Bendaroos

The best way to describe Bendaroos is like sticky pipe cleaners. Kristin made this Penguin for me and wanted me to post it here. I love it!

And here is a picture Danelle took before Kristin's soccer game on Saturday:

Hodgepodge

Rainy today... pouring at times. Not fun when putting kids in the car. The kids both had good days. Kellen is really starting to enjoy his day at daycare. He gets to play with lots of other kids, so I think that keeps him interested. Even with the weather they did find a break in the rain to go outside. Kristin swam while at daycare today and is now able to go under water and touch the bottom. She is getting more and more comfortable in the water!

Kellen is now 39 inches tall. He grew another 1/4 of an inch in the past month. Kellen also can now count to 11 all by himself. He really enjoys counting things. Now if I could get him more interested in the alphabet.

Max and Ruby

Kellen has a new favorite show to watch. It's called Max and Ruby. Its about the adventures of two sibling rabits. Max is the younger brother and causes all sorts of mishaps for his sister Ruby. Much like Kellen and Kristin. Friday evening while the girls were at Kristin's science fair, Kellen asked to wath Max and Ruby. I was watching a hockey game so I told him he could watch his show after bath time. So Kelled proceeded to go into the bathroom and started the bathwater running. It was at least a half an hour before bathtime, but I took him up on the idea and gave him an early bath. Then he watched his show.

Danelle and Kristin went to another Girl Scout function this afternoon. This one was about cultural diversity I think. Kristin got to see her name spelled in several languages. She thought that was neat. While Danelle and Kristin were out, Kellen and I went on a Home Depot run and then Kellen went down for a nap and I plowed away at the bathroom. I managed to get the toilet installed as well as the sink. No leaks yet! (Fingers crossed). We're closing in on the home stretch - one more cabinet to install, then trim and grout, and maybe a paint touchup or two.

Here is a picture from Kristin's game on Saturday:

Busy, Busy, Busy

Friday Aaron stayed home again to work on the bathroom. We got the floor in and the plumber came over to change out some valves. Kellen had Tumble Bus and helped me get groceries in the morning. Kristin had a busy night with Girl Scouts and a Science Fair at school. Her Girl Scout troop collectively made dinner for 9 families at a family homeless shelter. Kristin helped make a green salad. We dropped off the food about 15 minutes before dinner time. The girls seemed to enjoy helping out. Kristin and I then headed to her school for the Science Fair. We spent time with her friend Ella. There were experiments from some of the kids and then there were activities to do and live animals to see. I even touched a live alligator. Kristin didn't want to touch it though. I felt the same way about the snake that was out.

This morning Kristin had a soccer game. We had okay weather until about 20 minutes left and it started raining hard and it was windy and chilly. Not fun. However, Kristin's team was the last of 4 games going to leave the field. Kristin also scored a goal at the last second of the game! Way to go Kristin. She actually played forward some today, but also played defense. This afternoon we resumed work on the bathroom. The painting is now almost complete. I just have a few touch up spots to do. Aaron was able to get the heater, light, mirror/medicine cabinet, and toilet paper holder back up today. He also got the sink put together and now just needs to be installed in the bathroom. After dinner we went to Kristin's school playground. The kids got some energy out there. And we came home to find out the Penguins tied up the game to send it to OT, and then they won! Round 2 here we come!

A couple days off

I took Thursday and Friday off this week to try to make some progress on the bathroom remodel. Got the underlayment down today. Danelle put up a couple coats of paint and puttied the seams of the underlayment with some kind of leveler material. Tomorrow I'm going th have a plumer over to change out the valves for the toilet and sink. Might be able to do it myself, but the connections are pretty rusty so might as well have a plumber do it.

I took Kellen to Home Depot this morning. He has a hard time keeping his hands in the cart. He's very curious about everything. He played in the yard some and helped Danelle pick some dandelions while I was cutting the underlayment. He just loves being outside. He likes rubbing the dandelions on his face.

Kristin's school is participating in the One Book program again this year. They are reading That Dog (or something like that). It's a lot easier to read for Kristin than last years Trumpet of the Swan, so tonight she read about 10 pages to me.

Plants that Eat Bugs are Just Plain Fun!

Well, the bathroom project is still moving along. Aaron got the rest of the subfloor in last night. Kellen and I have run a few errands today and Monday to get parts for the remodel. Today Kellen was not a great shopper. I think he isn't finding trips to Home Depot fun anymore. Oh well.

Kristin informed yesterday that Benjamin in her class brought in 2 crickets for the venus flytrap. Today when they got to school the venus flytrap had caught one of the crickets. Sounds like the class is really enjoying the plant in their room.

Late last night we purchased plane tickets. Yep, we are Iowa bound this summer! We are all excited for this trip.

What Kind of Plant Would You Be?

That's Kristin's writing homework this week. How ironic that Danelle found a Venus Flytrap this morning at Lowes and brought it into Kristin's classroom today. Sounds like it was a big hit.

Still working on the bathroom project. Got half of the subfloor installed tonight. Wow, there are a lot of angles in that bathroom! And cuting circles to go under the flange for the toilet proved to be challenging too. The kids were pretty good for Danelle while I worked on measuring and cutting this evening.

I was about a half an hour late getting into Kellen's room to say goodnight, but he was up waiting for me. Kristin made him a greeting card out of letter sized paper that he has been taking to bed with him the last couple of nights. Danelle found him curled up with it before we went to bed last night. :-)

Kristin's Writing Homework

Kristin wanted us to put her writing homework on the blog today. She was still working on it when we talked to Nana and Papa today. Kristin's homework was to write about a book or a real event (she chose a real event... her soccer practice/game yesterday). She had to make a story map with 4 pictures/main ideas about the event. She then had to put the pictures in order of what happened write about each main idea. So, her 4 main ideas were 1) My Soccer Jersey, 2) My Soccer Practice, 3) My Soccer Game, and 4) A Snack.

My Soccer Jersey - When I got to soccer I got a new jersey. It was orange. The team is called the Orange Tigers. My jersey had the number 7.

My Soccer Practice - At soccer practice I played Chicken and the Fox. I won both games. The game was the Chicken and the Fox. It was fun.

My Soccer Game - I was the defense person for my team. Well most of the time.

A Snack - When the game was over I had a snack. The snack was frosted animal crackers.

Pandora's Box

Make that Pandora's Door. We recently replaced the door to the bathroom off of the master bedroom. We hadn't gotten the new trim up yet. While the trim was off, we thought that would be a good opportunity to remove the 20+ year old wall paper. So the wall paper started coming off... but that required removing the recessed medicine cabinet. Easy, right? It's one of those cabinet/mirror/light combinations. While taking it out, I managed to break one of the glass shades on the light... then it was on to the baseboard trim, and then the floor. :-) So we're in the midst of all that now. We'll prep the walls and paint before with install the new cabinet and replace the floor. The kids have been pretty patient with us the last couple of days while we tackle this project. Usually either Danelle or I is in the bathroom while the other is looking after the kids.

Speaking of which, Kristin had her first soccer practice and game of the spring season today. She is excited for many reasons. 1) the team jerseys are orange. 2) She got number 7 (her favorite). Dad might have had something to do with that. :-) 3) She has the same coaches as last year that she loves. 4) there are several players from last season on the team and she already knew the rest of the new kids on the team from her elementary school.

She played well, electing to play defense most of the game. She would join the offensive play but then be the first to get back when the ball went the other way. She seems to read the play very well for a first grader.

Kellen went from eating everything in sight to not wanting to eat the last couple of days. I think he had a growth spurt and now he's got some aches and pains from it. He did really well this morning sitting in his lawn chair and watching Kristin's game. We really didn't have to do much chasing. Of course, Danelle let him play on the playground first thing to get it out of his system.

Sorry, no soccer pictures this week. They were projecting rain so I left the camera at home. We did stay dry, so that was a plus.

Nice Day

Another nice day here. It rained last night while we were sleeping, but dry today. After Kristin was home from school the kids and I got outside. Kellen mainly watered in the front yard. Kristin played basketball, climbed the cherry tree, jumped rope and did a little watering too. We also took a trip down the block to check out the corners the City is working on. They poured the concrete today, so now we wait for the concrete to cure.

Kristin had a good day at school and even got to read two of her Magic School Bus books to her class. She wanted to take them in because the topics were plants and recycling. Two things they are learning about at school. Kristin was pretty proud that she got to read the books to the class and she got to use her teachers live camera overhead projecter, that way it was easier for all the kids to see the pictures. Technology!

Kellen and I picked up the trim to go around the new bathroom door. Now to get it stained and up. First coat of stain is on, so we are on our way. Now to see if I can get that old wallpaper down. :)

Winterhawks and Girl Scouts

Kristin has had a busy couple of evenings. I had tickets to the Winterhawks playoff game on Tuesday, so I took Kristin. We both had fun, but it ended up being the Hawks last game this season. They lost their 2nd round playoff series to the Vancouver Giants. Kristin was pretty bummed when she realized it was their last game. She really got into following them this season.

Tonight, Kristin had Girl Scouts. They did an Earth Day project by collecting litter on the grounds of an apartment complex. She earned the green petal on her vest for that effort. Kellen and I had fun while Danelle and Kristin were at Scouts. Kellen likes to help bring the garbage cans to the curb, so we did that together. He is very busy bouncing between activities and has become quite the chatter box. He must have worn himself out today since he was already asleep when I went in to say good night to him after tucking Kristin into bed.

Here's a picture from Kristin's playdate on Monday:

In Service Day

Kristin's school had an in-service day today so Kristin was home with Danelle and Kellen. She had been asking about a playdate with a particular friend in her class, so Danelle arranged it for today. Sounds like they had a great time and did a lot of playing outside. It turned out to be warm and sunny today, so they even had a little water fight. Kellen had fun and joined in too. I asked him at bath time if Kristin had a playdate today. He said 'No, I had playdate. Not Kristin.' He's been talking up a storm lately. After dinner Kellen took me on a walk to the end of the block where the City is replacing the sidewalk at the corners to install wheelchair ramps. Then we walked up another block where they've just finished the same thing so I could show Kellen what it would look like when they finish.



Yesterday was another day of outside time. Kristin wanted to go to her school playground to show us some tricks she can do on the bars. It was good timing since there was a couple other kids from her class there. I had a hockey game at 5pm and Danelle brought the kids to watch for a little while. They do pretty good watching for the first period, and then they start running around in the second period, and by the third period, it's time to go. :)

I like this picture:

Project Days

Yesterday and today have been days for projects around the house. Aaron took the day off yesterday to install the new door for the master bathroom. Between the two of us we got it in there. Kellen was curious about what was going on of course. He even found an opportunity to run back into our bedroom, which made us both chase him since there were tools and stuff everywhere. Kellen just wanted to measure the new door... it was really cute!

Today we all headed outside to work in the yard. First we stopped at Home Depot to get a thatch rake and seed and fertilizer. Aaron and I got the thatch up and Kristin and Kellen helped pick up all the moss and get it in the yard debris bin. Kristin picked 84 dandelion flowers and Aaron paid her 1 cent each. She thought that was pretty neat. Kellen had fun digging in the bare dirt sections of the yard and even found some worms. The grass seed and fertilizer are down, so now we wait. Oh, and Aaron even finished edging! It was a busy day in the yard.

Kristin is at a birthday party for a soccer friend as I am typing. She was excited about the party today and should be having lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Oma!

Happy Birthday, Oma! Enjoy your birthday song!

ROLL TIDE!!

Congratulations Ellie!!

Planting Flowers

Kellen and I headed to the zoo this morning after dropping Kristin off at school. It was a cloudy day but warm enough for the zoo. After lunch and rest time, Kellen and I planted some flowers in the front flowerbeds in the rain. Yes, a light shower started shortly after we got outside to plant. We stayed out in it for about 30 minutes. Kellen helped by watering the flowers after I planted them.

Kristin had PE today and it sounds like they were playing tennis, badminton (but with balloons), and ping pong (until the ball was lost). She worked on her math homework today. She just started subtracting where she has to borrow a 10 and change the numbers at the top. After 3 problems she had it figured out. :)

Rain!

Lot's of rain the last few days. The kids are getting cabin fever. Send help.

Kidding, it's not that bad, but we'll certainly welcome the sun when it returns. Kellen has even said 'it needs stop raining!' a few times.

The excitement of the day was a new bath matt with a different print of tropical fish from the last one we had. Kellen had to decide which was his favorite. (The blue one). Kristin was quick to point out that there are about 30 blue fish in the print.

Kristin's math homework is starting to have story problems. She wasn't thrilled with it to start tonight but rallied nicely and had it figured out before too long.

Happy Easter

We hope everyone had a nice Easter today. Kristin came in to wake us up at 6:30am to hunt for eggs. I sent her back to bed as that was a little too early... especially since Aaron had a 10:50pm hockey game last night. She was back in our room at 7am and we all got up then. The kids had fun hunting for the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid. Kellen had more fun checking out what was inside all the eggs... "It's candies."

After the egg hunt a breakfast we headed off to church early to make sure we got a seat. Lots of people standing again this year. Both kids ate a good lunch and Kellen even went down for a nap. Uncle John came over this afternoon and hung out with us. Unfortunately it started raining at about 1:30pm so we couldn't get outside for some playtime.

It's Friday!

Seemed like a busy week. It's good to be busy, and we'll all sure sleep well tonight. Kellen enjoyed 'washing' the plastic eggs he got yesterday in the bathroom sink. He actually didn't make to big a mess while he was playing. Kristin had fun telling jokes to Oma and Poppa on the phone. She checked out a book of jokes about school from the library today.

Here's Kellen at daycare yesterday. They had the kids play outside while the Easter Bunny hid the eggs inside.

Let the Egg Hunts Begin

Kellen had an egg hunt at daycare today that I took him over for. We got to play outside in the sun while the Easter Bunny hid some eggs in the toddler classroom. The kids went right to it when they got in the room and found lots of eggs. Kellen had fun and enjoyed showing me the playground at daycare and what he can do.

This afternoon we opened a box from Oma and Poppa that was filled with chocolate. The kids each got a large chocolate bunny. They were both so excited and ready to get dinner out of the way so that they could have some chocolate as dessert. :) Kellen put his bunny on the table "right here" he says, so that he could see it while he ate dinner.

Last night Kristin had Girl Scouts and as Aaron mentioned, they got to have pizza, popcorn, and movie night for their reward for selling cookies. At the beginning of selling cookies they got to pick something fun to do and something charitable to do with their cookie sales earnings. So, we had pizza, popcorn and watched The Princess and the Frog.