Daddy, Daddy, Daddy

Jason had been working a long stretch of 7 PM - 8 AM nights and the kids weren't really seeing much of him.  So one afternoon when he woke up the kids bombarded him.

You can't help but love that.

Good Old Fashioned Summer Fun

I LOVE summer and I feeling like it is already slipping away.  For every bit that my kids are making me absolutely crazy, I love having them home.  We have been eating a lot of Popsicles these days.  The kids love those "make your own" popsicle molds.

Hobbes and I joined the kids outside for popsicles.

The boys discovered that the neighbor's tree is great for climbing.

They really had fun testing themselves.

I dare say that was the most fun they had had all day.

Benny was trying to get even higher.

Paisley decided that she wanted in on the action too.

Benny's Farm

Benny loves this cow.  His name is Cattle.  Benny has been begging me to help him make a farm for him for months now.  One afternoon I finally sat down to do it with him.  I cut the box open and then his little mind wen to work.  First order of business was that his cow was going to need a pond to drink from.  So he cut that out and glued it down.

Then he needed grass, trees and flowers, a sun and sky.

You can tell he was quite pleased.

He even wrote "Benton's Farm" on the outside.

Lehigh Valley Runners Club: Kid Series

The Lehigh Valley Runners Club holds a kid's series of races.  The kids were excited to run their first race.

We met up with some of our friends at the race.

Benny and Paisley are in the same age group.  Paisley is the one in all pink.  Benton is the one all the way in the left who has his butt in the air tripping over top of the other girl.

They ran 200 meters.

Here is Benny right after he finished, waiting for his ribbon.

Benny and Paisley proudly displaying their ribbons.

Hobbes was hanging out with Grandma.

Tab's race was a 1/2 mile.  Here he is coming in at the end.

I just love the tongue hanging out.  He is totally my kid.

Preschool Graduation

We are slowly but surely catching up.... just in time for me to get behind again, I'm sure.

At the end of the school year, Benton graduated from preschool.  My stinking camera was giving me a hard time with the lighting (I was in a bright area and they were in a dark area and I could figure it out) so I didn't get any good pictures of the actual graduation.  So angry...

Alas,  here is a picture of the kids performing one of their favorite songs.  Benny is all of the way over on the right in the white shirt right next to his best friend, George.

 Here is Benny with his four teachers.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of them and his school.  Can't wait to send Paisley there!  I am so proud of him.  He was a bit behind when he started the year and he has more than caught up.  Can't believe that I'm going to have two in school!

Spring Break

 So as to avoid boredom over spring break, I gathered together supplies for the kids to do a bunch of various "science experiments" for whenever they were bored.

Here the kids are posing with their Tornado in a Jar.  They really had fun shaking this up time and time again.

Later I put a bunch of baking soda on some plates, colored some vinegar and then let the kids have at it with some medicine droppers.

Benton really poured it on.

 While Paisley used very small amounts at a time.

 Tab experimented with designs. 

 The kids LOVE to play Star Wars, but we don't have any Star Wars costumes.  No worries, they come up with their own.  Tab is of course Darth Vader.  (He really had a thing for the "bad guys").  His costume consists of a black blanket, a bandana and his light saber.  Benton Was Obi Wan with another blanket, bandana, belt and light saber.  Of course Paisley was Princess Leia.

 I thought they looked pretty great.

 We also made some straw airplanes.   After some experimenting with the structure we were getting pretty good at flying them.

And because Mom couldn't be bored, (Ha! is that possible) I had some fun playing with Paisley's hair.  I wish I had a better picture of this, it was pretty detailed with some weaving and such going on.

Easter....yikes

Our Easter Celebrations began with a little egg hunt at Benton's preschool.  Benny and Paisley both enjoyed the hunt.  The big prize was the egg with a quarter in it.

 Why do these two never want to look at the camera?

 Benny's preschool class as well as another class along with all of their siblings.

 Next up was the Primary Egg Hunt.  We also had a few games.  Benton and Paisley tried the spoon race.

 They were big cheaters holding their egg on the spoon, but so did pretty much everyone else also.

 Next up was a sack race. Tab is in the florescent yellow jacket.

 Paisley, slowly but surely made it across the field.

 Finally the hunt, itself.

 The Easter Bunny hung some eggs in the trees and Tab was jumping to try to reach one.

 Grandpa came up to visit for Easter.  I can't remember why, but my mom was out of town, so he came up.

 The kids woke up and went to work looking for where the Easter Bunny hid their basket. (And yes, Benton's shirt is on backwards.)

 Per Jason's request, the kids follow a trail of jelly beans or candy filled eggs which leads to their basket.

 Sharing the wealth with their sister.

 Tab was quite pleased with finding the eggs.

 They finally located their "basket".  Since my dad was coming up, I had him bring one of my mom's ginormous stainless steel bowls.  This is what my parents always put our community Easter Candy in.  It was kind of fun to do the same for my kids.

 Jason was working nights, so when he got home he ran out and hid the eggs and then we sent the kids out.

 Paisley really had a blast finding the eggs.

 As did the rest of the bunch.

 

 

 Then came the discovery of the final egg.  Paisley beat Benton out by a milisecond.

 Which didn't go over well.

 It was quickly confiscated.

 And happily placed in his egg carton.

 As you can imagine this didn't bode well.

 She was quickly won over by being allowed to eat as many eggs as her little heart desired.