Earth Day!

 Sam and his man with grass hair.

Beside his Sam's Club

Sam's school celebrates Earth Day every year with an open house of projects made by the students.  The third graders always make well known buildings throughout Springfield.  The buildings are then in the gym for everyone to see.  Sam got assigned Sam's Club (we are sure due to his first name).  He enjoyed making the building even though that wasn't his first choice.  There isn't much to do with a rectangular warehouse which I think was a little of a blessing and a curse.  The kids also did many projects in class that we were able to look at that evening.  It was a good time.  

Chat and Chew

For a few months I have been spending my lunchtime on Mondays at Sam's school. I have been meeting with a group of kids to discuss books. They chose three books that they wanted to all read in their free time. With the help of another great mom we meet, eat, and discuss the books we chose. It was a great experience. The kids were a lot of fun and I loved hearing all of their interesting ideas and stories relating to what we had read. I can only hope their love of reading will continue into adulthood. Last week they got to have an ice-cream party to celebrate all of their hard work. It was a great way to end our time together.

Riding for St. Jude's

There is a little boy at Ella's preschool that is undergoing treatment at St. Jude's for a brain tumor. I do not know much about his story since he goes to school at a different time than Ella and the school has not said a lot. I just can not imagine how hard it would be to have a child that was seriously ill.

Ella's school decided to participate in the St. Jude tricycle a thon as a small way to support what he is going through and help other children in a similar situation. Each child could raise money for St. Jude by getting donations and then riding their tricycle, bike, scooter, etc. The kids learned all about bike safety this week and a little about what they do at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Today was their big ride. The children enjoyed themselves and raised some money so that hopefully someday parents won't have to worry about many forms of childhood cancer.

Easter Sunday

Quite the egg hunting look, don't you think?

Ella in her Easter dress

I never used to be that big on Easter, but recently that has changed. I think as I get older I look more at the meaning of the holiday than the celebration and realize just how important Easter is. Not the importance of bunnies, eggs and chocolate but how Jesus gave his life for us and conquered death, that is something worth celebrating.

Sam is obviously not that big into the bunnies any more either since when I asked him on Easter morning what the bunny had brought him his response was, "Oh, I forgot all about that." He had been up for an hour and had not even looked for his basket. He did find his and enjoyed what the Easter bunny left for him and Ella was ready as soon as she woke up to go looking.

Then it was off to mass to celebrate the real reason for the day. Ella has really learned the Easter story this year between preschool, MOPS, and books at home. She can tell you the whole thing starting with Palm Sunday and includes more details then I would ever expect a five year old to remember. It makes me proud!

After mass it was home to my mom and dad's for company. The house was filled with family and it was a great time. The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt, we had a delicious lunch, and the adults watched a lot of golf with some Royals baseball thrown in too. It was a wonderful way to celebrate.

Egg Decorating

With both kids playing sports we have practice or a game every weeknight. So we had to fit some egg decorating in on an already busy evening but we got it done. Sam is my speed decorator so it was no problem for him. I think his were all decorated when Ella was still on her second egg. If you know my kids then you will see this pattern in about everything they do. Ella took her time making her egg creations and finished just about bed time. They had a good time and both enjoyed a hard boiled egg before heading off to bed.

My Little Tiger!

Ella taking her goalie position seriously

Hooray for soccer and snacks!

Ella is back on the soccer field and begging each quarter to play goalie. She got to start in their first game and did a great job. The other team may have scored twice that quarter but she saved at least 5 shots and that is hard with 12 or so kids crowded in the goal area and bigger goals now that she has moved up to kindergarten soccer. She also did well in the field. We need to work a little on her aggressiveness, but she was in the pile with the other girls most of the game.

Her team is black and gold so the girls voted on the Tigers for their team name. Well really only three girls voted on the Tigers but there were so many other choices like princesses, cupcakes, thunder, princess thunder that divided the votes and the Tigers were able to take the lead. So here is to a good season for the Tigers!

Go Mavericks!

Showing off his sportsmanship bracelet after the game!

D E F E N S E !

Sam has started up another season of flag football. He is playing with the same coach and a few of the boys from last spring. His skills have really improved in the last year. He almost had his first interception in the first game but the opposing team wrestled the ball out of his hands. He is playing mostly center on offense and middle linebacker on defense. He is really enjoying himself.

The Mavericks first game was a victory and Sam received the sportsmanship bracelet that the referees hand out at the end of each game. He was proud of the bracelet and even happier about the win. Let's hope the winning streak continues.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

I absolutely love flowers! There are so many kinds that I enjoy but my all time favorite is tulips. I have planted tulips at every house where we have lived. I change up the color schemes and planting almost yearly. This year I just went with mostly red with touches of yellow and I thought they looked great. Unfortunately, with the warm weather they didn't last long but I managed to get a picture before the petals all disappeared.