Spring Break in Spokane

The last day of school before Spring Break (and I must add it was the day after our Harry Potter party) I found my kids all ready for school, complete with wands and scarves.  No nerdy-ness here.  So I let them go like that.  The next day we left on our trip to Spokane to see family.  And yes, scarves and wands accompanied us there as well. 

 Cody's favorite part of the trip were the dogs.  Luna fell asleep  next to me on the couch, so he tucked her in with his blanket.

 We had an Easter Egg hunt with my family on Saturday and then one with Ryan's family on Sunday.  I guess I need to get the pictures from the trip off of his phone, since I have almost none on mine.

 Then we went to the airport to pick Ryan up from his Singapore trip.  He went to bed at 8 with the boys.  He didn't get up until about 8:15 the next morning.  I don't think I have ever seen him sleep so much.

 And what would a trip with family be without Ryan and his brother playing wiffle ball?

 In a skywalk in downtown Spokane.

 We toured a fire station and I LOVED their table.

 One guy got all dressed up and crawled around the kids like he would if there was a real fire.  It made our cute little cousin cry, but the rest of the kids loved it.

 These two were obsessed with playing with tablets the whole time.  At least they did it together.

 And Cody, like he is, sitting on Grandma's lap playing with her phone.

 Cody in Grammy's glasses.  What a crazy kid!

Harry Potter Party, etc.

Kathleen did a report on Cleopatra and got to dress up and do a "live museum".  She was so cute.

 The kids all outgrew their old bikes, so it was time to pass them down again.  Unfortunately, Kathleen's bike was pink.  So we decided to paint it black and give it to Brandon.  He was so excited about the whole thing and really had a ton of fun with the project.

 Kathleen went on a field trip to the "Birds of Prey".  I got to go with her.  It was super fun.

 Kathleen lost another tooth.

 Ryan is on the other side of the world.  So the kids liked to send him pictures.  Here is one that they posed for to send to Daddy.

 Since dad was gone we decided to have a Harry Potter party.  I don't know why we decided this, but we had fun doing it.

 We watched the movie too.

 More of Kathleen's Cleopatra project:

 We had our annual St.Patrick's Day green dinner.

 When dad is gone, mom goes a little crazy with the meals.

 Pumpkin pasties for the Harry Potter party (okay, so these pictures are in total random order.  Sorry).

 Corned beef & cabbage grilled sandwiches (in honor of Ron, who ate corned beef sandwiches on the train to Hogwarts).

 We made homemade wands.  The kids LOVED it.

Boot Scootin' Boogie

Ryan and I got to teach a line dance.  We decided on the Boot Scootin' Boogie.  It was super fun.  So we got all dressed up for the event.  You may be asking your self right now, "Do Ryan and Angela know how to line dance?  And do they know the Boot Scootin' Boogie?"  The answer is No!  No, they do not!  Luckily for us, we know how to use you-tube.  Remember the "Thriller"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft7nlHTWLRY&feature=player_embedded 

Enjoy the show!

Happy Valentines?

So I say "Happy Valentine's?" because I should have updated with this post from Valentine's day.  But I guess I am a little behind.  But here is Kathleen with some of her friends at her class party.

 Cody with his new little "girlfriend".  He informed us that she was his girlfriend the week before Valentine's day, but he had already made her a valentine.  He dug through his valentines to make sure hers was really good now that she was his girlfriend.

 Brandon had a fun party too.  It was fun to get to be at all of their parties this year.

 Here are the kids cute valentines they made.

 Cody loves his Aunt Lissa and will ask to visit her every chance he gets.  She was babysitting him one day and when I came to pick him up, they were playing video games together.  It was so cute.

 My family came to visit and we took them to Tucanos.  Brandon LOVED the chicken hearts.  I told him if he wanted them that he had to ask the waiter.  So he actually spoke to the waiter.  It was super cute to see him talk for a change.

 My dad bought a karaoke machine and we had a blast singing for each other.

 We played the Disney version of Apples to Apples.

 After they went home, we took the kids ice skating.  They LOVED it.

 Cody had fun with his little walker he would slide around with and do spins and circles and fall down for fun.

 Brandon and Cody played light sabers/harry potter wands with these pencils the other day for over a half an hour.  Clearly I spend too much money on toys for them.  Next Christmas they are getting pencils.

 Cody does this every day after school, and never shuts the door.  It cracks me up.  So I had to document it.

 Ryan and I went on a date and played "The Amazing Race."  Ryan didn't really have any fun...at all.  But I still thought it was a great time.

 Alyssa and Clayton baby-sat for us while we were on the date.  They always do fun things from Pinterest with the kids when they baby-sit.  This time it was rocket packs.

Shout Out to Kathleen!

Congratulations to Kathleen!!  She wrote a book about diversity for the PTA reflections contest at her school and won.  We just found out that she also won for the whole region.  Way-to-go Kathleen!  Now on to State.  Wish her luck.  She is pretty excited.

What We've Been Up To

I had fun with Cody in his class making jewelry with licorice and Fruit Loops.  The kids loved pulling apart the licorice.

 Brandon received a "Character in Action" award for Integrity at school.

 Brandon with his teacher:

 Brandon plays tether ball at recess every day.

 The PTA purchased new playground equipment for the school that was installed yesterday.  The kids had a ton of fun testing it out.

 We had a super fun FHE on eating healthy.  I bought a bunch of different fruits and vegetables and we tried them raw, cooked, and with dips to see how the kids like them.

 The kids also had a blast making valentines and mailboxes this week.

 Kathleen was really excited about this hairstyle I gave her.  Usually she won't let me touch her hair.  I was just excited that she let me scrub it with shampoo first.

 The finished products: