St. Patrick's Day

All the neighborhood kids were talking about Leprechauns for a month preceding St. Patty's day. Some of the kids even made detailed traps to catch a leprechaun. And wouldn't you believe it that we woke up that day and one had been in our house-causing mischief! He had left footprints all over our kitchen floor!

That sneaky little leprechaun had gotten into our refrigerator and colored our milk and water green (of course Annie and Sam thought this was disgusting and wouldn't drink a drop of it!

The kids had also heard that if you don't wear green on St. Patty's day that you will get a pinch or a poke from the leprechaun. Good thing we all wore a little green that day!

whew! I'm tired!

I was at a continuing education course for work all weekend in Milwaukee. I am pretty exhausted right now, the class was 8 hours long Saturday and Sunday and I drove 2 hours each day too...AND we lost an hour!!! It was a great class on oncology PT patients, and I am glad I switched my days off this week so I can get school stuff done tomorrow.

The above picture was taken last weekend. I introduced the kids to Lego Star Wars on the Xbox. They had a great time, but I found it to be quite painful for me- trying to verbally direct them and watch them struggle with undeveloped hand-eye coordination.

After half of a level was completed we switched to Rock Band.

The kids both really enjoy jammin on the guitar and drums! I was jammin on the bass guitar. I put the guitar mode on training for Sam and I was able to slow down the song and make it easy enough for him to play. He was so proud of himself!

Even after we were finished Annie still wanted to play the drums! My ears are glad they aren't real!

Hanging out

We had a package delivered last week. I guess the company was going green since it was stuffed with recycled paper rather than styrofoam. The kids really wanted to play with all the paper. My only rule was they had to clean up whatever mess they made. So, first they tore the paper up, stole it from each other, than tore it up some more. Than one of them got the idea to throw all the paper up in the air.

They continued doing this for hours. After dinner they took turns pushing each other around on Sam's big metal dump truck and cleaning up the paper as they got pushed around the kitchen.

Saturday morning Annie had a PTA fundraiser Fun Fair at her school. I told the kids they could go if they cleaned up their rooms (sensing a theme here?). They both did a great job cleaning and I promised them each a dollar if they could keep it clean for a week! (Annie had a friend over tonight and she kept telling the friend that they couldn't mess up her room!) Annie and Sam played lots of games at the Fair. It was a lot of fun. The kids participated in the cake walk. The first time neither of them won, but they thought it was fun to walk around the numbers to the music. The second time they played Annie won. She had no clue she won a cake! She thought she just "won"! She picked a delicious chocolate frosted cake...YUMMY!

The kids have also rediscovered the Sit-n-Spin this past week and have decided it's much better to ride it together!

Mark-o-lympics

Mark was so inspired by the current 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada that he decided to try his own form of downhill snowboarding. What I refer to as the "Mark-o-lympics". This event: Downhill Sledding. He begins his position at the top of the hill, feet well planted and balance evenly distributed- his center of gravity evenly distributed over his base of support.
He begins his descent. His form is excellent and appears to be in total control of his body, and his sled, as he makes his way down the hill. The crowd cheers! We are sure that Mark will go home today taking the "gold medal of cool" with him. Everyone in the crowd is on their feet as he closes his position towards the finish line.

But alas! What has happened to this Mark-o-lympic hopeful? His balance shifted forward a little to early...his sled, no longer able to withstand the pressure, revolts and take a no-velocity stand. And Mark, as clearly observed in the above picture, launches into the snowbank. Mark may not have been awarded the gold, but he didn't go home empty handed...his pockets, hood and coat were full of snow. To some, that is victory.

Oh my it's February!

Annie's school had some days off around President's day weekend, so we decided to take a road trip and head down to Kentucky to visit our friends Mike and Julie, and their boys, Jack, Luke and Kyle. They had expected a little more snow than typical this year (12 inches above normal as of 2/14/10). So we packed the snow-gear and our sled and had a blast sledding in their backyard (which boasts an awesome sledding hill).
For Valentine's day Julie had the kids make sugar cookies. All the kids enjoyed making the cookies as decorating and eating them! Annie and Jack are 6 weeks apart in age and really got along well the whole weekend. Sam and Luke are 3 months apart in age and had fun playing in the bunk bed and creating forts. Little Kyle is 19 months old. He and Annie formed a fierce bond over the weekend and left them both crying when we left because they wouldn't see each other for a while.

The kids kept calling us down to the basement to entertain us with a rock band concert. Annie was always the singer, but the boys would switch their instruments and one would always conduct. So funny!

It started snowing again Sunday night (they ended up getting 12 inches by Tuesday night) and we almost didn't make it out of their hilly, snow plowed neighborhood! We found an alternative way out, but even the highways up until Indianapolis were poorly plowed. We eventually got home, although it took is almost 2 hours longer. It was a great weekend full of catching up with good friends, playing in the snow, swimming at the local indoor pool, taking multiple naps and we even taught them how to play Canasta (although the boys lost horribly and Mike has stated he will never play it again!)

Two weekends age we had invited cousin Kathy up for a sleepover with Annie. As a last (and good) minute decision we also invited cousin Gabe up too for Sam. The boys got along really well together. They played trains together and had a fun time taking a bubble bath together! (of course spraying each other and dumping water on each other is always a blast!)

Mark and I had taken the kids bowling Saturday night. Surprisingly even though Gabe is only three, he really enjoyed bowling two games. He alternated using the ramp or just pushing it between his legs.

Here Sam, Gabe, Annie and Kathy all stretched out to watch Mark bowl a frame. Mark ordered a new bowling ball and is picking it up this upcoming weekend. It smells like blueberries. According to current research, smelling a pleasant smell right before you bowl helps you focus. I'll let you know if it works! :)

Sunday morning after church all the kids wanted to play with moon sand. I am personally not a fan of moon sand for any of you reading this and thinking of purchasing it. You have to keep it in a container, it's messy (like fine powdery sand) and it does not stick together like play-dough. But, the kids enjoy playing with it once in a while, and then we get out the Dustbuster and they vacuum up their mess.

All in all it was a great weekend with the cousins! We will have to do it again sometime!

Our Church Play

A couple weekends ago, on the Epiphany, our church celebrated with a children's play during the two services. Annie had attended all the practices on Tuesday nights, but kindly refused a speaking part. She really just likes to get on stage and sing. One day when she gains more confidence, she will be a wonderful performer (with speaking lines).

The 3-5 year old stood (or sat) on the risers for their singling parts. They waved stars for the manger song and used kazoos for another song. I think that Sam might take a speaking part next year, he has no fear!

At the end of the play all the kids were invited up to the front of the church to sing and dance. It was a great way to celebrate the full story of Christ's birth!