Happy Easter!

We started celebrating the week before Easter (spring break) by dyeing Easter eggs. The boys had a great time! We did Easter baskets Friday morning (to avoid rushing Easter morning before church). The boys each got some goodies in their baskets, as well as some plastic eggs with clues inside to search for a couple of bigger presents. Each boy got a football. Kyle got a star wars lego set and Max got a Lightning McQueen suitcase. They had fun searching for eggs and clues all over the house to find their surprises! Friday afternoon we headed to Ma and Pa's house to celebrate with them. We spent the night on Friday and had Easter dinner on Saturday. The boys got some more goodies (including bubbles and big bubble wands) and they had another Easter egg hunt, this time for eggs with dollar bills inside - they made out pretty well! :) We headed home Saturday night and went to our new church's Easter service Sunday morning. The boys are loving our new church's children's program and look forward to church every week. We've been attending for about a month and so far we're enjoying it and it's much closer to home which is one of the reasons we decided to try somewhere new. We had a great Easter and are thankful for the gift of Jesus!

Zoo

Jason decided to take off work today so we could take a family trip to the National Zoo. It's been 2 years since we last went so were long overdue and the boys were excited. It didn't go quite as I had envisioned it and it wasn't quite the best time for Jason and I, but the boys seemed to have fun so I'm glad we went. Although we have learned our lesson and will never go to the zoo during spring break week again, especially on a nice day. It was sunny and 60's - beautiful weather - so there was at least one plus, but it seemed that everyone else had the same idea! We planned to arrive around 10am, however due to traffic and construction on Connecticut Avenue we didn't get there until 11am and once we arrived there was a sign that read "All parking lots full." So we drove around for a bit trying to find somewhere to park along the street. We did find a spot about a 10 minute walk from the zoo in a 2 hour parking zone on a side street. When we finally got into the zoo there were pretty much wall to wall people so it took awhile to get from exhibit to exhibit. We didn't see as many animals as I would have liked, but we saw some of the big ones that the boys wanted to see like the elephants and the tigers/lions. The elephant put on quite a show for us playing with his toy, as well as a tire. He also decided to pee and poop while we were watching which the boys thought was great! And there were lots of lions including some baby cubs so the boys enjoyed seeing those. The flamingos were pretty cool too! We decided to just focus on looking at the animals while we were there (originally we were going to eat lunch there as well) and ate snacks along the way. We finally ate lunch when arrived home around 2:30pm. It was a long morning with LOTS of walking at as quick a pace as we could manage to see everything, but at least the boys seemed to enjoy the animals they saw. Next time we'll pick a weekday when school is in session and just take the day off to go. Those crowds were crazy!

Touchdown!

Kyle decided that he'd like to try flag football so that is his sport of choice this spring. He's had a few practices and he had his first game this afternoon. He's on the Germantown Panthers in a league with other 5 and 6 year olds. They're still learning the basics so it's just a running game, no passing involved, but it's fun to watch! They have to be reminded which way to go and not to stop running till they get to the end zone . . . things like that. :) They practice twice a week and play a game on Sundays. It consists of two 30 minute halves. All the kids take turns playing the different positions and the coaches are really good with them. Kyle's a little tentative with getting in the action because even though it is flag football there's still quite a bit of contact. Kids dive at other kids to try and grab the flag and sometimes they do forget and tackle so they need lots of reminders that this is "flag" football. Kyle seems to be enjoying himself, though and he even made a touchdown his first game which we caught on video!

Science Fair

Kyle entered his first science fair at his school this year. He decided to do a project on magnets and his question was "How does water affect magnets?" Jason helped him with it but Kyle did most of the work so it was truly his project. He was a little nervous last night but with each judge that came to talk to him he got more confident in answering their questions and did a great job. By the time his principal came around to ask him about his project he was a pro and she was quite impressed. In fact, when I went to pick him up early from school today (for a dentist appointment), they were telling me how impressed they were with Kyle and how well he understood and explained his project. The children were all awarded either first, second, or third place based on certain criteria. Kyle won first place so he got a special trophy for "best in show," along with a ribbon that everyone else got as well. He was very proud and we're very proud of him!

Max's First Soccer Class

Max had his first soccer class this evening. He's been asking to play soccer for months now and the big day finally arrived. He's been so excited all day. We decided to all go tonight to cheer him on! He certainly marches to the beat of his own drummer, but I think he had a fabulous time. There were times that he listened and did what he was told and other times where I'm not sure he even knew anyone else was there and was running halfway across the field while everyone else was doing something completely different. He definitely enjoyed himself and was very proud that he was playing soccer and had his very own soccer ball. Coach John keeps them active so I'm thinking he'll sleep well tonight! He did lots of running, played with rings, had parachute time, and of course, kicked the soccer ball back and forth between the goals.

Homework time

We have a pretty good routine when Kyle comes home from school. The boys get to watch a show and have their snack. Then it's homework time. This has become Max's favorite time of day! Kyle gets a homework packet every week that he can easily do in one sitting. I usually have him do half one night and half another night. The other nights he reads his books from reading group (which are sent home at least twice a week) or does a page or two from a number of activity books we have here at home. Max has decided that he wants to join in the homework fun since Kyle seems to enjoy doing it. At my request, Ma found some great activity books for Max to do during homework time - mazes, dot to dots, letters, numbers, and other coloring/activity pages. I was hoping these would last through the summer but at the rate Max is going we'll need new ones by then. Mazes are his favorite but he'll do anything you put in front of him and quickly request more. We usually spend about 30 minutes on homework, but Max is often still sitting there an hour later long after Kyle is done. It's great to see them so motivated to learn and I hope this continues into their later school years as well . . .

Chuck E Cheese party

We celebrated Kyle's 6th birthday on Saturday at Chuck E Cheese with many of his friends. There were 12 kids in all including long time friends, preschool friends, and kindergarten friends. We reserved an early time slot to avoid the rush and it worked out well! He had a great time playing games, hanging out with his friends, eating pizza and cake, and collecting tickets for prizes. Since he was the birthday boy he got to go in the ticket blaster which is basically a big clear tube that they turn on and whirls tickets around that he has to try and catch. It was fun to watch and he got quite a few tickets including a special "200 tickets" ticket which he was thrilled about! Max had a good time as well, even though the birthday show was a little much for him. They do some singing/shouting/clapping with the kids and at one point Max burst into tears because it was "too loud." This coming from one of the loudest kids I know :). Kyle seemed a little shy during the show part, but afterwards said he enjoyed it. He got lots of fun presents - his friends know him well - which he enjoyed opening and playing with when we got home. He's been talking about a Chuck E Cheese party for months now and I think it was everything he was hoping it would be! :)