The kids got kites for Easter and have been dying to get them out ever since. Finally a nice, windy day came along and Dad was able to take them out flying. Big D seemed to get the hang of it right away. Miss M was good at it too, but her kite was complicated and didn't seem to want to fly very well. C.B. did pretty well once the kite was in the air. It was a perfect day for kite-flying.

Big D's preschool class took a field trip to the Zoo today, and C.B., Banana and I got to tag along. It was Banana's first trip to the Zoo, and she seemed to enjoy it for the most part. She really just enjoys being outside and the company of other children, and that's pretty much the Zoo in a nutshell!

C.B. was a little nervous around most of the bigger animals, regardless of whether or not there was bullet-proof glass between him and them. That fact made it difficult for me to get his picture with any animals, but I got a good shot near the zebras. He really liked the zebras.


Big D is really interested in the animals so it's fun to watch him watch them. You know what they say... "Who's watching who at the St. Louis Zoo?"

We had a chilly ride on the train, since the temperature dropped about 15 degrees during our trip (you gotta love St. Louis weather, don't you?) C.B., Big D and their cousin had a blast on the train. Banana could take it or leave it.

Yesterday Miss M and her three cousins celebrated their First Communion. They and the rest of their class looked so nice in their suits and dresses and were eager to recieve communion at Mass for the first time. Miss M was even more excited about going to Mass on Sunday, however. It means a lot to her to be able to take part in the regular Sunday Mass fully for the first time. Welcome to the BIG time, M!

Big D's class talked about recycling in preschool today. We brought in a giant bag of aluminum cans which his teacher will bring to the recycing center. She is going to use the money from recycling the cans to buy something for the classroom, and the kids will get to decide what to buy.

In addition, the kids used empty boxes (most of which would have been thrown in the trash) to make robots. They turned out really cool. Big D's robot is almost as tall as he is and he even wears a cape! Big D said he turned "trash to treasure."


I think it's wonderful that young children are learning about recycling, and I hope they are able to teach their parents (and grandparents) a thing or two about it. Call me a "tree-hugger", but I am glad that my kids are growing up with recycling as a part of their lives. I hope they never know any different. The children are our future, and with recycling as a part of their everyday lives, our future should be a little cleaner.

Between coloring eggs, washing the cars and baking Easter goodies, we had quite a weekend...and it's not even Easter yet!

On Friday night we colored eggs and made one of two cakes we would be consuming on Easter Sunday. It was also the third night in a row that the kids were up WAY past their bedtime!

Thankfully, Dad is always in charge of egg-dying.

On Saturday Dad and the kids washed the cars in the driveway while I baked yet another cake for Easter.

C.B. is the same size as the tires on Big Blue!

Also on Saturday, the grand-daughter of our next-door neighbors came over to play, and so did our cousin. We finally got the kitchen cleaned up after all the baking was finished, the kids all had baths and we actually got them to bed pretty close to a normal bedtime. Whew...now we're all ready for the Easter Bunny!

Big D had his Easter party at preschool today. Surprisingly, he was only slightly more interested in the Bunny than his brother. In fact, he would only let me get his picture with that cute, soft bunny if big sister Miss M was right there with him.

Aahhhh...another year of Easter parties is over and done. And, as we all know, the most important thing about the party is the basket of treats that you get to bring home! Big D did quite well in that department, and he did even better by sharing with C.B. and Miss M.

After each child had found an egg the teacher said, "Let's see if we can find a bunny. Bunnies are cute and soft!" So C.B. and the other children began a search for this soft, cute bunny. When the bunny was finally found, the eager and determined look on C.B.'s little face turned into THIS:

Happy Easter!

It seems C.B. has discovered that he has the power to make Banana smile. And, as the youngest boy who is not the baby anymore, he seems to enjoy having any kind of power at all. He used his newfound power for about ten straight minutes this afternoon while Banana was in her Exer-saucer. C.B. had her giggling and wiggling, which made him smile too!

Friday night we had a Luau themed Father-Daughter Dance for the Girl Scouts at Miss M's school. There were a hundred girls and their dads in the tropically (is that a word?) decorated gym that night. The music was loud, but those girls were even louder. The dance floor area was filled with girls in pretty dresses jumping up and down and screaming when their favorite songs were played. They also enjoyed doing the limbo and slow dancing with their "dates". It was great to see them all dressed up and just having a good time together. The dads were not quite as enthusiastic at the dance as the girls were, but I'm sure they got a kick out of watching their daughters have such fun. And what daddy wouldn't love having a special night out with his little girl? I know Dad appreciated the chance to spend some time with just Miss M. You should have seen the two of them tearing up the dance floor doing the Y-M-C-A!

We have tried to instill a love of reading and a respect for books in our children. That's why we were so proud to see little five-month-old Banana reading a book to herself today.

However, it didn't take long for her to forget the "respect for books" part, as reading a book became EATING a book. Oh well...she's still young and has a lot of time to learn!

Miss M and I made dinner together this afternoon. She usually helps cook and often takes over completely, as she enjoys it more than I do. The boys, who are much less willing to help, decided that they would at least like to look like they were helping. Big D went and found the chef's hat he got from school and while he was in the dress-up box he found C.B. a cowboy hat. Then they sat at the counter to play cards while Miss M and I finished up.

Over the weekend we went camping at Washington State Park. It was our first outing with the camper for the year, and the first time we pulled it with BIG BLUE (our new family vehicle.) Dad said it didn't feel like we were even towing anything. He kept looking in the rearview mirror to see if the camper was really there. We had such nice weather it was ridiculous. In fact, the kids even went for a dip in the river (or the "ocean" as Big D called it.)

We also took hikes, played baseball and rode bikes to the playground. Another neat thing that happened is that we figured out our last name can be spelled using pretzels. We ate a lot of pretzels figuring this out!