Ben's Egg Hunt

All the Kindergarten classes had a Easter Egg hunt. And by hunt, I mean they throw eggs on the grass. There isn't much hunting involved, but it's fun none the less. The parents are invited to go watch.

They had made cute hats. Ben's said "Ben Cottontail", but it was so windy, they hats had to go in the bag.

Here's Ben looking handsome.


Then, they were off.


It took about 60 seconds to clear the whole field.

Then, it was time to check his eggs.

And eat some candy.

They went on the playground and him and his friend were playing zombies. Well, his friend was the zombie, Ben was just running. He's trying to eat Ben's head here.

Then, I walked down the hall and saw Emily in her class. She wanted me to go in, but I didn't want to interrupt.

Ben's class got settled down for some story time.

Ben always has his fingers in his mouth. We need to break that habit. It's gross.

It was a fun ending to the school week. The kids were off on Friday and we are headed to my Dad and Suzy's tomorrow for Easter. Fun, fun, fun!

Rocks

Noah is obsessed with rocks. He goes in the backyard, gathers some up and brings them inside. We find them all over the house.

This morning he walked over to the coat closet, opened it up, found Emily's snow boot and dumped out about 20 rocks.

When did he even fill her boot with rocks? I have no idea.

Last night, we were all enjoying the new bed before we sent the kiddos to their own rooms. I have a new comforter coming later this week. Can't wait for it to be all set up!

I slept great last night and woke up and my first thought wasn't "oh, my back". I think that means we needed a new mattress.

In this photo, Ben wanted a picture of him kissing me. Emily was being crazy. Noah was picking his nose. And there is a rock on the nightstand.

The rock was from the other night when David got in bed. He pulled back his sheets and found 3 rocks and some pretend french fries. It's how we knew Noah was there.

Around Our House

This weekend was busy, busy, busy. So busy in fact that Noah fell asleep standing up.

I gave Noah an Indian nickname today, you know like Dances with Wolves. His new name is Paints with Poop. Yep, put him on the toilet today. He told me to leave. I can respect privacy. I come back and his legs are brown. Oh, he was having a good time. Me, not so much. Thankfully, I did not take any pictures.

We've had the same mattress since we met. It was a hand me down from my Aunt, so I have no clue how old it was, maybe around 15? It was time for a new bed. We finally got our Serta delivered today. The kids came straight home from school and got comfy in my new bed.

It must feel just right because Mama Bear can't get them out.

Not Quite Getting It

By 2 1/2, Emily and Ben were potty trained. Completely. No diapers even at night. They were in a bed and would just get up and go if they needed. But truth be told, my kids have amazing bladders and hardly ever go at night.

Noah is my strong willed child. I've said that 100 times. He had zero interest in potty training. When I'd try, he'd run away yelling, "no way!". Not easy to train a kid who isn't even showing interest.

When the kids started Spring Break 3 weeks ago, I decided I was going to really try with Noah since we'd be home more and our schedule wasn't so busy. Things have been going pretty well. I basically tell him to pee every 90 minutes and he does.

I'm a firm believer in no pull ups. I think it feels like a diaper, absorbs like a diaper and it'll take longer for the whole process.

I'm starting to think that I don't know what I'm talking about. We had 5 accidents yesterday. Seriously, who craps 5 times in 1 day! The last one was a doozy and required a bath.

Those are all the underwear that he trashed in one day. I think I've just went from diapers to cloth underwear. I was about to give up hope.

Then, he woke up dry this morning after 12 hours! And he hasn't had an accident all day. I'm going to stick with it, but I'm buying some pull ups just in case.

A Day of Celebration

The kids brought home their report cards last week. Ben had all O's and S's (outstanding and satisfactory). For the first time, Emily got all O's. She's always had 1 or 2 S's in there. We are so proud of our kiddos.

Today was their awards assembly. Emily had perfect attendance for the third quarter. Noah and I went to her assembly this morning.



It's really hard to have perfect attendance in the winter due to all the illnesses being passed around. She's a trooper though and I'm glad the principal is having a special day of pizza in the park to celebrate. Poor Ben can never get perfect attendance because he always has an eye appointment in Phoenix every 3 months.

After Em's assembly, we went to Mom's coffee. We meet once a month and talk (gossip) and have coffee (bloody mary's). Okay, kidding. It's totally tame with coffee and treats. But, it is nice to get together with these great ladies.

Noah was the only boy there and he enjoyed hanging out with 4 of the little girls.

It was like he had his own little set of sister wives.

In the afternoon, I went back to school for another assembly. Ben got Student of the Month! Oh, he's wanted that award from the first month. I just kept telling him to do his best and he'd get it. His assembly is in his classroom, and David met me there since it was later in the day.

We were so proud of him and he was so proud of himself.


They sang a song.

And we got to play some fun games with them.


Then came even more celebrating. We don't eat out a whole lot, so it's a super special treat. We reserve Red Robins for celebrating such wonderful occasions. The kids think the milkshakes are the best!


When Ben was too full to finish his, I offered to help. That's what Moms are for!

On the way home, we were listening to some music. Since I wasn't driving, I finally got Noah on tape singing a little. I had to hide the camera between the head rest because he'd stop singing if he saw me taping him.

And although we didn't drink from any red solo cups, today was a giant party!

From Snow Suits to Bathing Suits

5 days ago we were sledding. Yesterday, we drove to Phoenix and spent the day at Wet n Wild. We got season tickets. We had them 2 years ago and thought every other year is good. It was so much fun!

We convinced my best friend Pam to get a season pass too. Here she is in the middle with Emily (on the left of her) going down the rainbow racers.

Here's me and Ben going down. He's on my right. The lighter you are the slower you go, so he came down like 30 seconds after me.

He was scared to death to go down. We were laying on our bellies on our mats at the top and he started to freak out. It is a little weird because you are staring in a black hole not sure where you are going. The girl who was attending the ride was going to give him a push down and he kept getting up. I was yelling at him to hold on and finally he grabbed the handled and I told the girl "Push him!" and off he went. He loved it so much that he wanted to go right back down, so he did with Pam.

Me and Emily on the Tornado! It was the funnest ride.

This year was so much more fun than 2 years ago. Emily was tall enough to ride everything and Ben was tall enough to ride 4 of the big slides. So, we all took turns and just went on everything with every kid.
This is a new slide called The Constrictor and it was Ben's absolute favorite.


Pam and Emily giving it a shot.


David had impeccable timing with the camera. It's hard to tell when someone is coming down, yet he managed to get photos of all of us in action. When it was my turn, I managed to get David and Ben in action 5 seconds too late.

And Noah during all this time was happy to just play in the kids sprinkler area.



I'm watching Noah play while Pam and Emily are waiting in line.

It was in the 80's yesterday in Phoenix, which for us is really warm. The water was a little cold. Sometimes when you'd get soaking wet, you'd be freezing and need to warm up. Emily was a little chilly here.

So, we laid out our beach towels and soaked up some sun.

We got some french fries and cokes.

Everyone loves the wave pool, but it was a little cold.

Noah was happy to sit in the shallow end.

When the waves came, he'd freak out and run. Weird because he has no worries at the beach.

Mostly, he was just happy to run up and down.

Here's my other attempt at getting David, Pam, Emily and Ben on a slide. I'm 5 seconds too late.

Then, we went back to Pam's house for some pizza.

I haven't seen her parents in ages, so they joined us. It was great to catch up.

Pam bought the kids gifts for Easter. She's the best!




We headed home after 6:00 and the kids were wiped out. Emily and Noah both fell asleep.


I think that means they had fun.

Ben never naps. He was content to eat grapes and relax.

We all had a great day and are looking forward to many more visits throughout the summer.