23 March 2012

1.  Eric has been saving for a new grill for a few years.  He picked his new one up on Friday evening and of course took it out immediately and started putting it together...which left a huge box for the kiddos to play with.

They had to have spent about 6 hours between Friday and Saturday making it into the perfect house...they cut windows, made shelves, added a roof and a floor, and Avery even fashioned a computer for the place.  I think I will have to hunt a few huge boxes out this summer to keep them busy!

2.  Saturday was a busy busy day {babysitting, basketball, birthday party,  and dinner and a bonfire with friends} but the boys and I headed out to visit my Grandma in Buffalo Lake in the afternoon.  This past Monday would have been my Grandpa's 81st birthday and I have been working on a project to give Gram.  I took all the pictures we used on the picture boards and the talk my mom gave at his funeral and made her a book.  Each kid and grandkid has their own page of memories and pictures.

I really love how it turned out {except for one picture I used twice...grrr!} and she loved it, too.   She just kept rubbing his picture on each page.  We all miss him so much. 

3.  Sunday morning a little after 6 the phone rang.  I immediately knew what this meant.  I have been "on call" for Tracie and Ryan to take Aubrey when Tracie went into labor.  Later that day Keira Elise Groshens was born.  So excited for them all! 

4.  Wrigley turned 10 on Tuesday.  He didn't think it was as big of deal as I did.  He wouldn't even smile for a picture.  I can't imagine that he didn't like the party hat or something. 

Amazing to see how much we've ALL changed since that day we brought him home!

5.  On Tuesday night Tate came home with good news and bad news.  The bad news was that there was an incident with 9 second graders using spit to clean off some laminated sheets at school and my son happened to be one of them...ugh.   After dealing with that sitch he got to the good news that Mrs. Lauer, his music teacher, had told the class that Tate was keeping them together for their program on Wednesday...he knew all the words and sang in tune the loudest.  We take the good with the bad, eh?

Wednesday at his program he took her words very seriously.  He was all business.  He didn't even look at us, which I am sure was hard since Beckett was being very squirrelly in the front row.

After the music performance, Ms. Morales had the kids put on a fair for the parents.  Each group of kids had a booth that was a carnival game inspired by Charlotte's Web, which they just finished reading.  Tate and his group made a web out of a hula hoop and string.  The object was to get a spider to stick in the web.

 

We all had a great time.  It is so fun to get a peek into what your kids do all day!

6.  BONUS!  It has been such a busy week I couldn't narrow it down to 5.  Beckett's Art Fair at school was Thursday morning.

Phew.  That's a lot for one week.  The kids and E are on Spring Break next week.  I am hoping he will remember to take a few pics...heck, maybe I'll have HIM write the five next week!

16 March 2012

1.  Saturday we decided to have some long overdue play dates.  Each kid got to choose one friend.  We've never had all of them have play dates at the same time and were a little nervous, but it went great and we couldn't have picked a nicer day!

Tate and his friend Z

Avery and her friend S
(this is the friend whose telephone number she has memorized even though
she can't always remember OUR telephone number)

Beckett and his "best friend" Jackson
They always say our cousins are our first friends!  So true for these two.
 

2.  I'm kind of lovin' that my kids are to an age that they yell as they are running out the door who they are playing with and I don't have to worry to much that they will be fine.  Don't get me wrong, part of me is so sad that they are growing so fast, but cooking supper in peace while listening to squealing kids in the backyard is one benefit I will take any day!

3.  Summer weather in March = pure happiness for all!

4.  Tate started basketball this week and is really loving it.  He hasn't played basketball much and it is interesting seeing him get to an age where he is conscious of other people being more skilled than he is.  We reminded him that it was his only first game and that everything new he tries will need practice.  He asked E for some pointers after the game and is practicing up for next week.  They decided that he is a great dribbler but needs work on being aggressive and guarding on defense.  Maybe a B-E-A-G-G  R-E-S-S-I-V-E cheer is in order from his retired cheerleading mother next week.  What do you think?  No?

5.  Yesterday was "Crazy Hair Day" at preschool and today was "Wacky Day" for the older two at school.

Today was perfect because I had to work all day which meant E had to get the kids ready for school.  He was excited when I told him the kids could wear whatever they wanted and the less matching the better.

Have a crazy, wacky weekend!!!

9 March 2012

1.  Last Saturday my parents came to watch our kiddos and we spent the night downtown with the Pankakes.  We often go on vacations with Kelley and Gary, but this year that was not in the budget.  It was such a fun night...stayed at Graves 601, ate and drank the evening away, and finished the night off at Acme Comedy Club where I literally couldn't catch my breath because I was laughing so hard.  I didn't bring a camera, so you'll have to settle for this pic Kelley snapped with her iPhone.

The kids had just as much fun with Grandma and Grandpa...they had the Hoves over and also saw The Lorax.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

2.  "Not in the budget" as I said in #1 is being said around here a lot these days.  We are almost done with our Financial Peace University class that we are taking at church.  It has been a huge time commitment on Sunday afternoons but I think I rarely have done something so productive in my adult life.  We are excited to finally pay off our school loans, our cars, and our basement loan and then start saving for the kids for college.  Saving money is fun when you have a plan!  Seriously.  We even have Kara started on it and not even totally against her will.  =)

3. Tuesday night I had conferences and E was left to get the kids from Patti's and get them to where they were supposed to be.  I called on my way home at 6:45 and they were just sitting down to supper.  I said, "Did you at least let Aves eat before dance?" and the other end of the line got quiet.  Apparently cooking supper and homework got so busy they both forgot.   Dads aren't very good Moms...just sayin'.

4. I am on an organization kick.  Watch out, crap-we-don't-need-in-the-closet...your days are numbered.  By the end of my spring break I am hoping to have every cupboard and closet in our house organized.  Some of you know about the Dymo label maker loving side of me.  =)  Every time I organize something I get mad that I didn't take the time to organize it sooner.  So far I have spent countless hours organizing every picture in my house (getting rid of doubles, sorting by year, getting rid of negatives, etc), organized my fridge, and did an overhaul on the laundry room.

What...you didn't want to see the inside of my fridge?  Sorry...I have to have some kind of memory that it once was in perfect order.

5.  It has become apparent in the past few weeks that we now have two little readers in our house.  Avery's fluency has just taken off and she is obsessed with reading books and writing notes with words she has learned how to spell.  I couldn't love it more.  Beckett is getting the full benefit because he can now ask both Tate and Aves to read to him, too, when Mom and Dad are busy with other things.

 

I have been trying to casually sneak in a pic when they are reading over the last week.  Today Tate finally said "Mom, why do you keep taking a picture of us reading?  You better not be putting that one on Facebook!"  I assured him I was not...I didn't tell him it was in fact for the blog.  ; )  That's better, right?

2 March 2012

1.  Things I have been doing instead of blogging...

• celebrating holidays
• grieving the loss of grandparents
• pinning on pinterest (Wanna follow me?  I'll follow you back!)
• organizing pictures
• hanging out with Kara
• sleeping
• reading OTHER people's blogs
• keeping the house cleaner
• running kids to activities
• trying to get more done at school
• planning birthday parties (4 in the last 8 weeks, to be exact...)

Yep, sounds like about 5 months worth of stuff.  Moving on...

2.  Saturday we had Tate's friend birthday party.  It was detective themed and we all had so much fun.

Tate started out by hand delivering the invitations to his friends...there was no way to send these in the mail!

idea found {here}

We started by taking fingerprints and getting into disguise, just like good detectives would do.  

Then we photographed everyone for their Secret Agent ID.

Then it was time to open gifts.  The only problem was that the gifts were suddenly missing!  ;)  The kids had to follow clues that led them to a pair of Tate's shoes, the china cabinet, Beckett's sock drawer, behind a sold sign of E's, to the mailbox, to the sandbox, to Tate's piano books, and finally to Tate's bunk beds.  They kept track of the clues in their top secret notebooks.

 

After all the clues were collected, the boys figured out each one had a letter on the back.  The last clue instructed them to unscramble the letters to find where the presents were hidden.

After finding the gifts, Tate opened them and we had cake.  We ended the party with a couple more detective games.  It was one of the cheapest but most fun parties we've ever had!

3. Tuesday Gigi turned 81.  We love you so much, Gram! 

4.  We celebrated leap year this week.  Well, I guess we didn't actually celebrate, but leap day happened.  The only thing that was different about February 29th is that we actually got some snow!  Most of the winter has looked pretty brown around here.  In fact...I snapped a pic a few weeks ago of Beckett and Aves walking to Patti's for daycare.  I thought they were so cute because they were each holding one of the monkey's hands...

The picture also shows how when I say they just walk across a couple backyards to daycare I mean they literally walk across a couple backyards to get to daycare!!!  I took it from my front porch.  But now their walk looks a little more like this:

The weather is supposed to climb to 50 degrees next week, so I think we can pretty much give up on snow that sticks around for the winter.  E is still on his quest to not use his snow blower all year.

5.  One day Avery made this all by herself and brought it to me and was so proud:

 

It says "This is what I want to be when I grow up."  I was so impressed and my heart melted.  I asked Avery why she wanted to be a teacher {getting all proud of myself and sentimental and all} to which she replied "Because I want to be just like Miss Bruns."  PPPPPHHHHHTTTTT.  That's the sound of my ego deflating.  =)  I do love that she loves school and her teacher so much!!!!!!