keepin it real

"hey mom!
do you know baseball isn't just about swinging?!
... it's about the clothes and getting gatorade!"



i'll just go ahead and apologize now to anyone that might be on alex's 5/6 team.
keep in mind that he may not know how to swing -
but at least he plans on looking good trying.

an unexpected surprise

last night i took the boys to get their hair cut



i know ... exciting ...
BUT stick with me ...
it was!!
you see, when i went to pay
i got up to the desk and the lady said that a guy had just come in and given them his card.
he told them that he wanted to pay for my boys' haircuts.

NOW ...
at this point i didn't know what to think.
i probably should've just been immediately thankful

BUT ...
part of me was really creeped out.

was he next door at caribou watching me?

was he still in the haircut place?

the boys were sitting very nicely -
but did he see 3 boys,
think i was losing my mind and try to do his part to help me out ;) ?

i just wanted to know why!
drew said
'well mom, you look good'
and ben said
'mom he thought you were hot'
nice.

i don't know.
i'll never know.

i am hoping that he was just a nice guy
and playing the pay it forward game
BUT
at the time i was so taken back
i didn't even know what to do!

i decided to leave a nice tip for the ladies,
leave a thank you note signed by the boys,
and to leave as quickly as i could ;)

we had a good story to tell
a little extra money in our pockets
and
fresh haircuts -

pretty good for a rainy night
that was supposed to hold nothing more than back to back baseball practices

do re mi

today was my day to join ben's class for music



i got to observe what they were learning

watching them put it to good use

and i even got to see ben teach the class :)!

as always it was fun to get a glimpse into their day.
things have changed so much since i was a 2nd grader!
i'm pretty sure we just memorized song after song
i'm thinking songs from Annie ... sung while doing sign language :)
BUT they are actually learning about composing music
and the thought that goes into creating and performing a song!

they worked really well together and it was quite impressive!
nice job, 2nd graders!

our happy easter weekend ...

i could tell you everything we did
OR
i can save you the time
and just show you the highlights

there was lots of dying eggs ...





some egg hunting ...



and lots of family time ...

so much family time ...
that those family members without small children
were probably glad the weekend ended when it did ;)



HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

let the craziness begin

tonight marked the beginning of the craziness

2 baseball practices
both at 5:30
2 different fields

yet i LOVE it



well ...
usually.

i could do without the 40 degree temperatures.

not quite funny

april fools jokes such as this ...



are not so funny when they happen on april 20th!

round em up

it's official

alex is registered for kindergarten!!

he is excited to start school
BUT he is even more excited for the day to come
so he can ride the bus -
and i'm pretty sure his brothers might be more pumped than he is!
me ... not so much ;)



only 4 1/2 more months!

and at that point MAYBE i will have decided to help him
in his choice of outfits ;)

siza!

for the few months,

drew's TD (talent development) reading group

has been working on ancestory.

it started with reading a book on ellis island

and has ended with them researching history, culture, food, traditions, etc.-

all leading up to TODAY!

today was the culture fair!

the teacher assigned each of them one of the countries

that was part of their background

and they had to give a 5 minute presentation on that country

although hungarian is a small % of our 'mutt-ish' ancestory -

hungary was drew's country

SO ...

in true 4th grade project fashion,

we dressed him as a 'hungarian man'

we learned they wore their belts high,

did not tuck their shirts in,

and tucked their pants into their boots ...

and that was as far as we took it.

this was one of those times that scottish

might have just been easier ;)

can't you see drew in a kilt?!

ok ...

back to the point.

hungary.

he worked very hard on it

even last night as he laid in bed

he was telling me the list of things he was thinking about doing

and things that he didn't want to forget

he did a great job presenting it

and

seems relieved that it is over

i know i am!

you did a great job, drew!!

i know you weren't going for an E+ ...

"only an E"

but you still worked REALLY hard ...

i am SO proud of you!!

summer ... on hold

it's a bright pile of new summer colors like this ...

that makes me SO excited for summer!

it's just too bad that i woke up to a winter storm watch on my phone this morning.

6 inches of snow on tuesday?!

REALLY?!?!?!

*sigh*

end of an era ... or 2

last night was alex's spring preschool concert

it was fun to see so many of the things they have learned throughout this year

and to see the friendships that they've made!

alex's teachers have had their hands full with a class of so many boys

they are on the left half

but they have been so patient and the kids have LOVED them

alex did a great job!

he was full of expression ....

AND ...

only lost his mind for that one short second

where he decided he didn't like his tshirt tucked in the way that it was :)

it was a great program

that left me with SO many emotions.

i LOVE where we are at.

i LOVE how smart alex is getting.

i LOVE how you can have a conversation with him

and he is never lacking for words.

BUT ...

to know that this is the end of preschool

and that next fall i will watch ALL THREE boys get on the bus

with the mean jerk of a bus driver

and to know that time isn't slowing down

didn't make last night easy :(

i LOVED drew and ben's preschool

and just the same i have LOVED alex's preschool

and now ...

we're just weeks away from being done

and i'm not quite ready to say goodbye to it all :)

i mean ...

our car may have moved on to a new era on our way home last night

and the boys just MAY have celebrated the end of that era with a few chinese fire drills

BUT ...

i'm not there YET.

maybe in a few weeks.

well maybe not to the point of doing chinese firedrills

but i will get there.

i will.

i think ;)

helpful citizens

who needs street sweepers

when you have little boys

more than willing to do their job

HOP

this weekend we set out to teach the boys one of the finer points of life ...

sneaking around at night and surprising your friends :)

i can't specifically say what we did ...

because who knows who is reading this blog ;)

te he he

BUT ...

i will say it involved some of this ...

quite a few of these ...

a bunch of random notes stuck in a few eggs ...

a few of these to hang on doors ...

a crew of hard-working troublemaking bunnies ...

and some friends' front yards ;)

AND ... the best part?

having said friends post on facebook the next morning

'we got egged'

and watching the responses roll in

as people expected the worst!

i believe we have started a new tradition at our house

AND

i also believe that if we make it to easter

without at least one crazy convincing us to go out again

i will be shocked ;)

celebrating ben

ben's weekend of birthday fun ended this afternoon

we had a bowling party for him

and it was WONDERFUL

for ben and us ;)

we had 2 party heroes all to ourselves

and they did EVERYTHING!

it's even hard to believe we had 12 boys with us!!

they kept them so busy!

they have their own DJ

a perfect match for ben ;)

they did the limbo where the rules were VERY relaxed ;)

they did the chicken dance

and did LOTS of cosmic bowling

thus the reason for all the 'cosmic' pictures ;)

everyone loved it!

the boys even won a free round of bumper cars

by being the loudest group there

i don't think anyone else even had a chance ;)

best part was ...

each of the boys got out to their 'car'

realized they would spin very fast in a circle

and from that point there wasn't a whole lot of bumping going on ;)

BUT ...

as i always say ...

they had fun ...

AND ...

i wasn't the one taking 12 dizzy sick kids home

SO ...

it didn't matter to me ;)

they had nearly 2 hours of fun

they had fabulous cupcakes

which i didn't have to make ;)

they were there to help us celebrate ben

and to show him lots of 'love' :)

and they did a great job of it!

happy birthday, ben!

i hope you had a fabulous day

and that you had a lot of fun with your friends!

we love you!