April Updates

Ok, I know I have been extremely lazy with blogging this month. Time is flying by! Here is our update for most of this month. As we head into the warmer weather I hope to be more diligent about posting again! Rainbow Toast Did you ever make rainbow toast? I remember doing this in Kindergarten and wanted to share the experience with my kids. Joey enjoyed making the toast, but he is not big on eating toast. Phil claims its because of the double fiber bread I buy, but I think he's just not a toast guy. A little Java love... Joey's Un-birthday Joey had his un-birthday at school earlier this month. Since his birthday is in the summer we kept getting notices to celebrate before the year was over. I first thought of not doing it at all, but am so glad we did. Joey knew it wasn't his real birthday but was very happy to bring in treats for the class. He is not big on cake, but loves chocolate chip cookies and chocolate. So that was what we brought in. We also had to fill out a sheet of all of Joey's answers to the things he likes. Hopefully you can read it from the picture, they were all Joey responses. He needed to bring in a book to share and he loves when I read Puff the Magic Dragon (hard to read and not sing!). Joey was presented with a birthday crown in front of his whole class and had to add 4 candles to his birthday cake. I thought being the center of attention he'd be very shy and not want to be up there but I sat on the carpet behind all the kids and he looked over to me so proud and happy to be up there. They read and asked him about his favorite things and he replied with all the same answers (so I really didn't lie!) and they asked if he wanted to tell his friends what treat he brought or if he wanted to keep it a secret. He wanted to keep it a secret, and then ran over to me to tell me how we had a secret surprise for his friends. Turns out I think the class was cupcaked out from the other birthdays because unprompted at snack time most all of his classmates said "thanks Joey!" or "I love this Joey!" He sat in his chair with a huge smile on his face and nodded at the gratitude and you could tell he was so happy. It nearly made me cry and I was so glad we did celebrate his un-birthday! Easter Easter was spent going to Grandma's church and the church that Phil and I got married at, with the mass said by the priest who christened and helped lay to rest Joshua, Father Tony. It was so great to hear his mass as always, and especially at Easter when the readings so perfectly touch my soul. The opening words of mass "Christ has risen! Christ has risen! Christ has risen!" of course said so powerfully like only Father Tony can say to capture everyone's attention led to tears streaming down my face immediately. I love Easter, the hope, the life, the promise, everything. After mass we headed to Grandma's house to color Easter eggs, have our traditional mimosas, and then make our ravioli. The kids played really well and each stopped to help with the process. At nap time Phil and I went to Assumption and then back to Grandma's for an Easter egg hunt, some gifts, and a yummy dinner! Sadly our camera battery died and we used the video camera for some of the festivities, but only got a few pictures. The glasses Jill and Emma have are 3D glasses for bubbles, we didn't quite see the 3D effects but Jill loved her glasses! And finally some pictures of the purple park, a new par I recently discovered that the kids loved. The parks we visit besides the one behind our house are all colors: red park, blue park, orange park, and now purple park. Yes, the first picture is Joey resting with his crown that he has been wearing constantly around the house and wanted to wear to school again but I told him it wasn't his unbirthday anymore! And Jill's new favorite fruit are mini bananas! Ok, that is it for now, sorry for the delay and I hope to be more on top of it!

Spring break

This week was spring break so at one point we met Auntie, Grandma, Emma, and Andrew at the indoor pool. Joey and Jillian love the water and Jillian had a hard time being told it was time to go. We spent a lot of time towards the end of the week with them as well--thank you Auntie for watching them while I picked up some extra classes! Now we are waiting for Emma's 2nd birthday party later today!

We spent the morning of my birthday at the Arboretum, one of my favorite places! The kids got me some new running shoes and a new running shirt which helped me run my fastest long run ever! In the evening we went to Grandma's house for birthday dinner and apple pie--my favorite! Of course the kids also had brownies and lots of fun running around with each other. It was a great day, thank you for all the gifts, I love it all.

Is it really March?

Today when I was at dance class with Jill, Daddy called to say we should pick up a bathing suit for her on the way home...what? First, she did have one from her birthday, but it is March, why would we need a bathing suit? Of course you leave the boys at home and Joey who asks every day if we can put the pool out got on Daddy's good side, and sure enough at 10am the kids were in the pool! It was well into the 80's but still didn't seem quite right to be in the pool in March, even if Daddy emptied out the hot water heater to fill the pool! In the evening Mr. Sole was so nice to give us tickets to the Express hockey game for the kids to see their first game! Thank you--see below for the hockey post!

Pet Expo

Last year we went to the Pet Expo and had a great time, if you hadn't heard we are in the process of sometime in the next year, possibly adopting a St. Bernard! We fell in love with them last year at this expo and haven't stopped wanting one. So we have gone through the initial parts of the process and are waiting for our dog! Of course at the expo we took picture of lots of dogs, cats, birds, snakes, but when it came to the Saints we were too busy cuddling up to them and forgot to snap a picture!

We spent March 14 as a family, everyone took off of work and as we have in the past celebrated the family we have. We went to the Field Museum where we were all able to wander and enjoy, afterwards we came home and played with our neighbors, who allowed us to feel like we were not being isolated that day, but a part of the world still. Later we went to dinner at Stir Crazy a place where we ate the night before Joey came home from the NICU, and a place that is close to Assumption so we have made that our place of choice when we want to grab some grub and we are at Assumption. Afterwards the weather was still beautiful so we put out our blanket at Assumption and let the kids play while we all talked and hung out together as a whole family. Joey and Jillian both had their few moments of odd behavior that could be directly linked to the loss of their brother which I will tell you about at a later time, but all in all we had a peaceful day.

Happy Birthday Nonna!