April Haircuts, Block Parties & Birthdays!

You know when you think your child finally understands something (like using scissors on hair) and then you wake up to this?

'Tis the Season to be..."

The days are flying by right now! I can't believe that Thomas will be 7 tomorrow! He is so excited that his birthday is here. It takes forever for it to come. It does not help that it is so close to Christmas and it takes SO LONG for Christmas to come. More on Thomas later. We have had a few other things going on...

We Are Just Getting Warmed Up!

I can't believe we are already to MAY! This month generally goes crazy fast as it is, I don't need any help. At work we were talking about May and someone mentioned we should just name it "Paper Plate Month" because it seems you have more concerts, activities and events during May than any other month. No one wants to do dishes. :-)

This week was no exception. On Tuesday we celebrated Taylor's birthday. We went to Red Robin for dinner and were able to get both Taylor and John's meal for free. Then John took Jonathan to his violin lesson and I took the other kids to Walmart to get some things for Taylor's upcoming birthday party. My neighbor sent me a text asking when we were going to be home. They had a gift for Taylor. I felt we should invite them over for cupcakes and ice cream. Taylor thought that was a great idea. So they came over at 8pm for cupcakes and ice cream. Their boys loved it, as did ours.

Attack of the Killer Zombies

Last week was an interesting week.  We had a challenge with Thomas a few days.  He has not been on his best behavior at school at times.  One day he came home and there was a note from his teacher.  Apparently Thomas was standing in line after recess and bit the boy in front of him.  No skin was broken, but obviously it was not something that should have been done.  I asked Thomas about it and he said, "I did not bite him mom, I just pretended to bite him."  When I asked why he said, "We were playing 'Attack of the Killer Zombies' and I was a zombie."  I asked him if the boy knew that you were playing the game and he said, "No, it was just me playing."  Thomas now knows that he cannot play a game without letting people know he is playing and that you cannot even pretending to bite someone at school.

Now to a more cute topic...I found some hair accessories @ Walmart this week on clearance.  Here is our adorable model.

Summer Fun!

So the past few weeks have been kind of chaotic around here.  At least in the mornings...  Jonathan & Taylor have been going to orchestra camp every morning.  However...they are in different groups so my day would go something like this:  Drop off Taylor, drive home, wait 15 minutes, pick up Taylor, drive home, wait 15 minutes, drop off Jonathan, drive home, wait 15 minutes, pick up Jonathan, drive home, eat lunch, take a nap.  The boys enjoyed every moment of orchestra camp though.  Today they had their concerts.  I am amazed at how much Taylor learned with the cello in three weeks!  Jonathan's skills have improved a lot over the past three weeks as well.  Both boys practiced everyday and worked hard.  For advanced orchestra, they had a "diploma" that the children could earn.  Only two in the class did this and Jonathan was one of them.  He was so nervous about it too.  He passed off the final things yesterday and he was really nervous he was not going to have it happen for him.  The boys had a great teacher that really inspired them.  They even made him cookies this week. (and cleaned up afterwards!)

Jonathan's Winter Orchestra Concert

Last night we were able to go see Jonathan's Orchestra concert.  You know you are in grade school when you can get through all 3 orchestras in about 30 minutes.  Most of that time is the teacher explaining things!

Here are some pictures from the night:

 Isn't this girl adorable!?

 She is reaching and grabbing everything now.

 Cuddled up in her blanket to keep her warm!

 Thomas kept asking when it was going to be over.

 Taylor saw some of his classmates there.  It was a really good turn out!

 Intermediate Orchestra 2011

 Taylor was ready to listen!

 John and I commented how Jonathan is looking so much more mature lately. 

 Jonathan & Taylor wanted to take pictures of their sister.

 Thomas got a hold of the camera this morning and took these of Rebecca (Actually there are about 30 of her, but I put just two.)

Thomas thought it was so funny that Rebecca was reaching up and was trying to pull herself up.  I had to tell him it was NOT funny.

 Self Portrait Picture.
(You never know what pictures will be downloaded...)

Thomas has a birthday coming up.  We asked what he wanted to eat for his birthday week.  He said, "Pizza...the real kind that comes in a BOX!"  Apparently he has expressed multiple times his dislike of homemade pizza which is what we have been doing the past couple of months.  (Sprout's has a great frozen pizza dough and I just make individual pizzas for everyone.)