Busy Day!

Whew....Tuesday was a busy day!! We were up at 6:30am so Marc could go to kindergarten in the morning. I picked him up after school, came home and had lunch. Right after lunch we went for his first swim lesson of the fall. After swim lesson we came home and had a nap. After nap we went back to school for his class picnic.

When we first got there there was a little time to play on the playground.It was a crazy sight!! There were probably 50 kindergartners and some siblings all running around on the playground...talk about chaos!!
After some play time it was time to eat.I took Marc picture...I figured it is his school picnic so I would take a picture of him eating....well, Samantha was feeling left out. She shrieked and smiled her scrunched-up nose smile. So, of course I had to take her picture too.After staying at his picnic for just a little while, we headed down to Grand Rapids to the Schuler's Bookstore on 28th Street. One of our favorite authors, Laura Numeroff, was there for a book signing. She write the "If You Give A..." book series and the "What ??/?? Does Best" series. She had 2 new books that just came out. She read her 2 new books and and "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie", but she changed the words. All the kids thought it was hilarious!! After she read the books, she signed books.By the time we got home and I got Marc in bed, he was in bed at 9:00pm and I was in bed at 10:00pm. Ugh!
As we were driving to the bookstore, Marc said to me, "Mom, I think I will tell her that I like her books". I thought that was soooo sweet! I am glad that we are raising children to like and appreciate the value of books! :)

Celebration on the Grand

Well, this past Saturday was Celebration on the Grand. For those of you that don't know what it is, it is a celebration of downtown Grand Rapids. We have not been there for several years, since before Marc was born. Daddy Marc was looking at their website and noticed there was a family stage with some acts geared for kids, so we decided to head downtown on Saturday.

Before we headed over to the family stage we went to the VanAndle Public Museum. There was a daVinci Machines in Motions exhibit. This exhibit was a bunch of working models of a machines that daVinci invented.Outside of the museum there is a space capsule that Marc loved "wowing".After exploring the museum for awhile we headed over to the family area. The Helen DeVos Children's Hospital is working on a remodeling project. They had a tent set up where kids could go in and decorate tiles that would be used in the decorating. Just for decorating a tile, each child got a t-shirt that stated that they helped make art for the new hospital. :) Samantha actually helped me, Daddy just didn't get a picture of her coloring on the tile. ;)
The whole theme was circles. So Marc decided to make "abstract" circle smiley faces. He thought that would cheer up the kids in the hospital.The family area was partially sponsored by Celebration Cinemas (local movie theater). So their mascot Flick was walking around and playing with the kids.There were several tables set up from different area businesses with activities for the kids to do. Celebration Cinemas had a spin-to-win wheel. Everyone got to spin the wheel, kids and adults. So, the first time we spun we got a glow necklace, a coupon for free popcorn, a box or candy, and a stuffed Flick toy...good haul. :)After awhile we went back to the wheel again (shh, don't tell anybody) ;) This time we won free popcorn coupon, another Flick toy, and a t-shirt from G-Force.

The family area was by the Gerald R Ford Presidential Museum. There is a cool looking fountain there, so I made it into a photo-op.One of the tables set up was for Operation Pillow Talk. They go around and have people decorate or write on pillows and then send them to soldiers overseas . We took this as an opportunity to reinforce with Marc just how much our soldiers sacrifice for our country.The main act that we wanted to see on the family stage was a kids songs band called Scribble Monster. Marc had fun dancing all around during the outdoor concert.One of the songs they sing is all about chocolate milk. Marc just happened to be drinking chocolate milk so as they sang, he and Daddy waved it around like a lighter during a rock ballad.
The area that the stage was in had a huge hill. So they took pink spray paint and made a big section and called it the rolling spot, so not to sit there. Marc had a blast rolling down and then running back up the hill.I tried to get Samantha to do it, but she was more interested in watching the older kids doing itThis whole thing is free to the public. It was a lot of fun, and we came home with a really big loot!
2 free popcorn coupons, a box of candy, 2 stuffed Flick toys, a G-Force shirt, 2 Art for the hospital shirts, a canvas Home Depot bag, a glow in the dark necklace, McDonaldland cookies, a home-made bookmark, a homemade tambourine, and lots of other little stuff.
It was a beautiful sunny day and it was a great day to spend with the family! :)

First Day of Kindergarten!!

Well, I guess it had to happen eventually, my little boy started kindergarten on Tuesday! He was really excited for his first day.We got there a little early so we took a few photos of our little man.At Chandler Wood Charter Academy, the elementary school teachers come out to the front of the building and all the kids line up with their teacher and all go in together as a class.
As Marc stood in line, we could tell he was about to cry...and he did. After a hug and some reassuring, he was fine.While we were waiting for time to go inside, we got a picture of Marc and his teacher, Mrs. Grimm.After some waiting, it was time for them to go into their classroom. :)We told Marc that we would go and spend a few minutes with him in the classroom. As soon as all the backpacks got hung up, all the kids went the "rug" where they do group time to say Hi and Welcome to kindergarten. After the short group time, there was a whole school assembly. At the assembly they said the Pledge and the school's Creed. the principal talked about some school rules. I have heard from a neighbor whose 7th & 4th graders go there that the school has an assembly once a week. The classes rotate and do "something" during the assembly. We went to the assembly which lasted about 20-30 minutes. Since we told Marc that we would hang out in his room for a few minutes we went back to his room.
Mrs. Grimm had them cut out a clothing shaped paper, write their name on it, glue a picture of them on it, and then tell her 3 things about themselves to have written on it. Since there were still a few of us parents there, she put us to work.Marc chose a baseball cap to decorate.
After we were done helping Mrs Grimm we left and came home for a little while. Samantha kept asking "bra-ur" (translation=brother). She was confused about why he wasn't in the back seat with her. I thought I would ball and sob the whole time he was gone on his first day of school. Surprisingly enough, I didn't even shed a tear. (I came close when he was crying, but I held it together.)
On the second day of school I parked and walked him up to his class line. I had planned on hanging out with him until he went into the building. After just a couple of minutes, he looked at me and said "Bye Mom". So I took the clue and left. I cried almost all the way to work that morning.
He said he has not had a single tear since those first ones. :) He has had a great time. He tells me all about what he did that day when I pick him up. On Tuesday he spent some time in the Art Room, on Wednesday he spent time in the Computer Lab, and on Thursday he spent time in Gym. I think the other 2 places that get rotated every week are Music & Library.
He is off to a great start and he loves it! :)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Today we went to church and then to a Whitecaps baseball game. Both kids were looking cute before church so I snapped a few pictures. This one was adorable, Marc has his "nice" smile and Samantha has her "I'm up to something" smile.After church we came home for awhile for a snack and a nap for Samantha and then headed to the ball park. Before the game Marc and Daddy went out to play on the field for awhile.A couple of years ago Daddy bought Marc one of those foam fingers. We took it with us today. It provided for some much needed distractions during the game. When Marc was on the field before the game, he got Crash and Frankie sign the foam finger.We decided to get some ice cream since it was a very sunny, warm afternoon game. We got one of the big megaphones for all 4 of us to split. Marc had fun! :)This picture of Samantha turned out just too cute!! I decided to try her sunglasses with her again. Since she had her hat on, the legs of the glasses were under the strap of her hat. She actually kept them on for 5-10 minutes!!After the game, Marc got to go out and run the bases......and he scored a run!!It was a beautiful day to spend in the ball park with some my favorite people! Thanks for joining us Mom! :)

2 Thumbs Up...Way Up!!

Yea!! On Monday morning Marc had his post-op appointment with Dr Winkle, his ENT. We got the "all clear" from him. He said that there was still some healing going on, but he had no more restrictions. Marc was grinning from ear to ear as we left the office.We told Marc that we would take him out for some fun after he got the all clear from the doctor. He has been asking for a long time to go to Chuck E Cheese (about a year). So, we decided that this was a good reason to go. :)
After eating some ok pizza ;) we went off to play games. :) Samantha had fun riding some of the "toddler" rides.

Chillin' the Bob the Builder

Honking Chucke's nose

Firewoman Samantha to the rescue!

Going for a ride with the Teletubbies

Marc had fun playing the games. There were several new games, and fun ones at that, since we were there last year. (Marc and I actually had fun too).

Riding a roller coaster simulator

Trying to knock some coins off to get tickets

Daddy helping Marc shoot the moving spider

Driving the train

Making the monster truck crush the cars for tickets

We had a total of about 100 tokens. Between having lots of tokens and hitting the jackpot on a couple of games, we ended up with 940 tickets!!As we were feeding our tickets in the ticket machine, Chucke came out for a visit (after I had to ask for him to). As usual, Marc was super excited to see him (even though he knows it is just someone in a costume). Samantha on the other hand, wasn't quite so sure. I held her when we took her to see him. At first she just snuggled into me and stared at him. After a minute, she decided he was ok to give 5 to.After some visiting with Chucke, we went to turn in our tickets. We normally have Marc save them so eventually he can get a "bigger" prize. We decided that 940 was enough to get a "big" prize. There were a couple of nice toy sets he could get, but the final decision was on a Chuck E Cheese t-shirt.I wanted to get a picture of the kids in front of the mechanical Chucke, but when I put Samantha on the ledge, she flipped out and started whining. So, that is why I am in the picture too.Marc had so much fun during the 2 hours we were there. We have never seen him so "revved up". It might have been because he had to be "calm" for so long, or the fact that there were new games, or the fact that we got lots of tickets, or that he just plain had fun. Whatever the reason, we were glad he enjoyed his "all healed" celebration! :)