Where Did THAT Week Go?!?

I can't believe it has been over a week since I dropped in here to say hello! The week just flew right past me! So let's see if I can remember what we have been up to (nothing real unusual)...

Last Friday Drew was off school (no school because the public schools were having parent-teacher conference day). So, since he had a bad day last Wednesday, we spent the morning (the time he normally would have been at school) sitting at the kitchen table doing work. "Boring work" as Drew calls it. ;) After that, since it was a pretty day, we finally got to go to the park up the road for awhile! There were still some gorgeous trees...only the boys weren't cooperating too well for pictures. One of the pictures is over on the right.

Friday night was also Ladies' scrapbooking night at church. It was fun as usual and I actually made some progress on Christmas projects.

Last Saturday morning I attempted to take a photo to use on our Christmas card. Didn't go so well. I didn't end up liking my original idea for the picture and the boys weren't cooperating very well even with John here trying to help. I was originally going to take a picture of them with wrapping paper, ribbon, Christmas lights, bows, etc around them and then put something on the card about not getting too wrapped up in Christmas to forget the true meaning. Didn't work though :) Here is just one of the MANY failed pictures...lighting not right as well as the expressions :)

Sunday Drew was awesome at church!!! Even in the class he usually has problems with, he did well. When I picked him up from that class both the teachers said he was perfect and went on and on about how well he did and how he answered all the questions during the lesson. *CHEER*

Monday at school didn't go as well for Drew. I didn't get called to pick him up early, but he was very disobedient in Music class. They are working with jingle bells and there are certain parts they are suppose to ring them and others they aren't. Being that they are 3 and 4 year-olds, they aren't expecting them to be perfect at it. But when the teacher specifically told Drew to not ring, he looked right at her and shook them as hard as he could. They even had to remove him from music class (a time when he usually doesn't have any problems because he enjoys it so much) for awhile to try and talk to him.

Tuesday we went to JcPenney and had a family picture taken. They turned out pretty good (except I HATE just about all pictures with me in them ;))...but we didn't do real good at getting a picture of just the boys together their either. By the time we were done with the family picture (which was the main reason for going), the boys were done with the whole thing and just wouldn't cooperate. I will share the pictures when they send me my SmilesByWire.

Wednesday Drew had a PERFECT day at school. They teacher said he was so cooperative and even apologized for disobeying on Monday. Joy Bells went well that evening too. WOOOHOOO!! We also got new high-def DVRs for upstairs and downstairs from DISH Network on Wednesday afternoon. John is VERY excited about being about to get FOX Midwest in HD now - lol. Mizzou games in HD make him VERY happy. But OUCH on the price off all of it. Merry Christmas to you - John ;) I am just happy to have a new satilite dish that doesn't keep dropping the signal. Because our tree in our backyard has gotten to big, they not only gave us a new dish, but also moved it to the opposite side of the house and to the roof. MUCH better signal there!

Thursday was swimming for Drew. I just can NOT get over how well he is doing this session! He is now jumping into the pool without hesitation. And he doesn't seem to have a problem with diving in from his knees either. Still having problems with the backfloat - he HATES water in his ears! I am thinking about trying some earplugs to see if that helps. What surprised me most this time was that he went down the big waterslide all by himself without me having to give him a push and without screaming and whining. I tried to video it with my Cybershot, but he took off down it before I had a chance to turn the camera on! :) I will have to try again next week.

After naps on Thursday I did a round 2 of the Christmas card photo shoot. SUCCESS this time! It was just me and the boys, but this time I thought and took out my long handled feather duster to tickle them with PLUS I used the remote for my camera. DUH - why didn't I think of that the first time! I also changed their outfits this time. I picked up some cute red, green & white plaid PJs for the boys from Gymboree (they were on sale PLUS I found I 20% coupon!) and they came in that day (perfect timing). I am happy with some of the shots I ended up getting. I won't share the "winning" :) shot just yet, but here are two of the MANY shots. I tried some standing up this time, but wasn't happy with those...they were also the ones I took at the end and the boys were through with the whole thing by then. Yes, Zach's are a bit long, but they just fit around him - lol! Drew kept commenting on how soft and warm they were. :)

Friday school didn't go well. Again they didn't call me to come pick him up early, but they were getting ready to when he finally decided to stop throwing a fit. He had problems right off the bat in the morning. Took train tracks away from another kid - because according to him the other boy "wasn't doing to right" *rolls eyes*. He then talked all through story time and when it was time to wash hands for snack had to go last b/c he had been noisy - which put him in meltdown mode. He got himself calmed down only after they started to take him to the office. His day ended with his teacher and another teacher having to drag him out to my van since he was again melting down. This time because he found out he didn't get a start for the day and was getting a bad note sent home. And here he only needs one more start for good behavior to go pick a toy out at ToysRUs.

This morning I ran to SAMS to take put in our order for Christmas cards. Last year I designed our 4x8 card, saved it as a JPEG and took it in and they were able to print that. THIS year I did the same thing, only they said they no longer have the template to print a 4x8 JPEG! Which means I had to come home, rearrange the card to fit a 4x10 card and then run back to SAMS. Since they are discontinuing that size, they no longer have any of the 4x10 envelopes. No biggy, I will just get some from an office supply....only they are like $32 for 100 (more than what the cards cost to print!) and only come in brown! Since I didn't find this out until AFTER I had ordered the cards, I now have to see if the printed cards can be cut down to fit in a regular #10 envelope (meaning trimmed down to less than 9.5 inches...which I THINK I can do). If I would have just stopped and thought it through, I would have come home, redesigned the card to just extend the background to 10" and then cut the extra 2" off after printing. Ah well....I think this will work out though. :) Live and Learn :)

And that pretty much sums up our week :)
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In Zach's world....
I always talk so much about Drew (because of all the problems we are having with him) and hardly mention Zach. He isn't forgotten! Just is a less demanding child at this time (THANK YOU, LORD!!). It seems like his talking is starting to finally see some progress. He is REALLY into saying "uh-oh" right now (which, according to our Parents-as-Teachers contact, is considered an actual word for this age). His jabbering is also starting to sound a little closer to words too. He is able to say in a somewhat understable way: Momma, Dadda, bubba (which is for Drew), Bye-Bye, nap, night-night (comes out "nigh-nigh"), thank you (which comes out "tank to"), drink (which comes out "dink"), this(comes out as "diss") and then very understable: Uh-Oh. Other things he enjoys: Spinning in circles until he falls down, dancing, banging his head and saying "OH!", doing anything to make you laugh, throwing himself on the floor in a temper tantrum...he does NOT enjoy naps or sleeping. Yes, our child that use to walk to his door and want to be put in his bed now throws a temper tantrum a good majority of the time when you put him in it :) I think he just finds too many things interesting right now that he doesn't want to spend the time sleeping. Another thing he finds very entertaining is to sit on his little potty while someone else is using the restroom. He is still a VERY BIG boy! We go for his 15-month check-up this coming Tuesday and will find out just HOW big. I can't believe at not quiet 15-months he is already almost out of 2T clothes. It amazes me every time I put a 3T shirt on him that isn't that much too big!
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Ok, I have a library book I need to try and finish today that is do back by Monday as well as laundry and some Christmas projects to work on so I guess I should get busy! Just in case I have another week before posting....hope you all have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING this coming Thursday! And safe traveling to any of you who are doing that.