Growth Spurt

I've noticed a few things lately. 1. Caroline always seems to be eating. 2. If the bathroom scale is to be believed , she's pushing 34 pounds. 3. She comes up to shoulder height on Rebecca almost. 4. I went through her dresser yesterday and bagged a whole trash bag full of clothes that do not fit her anymore. This was about 3/4 of the contents of her dresser. Caroline desperately needs a new spring wardrobe.

While Caroline is gaining, Clara is losing. Thanks to diet dog food (and better portion control) she is down from 70 pounds (in August) to 62 pounds now.

Clara's Three Week Follow-Up

Clara had her post-op visit today. The most difficult challenge over the last three weeks has been keeping her quiet. She has been getting around on her leg just fine, but if she gets excited and tries to jump around or canter on the leash when I take her outside, the limp usually comes back. The vet said everything looks good and I may now take her for short walks on the leash, starting with just up and down the street once and gradually increasing over the next two weeks. She still needs to remain on the leash (no running or rough housing with other dogs) for another 9 weeks. But, so far so good! She was super excited at the vet today since in the last 3 weeks she has not been out of the house/yard!

A Disappointing Loss

Ben's basketball team made it to the championship game in yesterday's playoffs as expected, but ended up getting blown out by a score of I think 26-11 or something like that. They played the only team that have ever beaten them before (in the second game of the season) and I guess being behind was an unfamiliar experience for them because to a man they totally fell apart and started doing very stupid things on the basketball court. Well, Ben fell apart the least in terms of game performance, scoring 9 of his teams 11 points including intentionally missing the second of two free throws after being fouled, getting his own rebound and scoring. But, he fell apart the most emotionally. I understand that he was disappointed, and he's his team's best player and he had a lot invested emotionally in the season. But he sulked on the bench and complained about the refs every time he wasn't playing. They brought in certified referees for the game, and I guess Ben wasn't used to it because he claimed they were not calling fouls and that he'd gotten pushed, hit in the face, etc with no foul called. Now whether or not this was true, it does not excuse the complaining, sulkiness, etc. When the game was over he made a beeline for the bathroom instead of gathering with his team for the post-season wrap-up, handing out of commemorative basketballs, pictures, etc. Not cool. And I was not successful in coaxing him out of the bathroom in time for him to participate. He was conspicuously absent, what with Joel being one of the coaches and all :P

Added to the fact that we were at basketball from 3 until 7:30 with just snacks for dinner, Caroline getting tired, Becca unexplicably upset because of Ben's team losing, Ben's poor sportsmanship.... the day did not end on a good note. Joel and I were both upset and frustrated with Ben and we talked to him a little bit last night but he was upset and frustrated as well so we told him we'd talk more about it today after we'd all had a chance to settle down. He seemed fine this morning, back to his usual low key cheerful self.

TGIF!

Caroline says happy Shabbat!!

What a Difference a Week Makes

Last Tuesday we had started on our three day snow event , which turned into a three and a half day school vacation and dumped more snow than the Charlotte area has seen since 2004. Today the temps are forecast to hit the mid sixties, and even beyond into the 70's tomorrow and Thursday. The snow is mostly melted already except for patches here and there and the big snow-plow piles in the parking lots. (No I did not actually see a snow plow, nor have I actually seen one in nearly 7 years of living here but I am assuming the snow in the grocery store parking lots did not get piled up in human sized mounds by itself). At any rate I am assuming all remaining trace of the white stuff will be gone in short order!

We stayed pretty busy during the snow itself and over the weekend. Ben slept at a friend's house one night, and his friend came here for a sleepover one night (his mom was so desperate to get him out of the house that she walked him the mile and a half to our house in the snow), Ben had a play date at another friend's house, Becca had a play date and also attended a birthday party, and both kids had basketball practice and games and went to see the Lego movie.

The kids went back to school yesterday. They lost two days of their spring break and a teacher work day at the end of March in order to make up for the days missed last week, and yesterday and today are make up days for the two days missed the end of January. I had the day off yesterday, and I spent it being waaaaaay too productive-- Signed Ben up for flag football, stopped at the health food store for a couple of Caroline's things, stopped at the grocery store for a couple items Joel hadn't been able to get over the weekend (the bread aisle was LITERALLY EMPTY on Sunday), did 3 loads of laundry, straightened up all of the kids' bedrooms and the bonus room (found five empty cans of Coke Zero under the bed, now I know how Ben stays up during sleepovers), did the dishes, changed some light bulbs,and read 120 pages of Divergent all before Ben and Becca got home from school. Phew. Today I am back at work and after a sluggish start I am blazing through my to-do list almost faster than new items are piled onto it ;) LOL. Here's hoping for illness-free good-weather for the rest of the winter!

And Also, it's Valentine's Day!

Flowers for me, treats for the kids :) Happy valentine's day everyone!!

Pantry Climbing Monkey

A new species was born today... or maybe she thinks this is her super hero outfit. Her super power is being ridiculously cute and ridiculously difficult at the same time ;)

Cabin Fever

On the third consecutive snow day the kids are all getting a little restless. Our youngest denizen occupied herself by coloring on various non-approved surfaces. The older two have been doing a fair bit of whining in between tv watching, video games, and brief forays outside to investigate the (slowly melting) snow and ice. Joel's car required a bit of a SHOVE to get him on his way to work this morning, and I have yet to venture out. 

snOMG Charlotte, Day 2

Wardrobe Malfunction

Or, what happens when Caroline tries to dress herself without help. We find her flopping around on the floor like a mermaid out of water. And instead of helping her, we're all, "Quick! Take a picture!"

Snowmaggeddon, Charlotte Style

AKA 5 inches of snow. The kids got out of school early yesterday, were home today and school has already been cancelled for tomorrow.

My Basketball Cuties

Pardon the unprofessional picture-of-pictures ;) My scanner doesn't seem to be working right now.

Fascinated by Falling Snow

Busy Weekend

It was a pretty busy weekend at the Kaplan house, which included basketball practice + games, a trip to Inner Peaks climbing center with J Tribes, Hebrew school, the monthly Costco shopping trip, and date night for Mom and Dad (We had dinner at Jade Asian Fusion and saw 12 Years a Slave). We also had some outside play time in unusually warm (60 degree) weather, and watched some of the Olympics.

Caroline battled tummy aches and diarrhea all weekend -- she definitely seems to have eaten something she shouldn't've, but I went through the pantry and inspected the labels of everything she's known to have eaten in the last few days and couldn't come up with anything that might have made her sick. So we are keeping a close eye on that.

Ben had a trip to the dentist this morning to have two baby teeth extracted, in preparation for a space maintainer that is going to be installed behind his back teeth next month. The space maintainer is to try to keep the overcrowding to a minimum as his adult teeth come in. His bottom teeth are very crowded so this is kind of a pre-braces measure to see if we can do something to help his bottom teeth have a bit more room before it's time to see the orthodontist in a year or two. Ben was not happy after the procedure this morning, mainly because his mouth was all numb afterwards. I brought him home, gave him some motrin and let him relax on the couch for an hour and then took him to school. He was still pouty but I assured him the tooth fairy gives extra consideration to teeth that come out via the dentist instead of in the usual fashion!

That's My Boy!

Number 12!

Cool Kid :)

Caroline sings ABCs

100th Day of School

It's hard to believe the kids have been in school for 100 days this year! The 100th day actually was supposed to have been Wednesday but due to the two snow days last week it (and the corresponding kindergarten festivities) were pushed back until today ;) Here is Becca with her project, looking forward to a fun day of 100th-day themed activities. 100 days of Kindergarten down, 85 more to go ;)

My Latest Patient

So I finally got Ben back to school today after two days home sick with a stomach bug (and remember Caroline was home sick last Thursday and Friday with the same thing) and now here is my latest patient, just picked up from yesterday's knee surgery! I moved her crate into my office so I can keep an eye on her/ keep her as restricted as possible. I put the cone on her just now because she was trying to lick her leg. But hopefully she won't have to wear it too much. Poor girl :( For the next three weeks she is supposed to stay off her leg as much as possible, no walks / only go outside in the back yard on the leash to do her business and then come right back in. No running in the house, no jumping, rough housing etc of any kind. In three weeks I take her back for a follow-up, and she can have a little more activity after that, but not full off-leash running around until 12 weeks out. Wish us luck with that!

Monday State of the Union

So Caroline went back to school today. She has not had a fever since Friday night, and although she had diarrhea on Friday it did not last long. Her poop yesterday was dark green, which was very odd, but it was not diarrhea so... :) She was however very cranky when she woke up this morning and had about three time-outs before I managed to get her to preschool.

Ben began complaining yesterday morning that his stomach hurt, skipped Hebrew school, and spent most of the day in his pajamas. He rallied mid-afternoon and put his basketball clothes on and went to his basketball game where he scored half his team's points. His team is now 4-1, with the best record in the league (okay the league only has four teams but whatever). Once home he rapidly declined again, and is at this moment curled up in my bed.

So this means that my streak of not having had all 3 kids in school for a full day since last Monday continues :(

Super Bowl Sundaes

Poor Ben. His tummy hurts. But not having a sundae is not an option :)