Bunny

Julia posing with her bunny drawing the other day.

Determined

We have some little house finches who are very determined to build their nest on the outdoor speaker.  I think that they probably would not like it so much once they are on, but they are determined.  Everytime we try to deter them or take something down, they come right back with something else.  Even with the dog dish up there, they just tried to build around it.

Little Nutcracker

Here's a pic of Julia ready to walk Alex to school the other day.  All in Nutcracker getup and in character too.

Biker

Jules is loving her balance bike.  She really enjoys going to the park and making the big loops around, where she gets a chance to do some coasting.  She's getting quite good at it!

Princess

Julia is being spoiled by our neighbor Barbara.  Barbara gave her this pillow which says Princess on it a few weeks back.  Along with it she gave Julia some wands.  The other day when she and David were out for a walk, Barbara gave her a special Princess crown to go along with it.  Yep, our tomboy tough princess.

On a Boat to Canada

The kids were taking a boat ride to Tahoe and then Canada the other day when I went into the playroom.  They told me they were moving to Canada, hence all of the stuff in the "boat".

Easter

We had our traditional Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday with the Bertains.  This year, Alex was able to be the clue reader for everyone, so he was quite excited about that.  It was a beautiful day and the kids were great guessers, so they found all of their eggs and their baskets at the end.  We ate some food, hung out and talked and the boys played some football too.

Egg Dyeing

The kids and I had fun dyeing Easter eggs on the Friday afternoon before Easter.  We used the brown eggs that we typically buy, because I forgot to get white eggs and actually, I think they turned out really nice.  The kids loved putting rubber bands on them and then dipping them into another color after they dyed it the first color.  They made some nice looking designs!

Tying His Own Shoes!

Alex has been interested in wearing tie shoes for the past few months, but has only shown interest in learning how to tie them as we are trying to get ready for school, which for obvious reasons, doesn't work.  I had told him that if he wanted to learn, it would be good to practice when we didn't need to actually be somewhere.  On Thursday afternoon, he decided he wanted to practice, so we sat down and I showed him how to tie a couple of times and then he took off and just started tying after a few tries.  He tied his shoes multiple times, making sure that he knew how to double knot as well.  After that, he requested that I make a video of him tying his shoes, so that he could teach his buddy who does not know how to tie his shoes.  I thought it was sweet of him to think of how he could teach someone else.  He then proceeded to run up and down the back yard exclaiming that he could tie his own shoes!  Quite a proud moment.  Above is a video which Google put together.  It is a compilation of stills and video from that night.

Dental Surgery

 In the waiting room, prior to going back.  Last time with the two front baby teeth.

 After drinking some Versed.  Getting kind of noodly.  The assistant was calling him Mr. Noodle.

 After surgery.  Two baby teeth and the extra permanent tooth taken out.  All packed up nicely in green disco ball necklace.

 Showing his pulse oximeter.  Still noodly, as you can see from the posture.

At home about an hour and a half later with his Star Wars pillows, blanket from Great Grandma Grace and his teeth around his neck.  Watched How To Train Your Dragon for the first time.

Alex had a dental surgery on Friday to remove the extra permanent tooth which was above his baby teeth. We have known for a few years that there was an extra tooth up there, thanks to x-rays, but they wanted to wait until it would be closer to the time that the front baby teeth would normally fall out.  His teeth weren't loose, but it was time to take out the extra tooth, so during the surgery they took out the two top front baby teeth and then the extra permanent tooth which was above.  It took less time than they had indicated it would and Alex was a great patient.  He had some Versed, but wasn't really knocked out for the procedure.  He took surprisingly little pain medication afterward.  They had prescribed Tylenol with codeine, but he ended up taking just 1/2 a dose of that and then two of Motrin over the next two days.  After reading the How To Train Your Dragon book series for the past few months, he was able to watch the movie, which he enjoyed.  Quite the trooper we have!

Peas

The first peas from the garden were picked today.  Wish we had a bigger plot for them.  The kiddos can hardly wait for them to get big enough to eat.  Today, they each got one!

Making Bracelets!

Alex has been making bracelets like crazy, since he received his loom for his birthday.  He is getting really good at watching a video once or twice and then remembering how to make the bracelets, some of which are quite complex.  He is focused and determined to make them correctly and I think that he has a knack for  picking color schemes too.  These are the bracelets which he made while we were in Tahoe for five days.  If he wasn't skiing or playing in the snow, reading a new book or putting together one of the many puzzles we bought there, he was probably with his loom.

The Baker

Bedtime with Monkeys

Diamond Peak

Frozen

I finally tracked down a copy of Frozen from a Red Box up in Tahoe, after a few days of trying.  The kiddos enjoyed watching it one evening while we were there.

Diamond Peak and Sledding in Tahoe Meadows

 Julia looking out onto Lake Tahoe.  She actually said she wanted to go swimming.  Um, no, I don't think so!

 Sledding!  Needed some shades!

 At the bottom of Diamond Peak

 Alex coming back from skiing with Daddy.

Jules and Daddy

It's Snowing!

Roadtrip!

First roadtrip in the new vehicle!

Excited to See Snow!

Mt Rose

On the first full day in Tahoe, we went up to Mt Rose to check out the new snow.  Alex took a two hour lesson, which ended up being a one on one session and he really had fun and picked up from where he left off last year.  Julia and David practiced by the lodge and the Mt Rose photographer took this great shot of the two of them.

Fun in the Snow!

We went up to Incline Village last Thursday to spend some of Spring Break.  Although it had hardly snowed all winter, we got lucky and it snowed almost every day we were up there.  We had no expectations for snow at all, but it ended up that we had all kinds of fresh snow to play in.