Brick Wall

Sometimes I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall. Jared and Gwen were both invited to apply to attend another school in our district for gifted services. I think the application has more questions then some of my college applications had. There are questions for Ben and I to answer as well as a page narrative we have to write about our children's lives (They are only 5 and 7 how much can we tell unless we go into detail about potty training and stuff) and why we feel they would benefit from gifted services. There are also four questions that the kids have to answer. I would have a hard time answering these questions for me, but getting a kindergartener and a first grader to answer them is like pulling teeth. My very favorite conversation during the process took place tonight between myself and Jared about this question: Write about a book, movie, song, piece of art, or poem that has made a strong influence on you. This was after several other attempts to get him to understand the point of the question.

Me: Okay, what is your favorite movie?

Jared: Return of the Jedi.

Me: Great! Why do you like that movie?

Jared: Because there's light sabers and guns and things blow up.

Me: Alright... Did you learn a lesson from that movie?

Jared: That if your Dad is evil you should try to kill him.

Good thing Ben's not evil.

Easter

This year we discovered a new way to color eggs. If you add a tablespoon of oil to your egg color and then swirl it around as you are dropping your egg in the color you end up with some pretty cool tie-dye eggs. We also discovered that the oil helps keep the color off of hands making for a much easier cleanup.

From the looks on the kids faces you can see that the Easter Bunny got a little carried away with the candy this year.

While we were hunting for eggs this year Nate was trying to look on top of the ceiling fan. I was quick to stop him by saying, "Nate, look at the way the fan slants if we were to put an egg up there it would fall right off." Being way too observant for her own good Gwen quickly replied, "Ah, you said "we". You're the Easter Bunny!"

Every year in the Lamoreaux house someone managed to switch out at least one boiled egg for a raw egg. Not one to let traditions die this has carried on in our family. However, the aforementioned Easter Bunny really should remember which egg got switched and hide it somewhere that it isn't likely to fall. Of course it was the only egg dropped during the whole Easter Egg hunt.

April Fools

For the last three years for April Fools' Day we have done an special Dinner. The items on the menu list this year were spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, fruit salad, animal crackers, soda, ice cream, fork, knife, wooden spoon, napkin, and a straw. Everyone had a bag with all twelve items written on strips of paper inside. We had three courses and for each course you drew four pieces of paper out of your bag and that is what you got for that course. We love this tradition and have a lot of fun with it.

Spring Break

For Spring Break we stayed right here in Arizona and had some fun family activities that were all close by. We colored eggs the traditional Romanian way, with our neighbors the Comsas. I forgot to take my camera with us though. We painted wooden animals in glow-in-the-dark paint. We went to Pump It Up. And we went bowling. We almost left after a two-hour wait, which we did go and get lunch and then come back, but I am glad we stayed.

I know this is a lot of vidoes but I think it is hilarious to watch my kids methods of bowling. Gwen and Jared were by far my favorite to watch. Nate and Bonnie are starting to figure it out and get pretty good. I didn't realize how funny I look when I'm bowling, but after watching this I've realized I'm a pretty funny bowler. And Ben's video is on here for proof of his ability to get a strike.

Field Day

Our elementary school does Field Day the first part of March so we can avoid the hot weather. This year I was able to go and watch all the kids in the different events. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Students of the Month

In February Nate, Bonnie, and Gwen were all Student of the Month. Nate for band and Bonnie and Gwen for their respective classes. I loved being able to go and see all of them receive their awards.

In March Nate was again Student of the Month, this time for his homeroom class. However, this time I was the one that got an award... the Bad Mom Award. I totally forgot about the assembly and didn't go. I felt so bad after school when I picked them up and Nate told me. Thankfully he has a forgiving heart and pointed out that he had forgotten also and had gone back to his classroom after computer lab and couldn't figure out where the rest of the class had gone. He said he couldn't be upset at me when he had forgotten as well. What a sweetheart. I really am grateful that he is such a great kid at school and at home.

Visitors

The winter in Arizona is a perfect time for people to come and visit. This year we had visitors come in December, January, February, and March. We loved having them come and would love to have more come anytime.

In December my sister Kris and her husband Ryan came to visit from Wyoming for a few days. Unfortunately I realized too late that I didn't get any pictures of their visit with us. I sure hope they did, we really enjoyed having them come.

In January my sister Anne and her children came to visit from Idaho. She was very brave and drove 14 hours down all by herself because Dan had to work. We had so much fun when she was here. We went to the zoo, went to pick citrus because her kids didn't even know that citrus grew on trees, and just enjoyed hanging out.

Petting the sting rays at the Phoenix zoo.

Picking lots and lots of Grapefruit and oranges.

In February one of my very best friends Julie came to visit. We loved having her here for a few days. We went hiking, got pedicures, and spent the weekend laughing a lot. As you can see the kids thought she was pretty great too.

This note stayed on our whiteboard for a month after Julie left because Gwen would not let anyone take it off.

Hiking in Thunderbird park.

Then in March Ben's dad came down for Spring training. We got to have him spend one night at our house. He, Ben, and Ben's brother Jake went to several games while he was here. We also got to go to the park and play some baseball of our own.

Playing baseball with Grandpa.

As you can see Grandpa has still got it going on.