St. Patricks Day 2016

I really try to make St. Patricks Day a special one for the boys.  When I was growing up we celebrated by wearing green so that we wouldn't get pinched and that was it.  So how we have adopted many traditions for the day including green streamers all over the house and kitchen, goodies in shoes, and a treasure hunt.  This year we followed the Engstrom traditions.  It makes me happy to see the boys happy.  Andrew really appreciated the banner by reading every letter on the banner and making the sound.  Love it!!!  Zach was of course clad in greed complete with beard and leprechaun hat.  He loves this day more than any one and it shows.  After school they got to go on a treasure hunt with special clues written on special tresure hunt paper. At the end of the hunt they found a green caldron filled with their after school snacks.  It was a fun day.

Toy Story Time

It is that time again when your little boy has a fascination for Buzz Lightyear and Woody.  Fortunately I had all the stuff to feed this love for Buzz and Woody already thanks to a Older Brother whose earliest phrase was "To infinity....and beyond!"  Andrew was over joyed when I brought down the costume box from the attic.  To his heart's delight found buzz lightyear costume and a woody costume complete with wings and hat.  He sleeps with both of the figures every night and made sure his name was placed on the bottom of their feet.  Buzz's feet are clad with Adam and Andrew's names.  This is one of my favorite series of movies and phases in childhood.

Indoor Water Park

We experienced Sam's Oasis indoor water park today. The kids had a great time. We mostly stayed on the water slides. We played on all the different rides; lazy river, water play ground, baby pool etc. but the slides were the best. My favorite part of my day was watching my boys have fun going down the the water slide. Andrew was so enjoyable to be with. He jumped and danced around with excitement as we approached the top of the line for the slides. The smile on his face was worth every cent. Zach and Adam also enjoyed the slides and they went down the one man slide. 

Several of the pools got closed bc of poop and things got super congested which is about the time we decided to get out of there. I'm pretty sure if a fire marshal were to make a inspection of that place they would say it was over capacity. Josh couldn't leave soon enough. We escaped the pavilion of noise, water, and bodies to our car and had the boys change there rather than a changing stall. Despite the over stimulation and crowds we had a nice adventurous time as a family. My only regret is that I was unable to get pictures of us having a good time but to mark that we were there I got a picture of the boys wet, cold, and waiting for dad to pull up with the car.  

Recorder Concert

Proud as punch was our little Zachary as he prepared to play in his Recorder Concert.  He has earned up to the green belt in his recorder (a respectable lever of accomplishment) and looked fantastic in his concert apparel.  We got to hear "hot cross buns" at least four times during the concert with several different renditions.  I think you have to be an amazing person to be able to appreciate listening to recorder music and like it.  My hat goes off to the music teacher at Appleby school as she must have ears of steel.  It was a nice event and a fun time to giving Zachary attention for his accomplishments.

Musical Date Night

Groupon is datenight's best friend.  I few months ago I bought tickets to the performance of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra through groupon.  It was a beautiful night.  They played Beethoven!  Hearing Beethoven played is an elevating experience.  I was especially impressed with the pianist that played with the orchestra for the 5th symphony.  So well done.

Memories of the days when I used to play came back to me and only helped me appreciate the level of expertise that these musicians had reached.  I remembered as if it were a faded dream the time that I too was asked to play with the symphony orchestra of the University of Arkansas.  I remember how I felt the honor of playing with the much older in age musicians and the feelings of nervousness were like weights on my limbs but after I started to play the weights were lifted and all went well.  As we were listening to the performance I realized that I haven't ever brought my children to see a performance like this when I as a child had been exposed to this kind of music making since a was a little one.

I love that in contrast to pop music Beethoven (a long with he other music masters) had a theme and a development of the theme often times with a political statement vehemently being expressed and for all to understand penetrating language barriers and lasting through the eons of time.    There is a depth and a complexity of the music that today's music lacks.  Pop music although catchy lacks thought and complexity rendering it boring.

Pinewood Durby 2016 Clean Sweep!!!

Pinewood derby is something as a parent I don't really have the skills for so I let google, hobby lobby and Daddy take over on this project.  Daddy obvioulsy did a better job than I have done in the past because the boys cars took first and second places this year!!!  The event was a nice one but loud and the boy scout couldn't contain them selves.  I had to keep texting Josh to come in from a meeting so he could see his cars beat everyone.  There couldn't have been a more gracious winner than Zach.  He told me afterwards that he was really happy but he didn't want to gloat in front of the other boys because he didn't want to make anyone feel bad.  He had a few of his friends that were really cute about him winning.  Adam was as proud as punch about his second place. As I took his picture he wore his ribbon with a full chest and a great smile.

Through out the pine wood derby car building processes Andrew has been asking "where's my car mom?"  This question was asked as were leaving to go out the door to the race.  I grabbed Adam's last year car off his shelf in his room, dusted it off, and handed it to Andrew and made him the happiest little boy.  The cub scout leaders were so awesome at involving Andrew in the race it made his day and mine.

Valentine's/President's Day Extravaganza

It was an extra long 4day weekend with the Valentin's Holiday landing on Sunday and President's Day on Monday the kids were off Friday and mom exhausted on Tuesday.  Lol.  The weather was misserably cold all weekend long and so our aspirations and energy for the snow skiing plans were frozen with the temperatures.  Friday and Saturday got used up by taking care of needs and preparing to express our love for each other through cards, flowers, chocolate, and food.  Sunday was the big Valentin's day and we celebrated with lots of sweets, cakes, and a easy lasagna dinner.  The boys got excited when they opened their cards from Grandparents and received a little $ to fatten their wallets. Adam decided that all of his lose change and cash should now reside in his safe that Zachary gave to him at Christmas and his receiving of some new cash funds couldn't have come at a better time for him.  He loves seeing his bank roll grow.  As they boys opened the card from Nana and Grandad I thought that this would be the last V-day card that they would receive for the next two years since they will be leaving for the mission to Ghana, Africa in little over a month. I'm grateful for their  examples of service and also health in their older years.  They have lived a life of health and I hope to be able to physically serve others in my senior years.

President's day was a hit with the boys we went to sensory overload indoor boardwalk complete with arcade, food court, rides, go karts, and laser tag.  We signed up too late for laser tag but we got to do just about everything else.  My favorite was getting to drive the go karts and beat everybody with my amazing driving skills.  Andrew was my co pilot, as we passed people he would laugh and squeal with delight and then look back at them and wave.  It was blissful.  Watching Andrew on the spinning cars and other rides just confirmed how big he is getting.  It makes me want to savor every moment I have with them for I know that it is fleeting.  Zach and Andrew went with daddy to do rides while Adam and I went to play in the arcade.  Adam was sucked into those claw machines and quickly learned that they are rigged to take your money and make you lose.  He played several other games and really enjoyed the pleasure of being in charge of the "credit" card.  After lunch and few more rides we returned before the snow storm took effect.