Christmas came and went with colds and sniffles. Monkey got strep in November, piano recitals and Christmas productions were amazing, and we are now in the deep cold of February. Everyone has been feeling cooped up and squirrely.
Hubby started playing the guitar just before Christmas, which has renewed all musical interest in the house! It is really neat. I moved the keyboard upstairs so all music practicing can happen where I can hear it while doing kitchen stuff, and we loaded a music app that will help with ukulele learning and my own piano tinkering.
Archery practices are up and running, and Girlie has joined the team this year keeping Sergeant company. Tournaments start up in a couple weeks and they are both getting pretty excited for that. The instructors place a small balloon in the center of the targets and the students who pop the balloons get prizes and treats, with 5 popped balloons in a practice earning a small stuffed animal. Sergeant came home 2 practices in a row with a new stuffed toy... he needs a bigger goal to work towards, I think!
We recently had parent teacher interviews with the girls' teachers and they are both doing really well. I was surprised that Monkey is reading just above where the goal fr this far into the year is, but that is because getting her to read to me is still often a challenge. I am very glad she is different for her teacher!
It has been interesting giving the boys more responsibilities and seeing them grow into them. On piano days supper gets interesting if I don't have the crock pot set up. There was one week that I had put out some tomato soup for the boys to open and heat, which they did and added seasonings to it. They wrote it down so they could repeat their special soup a la boys. Smarty also once made a cheesy sauce and pasta solo without following a recipe. I am glad he's watched me do it enough that it was actually pretty good! It meant we have upped our culinary lessons for both boys.
