Is it spring yet????

Spring....a wonderful season in Michigan. This spring we have enjoyed some wonderful relatively warm and sunny days. Gavin, since he only goes to school 3 mornings a week, has been using the weather to his full advantage! He learned to ride his bike without training wheels...and now asks to ride everywhere. Yesterday we rode to and from school...1.3 miles each way...that's alot of peddling for those little legs.

Today we rode to the park....I had brought a book along to read....I was quickly told I needed to play with him, not read!!

We raced up and down a few ladders...unsure who really won.

And, while I was looking away, my little monkey climbed a little too high for his mothers liking. (He did make it safely down:)

Destination Imagination!!!

Ian has been part of a Destination Imagination (DI) team for about 3 months. DI is a program that focuses on having kids think creatively and as a team. They are given a problem at the beginning and have to "solve" it.

Ian tried out for DI by completing two exercises that were meant to show his creativity, his teachers were also spoken too....so, that was the first hurdle...making the team. They then worked on a skit for the past 3 months and presented it a the Regional competition yesterday at Mona Shores High School.

Ian has his team choose to work on a "flip." This involved coming up with a skit, during which one of the characters would "flip" their point of view. Ian's team choose to have one of the characters opinions change about mosquito's! So......Ian became the mosquito. The kids are responsible for coming up with all of their own props and don't have much money to work with...so very creative they become!

Here is Ian's team after they did their skit for competition - it is too hard to describe the whole skit...but it was very cute and the kids did a great job. They were scored on many different areas - and received a score of 202 our of 240....a pretty good score I am told! After the skit - they have to do an instant challenge - they have no idea what it will be, but are again were scored on many different areas. They don't find out the score for the instant challenge - so, the awards ceremony was a bit nerve wracking!

Ian was nervous about the instant challenge - and here he is at the awards ceremony after recieveing his 2nd place medal! Yep, his team got 2nd place our of the 23 teams that competed in his section!! Pretty good....oh, getting a second place finish means that his team goes on to state.....

Ian was so excited that we couldn't even get a group picture and here he is holding his award upside down!!!!

It was a fun, busy, exhausting and rewarding day. Zeeland Christian did very well - they sent 5 teams - 3 of which received a medal- there was a 1st place, Ian's was 2nd place and a 3rd place finish...way to go ZCS!!! So, three teams going on to state on April 17....should be fun getting prepared again - they use the same skit, but I know Ian already has things he wants to talk to his team about changing and possibly rebuilding some of their props!

Flashback Friday

Yep, that's Gavin! This is when he is 2 days old...finally in a real bed and looking pretty good! Too bad he had to stay for 8 more days! Oh, the reason I post this is because he was due this week! Gavin's due date was March 1, 2005....he came January 21, 2005...guess he just wanted to keep us on our toes. He is now big 5 year old who is leaning a second language and talks ALL THE TIME!!! Love you Gavin!

Isn't this how you always read???

Lucas was reading his reading book from school....apparently Gavin wanted to listen....silly boys!!!

Sunny Day!

The dogs found a very warm and sunny place to sleep today....so cute! Oscar doesn't seem to mind that Wicket curls up next to him....I would have joined them, but the floor is pretty hard!

Igloo Building

Kendra and her friend/neighbor Allison worked for hours Saturday to build this huge wall! I asked if they were going to build an igloo...they both thought for a minute and then said...if we knew how we would!

Working hard!

They built for most of the day....it was quite a big wall...but then, it was sunny yesterday and part of it melted.....They weren't too happy...I was...ready for spring!!!