dinner by the lake

Right before dinner time Kestrel was begging me to take her fishing. Well, I wasn't about to do that, especially without Paul, but I agreed we could have a dinner picnic by the lake instead. SO, we quickly packed up some turkey sandwiches, hummus, bread and sugar snap peas and went over to the "fishing lake". We sat on the dock eating, and had a nice surprise when Paul stopped by unexpectedly. The kids were excited about the baby goslings, and Kestrel was having fun feeding the goslings her bread. After we ate they were trying to feed all the geese (there were a lot there), but then they started getting scared when the geese got aggressive, running at them honking and hissing for more bread. That's when we went home. It was a nice little impromptu dinner, though.

I've got to admit, I'm thankful for my camera phone. Even though it doesn't take the greatest pictures, it's always there for me for these spur-of-the-moment times.

park play

Yesterday the kids and I went to Noodles & Co. for dinner ( a Mothers & More fundraiser) and after dinner stopped at a park to play with some friends. This was taken on my camera phone again, as usual. A little blurry, but otherwise a cute shot.

Clockwise from left: Kestrel, Olivia, Oliver, Ethan and Cooper

the long and the short of it

Today Kestrel decided she absolutely had to cut her hair. She's been growing it for a while and it was really pretty long. Over the last year she went back and forth several times about cutting it or growing it longer. It was pretty hot today, and after school she decided she had to cut it today. After her gymnastics class we set out to get a haircut. The first place we went was busy but the next place could take us right away.

Hopefully I can still manage to put it up in a bun for her dance recital next month!

She looks pretty cute, and more grown up! She's excited to go to school and show off her hair. She thinks people aren't going to recognize her. She does look different now with her cropped hair and her missing two front teeth!

ocean morning

Thursday I went into Kestrel's classroom in the morning to see their ocean habitat. The first graders have been studying animal habitats and her class focused on the ocean. They invited parents in Thursday to see the decorated classrooms and all of the dioramas the kids made featuring the animals they learned about. Ask Kestrel about the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, and she'll be happy to tell you all about it.

gymnastics recital

Kestrel had her annual Spring Gymnastics Recital last Sunday (April 29th). She did great! She's been taking gymnastics classes for the past four years, but just decided she would like to take this summer off from gymnastics, and resume in the fall. Here are some pictures from the recital. Its almost impossible to get a decent picture during the recital, but this should give you an idea of what she was doing.

This was at the end when she got her medal for participating in the recital.

on the springboard

on the bar

on the beam

jumping off the beam (it always gets me a little nervous when they start jumping and tumbling on the beam)

handstand durring the floor routine

Cooper and Mommy watching the recital (Cooper really wanted me to put this picture on the blog)

ice show

Last weekend Kestrel was in an ice show with the Learn-to-Skate program at the Ice Arena. The theme of the showcase was "Time Warp" and featured music from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. Kestrel's group skated to "Build Me Up (Buttercup)" by The Foundations. They had the dress rehearsal Thursday, and performances Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Of course she did a great job and we are so proud of her! Kestrel thought the showcase was a lot of fun and is looking forward to participating again next year.

Here she is after the show with her friend Olivia, who also skated in the show.

3-d

A couple of weekends ago (after we got back from Montreal) I took the kids to see Meet the Robinsons, in the new digital 3-D. The 3-D effects were really cool, and so were the kids.

montreal

OK, I know I kind of fell asleep on the blogging duties, but I hadn't realized it had been so long. I was about to write that we were in Montreal last week, but then realized its was more like 2 1/2 weeks ago...

We went to Montreal to celebrate Passover with our Canadian relatives, at David and Sandy's home. It was so great to see everyone, and Kestrel and Cooper just loved being with their cousins, great aunts and uncles, Granny, etc. Here are a few pictures (we forgot our cameras so these are all phone pictures):

Paul took Cooper and Kestrel to the park near David and Sandy's house where there was this great big climbing rope structure they loved.

The night before Passover started we went out to nice Italian restaurant for dinner. Kestrel took this picture (she had to take pictures on break for her school project). From the left: Carol (Granny) behind Cooper, then David, Sandy and Sarah.

Kestrel lost her tooth while we were there, one of the front two! She's looking like a 7 year old! Apparently the Canadian tooth fairy is pretty generous. She was sooo excited she got two Canadian coins ($3 Canadian).

Here we are on Mount Royal looking down over the city. It was a great trip. We all got to use our new passports for the first time!

sprinkler play

Cooper can't stay away from the faucet. Turns it down, turns it up, turns it down again (mostly down). Drives his sister crazy!

Yesterday we had the first sprinkler play of 2007! OK, it really wasn't that hot, but it was warm enough. The kids have new bathing suits they wanted to try on. Once the suits were on, well, I just couldn't say no to the sprinkler. Remember, we're really dreaming of summer here! We had music playing and they were dancing and playing in the sprinkler and relaxing on their towels. Felt like a real summer party! Kestrel was dancing the Macarena, which she learned in PD (gym) class, and has tried to teach it to Cooper. I was thinking about how I danced the Macarena at our wedding. My niece Emily, who was about 8 at the time (and now about to graduate high school), had requested it. Now my own daughter is into it! How time flies...

rollerskating!

Kestrel and Cooper got new rollerskates this week, and this afternoon we took them skating on a nearby bike path.

toes

Kestrel wanted me to paint her toenails this morning. Of course, she came up with the pink and green stripes/alternating colors. I told her I would try it, but wasn't sure how well I could do it. In the end I think they came out pretty cute! Dreaming of summer here ...

just for fun

I am always finding pictures like this on my phone. Cooper gets a hold of my phone without me realizing it, and apparently he loves to take pictures of himself. He's loved phones and gadgets since he was a baby!

I bought these roses at Schnucks the other day just because they looked pretty. They are opening up really nicely. I love having fresh flowers in the house. Happy spring!

indianapolis children's museum

Kezden, Cooper, Kestrel and Zanden pretending to be dinosaurs in the "Dinosphere"

Kestrel took this picture of T-Rex!

We took a trip to Indianapolis today to go to the Children's Museum. We were planning to meet up with some friends there. Unfortunately, we had some trouble getting out of the house this morning, and then got lost in Indy, so we made it there pretty late. I forgot my "real" camera, so these pictures were taken on my cell phone again. I think Kestrel does a better job with it then I do!

We only got to see a few exhibits, but they had a lot of fun anyway, especially playing around in the Dinosphere exhibit where they spent most of their time.

the start of spring break

The kids are on break right now. Cooper is off this whole week, and Kestrel is off this week and the next two. Kestrel spent Monday at a neighboring town's recreation center for their "Vacation Club". I signed her up for two days this week and three days next week. Of course, Kestrel now wants me to sign her up for a couple more days. We'll see if we can! I know it's great that Kestrel likes to do so much, but sometimes I worry that she doesn't get enough down time. She is definitely high energy!

I am planning to take the kids to Indianapolis for the day tomorrow. We will either go to the Children's Museum or to the Zoo, depending on weather and what we feel like tomorrow morning.

The week after next we will be travelling to Montreal to visit Paul's family for Passover. We're excited as we haven't been able to make it there the last couple of years. I wish we could make it to Boston for Easter, but it doesn't look like that is going to work out. I'm hoping we can plan a trip to Boston this summer, and get the kids to the beach!

Here's a picture of Kestrel and her friend Caitlin selling Girl Scout cookies Sunday. Their Brownie troop had a cookie booth at Wal-Mart and we were there for a few hours.

i'm starting to like this town again

The nice weather continues! It got better, actually. It was up in the 70's today. Kestrel had the day off of school, so while Cooper was in school we had a nice time at Meadowbrook Park. This park has a preserved prairie (though not much is growing on it yet, as you can see) with a path for walking/biking, etc. that circles around it for a about a mile, with various sculptures along the way. We brought Kestrel's scooter and she rode the path while I walked. Kestrel was excited at seeing a pheasant along the way, and kept talking about how much she loves nature. These pictures were taken on my phone which is why they're a little fuzzy. Kestrel took the prairie picture.

After we picked up Cooper we met our playgroup at another park and spent a couple of hours there, until we came home and the kids spent the next few hours outside. I could really get used to this! Unfortunately I think we only have one more day of this before the temperature drops again. But now we know what we are looking forward to!

spring is in the air, finally

The past few days have been wonderful. We've finally had some nice weather, and the kids have been able to play outside after being cooped up for most of the winter. They've been playing a lot outside at parks and outside of our house. I took this picture today, with Kestrel on her scooter and Cooper on his roller skates. I was able to get out rollerblading a couple of times this weekend, which makes me pretty happy.

I don't have too much else to report. We hosted Kestrel's Brownie meeting here last week, and the girls decorated wooden eggs with paint, sequins and ribbons. Cooper got to make one, too. We also distributed all the cookies to the girls so they can deliver them (did I mention I am Cookie Mom?) Unfortunately, Huxley go into a few of the boxes (what a surprise) so I had to pay for a few extra. So now all the extra troop cookies are up high on top of the bookshelf.

Paul and I have been furiously watching Lost episodes over the past month. We had never watched Lost, and started by renting Season One, moved on to Season Two, and then got caught up on the current season. We are now all caught up so all you Lost fans out there feel free to discuss the show!

Here's hoping the nice weather continues!

art show

This one is titled "It's A Rainbow"

This one is titled "A Painted Painting"

Friday night we attended a student art show at Cooper's school. The pictures above are the two pieces of art Cooper had in the show. The children's art was displayed on the walls in the hallways, and they were showing videos of the children making some of their art projects. They are studying music for their current project, and Cooper was excited to show us some of the instruments they had in the classroom ("A real saxophone!"). There was also a pizza fundraiser (they were selling pizza by the plate) but by the time we went to get our pizza they had run out. That was OK though, we just went home and ordered pizza and ate while watching our movie for our weekly Family Movie Night.

happy valentine's day!

Just found out they cancelled school again tomorrow! Happy Valentine's Day...

drifts

I took this picture out of our front door last night, to show that our steps are completely buried by the snow drift. Paul didn't like my picture, so he went outside (which I wanted to avoid) and took a picture of the front of the house, below.

I guess I should have taken pictures during the day, but I didn't think it about until late. We had a little blizzard here yesterday. The city stopped trying to plow in the morning because they couldn't keep up with the wind, although it kept snowing all day. School was cancelled yesterday and is cancelled again today. We did make it out of the house yesterday and drove (through unplowed streets) to a neighbor's house a couple of blocks away for a playgroup (we were the only ones we showed up). We were literally driving over big snow drifts, and got stuck a couple of times, but eventually made it through the snow with my trusty all-wheel-drive Subaru. I figured we weren't going far and the worse that would happen was that Paul might have to walk over and shovel us out. Paul was home because his office decided to close when they stopped plowing. Pretty much all businesses were closed.

So everything is calmed down today (aside from the stir crazy kids stuck in the house). Its actually a nice, sunny, blue sky day, with a foot of snow and huge snow drifts on the ground.

sledding

She's going down backwards in this one

I took Kestrel sledding this afternoon. There is seriously only one hill in town, and everyone sleds on it. It snowed last Tuesday, but a lot of the hill was bare just due to people sledding and walking up it. Still, there were a few patches left with enough snow to sled down. I went a little reluctantly, because I thought I'd be cold and tired, but once we got there I had a good time helping Kestrel sled, though I didn't actually sled myself. I helped her carry that sled up the hill over and over, though. There is something about being active in the cold weather that really makes you feel good!

FYI - I added pictures to the post on Jan. 28th about Kestrel cheerleading, so check it out.

circus!

The entire first grade at Kestrel's school performed in a circus this afternoon! They've been planning this circus for months. All the kids got to perform. The kids were either ringmasters, clowns, animals, animal trainers, horseback riders, acrobats, jugglers or tight-rope walkers. Kestrel was a juggler (which was what she really hoped for) and juggled scarves. She's been excited about this circus since they started planning it. They all did a great job and it was so cute to watch them. They performed for parents today, and kids were handing out popcorn as we walked in. Yesterday they performed for the rest of the school. This is one of the things I love about Kestrel's school. They often do these special projects or performances that bring together a number of different classes and teachers all working together to to make it happen. Kestrel always seems most interested in school when there is something special such as this going on.