A Beautiful Day!

Today the temperature hit 60-something. It was wonderful! This morning a friend brought three of her four kids over and we played outside for a good two hours.


After lunch, Piper went down for a nap and shortly after that, our neighbor, W, came over to play with Isaac. For the 2.5 hours that Piper napped, Isaac and W played outside. They enjoyed a Popsicle...


I organized the garage and read a magazine and reveled in the brightness called the SUN!! About 4:15, the kids and I, along with W, got in the car and headed to the Lakewalk. They had a blast skipping rocks.


It was pretty cool seeing the shoreline and then very tall banks of snow.


I got one more picture before my phone battery died.


On our way home I picked up a pizza and W joined us for dinner. And now it's 7:30 and we've been outside for the last hour. The kids are riding bikes and I again am reading a magazine. The air is chilly and now it's time to start bedtime routine. I have a feeling we will all sleep well tonight!

Busy Weekend

My parents came on Friday evening to help me out during a busy weekend. Saturday morning I ran Fitger's 5k. Three years ago it was this race was my first ever race! That year it was cold and there was about 4 inches of slush on the ground. This year's race was cold--22 degrees, but the course was dry.

Once I got home, we got ready to go to the PBS Kids Club Circus. We get to go because we donate to PBS. Personally, I could skip it, but the kids have fun.


Tattoos!


This was a really cool rocket launcher. Kids could make a rocket and then would put it on the PVC pipe that was attached to a boat booey (sp?). Then the kids would jump on it and the air would make the rocket soar!


I realized this was the only picture I took of either of my parents with the kids. Reading a bedtime story.


Sunday morning we went to church and then my parents took us out to a really nice breakfast. They left after that, as the sap is running and Dad makes syrup!

Girls Weekend

With Isaac in Iowa and Eddy traveling for baseball, I decided to take Piper to St. Cloud to see my sister and her family. We were so excited Jason was still awake when we got there!




We cuddled Saturday morning...




...and Auntie painted her fingernails! I've never painted her fingernails before--she looked older. She loved it, I'm still not sure!








Then Lindsey, Jason, Piper and I went out to a few places. Lindsey was great and helped me look for new glasses. Eventually we hit up Panera for lunch (and found out one is opening in Duluth. Woo hoo!!).
We made sure to leave room for dessert at Cherry Berry.








We spent time just hanging out, playing with Jason. I decided to leave a little early on Sunday, as a snow storm was set to arrive. We had an awesome weekend!

Spring Break

Isaac had spring break the week of April 8. Piper started a once a week, hour and a half class at the aquarium, so Isaac and I walked around Canal Park while she was at class.


Then we decided to eat dessert before lunch and hit up DQ. The kids wanted to make funny faces.


Isaac figured out how to cross his eyes AND keep his eyes open. I got a case of the giggles after taking the picture!


We had a fun time!


The next day, Papa picked Isaac up from daycare and they made the 8 hour drive to Iowa to see his cousins!

So Proud of This Kid

Two years ago, about this time of the year, in fact, Eddy and I thought long and hard about sending Isaac to kindergarten as a just-turned-5 year old, or wait until he was 6. We decided to have him go to preK as a 5 year old and "red shirt" him until he was 6 for Kindergarten. It was a really hard decision and we didn't make it lightly. We knew there would be pluses and minuses either way. But in the end, we have been really happy we waited. Secretly though, I've been waiting for him to realize that he is likely one of, or THE oldest, kid in his class. That reality happened on Friday. As I picked up the kids from daycare and was buckling Piper in her seat, Isaac said, "Mom, K (his best friend at school) said that since I'm 6 1/2, I should be in first grade. But I told him 'everyone's different'". I was so proud of him, I almost cried. But not wanting to make it into a big deal, I shut Piper's door and got into the car. When I got in, I simply said, "You're absolutely right, Isaac. Someone in your class has to be the oldest, and someone has to be the youngest. You just might be the oldest". And that was the end of it. But now, as I'm typing, tears well up in my eyes. For two reasons. First and foremost, I'm so proud of his response to his friend. I don't think his friend was being mean; maybe just figuring out how kids are different. But I also cry because although I am confident in our decision, I don't want him to be teased or grow up thinking we "held him back" because he wasn't ready. I hope that when the topic comes up again (I am sure it will), he will understand that we waited because we wanted to give him the best possible start to his education.
Isaac also brought home his 3rd quarter report card. As and Bs would be a LOT easier to understand than the system that is used, but I can see that he is progressing as he should be. We can definitely see he has my mentality of "I don't want to do it (whatever "it" is at the time) unless I'm going to be good at it", which is extremely frustrating! But, his ability to sound out words and not quit has greatly improved. I am so grateful for our educators--I would have NO IDEA where to begin in teaching Isaac how to read, add, recognize shapes, understand sequences, etc.
We have one AWESOME kid and I am so proud of him.