Just in case you ever wonder why I have difficulty keeping my blog up to date....

I think this video explains everything...

March 2013

Alaina dressed her sister up

Talia's become quite the "talker"  She loves Pizza & a movie night and says "Pizza movie, pizza movie!"

A Sparkle hat in memory of Grandma Bucky

Kids dancing to Madagascar 3 music

Kylan FINALLY lost teeth!  Yeah!  2 front bottom ones--and here are the big teeth coming in! :)

The bridge at Tenney Park

 

 

Kylan ice skating vidoe pt. 1

Playing in the bike racks

Spiderman and Wonderwoman

Seriously LOVE the hair and the halo behind.  I knew this boy was angelic!

After ice skating, Ky insisted on showing me his snow flop.  He said "It's so much fun!"  Watch the video and decide for yourself. :)

 

Babysitting a friend's baby

Our attempt at Angry Bird Cupcakes

With Angry Bird faces

Not too shabby--but that yellow one is missing an eye

Alaina swimming

Kylan doing the elementary back stroke

I actually found her sitting and watching tv like this. 

surprised by the camera

Pedicures

Cute toes

Enjoying her blue toes

Alaina's fancy hair

We were getting ready to go and I yelled "shoes on".  Talia then grabbed all her shoes and lined them up and proceeded to try to get them all on.

Space Alaina

Hello?  you don't see phones like this anymore and yet little kids still know what they are.

Water Table fun

Packer kids

Goofy faces

Have you ever seen anyone so happy to go down the slide?

MONKEYS!

Flamingo legs

Talia's flamingo leg

Which came first?

The tortoise

Easter

Talia's not giving anyone her eggs!

Alaina's hunt for Easter Eggs

Alaina's eggs

Kylan's hunt for Easter Eggs

Ky's stash

Grandma Debi with Talia & a Bucky hat

"Who are these people?"

With Aunt Lisa & Stephanie

Hats for Grandma Bucky

More attempts at nice Easter pics

Grandma Debi time

Alaina rocking

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Talia & Grandpa

Grandpa and Talia sing "Twinkle Twinkle"...and then G'pa puts his own spin on it.

Talia snuggling with cousin Devan

 

MARCH!  Wow!  It was a LONG month and so much to do!  We made a lot of our final preparations for our vacation (That blog will come the end of April.)  And there were a lot of school events. 

 

March started off a little rough.  Alaina got sick, but did make a miraculous recovery.  However we ended up having to cancel plans with family since we were unsure if anyone else was going to get sick.  Luckily--no one did.  We also had some blizzard like weather the first week which ended up making it difficult to get places.  Ky's school's math night was canceled due to the weather and I had some sad children on my hands.  Unfortunately it was rescheduled during our vacation so we did not get to go to it. 

 

We celebrated birthday time with Nana as well.  I forgot the camera--so I have no photos of that! :(  We had a nice a lunch at a new cafe in Milwaukee and then Nana watched the kids while Rob and I went on a date in the evening (an early Mothers/Father's Day gift from Nana).  Her and Jan also gave us tickets to the symphony.  It was a wonderful and PEACEFUL night.  We really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks mom!

 

Alaina and I also visited 4k at Ky's school this month.  I do think Alaina would gain a lot from the program.  She is ready to read (has all the basics down), but has little interest in trying to read.  She would rather be playing.  4K is definitely more of a play-based learning which would set her up to succeed, and it is also a good way to prepare her for a classroom atmosphere, something I am afraid she is not ready for.  She is enrolled for the afternoon session.  The more I think about it and the more I work with her at home, I do feel it will be very beneficial for her. At this time I plan to send her, however, I will keep her at home from time to time as I feel is necessary (something the teacher disagreed with me about.) 

 

We were supposed to have the second annual Fancy Nancy Party in March, however I got a really nasty cold/sinus infection that had me feeling pretty miserable for about 2 weeks.  So I ended up cancelling it and rescheduling it in April on Talia's birthday.  Can you believe my baby is turning 2?! 

The last week of March was Spring Break and we had a blast.  One day I got out the tent and the kids and I set it up and played in it for the rest of the day (in the house!)  We also went to the Rockford Children's Museum and then stopped at our good friend's Julie's house in the afternoon.  The kids had a great playdate (Ky can't stop talking about their Wii.  And he keeps singing a song that he only learned 3 lines of--over and over and over.)  We also egged the neighbor's yard which the kids really enjoyed.  We went to the $ store and bought some eggs and things to stuff the eggs with and then we made up a sign and put it on their door that said somthing like "You've been egged!  Search for 20 eggs in your yard and don't fret when you find one empty--this is a way for us to remember Jesus' empty tomb, so REJOICE!  He has risen indeed!"  So the kids and I stuffed the eggs and then snuck over to our neighbors and hid the eggs in their yard.  Kylan then rang the doorbell and we all ran home.  We had a BLAST  watching them run around searching for eggs!  :)  And they still don't know it was us who did it!  We also went to Bouncy Town and the zoo with our good friends Julie.  We loved the flamingos.  The kids were all trying to stand with one foot in the air like the flamingos.  They were a riot to watch. 

 

Here is a FB update that summed up Spring Break well-- "3 puking episodes, 2 bloody noses, and 1 broken toilet seat--qualifies as a very successful spring break in my book! No--really---a good time had by all and I am sad to send Ky back to school. He is turning into such a wonderful young man--he swept the garage because "Mom--it looked like it needed it!" Here are a couple of favorite quotes from the week. "Mom, you can't park in the wheelbarrow spots--those are for people with wheelbarrows!" (Kylan) "I don't like being your sister! I QUIT! I'm not going to be your sister ANYMORE!" (Alaina to Kylan) ahhhh...where does the time go?!"

 

Since we still aren't members of a church we did go to our "old faithful" church for Good Friday and Easter.  They were good services, but I do miss the closeness I would have felt attending a church we were members at.  We continue to try new churches and pray that God will open our eyes to the one he wants us at.

 

Easter Sunday we were up and at them early.  Why--becuase our kids like to get up early, unfortunately.  In fact, Ky woke up at 4 to barf and kept us up until 6:30 barfing and then promptly woke up at 7:30 asking for breakfast (yes he did).  Let me just say we were very concerned and he only had crackers for breakfast.  We did attend church (carefully), but kept him with us instead of letting him go to kid's church.  After that we returned home and ate a light lunch before letting the kids search for their Easter stuff.  From there we were off to Milwaukee for Easter dinner with Schnake's.  We were a bit late since we were still being cautious with Kylan.  It all worked out fine though.  The kids had a fun time playing with their aunts and uncles and cousins.  We had delicious food as usual and celebrated Rob's birthday, which was that upcoming week.  We left exhausted and happy! (Rob and I had some sleep to catch up on!) :) 

 

So on to pictures, March was a very cold month.  I took Ky and Alaina ice skating, and Ky turned out to be a natural for only his second time of skating.  He fell a lot--but due to good effort.  I was impressed.  Alaina didn't really want to skate the second time and sat in a snowhill asking "Are we done yet?"  over and over.  BLEH!  At least Ky had fun.

 

I totally forgot that I had signed up to bring baked goods to Ky's fun fair.  It worked out fine though.  I found this easy recipe for Angry Bird cupcakes, however the kids really wanted to decorate them.  So it was hard--but I relinquished control to them and they still came out looking pretty good.  The kids had a blast at the fun fair.  Rob volunteered to do the soccer game and he did a great job--the kids scored all sorts of goals on him! :) 

 

The big kids are both taking swimming and doing a great job.  Ky is in level 3 and is very close to passing to 4.  He is a very good swimmer, but his dives and strokes need work.  Alaina is in Shrimp 2.  Sometimes she will jump in the deep water, sometimes she won't.  She is confident to swim with a swim belt, but timid in actually getting in.  She has progressed a lot from last summer when she wouldn't even let go of the side of the pool. 

 

Well--I think that does it for now.  Stay tuned for April and our special VACATION blog!  :)