Swedish, Polish, Persian, Thai and Vietnamese....

I was able to take a very, very fun trip on Saturday to Chicago! I went on a bus trip with a local cooking school to explore some of the ethnic areas and markets of Chicago. It was fantastic! We brought big coolers and were able to explore, eat and buy all day long. We also spent an hour at a fresh seafood wholesale market where we stocked up on shrimp, scallops, salmon and other fish. My friend, Laurie, and I had a great time and can't wait for the next trip. While I was out and about, Josh was home holding down the fort and doing some serious manual labor! He shoveled and spread mulch for hours and hours all day Saturday and Sunday to spruce up our many, many flower beds. He also spent 5 hours with our neighbor, dismantling their playset and re-erecting it in our yard. The kids are thrilled!!! Max has been climbing and swinging on the monkeybars while Taba swings, and Calvin and Quincy make forts. Love it! The neighbors were also thrilled to have it out of their yard as they plan to put up a basketball court instead. Max had a sleepover at a friend's house last night in addition to a soccer game on both Saturday and Sunday. He is worn out! (So is Josh....)

Romeo and Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Why art thou called Romeo?
Quincy was Romeo these past couple of days in his 6th grade production and did a really great job! He didn't even seem too embarrassed when he had to declare his love for Juliet in front of the rest of his class. Very cute! The class has put on 4 shows so far and have two more to go tomorrow. I think Quincy will be relieved tomorrow when no one in his family shows up to watch. Yesterday, Josh watched. Today, Max, Calvin and I watched along with Grandma, her friend, Dick, and Grandpa! Whew! Lots of potential for embarrassment but I think we all managed to not do anything too mortifying!

More Sunshine!

Despite the predictions of rain and thunderstorms today, we had another beautiful, sunny day! The kids immediately ran outside to play with friends upon getting home from school and had quite a soccer game going on in the neighbors' backyard. Calvin was also busy doing some woodworking with his power tools from Grandma. Quincy was have his first performance as Romeo in his class production of Romeo and Juliet tomorrow. He is quite excited - hopefully all goes well! Tabitha has baton lessons again tomorrow and since she has now mastered the high toss in the air with a turn and a catch, she is eager to learn whatever comes next.

It's All about Max!

Today was fantastic! Beautiful and 75 degrees. We started the day with Max's 2nd soccer game. He was once again leading the pack with scoring when he played offense and stopping goals right and left while playing goalie. The coach's wife told me that "you sure can tell that he's played before" but... he hasn't! This is his first soccer team experience. Guess it pays to be the youngest and spend many years watching the sports before it's your turn to play them. We came home to work in the yard and seal our deck. The kids played outside all day long, enjoying the warm weather. Max decided to give his two-wheeler a try and by the end of the afternoon, had a very good handle on riding independently! Between getting rid of the training wheels and all of a sudden, picking up a book this week and just reading it out loud without hesitation.... Max has really grown up! Quincy said that it's kind of sad because we don't have a "little" Max anymore. Quincy was the usher in a matinee production at the Civic Theater this afternoon. He loved being involved in the production that way.

Heritage Trail

Last night, Tabitha participated in her 5th grade class production of Heritage Trail. It was a 2 1/2 hour program incorporating skits and dances to tell the early history of the United States! Long program but quite enjoyable. Tabitha was the narrator for her class' skit and then was one of the can-can dancers for the dance portion. She loved every minute of it! She could say everyone else's lines and practiced the can-can so much over the past several weeks that she actually began to develop tendonitis in her foot! Both sets of grandparents came for the program so she was able to share her fun with everyone.
Today is a gorgeous 70 degree sunny day where the kids are all playing outside, I was able to go for a long run and I was able to head down to Indy for a visit and lunch with my friend, Kelly from Batesville. I love it! I hope Spring is actually here to stay this time.

Storyteller Calvin

Calvin performed as the storyteller in his 2nd grade class play today. He is an excellent reader so he really did a great job in telling the story of the first American flag. Calvin's birthday is on Flag Day so he's always been a rather patriotic kid anyway! Very fun.

Soccer Boy!

Max had his first soccer game last night!!! He was thrilled! He scored a goal and as goalie, he successfully blocked any goals! What a fun night. He is the favorite sibling of all the kids so everyone loved watching and cheering him on. We finally have some warm weather again, so once again, the kids and neighbors are outside playing and climbing trees. I love it! Hopefully, the nice weather sticks around this time.

Baseball, Soccer, Shakespeare and the Can Can....

Calvin's baseball practices have started which he is absolutely loving. His first game will be in May. Max is really enjoying his soccer so far and since the horrible, rainy, cold weather of Saturday caused his game to be cancelled, he is looking forward to playing his first real game tomorrow evening. Quincy is continuing to practice for his role in the 6th grade version of Romeo and Juliet. Tabitha has been dancing like crazy lately as she prepares to do the "can-can" at the 5th grade music program on Thursday night. I am hosting my book club at our house tomorrow night so I am busy gathering good discussion questions and making yummy snacks!

Shut Down!

If you want to know what really puts the brakes on this family.... it is when the laundry system malfunctions! Our dryer broke Friday afternoon and that seemed to put the halt on everything! People always ask me how often and how much laundry I do, and it is probably an average of 2-3 loads a day. Fortunately, Josh got the dryer up and running again by Saturday afternoon! Whew!

Crazy Week!

I worked Mon, Tues and Wed this week instead of Mon, Tues and Thurs so that I could "go out" Wednesday night. A friend of mine recently moved here from Culver, IN and invited me to go back with her Wed night for a Euchre club. We had a great time! Toured the lake town of Culver (a whopping population of 2600 but very pretty and nice), ate some good food, played some cards and enjoyed a nice visit. We spent the night there before heading back here by lunch time on Thursday. While I was gone, Josh and the kids hosted the "Y Guides" troop for Max and Calvin at our house. They had a whole bunch of 7 and 8 year old boys here for snacks, a meeting, and some crafts. On Thursday and Friday, the kids only had a half day of school so that the teachers could have parent/teacher conferences. I spent Thursday afternoon hearing all about how great and smart my kids are. Very nice! No complaints from anyone. Love it! This afternoon, we left town when the kids got out of school and drove south 45 minutes to see Max's godparents who recently moved here from New Hampshire. We had a great time with them. Max was thrilled to see the people who always send him cards and gifts! Tonight, Josh and I have tickets to see the last play of the season at Purdue. We are looking forward to a night out together!

Pictures of Friends

Old Friends and Great Fun!

We had such a great afternoon and evening yesterday!!! Our friends, the Sorensen's, came all the way from Salt Lake City, UT to visit with our family! The Sorensen's were Quincy's "2nd home" when we all lived in Batesville but they moved to UT about 10 months before we moved here. They decided to come back to the midwest for a visit during their spring break and included a stop to see us in their intinerary. I let Quincy get out of school at noon so he would have plenty of time to play with James and Scott. Those 3 boys had a fantastic time (as if they had just seen each other a week ago) and the 2 Sorensen girls had a ball just exploring our house. I had a great time catching up with Marge and big Scott. When Josh got home from work, we left all 8 kids at the house while the 4 adults enjoyed a fantastic dinner at a fancy restaurant down town. All the kids were worn out when we got home but did a great job and even kept the house pretty clean! We all hated to see them go but Quincy really took it hard. He truly misses them. He's hoping for another trip to Salt Lake City one day soon like he did last summer....

Easter Pictures

I was unable to post pictures earlier so I'm trying again to share some of our Easter pictures.

Easter Weekend

We had a great weekend despite the cold, cold temperatures! We started the weekend out with an extremely cold neighborhood Easter egg hunt. The association did such a great job with all kinds of eggs and prizes but boy, no one wanted to linger! We made the mistake of riding our bikes to the park for the hunt so we were frozen before we even arrived! After finding the eggs and warming up again, we headed to Grandma's house in Ft. Wayne. We had a great meal and visit with Josh's mom, brother and grandma before hitting the sack and waiting for the Easter bunny to come. Fortunately, the Ft. Wayne Easter bunny hid the egg inside so we ignored the snow falling outside and looked for eggs in the house. The kids got mountains of candy and had a great time. After breakfast, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Van Wert and had another great meal and visit with my family. The kids got in lots of cousin time and really had a ball! Still cold, grey and miserable here but it looks like it might warm up some later this week.

Happy Easter, everyone!

We are busy coloring our eggs and baking our annual bunny cake but wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter! We are off to celebrate this weekend with the cousins and grandparents. Have a great one!

Wonderful Food!

My cooking class last night was absolutely fantastic!! It was called Everyday Cooking in France so it was pretty easy, normal stuff but delicious and such great techniques to use in all aspects of cooking. I just loved it! Our instructor told us that the French usually start their meal with a piece of fruit followed by a small entree with a green salad and then end the meal with a piece of cheese. Doesn't that sound like a much healthier approach than our American gluttony of a meal? We may start giving that a try around here. Quincy did a great job babysitting! He loved it and was so proud of himself. He also was shocked with the $6/hr that he earned! He was in Heaven! The kids were great, he got them to bed on time without a fuss and had no accidents with the new puppy. He was a little nervous to take the dog out after dark and the kids were in bed, since the family lives on a very dark and wooded lot but he held up just fine. What a big kid! I took this picture on Monday when it was sunny, beautiful and warm here. Today it is windy and about 33 degrees with a chance of snow flurries! Ughhh! I'm really ready for summer!

Busy, busy

Josh and I worked in the yard and washed windows all day on Sunday. We got our deck stripped so that we are now able to seal/stain next time we have some nice weather for a few days in a row. Quincy was selected as Reader of the Week at school on Monday. The librarian told him that this is the first time that a brother and sister have been chosen in the same school year (Taba was reader of the week in Dec.). Quincy was also given the role of Romeo in his upcoming 6th grade class production of Romeo and Juliet. He is very excited and proud! Last night, we were able to go out to eat with Josh's dad and aunt. Nice time catching up with Aunt Diane! We certainly don't see her often enough. Tonight, I get to go to a French cooking class that I've been wanting to attend for quite some time! We'll see what I learn how to make! Max and Calvin are on a quest to make money and then pool it to buy themselves a Nintendo DS since they are no longer impressed with their Gameboy Advances. So, they are like little eager beavers, asking constantly if they can do a chore for you to earn a little bit of cash. This morning before school, they picked up everyone's rooms, made all the beds and loaded the dishwasher for me! Pretty handy for a dollar! Quincy has his first real babysitting job tonight! He is soooooo excited! The kids are 5 and 8 so they are not babies but they do have a new puppy that he will have to remember to take outside for bathroom breaks. Hope it all goes well!