Noah's 4th Birthday

Saturday was a very full day. We started the day with delicious pancakes made from scratch (Kristi makes awesome breakfast) and a quick shopping trip to find larger swim suits/trunks for the kids. That was followed by a TRIP TO THE ZOO!

Noah and Mikayla showed Uncle Keith the sea lions and the polar bears and the giraffes and ....
... and finally the new Tembo Trail! It's got a new boardwalk, lots of extra room for the elephants, indoor viewing areas for several of the animal habits, rhinos, hippos, and meerkats. With the opening of the newly expanded exhibit that weekend, there were stations around with fun crafts for the kids. Below are the elephant masks and the bead necklaces that they made (and were very proud of).

By the time we returned home, Papa, Grandma, Uncle Scott, Aunt Michelle, and Uncle Dudley had just arrived. The kids took advantage of the warm weather and had fun playing in the kiddie pool in the backyard. After a delicious dinner courtesy of Kristi, Noah opened all of his fun presents from everyone with overwhelming excitement and then it was birthday cake time (Noah wanted a U of M cake, go figure). The day ended with more fun outside playing with new toys and uncles and more toys.

It turned out to be a near perfect day and one I will remember for years to come.

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!

Lots more pictures can be found in the album.

Mother's Day

Here's just a few pictures taken as we celebrated Mother's Day with Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Scott  at the Secor Metropark in Toledo. It turned out to be a beautiful day for playing at a park, cookin' up some hot dogs, and going on a walk through the trails.

Smores. Can't forget the smores...

Parents Blessing

Last Thursday at Noah's School was "Parents Blessing" day. The parents were invited to arrive a half hour before the normal dismissal time, although we didn't know what was going to happen (at least I didn't). The kids stood lined up next to each other as the parents came into the classroom. After almost all the parents were there, Mrs. Porto directed the kids in showing off their skills with singing and dancing (it was really cute).

When the songs were over, it was award time: each student made awards for their parents like "Best Driver" (which was 75% of them) and "Best Singer." For us, Noah chose "Best Store Driver" for Mommy and "Best Field Trip Taker" for me.

Finally the families were given gifts that were made with the help of the students to show their appreciation for their parents that included a wonderful tri-fold book personalized just for us and some Hershey's Hugs and caramel Kisses :)

We are VERY proud of our little guy. He has grown tremendously over the last school year and we feel so blessed to have found the fantastic learning environment fostered by the Our Lady of Sorrows Early Childhood Center.

More pictures can be found in the album.

Field Trip to Maybury Farm

On Tuesday, Noah's class took a field trip to Maybury Farm just next to the Maybury State Park by Northville, MI. There was a bit of some drizzle, but that didn't seem to bother the kids. They saw a bunch of animals up close, and Noah even got to pet a baby sheep was only 1 week old! Noah said that little lamb was his favorite part of the trip. Hopefully we'll be able to go back over there over the summer to see more of the animals and maybe even play on their playground ;-)

One fine day

Sunday was a gorgeous day to be outside. Although it started a bit chilly, things warmed up nicely as the day went on. It was a perfect day to be outside. So we were. We even ate lunch out in the front yard! The kids helped with yard work like picking up sticks and grass clippings. They also helped Mommy by testing out her new hammock and putting her new U of M themed flamingos out in front of the house.

Kristi spent the majority of the waking hours in the front flower bed pulling out weeds that looked like a huge forest of tiny pine trees. I found a new way to "fix" the lawn mower with a left over bike chain to keep the cutting deck in place and attempted to engineer the booster pedals from Noah's bike onto Mikayla's so her feet would reach. End result: The front of the house looked spectacular, the lawn was cut evenly, three bangs of yard waste were filled, Noah could pedal faster, and Mikayla's bike has the added look of masking tape on her  pedals which still aren't stable enough for her to use.

Here's a few good pics from that productive, exhausting, and beautiful day. Enjoy!