Jack's House Favorites

Here are a few things that Jack and Ty love about our new house.

Their own basketball hoop.  (Jack and I have been playing some nice games of horse)

 The OLD playstructure

The dirt everywhere (even where the grass is supposed to be)

And climbing the library ladder.  ***This was taken before we moved in.  The bookshelves are now empty and waiting to be relocated.***

Father and Sons Campout

Dave took both boys on the Father and Sons Campout a few weekends ago.  He said the boys both did great.  Ty was excited to see his "kanket" (blanket) at bedtime and hopped into his sleeping bag and slept all night.

Kate's Soccer Season

Kate decided that she wanted to play soccer this spring season.  Dave didn't coach, so it was kind of nice going to practice and just watching (and cheering of course).  Practices were actually during my piano lesson teaching time, so Dave was the "soccer dad" and took Kate.

Her teammates were in 1st grade through 3rd grade, so there were huge age and size differences.  This was the first season that her team actually had scheduled games.

I took these pictures at her last game of the season.  Normally for their games, they split the team in half and played 3 on 3 on smaller fields.  For the last game they used a full-size field and had eight players on their team.  I think Kate enjoyed it.

Kate has her first loose tooth, and apparently it needed to be wiggled.

Jack's Birthday Party

Jack had a birthday party during our weekly preschool time.  We met at a park that has a mini golf course.  Jack and Ty did a little golfing before their friends arrived.

 Once the friends arrived, they were busy playing t-ball and playing on the slide.

The horrible wind didn't bother them until they tried to eat their crackers and cheese and it kept blowing away.

 We decided to go back to our house to have birthday cookies.

Ty enjoyed playing with Jack's presents.  My amazingly talented friend, Megan, made Jack this car track roll (kind of like a crayon roll).  And the boys spent hours playing with the new jungle animals.

 Jack loved his new cars.

Maybe next year we'll have better weather on the kids birthdays.  This year they were super windy and rainy, but the birthday boy and friends didn't care.

Just like Kit

Wednesday was "dress up like your favorite book character day", so naturally, Kate dressed up like Kit.

Complete with freckles (Kate's idea too) 

Jack is FIVE!

Thankfully Jack's birthday was on Sunday this year.  It was nice to take a break from unpacking and enjoy the day with Jack.  

We started out the morning by mixing up and baking his birthday cake and some muffins before church.  Then it was present time.

Jack didn't even notice the Christmas wrapping paper. :)

A Buzz Lightyear from Mom and Dad

Kate gave Jack helicopters and a grabber.  Ty latched right onto Buzz when Jack wasn't looking.

 Jack LOVES his cowboy boots from Grandma and Grandpa Cox.  He wore them to church.

 Jack told me that he wanted a STORM birthday cake, just like his t-ball team logo.

 For his birthday dinner Jack requested orange chicken which we ate on Ironman plates and drank root beer in Ironman cups.  Ty loved it.

 Jack really, really wanted a number five candle.

T-ball

Jack started t-ball two days after we moved.  Now we live pretty close to the t-ball field.

On Saturday morning, they had a league opening ceremony where they announced all the teams.  Jack is on team STORM.

 Waiting with his team

 Running out onto the field

 An hour after the ceremony, they had their first t-ball game.  

It was really windy and chilly, but Jack didn't mind.  He loved every minute of being on a team and playing a real game.  This is the first time Jack's played on an actual team in an actual game.

New House

Last week we bought our first house!  It's been quite the process with counter-offers, long inspections, and lots of waiting and waiting.  We closed on Wednesday, April 27th and moved in the next day.

Here's a picture of the house (I didn't take it -- it was online).  This will be our "before" picture, since we have lots of work to do on the outside of the house and the yard.

There are lots of things that I love about this house and a few things that we can't wait to tear out.  But that's for another blog post.  We've already done a lot of yard work (with much, much more to do) and torn out a closet in the garage and shower doors in the bathroom.

It's been a crazy, busy last couple of weeks with packing, cleaning, unpacking, school, dentist appointments, teaching piano lessons, soccer games and practices, t-ball games and practices, stomach flu, loads and loads of laundry, Easter, Jack's birthday, etc.

Things are settling down and we're almost unpacked.  I have lots of blog posts planned in my head that I'd like to do, but it'll have to wait until later.

Easter

Easter weekend was a busy one this year, since it was the last weekend before we moved.  We still had our traditional Easter BBQ the Saturday before Easter, but we didn't have time to do an Easter egg hunt.

Easter morning the kids went on a little egg treasure hunt to find a special surprise.  I drew pictures of things in the house and they had to follow the clues on the eggs to find their surprise.

Their surprises ended up being in the coat closet.  Jack's was this fabulous superman shirt that I freezer-paper stenciled.

 Kate's was this super cute skirt, that my sweet friend (and amazing seamstress) Megan made for her.

 Ty had some sunglasses that he didn't care about and hasn't ever worn.  Maybe we'll save them for next year...

After church we had an Easter egg hunt inside since it was raining.

The kids checking out their loot

Ty was eating lots of candy straight from his eggs, so I stole a few and filled them up with goldfish and raisins for some healthier snacking.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

It was Amanda's birthday on April 13th, so the kids made her these signs and we emailed them to her.  Maybe next year we'll send some in the mail...

I love this picture of Ty even with his drippy chin and fuzzy sign.