Toads

While cleaning out the window wells we found five toads!! We turned them loose in the garden but then the next day we found a snake and no toads. Sad. I would much rather have toads than snakes in my garden.

Preschool Graduation

Good grief ! When did Cora get so big and I get so old? I can't believe my little girl finished her first year of preschool. She's come such a long way in one year. She's learned how to be more comfortable in social situations, is showing quite the artistic streak and practically taught herself to read. It amazes me how easily she picks things up and how multi-talented she is.

The graduation was held in the same park so the kiddos got to run around like monkeys. Emmett also got to meet up with some of his old preschool buddies as well.

Dance Recital

Mrs. Marsha put on a recital for all of her classes. Cora's class did a piece from The Lion King - "I Can't Wait To Be King". All of the kids took it so seriously. And nothing like a bunch of 4 year-olds in tutus to score a 10 for cuteness.

Dairy Queen

It was flaming hot today so while running errands I took the kiddos to Dairy Queen. I had asked for a cup for Thatcher but some how ended up with a cone. Not so smart I let him have it. Cone + car =BAD. We had to wash the whole cover and he was rather sticky, but did he have the time of his life!

Last Swim Class

Cora loved to splash.

Emmett loved the springboard.

Thatcher loved the toys.

Healthy Kids Run #1

Look what's blooming in my back yard!

Emmett and Cora had the first of thier Healthy Kids Runs today. Cora wanted to run so bad that we let her even though she is too young for punch cards and prizes. Bummer! Funny that they all get "official" racing bibs with the same number one. And super cute that they are young enough to hold each other's hand without gagging.

Our Babies Are Here

Introducing Marigold, Pansy, Rose, Petunia....

Asparagus!

Six perfect, delectable spears harvested from our very own patch. Technically we were not supposed to harvest this year, but surely six little spears won't hurt anything...

Kite Festival

Today we went to a the Fort Collins Kite Festival. Never mind it was 40 degrees, rainy and windy. It was super cool with tons of kites that I've never seen before, but we had hypothermia by the time we came home. The kids got to make their own kites out of Tyvek and dowels. I was pleased that the design the festival coordinators picked out flew really well. The kiddos kept their kites up at about 75 feet for a long time. Now they're hooked!

Give a Hoot - Don't Pollute!

Emmett asked to sign up for an acting class this semester. The kids did Give a Hoot - Don't Pollute (remember Woodsy the Owl from the 80's?). He was the only kid to fully memorize his lines. That kid is so lucky to have a photographic memory - it will save his butt in O-Chem! Like the antlers? I had to make the "costume", so I covered one of Cora's headbands with felt and hot-glued some interfacing reinforced antlers to it. The kids did a great job and now Emmett wants to do more acting.

Easter

Thatcher's first year hunting eggs. He did great and the older kiddos were fantastic about saving some of the easier eggs for him to find.

Good grief - why do my kids look like I'm torturing them when I ask for a group portrait?

Easter Egg Dying

Because we're nerds, and crunchy nerds to boot, we decided to do all natural Easter egg dyes this year. So we compared a bunch of different things, some we tried both boiled and cold. Here are the results...
The winners were red cabbage boiled, tumeric boiled, blueberries boiled, and paprika boiled. Cold blueberries also worked well. Now if we could find a decent green...

Too Cool

Face is a bit too dirty too...

Questions Of The Day

"How is water made?
"Could a really smart panther build a space ship?"
"What does the wind taste like?"

Snow Day

Finally we have snow !!! Dan and the kiddos (and Widget) went out and played in the stuff while Miss Kitty and I watched. This was the first time Thatcher has been able to go out and and make snowballs with Emmett and Cora.

Fishing

Today we took everyone to Jax's and bought them fishing poles. In the morning Emmett and Cora practiced casting in the back yard. Dan and I were shocked at how fast they learned. The kids were so excited that after nap we marched down to the pond at the end of our subdivision to get in a little "pole time". I have my suspicions that there were really no fish in there, but they still had a good time. After about an hour it began to ran and we had to head home sans fish dinner. Now we have to do some research and find out which ponds are really stocked. We did however see a lot of red-winged blackbirds.

Last Iceskating Class

Emmett can now glide forward and "swizzle" backwards.

Cora can march and glide forward and get up off the ice by herself. Doing great for her first set of lessons!
Thatcher hangs out and looks cute...

Recycled Thatcher-Wear

So I was reading this cool article about how to make baby pants from old shirts and was inspired. So Dan had a shirt he was going to make into rags and I snagged it to make Thatcher a pair of striped pants. I liked the pants so much I appliqued a funny bird on a (thrift-store) shirt to match. Green and cute...

Orchid

My first orchid of the year is blooming. Such amazing flowers and they last so long. They can only live by my sink or I forget to water them - then croak - dead plant.

The $2 Dress

This knit was on clearance so I was able to get enough to sew Cora a "twirly dress" for $2. She's in love with it; pink stripes that twirl; what more could a girl ask for? I wish the knit was a bit heavier for winter , but it will be fine for spring.

Lego CLub

One of the classes that Emmett picked from the Recreator this year was Lego Club. For three weeks a group of kids get together and work on lego projects. This group was all boy ages six to twelve. Emmett had a blast!! I think he goofed around more than built, but still...

New Pics

Almost every day I look at them and wonder how on earth Dan and I made such cuteness!

Too Many Cooks

Dan has been doing a bunch of projects around the house recently. One was installing a ceiling fan in the south bedroom that gets blistering hot during the summer. Of course everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) wanted to "help" him. If you look you can even see Thatcher getting in the mix. What a great dad! He included everyone on the project.

Happy Heart Day

Dan let me sleep in (I love that man!) and made the kiddos heart shaped pancakes with strawberry sauce.