Meet Me At the Sock Hop!

We look foward to our schools' spring dance every year. The kids run around like crazy, and we get to see a lot of our friends.  Its a win-win for everyone!

The teachers get way into it, too.  This is a 4th grade teacher dressed as Elvis!

 

Dylan's homeroom teacher, she is so wonderful!

 

Dylan and his friend S.  Dylan danced for three straight hours, he was so sweaty!

YMCA!

 

 

Logan goofing off with his friend N.

 

Dylan and his friend R

 

The guy in the "52" Ravens jersey is our incredible PE teacher, Mr. C.  Every year, he DJ's the event and hosts a dance off challenge between him and some students who sign up to show off their moves.  Its hysterical!

 

 

Such a great school, and a fun event!

catching up ..... again

I've been slacking on this blogging thing, that's for sure.  Lets go backwards.

It all went downhill last week when Logan came down with the flu.  Type B.  Six days of lethargy on the couch.  My boy didn't move, except when he had to go to the bathroom.  Today is Day 10 and he still isn't eating much.  He went back to school Monday, after missing all of last week. 

Then on Thursday, I started feeling the yuck come on, and I've been fighting an uphill battle for 8 days now.  Not quite the flu...more like massive head cold/respitory nastiness.  I had to miss a couple of days of work training, and returned today trying to soak in some more medical assistant knowledge as I get acclimated to my new job.

On Friday of last week, on top of all the plague in our house already, Dylan came down with strep throat and missed Friday and Monday at school. We got him on antibiotics right away so he was well enough (kind of) to attend his all day Odyssey of the Mind competition.  He's been working with his team (which Andrew has co-coached) since October, so this was a "can't miss event".  That day we also had to sandwich in a birthday party for Logan to attend, summer swim team registration (which has to be done in person for swim suit try ons), and a teacher vs. teacher basketball game.  Needless to say, we all collapsed Saturday night and slept for 10 straight hours thru the spring ahead time change.

Here are a couple of photos from Dylan's team, the "Flaming Fury":

Team Shirts representing our school...

 

Dylan the lion tamer (which is actually our leaf blower in disguise)

 

 

 

The whole team with Lucia (head coach) and Andrew (co-coach)

 

 

The big performance..

 

 

 

 

And here is Logan later that day at our school teacher vs. teacher basketball game -  halftime student free throw

 

 

 

 

So, before we all got sick last week what else has been happening in March?

 

Well, Dylan had his Webelos I Blue and Gold Banquet in late February. He's been having a lot of fun with the boys in his den, and this time next year will cross over to Cub Scout as long as he sticks with it.  This year there have been lots of focus on physical fitness, craftsmanship, and outdoors skills.  We have a family Scout camping trip coming up in mid-April, and a hike coming up this coming weekend.  Whew. See why my head spins around sometimes?

 

The week after that, it was time to send invitations out for Dylan's little birthday slumber party.  He wants the same party as he's had the past few years... inviting a few boys from school on a Saturday night in April for a pizza party sleepover at our house.  He wanted a 'cool' shot of himself to be part of the evite. 

Here he is, my big boy about to turn 10 on April 14th.  I can hardly believe it.

The first weekend in March, we had a nice treat.  Mom and Robby took the boys for the weekend, and three of my dear high school friends came out for the weekend.  Ronda, Liza, Angela, Andrew and I put in a full afternoon of wine sipping as we toured them through some of our area's vineyards.  They all live in Maryland, so they had never been to visit any of the Loudoun Vineyards. We had time to fit in five, and we had a blast.  We're hoping to do it again once the weather gets warm!

 

 

This is after visiting the first several vineyards.

 

 

In case once wasn't enough...

 

 

 

I think that one about sums up that day.  Pure joy with friends you've known forever and love, love, love.

And finally, somewhere in between all of this last week, we had a kind of, sort of snow day.  They scared us into thinking we'd be snowed in for days but fortunately it didn't out to be quite the storm they thought.  Just enough for two little boys to enjoy for a few hours.

 

 

My two monkeys. 

 

 

belt graduation!

Last night, Logan graduated up to the next belt level at Taekwondo. This is his first belt graduation since moving up to the Intermediate level.  The semester began in November, so many weeks of hard work went into learning new skills including his favorite current move, the tornado kick.

This semester, the kids also worked on keeping a journal which outlined the virtue of gratitude.  There were suggested projects they work on, and they were to document what they did to show gratitude to others.  Those kids who participated in the program also earned a cool shirt at the graduation last night.  I'll have to take a photo of Logan later today after school, since he's already proudly sporting his.   This next semester will focus on the virtue of perserverance.

As always, we continue to love his taekwondo school TopKick and love what it teaches him about focus, self discipline, determination and respect.  He gains so much self confidence through what they teach, and how they teach.  Its just awesome.

 

 

 

 

Way to go Logan!

 

 

 

 

 

taking it in

I finally got around to downloading some photos I took weeks ago, and had forgotten all about an excursion into the city.  We tell the boys all the time how lucky we are to live where we live, and how people travel from all over the world to visit Washington DC.  They are really enjoying history and museums more than ever.  In fact, over the summer we're thinking about a long weekend to Gettysburg, which isn't too far from here either.  There is so much history near us, and so much to see and do.  I love it!

A few weekends ago, we had some mild weather and ventured into the city to the American History Museum.  The boys really loved the transportation exhibit, and I really enjoyed the black history March on Washington/Emancipation Proclamation exhibit.  Super interesting!

 

 

This exhibit about food is super interesting too, and included Julia Child's kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

and so it begins...

The tooth fairy paid her first ever visit to Logan's room last night!  His tooth finally fell out today, after we both tried to pull it out all weekend.  Logan said he just pulled it out on the bus, no blood or anything.  When he got to school the school nurse put it in a little envelope for safe keeping.  He was so excited to come home from school and show us his new smile!

 

She may be back again soon, since now the tooth next to the missing tooth is loose. My baby is growing up!

Oh goodness...

Where to even start?  I keep thinking I'll sit down and post and it just never seems to happen.  Lots and lots and lots going on at Casa de Lopresti over the last month...

1. Logan has moved to a new school with a smaller classroom setting.  He was really struggling with the transition to full day first grade this past fall.  His classroom size at our home elementary school was very large, and it was just proving to be too much for him to handle.  We and the school tried many accomodations to make it  more manageable for him, but he was starting to feel very overwhelmed.  He struggles with focus, and is very impulsive and easily angered.  These issues have been going on for years, and as the demands of school have increased its become difficult for him to navigate an entire day without running into challenges he isn't quite sure how to handle.

We had a ton of meetings with our elementary school and at the beginning of the year, we all decided the best setting for him would be a smaller class size.  The classroom environment he needed didn't exist at our home elementary school, so we worked with our school system and found a behaviorally focused smaller class setting for him about 20 minutes from home, at another elementary school in our county. 

We're into the fifth week now, and he's doing SO much better.  There are only 7 kids in his class, and the teachers (3 of them!) are in tune with what he needs to be successful at school.  He's still learning at the 1st grade level, but there is also a focus on behavioral strategies in this classroom.  The ultimate goal is to eventually transition him back to our home school in a year or two, once he has some good strategies under his belt.  This past five weeks, we've been getting him settled into his new routine. The bus picks him up and drops him off at our house, which is wonderful, and he has already made some new friends.  Its been a great transition and he's adapted wonderfully.  We're so grateful for wonderful teachers who take the time to care for kids with special learning needs, and find the good in every child.  His new lead teacher is incredible, and she updates us regularly so we're all on the same page and working with Logan in a consistent manner.  We're so proud of you Logan!

Last week, Logan got his first ever loose tooth.  In fact, it was so loose this past weekend he asked me to try and pull it, to no avail. His teacher emailed me today and said it fell out at school today, so tonight the Tooth Fairy will make her debut.  He's going to be over the moon. Another milestone!

2.  I had a little health scare, which I'm happy to say had a good ending.  A few weeks ago, I went in for my annual mammogram and got called back for a second exam once they found a suspcious small mass.  Last week, I had a biopsy performed, and although I have a hell of a bruise, the results came back completely benign.  Just turns out I had a fibrous mass, nothing to worry about.  Waiting for the results was the hard part (not to mention the giant thick needle but I'm trying to forget about that part).  So relieved that all is well!

3.  Dylan is plugging along with his extracurricular activities and is keeping busy with Webelos and Odyssey of the Mind.  His competition is in 3 weeks, and he and Andrew have been busy saving every toilet paper roll in the house and building circus animals out of orange juice cartons (don't ask!).  He also competed in the annual Pinewood Derby and had a lot of fun building his car.  Dylan brought home his best report card ever a couple of weeks ago (all A's and one B) and just makes us proud with his happy-go-lucky attitude. 

In 3 weeks, I'll also be signing the boys up for summer swim team season, which will be here before we know it!

4. We've booked our spring camping trip, which will make two trips if you also count his scouting weekend in April (which I think we'll all four attend).  To make it a little less 'painful' I invested in a queen size Aerobed because let's face it, I'm not getting any younger and sleeping on the ground just ain't happening!

5.  I have a new job!  I learned about a part time opportunity at my women's midwife practice, where I've gone for 15 years for my women's care.  I just love this group of midwives, and have always felt that someday it would be so awesome to work in the healthcare field, caring for people and doing something that makes a difference.  They offered me the position last week and I immediately accepted, and will start next week.  I'll work a very flexible 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 days a week and the hours fit nicely into my life.  I'll still have plenty of time to spend with the boys and at the same time, it will give me something I can enjoy and learn and do on my own.  I think it will be the perfect balance, and I'm so excited about this next chapter in my life.  The practice is called Loudoun Community Midwives, and the office is ten minutes from home.  I can't wait!  They are an amazing group of women who work there, and I can't wait to learn everything they are willing to teach me!

I think those are the highlights from the past few weeks.  We've been waiting for snow that never came this winter, and filling our time with lots of family movies nights, parties, and playdates.  Looking forward to warmer weather when we can get out and have some adventures!

Mt. Vernon

A couple weekends ago we had some mild weather for Januaray.  We decided to take advantage of it and journey to Mt. Vernon for a nice little day trip. It was a little rainy and I guess for once not many people had the same idea because it was more or less deserted.  No lines and we got to walk right into the houses and the museum. Excellent! The boys really enjoyed it.  Dylan is learning all about Virginia history this year and knows so much about the French and Indian War, George Washington and Native American history. So this was right up his alley!  He gets to go again this spring for the 4th grade field trip so he'll be a pro.

Fourth Christmas

The Saturday after Christmas, we headed to Clifton for the annual family Christmas party which includes my Stepdad's Mom, his siblings and their families.  Its a huge group of us, and we have a blast.  Its full of kids, food, gifts, and fun, and one last opportunity to celebrate the holiday.

 

Christmas Day/Minute to Win It!

After a lovely, relaxing Christmas morning and bellies full of french toast, we headed to my Mom and Robby's for our afternoon of gifts and dinner.   This year we added a fun twist on the day - Minute To Win It party games.  Hilarious! A new holiday tradition was born.  We laughed so hard!

It was really great to take the focus off of gift opening and spend time laughing and enjoying each others' company.

So lucky to have a family who loves to have fun!

My Mom's tree, always beautiful.

The gift frenzy...

 

 



Minute to Win It - Pantyhose Head, it was the favorite game!

 



Cotton Ball Nose Game

 



 

Marshmallow Bucket Head