When Elmo Grows Up

Today we went to go and see "When Elmo Grows Up." It was very cute and the boys really seemed to enjoy it. They got to their seats and waited for the show to begin. Once it did both were very excited to see Big Bird, Elmo and all of the other Sesame Street gang. I was very pleased with both boys. They both gave Telly Monster a high 5 this time. Last year Zane got patted on the head and Andrew shrunk away from him like he was a freak. It gives me great hope that we will have fun with the characters at the big D.

The only disappointing bit of the day for me was that I was not allowed to take in my camera. The guy at the door took one look at it and said no. Bummer. I was really looking forward to taking some of the characters. Oh well, at least I will have the memories of the show. Eric and I both agreed that we enjoyed this show more than "Elmo Makes Music" just a different feel to the show. The set was very similar and it featured all the characters that we know and love. Hopefully the boys will remember it fondly when they grow up!

Elmo Again!!!

Well, my guys have done it again! They both won tickets to "When Elmo Grows Up" through the local newspaper. Thank goodness for that contest because there is no way that we would be spending the money to go. They give vouchers for the tickets and you are able to get all but the most front row seats. So, we got tickets similar to last year. Hopefully they will get to experience the characters again this time. Last year Zane got patted on the head by Telly Monster. It was cute. I am looking at this as a trial run for the characters at Disneyland this summer. Hopefully there will not be any tears. Plus I can take my new camera and gets some real photos. Won't that be nice. The show is tomorrow, I will let you know how it goes!


Here are the boys coloring sheets. The one on the left is Zane's and the one on the right is Andrew's. Although I should mention that Andrew was so competitive about them winning these tickets that he colored Zane's Elmo's nose for him. I think he didn't think he was going to do it correctly. Zane didn't seem to mind though. I think that a great job was done by both of my guys!

Andrew the Hornet

Today was a big day in our house. Andrew went and registered for kindergarten. He will be an official Hornet next year. (I won't post the school name but if you are really curious call me and I will tell you) The elementary schools in our district do all of their kinder-screening in the spring when you go in to register so Andrew got to go through all of that today. The school does a basic knowledge test (colors and shapes), a motor skills test (balance beam and scissor work), a pre-reading test (letters, numbers and general book/direction knowledge), eye sight test, hearing test and a language/speech screening. He did great in all of the different areas. The speech lady asked me if I had concerns about Andrew's speech which I did. He doesn't say a few letters super clear and so she sat down and had a chat with him. She asked him about his family and pets and immediately picked up on the fact that his "L" comes out more like a "Y". There were a couple of other ones that he struggles with but I think that the "L" is by far the most noticeable. Her recommendation to us was that we just model correct pronunciation for the summer and that by the time fall conferences roll around she would be able to tell us yes or no on speech therapy. Eric and I are pretty sure that the answer will be a yes and that is no big deal to us. We got lost of complements on Andrew's behavior and the person that was responsible for making sure everyone got to the right testing said that Andrew was the sweetest little boy she had seen and was excited to see him in kindergarten next year. We couldn't agree more! Our final stop for registration was with the school psychologist who declared him ready for kindergarten based on his test scores. We got to give our preference for am or pm school (am) and I snuck in a teacher preference based on a recommendation from my friend Joanna. So, that is done. Now we just have to wait until September. I don't know who is more excited Andrew or Me!

A Mommy's Day Dinner

Today I cooked dinner for my mom and Eric's mom (dad's were included too). We had a fun dinner of beer rocks (strange name for a dinner with no beer in it) some salads and berry crisp with ice cream for dessert. It was nice to be able to do dinner with them today. They had two little boys who wanted books read. Isn't it nice that they could each have one to read to do the reading! It was a nice but very busy day!

In case you don't know who is who! Andrew is sitting with my mom and Zane is sitting with Eric's mom. And the feet belong to Crystal :)

Time is Flying

It is so amazing to me how time flies. It seems like we are nothing but busy these days. Eric has had the last two nights off and they have been jam-packed with activity but yet I can't tell you really what we have done. I think all our running around and doing stuff with Crystal the last few weekends has taken it out of me. Today we went to Costco and got a whole ton of stuff. Then we came home and Eric built a soccer goal for Andrew and Zane out of an old pallet we had laying around. (Our swing set was delivered on it last year) The boys played in the yard, we ate dinner and then put the kids in bed. Bam! Day gone quicker than quick. It doesn't help that I am not feeling well right now, my sense of time is a bit whacko. Tomorrow I have a very full day ahead of me. I am having my mom and mom-in-law over for dinner (oh yeah, the respective dads are coming too!) and I have to cook, attempt to clean my house and finish my shopping. I don't know what I have been doing all week but I can guarantee you it wasn't everything I should have been doing. Somehow the week just flew on by. Anyway!

Things have been happening with the kids but I haven't been blogging it. Andrew finished yet another swim lesson session. He is still working on passing Preschool 3. Zane talks constantly about his birthday. I hope that it isn't going to be a disappointment for him. He seems to have a whole lot of definite opinions about everything that is going to happen during it. And Miss Lucy is so close to rolling over. She gets partway up on her side and then flops back. If she rolls anytime in the next 2 months it will be way earlier than either of the boys did. (Andrew 6 months and Zane 8 months) Both of the boys sat long before they rolled. Who said that kids always followed the book right? Oh yeah, I am also making Lucy cry it out at bedtime. I am a mommy with a heart of stone but it really doesn't take long at this age for them to learn to put themselves to sleep and it is so nice for me once I can just lay them down and not have to worry about them.

I am excited for Mother's Day this year. Eric always does such a nice job with the kids. I can't wait to see what they are doing for me this year. Plus I can look back and think about last year. It was 2 days before Mother's Day when I found out I was prego with Lucy. No surprises like that this year but I am sure thankful to have my 3!

Go Mariner's Go!

Last night we strapped on our adventure boots and headed down to see the Mariner's tackle the Texas Rangers. We had a good time riding the bus down to the game. It was so much less stress than driving, looking for parking that did not require the use of an arm or a leg :) and was conveniently close to the park, all while costing less than the price of gas for my van. The boys had a good time once they got used to the cheering and the loud speaker. I had ear plugs but forgot to grab them in our haste to get out the door. Lucy did really good too. She was quite the hit with a camera guy who filmed her for the big screen in the park! All three of the babies fell asleep on the bus on the way home. That was fun getting them to the car. They woke up enough to walk to the van and then crashed back out. I think Crystal even had fun at the game. She took a lot of pictures and seemed like she was having a good time cheering for the home team. It was a fun game and fortunately we won! Even better in my book. I highly recommend a game anytime you are in the Seattle area!

Dim Sum and the Museum of Flight

One more stop on our roller coaster tour of the PNW for Crystal. We headed down to Seattle yesterday for some yummy dim sum and a stop at the Museum of Flight. I mean, what could be more PNW than flying?!? Anyway, we headed to the New Hong Kong Restaurant for some delicious dim sum, translation courtesy of Crystal. Eric and I were totally lost as to what all she was ordering for us. All I know is that it was tasty and I filled myself WAY up on it. Strangely enough, we ran into her uncle and aunt there who were visiting from Hong Kong. This is the second time that we have seen them since Crystal was here. Crystal's cousin is going to Western and they come to visit regularly. After a quick stop at the Mariner's team store to exchange some tickets we headed off to the Museum of Flight to experience all that it had for us.

Lucy was not super impressed but there wasn't a whole lot for her to do!

Zane talking to the "air traffic controller." He sat and chatted to that prerecorded devise for quite some time.

My two guys in an airplane.

I always forget how much Eric enjoys this museum. I think he has fond dreams of one day flying a plane on his own. He was looking for any excuse to sit in the plane himself. The boys would have done it on there own but he insisted that they sit on his lap for pictures. He wanted to be sure that they could see the camera.

All in all, it was a fun day. They had finished a cool WWI and WWII section since the last time I was there. That was pretty fun. It had a plane thing that you could pretend you were flying the plane that was free. Eric and the boys thought it was a lot of fun. Crystal had a good time too. She is currently learning all about the world wars so it was neat for her to see some of the stuff she had been learning about.

We are headed to a Mariner's game tomorrow night, hopefully they will win and show Crystal a good time!