Brunswick Fun Zone

We finished up our jam packed weekend with a Sunday morning birthday party for Hannah at Brunswick Fun Zone.  This place is five minutes from our house, and I had no idea it was anything more than a bowling alley.   I actually never even saw the bowling area during the three hours we were there.  We did rides, ate pizza and ice cream, and then played games!  Will won 120 tokens with the game card the birthday girl provided, and he is now the proud owner of a yo-yo and a top.  He spotted me 30 points for some candy.

 

 

 

I was so excited about the skeeball that I agreed when Will asked to have his birthday party next month at Chuck E. Cheese.   I'm hoping that by having it on a weeknight that it won't be too crazy in there.  Stay tuned for a post on that around May 29th! 

Saturday Funday

The Friday school carnival was just the start of our action packed weekend.  For a mom that spends most Saturdays at the office, this was exhaustingly fun for me.  I probably indulged Will a little more than his daddy would have, but, hey, I was in charge!

 

Saturday is gymnastics.  The boys got to practice on the rings:

Next up was a haircut and then lunch and bubbles at home.  I wanted to play tee-ball and Will wanted to do bubbles, so we compromised on bubble baseball!   The bubble wand is used to make the bubbles and then as a sword to burst them. 

Then an afternoon trip to the children's museum and the park next door (aka the train park). We hit the train trifecta: a commuter train; an Amtrak train; and a BNSF freight train all came by while we were at the park. After all that playing, we needed a snack, so I suggested Baskin-Robbins. We learned a good lesson in color mixing: Spiderman ice cream give you a black mustache!

 

School Carnival

The elementary school had their annual "Spring Fling" on Friday evening, and I had heard that it was open to families even if the kids aren't in school yet.   It ended up being like the Easter egg hunt: the whole neighborhood turned out!   I bought $10 in tickets and that ended up covering our games and dinner.  Not too shabby for a Friday night date!  It was also a fun way for Will to get to go inside the school for the first time. 

Will was exceptional at the games.  I was honestly a little surprised.  I guess not too surprised on the putt-putt (he made it in two) since he golfs at home and has done putt-putt a few times.  The funniest part was probably that he started putting right handed first and I had to remind him to turn it around.  He usually plays with his left handed clubs at home, and I don't think he realized this putter could be turned around.

If the golf wasn't a surprise, the basket sure was!  I was actually just taking a picture to have to show Jason how big it was (and how it was obviously a waste of tickets).  Will sunk the first basket and then got pretty close on the other four.  So crazy!

The frog flipper game made me laugh, because I remember this game from 30 years ago.   There was also a cake walk (and some very yummy looking treats) but, alas, Will did not want to try.   We played in the bounce houses, ate some pizza and ice cream, and then headed home.  A really fun way for the two of us to spend our Friday night!

Easter Day

We had a lovely Easter day today!  Will didn't seem to be expecting an Easter basket this morning, so he was THRILLED to find all the fairly practical goodies awaiting him (Mickey shirt, Dinosaur shirt, bubbles, Play-doh, Disneyland autograph book, and an egg of M&Ms).   He even skipped breakfast in order to play with the new  Play-doh.

 

Luckily, we have some awesome neighbors, and someone (I still haven't figure out who) left a surprise egg hunt for us in the front yard!  We discovered it as we pulled out of the garage to head to Ryan's.  We detoured for a few minutes to pick up the eggs!   

I love this action shot of Will racing the eggs back to his basket, which is left sitting in one spot.  Instead of carrying his basket from egg to egg, he picked up a handful and carried them back to the basket.

Wow, look at this big boy!  We are in year #5 of this ducky basket.  He still likes it, so I keep reusing it every year.

Will also helped me make a bunny cake to take to Ryan's today.  He put sprinkles on the bow tie, colored the coconut green, and ate all of the leftover frosting out of the tub.  We had a great lunch and afternoon at Ryan's.   The highlight (besides the food) was definitely playing games in the park.  Turns out Will is pretty good with a frisbee.  Turns out I am pretty bad at badminton!

Easter Egg Hunt

The neighborhood came out of hibernation this weekend for the annual Easter egg hunt at the park.  When we started biking/walking over there around 20 minutes before the kick-off, there were families streaming out of every house on the block.  By the time we got to the end of the street, we had a literal parade of kids marching down the sidewalk in all variety of strollers, push-toys, bikes and walking.   Yes, winter is long around here!

Here is Will and his new best bud, Dylan (3), who lives across the street.  This was Dylan's first egg hunt, since he and his baby brother moved from Chicago over the summer. 

 

The hunt is on!  Each kid is allowed to pick up 12 eggs (the number his parent drops off in advance).  I dropped off 15 eggs and Will found 11.  A fair number are crushed in the initial stampede, so that can account for some of the shrinkage.

My adorable little boy and my lovely family.   Did I mention how happy we were that the sun was shining and it was jackets only weather?!

 I love the look on Will's face in this one with just the two of us. 

After the hunt, we played with friends at the park and then invited Dylan over to play cars at our house for a little bit before starting our weekend errands. 

Cubs Suite

I won five tickets on April 15th to use the company suite for the Friday afternoon Cubs game.   Jason and Ryan joined me and my friend, Michelle, and her husband, Bob.  There were also several other friends from work who won their own tickets.  It was a beautiful day, if not a little chilly (mid-40s), which just meant we stayed inside the suite more.

Unfortunately some of the people in the suite were observing a "meatless Friday" for lent, so they did not get to enjoy a Chicago style hotdog.   I enjoyed two!  It was a great way to wrap up the week and head into the Easter weekend festivities. 

April 16th

So, the funniest thing happens with kids:  they keep growing!   I took this picture on Saturday as we were starting through the zoo.  It wasn't until after we got home (and I was exhausted from the workout of hauling the wagon!) that I looked at this picture and saw this grown up boy.  Wow!   I guess that's what happens when you're weeks away from your 5th birthday!

 

Besides the trip to the zoo, we haven't been outside much.  It's been COLD (in fact, there was snow yesterday - the first time I remember snow on April 15th) and we've been busy on our kitchen remodel (Jason) and tax season (me). 

 

A couple of things I don't think I've blogged on:

• Will had 5 trips to the dermatologist over the past four months.  They all involved targeted laser treatments to remove a growth on the side of his nose.   Due to the location, they didn't want to try to cut it out, so the lasers were used.  Will was very brave, but not a fan.  The process was numbing with ice, then numbing with a shot to the nose (the worst part), and then a zap of the laser.  The bump had a complicated name that basically meant "non-cancerous growth that we don't really know what it is, but there are a lot of capillaries in it, so it will bleed a lot if you try to scratch at it." 
• Swimming skills have continued to improve.  The past two trips to the pool have been floatie free.  He still doesn't like to dive underwater, but he puts his face in to swim from place to place.
• We have been updating the kitchen:  new cabinets, countertops and lighting.  So far the top cabinets are out, lighting/wiring updating, walls painted and the new cabinets ready to go in (fingers crossed that we get to that on Saturday - they have been sitting in boxes in my living room for six weeks.).  In order to minimize the distruption, we are putting in the top ones before taking out the bottom ones and counters. Until the countertops come out, we still have the sink and dishwasher!

Grandpa Ed should be proud that Will asked for a picture in the eagle cut out.  Grandpa loves eagle watching on his farm.

Spring Break

As I write this, many of my Kansas friends are on Spring Break.  Our schools don't break until the first week of April, and that's probably a good thing.  It's not very spring like yet.   Not to mention, with the cold and snow days off in January and February, the school district had to add four days to the end of the school year, so the kids now have to go through the first full week in June.  It's raining today, so hopefully that means that the accumulated snow will finally all melt from my back yard.  The front yard is melted and soppy grass is finally exposed.  My neighbors with shadier yards still have some snow piles from shoveling and snow blowing left. I'm pretty sure the Target parking lot will have a snow pile for another month, since it was 8 feet high at one point!

 My optimism of two weeks ago was misplaced.  This snowy scene was taken after a fresh 4 inches fell on Wednesday, March 12.  At least it's pretty, right?

The dog and the boy are both ready to get out and play.  We had to just go for it one weekend and trudge through the puddles and ice for a walk.   It wasn't bitterly cold (see jacket instead of coat), but the wind became too much and we went back inside after 15 or 20 minutes and just one loop around the block. 

Winter Wrap-up

My title may be a bit optimistic considering it has snowed 4 inches in the past 24 hours.  But it's March, so I'm ready to start thinking about spring, the end of another tax busy season (although really this one has just started), and our May vacation!  Hmmm, perhaps I am delusional in addition to optimistic!

While we continue to have cold temperatures and snow (whether fresh or accumulated), we have stayed busy.   Last weekend we had friend Ava's 7th birthday party which was the usual crew of kids and adults and delicious food and drinks.  Last night most of the same crew got together at another friends' house to celebrate their move to join us all in the suburbs.   We intended to play cards after dinner, but once the early to sleep kiddos took their parents home, we had an odd number, and then the got to stay up late kiddos were getting on each other's nerves, so someone was always up in the game room refereeing.   Oh well, between all that we ate tons of food and enjoyed chatting. 

 

I'm probably going to wait to post pictures until we have some "after" shots, but we officially began a kitchen remodel in February.  The new cabinets arrive next week, and the old cabinets are in the basement.  I'm not too worried about a torn up kitchen since I eat most of my meals at the office and Will loves foods from the microwave.  But, I'm sure once April rolls around and my house is still a mess, I'll have a different attitude!

 

Will is pictured above with the Yoda that he assembled from his punch out Star Wars Valentine's card from Grandma Hilary and Grandpa Ed.