Books for Breakfast

At the kid's school they have this event called Books for Breakfast. They have a few a year and we've never really gone to one but since the kids are on half days we decided it would be something fun to add to our day.

It starts at 8am which is an hour before school starts. They serve free breakfast which today was french toast with sausage, fresh fruit, and apple juice. Both kids as well as myself enjoyed our breakfast. It was really yummy and nicely put together. After the meal you go into the gym and a local librarian spot lights a few books and reads a story. Then the kids get to pick a free recycled book to keep. My kids loved going and it was so much fun to start off our day together like this.

Because they had such a good time it prompted Megan to ask to go to the library in the afternoon after her parent teacher conference. Since the library is just a few blocks from our house we decided to make a trip out. Megan was so excited and wanted just about every book in her reading section. Andrew wasn't too interested in books because they has some other toy items in his section that distracted him. The kids had a lot of fun in our day centered around books and reading.

Sticky Hands

We have parent teacher conference this week so that means the kids only go to three hours of school each day. We got lots of time to fill up our days which means it's time to get creative.

The newest invention is sticky hands ceiling. The kids love to throw their sticky hands on the ceiling and watch them slowly come unstuck and fall on them. There is tons of giggling and positioning.

Really who would have thought a package of 4 mini sticky hands for a buck could be so much fun?

Fancy Dancer

The Elementary School that Andrew attends decided to put on their very first dance concert. It was only the Kindergarten and support center classes so we had all little ones. It was fun for Andrew to have something just for him.

They performed 6 dance numbers and Andrew loved every minute of it. I don't think he stood still the whole time. He had either a look of concentration while looking at the teacher to see what he was supposed to be doing. Or he had a huge smile and made up his own moves.

His facial expressions were the best. He was a crack up and I loved watching him have so much fun and just enjoy himself.

After the performance they had quick refreshments and we were all done. Andrew came over and said "That fun" and that he was thirsty. He got in a good little work out with his constant movement.

It was a proud moment for me to see just how far he's come since we've been at this new school. He never ceases to amaze me. He's a cute kid!!

Roller Coaster Fun

This summer we decided to get season passes to a local theme park. Wild Waves is half roller coaster and half water rides. We've been wanting to go for several years now and decided this was a perfect summer to take advantage.

With the season passes each month we get emailed several coupons to use. This month we got to bring a friend for $5. On opening day we decided to let Megan bring a friend. She brought our neighbor Natalie. Only the roller coaster section was open since it isn't really hot enough for the water park. We thought this was perfect for us to explore and get to know the park a bit.

The kids loved it and were all really good. It was a little weird having to divide our time between kids. Andrew is still not tall enough for the bigger rides and he doesn't much like them anyway. Megan is tall enough for most everything and is a huge thrill seeker.

Jeff was Andrew's partner for most of the rides that he needed to be accompanied by an adult. He tried to get me to go but I was having too much fun taking pictures so Jeff was on duty.

We tried to make sure both kids got their share of rides and had a great time. We sometimes would divide and conquer. Jeff or MarGene would take the girls while Jeff and I took Andrew to something more his style.

We had a blast and look forward to the end of the month when the water section opens up. We checked out what they had and it all looks like tons of fun. We plan to have a fun summer.

Fishing Derby

Today we took the kids to a fishing derby. This would be their second time fishing and hopefully a chance to catch something. As the first time we took them fishing both kids came up empty after fishing for over an hour.

This time the had a stocked lake, free fishing poles, free t-shirts, and free cleaning of up to 2 fish per child. Really it wasn't free but the cost of registration of $10 each covered these items. It was also a 30 minute fishing time limit and we signed up for the first slot of 9am.

Both kids were very excited at the chance to fish. I think the hardest part was waiting in line to check in and then standing in another line to get our poles. We had a choice of 4 different colors.

Megan picked pink while Andrew picked blue. They didn't much care for the red or gold options.

We headed down to the water to wait for the ready set go. It was so hard to wait again while everyone got lined up. In fact a few people weren't paying attention and casted off. There was one little girl that caught something right off the bat before we were even allowed to get started.

I have to say Andrew is a natural. He loves fishing and for some reason is very calm and will sit and wait for stuff to happen. I think it is probably the most relaxed I've seen him. I'm calling him our little fish whisperer.

I don't think we had been fishing for very long when Andrew was the first to catch something. This was so very exciting for him and he was a glow with huge smiles. This got Megan going because she saw what it was like and really wanted to catch something.

After the first catch the kids set out to catch more. Andrew came up with the second catch which was amazing. He was actually pretty good with Dad's help. This made Megan so sad she thought she would never catch anything. Jeff transferred his help to Megan and it wasn't long before she came up with her first catch. What a relief that she got something for I would have hated for her to be left out.

As they called times up and last cast Megan put forth her best effort and came up victorious with her second and final catch. Both kids caught their quota of fish which was really nice. We saw some people leaving empty handed so we were very lucky for Jeff's helping skills. Megan didn't want to get near the fish as she didn't like them flopping around or the slimy feel. I tried to get a shot of her big catch but she refused to get near it. Now our only thing is to figure out how to cook these things up as no one in this house eats fish. Wish up luck :}

Gardening Attempt

For Mother's Day Andrew brought home a package of sunflower seeds to plant. They are yellow, red, and brown sunflowers. The picture shows them looking so pretty they were too tempting to not want to plant. In addition to that Megan brought home a little yellow flower in a small cup with soil that needed to be transplanted.

Jeff got home from work and brought home a bag of soil and the kids jumped at the chance to get out in the dirt and help. He also bought a little tomato plant to add to our little garden.

Let's just say out little dirt patch outside the front door will never be the same again. Dirt was flying everywhere and who knows if anything will actually grow but we made an attempt. None of us have any idea about gardening so we'll see how it goes.

The Pretzel Man

What do you do with a huge bag of Costco pretzels that your family doesn't want to eat?? If you live with a husband who loves to experiment with food you create something.

Jeff started out making a gallon sized zip lock bag of ranch flavored pretzels. He took them into work and they were a huge hit. So the very next night he created a plethora of flavors. Including italian parmesan, pizza, cinnamon sugar, honey mustard, and barbecue. I had gallon zip lock bags lining the counter and the oven going no stop. Most all flavors were liked by someone and it has created another run to Costco for another bag to experiment on. Jeff is certainly creative, especially when it comes to food.