Ethan's Preschool Graduation

Last Thursday, Ethan graduated from St. Andrew's Preschool. We took some family pictures outside the Great Hall before the Blessing Ceremony.

Ethan gave us a wave when he spotted us in the audience.

The two classes sang several songs.

Then each child got to walk on stage, tell the audience where he/she would be attending kindergarten, receive a diploma, and be blessed by the pastor (these pictures turned out a bit dark).

After the program, we had cake and lemonade and took a few more pictures. By this time, MK was more interested in climbing on things than sitting for any more pictures.

Grandpa and Grandma tried to catch her for a quick picture. This is the best we got.

Then we came home, played outside in the yard, and watched the sunset. Congratulations, Ethan!

Mary Kate's Birthday Party

On the 16th, we hosted Mary Kate's 3rd birthday party. She chose a princess theme and wore a purple (her favorite color) ballerina princess dress that Uncle Justin sent as a birthday present. Before the party started, Kathy, our beloved neighbor stopped by with gifts. MK received an ultra-cute princess robe and slippers, which she enthusiastically added to her ensemble.

The girls dressed as princesses, made princess wands, and got their nails painted with glitter polish.

Here's one of the completed wands...

Princess Laura (aka Cinderella) gets her nails done...

The boys made prince shields. Here's Ethan working on his shield. He colored every scale on the dragon a different color.

I made a princess cake for Mary Kate. She chose pink and purple for the dress colors. I was thinking a nice lavender and pale pink, but MK had other ideas when we tinted the frosting. Mainly, "more purple-y" was her (strong) opinion. I don't think you can get more purple than this.

Blowing out the candles...

After lunch and cake, it was time for the (now a birthday tradition) pinata. This one was had ribbons at the bottom that each child got a turn to pull. Mary Kate like that idea when she picked it out at Target. I am now a big fan of this type, as I didn't spend the pinata portion of the party worried about someone getting cracked in the head by a mini baseball bat.

Gathering up the candy... I wonder if the kids would be just as excited if I filled it with soy nuts, granola and dried fruit?

One of John's coworkers offered their Little Tykes bouncer to us for the party, so after the pinata, we sent the kids outside to jump off their energy. Thankfully, no one puked!

It was a great party and we are thankful to have such a sweet, funny and joyful three year old daughter. Happy Birthday, Mary Kate!

That's a Big Fish!

We're spending this holiday weekend out at the lake. Yesterday was the bass opener and Ethan landed his biggest fish ever while fishing off Grandpa's dock after lunch. Dad and Grandpa were putting a new screen door on the cabin. Grandma was fishing with Ethan. He'd caught over a dozen little ones. Grandma helped him put a big, juicy worm on his hook and told him, "this big worm should catch a big fish."


On the next cast, the big one hit the worm, and Ethan did the rest. When Grandma saw the size of the bass, she called for Dad and Grandpa, who came running down the dock. They estimated it to be in the 3.5 to 4 lb range. That's a big fish! Ethan was over the moon and kept exclaiming that "the fish is so big, it almost broke my pole!"


We'll be celebrating Memorial Day with a parade and a fish fry...courtesy of our favorite 4 foot tall fisherman. Awesome.

"It almost broke my pole!!"

Grandpa Grilz and one very proud grandson.

Largemouth bass close up...

Plant Sale!

A few weeks ago, the kids held their first annual plant sale. Ethan, John and Grandpa built the plant stand (which will double as a potting table for Mom). We grew the plants from seeds and the kids had lots of fun tending the plants indoors this spring. On the day of the big sale, we had a nice selection of tomatoes and peppers to offer our customers, as well as homemade chocolate chip cookies and lemonade (Ethan's idea...good product diversification, too).

The excited growers stocked the table and posed for a quick picture before Dad attached the sign to the table.

Mary Kate LOVES her big brother and gives him a big hug...

Here's a picture Ethan took...a kid's view from behind the plant stand. Notice the yellow level in the right foreground. He was checking to make sure the stand was level.

We had a pretty steady stream of customers from the neighborhood, thanks to the signs we posted. Mom also put the word out to family, friends and teachers.

Gross income: $56.00 Not bad for 5 hours. Mom didn't charge the kids for the seeds, peat pots and cookie/lemonade supplies...I'll wait until they're a bit older before I teach them about Cost of Goods Sold.

We had a lot of inquiries about flowers, so we're thinking about expanding our operation to include one or two varieties of flowers for next year. Who knows, maybe we'll have Dad build a green house for the backyard.

Happy Birthday, Mary Kate!

Mary Kate turned three on Monday! She woke up to birthday streamers...here she is holding her beloved Hello Kitty that she made at Build A Bear for Ethan's birthday...it's almost as big as her.

Then she decided to get dressed in her complete princess outfit. After donning full princess gear, we went downstairs and she opened some cards...Mom and Dad's card directed her to the front sidewalk, where she found a new bike waiting for her. She made several trips around the driveway and cul de sac in her princess dress. She ditched the high heels after about 30 seconds and pedaled around without shoes after that.

Then it was off to breakfast at the bakery, followed by about 3 hours of games at Mary Kate's birthday choice...Chuck E Cheese. Mondays from 11am to 2 pm are nice and quiet at Chuck's...which Mom and Dad were thankful for.

We got back home about 3 pm and got ready for Grandma and Grandpa and the Wells family to come over for birthday dinner and cake. Dad took some nice pictures of Mary Kate in the back yard while Mom was getting dinner ready.

MK's dinner choice was french toast. I found a recipe for make ahead baked french toast, and it was a big hit. Notice her winking at the camera...this is her new skill and she practices it frequently.

Followed by more bike riding in her birthday dress.

In other news, mom finished up her two spring semester courses on Tuesday, hooray! She gets to enjoy a two week break before her 8 week summer Anatomy and Physiology class begins.

She also finished up her 480 hours of direct patient care work as a nursing assistant. She's enjoyed it so much, she'll stay on the schedule every other weekend PM shifts for the summer.

And back to birthday news, MK's princess party with her friends is on Saturday, so we'll post pictures next week. We'll be heading out to the lake for our first weekend at the cabin after the party. Hopefully we'll have warm weather and good fishing.