April 2019 Happenings

April started with Reed bringing home a horrendous case of influenza from school and infecting all of us. It was so bad at one point 15 out of 23 kids were absent from his class and Jon and I both missed several days of work which rarely happens. Luckily Reed and I were both feeling better and were able go on his field trip to our town's Historical Park. It was actually really interesting and we learned a lot about little Kingsburg.

The week of sickness ended with us having to say goodbye to Dodger. We had planned to go away to the coast for the weekend and had decided with his failing health and us all being under the weather it would be better to stay home. Once Dodger passed we decided we just needed to get away so we packed quickly and headed to the coast as soon as Reed was out of school. It wasn't the best vacation ever but it did us all good to get out of the house and have a change of scenery. On the way over we stopped at In-N-Out for dinner and our order number was 11, the next day I went to the local market and our number was once again 11! Ironically Dodger was 11 years old so we decided it was his way of being with us.

The Fresno Football Club's season officially started and we made it to one of the games. Unfortunately they moved the games to later in the evening so they are a bit harder for us to get to but we are hoping once summer is here we can make it to more.

The day after Easter the boys were off of school so we stayed home and did our best to enjoy a beautiful spring day. We did so many activities - sidewalk chalk, tie dyeing, playing with Shell-Ten, and building an epic Hotwheels track on the back patio.

Reed participated in a six week STEAM program afterschool one day a week. They invited parents to a presentation on the last day of the program and it was neat to see all of the different projects they had worked on. One of the things was an Easter Egg they had painted using a robot they programmed. The STEAM teacher loved the finished products so much she entered them in the district wide art competition. Reed's teacher also entered a project he worked on completely by himself in the competition. Both pieces won awards so we were able to attend the show and see the pieces on display. Reed was so proud and both entries were awarded 2nd place in their respective categories.

Being at home sick means finding new ways of entertaining yourself. Like having ice cream tastings, cheering on your tortoise when he climbs up on his log for the first time, and watching silly videos. At the end of the month Kieran was invited to a preschool friend's birthday party and insisted on going. He had a blast and it was nice getting to know some of the other parents better. Also at the end of the month we discovered a caterpillar migration behind our house and ended up putting 11 of them in mason jars, feeding them, and watching them transform. You'll have to wait for my May post to see the final outcome but I will say there is nothing like seeing science in action first hand!

April also marked the start of baseball season. It was Kieran's first year playing and he was so excited to finally be on a team. I also realized how hectic it is to have both kids in multiple activities and could not believe the lineup of paraphernalia that needed to be loaded in my car each morning!!!

Easter 2019

Once again this year Easter turned into a multi-day event. Kieran had an Easter party and egg hunt at preschool. I wasn't able to help out that day but C was sweet and sent me a couple really cute pictures. The teachers had made each child a superhero cape to hunt in and they all looked adorable! Day Care was closed on Good Friday so I took the day off and the boys and I got ready for Easter including decorating some cute faux eggs. I love that the big retailers now offer egg alternatives for decorating, the boys have a great time being crafty and the mess is super easy to clean-up! Bri and Shannon organized our Friend Easter party in the park that Friday as well and the kids had a great time playing with their friends, hunting eggs, and eating pizza.

 

 

This year the Stoothoff and Loveless families joined us for Easter and the kids were so excited to have Maisie and Viv to play with and everyone loved meeting baby Cleo. We had an egg hunt, lunch, and as always lots of sweet gifts for the kiddos. It's so fun to see how much better the kids get at hunting each year - I think the Easter Bunny is really going to have to step up his hiding skills next year! Auntie M and family weren't able to come this year and since she is the one that usually kicks off the taking of family pictures I failed miserably in this department and have few to zero pictures of most of the adults present.