Easter

The Easter bunny was kind to the kids.  They each got pails filled with surprises.  Champ got animal crackers, Captain Underpants book, Jake and the Never Land pirates coloring book, chocolate bunny, and an umbrella.  Princess received a book, a princess stamp set (although the ink pad was dry), animal crackers, chocolate bunny, and an umbrella.  The kids helped me make resurrection rolls for breakfast.  We pretended large marshmallows were Jesus.  We anointed him with oil and spices (ie, butter, sugar, and cinnamon).  We sealed him in a tomb (crescent rolls) before baking.  Our tombs were empty when pulled from the oven.

I helped in champ's classroom at church.  This time the teacher was gone, so another parent and I took on more of teaching roles than we usually do.  Usually I just assist.   I think Champ was pleased with my role today.

We ate spaghetti at home for lunch.  While Princess napped, I went to school and got some things accomplished.  When I came home, I helped Champ with some of his new Lego projects from his birthday.

After nap time, we went outside.  Then we ventured to a park where the girls played on playground equipment while the boys played baseball.

Daddy made hot dogs on the grill for dinner.

So far today, Princess has peed 5 times in the potty including once at church, her first time without being at home.

Approaching Easter

Yesterday our team was up early, with little regard to the fact that we didn't need to be up early.  We were at the children's museum a little before it opened.  It was already showing signs that it would be very crowded that day.  I failed to bring the stroller...something I regretted because of the large crowd.  I encouraged the Champ to hold his sister's hand as much as possible.  We started at princess's favorite exhibit, the carousel.  We rode her favorite horse twice.  The kids roamed the maze.  We went to see the super heros exhibit.  Next, we went to the Hot Wheels exhibit.  Princess loves to race cars, drive the big car, and sit in the motorcycle.  On the other hand, Champ loves to trace Hot Wheel cars, use the computer program to design them, and drive the big car.  We ate lunch in the cafeteria.  Although I brought the kids' lunch, I bought mine.  They dug for artifacts, pretended to be dinosaurs, played at a train station, watched trains, etc.

When dad arrived home, we went to a playground.  The boys played basketball while the girls played on the playground.  After dinner, Champ cashed in on the treat he earned for good citizenship.  We went out for ice cream.  It was a super fun place with lots to do.

Today I tried to run 9 miles with my friend.  I only got in 4 1/2 because my stomach was bothering me.  Daddy made pancakes.  We ran errands.  During nap time, Champ and Daddy went to a nearby church for an Easter egg hunt.  After nap, our family went to a playground.  The boys played baseball first.  Then everyone enjoyed the playground together.

His Birthday

Yesterday was Champ's birthday.  We let him open an exchanged present from his birthday party at breakfast.  It was a Angry Birds sling shot launcher from Hot Wheels.  We also gave him some Legos from us.  School was good for him.  We got our first take and bake pizza from Noble Romans for dinner. My homemade cake was devoured for dessert.  Our family sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  He opened cards with gift cards (to Target and iTunes) from his aunts.  He got birthday calls from my parents and my sister's family.  We spent a lot of time playing with his new Hot Wheels toy in the evening. I read him more from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Unfortunately we had already put him to sleep when we got his birthday call from my brother.

Dear Champ, 

We love you!  You are a wonderful son.  You are smart, funny, athletic, nice, and a good big brother. I love to watch you take care of your little sister.  You keep her safe and entertain her.  I love helping out in your Sunday school class.  I see how knowledgable you are on the Bible.  You always love to pray.  They are great prayers too.  I see that you like to pray in Bible club too.  Although you are at a new school, you have made plenty of friends and adjusted well.  You do well in school.  You make good grades.   You love to read and to be read to.  I love it most when you read to your sister.  Your passion for sports has taken us to a lot of sporting events.  You love the thrill of competition, and you dont like to loose or not be the best.  Some day your persistence, passion, and hard work will benefit you greatly.  You will have a great future ahead of you.  Don't forget to come back and tell me that you love me.

Love, Mom

March madness

Yesterday we went to church.  The boys then went grocery shopping while the girls volunteered in the nursery.  A highlight of the afternoon was watching IU pull out an important win against Temple. Champ enjoyed a Captain Underpants book that a friend gave him for his birthday.  We also played with champs new superman and started assembling his new Hot Wheels toys.

Since there was a snow day today, the kids and I played out in the snow.  I shoveled the driveway too.

Birthday party

Today was our birthday celebration for champ.  We took him, princess, Rich girls, Toth boys, Worgess kids, and Osborne son to a local bounce house place.  The scheduled birthday parties there are extravagant in cost.  If you don't schedule a birthday party there, you can't bring in gifts or any kind of food.  We worked around the system.  The kids loved the bounce houses.  Champ was definitely hot and sweaty.  Princess was very apprehensive about the whole place.  I held her for a long time.  Then she hung out near the little kids' bounce houses with Daddy.  At one point, champ and a friend try out the bounce house near her.  She follows the boys in, and then she was hooked.  Daddy stayed with her while the mommies sat at a central location and socialized.  We bought the kids dishes of ice cream and ate together.  After two hours, we moved the kids outside.  Champ opened his presents.  He got some Hot Wheels tracks and cars, Superman and bike, slime products, and books.  We also sang happy birthday to him.  He said several times that this was the best day ever.

We went over to the Worgess house for a pizza dinner and play time with their family (minus the dad) and the Toth kids.

8 miles

Christi and I ran roughly 8 miles today....30 minutes on one treadmill (the max you can do on a treadmill at my gym), 30 minutes on another treadmill, and over 26 minutes in the neighborhood connected to the gym.

Where did my pockets go?

Princess says and does some really cute stuff.  As we left her school today, she asked me, "Where did my pockets go?" I explained that her black pants don't have pockets.  I love when champ is sad.  She says, "its okay, buddy.". She will even pat him on the back.  Champ has been putting together harder puzzles for her.  She gets so excited.  Today she prayed to God for him to help God.  Since the weather was a little warmer tonight, I pushed her in the stroller around the neighborhood.  We love to talk about what we see and here.   Right now she loves when people read her books.  It is so cute when champ reads to her.  One book I love to read her is Bears on Wheels.  I shut the book right before I get to the page where all the bikes collide.  She starts giggling.  She goes crazy with excitement as she tries to find the page.  Then she talks all about the crash.  We introduced her to Veggie Tales recently, and she loves Bob and Larry.  She is adamant that she has to sit on my lap to eat a meal.  If I'm really lucky, I can get her to let me put pigtails in her hair.  Sometimes she even humors me and leaves them in for more than two minutes.  We love to play a game where I tell her not to kiss daddy.  She thinks she is so funny as she goes to kiss him.  I figure there are no losers in that game.

We have to focus on her cute moments when she is having one of her melt downs or a sleepless night.

This week princess and I met champ at his school for a staff versus students convocation.  It was nice to see him having fun at his school and see him with his friends.

Peeing in the potty!

Princess peed in the potty tonight before bath time with daddy.  She was very proud of herself!

Last night I was home alone with the kids.  I was helping champ with homework and boiling spaghetti.  Princess pooped, and I changed her.  She wanted to pee in the potty, so I let her sit on the toilet.  Finally, I needed to attend the stove again.  I pulled her off the potty.  She had an all out melt down that she was peeing in the potty.  Perhaps she was closer than I thought to figuring it out.

Tonight we ate out for champ's school fundraiser.  Yummy!  Sweet daddy brought me home a new shirt and sweater today just because.

St. Patrick's Day

On Friday, the weather was nicer when I picked up the kids.  We ventured to our favorite local park for awhile before heading to Arni's for dinner.  Champ enjoyed his last game night at church till fall.  The girls played together at home while Daddy helped set up for Family Fun Night at school.

Yesterday morning I ran roughly 7 miles with my new running buddy, Christi.  She and I met while working together at a YMCA day camp.  We worked together again as teachers at my first elementary school.  We are both training for the mini, and she keeps me laughing while forcing me to keep up with her speedy pace.

Daddy took Champ to a birthday party for his buddy, Christian, at the GP.  The family had rented out a court.  There were plenty of boys playing football and basketball.  Pizza and cake were served in between games.

When our boys got home, they played catch on the deck while Princess napped and I worked on school work.  The boys came in to help me pout about the IU loss.

In the evening, we were thrilled to be at Family Fun Night at Champ's school.  Champ played wii baseball, but it was too hard.  He waited roughly 30 minutes to play wii archery.  He was pretty good at that.  While we were waiting on him, Princess tried a game where you throw ping pong balls into goldfish bowls.  She was surprisingly good at it.  All 3 times that she played she won a coupon to go get a free goldfish from the pet store.  Daddy isn't crazy about getting a goldfish though....let alone three goldfish.  The kids ate a slice of pizza and devoured the local frozen yogurt shop's tasty dessert.  Champ loved the bounce houses, but Princess wasn't crazy about them.  Champ loved shooting a Nerf gun at targets, but Princess was unhappy that I wanted to help her hold the Nerf gun.  Daddy is a very involved parent.  He worked the volunteer table at the event for like an hour and a half.  He also helped clean up the event for about an hour.

This morning I treated the kids to St. Patrick's day waffles....I added green food coloring to the usual waffles to make it a whole new ball game.  We engaged in our usual Sunday morning adventures: church and grocery shopping.  The kids did pretty well as they rode around in the car grocery cart.

Now the boys are out celebrating a good report card by going to Incredible Pizza Company and Baskin Robbins.  Both offer small prizes for good report cards. 

Mid week

Sunday was our usual church trip, but we added a twist to our day by going to Texas Roadhouse for lunch before going to get groceries at Kroger.  Since it was warmer, the boys went to the CLC soccer fields to play sports.  Thankfully princess napped so I could work on report cards.  (She has not napped during some of her nap times recently.). Later I took her for a walk in her stroller.  We joined the boys in the yard for a game of kickball.  Daddy rolled the ball to princess.  She would stop the ball and then barely kick it.  Champ would get her to run the bases by running with her.  After dinner, we watched the recorded IU game.  We couldn't believe the last Michigan shot didn't go in the basket.

It has been nice not to have activities in the evenings.  I feel champ has had a lot of homework to work on though.

Princess started saying last night that she can't read.  She has noticed that there are words and stories that other people are able to read.

Stressful week

1.  Administering state standardized test
2.  Princess gets pink eye at the same time
3.  Putting eye drops in her eyes.  She is a fighter.  The eye drops, which were to be administered 4 times a day, were a challenge for even two people to attempt.  The day care thought princess would do better for them, but they were wrong.

The good:
1.  Champ went on a field trip to the Wonderlab.
2.  Champ loved his overnight adventure last night with my parents.
3.  I ran in a 10 k downtown today with my friend, Dani.
4.  With the weather a little warmer today, I pushed princess in her stroller once around the neighborhood.
5.  We also played putt-putt.  The owner loves when champ comes to visit.

Where do we go potty?

Yes, I found myself having this conversation today.  The conversation happened shortly after I gave up on princess sleeping during her nap time.  Her crying was picking up, so I went to check on her.  I discovered princess standing on top of  her freshly cleaned sheets.  She was in just a t-shirt as she held out her diaper and said, "I need a new diaper."  Upon further investigation, I think she discovered that the bed got wet when her diaper was off.  I was suddenly envious of my husband who had gone to pick up a car after an oil change.  His absence meant i was stuck with the problem.  I put a new diaper on princess before requesting the help help of my son.  Although I was extremely thankful that we had invested in a mattress protector, it is a two person operation to get that off and on.  Champ was a big help.  Now the sheets are getting cleaned again while princess and I continue to talk about where you can and can't pee.  You can pee in your diaper or potty, but do not pee in the bed.  Since i was making requests, i went ahead and threw out there to keep your diaper on unless you are peeing in the potty.  Unfortunately, princess was so adorable as she tried to repeat my peeing rules.  It was hard to stay mad at her for too long.

Earlier in the day champ and daddy had gone to a nearby, local ice cream parlor to celebrate good behavior.  I was appreciative of the boys bringing home a treat for me.

Today I also ran 6 miles mostly on the treadmill at the clc, but I completed about a mile and a half on the track.  Although my foot still hurts, running hurts less than standing up on a flexed foot during a spinning class.  Other than the pain, I liked the spin class a lot.