COSI

Over Labor Day weekend our friends from Michigan were here and we were looking for something to do inside since it was cold and supposed to rain. We settled on a trip to COSI since none of us have been to the new one. When I say new, it's been there at least ten years, but most people my age grew up with the original COSI. The kids have been wanting to go for awhile so they were pretty excited. It was the last Monday they were open for the season, and the final day before they closed for their annual two-week cleaning, so we were in luck.

The ball tossing maching in the courtyard was a big hit. You hold these balls up to the machine and they get sucked up inside and then spit out into the air. Then they rain down onto whoever is standing there. I was really proud of the kids because they collected balls and gave them to our friends' little guy, Baby Joe.

Of course you can't go wrong with shootable water.

And submarines are cool

(to some people....if you like feeling claustrophobic, which I do not)

Dr. Jordis loved the little-kid area...

...and the soda shop in the Progress exhibit.

Xander was fascinated with this rotary phone. It was really weird to have to show him how to use it.

Giant Lite Brite!

For dinner we went across the street to have dinner at The Spaghetti Warehouse.
Three active kids made for a wild and crazy dinner hour.

And the food was good, too!

Easter preparations

Last year we were in Tennessee for Easter, so this year we were able to fit in a few more activities since we were home. Jordis went to a fun event at church where they had live animals, stories, crafts and an egg hunt.

Unfortunately it was raining so the egg hunt had to be inside. I've never seen so many eggs in one place.

On Good Friday Jason's sister came over and we had an egg-coloring extravaganza. We got fancy and made some tie-dyed ones and used stickers to spell things.



The Easter bunny even did some preparations of his own.

Five

*Sigh*

My baby is five. I remember being sad when she was one and Xander was three. I thought their clothes were getting SO big.

*Another sigh*

She is now the oldest child in our weekly group of kids that visits the nursing home.

She's going to kindergarten this fall and can't wait.

She talks ALL DAY LONG. Seriously. It's no wonder she doesn't have any trouble going to sleep at night, she's got to be tired from all the talking. And if there's not any humans to talk to she'll talk to her babies and her stuffed animals. I've been told she gets it from her mother, but I wouldn't know anything about that.

She's such a sweet little girl and has friends everywhere she goes. I can't even imagine life without her.

We had quite the busy birthday week for Jordis. Her birthday was on Wednesday, but we have bible study on Tuesday mornings so I let her take birthday treats to share with her friends. She helped me make marshmallow pops and they were so cute and yummy.

For the next morning we took little cookies to share at the nursing home.

Jordis was so polite and passed them out to the residents.

Miss Kelly, the activities director, was so nice and had planned a party for her birthday. The residents made the cupcakes and there were party games to play. It was such an incredibly nice gesture and Jordis loved it (after she got over people giving her all the attention).

When Xander got home from school she got to open her presents.

I love that she gets excited about cute clothes.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

March?!

Wow, February sure went by quickly. We've been so busy the past week or so. Xander spent more time out of school due to weather, I think one whole day and maybe two 2-hour delays. My bible study has also been cancelled the past two weeks ~ last week for snow and then this week because the power went out during a thunderstorm and the sump pump broke, so the restrooms were out of order.

Jason's parents came to visit on Sunday afternoon and the kids were able to con them out of some money. They were both pretty excited to get a five dollar bill, they're used to only having singles. That money, on top of allowance and three visits from the tooth fairy made Xander a very rich little boy. Yes, I said THREE visits from the tooth fairy. He's had this one tooth on the top that has been loose for almost six months now, and he wouldn't let anyone pull it. It's made for some serious battles where tooth-brushing is concerned. Two other teeth ended up coming out first, and the other one had been hanging on so long that the adult tooth is already sticking out. He currently has an adorable lisp.

One of Xander's teeth fell out on Saturday while we were at an old friend's for dinner. I used to always look at my mom's wedding album and ask why I didn't know anyone who was in her wedding. I thought, if these people were that close to you that you would have them in your wedding, why don't you still talk to them any more? And now I understand, as our dinner host was one of those friends for me. I've known her since first grade, we were in each other's weddings, and then life plus a few miscommunications on both sides occurred, and here we are. Currently we live less than 10 minutes from each other and we had a nice time reconnecting, so I'm hopeful we will do a better job at keeping in touch.

On Tuesday the kids and I went to Red Lobster for dinner with my mom and step-dad. We needed to get together on that specific day and, unfortunately, Jason had to work so he wasn't able to join us. My dinner came with dessert though, so I gave him half. The kids were crazy-hyper after we ate and my attempt at taking them to Whole Foods with me was futile. They were running laps around some cases of wine in the meat department and then when I was looking at some chicken I heard Xander shout

Download this mp3 from Beemp3.com

"Everybody dance now!" and he had a whole chicken standing up on its legs and was dancing it around the meat case. The song he was singing was what we used one year in high school for drill team tryouts, but he heard it from Shrek the Halls and now I will just never think of it the same way again.

At bed time I asked Jordis why she was acting up throughout the course of the evening and she said, "I was mad at Xander because he woke me up today when I was trying to get my booty sleep." On Wednesday she had her first gymnastics and hip hop class. She was easily the smallest one there by about 6 inches, but she jumped right in and had a smile on her face the whole time. She's been practicing her stand-ups (hand stands) ever since.

I now have a cold and am glad that this week is coming to a close soon. Hoping to rest up over the weekend and prepare a little Mardi Gras shindig for us since Fat Tuesday is right around the corner. Have a great weekend!

Our nursing home friends

Jordis and I have been visiting Willowbrook nursing home every Wednesday morning for the past few years. They opened a new branch, Willowbrook at Delaware Run, which is closer to our house, so now we attend there. It's a much smaller group and the residents are a little more......attentive. Recently we've been inviting Jordis' neighbor friend, Xavier, and they've been having a great time together.

Miss Kelly entertains the kids with stories and songs.

They also did a craft.

This is Miss Lucy. She's a spry little lady. Feisty, Italian, and has a slight east coast accent. She also likes my tattoo. And she's one of Jordis' favorite residents.

We love visiting Miss Kelly and our Willowbrook friends!

Dancing Diva

A few weeks ago Jordis got to attend her first dance class. She previously had no desire for any organized activities of skill because she didn't want anyone to look at her, but when my best friend's daughter (a.k.a. my goddaughter) invited her to Bring a Friend Night at her class Jordis was all about it. She jumped right in the mix and followed along.
(I had to take pictures through a patterned window, so they're not the best quality)

She attempted the splits....

...a backbend....

....and a dance.

She smiled the whole time

It was nice to see them have fun together and we're hoping that Jordis will now be willing to branch out and try some new things.

So behind!

Getting ready to put up Christmas decorations this weekend and still haven't posted any Halloween photos. So here you are.....

Wasn't in the mood to carve this year, so we painted our pumpkins instead. I'm such a good mom that I took a picture of my own pumpkin, and not of my kids'. (I'm an only child, remember. Sometimes I forget about other people.) And no, I had no idea there was a dried stream of liquid on my wall. I'm sure someone did that when we weren't looking.

These were the cat cookies we made for Xander's teachers (and for us, too).

Here are the trick-or-treaters

Jordis and her friend Megan

The kids are big enough now that we have this down to a science, so it was a quick night. And they're already talking about costumes for next year.