the hinckleys: February 9

Sunday, February 9: Jamie was the spotlight in church today! She wasn’t very interested in being in the front of the room until she heard the Primary counselor reading off all the things describing Jamie. She perked up and smiled when Sister Blanche told everyone that Jamie likes to talk like the Minions. The rest of the day was full of study, study, study. Tyler and Jamie watched Charlie Chaplin on Netflix, and loved it. They spent the afternoon laughing and laughing about “the guy who walks funny and falls down the stairs.”

Silly shy Jamie

Happy girl with her Spotlight loot!

Silly bunch of people.

Monday, February 10: I finally had my Assessment test, and I was just happy it was over.

Tuesday, February 11: It threatened snow on Monday night and all the schools were canceled due to weather, but it never did snow. With the whole day free, we trooped over to Legoland. We hadn’t been in a while, and the kids had a great time. I brought my pharmacology notes and I studied most of the time we were there, letting McKay take the lead. Tyler spent a good 45 minutes writing a review about Legoland on a small iPad they have near the exit, just for the kids to tell about their experience. He labored over it and wrote a whole paragraph! I am so proud of all he is learning, he is such a smart and sweet boy. I’m biased, but I think he’s the best son a mother could ask for J As for Jamie, she is almost tall enough to go into the playplace in the middle of Legoland. Just a few more inches!

Wednesday, February 12: I learned about Head/Neck assessment during lab. It got out a few hours early, just in time to dash to Heights Prep for the Literary Luncheon. Cindy drove down from Plano to fill in for me (what a great Grandma!), and Tyler was so pleased to have both of us there. Afterwards, Tyler and I had lunch with Cindy at Uncle Julio’s. Tyler loved having one on one time with me and Grandma, and I did too. I don’t get much of that these days. I tend to focus spending my free one on one time with Jamie because she is so much younger and (I’ll say it) needier than Tyler, but I really love spending time with Tyler as well. He’s growing up into such a fun little person! He says the funniest things, and his questions remind me how little he knows of the world, and I love seeing him enjoy learning about the world. After school, I am embarrassed to admit I got pulled over for speeding across the bridge. Thankfully, the cop let me off with a warning. Oh, the magic of a clear driving record! Since then, Tyler has been policing me from the backseat ever since. “MOM! The policeman said SLOW DOWN! So you have to slow down!” He will say this whenever we cross that bridge again, regardless of how fast I am going. Even if we are in bumper to bumper traffic, 7 mph: ”GO SLOW!!”

Thursday, February 13: There was a fun Valentine’s party in the morning for Jamie with a few friends from church. She had so much fun playing with Ruby and Garrett. I had my first Pharm test that afternoon, and I did really well! Tyler had running club after school, and he is really improving his stamina. He normally couldn’t maintain a run for more than 100 yards, but he is doing loads better with his running club. For each lap they run, they get a straw from the teacher. They like to compare the number of straws after they are done running to see who got the most. Tyler is always a little peeved that his friends Jesse and Alan can get eight straws, and he has determined that he is going to catch up with them next week J

Friday Feb 14: Valentine’s Day! I started the day off grumpy for everyone because I was upset that I hadn’t prepared well for the holiday. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do much that was special for the kids because I had double labs that day, and I hadn’t done much to prepare the afternoon before (I just lounged around the previous afternoon, totally wiped out from all the tests). I didn’t even have eggs or bacon to do a somewhat nice breakfast for the kids. I did have these fun pink stuffed animal sock monkeys for Tyler and Jamie, but that was it. Poor Tyler looked at his peanut butter toast, and tentatively said, “Oh. I thought we would have a special breakfast for Valentine’s Day.” I was mad at myself for not prioritizing a fun holiday breakfast for my family, and quite illogically, I didn’t make the morning pleasant at all. Immature much?

I had Concepts lab, and we learned to give insulin shots and to reconstitute powdered medications for injection. We practiced injecting Nerf footballs and hot dogs with the medicines. It was pretty cool to finally be doing hands on things, even if it was a slab of meat. We also worked on wound care, Foley catheters, and maintaining sterile fields. Tyler had his class Valentine’s Day party at school, and Jamie had her party at her preschool. Tyler has gotten nine greens in a row so far at school. He has really matured since last semester, I am so impressed with his hard work at school with staying on task and doing his work well. I let Tyler and Jamie pick out what they wanted for dinner (macaroni and cheese!), and I made French Onion Soup for McKay and me,

Saturday Feb 15: Since the week had been so busy with school, I made the day all about Tyler and Jamie. In the morning we jogged to the park. Tyler ran right next to me the whole way, about 1.5 miles. I was really proud of him! I brought my textbooks to the park, planning to study, but it was such a gorgeous day, and the kids were so happy to be playing at the park, I couldn’t help but join in with them. On the way home, we had a great time talking about all the different seasons and holidays, and what our family does all year round. Tyler and Jamie were so excited to talk about all our family activities, and it made me so happy to hear their excitement over our lives and what we do together. I love these little people J

Funny things: Tyler’s school photo shoot. We were pretty flattered when we got a notification that Tyler was to be in the school’s promo photos. In our school, Tyler is a bit of a minority, and that bright red hair just calls to the hearts of the school administration that wants to say “Look, we have white kids here too!” So we were feeling pretty puffed up and proud until we saw the school website photos, and there was no Tyler to be found.

I was ready to be so outraged until I was emailed the photos with Tyler:

Oh, Tyler... :) Goofy, goofy little boy with a goofy smile...

Tyler has been giving Jamie color grades for her day lately after school. Most of the time it's green, but sometimes, after Tyler gives Jamie a green, she'll go off and color a new page, giving herself an orange (which is not a good color to have). Tyler thinks this is hilarious; I think Jamie is thumbing her nose at the system.