Just a note....

Will.... Last night I caught Will reading (yes, really reading) books in bed. He was reading his phonics readers! I told him to read until he was tired and then for him to turn off his light and go on to bed. From the stack by his bed, he read four books and went to bed. I remember reading books in bed when I was younger. I don't really mind him reading books in bed right now - I think it's great! He's doing great with his reading - he reads books all the time now.

Lauren... She is doing great on the potty! Her accidents are less frequent and she's starting to tell us when she has to go potty. She is learning so much in her big church class and it's so exciting! She will look straight into your eyes and say, "Jesus Loves Me, Mommy." I love to listen to her pray - she prays with a lot of excitement and energy (just like she does everything else!). She's really become a "big" girl over the past month or so and I'm so excited about watching her grow up.

Gymnastics

Will had a private Trampoline and Tumbling class today! He did so well on all of his trampoline stuff today and he got to do some extra gymnastics things! Ms. Jenni took him to do the rings and he did great! He got to master his forward roll (with all that extra attention!) and he was doing some fancy trampoline work! He was doing a seat drop with a half turn before he stood up again! Pretty tough! Will on the rings with Ms. Jenni! He loved doing the rings today. This weekend I found some men's gymnastics on TV and we watched a little together. We watched some ring routines, so I think he thought he was pretty special today when he got to do rings. (Don't worry, I'm not thinking he's going to be an Olympic gymnast! I just want my kids to have a variety of experiences.)

More ring work. He was pulling his legs up over the rings. This is really good for him because he has weak upper body strength.

Will working on his cartwheel. Didn't he do a great job?

School Performance

Will had his school performance on Saturday. Every year his school puts on a little performance of "skills" they work on during gym. They have classes doing routines with hula hoops, streamers, rhythm sticks, or just different body movements (ie. one class did a song that taught their right and left). This year the theme was Little Elks Silly Circus. Will's class was all dressed up as Lions. Starting their song.... Will is second from the front

Isn't he a cute lion?

Working together as a group. I will say that his class was very controlled this year. He seems to have a very obedient class and they all seem to be pretty mature. He's had a terrific year in pre-school and he's ready for Kindergarten!

I think this picture was taken after they finished and they were trying to all get off the stage.

At the end they all sang "I'm a Promise" together. I think he's just the cutest lion I've ever seen!

Happy Easter!

After attending an AWESOME service at church, we went over to celebrate Easter at Papa John and Diddy's house. The kids had a great time with Papa John, Diddy, Nonnie, and Aunt Morri. Lauren with half of an Easter egg and her drink (of course).

Diddy reading elephant books to Will. He LOVES to read!

Lauren's hanging close to listen to the story.

Lauren loves dancing with Papa John!

More dancing!

More reading....

Diddy explaining the Greek tradition with the red eggs to Will.

Easter Morning

Lauren and Hop in her new PJ's from the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny brought Hop some PJ's.Will in his new sunglasses and Dyno in his new pajamas.

Lauren in her new sunglasses (she's already lost them.....)

Will and his new skateboard. He's actually getting pretty good on this!

More pictures to come.....

Easter Party

Here are some pictures from Will's school's Easter Party. Joe attended the party - a special treat for Will. I ran some errands and took the morning off. Eating an Easter Snack

Getting ready to sing some songs! The three musketeers - Michael, Carson, and Will

Playing an Easter Game

Talking to Ms. Marsha

Waiting for their eggs (I guess...). It was raining outside, so they had a different type of egg hunt.

Little Leos

The library has a program for kids 2-5 called Little Leonardo's. The children study an artist. Then they get to use the same medium as the artist and "paint" like they're artists. I can't even remember the artist they studied (it's been a couple of weeks), but he painted posters. So, our sweet ones were able to paint large posters. Will and Michael painting

Will is hard at work

Lauren loved this!

Will's final product - he actually did two this day.

Lauren getting close to the end... notice how she's painted her arms and it's on her face. She really got into the whole painting thing. Good thing the paint is washable!

Salato

Today the kids and I took a trip out to Salato Wildlife Sanctuary today. We had a great time with our friends and we got to see some great wildlife. Enjoy the pictures! Will and Evan. Will loves to look at maps and figuring out where we are and where he'd like to go next.

Owen looking through the telescope to see the wildlife outside the large windows. Salato is a state park that showcases the wildlife of Kentucky.

Lauren looking outside at the birds. Inside the building they have various snakes, frogs, turtles (the Alligator Snapping Turtles is a huge favorite - Lauren kept saying, "Him big.") bees, fish, etc.

Sharing the telescope.

The boys and Lauren looking at the Bald Eagles. There were three other girls in our group, but for some reason the boys all stuck together and the girls all stuck together. I think this happened because the boys raced to the next exhibit, while the girls just walked....

A closer look at the bald eagle.

Looking at the black bear - not in the picture. They loved the black bear and he (or she) was very active.

Lauren looking at the black bear (I think he's in the top left corner). She kept calling him a polar bear... not quite sure why.

The Wildcat - yes this species is the official mascot of the University of Kentucky.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. The boys LOVED to run ahead of us and they were so good to stay together and not get too far ahead. In this picture you can see Will's leader personality shine through. He loves to be in charge - he's so funny......

I wish that I had more pictures of the girls, but somehow they managed to escape the photos. I didn't take too many pictures because we stayed busy keeping up with the boys..... :-) Lauren had a great time hanging with the boys - as always.

After we went through the outside of the Sanctuary, we went back to our cars to gather our lunches and picnic blankets. The kids had a great time running around after eating lunch.

The boys and Lauren after lunch....

Spring Break

We have had an excellent Spring Break so far! On Monday we hung out at home most of the morning. We played outside a whole bunch and just enjoyed being with eachother. Our life group moms all met at McConnell Springs to let the boys and Lauren run around in the afternoon. They had a great time exploring. It's great to see Will hanging out with his buddies - all the boys get along so well. Lauren loves the boys and they all take great care of her and make her feel included. She has a great personality and she's not intimidated by all the boys. She just jumps right in with them. We let the kids go into one of the creeks and they had a ball. Luckily, I brought a change of clothes for the ride home.

On Tuesday we had planned to meet some friends out at the Lexington Cemetary for lunch and a walk. It was a bit chilly, so we met at the mall for some playtime and lunch. The kids had a great time hanging with their buddies. Lauren had a great time playing with a couple of girls and Will and his buddy Canaan had a ball playing hide and seek. We were able to get some time by ourselves, too. Since the kids have given up their naps (most days...), we were able to stay a little longer. We enjoyed some ice cream at Chick-fil-a (you can turn in your toy from the kid's meal and exhange it for an ice cream....) and then we went and bought Will a pair of crocs. After dinner that evening, Joe and I enjoyed the kid's early bedtime. That's one great thing about not having naps - they're both sound asleep way before 8:00. Play hard, sleep hard!

Today is a work day for me. The kids have enjoyed playing legos, play-doh, etc. while I get caught up on some housework. We took a little break after lunch to go outside and play with our neighbor friends. It's a beautiful day outside today, so we'll probably go outside a little later, too...

Oh - on Tuesday I ventured out to Walgreens. I've mastered couponing at Kroger and I decided to try out Walgreens. They have a different system - a system of register rewards. You have to organize your stuff into two different orders to benefit. My first order was around 9.00, but I got most of that back in register rewards (kinda like a gift card....). I applied that to my second order, and along with coupons, I purchased 32.00 worth of stuff for only 7 dollars. Not that it matters, but I bought basic stuff like dishwashing soap, clorox bleach, reynolds wrap, bath soap, shave gel, chapstick, clorox wipes, pringles for the hubby, and some mentos for the kids. I think I'll try the Walgreens thing again soon. I think I can stock up on my household items for very little cash.