4 Fun at Chuck-E-Cheese's

It all began last summer after our first trip to Sam's Club in New Mexico. "HEY MOM, there's a Chuck-E-Cheese's here!" exclaimed Parker. "I wanna go!" I told Parker he could go for his birthday but he opted to have it at the house because he so badly wanted to have a pinata.

Since then it has been Parker's mission to convince Grant that he should have his birthday party there. Well, Grant resisted at first. He wanted to have it at McDonald's and then even Sonic. It took a 30 minute drive to the gym and Parker's carefully-crafted, well-laid-out persuasive argument to convince Grant that Chuck-E-Cheese was the only way to go. That was about a month ago. Yesterday, the day finally came!

We had a great time and the kids loved it! Grant yelled out "Hey, Chuck!" when he came around and gave him a high 5 & a hug! Happy 4th Birthday Grant! We love you!

Sweet ZZZs

Brad finished up his first furniture building project! We found this great website called knockoffwood.blogspot.com that made building this rather simple! Anna now has a new pink bed and just loves it! I'm not sure if I'm ready for her to give up the crib but she seems to be ready. She's making her inaugural run tonight so we'll see how it goes!!!

HammerTime (oh-o, oh-o-oh-o)

Last week Grant was hanging out in his occasional hiding spot - under his bed - with his legs straight and feet pressed up to the mattress. Parker, without knowing Grant was under there, pounced on his bed and jammed Grants legs into his chest.

Grant has a flair for the dramatic so it was hard to determine if his strict adherence to the leg drag or crawl was really indicative of an injury. I decided to take him to a chiropractor to make sure nothing was out of alignment.

After Grant talked his ear off about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, the chiropractor tested his reflexes by doing the tap below the knee. All checked out with the reflexes. Then the chiropractor checked for tightness and alignment. As it turns out, one leg was a bit shorter than the other and Grant was given an adjustment.

Later on, Brad asked him how his doctors visit went. Grant said, "Good." Brad asked, "What did the doctor do?" Grant replied, "He beat me with a hammer."

What's in Your Basket?

Parker came home yesterday with a homework assignment. The piece of paper had a big basket drawn on it and each student was asked to fill the basket with things that reminded them of spring. I was on the phone so I was somewhat distracted while he completed most of his work. Then I noticed a boxy stick figure with long hair and the label "Geesis" (aka Jesus). He wrote below, "I poot Geesis becaus he is the resin we selebrat Eester." He added a couple of other things too about easter eggs and such.

I immediately felt so nervous about him taking that to school. Would he get in trouble for bringing up religion? When he finished up his paper he was so proud and said, "I bet nobody else thought to put Jesus in their basket." Sadly enough, he might be right.

I sent him to school today with that paper feeling very proud of him. Here's hoping that we all keep Jesus in our basket this Easter and all year long.

Spring in Her Step!

Here is cute Anna in her new spring dress! Can you tell we have 8:30am church! Anna's eyes still look tired!

Thanks Aunt Sarah for making such a darling dress for her! If you haven't seen her handiwork - check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ruthieco

Now if we could just keep the snow away!

Raiding the Dirtpile

Anna hears the "swish, swish" on the kitchen floor.

She lifts her head high and sees the top of a broom stick.

Anna appears steadily engaged in the task of putting on her shoes.

I return to the closet to retrieve the dustpan.

Anna deftly strides over to the pile; pulls out whatever looks good.

Todays prize: One Abandoned Smartie

This mother of 3 just laughs and sweeps up the rest.

Those kind of skills should be rewarded.

It Wasn't Workin' Out

I am not used to the cold mornings of New Mexico. And they probably aren't THAT cold but I'm just not used to it. Therefore, we have started working out in the evenings with Brad after we put the kids down.

A couple of weeks ago, after our workout, we heard some rummaging going on upstairs. "What?" "I thought they would be asleep by now." I dash up the stairs and open the door to this:

I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. Were they actually reading all these books? Is it some sort of literary brick road that leads to the glorified red throne on the bed? Grant quickly jumps in his bed as though he's been asleep the entire time. "Where is Parker?" I ask Grant. "He's asleep" "How could he be asleep when his bed is COVERED in books and paraphanalia?" Grant fills me in, "He's in the crib." "He's in the CRIB? My 6 yr old is in the crib asleep?" Sure enough, he was:

We've had to revamp our evening routine a bit - and add to that a little threat to the kids.

Gotta get that workout in.