Time to Party!

Claire's birthday party was yesterday at her dance studio. We themed it High School Musical. 13 little ladies showed up, plus some siblings, so we had a full house! It was so much fun, though. The girls enjoyed tatoos, crafts, singing and dancing on a "stage", working the "dance mat", limbo, and of course cake and presents. They also played "who sings this song". The songs were all HSM, but I was very impressed how well these 4 and 5 year olds could play the game. The studio was the perfect place, for we had loud music and lots of space to run around (plus no clean up for me!!!). Overall, a success. And in Claire's words "the best birthday for turning 5, ever!"

Sob...

Just a quick update: I enrolled Claire in Kindergarten today. Now, getting past how early in the year it is, that we are STILL in a lottery even though I pre-enrolled online, and that it took nearly 5 hours and two trips (had to pick up kids at school inbetween) to get her enrolled...can you believe that by little blue-eyed, chubby, blond, curly-haired, fun-loving, sweet-talking, crazy smart baby girl is going to Kindergarten!?! If today had not been so crazy, I think I might have had a breakdown. Still might, the night is young! Claire is super excited, for she came with me the second time and got a quick tour. Mommy is excited too, accept it's hard to fathom her being ready to do this! Anyway, we love the school, we know quite a few people that attend there, and it's just a couple blocks away. Overall, it's a good thing.

PS Landon is feeling better, and so is mommy now that steriods are finished!!! He just came in from outside while helping daddy, and said "Mommy I freezing cold, please get me a coat!"

Joys of Childhood

The kiddos have been gourmet chefs this week, making cookies one day and cupcakes several days later. They enjoy measuring, mixing, cutting out, frosting and decorating their baked goods. They make quite the creations, but they generally always taste good! While we were decorating our cakes, Claire let out a little "toot". She looks over at me and says "I know I had SpaghettiO's and Meatballs for lunch, but that was definately not me". How innocent they are!!

Landon and I were drawing together, making various shapes, letters and objects. When I asked him to draw a circle he said "That's a Mommy job, you do it!". Speaking of Landon, my little man has croup. We knew something was wrong when we came back from Kansas, but we assumed it was a cold. But when the barking seal emerged several nights later, it was to the doctor we go! They prescribed him steroids, which make an interesting, already rambunctous two-year-old a little "unfriendly" (in the words of the dr). He does feel better, so I guess it's worth it!

Lastly, the picture is of my "dressed-up" children. Claire tends to change clothes several times a day, depending on her mood. Landon often follows suit, but usually only gets his pants off before becoming side-tracked. This time both of them were "stylin'" in the words of Claire and a "cool dude" in the words of Landon. Well, you can come up with your own conclusion!!

Interesting day

We're back and we're bloggin'! Well, we've had an "interesting" day today, not the "interesting" like my mom uses (haha gram) but just "interesting". Landon helped me wrap some birthday gifts for Claire. Later, I found him wrapping up one of his basketball's with the leftover paper and very long strips of tape. He was doing quite a job! When I asked him who the present was for, he answered "Jackson". He was very proud of his wrapping job and carried that "present" around for close to an hour. Later, I could hear Landon making some weird noises, and I said to Claire "I wondering what that little man is doing?" and Claire's answered (without skipping a beat) "Probably something he's not supposed to be doing!" And second later, when I left to go check on him, Claire chimes "Don't get too mad momma, he's just a baby." He was doing nothing bad, but the whole situation made me giggle.

We played outside, went to the library, played with our friends, and went to school in between. We had conversations about green, presidents, Ms Beth, popcorn and birds. Overall, an interesting day!

Snow day...again

So it snowed a couple inches last night, and therefore there was no school in the area today. Although the kiddos were a little bummed about not getting to go to school (we missed all last week), they enjoyed a romp in the snow. I love this picture...notice the shades!!! It was beautiful weather to play in the quick-melting snow, all of which is non-existant now. Anyway, here is one other quick funny you'd probably like to read:

Claire enjoys watching American Idol with us. As Simon Cowell is making one of his normal rude comments, Claire made a comment of her own: "The man that is taking has a rectangle head". It was the most hilarious observation!

Trip to Kansas

We left Friday morning for Pilsen, to the concern of bad roads. But these babies were not going to let that stop us! We had fun seeing Gram and Poppy. The kiddos played, baked, visited Grandma Svitak, took a trip to Hutchinson to see Uncky and Staci and had a hot dog roast after riding Barney (the pony). In between there was a little pampering, like pedicures by Gram. Both kiddos got in the action, although Landon ended up more wet than pampered!

We had a good time in Hutchinson having lunch, visiting an old train engine, and seeing a movie at the Cosmosphere. Well, Landon didn't really enjoy that like I'd hoped, but he was in awe of the rockets and planes in the museum. On our last night, we enjoyed an evening ride with Barney and a campfire with hot dogs and marshmallows. Landon actually did not balk at riding Barney this trip, but as soon as the fire was started he was a "big helper" to Uncky. Even though it became chilly as the sun went down, nobody noticed due to the good fun.

We left for Wichita and some good times with Nana and Papa. And of course, cousin Lucy. These kiddos played their hearts out! They spent some down time watching cartoons, but also enjoyed being "vets" to the broken bears. We also got to see Ling and Hoopy's new house, and Geoff even used a few tools with Papa to help make it feel more like home. We also played the Wii, at least when the kids would let us! They are some gamers if I've ever seen any!

While at Wichita, we also visited Drew, Shonna, MacKenzie and Conner Jones. These are good friends we miss dearly, Claire especially. MacKenzie and her are "very best friends", and are both budding princesses. Landon enjoyed Conner's company, playing cars and trains. We did lunch together before going to their house to play, and so Geoff and I were able to catch up on "adult" conversation also.

Overall, it was a super time, one which will not soon be forgotten. And now on to the more mundane things in life, such as cooking supper and cleaning up the messes made while putting this blog together! I love it!

Have you been wondering about us?

I know that I am WAY behind on the blog. We've been busy...getting ready to travel to Kansas, hanging out with all the family, and then trying to get things back to normal in Bentonville. I promise that if my children give me a break today, I will blog all the fabulous things we did in the last week and a half. We would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who kept us entertained while we were in Kansas, because this was an especially fun trip. Yes, a long trip, but a fun trip! Here are a few giggles until my next chance...

Claire stated last night as she's getting ready to go to sleep..."Mom, why did Jesus have to hang on the cross?". Now, I've been staving off such questions with short, to-the-point answers, but last night, Claire was ready to chat about it. A lot. Now, what is the giggle in this situation you ask? The conversation turned from serious to: "Do you think I can change the color of my Barbie hair?".

Landon napped for three hours yesterday, which is a little unusual. So we had a few issues getting to sleep last night. He started in our bed, rolling around..."will you snip my nails?" ..."can I have more milk?"..."look at the race cars". I asked him he wanted to check on Claire, and afterwards he climbed into his own bed. Then..."I'm really pooped momma"..."will you sing Twinkle?"..."can't find blankey, BLANKEY!"..."I need daddy to lay here, you get him".