Mickey Bolf

Little Brother is a golf fanatic! Every night when daddy gets home, Little Brother says, "Daddy, pay bolf? Daddy pay bolf?" (Daddy, play golf?) So, we decided to take the kids to mini-golfing and Little Brother was saying "Mickey Bolf?" He was in heaven!!!

What was more fun? The golf or the animals?

We only lost one golf ball over the fence....Little Brother hit it a little too hard....

Big Sister enjoyed the animals much more than the golf....

"SWING!"

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...)

Sibling Love?

Can someone please tell me that they will get along like this more often? Maybe when they get a little older? I can handle anymore sibling rivalry......we need some sibling love at this house!

Warming Up?

Like I've said before, it's been a looooong winter. I am now recovering from a perforated ear drum and severe ear and sinus infection.....lovely! But, we are counting down the days to warmer weather -- Even if we have to wear winter hats, we will STILL be outside -- as long as that sun is there to greet us.

The kiddos are itching to get out too -- Little Brother begs and begs and BEGS to go play golf....but, when it's really cold, we make him play in the garage.....poor thing, huh?

YES -- we are ready to grill! "I cook" as Little Brother says.

The things that I look forward to these days...

It's been a LONG, LONG winter and the little kids in this house have been sick ALL winter -- maybe a total of 5 days (not in a row, of course) that they've been without runny noses, fevers, coughs, green boogies, congestion, wheezing, etc. It's really starting to wear on my very last nerves. Now, I know I shouldn't complain -- I mean we've known families this winter that have had 5 bouts of strep throat, a girl at school hospitalized with pneumonia, lots of people with pink eye, bronchitis, laryngitis. We've only had ear infections -- just 4 for little brother and 2 for big sister....not too much to complain about. Maybe I'm just in a rut, I need some fresh air running through this house, some warm sun on my face and some nice juicy watermelon -- that will help me in ways that you can't imagine. But, until that happens, I sit here and look for things in my life that currently make me happy. Yes, this is a materialistic list of external factors -- TV shows for that matter -- that really should have no 'pull' on my happiness...but, on long winter nights it will have to do for now:

1. DWTS Yes, I like to watch professional dancing and imagine myself out there dancing....

2. Off the Map a very fun medicine show -- set in the jungle -- maybe it's the medical side of me, but I like watching this mind-numbing show

3. Castle --this is an intriguing mystery show -- kinda like those CSI shows (I'm assuming, since I don't want those other shows) -- where someone dies at the beginning of the episode and then you spend the next hour trying to figure how the 'who done it'. It's actually quite funny at times!

4. of course the wonderful Wednesday night light up: Modern Family, Cougartown (which is currently on hiatus?)

5. can't forget the new fun show: America's Next Great Restaurant. We didn't have a plan to start watching this show, but if you know anything about my husband, you know he lives and dies for CHIPOTLE....so, now we are hooked!

I usually pride myself for not watching a lot of TV -- I am usually too busy with laundry, cleaning, washing dishes, preparing lunches for the next day, etc that I don't have time for TV.

But, like I said, it's been a long, LONG winter.....

Science Fair

At our wonderful little private school, Big Sister was able to participate in the Science Fair this year! Well, actually K-10th grade were required to participate -- K-3rd grade are given the topics and were instructed to create the experiement and then make a display board.

the project: How many pennies will sink a foil boat?

making foil boats -- she made a triangle boat, flower boat, kitty cat boat and circle boat.

results: the kitty cat boat held the MOST pennies -- 57 pennies before it sank into the water!

A Golfer is Born?