Self Portrait

Mica finally got his self portrait back!

I laughed so hard during conferences when I saw it! I could not stop laughing. His teacher was trying to be so serious, talking with me. All I could think about was the uni-brow Mica drew and has.

One week after conferences I found out from his art teacher that they studied Frida Kahlo before creating their self portraits. She did a lot of portraits and had a major uni-brow. It was then I realized that Frida's work influenced Mica.

Source

Here's what Mica wrote to go along with his self-portrait:

Swimming Lessons

The boys are back in swimming lessons. I was kind of late with signing them up, so they are in a Saturday morning class.

When they first got there I flip flopped their classes. Their swimming lesson classes are all odd names. Mica's in Polliwog and Isaak's in Eel. To me "Polliwog" sounds little! I had Isaak sitting in Mica's lesson! I really quickly realized and switched kids. All the kids looked too big to be Isaak's age.

I do have to say that they are practically just as good at swimming. It's just that Mica can touch the bottom and Isaak can't.

When it was Isaak's turn to go to his lesson he broke out in tears. I guess he really liked his last coach. He said he didn't like him because he didn't wear goggles. He had a hard time going to someone new.

Little boy's trunks seem to ride up like the photo. Little girl suits give them a wedgie. I remember my sister, Aunt Terra asked me once to pick out her wedgie. She is 5 years younger than me.

Both boys have the same coach. We'll see how it goes. They were impressed with how well Mica does the free style stroke. That clicked towards the last set of lessons he had last time.

Lunch

Mommy: "Mica what do you want for lunch?"

Mica: "I want Pork Tenderloin!"

Don't most kids want Mac n' Cheese and/or Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches?

Sing, SIng a Song Saturday

I started two weeks ago doing what I call Sing, Sing a Song Saturday.  I'm going to post one song on Saturdays that the boys or I like. I'll see how long I can keep it up.

The song may be part of a movie, a kid's video or just a song we like. It may or may not include words. I'll try and include why we like it and/or the history of the song/singer.

This week I'm posting songs that go along with Kinetic Typography.

It's pretty cool watching the letters dance around! I love watching Mica trying to read the words as they dance across the page.

Tonight I Splurged

We haven't been out to eat for a long while. Tonight Daddy was working, I worked all day, I had coupons and decided to splurge.

Mica ate like a true piggy. He eats ALL THE TIME!

When he got done eating he wanted MORE!

I had another coupon for a free mango or strawberry smoothie. Mica was all over that. I told him, "Ok I'll give the coupon to you as long as you go order it." He was like, "Ok are you sure Mommy?" I said, "Yep! Just go ask for a mango smoothie." He said, "Ok! I need money though." I said, "Nope! This one is free." He said, "OK! Watch me!"

Isaak and I watched Mica go up and order. He stood there waiting and finally said, "Um can I have a yellow one of these?" She got him one. Then it was too thick and he couldn't drink it up out of the straw. I said, "Why don't you go ask them for a spoon?" Mica said, "Mommy you are a genius!" :)

I think after his mango smoothie, Mica was full! Oh and Isaak, well he was a spazz all evening. Mica looks like he could pop in the photo below and Isaak's, well Isaak! I'm laughing about Isaak now, but at the time I was about to pull my hair out!

Off we went to the Y. It was open swim night. We got all ready to go into the water and then were told that we couldn't get into the pool because someone saw lighting.

Back in the family changing room we went to get pjs on. Isaak was still a spazz. The boys wanted to know why we couldn't get in the pool? I said, "Well if you are in water and lightening strikes, you can get hurt." They look concerned. I took it one step further and said, "Lightening can hear you. You have to whisper, so that the lightening can't hear you!" The rest of the night spazzy Isaak was nice and quiet. He whispered until it was time for bed. :)

Early 90s Flip Hairbrush

Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs like to clean and give us the stuff they don't want. A few weeks ago they gave the boys both a flip brush by Clinique. Luckily they had two. I think there might of been some fighting otherwise.

Grandma (Mom to me) used to get every Clinique bonus package there was. I imagine this flip brush was in one of the bonus packages.

The boys insist on using their flip brushes and looking in their flip mirror. Mica brushes his hair even though there is hardly any hair to brush.


What's one man's junk is another man's treasure! :)

Christmas in April?

Yep, I'm one of those that buys year round. I have 3 nieces and nephews that have birthdays right around Christmas. It gets pretty expensive during that time of year.

I got Mica this shirt from Tea for 1/2 off. That's not for Christmas. I thought it was pretty cute. He loves dressing up like a cowboy. Then Isaak can wear it soon after.

Then I got four of these reusable Marvel sandwich bags below. Again they were 1/2 off!

The bags are for 2 in one order. I thought they would be fun to put on top of gifts for Mica, Isaak, Cousins Evan and Elijah's packages!

I got comments about Mica's lunches. One of Mica's friend's Mom works in the cafeteria at school. She loves what I pack up for Mica and loves the containers things are in. I think she was referring to the reusable sandwich bags. He always has a bag of veggies and fresh fruit.

Both the items above were purchased at: Zulily. Copy and paste this link: http://www.zulily.com/invite/aapel915 to buy something.

I love their discounted items that pop up in my email. They mark stuff down. Many times the items are 1/2 off. They have stuff for girls, boys, toys, books, activities, the home and women. The list goes on. I've gotten so many gifts from there.

Friends

Mica's had a crush on a girl in his class since the beginning of the year. I haven't heard of any girlfriend talk for awhile - except for fictional characters. I think through his teacher and us made it clear to Mica that he needs to just be friends with people right now.

That doesn't change the fact that he likes this girl in his class! He actually told me last week, "Mom I know who I want to marry!" I said, "Who?" He said, "Insert her name here. But I know she's just a friend right now." I said, "Mica you might just change your mind."

We went to his music and art festival. A couple of his friends were there. He had to sit next to the girl he likes. We went over to look at his artwork. The kids in the class could choose anyone to draw as their friend. Mica chose the girl he likes.

Her Dad came up and said, "That's fun that Mica chose her!" Then her Mom stopped me later and said, "That's so sweet that Mica picked her to be his friend!" The image was all about them playing at recess.

The Book Mica Checked Out

Mica's checked out this book twice:

We own it. Daddy said, "You don't need to check this book out, we can read it to you anytime."

This time he checked out this book:

Just in case you can't read the title it is: Disney Princess The Essential Guide. We don't have a problem with them picking out girly things. Gee wiz Isaak still carries around a cup of little plastic babies. Daddy asked him, "Mica why did you get this book?" Mica said, "Because I love all the princesses, I especially love Ariel!"

UPDATE: So someone at Daddy's work keeps coming up to our door in the morning to get Daddy's key to the work place. He lost his and his wife keeps forgetting hers. Mica held up his checked out princess book and said, "Hey look at the book I checked out. All these girls in here are my girlfriends." Oh Boy! 

If we ever do go to Disney World, I'm going to be watching Mica's every move. He might just go up and try to kiss on the the princesses. YIKES!

Doctor Doctor

Both boys went to a well visit to the doctor this week.

Their doctor isn't at all concerned with Mica's distracted behavior. He told Daddy, "He's a boy and he's six." As long as he does well in school, which he is, Mica's just fine.

Their doctor also isn't concerned with Isaak's runny stools. He mentioned to give Isaak probiotics, which I had just started doing. It could be from the new fruits added back into his diet or toddler diarrhea.

Dr Harrison said the same things about the boys issues that I thought he'd say.

Usually I have a big blog about their doctor visit, but Daddy took them there. I asked how it went? He said, "Fine." That's all I got out of him.

Mica is in the 86% for height and in the 59% for weight. He weighs 51 lbs.
Isaak is in the 84% for height and in the 64% for weight. He weighs 37 lbs.

Busy Times

We're busy all the time, but last week and this week have been crazy busy!

• We've had doctors appointments.
• Then on Daddy's weekend, which is on Monday and Tuesday; he got called in on Tuesday. The extra money is nice. More than the money, he's been wanting a day off for a long time now. It's been too busy there to get time off. He's been working A LOT lately. This time around since it was on a Tuesday (we don't do daycare, so we have odd schedules) he had Isaak with him. Isaak watched Wow Wow Wubbzy, while Daddy made teeth. He works at a dental lab. His co-worker was sick for two days, which put the lab in a bind. He worked much of the day, then went back in and worked from 7:30 PM to 1 AM.
• Last night Mica's school had an art and music show. We went to that before Daddy had to go back into work.
• I have a thing called Portfolio Review Night tomorrow night. Staying a night here or there comes with teaching.
• Daddy works his one night a month at a gallery where his work is at.  This Friday is that night.

WW: Parachute {Linky}

My favorite shot of Isaak this week: 

Isaak and Mica having fun.

Mica being a goof.

You Can Follow Me Here:

I just joined Pinterest. If you follow me, I'll follow back. :)

ZZZZZ

On Saturday all I wanted was a nap. I know this is impossible considering that I'm a mom.

Daddy gets a nap sometimes. He has a fancy alarm set to go off 3 different times. Twice in the morning and once at 3 something to wake up to pick Mica up from school. I know Daddy almost always goes to sleep after me and needs a nap more than I do for that reason.

On Saturday I would have paid someone just for one single nap. Allergies were driving me nuts.

I laid Isaak down and he went to sleep pretty much right away!

Isaak slept from 3 to 6:30. He was one tuckered out dude!

Mica on the other hand isn't always great about naps anymore. He 6, so he's outgrown them. I have to say that once in awhile I'm so lucky and he takes one!

Mica was playing all nice in his room, while I rested.

Daddy's 3 something alarm clock goes off right as I was about to sleep.

I dose again. Mica comes into the room and complains that his eyes hurt from allergies. I tell him to join the club and to join me. He lays down. I fell asleep and Mica starts fiddling with the remote right next to my ear. I woke up, snapped at him. Guess what? He falls asleep in my bed. I didn't get a wink.

Motherhood and naps don't mix.

Doctors

This must be the weeks of doctor appointments!

Last week I had an orthopedic appointment. I learned that: A) I need to get specially made arch supports for my oh so flat feet that I inherited from my Father AKA Grandpa Spiehs. This leads me to a doctors appointment today. My arch supports will be made. B) I had my fist wart on my foot. Gross I know. It's what I have. I had to go to another doctor to get that frozen. It was just cold at first and later hurt like hell. Because it was on the bottom of my foot, it really hurt like hell to walk on. C) I may have to get an MRI. The orthopedic doctor thinks I may have fractured my tibia bone when I fell in October. I still have yet to decide what to do with that. I put in a call to the nurse on Thursday to see what they'll do if I did do that? She has yet to call me back, so I need to call again.

Tomorrow both boys go in for their annual well check visits. I have a list of a couple things I want Daddy to ask the wonderful Doctor Harrison.

Isaak keeps having diarrhea. Another gross thing that we're going through, but such is life. Mica went through a spot in his late toddler years, having diarrhea a lot as well. We came to the conclusion at the time that it was toddler diarrhea. For Mica it lasted for a month, maybe more. Then went away. Isaak, like Mica shows no pain in his tummy. He seems to be in a growth spurt. He's just having very loose stools. He goes a lot! Sometimes in the middle of the night. I did think that the change in fruits could be a part of his problem as well.

Daddy's concerned with Mica's behavior. Mica gets very distracted, is super energetic after school hours. Daddy thinks Mica is just like himself and views this as a concern. Mica does do well in school. The teacher actually raved about him at conference time. Part of me just thinks this is normal boy behavior. He does have a lot more energy and distracted more so than Isaak. I do see a lot of Daddy in Mica. If I were the doctor giving advice I'd say, "Cut out more sugars and put him on a diet with more veggies and protein." Mica is always asking for carbs to eat. I'm finding myself saying, "NO!" more and more. It's hard when he eats all his food, eats another plate of food and is still hungry. The boy is GROWING like a weed! He stays skinny. I'm trying to find ways to sneak veggies into our foods. Our mashed potatoes have carrots or cauliflower in them. Our homemade chicken nuggets have ground up veggies in them - last time I included too much, it was more like a veggie nugget with a little bit of chicken. Our homemade juice has veggies added sometimes. I try and serve two veggies with a meal, which I used to serve just one. Mica's a piggy right now. He dances around and says, "I'm hungry what kind of sweet treat can I have?"

Mica was grounded from TV last week. He said, "Next time you should ground me from sweet treats, I want those more than TV!" Thanks for the idea Mica. ;)

To top off my wonderful week last week, someone tried to rip off my credit card online. Thank got for good banks! They called me right away and put my card on hold. It wasn't lost or a stolen card. They just stole my number. They didn't charge anything to it. They just used it to open an account. How do banks know these things? They saw it was used for a $0 balance to set up an account and called me right away. I had to write checks out to pay for my co-pays last week.