Arizona

Max's 1st airplane ride
Grandpa's cake

It's a bird, It's a plane...it's a palm tree!

Max and I went to Arizona last weekend for my dad's 65th Birthday. It was warm and sunny and a nice little break. Max was so good on the plane and I don't think he cried once the entire trip. I think he loved all of the constant attention that he received.

While we were gone, Darren to the kids to the Pizza Machine and bought Will a new bike. He was so excited that he got to pick it out and Darren said he wiped out twice the 1st afternoon. Hannah really missed Max and max was glad to be back in his crib!

In other news, Max got his first 2 teeth last week. You could probably tell from all the drool in these pictures. All 3 kids now want to put their (dirty) hands in his mouth to feel for them.

Will has Kindergarten Round-up tomorrow. I think he is nervous!

Will's 1st "Fight"

Will and Hannah both had school today and ended up at recess at the same time on the playground. When I picked them up, they were talking so fast I could not understand them. It went something like this:

Will: "mom, there was this boy in Hannah's class that kept telling me that he was Hannah's brother"

Hannah: "ya mom, his name is Chance"

Will: "He kept saying that Hannah was his sister but I told him that Hannah was my sister and that she goes home with me from school"

Will: "He wouldn't listen to me and kept saying that Hannah was his sister so I started "fighting" him in the sand"

Mom: "did you get in trouble"

Will: "No, the teachers could not see us behind the slide"

Hannah: "Yea mom, I was going to tell the teacher but I didn't. He kept saying that I was his sister"

Mom: "You shouldn't fight anyone. Instead you should just walk away"

Will: "If I see him next time we are at recess and he says that Hannah is his sister, I am going to fight him again!"

Hannah went on to say that the little boy (Chance) tried to sit next to her on the rug but she kept moving over and he also tried to hold her hand.

It was hard for Darren and I not to laugh because it was so funny! We were so proud of Will for standing up for his sister but not so proud that he thought tackling the kid in the sand was the answer!

Sleepovers

Will and Jack had a big weekend of sleepovers. Will spent the night at Laurie's on Friday night at was up too late! He was in quite a mood on Saturday and about fell asleep eating dinner. He had a great time though!

Jack spent the night at Grandma's house on Saturday night with Noah. They watched a movie, traded Pokemon cards and ate doughnuts. He was also tired after playing outside all day Sunday and going to swim lessons.

Max is wheezing again and has a bad cold. He will be going to the doctor tomorrow. Hannah hung out with mom and we did a little shopping. She only went so she could get a cookie and a gumball!

Jack brought home is report card on Friday and had great marks. He is doing such a good job this year. Darren is in charge of helping his study for spelling tests and I do math and reading homework with him. He now reads chapter books and really enjoys them. He just completed a full 50 days of reading and received a reading medal and was able to go to a party they had at school that included a band for all of the kids who also completed 50 days. He was so proud of himself. I still need to take a picture!

Jack did a good job during RIT time at school the other day and was able to pick out of the treasure chest. He picked out the "MOM" keychain (with no chain!) above. He was so excited he ran off the bus and in the house to show me. It was so thoughtful!

Will made the St. Patricks hat at school. He walked in their room at school and the 4 leaf clovers were all over the floor along with TONS of glitter. They were all so cute wearing their hats when I came to get Will at pickup.

Looking Back

Tonight I dug out some old CDs I burned with hundreds of pictures of the kids. They have grown up so fast. Who do you think Max looks like? I can't believe how identical he looks to Will. The 2 pictures above are of Will. I still have the sweater and shirt that Will is wearing and I am going to take Max's picture in them soon.

I have also been going through tubs and tubs of clothes. I am finally to the point that I can start to part with some of Hannah's things. They are all so cute and seem to have so many memories attached to each one. It doesn't help when Hannah is sitting next to me telling me to keep them because she likes them! I realize that they are just material things but each one seems to have an occasion behind it. For some reason, getting rid of the boys things isn't as difficult for me. Maybe it is because I have now seen them 3 times and Hannah's have never been passed down to a sister. I have taken my time and kept the important things so I can eventually make quilts out of them. The bows are another story. I might be keeping those for several years. I will have to work up to that.

Jack told me out of the blue a couple of days ago, "mom, I get to drive in 8 years!" He started counting from 8 until he got to 16 as if I didn't believe him. I told him I was going to stay off the road when that time came. He said "good idea". It is hard to believe he is even talking about it already. He said he is getting a Mustang and dad is going to buy it for him. I told him he better study hard and get good grades if he expects that!

Will goes to Kindergarten roundup in 2 weeks and I cry just typing it. He is so excited and ready to go and it will be very difficult for me. It makes me sad that Hannah will lose her best friend during the day and sad that I will lose my snuggle bug. I know that he will come running to me at the end of each day to tell me all of the things he did and I am lucky I will get to be here to hear about it.

Chinese, Super Hero Camp and Barnes & Noble

Darren left town for guess what? how did you know. Yes, hunting. More than a few people have asked me what he is hunting. I told them that that was a good question, maybe, pigs, beer or moose? I don't know what you shoot in March. That leads me to what the kids and I have been doing.

Tonight we were suppose to go to the Pancake Man and Jack's school but he decided that he did not want to go so we went to Hy-Vee and ate Chinese instead. The guy at the Chinese counter gave Jack and Will all you can eat plates and expected to see them back up a few times. They took one look at their plates and said, "mom, I can't eat all of this!" They were piled high. It was funny.

We then dropped Will off at "Super Hero Camp" and he was excited. They made masks and then set off to do some leaping and flying.

While Will was doing that, I promised jack we could go to Barnes and Noble to use his gift certificate from Christmas. While he was in deep contemplation, I read Hannah 3 books. After about 70 minutes, he found a book that he was happy with.

We then went back to pick up Will. When we were leaving he said "mom, most of the others moms went into this room and had their nails and toes painted. You should have done that so you wouldn't have to work so hard." Have I mentioned how much I love this kid? He is so thoughtful and really thinks I do a lot for everyone. He thought i deserved to have my nails painted! When I put him to bed, I told him how proud I was of him for going to the camp, making new friends by himself and being such a great little boy.

In case you were wondering about Max, this was him right after his warm bath. It was past his bedtime and he smiled as I layed him down. I am so lucky!

( Due to the rip in the mask, I will be helping Will create a new one tomorrow! He told me he would lose his powers without one!)

Jack & the Lepruchauns - Crazy Hair Day

Ever since Jack was in Kindergarten, he has been fascinated by Leprechauns. When he was in Kindergarten, leprechauns entered their classroom, messed some things up, left gold coins behind and got out the window before the kids came back from gym and could be caught.

Jack started googling "leprechauns" on his Ipod a couple of weeks ago and asked if we could make a trap to catch one that he read about. I told him that we would make one. Now I need to read up on how! He was downstairs the other night and I asked him what he was doing. He told me he heard something in the bathroom and went to check it out because he thought it was a leprechaun.

They are all planning on wearing their green on Wednesday so they don't get pinched!

Hannah had crazy hair day last week and so we sprayed her hair pink. She kept on telling me "more, more". It kind of turn out red but you get the idea. Will did not like the fact that his class was not having crazy hair day so we sprayed his blue just for the heck of it.

Disney on Ice

Hannah doesn't look happy but she was really excited

Will by the castle

Hannah by the castle

Cinderella and her Prince

Aerial and her Prince

Incredibles

Batman Will (I am not sure where that string hanging from his mask came from)

Hannah enjoying the show

Today, laurie and I took Olivia, Will and Hannah to Disney on Ice. I asked Jack if he wanted to go a few weeks ago when we bought the tickets and he told me no, that it was for babies. So Darren and Jack went to fly helicopters and ride 4-wheelers and Max stayed with Laura.

When the princesses came out on the ice, Hannah shrieked and squealed. She could hardly believe her eyes. She named each princess and they skated out. Will loved the Incredibles and the princes. Olivia loved Mulan. They sat through the whole thing and their eyes were glued. The costumes were very impressive. We really enjoyed it!

Hannah wore her Cinderella costume and Will decided to wear his batman costume. He realized that Batman was not a Disney character but he said that Batman should be!

When they saw the castle, they asked when we were going to go to Disney World. I told them to ask Dad! They replied "he will say no!"