First Signs of Spring!

Although, Spring has not officially sprung you would not have guessed by the weather this week.  We all spent a great deal of time outdoors this week as the sunshine was to tempting to stay indoors.  

Ella was the first to adventure out and boy what an adventure she made it.  She grabbed her adventurer's vest (courtesy of Grandma Swift) and all her excavating tools and had a blast exploring the backyard.  She found worms, examined rocks, went digging and found a nice root to experiment with.  She loves the outdoors!

We finally had a week where Daddy was home all week, so we asked him to join us at the park for a quick recess before lunch.  He agreed and we all had a lot of fun and it was a perfect time to go as we had the park all to ourselves.

The kids loved getting out to stretch their legs!

The sky has been so clear this week and the planets were lined up just right.  We took the kids out on Tuesday night and we were able to enjoy a quick view of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury.  We just finished studying Venus and earlier Mercury, so this was lots of fun to be able to point them out in the night sky.  

Eric wanted to know why he couldn't see all the rings around the planets (orbits or rings around Saturn).  Looks like we'll have to invest in a telescope soon, so the kids can get a better look.

Ella looked in the mirror at the beginning of the week and noticed she had a loose tooth.  This was her first loose tooth and we expected it would take awhile, before it would actually fall out.  Well, three days later she wiggled her first tooth right out of her mouth.  She was as happy as could be!  

She was sure her tooth would fall out quickly. Every morning she would declare, "I think today is the day!" Well that morning she was right!

The tooth fairy wasted no time and delivered a wonderful surprise the next morning.

Ella received a personalized Tooth Fairy Certificate, Letter, and Tooth Chart, along with two shiny golden dollar coins.  She was elated and quite pleased!  She must have had one shiny tooth to receive such the gift!

The gift of all this warm weather had us thinking about this years garden.  We waited so long last year to plant, we had very little to harvest.  This year, we wanted to be sure we took advantage of our beautiful garden.  So, we spent St. Patrick's day weekend preparing our garden for planting and even made our first trip to our favorite garden center.

We planted a few cold hardy seeds in our square foot garden boxes.

We have peas, lettuce, carrots, and onions in the ground.  The strawberries are already leafing up and looks like we'll have a good crop this year.

We couldn't resist the flowers, which the kids and I will plant in pots until ready for the outdoors.  We also picked up a few tomato plants, which we will be trying our tomato teepees on (to keep them warm and insulated from any frost).

Ella is very happy to have her new and improved planting box back this year, as Daddy fixed it all up in time for planting.  She has her carrots and onions planted and can't wait to get her flowers in too!

Ella has agreed to share her planting box with Eric this year, so Eric will really get a taste of gardening this year as well.  We are so happy to share our love of gardening with them.

Rising Above!

It's been a beautiful warm winter week!  Is that an oxymoron??  Hmmm...well, it's been a beautiful 50 degrees and we are loving all this warmer weather and a nice break from all that cold and snow!  We have taken full advantage and made good use of the sun.

The kids broke out their bikes, Eric trying to master pedals on his new big boy bicycle.  He balances well, but feels safer with his feet closer to the ground.

A few times on his big bike and I know he will be zooming around soon enough.  Ella is flying past all of us and is often waiting for us at the end of street.  I think it's about time Ken and I invested in some bikes, just to keep up with the kids!

Ken splurged this month and invested in a smoker.  He was like a kid with a new toy, put it together immediately and smoked some yummy ribs!

Eric, who has been asking for months to go horseback riding was finally given the chance this week.  We had been waiting for him to be old enough and focused enough to try and he did awesome!  He was so proud of himself, that he listened so well and was able to ride.

He can't wait to go again! 

He did great and will be riding at least once a month now.  His riding time is more to get used to the feel of the horse and to learn to just be comfortable with such a large animal.  He wasn't quite sure about his trail ride with all the hills, but his teacher said he did great leaning forward and backward at just the right times.  A cowboy in the making (although, he is starting out riding English)!

Ella reached a real milestone, testing for her solid yellow belt in her karate class.  She is now officially in the beginner's class, striving now for her orange belt and the advanced class (Purple - Green Belt).  The test was enduring and tested her focus and self control, minus a few pushups she did great!  

I have to say, the hardest part was watching the stranger danger test.  Her instructor (Sensei) sets up two red/black bags and marks one of them as home and the other is a stranger's car.  Her goal is to get away and get home.  A struggle to watch as a parent thinks this could be a real life situation.  However, she did awesome and really rose to the occasion! 

I am so proud of both Ella and Eric, for conquering some tough challenges this week!

Pretty in Pink or Rough and Tumble!

Ella enjoyed another horse show, once again in the Lead Line class.  She was the only English rider at this almost all Western show.  

Ella's instructor, Ms. Jennifer has been working with Ella on cantering and likes to have the kids enter the shows a level lower than their ability to make sure the kids are confident in the ring.  Looks like this might be Ella's last Lead Line class, as Ms. Jennifer has been very pleased with Ella's progress on her cantering and walk/trot.

Luckily, the show was indoors.  However, the arena was still pretty cold with the wind blowing so hard outdoors.  It didn't seem to bother Eric as he enjoyed watching all the horses from the side bars.  He climbed up and was able to pet quite a few horses riding by during warm ups.

Eric has been quite the climber lately.  We found Eric in a few precarious positions as of late.  He's like a cat up a tree (he can climb up, but seems to have trouble making it back down).  He enjoyed  creating his own reading nook, two stories up in his closet.

I heard Eric screaming, "Help Me!!" I ran downstairs to see our boy riding the banister.  Apparently, he couldn't figure out how to make it back down.  I have serious thoughts of building our own jungle gym in the basement, as this cold and snowy weather is really having our boy climbing the walls.

Speaking of climbing the walls, Maria decided to have a girls evening with Ella and her Mom for a performance of Shen Yun.  Shen Yun is a traditional chinese dance performance highlighting chinese culture and history.  This performance fit in perfectly as we had been studying ancient Chinese history the week prior.  

Ella absolutely loved the dancing and costumes.  There was a point during the performance where Ella turned to me, with her eyes so big and just whispered, "WOW."  Definitely, a wonderful moment to see Ella light up and just be so enthralled with it all.

The performance was quite late in the evening and we didn't get home until almost 11pm.  However, Ella watched the whole performance and was clapping enthusiastically, till the very end.  She couldn't stop talking about the different dances and the way the backdrop just came to life (dancers would seem like they were flying through the screen)!  What a wonderful evening for us girls!

We awoke the next morning to find almost a foot of snow outside!  Quite unexpected, as when we arrived home not a flurry was in sight.  We decided to take advantage of the sunshine and let the kids get some energy out, while we shoveled the snow.

This mountain of snow that lines are driveway, is from the culmination of snow we have had this past month.  The kids had a blast, but I had to rescue the kids a few times as the snow was so deep they would sink in and end up stuck waist high.  So fun!

Even though these snow days have been keeping us indoors more, Ella is still getting her exercise 2-3 times a week in Karate class.  Ella's first time at grappling/wrestling and she seemed to really enjoy it!

My little princess, can be quite the tiger!  Sensei was pretty impressed by her as Ella walked off the mat and stated, "that was pretty good, wasn't it!"

Ella's softer side shined through today as Eric was feeling a bit under the weather and running a slight fever.  She took good care of her little brother, reading to him and playing so well with him.

Our kids are growing up so fast and we are so excited to see their personalities unfold and develop.  Ella loves pink, lace, dancing and flowers and yet she can hang with the boys and be just as rough and tough.  Eric who is always out for an adventure and full of the tough stuff, doesn't mind being babied every now and again.  I'm a little biased, but aren't they wonderful!