Preschool Easter Party

 

Grant's last party of the year was yesterday.

 

They heard the story of Easter.

 

 

The party was then moved outside for sack races and other relay races.

Grant had a terrible time jumping in the sack race.

 

He is in the green sack...preparing to fall for the twentieth time.

 

 

 

Helping the next guy into the sack....

 

 

Best buddy from kindergarten....Owen.

 

 

 

 

Owen and Grant sit at the same table.

Here they were enjoying their party treats.

 

 

So that was it.

 

We are done with preschool parties.  I have to admit I sort of hate to see the year end since he is our last.  I am sure the little graduation ceremony in May for the kindergarten class will be a bittersweet day.

 

 

I am so thankful for each milestone our family passes.

I refuse to be sad!

 

 

Well, maybe just a little.

 

Baby News

 

 

Baby C

Two month check-up

 

Her mother sent me this picture from the doctor's office.

They are all doing great.

 

Baby C and her family came to dinner at the Shupe Zoo a few weeks ago.

It was nice to see them again and catch up.

 

Baby C was not in a mood to be held by me.

She cried. 

I almost did too.

 

 

 

More baby news...

 

 

Our three heifers

 

 

were just introduced to the newest residents at the zoo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David just bought eleven more.

Some were calves just a few weeks old

still with their mommas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting to know each other...

 

There are another twelve or so that are not ready yet,

but he is getting them in the next couple weeks.

 

Hopefully, we can stop buying after this.

With the addition of a bull borrowed from a neighbor

(and a little moooooood music)

(sorry)

 

 

we can have our own herd of cows

and plenty of steers to butcher.

 

 

 

Shhhhhhhhh.

They don't know about that little detail yet.

Celebrate Good Times

Today Grace's school had

'support your favorite team' day

to help celebrate March Madness.

 

 

 

 

This is what Grace wore to school today

minus the pom poms

and with an added long sleeve shirt underneath.

 

and shoes too

 

of course

 

 

 

She was so excited to wear this.

Too bad Illinois is already out this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gus had his 100th day of kindergarten last week.

They do a big party for the kids to celebrate. 

They are way behind the public schools.

Grace celebrated the 100th day at her school

several weeks ago.

 

 

 

And Friday we celebrated Grace's eighth birthday

 

 

with a butterfly cake

 

 

 

and presents

 

 

but mostly with cake

 

 

since that seems to be the highlight

of the festivities

I hope her wish comes true.

 

 

Thank you for thinking of her on her big day

with the gifts and cards.

 

They love all of the attention and birthday wishes.

Grace

Eight years ago

 

 

and very early in the morning

 

she decided to make an unexpected appearance

 

two weeks early.

 

I think all who shared in the day would agree

 

life is just a little sweeter

 

with a little bit of Grace in it.

 

 

 

Happy Eighth Birthday big girl!

 

 

 

We love you and are so very proud of you!



Crazy Train

 

This week we have been riding the crazy train.

 

 

We have had

baseball practices for both guys going full swing (no pun intended) three nights a week,

swim lessons

piano lessons

teacher appreciation week lunches to cook for

spring band concert

springtime student pictures at two different schools

100th day party at kindergarten

high school math placement tests one evening after school

 

and

 

one very special girl with a birthday tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

I feel like I am on the crazy train.

 

 

 

 

Hop aboard.

It is a wild ride, but I would love the company.

 

I don't do well on weeks like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a good evening!



New View

Yesterday I looked back in the car

and saw this.

 

 

 

 

 

Haven't you heard?

Wearing your headphones like glasses is the latest rage.

 

Doesn't look like a very comfortable way to watch a movie to me.

 

I suppose viewing a movie through there wouldn't be too bad.

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning we loaded up for the season ticket holder open house at Slugger Field.

Free hotdogs, popcorn and sodas do not seem like much compensation

for season tickets.

 

 

We showed the kids our new view from our new seats.

This year we are closer to home plate instead of behind first base.

We also took the kids down to see locker rooms, lounges, fitness rooms, dugouts etc. that the players use.

Grant and Emily walked the field too.

Grant wanted to see the view from the field.

 

See?

 

 

Thanks Emily for sharing your pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace went to a birthday party Saturday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we loaded up for the farm.

David did a lumberjack impersonation for us.

 

 

 

 

He took down a good sized tree that was dead.

 

 

The kids hung out on the swings and watched him

 

 

at least they hung out on the swings

until he cut down the branch they were swinging from!!

 

 

Our tree for the swings died a couple years ago.

We decided we finally had to take it down before someone got hurt

when a dead branch broke and they fell to earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm,

that sounds familiar.

 

 

 

 

Raise your hand if you know that story.

 

 

Um, yeah.

 

Thanks John.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway,

the tree is down.

We have a new view from our kitchen window.

 

Sniff. Sniff.

 

 

 

 

Ever the resourceful souls,

Grace and Grant have a new (short lived) jungle gym in the back yard.

 

 

And Remington has a lifetime supply

(age adjusted for dogs of course)

of sticks to chew.

 

 

 

Since the tire swing isn't very

swingable

right now,

 

 

Grace and Grant used it to help haul wood to the barn to store.

 

Gotta love kids that aren't afraid to work!

 

'night!

Cows and monkeys and butterflies

These two characters are rather cute,

 

 

but after several weeks of them staring at me while I worked on the computer

I finally had to move them somewhere else.

 

 

The cow first appeared atop my computer screen after Charlotte left.

Her mother gave us the cow to remember Charlotte.

 

Long story about the cow.

I won't explain.

 

 

A couple days later Grant placed his monkey beside the cow.

He told me he didn't want Charlotte's cow to be lonely like he was since Charlotte left.

He said it made him feel better to know the cow had someone beside her.

 

How do you argue with that?

 

 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 

 

I am running low on creativity right now.

When the kids wanted to make a tent the other day, I told them to go ahead.

 

I didn't help.  I didn't suggest. 

 

 

 

 

 

I hid.

 

Big mistake

 

 

 

This is the tent they built.

 

Please note the various building materials including

forty pound bags of dog food and

plastic containers that used to hold toys

(which were dumped on the playroom floor for the occasion)

 

Also notice the liberal use of tape

 

on my walls

 

and windows

 

and furniture

 

and floor

 

 

 

 

Yeah.

I should have helped with the tent.

 

I spent a week scraping ten dollars worth of tape off every surface in the living room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace and I went to the science center downtown tonight for her school's family night.

We had a fun time.

 

No one else wanted to go with us.

The IMAX show was about Monarch butterflies.

We learned a lot and had a good time.

 

Time well spent with my youngest daughter.

WE NEED KETCHUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

During our last night at Disney we dined at the

Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge.

 

It is a fun place for casual dining

 

and a great place to eat if you like ketchup......

 

This is a picture of approximately fifteen bottles of ketchup on our table.

 

"Why?" you ask.

 

 

Well,

we were some of the first diners of the evening.

The first poor person in the restaurant to ask their waitress for ketchup was required to yell LOUDLY

"WE NEED KETCHUP"

 

That prompted all waiters/waitresses to appear bearing a bottle of ketchup.

The next poor person asking for ketchup was also required to yell

"WE NEED KETCHUP"

 

The diners at the first table then transferred all the spare ketchup bottles to the next needy table.

 

This went on all evening.

We ended up with about fifteen bottles on the table for about ten minutes before someone else yelled for ketchup.

Our kids were more than happy to pass on the tradition and the extra ketchup.

 

I am certain this must be Grant's favorite place in the world to eat

given the abundance of ketchup.

Tonight he wanted extra ketchup to put on his mashed potatoes and gravy.

Yuck.

 

Later in the evening the kids all rode in

a stick horse roundup around the restaurant.

 

Even John and Emily had fun participating.

Here they were lined up and ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our server, Suzan.

 

She was terrific.

Emily was terrified of her.

 

 

 

She gave Emily many tongue lashings while we were eating.

They covered topics as wide ranging as

texting at the table

elbows on the table

talking with her mouth full

answering with Yes, Ma'am

and what/how much she was eating.

 

It was all in good fun, but I think Emily didn't quite know what to do about it all.

 

 

Behave yourself, Emily.

 

I might call Suzan if you get out of line!!

 

 

These are the last of the Disney pictures.

Now we return to your regularly scheduled blogging.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Grant lost his third tooth today...

exactly fifteen seconds before he got out of the car in carpool line this morning.

 

 

It was loose and he insisted he wanted me to pull it,

so I obliged.

 

He went to class with a mouthful of blood

and a grin from ear to ear.

 

He has waited the entire school year to lose a tooth

so he could get his name put on the tooth bulletin board in his room

Today he succeeded.

 

That was the first thing he told me when he got in the car after class.

 

 

BEST DAY EVER were his words.

Doesn't take much to make that kid happy.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Grade cards came home today.

Mostly A's with a couple B's sprinkled in to keep them humble.

 

Only two more grading periods until the year ends.

I can't believe the two older ones will be graduating eighth grade this year.

 

They are growing up fast.