St. Pat's Week

This past week was a few things: busy, fast, productive, and GREAT!

First of all, our big guy, Ethan, was on blue. Not once, but TWICE! Two days in a row - we were so, so proud of him. He was on blue on Monday for his behavior during their silent reading time. He was the only person in his class that stayed on task and got through his whole book on his own. Then the next day, he started cleaning up for his teacher without even being asked. That's the kind of behavior we want to see consistently. Not that he's doing badly at school - not at all. He's on green every single day. But I want him to remember how good it feels to BE and DO good and keep it up. He is currently building a Lego set from the Lego Movie that he got as a reward for his great week at school. Being five is awesome!

We've had some nicer weather, so the boys have had some fun playing outside. We've been on our bikes, taken walks, gone to the playground, drawn with sidewalk chalk, etc. AJ and I even got to run outside one day in the neighborhood while my mom watched the boys. I cannot wait for outdoor time to be a consistent thing. Soon, soon.

Ethan had Story Walk at his school on Thursday night. It was a pirate theme, so he was delighted. He got to make a pirate hat, hook, and flag; he got a free book; and, he got to eat jello, goldfish crackers, and pirate punch. What could be better than that? It was a great event - lots and lots of people, which annoyed me, but I suppose that was good for the school :-)

Yesterday, AJ's parents were kind enough to come up after school and watch the boys. AJ and I got an unexpected date night, which was great! We went to dinner with two of our closest friends, then saw the musical Once. We can't say enough how much we loved it! The music was amazing - it you ever have an opportunity to see it, run. Don't walk!

They spent the night so that AJ and I could do a local 5K with his mom this morning while Papa stayed with the boys. It was VERY windy this morning, making it quite cold for some parts. We also weren't aware that there would be two gigantic and long hills in this race. We aren't quite up to our best running shape, so we weren't prepared for that nonsense. Despite that, we still did fairly well. Only two minutes behind our best running time from this fall in very flat Chicago.

And now, AJ is settling in for something he hasn't gotten to do in over a month. NAP! We are so lucky that Ethan still takes a good nap on the weekends. We both look forward to the quiet downtime, so today will be awesome!

Happy St. Patrick's Day :-)