Geo"catching"

Papa Bill and Grammy have introduced us to what is called geocaching where you travel the countryside looking for small 'treasure' boxes. These boxes are either so small they only fit a small piece of paper in which you sign your name or they are large enough to hold small treasures -- you take a treasure and leave one for the next person to stumble upon the 'cache'.

Big Sister calls it geo"catching" and I sort of like that name -- 'catching' a treasure and then leaving it for the next person to find. The above one, daddy found -- it was under a light post box right next to our church parking lot!

The first "catch" we found was at the local cemetary and it was a box big enough for treasures!! What fun! There was even a 'travel bug' (plastic key chain with a code) in there -- we got to take it and will leave it in another treasure box someday.

Big Sister has our summer all planned out: waterpark for swimming and geo"catching"!

Moving on up...

Well, it's been a whole school year since the first day of Kindergarten and a lot has happened since that first day....but, here we recap the final day and ceremony of 'graduation'. The kids were complaining that they had to wear "those dresses" and Big Sister said, "well, I'll wear one, but I know the boys will NOT be happy about wearing dresses!".

On stage with a friend....this was a 'special' friend who has some sensory integration difficulties and it was a trying year for Big Sister. She has a heart of gold (sometimes --when she wants to) and she would either be on one side of the fence (he's my best friend or he really bothers me and I don't want to play with him ever again). It's hard to teach a 6 year old about how everyone is "different" without being offensive to other children. It was a hard year for some because this little boy 'looks' normal, but he has a hard time with self-control. Big Sister was a true sport during the ceremony and gave her friend extra room on the stage so he would 'flap his wings' and dance around.

Kindergarten graduates ready to take on the world!

A very special teacher's aide -- it was a wonderful school year with 21 children in Big Sister's class and 2 teachers!! What a blessing!

Big Sister's Kindergarten Teacher: Mrs. Peterson -- a wonderful, caring, authoritative instructor.

One of Big Sister's best friends in Kindergarten -- they either are best friends or fighting like brother and sister -- both strong-will first borns!!

and of course, who could forget about Little Brother? He's just waiting his turn to sit in that desk and go to Kindergarten! Well, buddy, you've got a couple years to until it's your turn.....

Soccer Fever?

So, Big Sister decided to play soccer this year -- we usually give her a choice to pick one activity to do -- she's chosen golf, soccer, t-ball, gymnastics in the past, but this year she choose soccer. This is the first time she's played on a 'team' -- in years past it's just been sort of like 'learn how to play soccer' team with a game at the end of the 'class' where the kids play against the parents.

We weren't sure how she was going to do....but, I had hopes that this might be her 'thing' -- you know, that one thing your child excels in and then the parents spend all their money and free weekends doing????

She looks ready to play......

She's really, really good at standing on 'defense' with her arms out and ready.....waiting for the ball to come...but, in reality, when the ball comes her way she just jumps up and down and flaps those wings of hers and dances around the field -- timidly attempting to kick the ball, only if no one else is around. If there are other players around, she steps back and lets the other kids kick the ball. Pretty much whenever the ball comes near her, you can hear her coach yelling, "go ahead and kick it, go after it, big kicks, kick it toward the other end of the field, don't kick it toward our goal, the other way!" We just sit and smile......knowing this isn't her thing after all!

She does like to play goalie -- a lot of standing around and waiting -- she gets lots of opportunities to jump around and flap her wings!

But, if the action were to come near her -- you never know if she'll be brave enough to stop that ball....

Door County, 2011

For Easter this year, we headed up north to Door County for a couple of days of rest and relaxation. Since Easter was late this year, one would think that the weather would be a bit warmer....but, not so for us this trip!

Kind of wet....winter coats!

@ the beach with Grammy -- the cold weather didn't deter little ones from wanting to get outside!

Searching for treasures....

Digging, digging....

Found one! A tiny shell.

Heading back 'home'...

We had a great time -- the kiddos slept in the bunk beds. Big Sister always LOVES visiting Mae Mae and Papa Bob in WI -- they have bunk beds!! This was Little Brother's first time sleeping in a bed -- he took the lower bunk. Mommy & Daddy slept in the bunk room too -- how lucky were we? (note some sarcasm...)