blast off!

the answer is:


both!
  
{read yesterdays' post if you missed the question}


one: we celebrated Grandpa Olsen's 70th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday. 


the kids loved that he had his party here. not that it was his pick. Grandma had a bit to do with that decision. not that he complained. 


Uncle John decided that it was a bit like a nightclub for kids. hmmm... except Grandpa had to produce ID to buy a beer and was only allowed to purchase two glasses. which he offered to his sons. 


only Kiara didn't completely take the ticket winning seriously. it did, however, matter when it came to retrieving the tickets from the machine. adding the tickets to the "ticket calculator". or choosing a prize. which i could really say a whole essay on that part of the visit. {i think even the kids dread that part. the prize is never worth the work.} 


needless to say, we arrived with excited kids and left with happy and exhausted kids. 



two: we took the kids to a nearby Japanese restaurant after church on Sunday. the kids loved it. 


when we walked in they saw the water wall at the front. they decided we should have one in our house. 


then they were really curious when we had to take off our shoes and go into a little room. they were super excited when they saw the table and the chairs on the floor. had Kristian and i known it would be enjoyed so well, we would have taken them long ago!


they both love sushi. we ordered a special dish of sashimi for the kids, thinking it was the type that was fully cooked. oops! although it was a good experience for Kristian and i to extend our palate further! 


Kiara is proving to be more adventurous with food as she is getting older. Aidan is more cautious, but tends to try new foods with some minor bribing. i do expect they will want to go back soon. 



another successful weekend. as much fun as it is at ChuckE.Cheese....it is not a place i like for the food.

Aidan was invited to a birthday part at Kidz Quarterz in Sherwood Park a few months ago. we didn't go the token route, so can't comment on that. however it has an amazing indoor playground. as well as pizza that is much healthier and tastier. 



i was teaching a scrapbook class on Saturday morning and ended up not leaving until mid afternoon. fun times with the class and then got chatting. typical me. i didn't realize i missed out on such a beautiful day!



the snow is mostly melted in our backyard. even rather dry compared to Saturday. this poor Stomp Rocket is a few years old now. apparently it needed to be adjusted slightly. usually you attach the rocket to the yellow stand that is visible in the background. i love the expressions on their faces!



cute kids we have. they look so innocent and fun in this photo.

yes, still having fun with CS4. actions. and our iMac.

it wasn't until yesterday that Aidan made a comment about his opinion over having AppleTV. we had all gotten accustomed to the kids turning on the television at various times and watching TreeHouse or YTV for 15 to 30 minutes during the day. for them it was mostly just a break. it has been an adjustment for all of us to learn new ways to take a break during the day. with AppleTV, you can connect to iTunes, YouTube or a million satellite radio stations. it is also beyond their computer skills for the moment. we are not rushing into teaching them how to use it either!


here is the big news of the day!
Monday is our gymnastics day. the kids are quite natural at this sport. it is almost disgusting how flexible and strong they both are. Aidan did a "pull-over" on his own today. his coach was really impressed {and so was Kiara's!} apparently it is very rare for a child Aidan's age to be coordinated and strong enough to do that maneuver individually. Aidan was thrilled. so was i. and shocked too. this boy is surprising me every day. so we called Daddy at work, then stopped by Tim Horton's for a 6-pack of donuts. on the way to the club, he counted to 100. on the way home, he spelled words he figured out on his own. 

overall, i'd say we had an awesome start to the Spring Break. let's hope we can finish as strong as we started!

and that's a wrap!

where to begin?!

it never fails that if i have a list of to do's that is longer than myself, then some shape or form of drama will soon begin. definitely not for my entertainment.

Aidan had a field trip where he learned that morning i would not be going with him or driving him. tough break. it involved him not eating his breakfast. protest? as it turned out he maintained his grumpy attitude for his teacher and his parent leader. he was that kid. lovely. no one was more relieved than i, to learn that it was at least short-lived! small miracle?



i do admit that i am relieved of two more things: one this is not a regular occurrence with the lil' stinker and second...although this is odd....that he is not trying to hide and pretend all was well, when it wasn't.

ironically he was looking forward to this field trip. i knew that it was one his teacher also really liked. she divulged to the kids that she was a dinosaur expert a few weeks ago.  THAT grabbed the kids attention!




i understood the reason behind Aidan's temperament. however we did have a discussion on the poor choices he made. we also decided it would be nice to make a special thank you poster for his teacher. we chose not to make a big deal of it and do the entire apology. instead it was a lesson in how his choices and attitude can make an impression on another person. for better or worse. oh the balance! ugh.

he used some of my older scrapbook supplies and created this. a shape punch to create "footprints" on the edge. a glittered sun. a pattern made with the "stones" and even a green ribbon "like the colour of leaves and grass" for it to hang. completely his own design. i found the "Super Fun" die cut from the last month's Urban kit. it sounded like something Aidan would say, and he loved it.

apparently the poster was much appreciated. he had a better attitude. he also was thrilled that his teacher and his classmates liked it. he added that it made him feel like a real artist. awww.




i don't think i have talked to any parent this week who did not have odd problems with their kids. there was a full moon. hmmm.

these photos describe their personalities and choices very well.



yes, they thought they were hilarious. ha. haha. ha. i did not quite get the joke.



again. don't get it.

i think i will blame the snow.

the repeated question from Aidan was, "i thought we didn't have snow in the spring?" yes, my dear boy. in some parts of the globe spring truly means no snow. not here.

here's it to hoping our spring break will be filled with sunshine and warmer temperatures. they need to go outside. every. day.



she was posing.

she had spent the previous 75 hours driving me crazy. she really did owe me. really.

i have been on the fence over purchasing CS4 or PSE8. i have a few weeks left in my trial version. i FINALLY uploaded the Prairie Woman's actions. i had a lot to learn about PSE7. however i understood how to make lots of changes the long way. i completely expected to spend an hour to upload the actions into CS4. i was thrilled to be proved so very wrong. it took 30 seconds. and then it took me 2 minutes to realize the job was done. what?! off to coffee and tea to get more next.

i think i can give up doing editing the long way with PSE and move into the fast lane. what will i do with my extra time? i agree. that slot will be filled immediately.

here is a question to ponder. did we take the kids to a new japanese restaurant or Chuck E. Cheese this weekend?

where would you take tired and spring-crazy children?

for real

we had a beautiful weekend. it was sunny. fairly warm.

the snow finally diminished enough to allow the dead grass to poke through. the kids have had their fair share of splashing through puddles. it took their boots nearly 3 days to dry after their last romp!


then we awoke to THIS on Monday morning.






you can see that a bunny enjoyed making tracks all over the yard. when our darlings saw the footprints, they decided it was "the Easter Bunny". it was definitely a busy bunny.



on Sunday afternoon we decided to get the bikes out and test out the paths. it is our first spring in the community and so nice for all of us to walk out the door and have the path right there. i still am in disbelief that just a year ago many nice spring weekends were spent going from show home to driving the streets looking for "good" areas. we all agree that the bike ride was the best way to spend an afternoon!



Kiara is willing to try anything new. love her adventurous spirit! i am crossing my fingers that we have left the uglyness of the 3's behind and can embrace the entertaining aspects of the 3's. there were so many days when we really wondered if that sweet girl would ever return to us.



Aidan was drenched.

what normal boy could resist the deep puddles?! the raincoat came in  quite handy. i also have photos of him with the puddle water dripping from his face.

he too had some pretty terrible days when he was 3. like any healthy kid, he still has his own challenges!! he and his buddy from school have been excited for weeks now because of a field trip to study dinosaurs at the museum. yesterday they even decided to wear dinosaur t-shirts so that they would match. cute! then my dear child discovered this morning that i would not be going on the field trip with him. given his already tough morning, the fact pushed him over the edge. apparently he had visions of he and his buddy, together with their mommy's having a grand ol' ball of a time. it is a wonder they didn't decide our wardrobe as well. so, yes. still some days that are challenging.


well, Kiara and i have enjoyed a relaxing remainder of our morning. we both have the sniffles and have quite the chorus of sniffs and coughs going on. lovely.

i am nearly done prepping for my class on Thursday. the busy patterns of the papers was a challenge to me and stumped me on how to combine them in a pleasing way. as a result i ended up using all but a few scraps of paper. the back of the layout is interesting as it is taped together to be held into place! it stumped me even further when i thought about how i was ever going to teach it and make sure that the cuts were described properly. enter my thoughtful boss....with the suggestion that i pre-cut as much as i can. it was more work, but i think it will make the class run much more smoothly! now just to hope and keep my fingers crossed that i made the right cuts!!

i have the montly dt layout on my desk ready to be glued into place. i can't wait to see how it looks when it is done. beautiful, beautiful papers and embellishments.

then i can start the fun of creating the next monthly layout class. it has been tough to do my other work. i know i say this every month...but this one is going to be so awesome! fun and messy. i am soooo lucky!


now to just stop the snow and bring on consistent warm sunshine and air!