Play World

We had our fair share of Play World today...it's not a place I typically choose to take the kids there but we had 2...Yes 2...parties at Play World today. Here is Ella with boys from school.

Ella and Matthew

Ella and Grant...Happy B-day Grant!

Here are the kids having fun on a ride

Treats for Parent Teacher conferences

We had fun the other night making these yummy Oreo treats for the teachers.

Oh My Ella

Ella...Ella....Ella

This girl just doesn't stop with the body art. We had just finished bath and I was cleaning up the bathroom when Ella came out of her room with more then her pajamas on :)

This is how I found Ella the other night...it took hours to get her to sleep but this book did her in!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Work has been crazy...Joey has been sick...and life took over so thus my blogging has been neglected. I wanted to be sure to share this one since we spent so much time and had so much fun preparing for the arrival of the Leprechaun. Thanks to the magazine Family Fun, it helped spark some ideas. While I was making dinner I brought out the outdoor paint from Aunt Dana and took advantage of the nice weather and had the kids paint the patio to welcome the Leprechaun. We had dinner on the patio and talked about our days. Next came the cookies...since our cookies for Santa didn't turn out I was determined that our cookies for the Leprechaun were going to turn out and they did :) Then we took a box and decorated it as a trap. Although we didn't catch the Leprechaun he did manage to leave the kids some awesome St. Patrick Days gifts!

Maybe we will catch the Leprechaun next year!

love: dawn, mike, joey and ella

We Love Spring Weather !

This weekend was so beautiful out and we took advantage of every moment. We spent Friday night out playing at Conner's house and much of Saturday playing outside with them too! The dogs finally got their long awaited walks...we dusted off the bikes... and played at the park.

Mom, No Referee, Mom, No Referee, Mom, No Referee.....

On Sunday the kids saw the side that mothers often try to hide...the overwhelmed and frustrated mom. They had spent Saturday and Sunday arguing, fighting and disagreeing about almost anything. I broke, raising my voice I told them to sit down facing each other. I made them sit and stare at one another. After about 8 minutes I sat down with them, made them continue to look at each other here are some of my topics I talked to them about:

"Ella, that is the only brother you are going to have"

"Joey, that is the only sister you are going to have"

"You should play like Jake and Clare, they play so nice together"

"I love being good friends with my sisters, you guys should be best friends"

"Joey, tell Ella one thing you love about her" Joey responds by saying "I love that Ella shares candy with me"

"Ella, tell Joey one thing you love about him" Ella responds by saying "I love when Joey plays with me"

We continued this for about 5 minutes. Hugs and kisses and we were all better. Then later that day they were so lovely together and I was sure to capture each moment with a photo.

So Cute..Big brother helps to wash his sisters hair.

Aunt Dorie's Chics

The Chics

Here are the chics from the farm Aunt Dorie works at. We are so proud of the effort she has put into raising the chics...we can't wait to see them in a few weeks. Here is Andrew, Timmy and Maya getting to play with them.

Ella- our make-up artist

Ella

Our make-up artist

This morning when I was putting Joey's video together I looked to see what Ella was doing and well...not to any surprise, Ella was playing in her make-up. Her theory on make-up application is the more the better and of course the more pink the better!

Enjoy what is our daily entertainment...now we are off to the store...I am sure we will get some laughs :)

Joey's basketball practice/game #2

Joey's 2nd Basketball Practice/Game

The full court press in on

As always we were entertained watching the kids learn the rules of basketball. Joey and Tyler make great teammates! Joey may be short, but he makes up for that with his fast full court press action. Pay attention to Joey (in one of the yellow jersey's)

He loves to guard people, run hard up and down the court. Enjoy seeing him make a basket in the game!

Joey's School Music Concert

Last night we enjoyed Joey's school concert. I am not sure why I didn't think to arrive early so we could get really good seats...I'll have to remember for the future ones. The kindergarten class didn't end up performing until the end...half way through I said to Mike, "I should of had Joey go to the bathroom before I sat him with his class". When it was time for the his class to perform, I casually walked my way to the front and knelt down to get a good location to video. It wasn't more than 2 minutes into lining up on stage (in the very front) I said "Oh, $@#! Joey needs to go to the bathroom." I thought maybe he could make it through the songs, but finally I notice my little boy doing the crazy potty dance and his little face was so red from holding it in. I got his attention and called him down...we ran to the bathroom and made it back in time for Joey to sneak back up to his spot. Now, I did think for a moment, if I leave him up there and get a good video shot I could have sent it into America's Funniest Home Videos, but the love for my son overcame my love for money :)

As you can see from the video, Ella really got into the music as well.

Dorie makes the paper

My Sister Dorie...The Farmer!

My sister Dorie has found the perfect job for herself. She works and volunteers at Prairie Crossing Learning Farm which is a critically-acclaimed conservation community that was designed to combine responsible development, the preservation of open land and easy commuting by rail. The link below descbribes some of the great work she is doing around "free-range chickens."

We are so lucky because each time we visit family in Chicago we make sure to stop in at the farm. All the kids love to feed the hens and collect eggs.

See the quote from Dorie Roth. Way to go Dorie!

To read the full story, click here:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1466909,5_1_WA09_CHICK_S1.article

Looking forward to seeing the chix next month when we visit!

love: dawn, mike, joey and ella