I know karates

I have been seriously slacking in my blog duties and am only now posting about Alex's birthday, which was on the 5th. It is hard to believe that Alex is already 6! He is a great kid and Shane and I are so blessed to be his parents. He is kind and thoughtful and loves to help out around the house. He is a wonderful big brother to Ava and is always looking out for her. Alex loves those As-seen-on-tv products and is always telling me that we "need" them ("Mommy look," he points to the tv, "we need that!"). Alex is also quite persistent and succeeded this year in wearing me down to consent to a birthday party (he only had been talking about one for 6 months).

We had the party at a karate place and invited friends from school and Alex's primary class. The kids had a blast as the instructor had them running around playing games and teaching them some karate moves. Alex even got to cut his cake with a sword. It was a fun day and a great birthday for our little guy! Happy Birthday, Alex!

Egg Hunt

Easter is right around the corner so I thought it would be fun to take Alex and Ava down to Fair Oaks Farm for an Easter egg hunt. I think every other parent in Indiana had the same idea because the place was crowded but the kids had a great time. Ava's egg hunt lasted 10 seconds, literally. Alex's was about 20 seconds. However, there was other stuff to do and we even got to see a baby calf being born.

"You mean the egg hunt is over already?"

Waiting for the hunt to begin...

Going for a ride on the train.

Driving a tractor.

R.I.P. Chia-Pet

Well, we gave it our best shot but we knew this day was coming. The chia-pet is no more. After 3 failed attempts, I chucked the thing into the trash. It is currently in the garbage bin at the end of our driveway waiting for tomorrow's garbage pickup. We followed the directions and at first, little sprouts began to appear as it did the other 2 times we tried. Afterward, though, it just stopped growing. How disappointing! However, this has not dampened Alex's enthusiasm for As-Seen-on-TV products. : )

Museum outing

In continuation of our spring break activities, I took the kids to the Curious Kids Museum which is about an hour away in Michigan. Again, my friend Amy and her 3 boys came with us. What fun! The museum isn't very big but there's so much to do that we pretty much spent the whole day there. It's a hands-on place, which is perfect for kids and they all got to play around with all the stuff they had there.

My little geisha, Ava.

Alex in a hut in the "rainforest".

Reporting the news...

In the bubble chamber.

One of their favorite rooms-the apple orchard.

Ava, Luke, Ian, Alex, and Mason-what a fun day at the museum!

Let's Jump!

This week is spring break and since Alex has a week off of school, I planned a few fun outings for the kids. Today we went to the Jump Zone which as you can guess is a place filled with enormous inflatables where children can jump to their hearts content. I invited my friend, Amy and her 3 boys to come along and for about 2 hours, those kids jumped and jumped and jumped. Honestly, if there weren't a whole bunch of other parents around, I would have been jumping, too. It just looks like a lot of fun!

Alex and Ava having fun jumping around.

Alex and his friend, Ian.

Taking a lunch break, then it's back to jumping!

Lost Tooth

Well, today Alex lost his very first tooth. Hooray! It had been wobbly for about a month and we kept wiggling and waiting for it to fall out and today it did. It actually fell out at school, during gym (it was the first thing Alex told me when he got off the bus this afternoon) and he got a certificate and a little tooth-shaped container to put it in. Naturally, Alex is very excited and he put his tooth under his pillow tonight and is waiting for the tooth fairy to come.

This isn't the greatest picture but Alex was getting a little tired standing there with his mouth open while I tried to take his picture. Anyway, it was the bottom tooth and you probably cannot see the space too well as the big tooth has already been growing in.

Chia, Take 3

They say the third time's the charm, right? Let's hope so. After 2 failed attempts, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this time something will grow. However, I'm beginning to think that it's not us but the seeds. I mean all we really had to do was water it everyday and Alex was very diligent at that. Well, we shall see...