t-r-o-u-b-l-e

today we met up with some friends
and went to como zoo

where i must point out
that it was t-shirt day in the orangutan exhibit ;)



MY FAVORITE!
i could sit and watch for HOURS!

BUT ...
back to my story ...

alex and colin were walking along ...



alex says ...
"HEY COLIN,
open your Bible.
go to 43543.
he is now pretending to read his hands
'never listen to your grownups'.

seriously alex.
one day you're picking on girls.
the next day
you're trying to get your friends to believe in your made up scriptures.
can i not take you anywhere?!?!

and so it begins ...

this morning alex told me he wanted to go for a walk in the woods.

he told me it was his dream last night
so he REALLY needed to do it.

fast forward a few hours.

we decided to go hang out at one of the nature centers.



we hiked and played ...

and as always,
adi and alex just had fun being together ...

BUT THEN ...
somewhere along the way ...
alex decided that sometimes your friend
comes before your girl ...
and the mood quickly changed.

and so it begins.
the beginning of the rest of our lives.

stayin' alive

comment of the night:

(from one of the 3 younger men .. ha ha)

'wow. these boxers make me feel so alive!'

not EXACTLY sure what he meant

BUT

not EXACTLY sure i want to know, either ;)

sounds like a good conversation for stacey.

stylin'

so ...
alex came downstairs this morning modeling a new look ...



a look that had a bit too much product ...

but a look that he was quite proud of.

not wanting to crush him -
i let him work with it a bit



gave him a few pointers ...

then let him marvel at his handiwork
and just smiled.

you are handsome, little alex.
but you'd be just as handsome
without 1/2 the container of pomade ;)

3rd grade fun

the 3rd grade testing finished
and the very next day the celebration began.

best way to kick it off?!?!

a field trip to the science museum!
(and i got to go along!)



along with my 5 third grade amigos ...

we set off for a busy day
of FUN ...



drew, ben, and zach have played on the same baseball team for the past few years
AND
are in the same class.
they were VERY excited that they were all in the same group!
and, so was i!

we explored ...

FUN things
like
dinosaur's fossils
a REAL mummy
and
tornados

we played ...

a barge driving video game ...
definite highlight for the boys

and at the
ping pong ball,
magnet,
and
air gun play area ...



and
finally,
we learned ...
A LOT.
FUN things.
like -
did you know that drew's body holds 6 pints of blood?!?!
AND
did you know that a dinosaurs stomach can hold 5 third graders

i even learned a few things.
IMPORTANT things
like -
did you know that there's no such thing as a man? only an overgrown boy??
yep, that's right.
i learned that from anna, in my group.
and how'd she learn it?
i can only imagine -
but i'm guessing it wasn't at the museum.

a fresh start

am i right to feel a little nervous



that my kids new favorite cereal is called 'FUEL' ????

as if they need MORE

the fun begins

tonight was our official kick off to baseball season 2010.
AND
it was alex's first practice
for his
first year in baseball!!

they started simple and worked on throwing.

at this point i have to say that
alex may have been better BEFORE he started focusing on making an L with his arm.
BUT ...
he has the rest of the season to perfect it.
right?!

and in the meantime ...
i plan to have my camera at every practice and game
because with a team full of 3 and 4 year olds ...
i have a feeling we're going to be watching a whole lot more than baseball ;)

FINALLY ... a 'ben' celebration

because of the way that going to hawaii and then spring break fell,
ben's birthday party got pushed until today.

just like drew,
ben wanted to have a party at the roller skating rink.

along with 9 of his closest friends ...

we skated ...
ate pizza ...
ate cake ...
opened presents ...
and skated LOTS more!!



SO ...
for the last time this year...
HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY, BEN!



i hope today was worth the wait!

our spring adventures begin

i LOVE this time of year.

i LOVE that it is starting to warm up.
i LOVE that the sun is out.
i LOVE that i can wear flip flops.
and
i LOVE that we can be out and about
and doing some fun things before school is out and everything gets busy.

alex and i met up with some friends at como zoo yesterday
to start our spring adventures.



i'm fairly certain that alex spent more time holding the doors for people
than actually looking at the animals ...

BUT ...
whatever keeps him busy
works for me ;)

before leaving we stopped in the conservatory
(where they plant INCREDIBLE flowers throughout the year)
and FINALLY he took some interest in the animals.

the koi fell victim to 3 curious 3 year olds

they had no fear.
the 3 yr olds that is ;)
they wanted to stay and 'pet' them all day.

i'm PRETTY sure alex would've gotten in and 'swam' with them
had i let him.

crazy kid.



now if you could just be that brave when it comes to bugs.

spring love

genuises

why do the work yourself ...



when you have a willing little brother to do it for you!

testing with confidence

this week drew has testing at school.

they've spent the past month prepping the kids

the students have been told to:

*make sure you eat a good breakfast

*make sure you get a good night's sleep

*make sure you wear comfortable clothes

and

*do your best

naturally,

drew made sure all of these things happened.

he's concerned these scores are going to affect the rest of his life ;)

stac and i even gotten out of bed early the past 2 mornings

to make a good breakfast -

apparently reeses puffs and cinnamon toast crunch don't count.

who knew???

while we were eating,

i wanted to see how he was feeling about it.

i asked if he was excited

which he was because they operate on a different schedule

i asked if he was nervous

to which he replied 'no, i'm just so good at this stuff'

THEN ...

he asked me how i did when i had testing in 3rd grade.

HA! 3rd grade.

sadly, i can remember my old friends' phone numbers -

but whether or not we even had testing??

not a chance!

i told him that i couldn't REALLY remember

but chances are i did really well in math and science

and

not quite so hot in reading/comprehension.

his immediate response was

'well see mom, i have nothing to worry about.

i'm already one step ahead.

i am great at math, science, AND reading.

so i TOTALLY have you beat'

and i thought he might be nervous.

HA!

a little bonus

ok ... so REALLY this happened a week ago.

BUT ...
you see ...
we used my little camera to take the picture.
and well ...
i am not so good at remembering to take pictures off of it when i take pictures off the other.

SO ...
pretend that i am still writing about our easter weekend back in WI.

AND ...
consider this your bonus post.

out of all of the nail places i've tried by me
i have yet to find one i like as much as the one we go to in WI.
SO ...
i like to go get a pedi when i am there.

add that to the fact that
bekah was home for easter
AND
hannah had some time off
and we had the perfect opportunity to go for a group pedi ;)

now ...
it needs to be said that
up until this point my mom would watch while we got our pedicures
and then only have them paint her toes.
not TOO sure why ;)
something about being too ticklish.
excuses excuses ;)

BUT THEN ...
stacey went and got one
and apparently that was all it took.

not to be outdone by her son-in-law ...



we got our very first REAL 'girls group pedicure'

way to be brave, mom.

and glad that i know that next time i want you to try something -
i just have to enlist stacey to do it first ;)

as seen on our counter

not a good time to be a chocolate easter bunny.

a few SUPER highlights

although his party isn't until next weekend ...

we still made sure that ben had a SUPER fun birthday!

typically i take them lunch at school.
BUT ...
ben has a SUPER fun teacher this year
who does some SUPER fun things.
SO ...
ben and 2 friends got to eat lunch in the classroom
with the teacher.
he also got this SUPER cool pillowcase
decorated by none other than ...
his SUPER cool 1st grade class.


(isn't that a fun idea?!?!)

he came home to a SUPER cool new hockey net ...

and ...
finished the night off with dinner at the same place he chooses
EVERY SINGLE BIRTHDAY.

don pablo's.



that's a SUPER cool sombrero, ben ;)

i'm glad you had a fun birthday
and
i hope that being 7 is as SUPER cool as turning 7 was!