Fire Department Field Trip

Esther's class took a field trip to "Daddy's" fire station today, and boy was she ever excited, especially since Daddy went along! She wore her pink Kentwood Fire Department helmet and everything. Since the full-time firefighters got called out while they were there, Casey took over and finished the tour, even putting all his gear on for the kids to see. I'm pretty sure today ranks right up there with fathers' night in Esther's book!

Casey didn't take our camera along, but Esther's teacher takes TONS of pictures, so hopefully we'll be able to borrow her CD and get some of the cool shots she took (including each child "driving" the fire truck and all the kids with Casey in his gear).

Small Taste of Spring

We had beautiful, unseasonable sunny and warm weather yesterday. It was so great to get outside, take 2 bike rides, and play with our friends in the neighborhood! Those days always give a little hope and reminder that spring will come again eventually... but it's so hard when winter returns first.

Unfortunately, I guess we were just so happy to be outside that I forgot to take any pictures!

Winter Update

My parents called the other day to make sure we were ok since we hadn't updated the blog in a week. It seems like we're just doing a lot of playing inside and doing our regular routine lately. We've been having lots of fun playing board games and Wii with Esther and Peter lately. It's kind of embarrassing when they beat us at Wii bowling, but we're learning to deal with it. Here's a quick update on each of us for my parents (and anyone else who cares).

Casey: work, finishing EMT class with flying colors, preparing for national EMT test, fire calls, Daddy Donut Days

Laura: work, trying to come up with new crafts for Esther, neighborhood association board

Esther: making sure we keep every single milk carton for the igloo her class is building at school, doing creative crafts, fighting with Peter, entertaining Miriam

Peter: potty training (yay!), fighting with Esther, getting annoyed with Miriam, puzzles

Miriam: chasing her siblings, climbing as high as she can on furniture, talking on the phone, wearing this Lions jersey from the dress-up box (hey, at least they have 1 fan!)

Crafty Girl

Esther loves crafts. She loves drawing, coloring, cutting, painting, beads, ribbons, card-making, designing and creating projects... you get the picture. The other day my Mom brought over a kit which contained 4 foam princess items to decorate with stickers, glitter glue, and jewels. Esther spent a lot of time today working on them, and here are her finished products. I'm sort of in awe of her creative talent because my creative and artistic abilities are severely limited. She must have received that gene from Casey!



I also had to post this picture because it made me smile. I love it how Peter and Esther are laughing and Miriam is eating her snack in the background and looking over like she's trying to figure out what she's missing!

Preschool Fathers' Night

On Thursday night, Daddy was able to attend his first Father's night at Millbrook Christian School. This is an event that is done every year with the preschool classes.

This year's theme was "Cowboy Night". Esther and I managed to find a couple of cowboy hats for the night.

Every father and child had to bring a sack lunch (OK, ours was McDonalds) and then were able to participate in many many games. We started off the evening with a dance, Esther beat me in a sack race, we panned for "gold", had our pictures taken and made our very own horse (which Esther named "Horsey"). We finished off the evening with a horse race. You really haven't lived until you've seen 60 fathers riding on "broomstick" horses!

Pajama Day

Esther had pajama day at pre-school on Friday. I'll admit, I was a little jealous and kind of wanted to declare my own pajama day! She wore her pj's and slippers (after wearing her boots to school of course) and brought along her bunny, Lacy, who was also wearing her pj's. It was really cute and she had a super fun afternoon (although I think every afternoon at pre-school is super fun)!

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Esther and Peter got these adorable outfits from Grandpa and Grandma K. when we celebrated Christmas with them on December 20. They were all excited to wear them to church the next day, but then church was cancelled because of the weather! We were in Florida the next week, so they finally got to wear them on the first Sunday in January. Don't they look darling? For some reason Peter doesn't know how to smile a natural smile for pictures these days, so we have to try to catch him when he's not posing to get a cute face.

Also, a recent picture of our 3 cuties together...

Esther's Amazing Memory

The conversation over two bowls of Rice Krispies and my coffee this morning (at 6:00).

Esther: "Daddy, where did you get that coffee cup?"

Me: "From the Honderds"

E: "Who are they?"

Me: "We went swimming in their pool this summer."

E: "Oh yeah, that was on a Wednesday."

Me: "OK honey, I wouldn't remember what day of the week it was."

E: "Well, you see Dad. It was a Wednesday because this summer I took swimming lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays. And on Wednesdays I had Miss Nicole for a teacher at swimming lessons. And Mommy and I had to leave the pool party early for swimming lessons and it was the night Miss Nicole was there, so it had to be a Wednesday."

Yup, you know what....she was right. I'm going to do a little Pre-Calculus with her tomorrow. Can anyone teach me that?

Birthday Blessings

Esther has been so cute about my birthday this year. Casey took her and Peter to the flower store yesterday to pick out flowers for me and they had them delivered this morning. She was very good about keeping the secret about where they went and what they bought. She did inform me that she was taking some of her own money in her purse to the store. She told me last night that she got her own receipt because she used her own money for my gift.

Yesterday before dinner she and Peter were working on a secret project upstairs for quite a while (with some help from Daddy). This was her own idea, and I think it's one of the best gifts I've ever received (although the gift of sleeping in this morning was a close second)! The cover says "Happy Birthday Mom" and the inside says, "Dear Mommy, this is your birthday picture book. You may ask your kids to add pictures to this book all year long." Esther and Peter each drew a picture to get it started. How sweet is that? I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Oh Miriam

She's still making us laugh a lot... she's become an accomplished walker and is still a climber. She also likes to jabber and "talk" on the play phones. Here are a couple recent shots of our funny little girl: