The Bits: March 1st through March 9th

March marches in!

With outdoor soccer season ramping up, Zac and Ben played their final futsal games this week.  That takes a *bit* of stress off the schedule...but really, just a bit.  The boys really enjoy this fun to watch, weird little soccer variation.  It's one of those things that I can just picture--my adult boys playing for a futsal league with other young dads...{sigh}.

Yep.  Saturday is chore day.  They don't love it.  They have the ability to make it drag on for. ev. er.  I have to get them to come back to redo things over and again.  Some days it's not too bad; other days it's tortuously painful.  But still it is.

Last Saturday, Colorado Springs was caught in a cloud.  It was really cool and a nice excuse to get stuff done and then be lazy.  I guess this is what is meant by 'thick as pea soup.'  It definitely was!

Saturday night, the three older boys and I braved 'The Mist' and had a date night.  Thanks to Ben and Josh's 2nd place finishes in total laps run for their grade during Lynx Laps, they each had been awarded a free meal at Noodles and Company, so we started there with a delicious dinner and then popped next door to the Cold Stone for a treat.  Afterwards, we went to Barnes and Noble and got lost in the books for awhile.  The boys had received a nice gift card for Christmas from Auntie Sara, so we were able to do more than browse and wish.  The hardest part was deciding which books to get, and although they were good sports about my funny photo op, Dance Divas, Goddess Girls and Hello Kitty were NOT actually under consideration.  It was so fun to spend some quality time with my big boys.  They are such fine young men!

Overnight, we were dusted with snow and the fog had frozen the trees into ice skeletons.  Tommy said that everything had been "frost-bited."  It had thawed by the time we left church, but going into church, it was the kind of eerily pretty, still and quiet morning that only comes on a truly frozen day.

Too much sick snuggling caught up to me Monday.  Misery.  Fortunately, the calendar was pretty clear for the day, so I could take it easy and hope that when the schedule exploded for the rest of the week I'd be OK.

Tommy was kind and let me relax most of Monday, while I used up an entire box of Kleenex trying to relieve my sinus pressure, but when he asked to "please make magic green playdough" I couldn't say no.  I mean, look at that face!  He told me you make blue playdough and yellow playdough and then you mush and mush and mush and mush...and then it's green!  We divvied the two colors up into seven two-ball-sets and shared it with his preschool friends at Ms. Rachel's for Dr. Seuss Day the next day.

Luke and Tommy started up swim lessons again this week on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, after an almost-year-long hiatus.  Luke's lessons are in the big pool, a.k.a. the "cold pool."  He is so excited that he can {juuuuuuuust barely} touch the bottom on the shallow end of the pool.  He's doing great keeping himself above water when he has to go in deeper and can't touch, but I feel like he needs a wetsuit as I watch him shiver through the lesson!

Tuesday there was too much to do, so, even if I still felt awful, it was back to regular life.  Thank goodness for the person who invented ibuprofen and hand sanitizer!  I had a shift volunteering with reading circles in Luke's class to start off the busy day, and felt I did a good job keeping my germs to myself.

Zac called to come home as I was leaving the school; he wasn't feeling well either.  So I crossed the errands off the list, picked him up and we watched a bit of Soul Surfer (good!), with a box of tissues to share, before picking up Tommy from preschool.  Zac had an orthodontist appointment scheduled after lunch, which he felt well enough to keep, just so we didn't have to worry about rescheduling and taking him out of school for it another day. 

Surprise!  It was Fat Tuesday at the ortho, complete with Mardi Gras beads!  Zac was told that even during Lent he could feel free to over-indulge in brushing.  Sheesh!  I don't know what to do to get the boys to brush well.  We've even looked at pictures of plaque under the microscope and read about how all it is is bacteria and bacteria poop.  GROSS!  But no.  We still have brushing problems.

Thanks to Pinterest, Luke now enjoys studying spelling!  We had two games of Connect Four lying around, so when I saw this idea online, I didn't hesitate to letter one up.  Even if the fun only lasts for a short time, I'm grateful for this week's painless spelling practice.

While on the subject of homework, Tommy loves it!  And I'm no Tiger Mom; it's totally his idea.  He asked me if I wanted to play Connect Four or do homework.  I replied, "You choose."  He punched his little fists into the air and shouted, "Homework!"  I wish this go-getter attitude about homework lasted.

Tommy loves swim lessons too!  And is so cute in goggles.

Wednesday night, the first grade class at AIES performed "How Does Your Garden Groove?"  I may be biased, but I believe Luke was the most darling little tomato up there!  And, even without bias, there is no doubt that his class had the best song on the program, a Queen-inspired song called Vegematic, Automatic, that sounded a lot like We Will Rock You, complete with robot dance moves and some head-banging a la 80's Big Hair Rock.  Luke even had a couple of short shared lines with the other tomatoes that he proudly and loudly delivered.  Wow, this not-so-shy-anymore kid has come far!  The whole show was so fun and entertaining, but Mme. Cote's class was stellar!  Bravo, Luke!

Oy!  Wednesday!  I was glad that we had made it through.  Not that the other days are that much simpler....  For the duration of the year, or until it seems that he doesn't need it anymore, Zac will be attending French and Math after-school-help.  Tuesday we discovered that he had been having a 'challenge' keeping his math and French grades up and he had failed to let us know that he was having this difficulty.  I'll admit, we had become lazy in checking after his 4.0 last semester, but we should have remained vigilant!  Yikes!  It is so unlike him to have academic problems, and he's so laid back, I think he really didn't know what exactly was wrong and figured he could work it out.  But 7th grade isn't like 4th; once you get behind, it's hard to figure it out.  Especially in math, that builds upon itself.  We were pretty alarmed, and sad that he hadn't told us that he was struggling, but we moved forward, consulted with his teachers and have a good plan in place as we go ahead with the semester.

Thursday I thought I was feeling well *enough* for a return to normalcy, and thought I'd try a run at the gym.  By the end of my little workout (I really wasn't pushing hard!), I was dry heaving, my head felt like it weighed 50 pounds and I was sapped of all energy to move.  When I got home, I just laid on the cold kitchen floor for awhile trying to get back to baseline.  Dummy!  I'm not always so great at listening to my body, especially when it is sick.  I just don't like taking, nor have, the time to be sick!  After he was picked up from preschool, I was still so drained, I let Tommy pick a movie on Netflix that we could watch together so I could rest.  His choice: Super Buddies. {groan}  Penance for stupidity done!

Here is Ben waiting for the soccer carpool on Thursday afternoon.  He has decided that he wants to majorly improve his game as he heads into the spring season.  Over several mornings, he's asked to be woken early so he can practice before school and then cannot wait for the time when he gets to head to team practice after school three days a week.  I love how Ben is so self-motivated and pushes himself to reach for the things he wants.  When his passion is ignited, watch out!

These boys.  I love their friendship!  They can be bickering one minute and then playing and interacting so sweetly the next.  When they are home, they are together.  Tommy adores Luke and sees him as his peer, and Luke loves being that special friend/big brother for Tommy, guiding him along.  I hope they are always the best of buddies as they are now.

Fresh-from-the-oven zucchini bread...mmmmm....  Two loaves baked, and one was gone within 25 minutes after the boys arrived home from school on Friday.  It was a perfect snack for our snowy afternoon.

Ruby looks so put out.  The expression on her face cracks me up.  Ha!  Clearly she does not love having to do her toilet business outdoors during a snowstorm.

Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise, with four inches of nice wet snow on the ground.  Drink up grasses and flowers, it's nearly spring!  Well, kind of...we are in Colorado.  It was a warm day and the snow was gone by 2pm, but the air couldn't have been cleaner and bright when we opened our eyes to the marshmallow-covered morning.

Saturday, after the 4 oldest Conlin men spent the morning helping friends with a move and I spent the morning watching their two littles to keep them out of the way of said move, we turned our attention to our sweet Josh!  First up, the Pinewood Derby!  Josh named his car "The Pizza Car" and ended up with a lovely 5th place finish out of 18 racers.  I love that Adam is just hands-on enough that the car is sure to move, but he really lets the boys do their thing, and they usually do well!  Josh, of course, wanted to place top three like last year, but was still happy with Pizza Car's races and had a great time.

While Zac and Ben went ice skating and trampolining with friends, and Adam got the little boys fed and in bed, Josh and I went to our YMCA to celebrate the swimmers of the Briargate Barracuda Swim Team at the annual swim banquet.  Josh has really enjoyed being a part of the swim team and is hoping to get faster and improve over the next few months.  The Colorado state races all just took place, so it's kind of the start of the new swim-year.  Next week is the first of the mini-meets and Josh is already invited to attend and excited to swim.  What a fun few months it has been for him in the pool!  It was a great day for our magic middle!

I remember my dad teaching me how to tie a tie when I was a kid.  He's been in sales forever, and always wore a tie to work to give himself that polished, professional look.  I'm pretty sure he had a million ties in his closet.  He let me practice tying his ties on him from time to time, which I'm sure he had to fix after I was finished, and would let me tie some on myself at times too, which is a completely different skill than tying it on someone else.  I wasn't ever good back then, but I knew how to do it.  Who knew, all those years ago, how often I'd be putting my tie tying skills to work today?  You can bet that these days, I'm a pro.

After a long day with ward conference ward council starting at 7am (on Daylight Savings Time Sunday, nonetheless!), followed by church, then lunch with the stake and ward leaders and finally, ministering visits, I was happy to sit down for a bit and play a tight game of Battleship with Ben.  That darn little patrol boat!  We were all tied up with only that tiny little ship to find for both of us, but my armada went down when Ben found mine first.

500 pictures later, Zac and I got this selfie with Rube.  Note to the world: selfies with big dogs are not easy.

We couldn't resist the pull of the summery day!  Sun, 68 degrees, no wind.  Wow.  Although I was pretty sure I just wanted to nap all afternoon after a very early wake-up call and a busy ward conference Sunday, instead we slipped on the slippahs and went for a walk around the block, visiting with our wonderful neighbors along the way.

What a perfect ending to a perfectly wonderful, even if busy, day.