Our Turtle-y Awesome Party!

What do you get when you cross absolutely beautiful day with a fun playground, great friends, Ninja Turtle masks, pizza, cupcakes, and balloons? A "turtle-y" awesome birthday party! Kade deemed this one as "the best birthday party ever!!"

Show & Tell?

I had the rare chance to join Kade at preschool this week. His preschool teacher runs the program out of her house and needed some assistance after she broke her leg really badly on the ski slopes during spring break. The kids are adorable and she has such fun things for them to do! No wonder he enjoys it.

My least favorite part of the day was show and tell. There wasn't anything near me that I could hide under. Most of the kids spent their two minutes in a very predictable way -- they unveiled something special from their backpack and then told us what it was, where it came from, what they do with it, why they like it, etc. Kade, on the other hand, removed his two mixed-up, mis-matched lego men from his bag and proceeded to dazzle us with a two minute enactment with battle scenes, moments of peril, strange back-and-forth dialog, and lots of growling and screaming, the whole time looking at us with a half-grin and waiting for us to be amused. I didn't know what to think!?! I asked him why he didn't just tell us about his lego men like the other kids, and he replied, "Well, Mom, I only used two not-appropriate words!!"

I'm glad that his teacher has four boys and am hoping that they were five-years-old and a little strange at sometime. No matter what I do, my boys just have these personalities that come bursting through all of my ettiquette and behavior lessons. It sure is humbling!!

Happy 5th Birthday Kade!!

It is hard to believe that Kade is 5 years old!! He had a great birthday on Thursday. Now I'm just hoping that he and my yard survive the spoils of his special day. He has been having a blast barreling through the grass, gravel, plant beds, etc. Upon nearly sacrificing himself to a rose bush, I was able to convince him that there was terrain that should be avoided, so hopefully we will have a summer free of injury and disaster.

Besides his ATV, Kade also got some fun t-shirts, a Blu-ray movie, a new Leapster game, some action figures, play-doh, and an unfinished quilt that I made for his bed, complete with his name appliqued on. It will be finished and ready to adorn his bed and be photographed soon. It just seemed a little hard to hide a quilt on its frames in our house where he wouldn't see. We will get stitching soon!! (Brett even offered to help! He is convinced that it can't be any harder than putting in sutures!! He'll probably be more adept at it than I.)

I think I can, I think I can . . .

Several people in our family are having/have had baby girls this year. I decided that I needed some projects, so I decided to make baby blankets for their gifts. I haven't sewn anything for a really, really, really long time. Brett was impressed that I finally put to use the sewing maching that he got for me a few years ago. I had a lot of fun choosing fabric and getting them put together. It inspired me to get brave and start some other projects. I'll have to post photos of the finished projects soon.

Thanks Arien!!

Arien --
I could kiss you (and not simply because I miss you!!). Thanks for the pointers. You put the fun back into blogging for me!! EASY!

Spring?!?

One of things in our schedule that has kept us hopping in recent months has been Jordan's Spring soccer season. I'm sure the first thing you will notice when you take a glance at these photos, is that Spring isn't the first thing that comes to your mind. What soccer field is that putrid brown hue in Spring? I've learned two things about our community's youth soccer program:

1) At sign up time, they call it a "Spring season" to lure parents in to something that sounds survivable and maybe even a little fun. Then they blast you with a shocking phone call to inform you that practice starts on FEBRUARY 17th!! In no place that I have lived or visited is February a spring month!

2) This organization should adopt the motto of the US Postal Service -- except if a weather condition something like "icy hurricane winds" is not included, they will have to ammend it. I'm sure that we played in rain, snow, sleet, "icy hurricane winds," and anything else that you can think of. I'm not sure how Jordan was still able to reach adequate speeds with all of those clothes on?!?

Spring seemed like a long time coming, but, all of the sudden, it hit us right in the face. We were wearing winter coats one weekend, and cropped off pants and flip flops the next. We have had green lawns, daffodils & tulips, leaves starting on trees, and beautiful fruit tree blossoms for almost a couple of weeks now. So, our last two soccer games of the season will actually be played in such weather. Hooray!!

Jordan has had a great time with his team, the ML Strikers. He has learned quite a bit and is a much stronger player than last season (Fall of '08) -- even in long underwear and mittens! Great job, Jordan!!

Now baseball season has started and we are just hoping to make it through without earmuffs and blankets!! Maybe we will have to dig out the sunscreen. Here's hoping!!

We are alive!

We are alive and well. Our computer still works. I have been thoroughly reprimanded by many for checking out for a bit. My life is probably not any crazier than anyone else's, but I am hanging onto that excuse anyway. An update on our family is coming . . . Don't let the suspense kill you!! --J