Who coined the term "a boy and his dog" when describing a loyal, sweet, fun friendship? What about a boy and his frog, or a boy and his horse...OR how about a boy and his CAT??
Wyatt currently is Dexter's biggest fan in our family. He likes to pet him (badly), and be near him. Here are some pics to show their proximity.
A Boy and His Cat
Feb: Wyatt wakes in morning to find his bed occupied
March: Wyatt petting Dexter while Dex sleeps and Wyatt watches basketball - the only thing to hold his attention on the tv for more than 3 minutes.
Our friends, from Albuquerque, Jess & Dave, were in town for a wedding on Saturday. They reserved to spend the whole day Friday and Friday night with us before going to another friend's house for Saturday & the wedding. First, special thanks to our friend Stephanie M. for keeping our boys all day so we could hang out with J&D who were kidless for the weekend!! We had planned on doing a downtown walking tour, taking a cruise on the tall Ship Windy, and exploring Navy Pier....however, Jess had a very upset stomach and could not really handle all that. So we headed over to the Museum of Science and Industry. Fine with us, because we had not been yet. SCORE, we end up there during a free day, so all we had to pay for was parking! Then Jess & Dave splurged and paid extra for us to all see the U-boat tour. Here's what we did, in a nutshell...
Shayna and Jess in front of the old train
Birdseye view of the train
Off to see the U-Boat
Jess & Dave in front of the massive (on the outside) U-boat.
Then we took a tour of the U-boat's insides which was very very interesting. We listened to some recording in German of what happened on the ship, which was fun because I could understand a lot of it. It was amazing the number of people they housed for months at a time on that sub. And so gross that they operated on a "hot bunk" system whereas they worked/slept in shifts, and 3 or so guys shared one bed, each getting a shift. Oh yes, and 100deg heat. Gross.
Then off to the farm exhibit, as a preview for what we'll see in July when we visit Jess' sister's farm.
What happens when Art gets the camera unsupervised - though a very interesting exhibit
In case we wondered where the poop came from
Art keeping it real
Art and Dave by the combine
Off to see random exhibits before calling it quits for the day
WWII fighter jet
Scale model of Chicago
Then back home to relax, pick up the kids, eat Carmen's pizza, play Cribbage and go to bed. Fun day w/ our good friends!
Zachary opted for a late nap today so he could attend the birthday party for a friend, Nicholas, from preschool. He had a grand time. The parents rented the gym and Chandler Newberger, a community center, and a classroom to have lunch and cake. The gym was set up with climbing stuff and general fun things for a preschooler. A fun time had by all.
The set up in the gym
Zachary doing some climbing
Live action
Zach and David C. pulling and chasing an older boy - always with the arm pulling!
Cupcake time after lunch of pizza, grapes, and strawberries
Zachary "helping" Nicholas open his present
Funny thing about this picture. Nicholas's parents were not going to let him open his presents at the party, but rather take them home. Unfortunately, Zach bugged and bugged and bugged Nicholas about opening the present, that his mom finally relented and let him open just that one so that Zach could watch him open it. Of course it ended in disaster when the cars (of course!) had to be opened then played with immediately. To Zach's point, he picked out the present, he wanted to watch Nicholas open it!
Sjoelbok Night! Always a family favorite. Art, ever so smart, came up with a new location for us to play, which would make it so much easier (and safer!) for the boys than on the dining room table...the floor!
One night after dinner, we got Poppi up for some "computer talking" (video chatting over the internet) as Zach calls it. It started a little slow with the boys losing interest in talking with Poppi until he broke out his harmonica. This started quite the little jam session! Wyatt loved it the most, and often requests "Poppi Monka" so he will play his harmonica. This little jam session lasted a good 20-30 minutes before we had to put them to bed. Wyatt and Zachary took turns playing the harmonica (though Z did NOT like how much drool was on it after Wy's turn!), got out the music shakers, and Zach even pulled out a Xylophone to add to the cacophony.
The boys sitting in Art's lap playing w/ Poppi
Hard to see, but it is a picture of the video screen of Poppi playing his harmonica
Wyatt going to town!
Quite the concert
We are willing to rent our band out to any interested parties!
Today, our church, Evanston Bible Fellowship, had the kids put on a performance for Easter. The kids sang two songs: Mighty to Save, and My Redeemer Lives, complete with hand motions for the words. We did not do a *great* job helping Zachary learn all of both songs, but he did have the words and motions down for the chorus of both songs.
Here is a video of the rehearsal, and one of the actual performance.
The rehearsal where most of the young kids still seemed interested in performing
Actual performance
The best part of this is that Zachary is standing next to two of his friends, Jack and Caden, who give a little extra in this video: Jack - shouts out an impromptu "MIGHTY TO SAVE", and Cade - got some nice tongue and hip moves b/f going into a gratuitous crotch grab. So funny! Takes the attention off of Zach, who is busy watching the video screen and picking his nose instead of singing. :)
Some pictures:
View from balcony - thanks to Stephanie M.
All the kids during the performance. It must be noted that Zach's big love - Elizabeth (she holds his hand and escorts him to Awana Cubbies nearly every week) is on the far right wearing red and white.
Zachary with his pals, Jack & Caden.
After a rousing performance, all the kids head back to Praise Factory (Sunday School) for the remainder of the service, to wait patiently for their turn to head outside to the playground across the street for the egg hunt.
Wyatt, our aggressive one, did great on the egg hunt, getting almost as many eggs as Zach, though while not aggressive, was quick and agile.
Wyatt and Zachary looking for eggs
Wyatt with his cutie basketball basket
Zachary and Wyatt post egg hunt. For the record, Art abhors the sport coats on each of them. I love it!
Also, props to Art and I for not being failures as parents this year. Last year, for Zachary's very first egg hunt, we totally forgot to bring him an Easter basket, even though Nana had sent 6 of them in the mail (1 for each of us, plus our two British house guests). Zach collected eggs in a paper grocery sack. This year, we got wise!
An item of note, one of our friends was helping hide the eggs and got picture proof of a squirrel grabbing the eggs and running up into a tree with them, cracking them open and eating the chocolate. He was apparently ruthless! Would have loved to see it, but the pics were fun!
Easter lunch was fantastic...we ate at Walker Brother's Original Pancake House, for the first time. We joined the Davis family for their annual tradition, which was quite wonderful. I ordered crepes and while wonderful, spend the rest of the day craving pancakes. Next time!
Last bit about our Easter Day. We decided to try something a bit new and different, and went to a family's house that we know from preschool, for Easter dinner. It turned out to not be what we were expecting, but it was a wonderful time. Of course Zachary was just happy to be at the home of his beloved Caroline (and Natalie).
Since Art was at a conference when Zachary and Wyatt colored Easter eggs at PoppiMeMa House (that's how both kids say it - like it's one person), we did it again at home, so Art could be a part of it. We only boiled 1/2doz eggs though, since the kids won't eat them, and we'd be stuck eating them or throwing them away. [editor's note: we ended up throwing them all away b/c we left them out overnight - oops!] Art got just one egg, that he attempted to make into his classic "ugly egg", which unfortunately for him, turned out very pretty.
Boys in action:
Boys getting ready - still in their jammies (of course!)
Zach and Wyatt coloring eggs
Wyatt and DaU coloring eggs
Wyatt lamenting how blue his hands are, even after washing them!
Proudly showing the camera
Funny thing is that I don't think we ever hid these eggs, or even looked at them again. The boys much preferred hiding and searching for the plastic eggs we have left over from last year.
Poor Wyatt - apparently dying eggs was so tiring, he could barely make it through lunch, and finally gave up, begging to go to bed.
