Oh yeah?!!!!

How could I forget the boys' daycare play?!!!  They had been planning this for quite awhile - but decided last minute to make it into a benefit for Ethan's friend - how cool is that?!!  The kids were so great - and so excited to help.

 It was an ex-student of mine running the show.  She adapted the play Snow White and directed all the little munchkins in it.

 It was a riot.  The dwarves (my little dwarf was sneezy...) were so stinkin funny.

 Their dance was absolutely magical.  I laughed so hard.

 Lucas was a cute little frog who's attention definitely wandered....

 But he was so darn cute....

 The dwarves lost Grumpy for awhile and all went running off of stage to find her.  They came running back and Ethan announced, "She was in the bathroom!" to the crowd.  Poor girl!

 I loved it.  The crowd loved it.  And it was another one of those tear-jerking mom moments when you just lose. it.

 These kids raised over $500.  That. Is. Amazing.

Weekend Adventures

 Sometimes when the stress and the busyness gets to me, an adventure with family and friends just puts it all in perspective.  Last weekend, we headed to go learn about the history of video games at EMP in Seattle with a couple of families we think are pretty cool.  First stop was mini donuts.  And Yum.

 Lucas decided he was officially a member of the Braunz family and ditched us completely.  He was a mess of giggles all day with his new best friends.

The boys (all of them) loved the video game stuff, though I think the consensus was that it wasn't a big enough exhibit.  I did like seeing how much video games have changed over my lifetime.  Pretty interesting - well kinda....

 But by far, the favorite of all the kids was the Jam Room with all the musical instruments.  So much noise, but they loved it.  I think my ears are still ringing.

 The motorcycle was also a big hit.  I do believe I saw Lucas give it a hug on the way out...

Lyla liked it too - she was really playing the "tough" thing well...

 Lucas got mad at me that he couldn't take home one of the guitars from the installment....  MY MITAR!!!  I think he reverted back to his 2 year old self in the moment...

 It was a fabulous day - lots of laughs  - mostly at Lucas, and plenty of good snacks.

We were all exhausted after that...  Ethan even fell asleep in school the next day.  Mother of the year right here :)  But it was worth it.  My stress level dropped many floors.

This weekend was our friend Ethan G.'s birthday.  If you remember, he is Ethan's friend that is currently battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  We are in the midst of a big fundraising campaign for him and were excited to get to go to his party!  There was a DJ, a bounce house, and all sorts of great food and people!

 But most of all, the boys liked digging in the dirt for worms.

 They were filthy by the end of it - had to jump right into the shower, but had a blast.

Today we woke up and the sun was actually shining!  I could not believe it!  We texted our friends and decided to go to the zoo.  You cannot waste this kind of sunshine inside!

 The most fun part of the day was when a puffin mistook Lucas' stuffed toy for food.  It was jumping all over the place trying to get at it.  Probably the same puffin that used to follow my nose around...

 The wolves were super cool this time!

 As Lucas shows, we saw 7.  Only I'm not sure how that mangled set of fingers makes seven...

 The playground was great.....

 The goats were happy to be fed.....

 It made me smile to see Ethan so calm....

 He used to freak out feeding them - would end up just throwing the whole lot at them....

 But now that's Lucas....

A wait time for lunch meant building nests in the rocks.....

 And afterwards, Lucas got his very first build-a-bear (well, penguin)....

 Oh did he love that pretend bathtub.  Such a happy kid.

 Such a happy day.  Glad we could soak up the sun and enjoy it before March gets underway...

February Accomplishments

I am so incredibly behind, that I'm just going to type tid-bits to go with pictures and then move on to the present.  February has been busy...  And full of excitement.  Yes, Ethan did decide he must enter the Science Fair this year, so I got him what he needed for his experiment and he worked on it all month long.  Every morning he'd go and check his plants - to see if the organic or regular potting soil was growing faster.  He was a man obsessed and couldn't wait to show me when there was a change.  I tried to convince him not to do it - I didn't want to worry about it - and learned quickly that he was passionate about it, so we went with it.  Now I'm kicking myself for ever doubting him or wanting to hold him back.  He worked so incredibly hard.

Ethan's basketball team wore lightning bolt tattoos one night in honor of their teammate who is battling cancer.  We took lots of pictures and then the kiddo showed up with his own bolts on his cute bald head.  It was a very heartwarming evening.  Kids are the best.

 In swimming, Ethan finally passed Guppy to make his way over to Minnow.  His teacher wasn't sure she was going to pass him - wanted him to prove a few more things during class.  I thought I was going to pass out I was so nervous for him.  After 5 times in the level he was more than frustrated.  He loves swimming but it was getting too much for him to take.  I sat on pins and needles as he swam his heart out - not knowing if it was enough and I was going to have a completely broken-hearted boy swear off swimming for good.  And then I got the scream across the pool - "MINNOW MOM" with a big thumbs up.  And the tears started.  I couldn't stop.  I was so proud/frustrated/relieved that I just couldn't handle it.  Luckily, the tears dried up before he got back over to me.

Lucas had his first crush this month.  This was the first Valentine's Day that he really was interested in and it all had to do with a cute little girl in his class.  "She's gonna walk with ME tomorrow," he told me as he filled out her card.  

 I heard her name probably 20 times over the next 24 hours.  All with a shy, sweet smile creeping up the corners of his mouth.

 I'm not sure anything happened that day, but I do know he was ever so eagerly going through each and every valentine - "this one's bery 'pecial mom."  

 Ethan kept working on his project - dutifully writing and typing (until I took over the typing job - a woman can only take so much 2 word a minute typing).  We discussed all things hypothesis and conclusion as we continued to watch the plants grow.

 Lucas discovered he likes life as a dog.  He never fails to entertain me.  It's actually one way he deals with stressful situations, a coping mechanism, but he also just likes to play fetch.  It probably is just confusing as there are more pets in the house than humans.  I get it.

 It finally came time to put together our results and for Ethan to do his poster.  He measured, recorded, found the median (why, oh why did I pick an even number of beans), and was astounded.

 His hypothesis was wrong.  The chemicals did not help the plant to grow taller.  The organic plants were taller.

 I taught him to use the little plastic paper cutter and we found some easy stick letters and Voila - the poster was done.

On the night of the science fair he was so proud.  The kids don't have to stand by their projects - they just present in class and then they are free to roam around.  But he wanted to tell people what he learned and explain what he found out.  And then they called his name as one of the ones who were picked by the judges to be sponsored into the State Science Fair.  And he was speechless.  And then the tears came again.