Take Me Out to The..

Really, chilly and windy ball field! Batter up, its that time of year again, our favorite sport.. BASEBALL!!! We switched leagues this season and so far we are happy, though the fields are all open, no trees around, so the wind is crazy, the temp is several degrees colder than home. So we bundle up and head to practice!

Maks finally started T-Ball, he was so excited. He is now officially a Royal and he is very proud of that and his new baseball hat. He has pretty well so far, just a little issue with the running. He hits the ball and stands there playing with the tee or watching how far the ball goes.

But, we talked about this, he got some coaching from Tim over the phone and next practice he was much better. T-Ball is a trip, the kids crack me up! Maks is so happy to be playing the game his big brother has been playing.

Alek was officially drafted to the Cardinals in the pony league. He was very stoked to find out his buddy from his class is on the team and his dad was the coach.

He has two boys from his class on the team, so he is loving it. It has been a chilly start, I am hoping for warmer weather so I dont have to wear my gloves to the field! But, the boys dont seem to mind.

We are happy to be watching the Phillies get off to a great start this season. We have High Hopes!

Tonight Alek was laying in our bed watching the game and I was dusting the TV, he said, "mom your blocking my view". I said, its no big deal, we are getting our butts kicked. He said, Mom, it doesn't matter if we are losing, I am just happy the Phillies are on and Mom, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, just that you have fun.

Keep up that great attitude Alek!

Lion vs. Lamb

Oh March, why must you tease us, sunny warm days, then cold winter-like mornings. Just let it be spring already! We want to stay outside and play without having to put our winter coats back on. I have been lost for several weeks now without my favorite camera. It broke during the insane ice sledding adventure in the Poconos, but thankfully it was still under warranty, so off to Sony it went and I was left with my cell phone camera. No comparison.

So it must be spring because Kevin has re-done the pond, or the waterfall. This seems to a regular spring occurrence. Though he swears this is the last time, he has it just the way he wants it (I think I have heard this before). But, it looks great, as always he did a wonderful job. While Kevin was slaving away on the pond, I took the initiative to have playground mulch delivered with my neighbor and then I fixed up the play area. That was hard work, manual labor is not my cup of tea, but the play area looks great and it has alot more cushion to it given the high flying antics of Alek and Maks.

Other new happenings in March, is that I started working per diem at a nursing home. I really missed patient care, and I found a perfect set-up. I have only worked a few times, but I really enjoyed it.

Alek and my friend's daughter, E, received late Christmas presents when Mary Poppins came to town. We had a fun night, though I have to say I was disappointed in their choice of restaurants downtown. Applebee's, so much for nice dinner before the theatre! The show was great though. I really enjoyed it. Alek kept swearing that the little boy playing Michael Banks, was his friend Xander. He did kind of look like him, but I had to keep explaining to him, that this kind of show is a huge deal and if Xander was in it, we would have known.

Maks had his IEP. His speech has improved so much. He still struggles with his R, TH, but she said that still falls within the normal for his age. His receptive language went from delayed to above average and his expressive went from moderately delayed to average. He is still struggling with the volume issues and we are always reminding him to breathe and exhale as he speaks and also to speak like he is singing. He complies but then a second later is talking extremely loud. The therapist said it is very hard for his age to change behavior. But hopefully his vocal cord nodules wont get worse. next week he has an evaluation by the school district's speech pathologist and that will help determine his services in the fall. For now, the IU is switching him to once a month.

March also means the start of baseball. Maks was finally getting to play TBall. He was so excited. He laced up his spikes, grabbed his glove and picked out a baseball hat, oh and several layers of clothes and his winter coat. He was "drafted" by the Royals. He did good his first practice. TBall is a trip. He did pretty good in terms of paying attention. He has a strong arm and he hit well, the problem is running. He didn't quite grasp that. It was funny, he was just hanging out on each base and didn't run until a coach lit a fire under his rear.

He seriously cracks me up. He is so entertaining. Hopefully next practice on Saturday will be warmer! We are still waiting on Alek's draft notice and he should start practice next week.

Well we hope the sun and warm air decide to come soon and stick around, because we are sure sick of this cold!

Maks Funnies

Oh Maks, how you crack us up!!

What is funny about Maks is he doesn't know how funny he is.

He has this dry, matter of fact, sarcastic humor about him.

So out of the mouth of Maks this week:

At my brother's house for my niece and nephew's birthday. Maks coming running in the house and I tell him to go to the bathroom as I have noticed he hasn't in awhile. He says, "but mom I already went, outside". I said, "excuse me, you went outside?". He says, "Mom I didn't pee my pants, I just went in the mulch".

Ok then, that is much better!

Upon a field trip to nursing home, he was sweet and gentle and kind to the residents. He told me he kept talking to one lady and she just smiled at him alot. He said, I asked her, "why dont you talk?" he said she still didn't talk, just smiled, so he tells me, "mom I dont know why the old lady didn't talk, she was a good listener though".

He has a great session with his speech therapist at school the other day. She said he worked so well his controlling his voice volume and whispering. She was really happy. The session ended and he ran back in his classroom and announced, VERY LOUDLY, "hey everybody, Im done my speech, lets playyyyyy". Apparently his therapist, just put her head in her hands and sighed.

The other night, the boys were playing Wii as I was getting ready to walk with my neighbor. Maks comes running upstairs, heads to his bedroom. A couple minutes later comes back downstairs with only his pajama shirt and carrying his bottoms in his hand, he ran past me. I said what are you doing, he yelled going potties mom! The doorbell rings and Maks coming running out, still naked from waist down and looks out the window, giving my neighbor a show. I see her doubled over laughing.

He says, "oh boy mom, Miss M saw my weinis." (Maks seems to have combined penis and weiner). I said, well that is what happens when you run around naked. He said, "sorry mom" and off he went. I guess at some point he put his bottoms on!

Riding his scooter today, doing tricks, he wipes out, it looks bad, he is laying on his side, his back to us, I expect him to be crying, but he looks over, with his angry face and says, "Uh, I jumped too high". We started cracking up and he got upset, he said, you are laughing at me cause I fell. We explained no, it was his reaction and reasoning behind the fall.

This kid is a trip. It will be so much fun to see what he is like once he realizes how funny he truly is! I think we will be in for it!

The Stats

Usually I throw the yearly stats in the birthday posts, but Alek's doctor's appoointment fell after the birthday festivities.

So onto the stats:

Alek grew 3.25 inches from last year, he is now at 49.75 inches! The doctor was amazed, she said generally at this age, you usually see 2 inches per year.

This explains the clothes not fitting!

He also gained 8 pounds and weighs in at 57 pounds, though hard to tell where that is, Mr Skinny Guy!

Growing like a bad weed!

And the celebration makes

its way to the beach! The birthday week celebration continued down at Pop and Noni's. Alek was extra excited that Jakey was able to come as well!
Kevin left that same morning for a golf trip to Hilton Head with the guys, so it was good for us to escape for the weekend. Saturday was nice and warm. The kids were able to kick their shoes off and run barefoot in the sand. They really enjoyed playing on the beach. Maks asked if we brought his bathing suit down!

I swear the beach just relaxes me the instant I get out of the car. I guess it is the smell of the salt air, the sound of the water. It was a sight for sore eyes after this winter!

As we walked onto the beach Alek said, "ahh my beach, I missed you". That's my boy!

He went right to task looking for his shells and stones.

It was a great weekend for finding clam shells and beach glass (lots of different colors!). After playing on the beach the boys rode their scooters and had some races speared on by Pop. They came to a crashing halt after Alek wiped out. So we took a break and then headed to Grotto for some pizza and game fun.
The boys had a blast all weekend. Alek and Maks did great, Jake is definitely a calming influence, not as high energy as they normally are down there!

It was a great weekend and a great way to wrap up the week of Alek!

Kevin has been enjoying his time in Hilton Head, so glad he had a chance to go, but we cannot wait for him to come home!

7

March 4th

Can you believe it? He is 7! A 7 year old boy, wow! The celebrations have lasted 2 weeks. He had all his buddies and cousins Jakey and Aldo, for a party at KidzRule, they bounced and partied hard for 2 hours. It was a blast!

That was followed up by his friend's party on Saturday, then a sleepover at Grandmom and Poppy's. Sunday brought another friends party! Whew what a weekend!!

Granny came over Wednesday for a pizza dinner and it seems like everyday he gets another present!

So for his actual birthday--well he has a busy day. School has alot of activities planned all day for their antibullying kick off, so he is excited for that. I cant wait to see the Pep rally. The kids are all performing, We Are All In This Together, from High School Musical. It should be soo cute!

Then we will head out to dinner to celebrate. As of now, he wants chinese food, so we may be heading over to PF Chang's, though his mind could change easily!

Kevin is headed away on a golf trip early saturday morning, so the boys and I, along with Jake are headed to Pop and Noni's beach to continue the celebrations.

Sunday, the week(s) of Alek will come to a quiet and relaxing close. I am sure he will have a blast this weekend!

So 7 amazing years, That flew by, like Alek on sledding tube!

7 years of laughter, craziness, smiles, tears and enjoyment.

This kiddo loves life to the fullest!
6 and loving his Transformers!

5 and hitting surf in Florida!

4 and monkeying around as always!

3 and hanging out in the pool, check out my muscles!

2 and cracking us up as always! 1 and exploring the world around him with his binky!

4 1/2 months, the first time we held him in our arms.

Happy Birthday Aleksandr, you are truly an amazing little dude and we are so lucky to be your parents!!

Yes it is still winter

Still snow, still cold, but
We have had a few teaser days of warmth. Just enough to lift my spirits, but also just enough to torture me when it snows again.

That groundhog said we would have an early spring. Well I am waiting, impatiently!

In the meantime, we have been packing in more fun.

Mike, C and the girls along with Jeff, Amy, and LM came over for our long overdue pollyana party. Since our group of kiddos is getting larger each year we decided the kids could take part in a pollyana. Thanks to C and the girls for picking out the matches.

The kids had a blast with their belated Christmas presents. It had been awhile since they were all together. It is always amazing to see the changes. It seems like just yesterday it was only Alek and Keeley, they were the babies, now out of no where, they are the big kids. The ones looking after the littles, the ones dishing about school and friends. How did that happen so quickly?

It amazes me to see how much LM and Makenzie have grown as well, that toddler phase just flew by, they are walking, talking little people. You can hold a conversation with them, its crazy!
At least for me, Maks and Ry still stay the same, maybe its because they are the middle kids or still need to be mama's kiddos, but for me it hasnt been such a shock when they are togther.

Before we know they will all be teenagers sneaking down the basement, looking for trouble!

God I hope we are sane and coherent enough at that point to know what is going on!

It was a fun evening, capped off with me giving C a lesson in Michael Jackson experience. I know she wants a rematch!

I have officially kicked some serious butt and scores in Thriller, Billie Jean and Black or White! To anyone willing to step onto the dance floor with me--BRING IT ON!

February also brought around Maks' 1st report card. He is in the kindergarten class at the day care, though this isn't his official kindergarten year. But none the less, the report was pretty good.

His report stated that he was a very smart boy who was grasping all the kindergarten concepts. His writing has improved a great deal, though he continues to struggle with being a perfectionist and therefore getting frustrated if what he is doing isn't what he thinks it should be.

Of course, he still needs some work on the attention department, but that will come. I am sure by September he will be ready to start at the big school with Alek.

His speech as improved so much. It is very rare that you cannot understand him. Unfortunately he still struggles with his volume issue, but he definitely can physically whisper now. he is working on voice therapy and has his yearly IEP coming up. His therapist though feels he will not qualify through the county for her services anymore, so it looks like we will have seek out the private sector.

It is hard for children his age to work on control in terms of his voice and volume, but we really need him to so he doesn't make the polyps on his vocal cords worse. At least he is making some progress and can turn it down when we tell him.

We spent the last weekend up the Poconos with friends and their kiddos, 7 kids total ranging in age from 5 to 16!

It was a great time.

The kids got along so well and it was fun hanging out and catching up with our friends.

The weather could have cooperated better. When we left on Friday it was a gorgeous 68 degree day, I was loving life, by the time we got up there, it was cold, in the 30's and a bitter wind kicked in.

We made the most of it though, hanging out by a large fire, stoked by Kevin all day. The kids explored the woods, found dry wood and sticks for us while we sat by the fire and kept warm.

Later that day we went sledding. We were excited to see we were the only ones on the sledding hill. Well, there was a reason why. The winds were insane and the hill was ice.

Alek went flying down on the tube alone, I almost had a heart attack. We had to shorten the run so as not to pick up too much speed.

It was crazy and fun, but we decided to quit while we were ahead (meaning no injuries or ER visits).

It was definitely a fun weekend and I am so glad we got away.

Next up is Alek's birthday party!! He has been talking about it for months now. It is being held this Friday at a local bounce place. We had to move it from his actual birthday as the place is unfortunately going out of business the end of February. He is so excited to have all his friends there. He is stoked for this whole weekend as it is party central for him. Not only is his party Friday night, he has parties for his buddies on Saturday and Sunday. I think I can predict Sunday night will not be pretty in our house!

In 2 weeks, my baby will be 7. 7, WOW, so unreal.

February brought milestone birthdays to 2 important young women in my life.

My niece Kristin turned 21! She is amazing young woman who is making all of us proud with her hard work, persistance and determination to follow her dreams and her chosen career path. I know she will succeed wherever she goes! Its hard to believe that beautiful little 8 yr old in my wedding is now legal--well I cannot wait to take her out for a drink when she is home on break!

Cheers Krissy!!

My best friends daughter, Jess, turned 16. I was honored to be in the delivery room when this wonderful young woman made her entry into this world. We always laugh and joke about that night, she loves when I tell her the story.

It seems like just yesterday I was holding her for the first time, looking into those beautiful brown eyes and now she will be driving!
I am so proud of the smart, beautiful, strongwilled, and hard working young woman she has become. I am so glad I get to be a part of her life!

So despite the weather, the snow and the cold, February has definitely been a heart warming month and I really have enjoyed it!

Now, bring on Spring and Sun!!

Love is

Its February. Not much happens in February except snow, ice storms, and Valentines Day, oh and Krissy and Cynthia's birthdays :o)

Alek and Maks really like Valentines Day. They like the class party and exchanging Valentines. Its sweet and its cute. I like that we get to talk about love and what it means to them. Its pretty wild to ask a child what a love is and hear their response.

I'll start with Maks. He says I love you a hundred times a day, he will be in the middle of something or talking about something and change it up and say, mom I love you. So I asked him, Maks what is love? Hmmmmm, ummmmmm.....

You can see the wheels turning.

His response: "Its mommy and daddy and Alek. I asked him what does love feel like and he said its in my belly and I feel happy." He went on to say, that love is listening to mommy and being good and not getting time-outs. He also said sharing toys with his brother and friends.

So sweet, so simple.

Onto Alek. He says I love you my cutie pie mommy. He also says, I love my whollleeee family! He always tells me he loves me to the moon and back, but recently I got, "mom I love you to God and back, because that is further then the moon"

Seriously, how fabulous is that?

So what does love mean to Alek. He says he feels it in his heart and his belly and it makes him happy and smile. He said it means that even though mommy and daddy may be mad when he does something wrong, they still love him. He said it means mommy's and daddy's do things for their kids first and that they will always be there for their kids.

I asked him if he thought of anything else and he said, it means that you always want to be with the people you love and that you miss them if they aren't there ("like Corlie, Kaiser, and PopPop").

So profound.

He then asked me what I think love is. Gotta love when they turn the questions around on you! So,
what do I think love is?


Its a feeling that is really hard to describe and it is probably different for each person.

Like Alek said, it makes you want to be with the people you love and miss them alot when they are not with you.

Its your heart skipping a beat when you see that person, or when your child wraps their arms around you tight. Its unconditional, especially when it comes to your children. Its hurting when they hurt, laughing when they laugh, having your whole life wrapped up in theirs. It is wanting to do what is right and what is best for those you love. It makes you do things you may never have wanted to do before. It is putting someone else's needs before yours.

For my kids, it is just knowing they are my world, and I cannot imagine life without them. Its knowing I would give my life up for theirs in a second. It just amazes me how deep that feeling goes for a little person who exhausts you, tries your patience, gives you headaches and doesn't let you sleep! Its just so hard to describe the love for your child, it is unconditional and everlasting, its simple and pure.

Love is also doing your best not to judge and to be ok with the quirks or personality differences. Its standing by that person and being able to forgive no matter how angry you are.

Its knowing that no matter how much you mess up, the people who love you will have your back. It's knowing who you can count on. Its wanting to be the best person you can be for those you love.

I think Love can bring out the best and worst in human nature, but love is what life is all about.

So, Alek, does that answer you question?

Happy Valentines Day to my sweethearts, all three of them!!