Home with the Hanschens: March 2015

Due to getting off Facebook, I guess I'll need to blog more again! Things that happened in March: my 33rd birthday, Will's first marathon, Will started up swimming again, Emma took a school field trip to the library, Will school field trip to a play, snow snow snow that finally melted off (mostly!), and Jered and I started an exercise/weight loss plan to get back in shape.

I've been super excited about that last part, and have lost 5lbs in the last 2 weeks. Jered has also lost a few pounds. He has a regular time set aside from his work day for PT, but I haven't had a regular workout time in almost 8 years! So it's been fun getting back into shape doing 6 days a week cardio (walk or bike 2.5-3miles a day), strength (100 crunches, etc), and using MyFitnessPal app to track calorie intake. I was inspired by a close friend who really got into shape in the last year. Jered was all for it because he has to stay in shape for work anyway! Since Will is in the school's 2nd-3rd grade running club, he has to run at home, so he and Jered do 1-1.5 miles running a few days a week, and then he goes bike riding with me also. Emma rides in the back of my bike most of the time, and I can tell you the extra 45lbs really gives me a workout! Since I'm going back to work this fall, I'm trying to get set physically now so I just have to maintain. It's even more fun doing it as a family. We can't wait until it gets warmer out, so we can spend more time outside. It's still in the 40s this week, although we had a couple warm days last week and a couple coming up this weekend I think.

Will has been continuing his piano lessons, and is doing well. Emma has a natural ear for it, and has been picking up some things. She asked me to write out the note names for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star since she can't read the music, and she started playing that! She also can show you a minor chord (it sounds sad) and a major chord (sounds happy!). They are also doing well on their chore charts and helping out at home. They love earning their chore bucks.

Emma's ballet class is gearing up for their recital in June. They showed us the costumes and they are darling. Will elected to take more swimming lessons in lieu of soccer this Spring. He loves swimming. He goes twice a week at the rec center, and his first day was last Tuesday. He took American Red Cross levels 1 and 2 last summer, and they started him last week on level 2 again at the rec center, but he's almost ready after 2 review lessons for level 3. He seems to really like non-contact sports - running, biking, and swimming.

Will has also been reading a ton. He's just like me - a super fast reader, a mystery lover, but he also enjoys non-fiction like Jered. He's been getting into some harder 5-6th grade chapter books. Emma started reading a little bit recently! She was sounding out street signs, so I got out the primary phonics readers that Meemaw had given us a few years back for Will. She is so proud to be reading by herself! She's also coloring much better, enjoys making pictures for people, and Will has been working on his handwriting and a little bit of cursive.