Easter Egg Dying

My kids have strong memories of dying Easter eggs from previous years.  For the last few weeks I've heard, "Do you remember when we colored eggs with Grandma and Grandpa Haig last year?  When can we do that again?"  So on our weekly shopping trip this week we picked up some dye.  We tried a different kind this year.  The kids put baggies over their hands and hold an egg.  I drip some dye onto the egg and they move it around - kinda like finger painting the eggs.  It gave them a nice speckled look.  The only problem was the package recommended doing it while the eggs were still warm for fast drying and Becca held the egg for about 10 seconds and decided it was too warm.  Even when I cooled them more, she wanted no part in holding one again.

Puzzles

A couple of weeks ago my kiddos went to visit Aunt Michele while Tim and I were at a meeting.  She had some puzzles out for them to play with and since then puzzles have been all the rage for Jon and Becca.  So the other day I got our big box of puzzles and we went to work.



Jon's favorite was the pirates:




And not surprisingly, Becca's favorite was the animals:

Spring?

We finally had enough sun at the end of last week to melt away the snow and last weekend the kids were able to get out and play a bit.

Here are the boys warming up for the start of ultimate frisbee this week.

Curled up for warmth

Michael has been eating a cereal bar after his breakfast for years now.  I'm not sure how we got into the routine, but it seems to be one that Michael needs in the morning to get his day off to a good start.  He is certainly my routine boy.

Recently he has been taking the cereal bar into the kitchen area to eat it and curling up on the floor.  At first I thought it was to get away from his brother and sister who are chatterboxes in the morning when poor Michael just wants to go through his morning routine in peace.  But then I realized he was enjoying the warm air coming out of the vent under the sink.



The funny thing is I remember hanging out by vents around my house as a kid like this too.

Best Friends

Jon and Becca have become best friends.  Jon will often crawl in Becca's bed at night to give her a kiss and tell her that she is his best friend.  It is so cute.

They have gotten into a very good routine on the days we are home.  Some days they play together really well.  This usually involves legos or animals or both.

The other day they came to me super excited to share that they had built a kitty hotel all by themselves. They begged me to come see:


When I asked where the kitties were, they showed me inside.


Another day I couldn't find them they were playing so quietly.  After some investigations (because a quiet house is usually not a good thing as any mom of young ones can tell you), this is what I found.  Can you find my kiddos?


There are days when they need there space.  Sometimes they come to this decision on their own and search out activities.  Other days this has to be imposed by mom.  Either way, though, I'm glad they are both kids that know how to play.

Yummys

Our schedule this school year has involved running carpool on Wednesdays.  This usually means that we all get up early.  I drive Michael and the neighbor kids to school and then Jon, Becca, and I do our weekly shopping trip on the way home.  Some weeks we pick up donuts and do an eggs and donut lunch on Wednesday.

Becca usually doesn't love donuts, but we seem to have found a winner - at least with the frosting!



I've also been playing around with trying to make an old favorite of mine that my mom use to make for us to eat after school - peanut butter balls.  I got them to turn out pretty good just mixing oats, honey, and peanut butter until the consistency looked good.  Then I balled them and put them in the fridge to harden a bit.  YUM!

Stair Rolling

Jon: Mom, come watch me roll down the stairs.

Me: Won't you get hurt?

Jon: No, I'm wrapped in a blanket.

Cup towers

I just realized I never shared with you some more snow day cup stacking pictures.  These aren't our normal stacking pictures though - this day they were in to cup towers.



After much work and parents telling him it wouldn't balance Michael got this.



And spurred on by his success, this...



But with one more cup...



It all came crashing down.

Connersville 2013

Last weekend was our first stacking tournament of the year.  We drove down to Connersville IN Friday after school and stayed in a hotel room so that we could be up and at the tournament nice and early Saturday.  All three boys in the family were going to be stacking and Becca and I were the video crew and cheering section.



We got to catch up with a friend Austin we met last year.  He is the same age as Michael and is about a full second faster than Michael in the cycle.  The two of them hooked up for doubles and in a relay.



Michael did well with his two highlights being potential world records in both of his doubles!




Jon did awesome at the tournament also.  He competed in the 6 and under age division and came in first place in all 3 stacks, including getting his first 11 second cycle that day.  He paired up with Tim and also with a 6 year old girl there to do doubles and came in 4th for both.  Jon also got to compete with some others in a fun 6 and under relay.