Over the cold weather!

I know that I have been anxious for snow, but now that it is pretty obvious that we will not be getting any "sledding snow," I am just ready for it to get a little warmer.  The kids wanted to play outside all weekend, and we did get out on Sunday to play with chalk, ride the jeep, and go to the park but Saturday was just very, very cold and we ended up staying indoors until we went to a birthday party at the Y.  They had a lot of fun at the birthday party and were able to burn off some pent up energy - but still had a lot more trouble winding down for bedtime than they did on Sunday.  There is just something about running around outside and playing outdoors that is really good for them and even better it really helps at bedtime.  We still have nightly bedtime struggles - they like to get up as quietly as possible (not realizing we can hear every move they make downstairs) and go to play together in the bathroom.  They take every stuffed animal they can find in there with them and I think the "game" is usually some version of school or them playing mommy and daddy.  We repeatedly make them get back in their room, but on days when they don't have an opportunity to play much it is just obvious that they are not tired (even with our later bedtimes these days).  Sunday, after our park adventure, they went to sleep relatively easily and I don't know if it was the promise of glow-in-the dark stars (they get one these days to put up in their room instead of stickers and love it) or finally getting to be active, but I bet it was a combination of both!  I let them ride their jeep to the park and unfortunately Tyler, who has been scared to drive it up to this point, finally chose to want to drive on the way there.  I say unfortunate because once we got there the darn thing died and wouldn't go so he still didn't get to drive.  It re-charged a bit while we were playing, though, and he was a big helper on the way home because he was able to help "push" Katie home in the jeep (it went just a little and he really did help get her up the hills).  He told me he is "really strong because I eat all my vegetables."

This was when the jeep was still going strong and they were having a ball "going fast" together around the neighborhood.  Tyler has a band-aid on his face (it's not a mustache - :)).  He has some bumps on his skin that he won't stop touching and the band-aids are keeping his germy hands off his face while we are home.  

In terms of potty training at bedtime they are doing great - no pull-ups since circus night and no accidents since that first week - woohoo!  The need to get up to use the bathroom did, however, start all of the getting out of bed nonsense.  The sticker chart that rewarded them for staying in bed worked well, too, but we found the glow in the dark stars in the dollar bin and thought they would love them and decided to give them those for right now instead of doing the chart since they have been begging for nightlights and this is a fun way for it not to be so dark.  They really love rewards of all types right now.  We were looking for a big dry erase board to put up in the playroom, but couldn't find one that was affordable so we picked up some arts and crafts supplies and coloring and activity books to help pass the indoor time.  Tyler finished his whole 5-6 year old Kindergarten workbook in one day and kept wanting me to put stickers on the pages he finished correctly and tell him good job!  Katie was drawing and painting pictures and then taping them to the wall and giving herself stickers as a reward for a job well done :)!  Positive reinforcement does seem to be more effective than other tactics we have tried!

We have a busy few weeks/months ahead.  My tennis season is starting up again (yippee) this weekend and with Lance still working on weekends I am going to have to try to find time to play with the kids (it really is fun to hang with them nowadays) and someone to watch them while I get to play for a bit too  :-)!  Lance and I both get a bit busier at work during the Spring plus we have more birthday parties on the calendar, and lots of fun Springtime activities to check out around town.  I really do want to get the kids signed up for soccer or gymnastics too, as I promised them, as well as another round of swim lessons and some tennis instruction by mom - but we'll have to see what we can fit in.  We have the Kindergarten testing later this week, but I don't think we will know immediately what their recommendation is.  Either way, my kiddos are getting big - Tyler is a whole inch taller than Katie right now (which is probably the reason I was asked twice yesterday at the birthday party how far apart in age they are - to which I always have to force myself not to reply with some variation of "I am not that crazy to intentionally have them that close together")!  In this whole process of trying to figure out whether they should or shouldn't start school I haven't really thought about how sad I am going to be when they actually are old enough for "real" school - whether that is this year or next!  One thing I have thought about - - - school dress codes, I can't wait for there not to be an option what they put on when we are trying to get out of the house each morning :)!