The Morton Arboretum

We love the Children's Garden at the Morton Arboretum! At this visit, we were able to see all of the tadpoles swimming around. There were thousands of them and the boys loved trying to catch them. Owen did better than Rion, but he was a great big brother and shared. After seeing all of the kids play with them, I'm amazed that any survive. When we got home, the boys decided to draw pictures about their day. Truthfully, this isn't the first set of pictures they have made for their blog. It's just the first set I've managed to post. Sorry!

Memorial Day Weekend

We have absolutely nothing planned for the 3-day weekend, and it feels wonderful! Hopefully, you have a weekend as relaxing as ours.

My Favorite Dessert

To entertain the kids in the car, we’ll play a game where everyone has to name their favorite things. I thought it would be interesting to document some of their favorites along the way.

What is your favorite dessert? (Because we just made a strawberry cake)

Owen: Popcorn

Rion: Popcorn

Mommy: Cheesecake

Daddy: (Busy mowing - Maybe he’ll fill this in later.)

This proved too hard for the kids. Also, to them desserts means sugar, as you’ll see from their lists below. What are your top 5 favorite desserts?

Owen: Skittles, cake, kiddie cocktail, cherry juice, and lemonade

Rion: Popcorn, Pixie stick, M&Ms, juice, and ice cream

Mommy: Cheesecake, black forest cake, strawberry rhubarb pie, lemon pie filling, fruit sorbet

Daddy:

No Fear

Rion's practicing for his trip to Mars. Whenever we talk about vacation he asks to go to Mars, or South Africa. Most four year olds would be excited about going to Disney World. Rion's just killing time until he can take the trips he really wants to go on.

Conquering a Fear

There is a pizza party to honor the soccer teams at the end of each session. In the fall, Owen was so traumatized by being on stage, that when his coach asked him his last name, he said, "I don't know." He then told us that he was never playing soccer again. We convinced him to play and promised he didn't have to go up on stage. Well this year, he went on stage and screamed his name. Owen - We are very proud of you!

Rion's Secret Identity

My name is Bruce Wayne. And my real name is Batman. And, I have a hidden elevator where it takes me to the bat cave where I hide my bat suit. And, Robin helps me. Then, superman helps me too and Green Lantern and Flash and Aquaman. We fight Joker! And, we fight the Penguin. That’s it. I’m done! – Rion

Rion has been playing Batman lately. Out of no where he’ll appear in his costume (which was too little at Halloween and is really little now), then, you will see him back in his clothes. Tonight he had his Batman tool kit, containing a real dr. stethoscope, and a glove to keep his hand clean. He is imaginative! - N

Sunday in the Park

We spent Sunday in East Peoria. Since it was supposed to be such a beautiful day, we decided to picnic in the park (we miss Avanti’s gondolas) and let the kids play outside. My grandpa and Mike’s mom joined us. It was a fun, but very hot, afternoon. To cool off, we went to the library to see Nick, where the boys got to play a new Wii game – Sports Resort, or something. Rion loved the skydiving! - Natalie

Me and Grandma were, Grandma was trying to get me. Grandma Michael was, we were playing tick tack toe. Then I was X the first time, then I was O the second time. I win both of the games. I was eating a granola bar, chocolate, with Grandpa Florida. And I was playing baseball. Nothing else. – Rion

Me and Daddy were playing soccer outside. And when I was done playing soccer, me, Grandma, Daddy, and these other boys played baseball with me. One of them was Payton and I don’t know who the other boy was. Then it was time to leave. Then Rion got in trouble. Then we went to the library to say hi to Uncle Nick and play Wii. Then we drove to Uncle Bob’s. And then Rion was sleeping. Then we went to have dinner at Ming’s. Then we went home and went to bed. That’s the whole story. – Owen  

Playroom isn't just for playing

This isn't all bad

Well, I have to admit the minivan isn't all bad. We were able to sit in the back and watch Owen's rainy t-ball game. There are definitely some benefits. I still don't want to drive it on a daily basis, but I like it as Mike's car. : )

My Little Gardener

He Did It!

Owen finally went down the waterslide at swim lessons!

Brookfield Zoo

One of our many trips to Brookfield Zoo and our first visit to the new Great Bear Wilderness.

At Four?

Rion had a first today! He was kicked out of t-ball for not listening. Part of me thinks, “Kicked out at four?”. The other part of me thinks, “I’m surprised it took this long!”. We made the mistake of signing him up for a 2pm class. Today was especially bad because he fought his nap and had just fallen asleep when I had to wake him to leave. I see some kids, who are so cute when they are tired. They cuddle with mom or dad and won’t participate. Not Rion! He is hyperactive and will not listen to a word. It’s as if all of his effort goes into staying awake so he can’t use any for listening or behaving. This was the last class, so hopefully he’ll have better luck in his next activity. We’re thinking soccer would be better. There’s much less downtime for him to get in trouble.

My soccer game

Today was my socer game and I scored 2 goles! And it bounsed off anuther players shin gard and it wint  in the uther teams gole and one persin on my team named Jacob scored 2 goles also! – Owen

Owen finally asked about the red squiggly lines under his words. I had to tell him the words were misspelled and then we talked about the correct spellings for the ones he missed. My guess is that he’ll work and work on his next one until there are no red lines. We’ll see! - N

My Silly Goose

Kacie graduated from ISU on Friday! (Kacie - If you read this, congrats! We are SO proud of you.) It's so crazy to think that my Silly Goose is grown-up. Then today I attended a meeting for Kindergarten parents - an intro to 1st grade. As I sat and listened to her talk about homework, lunch time, science experiments, social studies, etc., I wondered where all the time had gone since Owen's birth, and how as a parent of a school age child I'm really an adult now (but that's a whole different topic). Before we know it, OO will be graduating from college. Time just flies by!

Owen's Artwork

Owen loves to draw. Every day he comes home with a book he's made or pictures he's colored. The topics are typically fighting/battles, cartoon characters, or sports.

The March of Dimes

Ms. Dayna’s baby is at the hospital. And, I am raising money for the babies who are sick. Can you please give me some money and dollars and pennies so I can raise money for the babies? I’m done. – Rion

Each year our daycare raises money for the March of Dimes. This year it’s even more personal because Rion’s teacher had a baby 11 weeks early. He’s very excited to raise money and has even raided his own piggy bank (and Owen’s). He also made a sign for us to take to work to collect even more. If you would like to contribute, feel free to send him money! Funny story - last year he asked our family for donations by saying, “Can we have money to raise our new babies?” Everyone looked at us thinking it was a big announcement. Thankfully, he has the words in the right order this year. - Natalie
Here's the Thank You that Rion wrote for everyone. He raised $260.

Too Tired to Fight

Rion ended up in time-out for misbehaving at nap time, and fell asleep in the chair. Someday he'll learn that he really does need sleep.

Sunny weather for Mother's Day

After so many cold and rainy days, the sun finally came out for Mother's day. We played outside while Mike installed a new outdoor light. Rion was very excited to catch a dead bug. He knew it was dead and didn't really care. Then, he enlisted Owen to help him catch something bigger. They caught an ant, but one scream was all we needed to know that it had crawled out the holes in the top of the container. They tried and tried to get a spider, but refused to touch it. Better luck next time!

Happy Mother's Day!

Elmo's Green Thumb

Rion: Elmo growed a sunflower. They were singing songs. Oscar and his mom was there, but that was it. Finished.
Mommy: What are you talking about?
Rion: Elmo's Green Thumb
Mommy: What is Elmo's Green Thumb?
Rion: A show. That's it.
Mommy: Did you go see it?
Rion: Yes.
Mommy: With who?
Rion: With Nate and Carissa.
Mommy: Where did you eat dinner?
Rion: At a restaurant. At McDonald's. The one where there is a store and I got a happy meal. It's on top of the cars. That's it.
Owen: You didn't tell them the sunflower's name.
Rion: Sunny, the sunflower's name is.

We went to see Elmo Live - Elmo's Green Thumb and then had McDonald's at an oasis. It was a fun night out for the 3 and 4 year olds.

Rion Participating at T-Ball

Owen's First T-Ball Game

T-Ball

Tueday was Baseball and I Hit way in the Out feald and I Ran  to ferst base when the next kid hit I Ran to 2nd base.

Rion's T-Ball

Grandpa Florida is Home

Grandpa Florida is back home in Illinois. We are all very excited that he hasn't sold his house yet. The boys couldn't wait to throw rocks and I'm happy to have one more summer on the river. He wasn't happy when he realized that he had broken water pipes, but all is good now.

Why Ask Why?

A picture of Rion at Owen's soccer game. He had the goggles on so tight that he couldn't even open one of his eyes.