We attended Ashlyn’s 5th birthday party on Sunday morning at a gymnastic place.  The boys were ready to have fun as soon as we walked in.  The kids did a little free play first, then the coach started the group activities.  Logan was hesitant to do the trampoline, but after some convincing, he got in line.  Connor was already in line; he enjoyed bouncing over the long trampoline and slid down to the foam pool.  After this one round, Connor did not want to do it again, but suddenly a long time later, he told me he wanted another run.  Then all the kids were moved to the next activity, the parachute.  Neither of the boys were interested to join the crowd, so they just stayed near us walking and playing on the low balance beams.  The next activity was a race to another foam pool.  Connor was in line; when it was his turn, he ran as fast he could and jumped into the foam.  He wore a smile on his face the entire time.  Logan required some convincing again, but he did his best too.  When he ran back to the crowd, he tripped a little and he claimed that he hurt his ankle.  But after some resting, he agreed to go again and race with Connor.  Unfortunately by the time they finally came up to the front of the lines, the activity was called off to move on to the final area.  Connor joined in and do the obstacle course, but Logan opted out.  Then it was time for pizza.  After cleaning up, all the kids sat down to eat.  Logan saved a seat for Connor and helped him to ask for a slice of pizza later too.  After everyone ate and we sang happy birthday to Ashlyn, Connor and I enjoyed the cake.  Both boys were happy to get a balloon, and Connor was especially surprised by the bundle of popcorns given by auntie Julie.

     We had purchased tickets to the “Marvel Universe Live” a few months back, and the day of the show was this Saturday morning.  We only told the boys about it a couple days before, and they were excited to find out which superheroes they would see.  We arrived to the SAP Center early as we were told and picked up our tickets.  We walked around the center and were surrounded by all the superheroes souvenirs that Logan could not take his eyes off.  Connor was fascinated with the stage as he could not remember the last time he saw a live show.  Once we found the seats, both boys just wanted to stay there, but we encouraged them to walk around as we still had time.  At the end we picked up some pizza and fries to munch on before we returned to our seats for good.  The boys were excited for the show to start and kept their attention the entire time.  Shortly after the show began, Connor covered his ears tightly as he claimed that the sound was a bit loud and the show was a little scary.  He was still totally into all the action even though his hands were on his ears.  Later on he asked me to cover his ears for him.  There were some explosion sounds which were quite loud.  Later I put Connor on my laps so he could see better, and I kept my hands on his ears and he was content for the rest of the show.  Every time I scanned over to Logan, he was sitting still staring at the stage too.  All the familiar Marvel characters were on stage fighting and doing stunts.  There were many special effects and lots of motorcycle stunts.  All the actions definitely captured the kids’ attention; however, the show was not as interesting for adults based on Stuart’s and my opinion.  My boys did not get antsy at all, and as soon as the show was over, Connor asked if he could go down to the stage and if he could watch the show again.  As we were driving away, Logan told us his favorite superhero was Hawkeye, and Connor said he liked everyone.  He also added that he like the “fireworks” (the finale explosions).

     On the same night, we had Ian’s musical production at his middle school to attend.  We found out about this just weeks ago, and we definitely did not want to miss the opportunity.  Ian was the Prince in Cinderella.  Stuart wasn’t attending this one so it was up to me to take the boys.  I hyped up this special event to see their “Big Ian”, and Connor was counting down to this day.  We had dinner and got ready for this late outing.  We arrived to this local school and met up with Kathy and Kira.  Logan was drawn to the sweet stand at the courtyard but I had to decline it as they had dessert after dinner already.  We went into the school theater and found the good seats we were given.  Logan was assigned to seat on the 2nd row between Mckayla and Peyton while Connor and I were right behind him.  Logan did not mind the seat assignment and just sat down nicely.  Connor was complaining the bandage around his finger came off; I tried but was unsuccessful putting it back on.  Somehow Kira noticed Connor needing some help, and she offered her try and Connor did not hesitate.  It was a sweet moment.  Shortly after Michelle, Mckayla, Robyn, Brandon and Peyton arrived too.  Once we were all seated, Logan, Connor and Mckayla got into their silliness; Connor kept saying “Ladies and gentlemen” and “blah blah blah” and Mckayla laughed.  They were on a roll until the show started.  The entire got pitch dark between each set, and I tried to reach up to Logan’s shoulder to reassure him, and he often grabbed my hand and held it for a little bit.  The middle schoolers did a wonderful job, with dialogues, dancing and singing.  The production was quite impressive.  I later put Connor on my laps so he could see the stage better.  He was very attentive for the entire show, asking me the whereabouts of so-so sometimes.  He was ready to clap whenever the audience clapped.  At intermission, I decided to take Connor to use the bathroom.  Logan did not need to go, and he asked if he could stay behind with our friends, so Michelle took him with her to the courtyard.  Ian had sang two songs in the second half, and we were all so proud of how well he did.  Logan and Mckayla seemed more restless toward the end, so I saw them chitchatting with each other, but they were quiet.  Connor remained very focused at the show until the end.  After the show ended, all the kids got their flowers ready to wait for their idol “Big Ian”.  They all walked up the stage to hand him the flowers and had a group picture taken.  Connor got a hug from Ian, and later Logan returned near Ian and got one too, so I took another picture of them with the star.  We then quickly said goodbye to everyone as it was quite late for them, and headed home.  On the drive, I asked both boys if they would like to be in a show one day, and they both giggled claiming that they are too scared to be up on the stage. 

     This was a definitely a fun day of shows, and I was happy how well the boys behaved.  Connor asked me if we could see the shows again.

    We all went to the Travel Clinic at Kaiser this afternoon to receive the typhoid vaccine, and Stuart needed the hepatitis A as well.  I told the boys our agenda on the way to the hospital, and they were worried about the shots.  Connor got over it quicker as he was distracted by the fact that daddy would get more than we would.  Logan was scared and claimed that he would rather stay in the car.  But once we got to the parking, they were fine and we all walked in to the clinic.  After I went to check us in, the nurse got ready quickly for us.  Stuart volunteered to go first.  The boys were nervous but curious, so they watched the action.  Logan was up next with Stuart sitting with him; he made a quick “ah”, then it was over.  I held on to Connor and got his arm ready.  I distracted him that I was the last one to go, he gave a quick whine and he laughed while the nurse gave him the shot.  I then received mine, and we left to go to the laboratory for Stuart to draw his measles titer.  Afterward we went out for dinner.

    Couple of hours later at home, our arms started to hurt.  I have to say that this IM injection does hurt quite a lot, much more than another other injections.  My arm is quite sore, and I can definitely understand why the boys were complaining.  For some reason, Stuart did not feel much soreness.  The boys and I were whining about our “broken arms’ during our reading time.  We had to support each other to sit up and without hurting the arm.  By bedtime, I had to help them in the bed as they only had one good arm.  Hope the soreness will be better in the morning as that’s what I told them.

     The boys have returned to their interest into Beyblades this past week which is a result from the Beyblades cartoon they watch on TV.  They battle with each other often, and also invite Stuart or I to play with them.  Yesterday I went to Theresa’s birthday party on my own, and the kids that were there happened to be playing with Beyblades too; Logan and Connor would have enjoyed battling them too.  Today the boys brought their Beyblades to the tennis court; they played with them on the sideline while they took their breaks from tennis.  This afternoon we battled in their backyard.  They were using words they learned from the show.  “Three, two, one.  Let’s it rip!”. 

     Since we turned the clock last week, we all had been sleeping in during the week.  Thanks goodness for the alarm on the phone, otherwise, we all would have been late to school/work.  Logan was waking up around 7am and sometimes we had to wake him.  Connor slept like a baby, and we had to wake him up every weekday morning.  But of course as soon as Saturday morning came, both boys woke up shortly after the clock turned 6:30am.  They could not wait to have their weekend morning tv time.

     Logan’s school had two days of early dismissal to allow parent-teacher conferences.  Not every student required a conference, and we were not contacted to have one for Logan.  Instead, we received his report card at home.  It was a very detailed report covering many areas, ie, reading, writing, language, speaking/listening, math, history/social science, science, other subjects and effort/behavior.  Logan is doing well; he has improved from first trimester in most categories.  For this second trimester, Logan received many “At or exceeds grade level standard” in the academic standards, and many “Excellent” in the Effort and Behavior categories.  He is now reading at the beginning of second grade level, and he managed to spell the most common 100 words.  He is doing ok with some additions and subtractions.  We are happy that Logan is learning and doing fine at school.

     We also got back Logan’s winter journal.  We are pretty sure the writings were influenced by the teacher, but the illustrations and penmanship were great.