Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Spring Break 2012

Oh, what a fabulous glorious Spring Break we had this year!  In the past, we have traveled over the break, but this year...we decided to stay home and do...NOTHING!  It was fabulous!!!
However, our nothing turned into quite a bit of spontaneous fun!
Saturday...the first day of break was St. Patrick's Day.  Harper absolutely loves this holiday.  They talked about it the whole week before at school and she was so excited to make sure everyone wore green...so they wouldn't be pinched by the leprechauns.  To make it special, I surprised the kids with St. Patrick's Day waffles (thank you Pinterest!).  They...of course, were right in the middle helping me.  Owen wasn't so sure about green waffles but Harper and I thought they were Yummy!




It rained most of the days at the beginning of the week.  I mean pouring...down...rain!  But it was actually kind of nice because we got to stay inside and play, watch movies, and do some crafts.  Harper was begging to make one of her craft kits she got for Christmas.  So her and I set out to put together her personalized bag.  She was so proud of it once it was finished and she stuffed it so full of junk stuff that it broke the second day she wore it.  I am going to have to sew it back this weekend!


Once the storms made their presence known, we actually had some decent weather.  I found a bubble kit when I was cleaning out Harper's closet earlier in the week and both kids (and Richard) were so excited to play with it.  One afternoon the kids chased bubbles for nearly an hour.  All of the kids had fun! Even the biggest one! :)




On Wednesday, there was supposed to be a break in the weather and we decided to head to the Zoo with Aunt Melanie.  It actually started out really cold, but warmed up nicely after only an hour or so.  We hadn't been the zoo in a very long time and didn't go much last summer since it was so HOT.  So, it was great to be back to visit our favorite animals.  Owen was insistent upon seeing the ostrich...why, I'm not sure!  Harper...of course, wanted to see the elephants.  We actually got to see the elephants (even baby Malee) up close and Harper got to ask the zoo keepers several questions about them.  She was on cloud nine!  We had a yummy picnic lunch and headed home just before naptime.  It was a fabulous day, just strollin' around and hanging out!  Oh, except for the fact that Owen dropped that green cup you see in the picture.  At the time he dropped it, we were right over the Bald Eagle exhibit and that cup just rolled right out of the stroller over the side of the boardwalk and right down in with the Eagles.  Owen was very upset, but later was puzzled when someone said that the eagles could drink from it now.  Luckily, they picked up a new cup on the way to the farm on Thursday!








Friday was the last day of break and we decided to celebrate by heading downtown.  We set out in the morning and ended up playing at a new garden park right in the middle of downtown.  The kids had so much fun...running, hopping, sliding, twirling and climbing.  We played forever there...the weather was gorgeous!  Then we walked a few blocks and went to see Uncle Cole in his 11th story office.  The kids thought it was so cool to see all of the "tiny" cars and people below and to get to see where Cole works.  We chatted for a little while and then made the trek back to the car.  We then met Aunt Melanie for lunch and yummy cupcakes from the bakery next door.  It was late in the afternoon when we made it home, but the kids had so much fun!







We had a fantastic Spring Break!  And nothing...which turned into something sure was AWESOME!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Downtown Baseball

A week ago,  we got to go downtown and watch my school's Varsity Baseball team play on the pro field.  It was free and I figured Owen didn't know the difference between it and the pro team.  Score!  The kids were very excited to be outside on such a beautiful night.  Owen even brought his glove was upset when he couldn't go out on the field with the boys!


 The best part of the night was the face painting.  My kids have had their faces painted by this lady before and they love it!  Owen chose a tiger...again, but Harper opted for the matching zebra mask to cheer on her team.  It was a fun...late night...game went into extra innings, but we ended up winning!  Woohoo!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Dr. Seuss Week

Harper was geared up for Dr. Seuss Week again this year.  I love how she gets so into it.  This year she read me the note that came home about each day's attire.  She read the following:
Monday...Crazy Hat Day


Tuesday...Crazy Socks Day (forgot to take a pic of that!)
Wednesday...Mismatched Day

Thursday...50's Day..."Mom, I can wear my poodle skirt!"
Only problem with Thursday, when I read the memo later that night it said, 70's day...when I told her, she was devastated and was insistent upon wearing her poodle skirt.  I finally convinced her to let me make her some bell bottoms.  The book that day was the Lorax.  I knew she wouldn't be into polyester, so we improvised with peace/earth friendly hippie look.  I made her bell bottoms out of jeans and she was ecstatic!

Friday...was Red Fish/Blue Fish Day (she wore her school spirit shirt!)


Harper said that not that many kids dressed up in her class, but that didn't stop her.  She is in LOVE with school spirit!!! :)

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Cousins...For Real!!!

Well...Harper and Owen are finally going to be cousins...FOR REAL!  My sister, Melanie and Cole are going to have a baby at the end of September.  A few weeks ago, they asked us to come over to my parents house.  They said they had gotten the kids something when they were in Las Vegas.  They took the kids to the back of the house to "show them" and the kids came running out with super cute "Cousins" shirts on...in perfect colors!  I'm beyond excited...my mind is spinning with ideas on things to make and do...so fun!  Harper is a little concerned though, she said the other day, "Mom, do you think you and Dad are too old to be an Aunt and Uncle?"  I guess aunts and uncles are supposed to be young and fun.  Oh well, this baby is going to have old and fun!!!

That night, they showed us the first few ultrasound pictures and Owen looked right at it, studied it and said "That's a cow!"  Well, the only babies our house has seen in awhile is the cow variety...so I guess that is all he has to go on!  Harper thinks it is going to be a girl, but the only name suggestion she has given is Max...hmmm!
Of course, Owen wants it to be a boy...named...COW!
I have always loved the fact that Harper claims my best friend Sara's kids as her cousins, but now we are going to have a real cousin and Harper still doesn't even know the difference.  The first thing she said, "I'm so excited; I'm finally going to have cousins that live close to me!"
Harper has been practicing holding and feeding a baby, she has been making Owen practice too.  She was practicing with a "girl" baby and Owen was practicing with a "boy" baby and he dropped it on its head. Harper said, "I hope the baby isn't a boy or Owen is going to be in trouble."  Boy or Girl?  We shall see!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Swimming Like a Pro!

Harper loves to swim, but has never been a pro.  She takes after me...loves the water, but can't do the butterfly backstroke or whatever that fancy move is.  I got to thinking that we always do swim lessons each year...in July...so she never gets to practice afterwards because it is time to go back to school.
This year, I had a brilliant idea...swim lessons before summer.  I know...genius! :)  So we headed to the local YMCA, closest one is about 10 mins from our house to sign up.
Harper has been going every Tuesday and Thursday during the month of March and she is loving it.  I put her in a class that was a little more advanced than what I thought, but she is doing great.  They practice in 6 foot water  and do varying degrees of strokes on their backs and fronts...all the way across the pool. They started with a kickboard, but have progressed to only using a pool noodle when necessary.  At the end of every lesson they practice their dives and she loves that.  She has been a real trooper and I am hoping that she has developed some good swimming habits over the past few weeks!  Here's to looking forward to summer!


 {this was the first night of the pencil dive...needed some practice!}

{Harper's friend Gracen goes with us!}