Early Mother’s Day

I have had an extremely good Mother’s Day and the day  itself has not even arrived. Andy got me a new video recorder that I had wanted. He gave it to me early so I could record Jack’s Cub Scout Firebowl. It replaces one my friend Josie gave to me when she got a new one which uses the little tapes. I still need to figure out how to get all the videos off of those tapes and stored on my external hard drive so I don’t lose them.

I love, love love my present. The only thing it makes difficult is that even though it does take pictures when you are recording the picture quality isn’t that good so sometimes if I am recording I miss out on prime opportunities for picture taking. Oh well, I guess I can be okay with that since it a thousand times better than my old recorder.

I normally don’t get into the Groupon or LivingSocial deals that are always emailed to me, but with Mother’s Day coming up I thought I might treat myself and my wonderful MIL to some R&R. I took advantage of one of the deals at a local Spa and went ahead and booked us an appointment about 3 weeks in advance. We were lucky to be able to get scheduled at the same time. We got a 30 minute foot soak, one hour massage and a one hour facial that was simply amazing.

This is not something I will generally splurge on as I like to use my money to buy things that last, but it was a very nice relaxing gift for both myself and my MIL and the Groupon discount made it incredibly worthwhile.

Cub Scout Fire Bowl

Recently Jack’s Cub Scout den had their final meeting for the year and Jack earned his way into the next rank which is Wolf. They had what they called a Firebowl and had the local Boy Scouts on hand to help with three different activities which included fire building, erecting a tent, and a team race. Everything was held at the local park which is definitely a lot bigger than I realized.

After all the activities, everyone met in a little outdoor auditorium area where the actual bonfire was held and all the boys got their final badges, belt loops, and beads as well as the exchange of their old neckerchief to the new one.

I am so proud of Jack for accomplishing this first level. I know he has a hard time paying attention when they aren’t able to do the fun things, but he is sticking it out and hopefully will be even better next year.

Fire building.

Racing.

Alex getting upset because he couldn’t climb a tree.

Alex taking a picture of me trying to record the ceremony.

Andy changing the orange Tiger neckerchief to the yellow Wolf neckerchief. ( I do like the word neckerchief.)

Easter 2012

Because jack is better at telling time on a face clock and not a digital clock the Easter bunny got him a watch just like daddy’s so he could learn. Of course what jack gets Alex gets too.

Halo has become the new favorite toy.

All the eggs and candy were dropped of at Grandma’s house. Ale loves any reason to dress up and wear his fancy clothes. Jack, not so much.

This is the second year the kids received kites from the Easter bunny and the second year one has gotten stuck in a tree. Last year we were able to get it down. This year the kite will remain in the tree.

The cousins visit for the first time

We finally managed to get a couple of the boys cousins to come and visit at the cost of losing their Aunt and one cousin from the trip. We had a nice visit nonetheless and the kids had so much fun with their cousins they did not want them to go home.

Kate got along with the kids the most and I think that Jon may have just put up with them, but it did seem like he enjoyed himself.

The highlight of the trip had to be the indoor waterpark. The kids could not get enough of all the rides even though there were a total of no more than five.

Jack’s favorite is the hot tub that goes outside into the cold air.

Alex loved the body slide.

Jack and Kate were thick as thieves running around together.

We even got around to dying Easter eggs even though they weren’t here to find them.

We couldn’t let them leave without a little something from Wisconsin to remember their trip.

Maybe next time we could get the entire family to visit… hint, hint.

Fine Arts Night at Elmwood

Fine Arts night is the night that Elmwood Elementary shows off their art work as well as the program they have been working on. ‘Arf’ was the name of the presentation and it was all about dogs. Very cute. Jack dressed up (with much begging and pleading and promises made) and he looked so cute even if he’s not especially happy about it.

He was in the front row, most likely because he is so short, and I had a great view of him throughout the whole program. He is even standing next to his little girlfriend that he likes.

Baseball practice

Jack is getting pretty good at hitting the ball and likes to practice with his Daddy.

He even got a t-ball stand that shoots the ball out as you get older and is really good at hitting the ball when it shoots out.

He’s a lefty so it is funny to watch but he is getting quite good.

Of course, in the end we are signing him up for soccer because he didn’t want to play baseball.

Fish

Both Jack and Alex were signed up for swimming classes again this year and even though neither of them passed their class they did learn a lot and have become less and less afraid of getting into the water or going under it. Jack even earned himself the nickname of Fish from both his teacher and his fellow students because he is constantly under the water.

I wasn’t able to get any pictures of Alex because they don’t allow parents to be in the class until the very last day and I had to work. They will be signed up again during the summer to repeat the classes until they pass to the next level. At least the pool the swim at is only just across the street at the high school so it makes it incredibly easy to take them.

I have never seen a fish jump off a diving board.