feeling lucky

this morning the kids woke up to gold coins hidden around the house,
shoes on door knobs, backpacks under tables
and lots of other crazy stuff - like green oatmeal :)
olivia even blamed the messy fridge on the crazy little men -
yup, sounds good to me!

before school {and before ryan found his pants},
we attempted a st. patrick's day picture.
at one point,
i said "just look happy. pretend we are going to disney world!"
and that's when ryan prentended he was riding a ride.
notice the other kids' reaction to him - ha ha.
comedians are often misunderstood :)

and now for the really fun part -
yesterday garrett's class left traps for leprechauns.
today they all waited outside the door and went in together.
liam the leprechaun had been in their room
and made a HUGE mess and the kids LOVED it :)

it was also a good reminder of why i send my kids to school -

teachers can do crazy stuff

that i would never in a million years attempt at home...

like sprinking gold glitter ALL OVER THE ROOM.

and that's why fun teachers are AWESOME!

i love giving my kids fun memories -

but there are just some memories i want no part in creating - HA HA!

happy st. patrick's day

***

for another version of the day, check out what olivia has to say...

can you tell...

that it's almost spring??????

new wheels

there might still be snow on the ground,
but this guy couldn't wait any longer!

his bike from last year was way too small,
so it was time for an upgrade.

this one is a lot bigger than his last bike,
so we're keeping the training wheels on for a little bit...
and waiting for it to WARM UP!

sounds of spring?

me: hey ryan do you hear those birds?

ryan: yes. they are harping eagles. they can kill you.

umm, happy spring?

sitcky fingers on the loose!

josie loves her peanut butter...

...and saying cheese!

she also loves running around with sticky fingers -
which is my cue to set the camera down and go catch her!!

basketball, week #2

watching the boys play is pretty much hilarious!
ryan just runs up and down the court.
and watching him dribble, well that is beyond funny.
hand eye coordination isn't quite there yet.

garrett likes basketball a lot, but he's on a really young team.
the 4 year olds look at him kinda of crazy like when he yells "PASS IT" - but maybe that's because he's yelling it 6 inches from their face :)
in the mean time, he's getting his shots off and planning for next year -
when he moves up to an older league :)

but the best part of basketball thus far,
is that the boys are SO very tired at night AND sleep in the next day :)

wordless wednesday

butterflies

this past weekend we made our annual visit
to see the butterflies @ the meijer gardens.

usually it is crazy busy which makes
the tropical butterfly room unbearable claustrophic and hot.we got super lucky - and it wasn't busy at all!

we saw lots & lots of butterfliesand ryan learned that butterflies weren't attracted to his fingerno matter how long he held it out there :)he sure was determined, though!

since we were with some cousins,
it was the perfect chance for a group picture -
or not!

so instead, i focused on the gender that cooperated...

notice olivia's missing flower?

she was too worried the butterflies would land on it :)
maybe ryan should have worn it!

good bye, butterflies -

see you next year!!!

story time

today in 2nd grade,
it was all about celebrating authors... 2nd grade authors!

parents got assigned to a certain table,
then groups of students rotated through the tables
and shared the story they had written.

it was fun to hear how different kids write and what they write about.
i listened to lots of christmas morning stories.
lots of sleepover & sledding stories.
one of my favorites was one boy's story about bringing a car home from new york with his grandpa.
the story included visiting a museum, the car catching on fire and the police.
now that was a page turner!

and, of course, my other favorite story {and author}...

olivia, you amaze me.
you would write in your journal and draw all day if you could.
i would rather do 100 calculus problems than write a paper.
and i can't even draw a stick person.
your creativity is unreal to me!
i love you!

good job, 2nd grade authors!!!

go buckeyes!

it's time for march madness -
and this year both boys are on the same team.

to say they were excited for tonight's game
would be a major understatement.
the boys did fabulous.
garrett made 3 baskets {although he has no desire to pass the ball}
and ryan hit the rim once {which made him super happy!}

this might just be my favorite picture of the night -
ultra flexible garrett and ryan making sure his belly is still there.

so for the rest of the month - it's GO BUCKEYES at our house!