Alex’s friend Natalie celebrated her birthday back in March.  Natalie used to be Alex’s girlfriend when they were both 1.  She would kiss him every morning when he got to daycare.  :)

The kids had fun breaking a piñata (although nobody was able to get it with the bat and they had to pull the strings instead) and playing pin the rainbow on the pony. 

Of course there was cake, presents, and even some horsey rides.

Happy Birthday, dear Natalie!  We wish you many happy returns!  More pictures can be found in the March album.

Last night we went to Alex’s preschool graduation.  It doesn’t seem possible that he’s 5 and ready to head off to kindergarten already, but it’s true.

The preschool classes sang songs, which were very nicely done.  The kids stayed together for the most part and I could actually understand most of the words. 

After the singing, they put on a slide show that showed the kids through the years.  The parents each sent in two baby pictures for a special project, and these were included in the slideshow.  It was cute.

Finally, the big moment arrived.  The kids had all put on their caps and gowns while we were watching the slide show, and they all received their diplomas.  Alex’s teacher read some info about each child.  Alex said his favorite color is blue, his favorite TV show is Cyber Chase, he likes to play on the computer at school, and when he grows up, he wants to be a dad.

There are MANY more pictures and videos posted in the albums.

Alex’s class wrote a book together.  It was a play on Eric Carle’s books, and they each wrote and illustrated one page.  It was very cute, so I borrowed it for an evening to scan in the pages.

Farmer, Farmer, What do you See?  I see a horse looking at me.

Horse Horse, what do you see?  I see a pig looking at me.

Pig Pig, what do you see?  I see a cow looking at me.

Cow Cow, what do you see?  I see a chicken looking at me.

Chicken Chicken, what do you see?  I see a duck looking at me.

Duck Duck, what do you see?  I see a sheep looking at me.

Sheep Sheep, what do you see?  I see a rooster looking at me.

Rooster rooster, what do you see?  I see a bull looking at me.

Bull bull, what do you see?  I see a goat looking at me.

Goat goat, what do you see?  I see a goose looking at me. 

Goose goose, what do you see?  I see a cat looking at me.

Cat cat, what do you see?  I see a farm looking at me.

Mark got a new rocket ship, and he and the kids tested it out over at his parent’s house a while back.   (Grant may have had an accident in his jeans that day and had to wear his PJ shorts for lack of other options….oops).

Sadly, I could NOT catch the rocket in blast-off.  I was holding my shutter button down so it would take shots as fast as it could, and in the milliseconds of time between shots, the rocket always blasted out of the frame.

Grant also had fun playing with Sadie, who looks much meaner than she is.

Here are some videos of the rocket launching.

Grant's Turn

Alex's Turn

It’s been a really long time since I have seen my college friends Tricia and Emily, and since Tricia recently moved back to Columbus, it gives more reason for me to get down there and see both of them.  So, I packed up the kids, and we headed down for a picnic at the playground together.  This was the first time I got to meet “Baby” Ben, who will be 2 in July. My camera battery died but I got a few pictures before that happened.

I also managed to stop by my friend Jeni’s house to visit and wish Jordan a happy 3rd birthday (we missed his party 2 weeks beforehand due to illness). 

It was a good day all around, including a trip to Target!

Happy belated birthday, Daddy!  We had fun celebrating your day a day early so that more people could be here.

We had a yummy dinner with your family, and then were able to play outside for a bit. 

Mark bought his own cake from the Dairy Queen this year.  And called himself Reggie.  You’ll have to ask him why.

After supper, the kids played and we even taught Grandma how to play Angry Birds on my new iPad3.

Happy birthday, Daddy, have a wonderful year!

St. Patrick’s Day has turned into a special holiday at schools.  Leprechan traps are made in hopes of catching leprechans that typically wreak havoc in the class room, either by making messes, turning milk green, or even turning the toilet water green.  (At home, we even had a leprechan that turned our toilet water green this year.)  Often, the leprechan leaves gold coins (candy) in the trap. 

Alex’s class built a trap together this year, but with St. Patrick’s Day on a Saturday, they had to wait until Monday to check it.  It’s a good thing they didn’t catch it since it would have been stuck ALL weekend!  Here are some pictures that Alex’s teacher took at school and passed on to us.

Checking the trap:

Dawson, Cameraon, Alex B:

Catherine, Alex H, Hannah D

Hanna M, Kennedi, Lincoln

Lincoln, Dorian

We had our first picnic play date of 2012 back on March 13th.  It was early, but the weather was beautiful.  It was last minute, so we didn’t have the whole gang, but we ran into some other friends from school while there, too.  It was also possibly the first picnic play date that Mark came to.  Hopefully he had a good time!

Earlier this spring, after some rain had left mud puddles in our driveway, I let the kids boot up and go splash in the puddles.   They had a blast, but I think the only good the boots did was to keep their shoes from getting dirty.  Because they were filthy from head to toe.  Good thing it was bath night, anyways!

Happy very belated birthday, Aunt Julie!  We hope you had a great day, and are enjoying your presents!