An Apple A Day

I know it's a bother, but I rarely ask for help so here it goes again. If you have a few moments today, would you be so kind as to vote for Logan's school again.

http://www.refresheverything.com/anappleaday

They are currently ranked 18 and need to be in the top 10 to receive the grant.

Thanks for your help!

Hope For Tomorrow

Yesterday, out of the blue, Amanda told me that ballet is boring and wants to do gymnastics now!

Now I know that my daughter is a free spirit and I try VERY hard not to stifle her creativity, but ballet lessons are very hard for me to swallow. I am OVER THE MOON with the idea that maybe she'll choose a different career other than ballerina. : )

Logan's School Needs Your Help

Please help Logan's school win a Pespi grant!

Follow the link below.
Log in / register your e-mail and click "vote for this idea".

www.refresheverything.com/anappleaday

You can vote once a day for the next 5 days to help the first grade classes (Logan's class next year) win $25,000 that they will use to buy ipods to use as learning tools.

Thanks so much for your votes!

GO TEAM!

Logan and I have been battling strep throat for the past two days and today was the first day we both felt well enough to go about a normal day. He was excited to go to school (cookie sales this week, you know!) and I was happy to be well enough for my first day of volunteering at the zoo.

Then when we all got home to meet up with Eric... guess who NOW has a sore throat?!? Yep, now Daddy gets to join the antibiotic crew. Now all we need to do is recruit Amanda (only a matter of time, I'm sure) and our team will be complete!

Speaking of teams, Logan's soccer team, the Tigers, won their first game today! Logan also sustained his first sports injury. : ( He was tripped by a cute tall blond so I guess it all works out, right? The good news is that after a little ice on the injury he was ready to go back in. Oh, and I was one of the THOSE moms who saw her kid take a MAJOR wipe out and RAN the length of the soccer field to scoop her SOBBING child up in her arms. At what age do they find that kind of behavior embarrassing?

On the way home from the game, I showed Eric my new photo badge for the zoo and said "Look at this awful picture. I look so OLD." to which he replied, "Honey, you always look like that." I promptly stopped the car and made his butt walk home. Too bad we were at the end of the driveway when that happened.

Kidtopia

Kidtopia, also know as our back yard, just got a little better.
We purchased a swing set for the kids this weekend and they are ecstatic!

Eric had fun too, putting it all together.

He's crazy like that. : )

An Important New Skill

Guess who...

_

learned how...

to tie...


his shoe!

Rainy Day Play

This is how we amuse ourselves on a rainy day.

"Oh, Cats"

SUCCESS!!!
Logan read his first book to me tonight! He is SO proud of himself. We've been working on his reading every night for months (he got a little behind the first half of the school year) but this is the first time he has attempted to read a book to us.
Kudos to you, big boy!

At The Car Wash

My very creative and imaginative kids made up a new game today. Check it out.

Keep in mind that it's in the high 70's and sunny but the water coming out of the hose is a brisk 50 degrees! Doesn't seem to faze them a bit. I even broke out the dog shampoo and gave the crazy pups a bath. They took care of the rinsing all on their own. : )

To Brighten Your Day

Our fabulous backyard offers

so many wonderful activities. From digging in the dirt...
to swinging in the hammock...

or excavating rocks in the quarry,
there's always some fun to be found.

And you don't need special play

clothes in THIS family.
No sirree.
Your beautiful dress will do just fine!

But let's not forget those all important pets.

They need a little fun too.
How about a game of
OVER SIZED BALL
fetch (Hunters FAV!)?


Or a friendly race to see who

can get the little ball first.


It doesn't really matter who wins in the end,
just as long as everybody has fun....

and everybody gets good and worn out. : )

I love you, Mom!

Hope this helps you smile on your crummy day.

Can't Stay Inside Any Longer!!!

Today was Tuesday and as you may know, that's "surprise day" in this house. Tuesday's are my Mom's Day Out mornings and they take my daughter to Preschool in the afternoon so I get 5 and a half hours all to my lonesome. : ) Traditionally when I pick the kids up after school I have a surprise for them. Today I had packed the car with their bikes, a picnic, and the dogs and the surprise was a park day. It was 80 degrees and WINDY but for Kansas, I'll take it! Apparently, the other folks in town stay indoors when the wind gusts reach 40 miles per hour. Find by us! We had the whole park to ourselves. Hunter went down the side 3 times (he LOVES slides) and Casey enjoyed two marry-go-rides. I know, my dogs are weird. But what can I do? They think they are human. Anything Logan and Amanda do, they think they can do too! I wish I had remembered to bring my camera to share the moment with you, but I guess a verbal account will have to do. Forget the laundry, seize the day!!!

A Successful Weekend, I'd Say

Yesterday we drove the cousins halfway home and found quite a site in the Flint Hills. They are conducting the spring range burns and the kids were very enthralled. After finding a few hot spots driving down the road, we came up over a hill and there the whole side of the hillside was on fire. The kids thought that was the best thing ever! Logan says "I love this day!" Kenny says "That's the most awesome-ist thing I've ever seen!"

On the drive back home, Amanda fell asleep (about 6:30 ish) and slept all night! 13 hours!!!! Logan went to bed early (7:30 I think) and is still sleeping! I think we succeeded in wearing out kids out his weekend!

Hey, V! How did your girls end up? : )

Wait, I Want A Ride!

We were doing some work around the yard this afternoon while the kids and the cousins played when they saw us bringing straw bails to the garden via the lawn mower kart. Of course, their little eyes lit up as they pleaded for a ride. Who can deny such adorable children? Not us! : )

Party Weekend With The Two K's

Amanda asked me SO sweetly on Thursday afternoon if her cousin Kory could come to visit this weekend. I couldn't think of a reason why not so we called up V to see if we could take her kids as a moment's notice!
Friday morning, Logan asks if he can have a surprise after school (not an uncommon request in this house) and I said how about a visit from your cousins? At the time, he calmly said "Yes, that would be great" and went on to school but apparently when he got home, he remembered that his cousins were coming and called my cell phone to see what the hold up was.
Long story short, we hit construction traffic (meeting half way to pick them up) and we wouldn't be home until after his soccer practice. Then Eric tells me that he faked a leg injury about 10 minutes before the end of practice so he could come home to see if his cousins were here yet. He just couldn't take it any longer.
He was SO excited to see them (I think it was mostly his older cousin, Kenny though). I guess he is his father's son after all. I was thinking this morning that he wasn't all that excited because of his casual attitude but now I know that he keeps his emotions hidden a lot, just like his dad! : )

A-Okay

Logan's April checkup at the cancer doctor was yesterday. Everything is great. Still no sign of that nasty cancer! : )

Cyclones 2 - Tigers 1

Logan's first ever soccer game was today versus the cyclones.
He's the guy in the light blue shorts... Number 9.
He did great with keeping up with the ball but not so good and waiting by the goal as a defensive player. First time they came around he was off and running to the opponents goal.
He is plum tuckered out after and hour of running around but very excited to do it again on Saturday!

The Benefits of Being Born Second!

There are many, many benefits of being born second, as Eric and I both know first hand. Now Amanda is starting to realize some of those benefits as well. We have really been working hard on sight words with Logan for the past two months. The kids watch sight word movies in the car while driving around town, read flash cards daily, and play the what did I write game at dinner. Last night at dinner I wrote a five word sentence for Logan to read. Amanda leaned over before he could say anything and said "zoo" (the last word in the sentence). I was shocked! I've been working on teaching her letter recognition for preschool (and she still doesn't know all the letters by sight yet) but even so, the word zoo isn't even one of Logan's sight words that she would have been exposed to. So I asked. "How did you know that word was zoo?" she replied "Mom, everybody knows zoo." Oh really, prodigy child? Then she does it AGAIN with another word "we". Now I know these are not difficult words, but for a child to recognize the word before she can tell me the letter is a little amazing to me. So we sat down on the couch to go through Logan's sight word flash cards. She knew 7 of them right off the bat! If only we knew of this phenomenon when Logan was 4!!!! Sorry man. That's the problem with being born first (right Vanessa and Angie? : ). You have to educate yourself, your parents, AND your little sister!!!! : )

Ballet and Bunnies

Amanda's first ballet class was today. She was the fanciest ballet dancer in the whole class! We DO have regular ballet slippers but we could only find one so the Fancy Nancy ones had to substitute for a day. And she got a wonderful ballerina sticker for doing so well in class.

Then I wanted to post a few photos from the Easter egg hunt my Wichita Moms group hosted on Thursday. Here is my girl hanging with her three best buddies.

Hopping down the bunny trail. : )

Hunting up some eggs!

Hair Cut

Since Logan's hair has begun growing back, the texture is completely different from pre-chemo hair. It's baby fine and curly. Well, he's has decided that he doesn't like this curly new look (it's usually just frizzy anyway) so he asked me for a hair cut this morning. Amanda decided to capture the moment of film. Her technique could use some work... most of the shots has a glass on the table front and center! : )

I wasn't able to cut off much, but the sides are definitely shorter. He's much happier with this new look. We'll see if it says down better for him now. He's been using lots of hair gel and hair spray to manage the wild mass lately. I was thinking... this is his first hair cut since last July!

The Artist

Logan tried his hand at being a makeup artist this morning.

I came into the kitchen to find this going on.










Isn't she beautiful? : )