Last Friday co-op

Today was our last Friday co-op of the year. Fridays have really become the highlight of our week this year, thanks to a great co-op, fun classes and awesome friends! It's hard to believe that our Friday classes have really come to an end.

The boys start the morning with a PE class. Since it was the last day, the parents were invited to join the class for family dodge ball. Last semester, I got a little overly competitive and ended up with sore arms! This time, I decided to shoot some photos to curb my competitive spirit.





The boys have loved their PE class. They got to play lots of sports, like basketball, floor hockey and badminton.

Alayna is free the first half of the class and then she goes to her piano lesson. She is really a natural at piano. I don't ever have to ask her to practice. She loves to play and learns quickly.



At 10 a.m., the boys go to their woodcarving class. They have made some really cool projects. I think their favorite part about the class is that their teacher lets them chat with their friends while they work on their carvings.







Alayna goes to karate during the second hour. She loves her karate teacher and all of her friends who are in the class with her.



Next, Matthew goes to his guitar lesson, and Andrew has a free period. Alayna takes American Girl book club. The girls have read through all of the books of Kirsten, one of the American Girl dolls. They discuss the books and make crafts related to what they read for the week.





Jayda hangs out upstairs with mommy in the cafe. I have loved my Friday mornings because I am able to catch up with some good friends during our time we jokingly call "group therapy." Usually, five or six different moms stop by to chat on Friday mornings.

Today, Jayda met two new 2-year-olds and actually had playmates! I can't believe that she waited until the very last week to make her new friends.



We are definitely going to miss our Friday mornings at co-op. It has been a great part of this school year!

My birthday and baseball

I guess if I had to sum up my birthday with one word, it would be "unforgettable." This was one of those birthdays where we will definitely look back and laugh some day. Or maybe just shake our heads.

My husband and kids are so awesome. They did everything within their power to make it a great day for me. I started the morning with flowers and donuts. My first hint that something might be wrong was when the donuts really weren't that appetizing to me. I was also really lethargic, but thought maybe I just hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before.

Then, Kent took the kids off shopping. They were gone for several hours, which I took as a good sign! Both my husband and daughter are excellent shoppers. When you put the two of them together, they always come up with something special!

They went to my favorite store, Charming Charlie, and came back with a scarf, necklace, earrings and a ring. They did a great job!

After that, we went to Matthew's opening day of baseball. His team played great the first half of the game, and they were even in the lead. During the second half, the other team got some awesome hits and pulled ahead. It was a lot of fun and a great first game of the season.

After the game, we went out to dinner and things were still looking good. But around bedtime, things started to turn around. Since the beginning of the month, a horrible stomach bug has been moving through our home. Four people had already had it. Only Matthew and I remained.

Each person would get incredibly ill for about 15 hours. I have cleaned up so many messes in the last few weeks, it's unbelievable! Typically, it would take about four to five days between victims. Since it had been a full week since the last person had been sick, I thought I was in the clear. Not so lucky.

The night of my birthday, I was sick all night long and into the next day. It was horrible. My family pampered me and made me feel very loved. But for more reasons than one, it was a birthday that will be hard to forget. :)

Book worm

The toddler loves books. Now that she is getting a little older, I got out this awesome set of books that I used to read to the other kids. I have always loved these books because they are so well written and entertaining with unusual stories!

She was so excited, she could barely believe it when she saw this big box of books. It was fun to read the familiar books to her that I have read so many other times to my other kids.

Now part of her bed-time routine is to read about 10 of these books. She would ask me to read them all if I would let her! I love snuggling with her and watching for her reactions as we read.

Ahhhh.... spring!

For the past week or so, the weather has been in a crazy mood. One day, it is chilly and rainy. The next, it is a warm spring day. Today when the kids finished school and I finished an afternoon meeting, I was so thankful to realize how warm the sunshine felt. Just yesterday, it was so cold that Matthew's baseball practice had to be cancelled.

I gathered up the troops and we headed down to the park. We played a game of kickball (mom and girls vs. the boys) and then the kids had a great time on the slides and swings.

Matthew finally got his new baseball uniform and was excited to try it out! This year, his team is the "Nationals."

This girl is fearless. She isn't satisfied to play on the toddler slide. She has to climb to the top of the tallest play structure and go down the big slide!

Good-byes and feathers

Last play date for a while

Ladies' night out

Sick little girl

Easter egg hunt

New girl room

BEFORE:

This is how Matthew kept his room most of the time.

When Andrew was almost 2, I painted this room. I literally drew and then cut out the stencils of the vehicles that are on the walls. It took me about six hours to hand paint those vehicles on EACH wall.

Let's just say it took me a few years to get to the point that I was OK with sanding and painting over the walls in this room. Well, 10 years. I also created a stencil to paint that wavy road around the room.

AFTER: This room was the largest of the kids' bedrooms, so we moved the two girls in here. This gives them a lot more space than they had in the 10x10 room they were sharing before.

It was so fun to swap out the storage bins in the primary colors for the ones in pink and white. It was even more fun to fill them with baby dolls, purses, Barbies and all things girly-girl!

I thought the rock star theme that Alayna chose was great for her personality. We bought this decals and had a great time working together to stick them on the walls.

I love the pink curtains. 

We had a blast picking out everything for the room. It so nice to have it cleaned and organized now so the kids can put everything away!