Easter Weekend

It’s been hard to find time for the extras these past couple months. I have been working full time and with the kids activities and just life our Family Blog has fallen behind. I am back working part time hours in hopes that it will be better for everyone in our family and in turn should be able to catch up and keep up with our website.

Hope you didn’t miss us too much!

EASTER 2010
Our trip South again this year and the kids got to hunt in the “big kids” hunting ground. What does this mean? Well the eggs are hidden cleverly, not just sitting on top of the grass!

This age group the kids wanted nothing to do with the candy, “Just eggs please”. Worked for us adults as we picked up candy and shared it amongst ourselves.

Hidden so well that one $5 egg was still missing when most kids headed home. But not these three!

Unknown Child, Cole & Jo looking for egg in dirt worth $5.
(Unknown Child found it first)

Jo’s Worst Day Of Her Life!

And
Jo’s Best Day Of Her Life!

She was very sad (more like down right frustrated, depressed wanting to cry because everyone “got something but me and I’m jealous”) that she could not find one egg with a prize attached too it. Mason gave her a general direction for a 50-cent egg and she found that. THANKS Mason! You made all our day brighter, phew!

Gma & Gpa’s Coloring Eggs
Met most of the B family at the Grandparents house for egg coloring plus.

All the kids (including Corri) had a good time making their eggs colorful.
We even had three goose eggs for the kids to have fun with. HUGE!

Then, Family Walk time along with trying to find a Geocache or two.
Kids were able to stretch their legs and arms a bit at the school year while the adults were hunting a cache that had been Muggled.

Cousin Derian, Cole & Jo

Easter Morning

Don’t know what to say about this photo, just made me laugh seeing them again. Hello, are you actually awake yet?

The Bunny is going to have to start hiding eggs earlier next year because the kids had a hard time waiting for Rachelle and Connie to get up before heading out the door.

Good morning you two.

Walking up the see the cows, oh and Calvin too.

The dogs like the walk as well.

Calvin sat the kids on the bull and they loved it! Don’t think the bull cared.
A very good Easter weekend full of family and family fun.

Kids Talk

Jo is into “Reruns” as Cole would say. We could all be sitting together eating dinner for example in the middle of a conversation and then Jo would start recapping the whole experience.Jo pretending to be Oma or Nanny.

Here is an example of “any” conversation by Jo.
“Mom, you said,
And then Cole said …,
And I went …,
And then Oma …,
And then Mom said …,
And then Oma said …,
And then Cole did …,
And then he did …,
Then he said … while Oma said,
And I was like …,
Isn’t that funny?!”

And we all go “UHG” while we listen and smile.

Cole is so into Star Wars that he can almost relate any feeling or experience in his life to something that has happened in a Star Wars movie. The other day he was very tired and when the kids get very tired they talk about serious thing. He was all about his feelings and anger the other day.

A Jedi in training we think.

Cole’s words on what is going on inside of him.
“I feel like I am Anakin (Anakin turns into Darth Vader for those who don’t know) and there is a blaster war going on inside of me. Sometimes my anger is so bad that that part of Anakin might win and that is who I will be. I try so hard but the battle is going on inside of me and I don’t know who is going to win. But who ever does win is just who I am going to be. Anakin made bad choices when he got angry and I don’t want to but some times I just have to and that is why I am like Anakin. Some time one side will win, Mom, and that is just who I am going to be.”

Just to finish this off, I listened to him, asked questions and we talked back and forth about his feelings and the blaster battle that was going on inside of him. He is quite a deep thinking kid and I’m sure proud that not only can he put his feelings into words but he understands them too.

Marched to the End

Spent a sunny day out at the Young Belmont’s Estate for a little moto-cross and BBQ. Todd has been in school for so long now (X-ray tech) that the family has not been quite a social as they or we would like them to be. School is over now (even PASSED his test!) and it’s time to have company.

Uncle Todd taking the jump.

Derian is kicking it nowadays on her bike!

Cole was a little timid at first but picked up his confidence as the day progressed. He was all smiles telling us how he was taking the jump and catching air.
I gave Jo a few laps around the track, slow and steady at first and then her competitive side was coming out as she said “Beat Cole” or “Beat Derian”!

Hoping this summer she learns to ride her bike without training wheels so she can start to ride the little bike like Cole. Why? Well, she is going to be sad when I finally have to tell her she is riding on the back of the bike as she has gotten so tall her head/helmet hits me in the face and it really isn’t pleasant. Made me laugh quite a bit though.

Corri found field mouse remains and so Jo was all over this! They found just about a full skeleton. Long sharp teeth!

Dinner with Tracy and Lil
She is such a good sport isn’t she?
Of course we didn’t get a photo of Tracy. Maybe if she played dress up too?

Oma and her New PJ’s!

How could we
pass up getting
her warm
pajamas?

Baseball

Cole and his new uniform!
He was excited to get to pick his number for the first time along with having his last name across the back of his jersey.

Red is his color now. Oh, Green and Yellow for the Ducks is still part of him but RED…our family does not have enough red to wear. The Little Man has let us know this often. “Could you please buy a red shirt so people know who you are rooting for?” “Yes Son, we will work on this for you.”

Baberuth AAA, kid pitch.

One of his first games. He is having a great time and so are Oma and I. Jo? Well she just loves sports so all this game after game day stuff is just making her love it even more. (NOT)

Jumping, Tumbling Jo & Mom’s Birthday

Jo is taking a Tumbling and Trampoline class and is having a blast! She has the least experience in her group, which she’s stated a few times that she does not understand some of the instructions but does watch the other kids and picks it up quickly. She is getting stronger every week and is jumping higher too.

Watching her learn a front flip on the trampoline was great. I could tell she was nervous about doing it but after five or six tries she finally got it and when she did the smile was huge!
Oma and Jo came home the other day very excited, she was finally able to do her back hand springs over the roll mat. (bottom left photo) She got the nerve to trust the mat and strength to roll over the matt all on her own.

Her handstands are getting much stronger and she is able to do her wall hand stand on her own.

I love seeing her face after class.
This would be her after class, self portrait.

Mom is 44 and it’s all about Jo?

Oma asked the kids what they might want to do for my birthday and Jo said make a cherry pie and eat at Red Robin. Oma asked Jo if that is some thing Mom would like to do or Jo would like to do? I believe Jo said that Mom would like it. (As it should be.)



Home made cherry pie!
LOVED IT!

Dinner at Red Robin with friends!

Julie, Annie, Oma, Sheila, Lori, Mom, Jo and Jen.
(photo credit, Cole)

I will say that walking to the front door of RR for dinner I did not lift my foot high enough to step onto the curb. I was holding Jo’s hand as I started to fall, every thing went into slow motion as I tried to catch myself. I saw Jo’s face of horror wondering why I was pulling/pushing on her. I realized that I should let her go so she does not get hurt and continued to fall to the ground landing on my shoulder, arm and leg. I guess 44 is the year I start looking forward to my new hip!
Were is my IV? Those purple sporty wheel chairs look nice.

Thanks to everyone on my (Jo’s) birthday day!

February Wrap Up!

If I had a haaaaaammer, I’d hammer in a gooooooown, I’d hammer barfoooooot, all over this hoooouuuuuse. (SING with me Groupies)
Jo helped build little nightstand for her room. And yes, she always dresses appropriate for the job.

Tie Dye in a bottle!
Christmas gifts from Gma / Gpa that the kids finally got to try out!
The tubes have small holes in it that you squirt the colors through. The tubes are supposed to make dying a clean process but we had our hands and fingers covered any way. And it was fun!

I asked the kids to pose with their new shirts on.

Look out Super Models! You have competition!

Ruiz Visit!

Happy Pink Pancake Valentine Day!






Carol was quite upset that she had to sit in such a retro kitchen but Dan didn’t seem to mind. (I think she was just laughing at something humorous that I said, had to be)
Carol and I were ruthless during this game! Just sayin….

The kids had a chance to try out hokey at our local skating rink. They all were excited and looked like they were ready to rumble once all the gear was on.
With hockey sticks in hand they hit the ice! (most of them literally but with all the padding they laughed) All the kids had to learn how to skate while holding a stick and then when they tried to hit a puck the first time they got more practice at getting up from the ice.

1: Maggie, 2: Jo, 3: Lanna & 4: Cole

(and some poor kid who is about to hit the ice)

The kids did awesome, skating, passing pucks to one another and hitting them into a goal.
Us parents were so exhausted by the time the kids were done skating we had to take a nap! (yes, we did too)
Do we have any takers on hockey now? I heard Maggie and Cole say they would like to do this again and it would be fun to play.

Baseball Tryouts.
Cole is going to play Babe Ruth this year so he had to try out for a team. Cole was sick off and on the week before tryouts and was not feeling even 80% the first day of try outs. We took him any way (bad parent insert here) and he did the best he could.
Turned out that they didn’t have enough players for a 7/8 or 9/10 year old teams so they are combining the team and making a 9/10 year old kid pitch team. Cole is the youngest and smallest on the team but he is doing great and is having a blast so far.

On the bad parenting note: Had to take the Little Man to urgent care that evening and he had pneumonia. Hard to tell sometimes what is just a cold and what is not. He missed the second day of tryouts (good parenting insert please) along with missing recess and p.e. at school for a few days.

Sunny Days!
A few sunny days here and there have allowed us to prune some of the plants around our new home.
Up from the ground and away from the house. A little too square for me yet but we will get there and I’m having a blast being outside and working.

Glad February is over because three of the four of us were sick most of the month. Sunshine and a new moon should help us all feel better!