Who needs Paul Bunyan when you've got Luke Bunyan!

Park!

3 kids can get pretty high when they're all in one tire swing.
Seems like some responsible adult should not teach their child to swing on her belly.

Seriously, seems like a responsible adult should not teach his kid to swing on his belly.

A picnic and a bike ride

It's kind of funny but all three kids wore clothes that matched their bikes (this was not planned). Ella wore pink, Myles wore green, and Luke wore blue. I didn't pick out a single item of clothing for them. Freud, what does this mean?
He wanted a big boy bike so bad but he still can't quite pedal a tricycle. Here's Ella helping him.

Here's Myles in his matching John Deere helmet, shirt, and bike. That kid SERIOUSLY matches.

Who doesn't wear a pink skirt and pink bunny helmet to ride their bike?

Before riding their bikes, they feasted on PB sandwiches, sweet potato chips, and cookies. That's a balanced meal, right?

A couple weeks ago I took to the kids (plus Myles) to ride their bikes at the local soccer complex where there is a nice long stretch of pavement. They can ride their bikes as crazy as they want and I don't have to worry about cars potentially hitting them.

I think we all know where the kids get it...

Luke is VERY excited that he can write his name now. I think he's been secretly practicing or something because one day he just started writing and off he went. Here's his sample.

Random State Park pictures

BFF

Who is this Mountain Man? Oh yeah, that's right. I married him.

The kids thought this was pretty cool. Beavers had chopped down this tree. Impressive work!

I wanted a ride like that but Luke said I was too heavy for him to carry...wimp.

Here's Ella winging a stone into the creek...who knows...maybe she does a future in softball

Mommy's little fashionista. Who doesn't get dressed like to go stomping around in the mud?

Looking over the edge at the lake.

Aron taught the kids how to pick out the best rocks to skip across the water.

Update

Lookee who's in the pic...it's Baby Ella and Baby Myles (along with me, my Mom, and my Grandma)

My Grandma is doing ok (for those of you who are familiar with my family, we call my grandparents "G & P." I'm not when we started using it but G would stand for Grandma and P would stand for Pawp who is my grandfather.). She had a catheterization done on Wednesday where they looked at her tumor with a teeny tiny camera and while they were in there, cut off the tumor's blood supply. Thursday she had it removed completely. It was wrapped around her optic nerve quite a bit and it had finger like growths started down into her cheeks (yikes!).

She's still hanging out in the ICU in the hospital and the doctors say she's making good progress but she remains asleep the vast majority of the time. They had her sitting up on the edge of the bed today which is the most she's done so far.

She still need some good vibes sent her way!

Need some positive thoughts my dear blogger friends!

My grandma had a surgery today and will be having another one tomorrow to remove a benign tumor on her brain. I told her to kick some tumor ass and she said she would.

Ella and her buddy, Kaylene

We now interrupt this blog for a bit of an advertisement

Just paying homage to the fruit leather. All hail mighty fruit leather; the snack of champions!

Come on Barbie let's go party...

She makes me do her hair like this for every party she goes to...I think it's her version of an up-do. She says she likes it because it kind of looks like animal ears. Whatever floats your boat, Princess Leia.

Here she is stretching in case she's needed to perform on the balance beam.

Super ultra up close of the SuperStar! Buh Buh Buh Bennie and the Jetssssss! (Sorry, you've gotta be at least as old as I am before you get that Elton John reference).Who's the cutest 5 y.o. this side of the Mississippi?
Here are the girls decorating their goody bags.

One of the games...blindly grab blue stones out of a tub of beans.

Ella had a birthday party to go to today. She had oodles of fun. I stayed at the party to help with all the girly festivities.

Check out the video below. I tried to get a video of Ella playing one of the games. While doing this, one of her ballet buddies, Sarah, wanted to tell me about her wiggly tooth. See also video complete with wiggling of said tooth (look away if this grosses you out). She cracked me up. After the video was done, she told me her Mom said it would probably come out when she was six. I asked her when she would turn 6 and she said her birthday will be this summer. Regretably, I had to tell her I believed it would happen sooner. Much, much sooner. Like the next time she eats an apple.

Mr Gunz

These are probably good reasons why I should not be allowed to have a child (or two).

Exhibit A : Because I make him wear shirts like this to pre-school.

Exhibit B: Because I make him perform for videos like this one.

Exhibit C: Because I make him say it a bunch of times and kiss his biceps.

I could try to string together some sort of story to go with these pix...

but I'm tired and don't feel like putting forth the effort... Here's a sequence where the kids plus Aron decide to go up "a mountain." I chose to remain at the bottom.

Into the Woods

Who's more excited to be going to the park...

This guy?

Or......these guys!
Which way to go...hmmm....

No, this is not "Nature's Trashcan." (Yes that's trash in the hole of that tree)

Saturday was such a gorgeous day that we decided to head to our local state park to walk along the trails and hang out. We invited Myles along to hang out threw everyone in the car and away we went. Aron had a great time telling the kids all about nature and the things we saw along the path. He even told the kids a heartwarming story about how Uncle Jeffy got lost in his own woods/backyard one day. Somehow Jeffy was able to stumble upon a road and found his way home an hour or so later. When Ella got home, she made a sign for Uncle Jeffy that said "Uncle Jeffy Go This Way." She even put trees in the picture and put little foam bears on it.

A Friendly Reminder

This may be 1st position (or close to it)
This pose Ella calls the Scale. Not sure if that's the technical term for it.

Check out the awesome leg extension and toe point.

Ella is having a ballet recital again this year on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. I will be taking your pre-sale ticket orders at the end of March. Here's a pre-view of the magic that is The Lordess of the Dance.

Found it!

I knew the minute I told everyone I lost my camera it would find its way back to me. Aron put it in his sweatshirt after the park on Saturday and I found it when I did laundry today.

Phew!

You may be wondering...

Where are the pictures? Well, my dears, I took my camera with me to the State Park on Saturday and took a bazillion great pictures but have been unable to find it since that day. Don't worry, I will keep looking. I realize this blog is like Playboy--no one really reads it for the articles. In fact, you wouldn't even have read this one if the word Playboy hadn't caught your eye.

Who wants an easy snack for the kids?

Here's my easy recipe for a kids snack:

Open 1 can of garbanzo beans (yes, they are also called chickpeas). Put them in a colander and rinse them off. Take a cookie sheet and spray it with Pam. Dump the garbanzo beans on the sheet (you could also sprinkle with salt or some other herb/spice) and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes (every once in a while take a spatula and mix them around a bit) or until they are dried out and crispy. Put in a bowl and let the kids snack on something high protein and high fiber. You could also enjoy these on a salad instead of croutons.

A Trip to the Promised Land

My Mom picks the kids up from pre-school on Tuesdays and she tends to let herself get talked into McDonald's. Read into that the kids just have to mention that they would like to get "nuggets, fries, chocolate milk" and she's halfway to the drive-thru. Yesterday, the kids hinted at getting McD's and my Mom reluctantly gave in (read into that she said "Yeah we can get Micky D's, kids...just don't tell your mother." She's teaching them to lie but who am I to judge, right?). Ella then launched into a dissertation about how McDonald's is unhealthy and they shouldn't be eating it. My Mom, being already in the drive-thru line and all, said "Well then, what do you want instead?" Ella said "Nuggets, fries, and chocolate milk. Hey--and don't forget the pies!"

I see a future in dietetics!

It's almost as fun as The Price Is Right

Man, I loved that show when I was little! Anyhoos...

Ella has developed a new game. It's called "Healthy or Not Healthy." It's a crazy, madcap game where Aron and I name foods and she guesses if they are healthy or not healthy to eat. Aron tries to get all tricky on her by naming controversal things....like pie. He keeps trying to convince her that pie is healthy because of the fruit in it.

Oh Aron...you're the only one that has pie as its own food group, honey.