Spring Break Hang Out

The kiddos were off of school this week for Spring Break. Too bad no one told spring to show up on time. So, a cold week with no school. Woo hoo. Anyway, we kept busy. The snow came on Monday, Tuesday Colin had a doctor's appointment, Wednesday we ran some errands, and Thursday we had a nice play date with some old friends! Friday should bring library time, lunch with Grammy and Papa, and baking some Easter treats.

And, like most of the winter, we did some late afternoon "hanging out" at home. This time we broke out the train tracks (which haven't been out much lately) and played with Kiki and Not-Kiki. And running through all of that was a theme of G as the "Mom" and C as the "Dad." They've been playing that a lot lately, parents with babies. Sometimes they leave their babies with me (the GraGra) and go out dinner at Eat n Park. Fun date.

C in his engineer's hat.


He brought his dinos over to be in the "Dino Zoo" in the loops of the (really awesome) track that I built.


G was "birthing" her babies (oh boy) and then they immediately had a "kissing fight."




This is the Mom and the Dad loading up the car and heading out to dinner.


The Mama is looking FANCY.

Snow.Again.

The only word for snow this late in the season is: BLAH. But, it was gone quickly. Thankfully.

Gillian and I made this lovely Snow Lady. G named her Cinderella Gorgeous. She lasted about three hours before falling over. Don't tell Gillian.



Colin was more interested in throwing snowballs. And trying to bury himself in snow. BLAH.

A Weekend with More Fun

No major home improvement projects were tackled last weekend. Much to Colin's delight. We continued to work on a few things, well, really, Daddy continued to work on some projects, but took more time to have fun with the kiddos. On Sunday Gillian was invited to a birthday party for a classmate, and Colin took himself and Daddy to the dinosaur museum.

Here's G with the birthday girl. The party was at a local craft store. We made felt crowns, necklaces, and bracelets. Then were was singing and cake. It was a very nice four year old birthday party!

(The birthday girl's mom made that cute Rapunzel cake and Pascal cupcakes! Very cute!)

I hear the boys had a lot of fun at the museum. Apparently Colin and some (unknown) little girl latched on to each other very early in the day and Colin spent his time giving her a guided tour and lecture series.

This is C and his friend digging for dinos. (Neither Colin nor Daddy could remember this girl's name. Typical.)



Apparently C was directing the entire dig.


A boy and his t-rex. Doesn't get better than that.

Fashion Post

On Thursday Gillian informed me that she wanted to wear her fancy faux-fur vest to school. And take Louise with her faux-fur vest with her. We compromised in that Louise could go show Mrs. Koehler her vest, but then she had to leave with Mommy. Gillian and her babies did a little fashion shoot before school.

The Babies (Louise and HopTim):


The Babies and their Mama:



The Babies, their Mama, and Colin, who Gillian said was the Daddy:


G got RAVE reviews from all the staff at school over her outfit. She has far more flare and style than her Mama!

Weekend Project.

We are attempting to get our house on the market in the next couple of months. We've been talking about it for years (and really, not much more than talking), but with only 18 months (gulp) left until kindergarten, it was time to get a bit more serious about it. So, we came up with a list of things we need to do before we put the house up for sale, because this house has to LEAST be ON the market before we can even make an offer on a new house. Long story short, last weekend was spend spiffying up the dining room. That meant new paint and some new trim and new window treatments. And not such a fun weekend for anyone.

The kids started off with such high hopes that "painting the dining room" meant fun for them. They both helped wash the walls and pestered Daddy relentlessly until he opened the paint, which in their opinion that it was NOT FAST ENOUGH.


Not so patiently waiting...


YAY, PAINT!


Weasel was oh so helpful as well.

(She kept trying to crawl down the vents when the grate was off. Genius.)

Since the dining room was all torn up, lunch occurred picnic-style in the living room. I was informed it was the BEST picnic ever.



After a LONG day of painting, Daddy finished two nice, fresh coats of red paint. On Sunday he moved on to replacing the lower trim in the room. That was a long day too. The kids TRIED to be patient. Oh, did they TRY.



But it was a long, mostly un-fun day for EVERY one. Colin DID enjoy trying to cut some trim with his saw.



After a long weekend we DO have a spruced up dining room. And two kids who now dread home improvement as much as their parents.

Also, we learned that Colin NEEDS time to play with his Daddy. He was heartbroken on Sunday night that the weekend was over and he didn't get to play with Daddy AT ALL. Poor kiddo.

Spring Sneak Peek

Four days after all that snow...it was nearly 70 degrees. But that only lasted two day. Now it's snowing again. Ahhhh, March.

So, while the weather was nice, we got outside! Playgrounds and bikes, HOORAY!



Daddy had to add some air to the tires before our ride!


Colin thought it was a bit loud.





Out of shape and needing a rest after a long winter.


They didn't take a long rest...







They were literally being monkeys.



It was a lovely, outdoor weekend. Just whet our appetite for SPRING.

LAST Snow....I'm hoping.

Last Tuesday night into Wednesday morning we got about 6" of snow. Heavy, wet, sticky stuff. We had no where to go and nowhere to be, so we bundled up, went out, and got soaked. Let's hope this was our LAST "big" snow of the season!

Gillian and I made this cute little guy. Colin told me "snowmen are boring." Whatever.


Colin did find some fun....an Angry Birds Star Wars snowball fight. He was Luke. Gillian was Leia. I think they decided I was Chewbaca. After they wouldn't let me be Jabba. They never let me be Jabba.



Fun morning. But it could be the last one until next December...REALLY.

So, THIS happened....

In between snotty noses, weekends away, visiting grandparents, and Great-Grandpa having surgery, Colin decided he was ready to put all the literary pieces together and READ. He's recognized a handful of sight words for a while now, like STOP, GO, COLIN, GILLIAN, but last Wednesday I was putting my shoes on in my bedroom and he asked me, "What does LLLLLL OOOOOO FFFFF TTTT spell?" And, yep, I had a LOFT bag hanging on my closet door! So, that evening Daddy wrote a few words down for him and he could sound out a bunch of them. He is, of course, not perfect, but I think he's pretty spectacular for a four year old!!