It's been a long time since I sat down and posted pictures of our adventures. This will be a hodge-podge of various activities and events for the last few months. When Daddy comes home from work the children's first reaction is to run to him and say "Can I climb you?" In the absence of the climbing his torso they will try to get on his back. He's usually a good sport.

A few weeks ago we took the kids to the Rochester Museum of Play. The kids were totally over stimulated by so many choices and fun things to do. It was tough trying to follow them all around and keep track of each of them as they scampered off to their next adventure. I will say thought, that I love these great museums. We have rotated memberships throughout the years and have loved the Ithaca Science center and the MOST right here in town. This year we have decided to explore the Museum of Play and hopefully there will be reciprocal memberships that we can take advantage of on our trip west.

The kids on the Carousel.

Lily being the ice cream Lady.

Little Wegmans - Lily says that she wants to be a cashier when she grows up. (We'll work on the achievement lessons in the future.) In the meantime we are encouraging her to dream.

In February the kids had a week break from school. We made robots and decorated them during one particularly cold afternoon. Periodically, they still strap them on and wander around the house.

Benjamin displaying his triceratops.

In Daddy's workshop.

The kids at Christmas enjoying their electronic devices.

As I look back on these pictures and our memories I have realized that we have really enjoyed our family time this winter. Our failed adoption was disappointing and heart wrenching but I feel really blessed to enjoy the family time that we cherish together.

Kitchen

My birthday present to myself was a new kitchen. I spent the day finishing the countertops. I love the finish product.

new do

Lily's new do....   After a battle with head lice, (Kindergarten) we chopped Lily's hair.  It is really cute and fun to style.  She likes it but wants to grow it long again.

Everyone lined up for a head shot.  Daddy wanted the side view.

I've been meaning to post this picture.  Benjamin is into goofy photos lately, but his is a dinosaur that he built with a kit his birth mommy sent him.  He can build all kinds of things and he love it.  He even sat through a PBS broadcast today (at his request) about mastodons (prehistoric mammoth's, elephants, and sloths who's fully formed fossil remains were found recently.)

His latest crack-up is singing the whole version of the Gilligan's Island into....just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

Kitchen redo

I'm about half way done painting my kitchen cabinets and am loving the results.  It is a long a tedious process but worth the blood and sweat.  Fortunately, no tears.  Here are some of the in-process photos.

Don't tell Joseph,  countertop's are next.

 

Here is my birthday boy with his raptor.  This was a gift from our neighbor and Ben was so excited about it.  He played with his new toys which included a transforming remote controlled car, a lego set, football, the movie Tin-Tin, a leapster, and a buildable dinosaur set for hours. 

Now we are watching the movie Tin-Tin.

 Benjamin's cake requests are becoming more complicated.   I am lucky in that Ben isn't really fussy and is perfectly happy with his armature mother's creations.  I could use a good cake decorating class, but for now I copy things I find online.

Here is our birthday interview text.  I got the full thing on video that is precious, but too long to post.
How old are you?  5
Do you have a nickname?  Turbo
What is your favorite color?  green, yellow, and red
What is your favorite animal? dog
What is your favorite book? The Mummy book
What is your favorite TV show? GI Joe Renegades
What is your favorite movie? Scooby Doo, Tin-Tin
What is your favorite song? I'm going crazy
What is your favorite food? Hot dog
What is your favorite drink? Root beer
What is your favorite breakfast food? French toast sticks
What is your favorite snack? candy
What is your favorite game? battleship
What is your favorite toy? leappad
Who is your best friend? John Michael
What is your favorite thing to do? Play
What is your favorite thing to do outside? climb on the climbing thing
What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
Why?   because theres lots of candy and costumes
What do you like to take to bed with you? Rodney the reindeer
Where is your favorite place to go? McDonalds
What is your favorite restaurant? Pizza Hut
Where do you want to go on vacation? Disney world
What do you want to be when you grow up? Policeman nicknamed Chase
What did you do on your birthday?  school, and gave my classmates robots, lunch at burger king, opened presents.

We had a great day!

Birthday Eve

It's Birthday Eve in the Ward Household.  Ben should wake up to this at his breakfast table tomorrow morning.  He is so excited to turn 5.  I can't believe it...and wonder where the time has gone.  My beloved baby boy will be five tomorrow. How I wish time would slow down.  He's growing and learning so much,  We are so proud of him.

The school has a rule about bringing in homemade goods.  I'm too cheap to go buy baked goods and so I created these creatures this morning to take and share with Ben's classmates.  These Robots turned out pretty cute if I say so myself.  Hopefully no one will complain about juice boxes with this amount of candy attached.

& Last but not least I'll attach a picture taken just today of the birthday Boy.  It was 60 degrees today and sunny.  We spent the afternoon playing in the sunshine with John and Sara (our fabulous neighbors).  Stay tuned for a birthday interview tomorrow and hopefully an upload of the wrapping-thrashing.

It seems like it's been forever since my last post.  We got the camera out last night to take some pictures of our monkeys and I decided to make time today to post our pictures of the last few months.  Below is  a picture of the latest skill the kids have acquired.  They love to climb the walls.  I've limited their time doing this stunt, but it makes them so happy to be in the air.  Go figure....

I bought Joseph an I-pad for his birthday.  Unfortunately he has to fight me and the kids to be able to use it.

 This was our halloween photo.  Ben was Iron-man.  Lily went to school as a unicorn but wanted to be Snow White when she got home.  We made the quick switcheroo and she was thrilled.

 

 I love this picture of Alec.  He is really sweet, but he's also a joker and quick to take something and run.  This picture at least makes him appear angelic.

Joseph finally finished my Kitchen island.  The drawer is lovely.  It enabled me to have a spice drawer that I love.  The dovetailing is fabulous.  I'm amazed at how good Joseph has become with woodworking.  He just lacks the time to do what he enjoys.

 One of the highlights of our fall was a visit from Joseph's parents.  They stayed for 8 days and we loved having them.

 During Lois and LaVar's visit we went to the farmer's museum.  Ben commandeered a toy tractor and rode thru the whole complex.  We had to laugh, he's consistent.