Our swampy pool

We thought we would get a jump on pool season this year and open it early. We were hoping it hadn't turned green yet - not so. It was stinky, just like a swamp again. Luckily it turned blue within a few hours of dumping a bunch of shock in it.


Zack sustained an injury and wanted a bandaid. So he ran in the house and put it on all by himself. This is what it looked like... Note that the actual injury is on top of the toe, not on the bottom where the pad is. :)

A morning at Sidecut Park

Now that the weather is nice again, it's time for Daddy to start running at the park again. That's great for the whole family because we get to go play at the playground while Daddy's working out!
Of course it's the perfect opportunity for me to take some photos of the kids playing. I'm starting to think my kids think my face IS a camera lens at times.






This year Sydney has a new talent - the monkey bars!! She does a great job of swinging through the bars and making it all the way across - a feat that was pretty darn hard when I tried it!

Zack is learning to conquer the fireman pole!

Toledo Train Day

Toledo sponsered a Train Day event down at the Martin Luther King train station downtown. It was a great opportunity for the kids to see where the trains (Amtrak) came into our town. We had never been down there, so it was enlightening for us to see too. There was a a lot of model trains - but the best part for Alan & I was riding on a Segway! I didn't get a picture of that (darn!), but it was really cool.



Here is one of our double decker Amtrak train.

We're all ready to go on a trip!!

There is a cool building downtown that I might have to take the kids back to for a full-blown photo session. Here is my test shot...

Queen Pico!

Pico is Queen of all that she sees!

A school playdate

Sydney was so excited to show everyone her new kitten. We invited over Miranda, a friend from kindergarten, over our house after school. They had a lot of fun, and Pico seemed to recover pretty quick from all of their "loving". :) Pico really is a good kitten with the kids - she enjoys playing with them and doesn't run and hide.

Glass City Marathon

Today was the Glass City Marathon. Alan has never run in this race before, and he decided to run the 1/2 marathon. The half marathon started in downtown Perrysburg, at Perry's Landing so it was close to home. The day was really nice, but again way too warm. In the past this race has had terrible weather, rain or even snow! But of course Alan gets one of those oddball 80 degree days.



The starting line... Alan's out there, somewhere!!



We got to enjoy the park for a little bit before we went to the next stop to cheer on Daddy.




Aww, aren't they sweet when they're not fighting!?!



Almost half way through his run Daddy is still going strong!



And he finished (very sweaty and tired from the heat) in 1 hour 47 minutes. Hooray!!

My flower bouquet was a little wilty by the end of the race too :)

Sweet dreams Pico!

At bedtime last night, Pico was resting peacefully on the end of Sydney's bed. I was surprised again that after the lights went out, Pico remained in Sydney's room. I figured that must be the best thing ever to happen to Sydney - having her little kitten sleep on her bed with her. awwww. About 20 minutes later a very frustrated and unhappy Sydney comes walking downstairs, half in tears, saying that she can't sleep! Oh no, what's wrong?? Mind you, this is the child who falls asleep 3 minutes after we kiss her goodnight... "The kitten keeps jumping on my face!!!" I guess you should watch what you wish for!

It's Pico!

After many long days of waiting, and many many name suggestions, we finally have our new kitten. Pico is the name, and she is just a tiny little thing. We got her from the Paws and Whiskers shelter. There were 3 kittens to pick from, 2 of which were females. Zack wanted the one with the blue collar, so he was bummed that he didn't get his pick. Potential names were Claire, Neku, Kara... but finally we all agreed on Pico.

When we brought her home she had a busy night of investigating every room in the house. Nose to the ground, she ran in and out of each one sniffing everything. During story time she decided to crawl under Zack's race car bed. I figured she would come out after lights out. Nope. An hour later she was still hiding under there. So Alan and I took a flashlight and a couple of cat toys and tried to coax her out. That didn't work, so then Alan just grabbed and pulled her out. Good thing Zack didn't wake up - he might have thought there were monsters under his bed!

She was good while we slept, except for the occasional stroll across our foreheads and all over our bodies. At one point she even walked on top of our alarm clock and turned on the music! All in all it was a good first night for her. I hope her day all alone in the house (except for her new friend Hootie) will go just as well!

Happy b-day to me!!

The baker's helpers clean up the cake making equipment. Yum!!



Well here is my big 41st b-day. I know this because Zack tells me almost everyday that I'm 41. he likes those numbers apparently. Thanks for the delicious cake guys!! (and the great gifts too!)

b-day party at the YMCA

Today we went to a birthday party for Sydney's friend Andrea. Andrea is also in kindergaren with Sydney, and lives right down the road. Both kids went to the party and the first half of the party was swimming in the pool at the YMCA. They had a blast! I even got to go swimming with them, since Zack needed supervision. Thank god the water was nice and warm!



Here is the birthday girl!

Kitty!!

We're getting a new kitten soon... hopefully we can pick her up on Thursday. We are getting her from a shelter and she is on some medication right now. To be named soon!!

The power of a sticker!

We have been battling with Zack for what seems to have been months now about him going to the bathroom - I mean, he does it, but only on his own terms. He waits until the last second. He'll do the potty dance, the pants grab, the uncomfortable stand, and even the "I can't walk right now" move, but if you tell him to go, he refuses. It's a power struggle that gets ugly. After many stories on how it's not good for him, and he'll have to go see the doctor, or even worse, have surgery and stay in the hospital (!) I finally remembered something that worked well with Sydney... the sticker chart!! Sydney was the queen of the sticker charts, and I can't remember a time when they didn't have great results. I guess I keep forgetting the difference in the kid's ages since Sydney is in Kindergarten and Zack tries to do a lot of things that his big sister does. Well, I made a chart with 12 spots on it, and told him he'll get a sticker everytime he goes to the bathroom without asking, or even if we ask and he doesn't refuse. Boy, that worked like a charm. First thing he does is hops out of bed and gots to the bathroom in the morning. Then he goes again after breakfast! He is really proud of his accomplishment, and the best thing is that he gets that sticker that brings him one step closer to the prize - going to Walmart and picking out a Matchbox car (we were there last weekend and they had a big display of them, for only 97 cents!!). What a deal. After that chart, another one will go up with the "grand prize" of a day with Mommy which involves a trip to the "train" library. I hope this reinforcement has a lasting effect :)

Easter

Happy Easter!! The kids woke up and went on a Easter Egg hunt. Sydney was out of bed at exactly 7am, because I told her not to get up until 7am, and she thought the Easter bunny might still be delivering treats and she didn't want to make him go away!

Eggs were cleverly hidden all over the house. A GeoTrax train even was delivering one!


Sydney found her basket right away, but for Zack's we practically had to go over and show it to him. I guess his was hidden a little too well...

We all loved the Madagascar animals the kids got in their baskets.

This was the funniest part of all - the kids helped me make a pineapple upsidedown cake, which used a bundt pan. I was pretty psyched about using the pan since I think I've only used it once in my 10 years of owning it! I was sure bummed to find out that I hadn't greased the pan good enough and it wouldn't come out when I flipped it over. waaaa We did get a pretty good laugh out of it for sure! Heck, it still tasted yummy, I didn't care :)

pre-Easter Events

We participated in a few Easter events this year. We went to a couple Easter egg hunts, one at the neighborhood playgroup, and one at the Andersons. The Andersons had cookie decorating, face painting, and an egg hunt in the produce section!






We also colored a dozen eggs. The kids picked out the "Tie Die" kit this year. I'm guessing no matter what the kit, they probably would have ended up looking Tie Die anyways! Zack did very good on his first egg, then he just wanted "all" of the colors together. The boy loves the color black...

April!

It's Mommy bragging time... this morning Zack told me that it's now April. Then he said, I know how to spell April "A P R I L". I just don't remember Sydney being able to spell that many words at 3 1/2. Wow, what a smartie! And I think that also means a "kudos" to his teachers in preschool for doing such a good job with the kids too.

Can't it wait?

Sydney was telling me about her day today and she mentioned that one of the girls in school was being mean to Sydney and her friend. She said that this girl told Sydney that she couldn't come to her next birthday party (although Sydney *did* go to her birthday party back in September) and if Sydney gave her a invitation to Sydney's party, the girl would rip it up. That made Sydney sad and cry when she told me the story. Geez, I didn't realize the meanness would start already.

Go Daddy, Go!

Daddy ran his first half marathon today. We made some great signs and waited patiently for him to pass. Can you read Zack's sign? I wrote "Go Daddy Go!" on it, and he colored it in and added some "embellishments". Oh, and he drew on the back of the sign too. He was quite thorough :)



Daddy finished the run in 1 hour, 42 minutes. Great job!!!

Just like Mom!

It's true, I've been pretty consumed with my new digital scrapbooking hobby. I'll admit it :) Today I needed to make an "old school" paper scrapbook page. So I dragged out my bag of papers and scissors. That caught the interest of the kids. I invited them to make scrapbook pages with me, and both kids whole heartedly grabbed some special edged scissors and started chopping up everything I'd let them get their hands on! Zack really loved to use the paper trimmer to "crop" paper. Sydney even made a page for me...

Chuck E Cheese!

We took a trip to Chuck E Cheese for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I don't think a day has not gone by where the kids have not made reference to that place. They have Chuck E Cheese on the brain 24 x 7 I think! As luck would have it, I got a call from some playgroup friends asking if we'd like to join them at Chuck E Cheese for the morning. What a great way to spend a rainy morning in March!

An early spring day!

When the cold weather breaks, it's great to finally get outside! It was an exceptionally nice day (I think it was 60 degrees!) so we busted out the bikes, went for a ride, drew all over the sidewalk and grilled some dogs! Sooo nice for a change.

Zack has this "new" smile - well it's not really new, but it is his "signature" pose. Kinda like our own little Zoolander! Maybe not Blue Steel, but perhaps it's Squinty Sly. :)

Watch out!

Zack comes home from preschool with a bump on his head last night. It was under his hair, but it felt pretty big. He explains that he got it when playing on the bikes, and a girl named Laney was riding too fast and he fell on the sidewalk. Then I start to question - "doesn't your school have helmets to wear when you ride bikes??" My stomach started to churn just thinking about it. Immediately I start to imagine some terrible situation with Zack smashing his head on the ground, unprotected noggin in some serious trouble! And I wonder, where are the teachers at - why don't they catch kids riding around too fast, crashing into each other, with no helmets on?! Granted we are not a super safety zone at our house, but we're trying to get in the habit of having him wear a helmet on his bike. At least most times :)

So this morning I asked Zack again about the incident, and the story starts to change a little. Zack wasn't really on a bike, but that's all he can remember. He's looking a little nervous at this point. I ask his teacher about the incident and she tells me "oh yeah, Zack was running behind Laney who was riding a bike and he ran into her bike and fell on the ground".

Well, I guess you can't put a helmet on every kid running around being a kid! I gave him some motherly advice and told him not to chase the girls - that's nothing but trouble.

Barbie pumps a lot of iron

This morning Sydney showed me a naked Barbie doll and asked "Mommy, do you look like this??" I answered "no, not really". Then Sydney looked at Barbie's chest and said "Barbie's got big muscles!!"