Easter and the Aquarium

The kids waiting for the instructions about the egg hunt downstairs. They were very, VERY excited.

Gwen was super overwhelmed/excited.

Lucy found a lot of eggs!

Reid seemed to think his baby doll needed to be in the bucket too. I tried to get a picture of the boys hunting for eggs but they were two whirlwinds of competition and were very difficult to frame up. So just know that they hunted too!

After the egg hunt we finished getting ready for the day and headed off to church. After a quick pancake brunch we made our way to the Aquarium to use another day of membership. It was a gorgeous day in Seattle so even though we were on the water the weather was quite lovely.

The kids really love the tide pools. They think touching all the starfish and sea anemones is one of the best parts.

Lucy in particular could have stayed there touching things forever. Every time I turned around she had her hands in a tank. She even made friends with a worker and got lots of information about the different creatures.

Gwen was a bit tentative about touching stuff but eventually dove right in. She made me nervous that she was going to go straight into the water but she managed to stay dry. Reid didn't have any desire to touch any of the creatures but he sure did like splashing the freezing cold water.

The boys had fun too. And we finished the trip after watching the octopus be fed. They had grown a LOT in the 9 months since we had been there last. All in all it was a very nice Easter. So thankful for time with the whole family!

A LIGHT BULB???!

So tonight after all the busyness and activity we were getting the kids into bed and Lucy told Eric that she had a funny taste in her mouth.

Eric: What is in your mouth?
Lucy: A light
Eric: WHAT? (He looked at the string of lights in her room and noticed one missing) Did you eat this bulb?
Lucy: Yes

So then he made her spit it out in the sink and rinse her mouth out. She is now eating some bread and crying that she is going to die. (She has a flair for the dramatic) We found most of the pieces though and it seems like she is going to be fine. SIGH. Only Lucy.

EGGS!

We are running a bit behind this year with the Easter egg dyeing. It just didn't seem to make it on the calendar so tonight after a VERY busy day we finally got to it.

I found neon food coloring at the store this year so we gave that a try. It was really good and the colors on the eggs turned out nice and bright.

Reid proceeded to knock over a cup of the food coloring though and made a huge stain on the counter top. SIGH These things do happen with a two year old in the house I suppose.

Could you REALLY be too upset at a sweet little face like this though???

The big kids had a great time with the eggs though and I see many multicolored egg salad sandwiches in our future this week.

A Party for Reid Isaiah

We celebrate Reid today with lunch party with some friends! He wanted a Mickey Mouse party and we chose to BBQ some hot dogs (which he LOVES) to eat. The weather today was GORGEOUS for the end of March and the kids got to play outside a lot. It is so nice when the weather cooperates on a birthday party weekend.

Reid got some super fun new toys and a couple of gift cards to spend. He also had a lot of fun trying to blow out his candle. He kept trying the entire time we were singing happy birthday but didn't actually manage it until after we were done singing. Happy 2nd Birthday Reid! We love you so much!

An Easter Egg Hunt

Eric saw the sign for a big community egg hunt that a local church was putting on this morning and he really wanted to take the kids to it. I stayed home to work on the final parts of Reid's birthday party.

The kids had a lot of fun hunting for eggs and their were fun prizes as well.  Lucy won a gift card to Target.

Reid won a copy of the movie "The Incredibles".

The boys each won a squishy ball that they played with most of the day.

It was a fun daddy adventure that ended with cookies and maybe Reid getting separated from the group and lost for a few minutes on the way back to the van. All is good though. He made it back safe and sound.

Spring Conferences

The boys had half days at school all week due to parent-teacher conferences.Eric and I are always excited to hear how the kids are doing at school. Report cards and watching grades on papers that are sent home are always a part of staying on top of it but the teacher's perspective is always important to me.

Andrew's conference was yesterday. It seems that in 4th grade they start doing student led conferences. I asked him right before the conference if we were going to get bad news about how he was doing. He frowned and looked sheepish and said yes. I looked at him skeptically and asked why. He then tells me that he is going to have to tell us that he is practically perfect. (OH BROTHER) I just laughed at him. He is so funny about telling people how he is doing. Overall his conference was great. His scores are stellar and he is doing well in all subjects. Earlier in the year we had a lot of conversations with his teacher about how often he melted down and cried during class. After a good conversation with Andrew though we discovered that he wasn't eating a snack and it was a long time until lunch. His teacher was happy to report that he has stopped shutting down, is getting better at taking a deep breath and a moment to get control of himself and then trying again. Especially if he doesn't understand something right away. It was a wonderful affirmation that he is doing well in school in all areas. I am excited for him to continue to grow and advance in the next year.

Zane's conference was today and he is doing amazing as well. Zane is an amazing reader and has even moved to a group of readers that is done much more independently. His teacher was thrilled and wowed by the amount of words per minute he could read with 99% accuracy. She said that he often rushes through his morning work so he can move on to the independent reading the students are allowed to do while waiting for all the other kids to finish. Math concepts continue to click for Zane as well. He is almost completely done passing all the addition/subtraction tests that they evaluate kids on in 1st grade. Once he has completed those levels he will move on to multiplication. His teacher fully anticipates that he will be there before the end of the school year. It is always so nice to hear that Zane is doing well in social situations at school too. We heard how he is a kind and considerate boy in class. A natural leader among his peers in a fully positive way. When his teacher asked the class "Who are the leaders in their class?" She said Zane's name was the first one mentioned. He roots for the underdog, wants everyone to be included and is a great listener/direction follower within the classroom. We heard the words patient, on task, focused all referring to how he is in school. We shared with his teacher how nice that was to hear because it isn't the words we would always use about him at home. She was actually shocked to hear it but we are happy to deal with the negative behavior at home and let the school day get the best of Zane. In all it was a great conference and I can't wait to see how he grows!

RIP Betsy Paula

Andrew's fish Betsy has died. She didn't look well for the past few days and this morning when we checked on her it was official. She had died at some point during the night. Andrew was very, very sad and has cried on and off all afternoon. We gave him the option on what to do with her remains and he chose to bury her in the backyard. It was a quiet and private event with just Andrew in attendance. Eric was actually a bit disappointed. I think he had a speech that he wanted to give about her but Andrew was pretty insistent that he be the only one.

After dinner tonight we went and got a new Beta for Andrew. This fish has stripes and somewhat reddish fins. Because of it's resemblance to a tom-cat Andrew has named the fish Tommy Tom W. We are excited and hopeful about the lifespan of Tommy. He seems to be a much more active fish and we are all crossing our fingers that he will have a much longer life. I don't know if Andrew's heart could take it if he lost another fish so soon.