.

After Matt's parents left, Matt and I bundled up the kids and took them outside to build a snowman. The fresh air did me a world of good.... it did us all good. We spent an hour and half building Frosty, throwing snowballs and making snow angels. It was sooo much fun! (Yes, I also have pictures of this, but again, I haven't uploaded them. Actually I need to sweet talk Danyel into coming down and helping me out with my new external hard drive. I'm pretty sure that if she's reading this, she's going to want to stay away from me). I would put "LOL" here, but unfortunately there's nothing funny about it!

So today was a new day. It's a new week. Hopefully this horrible weekend where I was momzilla and wifezilla (oh and I can't forget daughter-in-law-zilla) will soon be forgotten.

Music to my ears....

The bedtime routine is always the same, and takes no less than 45 minutes. Cuddling in my bed, watching a show, having a snack, taking vitamins, brushing teeth, reading books and finally singing a song... THE song. It's the same song every night. It's the song my mom used to sing to me when I was little. It goes:

Have I told you today your Mommy loves you...
Have I told you how important you are to me...
Have I told you that I need you and I care about you....
Have I told you what a blessing you are to me.

Typically when I sing this, the kids are laying down and I'm rubbing their backs. Tonight, Caleb rolled over, got this wonderful little twinkle in his eyes and SANG IT BACK TO ME.

Aaaaahh, music. Sweet music.

Good night to all. I'm off for a late girls night out. We're seeing 27 Dresses, and I'm leaving with a smile on my face and a full heart. Aaaaahhh, sweet music...

Science Center Mayhem....

A good friend of mine recently "retired" from her job as an attorney and decided to start a new career -- that of a stay at home mom! I couldn't be happier about it. Our girls are a month apart and her son is 9 months older than Caleb. She's due at the end of May with their third child... We haven't been able to get together since she joined the ranks of the unemployed, so we decided that today was the day. Since we both were due to renew our Science Center memberships, we decided to meet down there after Katherine's gymnastics class.

As soon as we got there, I took off the kids' coats and hung them up, and then went over to update our membership. While I was doing this, the kids (as usual) went to take a stroll through the gift shop. They have a rotating inventory of super cool stuff depending on what type of special exhibits are there, and the kids are always taken by unique things they have. OK, I must confess.... they're not the only ones who love checking it out!! LOL!

Anyway, all of a sudden, Katherine comes running up to me screaming and crying. She's terrified and has what appears to be blood ALL OVER her. I'm not talking a drop or two either.... It's literally dripping down her face and all over her shirt. It looks like she'd been hit with a paintball. She's covered and scared to death... She's sobbing uncontrollably, so I immediately try to find out what happened, and determine where the blood is coming from.

She leads me to the gift shop and can barely get the words out. All she can do is point to the floor and sob. FINALLY I figure out that THANKFULLY it's not blood at all. She was having too much fun with the horrorball, and it blew up on her -- literally. It's this squishy ball thing with fake blood and bugs on the inside. Not something I would have chosen to play with, but hey ...... Somehow, Katherine popped it... Oh, my goodness.... I think I've had my scare for the week!

Tonight I have the all important parent-teacher conferences at preschool. I know I'll get a glowing report, but for some odd reason I'm still a little nervous. After I get home, it's a late girls night out at the movies. We're seeing 27 dresses, and I'm ready for a good laugh with great friends!

Cold.....

OK -- I'm officially sick and tired of winter! The constant cold, being couped up in the house, and almost freezing to death every time we step outside, is starting to wear me -- and the kids. And because I'm a safety freak, I insist that the kids take off their coats when they're in the car seats. I feel like I can get the buckles around them tighter... (Oh yea... Katherine is still in the traditional 5 point harness seat, but weighing in at 33 pounds, I didn't see the need to move her to a booster seat yet...) Anyway, standing out in the cold putting on and removing their coats every time we go somewhere, is getting OLD! Trust me!! LOL.

Quick recap of the week since I've been a blogging slacker....

I've been a little under the weather lately. I'm tired beyond belief, and super achy. My energy is gone and for the past few days I've been napping when the kids do. Oh, and last night I was in bed at 8:30. How insane is that? Totally not my MO!! Thankfully today I can keep my eyes open! I'm on the mend!

Since Monday was MLK day, Katherine didn't have school. We decided to head down to the Science Center and invite the Laundervilles (Nicholas and Caden) with us. The kids had blast and played so well together. We had lunch, played in the bubbles, ran into the Lee's (Aaron, Katie and Blake) and had an over all great time. So it was great!

Oh -- you'll love this story...

There's this one girl in Katherine's ballet class who shouldn't be in there. She's disruptive, doesn't pay attention, leaves the room for drinks of water no less that 10 times in the hour, distracts the other kids, and talks back to the teacher. SURPRISINGLY, her mom drops her off and leaves to do other things. I feel sorry for this little girl... She's getting shuffled around and no one really pays attention to her. Anyway, her dad came Monday night and actually stayed. I was shocked. He just sat in the corner. He didn't watch her dance, but he was still there. Anyway, all the girls are in ballet and tap class back-to-back.... which means that half way though they have to change shoes. Their tap shoes have tiny little buckles that are hard for the girls to maneuver on their own, so I (and all the other moms who stay) help the girls out.

So this is what happened... Katherine came running out of ballet class and took off her ballet shoes. I was sitting on the ground so that I could buckle her tap shoes once she got them on. As she was putting on the first one, I took her second shoe out of the bag, smiled and said, "If the shoe fits...". We were both laughing, and she replied, "it sure does, Mommy"! The little girl (in the preceding paragraph) asked her Daddy to help her out, and he said (very loudly so everyone in the room could hear) "Nope, you do it yourself. You don't live in the fairly tale world that that little girl (meaning Katherine) does". Oh, let me tell ya... those are fighting words... I literally had to bite my tongue or I would have fired off some not so nice words in front of Katherine. But let me assure you... maybe if that little girl had someone who paid attention to her more, she wouldn't be acting out in class so much... UUUUUGH... It infuriates me.

Since it was bitterly cold yesterday, we decided to hang out at home and play games -- just the three of us. Oh man... We played countless rounds of Hi-Ho-Cherry-Oh, Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. Chutes and Ladders didn't really hold Caleb's attention, but he LOVES the other two games and can actually grasp the rules. It was a blast! After we were done with board games, we went straight for the puzzles, and completed every one in the house a million times! My mom called around 2 and asked if Katherine could spend the day with her. SURE!! Caleb and I went in as well to visit for a while, and 3 hours later decided that we, too, should eat dinner with them. Matt stopped by after work, and joined us for dinner. It worked out really well... Since the kids didn't nap, they were begging to go to bed at 8:30! Woo-Hoo!!

Tomorrow my mom is watching Caleb in the morning during Katherine's gymnastics class. Mr. Terry, her teacher, asked if I'd be willing to come to class so that he could teach me how to spot her so that she could do more "tricks" at home, and practice a little bit every night. She's soooo excited. She loves gymnastics and would literally practice hours every day if I had the time to devote to solely her... The problem is that as soon as Caleb sees her, he instantly drops to the floor and tries to do handstands and somersaults. It's hilarious! He's perfected the "put your head on the floor, and your feet up the wall and see how long you can stay there without falling over" move. Love it. I need to take a video. It's priceless!!

Lazy, lazy, lazy....

Today was a super lazy day... We spent most of the day in our jammies, watching movies, taking a nap, and eating take-out. How great is that???? I LOVE these days! We don't do them often enough, and that NEEDS to change! LOL!! I did get the cleaning bug so Matt and I spent a couple of hours scrubbing floors, reorganizing toys, doing laundry, and vacuuming. But over all, it was a great family day. Not to mention that it'sFAR too cold outside to spend more than 30 seconds outside. So, the Hanson family spent the day hanging out -- together of course.

I can't remember why I started it, but for some reason a while back, I thought it was a great idea to put the kids in my whirlpool and let them "swim" in my huge soaker tub. Well... now they practically insist on taking a bath in there every time (with my bubble bath of course). Yea.. guess where they are right now??? It's such chaos... when they're done it looks like a monsoon hit my bathroom -- water all over the walls, the floor, everywhere within a 4 foot radius. It's such a mess!! Anyway, after they go to bed tonight, I plan on getting in and relaxing for a while. The problem.... in order for me to get in, I have to spend the better part of 10 minutes transferring all of their toys and miscellaneous "stuff" to their own bathroom. Glad I started this!

Tomorrow we're off to church, and it should be interesting. This will be one of the first times Caleb has been left alone in the two year old room and he HATES it. Literally, he cries the entire time. So I'd been holding him out and not pushing it. Thankfully, a girl I used to work with at Principal works in the two year old room, and insists that I keep trying it. So keep your fingers crossed that it goes OK. After church we are heading over to my sister's house for Hannah's birthday party. The kids can't wait to eat birthday cake!

Which reminds me.... The countdown is on for Katherine's all important 5th birthday party... She really wants a "friend" party with all of the kids from her preschool class, so I need to book it this week. I'm probably going to have it at the Playground for Kids.... We'll also have the neighborhood crew over for a party -- I haven't picked the date yet, but I'm thinking it'll be a pizza party thing for lunch. So then... Matt asks if we're going to have a "family" party. Well I guess so, but man... once they turn 5 and start making their own friends it's nothing short of chaos!!! Oh... and it wouldn't be nearly as difficult to schedule, but we have to go back to LeMars the weekend of her birthday to get our taxes done. Ay-yi-yi!!