Bruce's trip

Bruce's trip to China (for work) was canceled! YEA! The kids and I were happy that we didn't have to bring him to the airport on Friday, and it made for a whole weekend with absolutely nothing planned!

On Saturday we went to the Y to go swimming for a while in the afternoon. The kids love open swim, and are getting braver and braver in the water. Jenna discovered just how much fun it is to jump in the water, and then proceeded to jump in over and over and over again (my arms started to get tired from all the catching!). Andrew even decided to test out jumping in the water, and showed off his back float, and doggy paddle. After all that swimming the kids worked up an appetite, so we headed over to Applebee's. When the waiter asked what everyone wanted to drink, Jenna surprised us all by answering "beer". We talked her into milk. The waiter seemed to get a pretty good chuckle out of it; I'm guessing that he doesn't get an order for beer from a 2 year old very often.
On Sunday Grandpa & Grandma Bongers came up. The kids enjoyed wrestling with Grandpa. It was fun to watch and brought back memories of my siblings and I doing the same thing.

After wrestling, the kids headed to Target to pick out their Valentine's day presents with Grandma and Grandpa, while Bruce and I did a little shopping for the Easter bunny. Andrew picked out a Helicopter toy, while Jenna decided on a Doll (with a ton of accessories), sparkly Hello Kitty sandals, and a puzzle. Both kids also picked out bubbles. Jenna insisted on getting the doll out of the box as soon as she was out of the store, and then carried it around with her for the rest of the night. Andrew took his helicopter out in the restaurant while waiting for the pizza to arrive....and has been playing with it since. We're already on our second set of batteries.

We hope that everyone had a good weekend and is able to enjoy all the nice weather we've been having. I know we've been enjoying being able to go for walks at night, and the kids have been loving that they can play outside while we get supper ready.

Leprechaun visit

When I picked the kids up from daycare today, Andrew greeted me with the following "MOM, guess what?!? A leprechaun pooped in my house!" Slightly confused, and trying to figure out why poop was a good thing, a few questions later it all made sense (kind of).
The kids made leprechaun houses out of Kleenex boxes today, and at some point (nap time most likely) the little guy visited and left treats in each house (1 house per kid). The kids spent project time decorating their house with paint, glitter, sparkles, etc. and Andrew has a 'if a little is good, a lot is better' philosophy lately when it comes to paint (& glue) so some of his treats ended up w/ a little bit green paint on them....or as he was calling it Leprechaun poop. Which is green by the way (in case you were wondering). If you ask him how it happened, his explanation is that the leprechaun was so excited by how cool his house is, that he pooped (out of excitement of course).
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

65 & Sunny

What do you do when it hits 65° in WI in March! Spend the day outside of course! There were walks to take, bikes to ride, a sandbox to play in, and friends to play with.

After going for a walk, the kids tested out their hula hoops.

Then it was on to the sandbox...and in case you were wondering Jenna picked her outfit out...not a great idea to wear a dress & white tights in the sandbox, let alone outside in the spring, but it wasn't worth the fight. She was happy, and looked pretty darn cute too :)

After doing a little digging in the sand, Andrew discovered that if you dug a hole it would fill with water.....so of course you have to start making a river.
After that Andrew was off to a friends house to play with everyone....I love spring because we actually get to see our neighbors again!

Bruce was packing away the winter stuff when Jenna noticed her sled sitting out, and attempted to convince us to take her for one more spin around the yard (it didn't work*):

* note the outfit change....after falling in the sandbox and getting dirty, she decided that a much better outfit would consist of her dress, and jeans....she searched and searched until she found the jeans she got from Addison that had the blue cuff on the bottom - all because "it matches!".

With Andrew off playing with his friends, she realized she could ride the 4-wheeler w/o having him ask to ride it....so off she went.

It was a fun day, and it was nice to be able to be outside soaking up some sun, after the long winter. Everyone was tuckered out by the end of the day...including Sadie who did a lot of Frisbee catching.

I did it myself

After picking Andrew up from school on Friday, the kids and I made a trip to Target to pick up a few things. I bought them some popcorn, and they happily munched through out the store. When it was time to head home, Andrew said he was full, and threw his popcorn out, while Jenna wanted to bring hers with....she also asked me to put the tray on her car seat, which I didn't think much of since she had been insisting on having the tray put on all day. We had just gotten out of the parking lot when I heard "I did it myself"...."did what yourself Jenna?" "Poured it out! Now I can eat it all gone!" So I turned around to see what she had done....here it is:At least she got it all on her tray! Plus she was so proud of herself for doing such a good job, there was no way I could have told her it wasn't a good idea ;)

Mexican Fiesta

Andrew has been taking a Spanish class and has been having a blast (and learning a ton too!). For their last class they had a Mexican Fiesta. As part of the party they tasted different types of Mexican food, and played some traditional games. He also brought home 2 different sombreros. Here he is showing off his 2 sombreros:

Pony parade

Jenna's been a busy little girl lately. She found a basket in the basement (an Easter basket) and promptly filled it with Ponies. Tonight this is how we found them:

When I asked her what her ponies where doing....they were sleeping, because they had to wait in line for stickers. (note the sticker that is now on each pony). In case you are wondering, no we did not buy her any of these ponies, they are all hand-me-downs from one of Bruce's co-workers; she gave us a big bag of them (which Jenna just found and is now playing with).

She also was very interested in doing puzzles tonight, and we are very impressed with how good she did! She barely needed assistance with putting things together, it was fun to watch her figure things out. You could see her wheels turning as she put the puzzle together.

Andrew was also doing puzzles, but he notified us that we need harder puzzles, because the ones we have are too easy. Maybe the Easter bunny will treat him to a few more difficult puzzles.

This past week the weather was great, so we were able to spend some time outside (yay!). Both kids had fun riding their bikes:

And of course had to spend some time swinging:

On Saturday morning Andrew showed us his creative side by 'decorating' his room with Wikki Sticks....here's a picture of one of his creations. He's also been making lots and lots of posters lately, so he's been hanging them up all over the house. It's fun to watch his drawing skills develop. He's also been writing things lately, and is getting pretty good at sounding things out.

Swimming lessons

Andrew and Jenna started swimming lessons tonight. We weren't sure how they were going to do since Andrew wasn't sure he wanted to take them, and has been really nervous in the water for the past year or two. Both kids did awesome!
Jenna is in a class that Bruce or I have to be in the water with her, and Andrew is on his own with his teacher. I wasn't sure how he'd do with seeing me in the water with Jenna and not him, but he did fine. His teacher said she could tell he was a little apprehensive of the water, but warmed up quickly. It was nice to be able to look over and see him splashing away and learning new things with a smile on his face. He even put his face in the water tonight (a big step for him!). Last time he was in lessons, there were some tears invovled, so this was a nice change. I think that it helps that his preschool teacher, Miss Cheryl, also teaches swimming lessons and prepped him for the lesson tonight, and asked him to tell her all about on Friday, when he sees her next.
This is Jenna's 1st swim class, and so far she seems to like it. She had a pretty big night since her teacher feels it's important to submerge the kids so they learn to hold their breath under water (in case they fall in). She wasn't very happy the 1st time the teacher pushed her under, but recovered quickly when the teacher had Jenna give her a high five, then pretended it caused her to fall over into the water. She went under a total of 4 times tonight, and did great with it. When the teacher asked the kids if they had fun Jenna answered with a loud "Yep!" so I guess she wasn't too traumatized.
Over all both Bruce and I were pleasantly surprised at how well it went, hopefully things continue to go well for the next 6 weeks!

Fun weekend

Bruce and the kids spent this past weekend hanging out and having fun, while I meet up with some college friends in the Dells for a girls weekend. Bruce and the kids kept themselves busy by going to the Y to swim, checking out an ice fishing contest, building a fort (w/ tunnels) and sledding. They all had so much to tell me about when I got home on Sunday, it was fun to listen to the kids re-tell all their activities from the weekend.
Bruce took some video of Andrew going thru one of the tunnels in the snow fort that is really cute, so hopefully we can figure out how to get the video off his phone, and onto the here. He was pretending he was a rat (and a handsome one at that!).
This past weekend was the 1st time that the college group of girls has had everyone in the same place at the same time in 10 years! It was fun catching up with everyone, and we're hoping to be able to do it again next year. Here's a picture of every one from Saturday night:

After naps on Sunday, we headed outside to enjoy the warmer weather. The kids used their tubes on our little hill, and squealed and giggled every time we managed to make them bump into each other.

One, two, three, GO:

Bump:

Time to go again:

The tubes are really nice, since the kids (Jenna) can carry it back up themselves; plus they go a lot further. After sledding, and playing in the fort, they wanted to find the fire pit (we did!).

Here is a picture of the kids attempting to convince us we should have a bonfire:

We didn't have a bonfire, but at least now we know where the fire pit is, so at least it's a possibility!