Avoiding.

I'll admit it. We have actively avoided Thomas the Train because those toys are so freaking expensive. But we couldn't avoid it forever, could we?

Some parents of my students got together and got Luke a battery-powered Thomas the Train set. It was incredibly sweet and thoughtful and completely set the Bickels up for the "Thomas Poor House."

All the money stuff aside, there really is something truly wonderful about watching a little boy with his trains. I also really have been enjoying Todd working very hard with Luke to set up complicated, multiple routes for the train tracks. It is wonderful to see them bond over the trains.



Once it is all set up he just watches the trains go around and around, trying to avoid them crashing into each other and timing the track switches.



We had put away his traditional wooden train set away because he had still been a little too young for it, but the time is upon us. The train table is ready to come into its own!

Ear Infection

FYI: I am so out of chronological order, please do not look for any sort of pattern.

Back to info from January . . .

So in the course the month of January, Luke had three really high fevers, beginning in Tahoe and the final one on his birthday. Luke is not a sick kid - he's really very healthy, so we equated the successive fevers to starting preschool full time. By the third fever though, I was really concerned, as they were all getting up to 104-ish. My wonderful MIL stayed after Luke's birthday to watch my little sick one, including changing her flights to stay even longer. She's fabulous!

After taking Luke to the doctor, we discovered that Luke was the proud recipient of his first ear infection. The doctor said he had probably been fighting it the whole month and we just hadn't figured it out. He's such an agreeable kid, we really didn't notice.

Thanks to my MIL, we were able to survive the first ear infection and got that all out of the way! Luke really didn't seem to mind - he got to take all sorts of fun medicines, hang out in his jammies and watch tv with Nana - all day!

Valentine's Day

I do love decorating the mantle. It is such a beautiful fireplace. Though we spend hardly any time in the room (mostly it is Luke toy storage), it still makes me so happy to decorate for the holidays.




We kept Valentine's Day pretty low key at home, as Valentine's Day is anything but low key at school. Todd was so sweet and decided to surprise me by making a classy dinner at home. He often cooks (out of necessity usually, since I'm a basket-case in the kitchen) but Chicken Parmesan is one of my favorite meals and he wanted to surprise me. He made dinner without a recipe, something I wouldn't even dream of attempting.


It was absolutely delicious! I'm so spoiled!
I was in charge of Luke's dinner. As we decided it was a special day for all of us, we let Luke choose his dinner, which of course, was pancakes. I bought special Valentine's pancakes (I'm a sucker, I know) and Luke helped make them.


He was interested for approximately 5 minutes and then found other ways to spend his time.


Cupid even brought Luke a few things - some candy and and a wooden fruit "cutting" set.


It was such a fun, family Valentine's Day.

Happy St. Pat's Day!

St. Patrick's Day almost passed us by this year with all the craziness of March. I feel bad for Luke - sometimes he really gets the shaft because of our schedules. Bless his fabulous teachers. I really wanted to surprise him with Lucky Charms for St. Pats, but that was not to be. His teachers though, treated the whole class to Lucky Charms and green milk - the kids were so excited! All three of us dressed for the day, though Todd only wore a shirt that said "Lucky Shirt." Harumph. I, though, dressed in my usual foolish way - wearing my green argyle socks and knickers. And of course, the hat that Luke is wearing in the picture. He preferred my hat to his, so I let him wear it for pictures. I can't wear the hat in the classroom though, as it is terribly difficult to redirect and discipline students wearing a goofy hat. So I switch it out for a St. Pat's Day bow. I'm prepared for that, at least.

We got together with family friends, let the boys play and eat pizza. Not exactly traditional corned beef and cabbage, but at least we knew the kids would eat!

Likewise, I still had my Valentine's Day decorations up and quickly took them down and put up my St. Pat's decor up quickly before we had guests. How embarrassing. Luke covered for me though. When they asked if the leprechauns visited, he told his teachers they did. *phew* Next year, I promise I will be more prepared.

Tahoe - Day 2

With all the fun, we didn't notice that Luke had started to become kinda whiny. Whenever he gets whiny, we know he is sick.

Luke's fever came on strong - he was up to 104 and we were, to say the least, freaking out. My parents were finding out where the local hospital while we were sticking Luke in a cold bath. Poor kid - he was miserable, as were the rest of us. He found his silver lining in it though, he was able to stay up with us watching "Little Einsteins."

Luke's fever broke around 3 am and we were all able to get a little sleep.

Saturday was planned for sledding and Todd and I debated going or not. Luke was so happy and excited about sledding that we opted to be "bad" parents and take him, just for a little bit.

We're glad - he loved it.

We did learn that one cannot suck one's thumb while in mittens. It was disheartening.


Luke took a couple runs down with Daddy, but then requested going down on his own. (of course)



The first few runs were successful and he was so proud of himself. And Daddy took him up a little higher. And then . . . and then he ate it. Man, did he ever whap his face right on that snow. And, oh, how he cried. And oh, how Mommy took a picture!



Daddy asked if he wanted to go again, to which he wailed, "YESSS." (cry cry) Then Daddy asked if he wanted to go down with him, to which Luke wailed, "NOOOOO. By MYSELF." *sigh*

So being the good parents we are, we sent him down again. By himself. He fell, but learned to catch himself enough to not smack his face in the snow. A few more runs and he was done. What he really wanted to do was build a snowman with Grandma and Papa. Which freed up the two of us to go sledding.

I felt so old . . . I kept saying to myself, "It's been years since I've sledded . . ."

But we both went down and we both ate it. Apparently, it runs in the family.

(I caught some sweet air!)



We didn't stay for too long and took Luke home for lunch and a nap. After his nap, we asked Luke if he wanted to go outside and play with his cousins. The fact that he rejected the offer reminded us that he was still not feeling well and we stayed inside.

I found my silver lining when he wanted to sit with me. *gasp!* I'll take what little cuddling I can get from that kid.


Even though Luke didn't get to build the official snowman with the official snowman kit, I still got to take fun pics of the snowman the cousins built with the beautiful lake. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful weekend - I hope that we can get back on this family tradition train.

March Madness!

Perhaps you think this post might be about basketball. You know, because the term "March Madness" gets thrown around crazy-style all over this month.

This post is not about basketball. I don't even know what is going on in the world of basketball.

What I do know is that I hate all that is March.

I used to love March . . . long ago, there was a time of idealism and hormones and faux-rebellion and faux-freedom called . . . high school. Granted, I would never in a billion years go back to high school, but there was one solid month of the year I looked forward to and that was March. Strange how things change, isn't it?

Years ago, as an idealistic, know-it-all seventeen year old, 30 pounds lighter and full of dreams and complaints, March was the time of cheerleading nationals. And while I loved cheerleading and had a great time with my buddies, March meant nationals and Disneyland. And what I really looked forward to was Disneyland. Getting out of school for a few days, competing, having your heart broken from not winning ("IT WAS RIGGED! IT'S BECAUSE WE DIDN'T WEAR BOWS, BUT SCRUNCHIES!") but then having it quickly pieced back together through the mutual love of all things Disney.

That was what March used to mean.

13 years later, post marriage and kid, March has taken a dreadful turn . . .

Now March is full of grading, grades, conferences and science fair projects. I freaking hate March. If I could somehow fall asleep at the end of February and magically wake up on the other side in April, life would be sweet. I have spent so much time on getting work done this month (by the by, it's only March 15th) that I still have Valentine's Day stuff up. I am eeking out every penny of Valentine's Day decor.

I think what really makes the whole thing miserable is the class I've got. The kids are tough, the parents are tough . . . this school year is just tough. So putting in all the work just makes me bitter. So this is how I've tried to decompress . . .

This is how I spent my time at the end of the grading period:



This is how I spent my time getting ready for conferences:


And this is how I celebrated (mostly) finishing my conferences:

And now I'm blogging. I have red cabbage juice boiled and ready for experiments tomorrow, I have chicken bones that need to be cleaned (ew) and I'm blogging. Meh.

On top of all of that, we had Luke's first parent-teacher conference. Yikes! It is way bizzaro to be on the other side, I'm telling you what. The long and the short of it is that Luke is young. Poor kid - he's got ants-in-his-pants and just wants to move. All the time. They occasionally allow him to wander, which is good, as long as he's not disruptive. Surprisingly, he still soaks it all in and is bright, being able to answer a lot of questions that his buddies in class don't know yet.

Did I tell you he is one of three Lukes? So he goes by Luke Bickel. Full name. Not "Luke B," but "Luke Bickel." So he calls himself "Luke Bickel" as do all the other kids. When I ask him how to spell his name, he says, "L-U-K-E, spells Luke Bickel!" Cute. When I come to pick him up, there is always one girl (the same girl) who screams across the room, at the top of her lungs: "LUKE BICKEL! YOUR MOM IS HERE!" until he notices. And usually he doesn't notice for a good long while.

So my days have been full of school school and more school. I'm completely exhausted, but no rest for the weary until Science Fair night is over and done with next Thursday. Yikes.