Tumbling on PJ Day

Aaron got to wear his PJ's to school today and Becky got a chance to snap a picture of him tumbling in Gym class with Mrs. Hermann.

Go, Go Speed Racer

Today Alex and I finished his Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts. He designed it on paper and then we went to the Anderson's hardware department a few weeks ago where they cut out his shape with a power saw. We sanded it and painted it. Alex hammered in the wheels. The steering wheel is a recycled wheel from another toy car. Alex applied the decals that Becky found for him. The car was a little lighter than the limit, so to make it speedier, we screwed 4 screws into the bottom to make it heavier. He was thrilled to make something like this that works from his own design. His pack race is in a few days, and then the district wide race is in a few weeks so he can put it to the test.

Mom's Day 2008

This year they started an alternating pattern of Donuts with Dad (before school continental breakfast) in the fall and Mom's Day this winter. (Next year will be Muffins with Mom and Dad's Day.) Becky got to spend the entire day with Alex, following him, and participating with him at time with his 2nd grade activities. Aaron doesn't have school on Fridays this year, but next year, I'll have to divide my time between both kids. Here they were working together on a math activity that uses small blocks to represent ones, sticks (made of 10 blocks) to represent tens and squares (made of 10 sticks) for the hundreds. They had a great time together and amde me look forward to next year, split time and all.

Valentine's Party in P3

Becky planned this year's P3 Valentine's party for Aaron's class. There were games, valentine distribution, and of course, Valentine cookies. Guess what Aaron's favorite part was. :)

Happy Birthday Aaron! - 4 Years Old

Our littlest munchkin turned 4 today. As usual, he's been acting like a 4 year-old for several months now. He is a big time reader, loves to play just about any game and go on any adventure. Since it was a school day for Alex (but not for Aaron on Mondays), we saved most of the celebrating for after school. Remember, we had just come back from Kalahari Resort the weekend before. We did take him to breakfast at Cracker Barrel - I think we may have him convinced that it is his favorite place to eat breakfast out, while really it is ours.
He had a lot of fun opening up his presents, as expected. It blew his mind a little when a wrapped package compared his 48 months old to his Grammy's 708 months and Grandpa's 814 months. Don't worry, you'll get there too someday kid (if you eat your vegetables).
When we let him pick where he wanted to have dinner, it was no surprise that it was at Chuck E. Cheese's. Maybe he'll try pizza as a 4 year old. It is a little odd packing him a meal into his favorite restaurant. Though to his credit, the pizza probably is not the best part of Chuck E. Cheese's.
The highlight of the night was Aaron's Grand Star Cake that Becky made him. Of course, both boys are big fans of Mario videogames, and the Grand Star is the big prize for completing major levels of the newest one, Super Mario Galaxy. Becky found a large star cake pan, made him a cake filled with candied "star bits", frosted it with the right color of golden frosting, sprinkled it with sugary glitter, and gave it Pepperidge Farm cookie eyes. Needless to say, it was a big hit and capped off the day in a really fun way. Time is so compressed at this age. This last year constituted a full quarter of his life so far. While the first quarter was cute and sweet, this last quarter has been the most fun for us, and I think for him.

So Glad the Pool is Indoors

After breakfast at Kalahari we got this rhinocerous to hold still long enough for us to snap a picture in front of him. Good thing that stick fence was there to protect us in case he decided to stampede.
Today we swam until we were waterlogged. This pool was a favorite for the boys because there was enough room to practice their swimming moves from their swimming lessons.
There were also basketball goals set up to slam dunk some water basketballs. The favorite was still the wave pool and we spent much of our day in there.
We picked a good day to come to an indoor water park as it was one of the most bitterly cold days of the year, especially since the wind was blowing hard, creating below zero wind chills. I've dressed for colder weather in warmer clothes and done fine in the past, but today was different. Because we checked out of our hotel room, I hauled almost all of our gear into the van, but since we had to cram our day's necessities into a pool locker, I was wearing sweatpants and a windbreaker instead of my heavy winter coat. Because it was a popular weekend and the parking lot was far from the entrance, I think that was the closest I've ever come to frostbite. I warmed up quickly when I got out of the wind (the hot tub helped also). Day 2 of Aaron's birthday was a lot of fun.

Kalahari Celebration

Today we began the 1st day of a 3-day weekend celbration of Aaron's birthday. He was so happy to get to go to Kalahari Indoor Resort and Waterpark for his "birthday weekend". Kalahari is also in Sandusky along with the Great Wolf Lodge and Castaway Bay (Where we spent his 1st birthday). As you'd expect it had an African theme. Many of the waterpark activities were made for older kids with lots of big slides and 2 separate "Flowrider" attractions that pushes water up a hill allowing you to attempt to surf on the effective wave. Instead we enjoyed the Climbing Fort, the Lazy River, the Wave pool, and the Hot Tub. (These all had cute African names, but I've since forgotten them all.)
After we dried off and had dinner we burned off a few calories playing in the arcade, including an exhilirating run of Mario kart which the kids expectedly ate up.
Before bed we let Aaron open a "monkey box" full of small presents for his Birthday and played with a few of those before bedtime. Then we had to get a good night's rest so we could do it all again in the morning.

Fruity Hedgehogs

Aaron's class has a pet hedgehog, so his teacher used that idea to set up a fun snack station for the kids. They decoated an orange half with cloves for the eyes and nose, and toothpicks for the quills. They then stuck cut melon and pineapple on the "quills" which the kids could then eat.

Icicle the Snowman

We got a big snow last night which shut the schools down. I had already taken the day off from the office. This afternoon Alex and I went out (Aaron was napping and has a cold) and shoveled and played in the snow. (I did the shoveling and Alex did most of the playing). Alex built a small snowman by himself (fallen down to Alex's left in the picture), then he rolled an enormous snowball that looked perfect for the base of another snowman. I rolled the middle and Alex rolled the head. We used our snowman kit that we keep reserved for such occasions to place the decorations on and Alex named him Icicle. Unfortunately it warmed up a little and started raining and Icicle fell over a few hours later. Good thing we snapped a few pictures.

December 2007 Catch Up

I seem to perpetually be a month behind, so I guess this is right on time. Please follow this link to catch up on our December adventures. Now to see if I can knock out January before the end of February.