At long last, today was the science fair! My kitchen has been transformed into a crystal growing laboratory for the past several weeks, and Zach has been so excited about his crystals! It’s been fun, but a ton of work. Unfortunately at about midnight last night Zach woke up throwing up. Not good. I was hoping it was just something he ate, but by morning he was fevered and could barely stand up. Not good. Zach has never missed a day of school for being sick in either kindergarten or 1st grade, and his first sick day had to come on the day of the much anticipated science fair. Not good. So, Preston and I took his project to school for him and got it all set up. When we got back Zach was so upset about missing the fair, and insisted he had to be there for the judging. Mike and I debated back and forth and couldn’t decide what to do. Finally I let my emotional side overrule my practical side and we medicated him and took him over to school just to sit there for the judges. He walked in and a judge was already on his row. So he stood next to his project, answered the judges questions, and was back out in the car in 2 minutes. No harm done, right? He was happy, hopefully no germs were spread, and he was able to go home and rest and sleep for the rest of the day. Not exactly how he envisioned his first science fair, but he was happy none the less.
I love St Patty’s Day! And this St Patty’s Day morning we awoke to a special surprise! Apparently leprechauns had visited our house some time in the night, and had left a special leprechaun breakfast treat for the boys! First we found this note taped very low down on the front door:
Next we found leprechaun footprints leading from the note through the house.
We followed the footprints and found this:
A yummy leprechaun breakfast! It was fun, but Preston was not convinced. He said, “Mom, I know you left the note.” I told him it was the leprechauns and he said, “Was it there when you went to bed?” (yes) “Was it there when you woke up?” (yes) “Well then you got up in the middle of the night and did it.” Then awhile later he came up to me and said “I can prove to you that it was you! You see this? (he pointed to the tape on the back of a footprint) Masking tape!! Leprechauns don’t have masking tape! It had to be you!!” 
Silly boy!
The rest of the day was fun as well. I convinced Mike to wear his big leprechaun hat to work, and everyone thought it was pretty funny. Then for dinner we had our traditional green eggs and ham and green milk. This year I also did green hash browns that Mike thought were pretty gross looking. What a fun holiday!
We were in the clerks office waiting for Mike the other day, and I gave Kyle a marker and a piece of paper to keep himself busy. After a few minutes he started yelling “An L!” “An L!” I looked at his paper and he was writing L’s all over the paper! And each time he wrote one he would yell “An L!” (Kyle gets VERY excited about things). Mike and I were shocked! When did our baby learn to write L’s? We just sat there and watched him for quite awhile, amazed at what a smarty pants he is!
Tuesday was the perfect day to take the preschoolers to the fish farm! It was warm and beautiful and we had a great time!
I had only planned on having Preston fish, but as soon as we started to head to the pond Kyle grabbed a pole. He ran to the pond and stuck the line in before I was even over there. Apparently he was an expert. In fact, he caught the very first fish!
Preston also caught a couple fish and was so proud. He loved every minute of it and kept begging to catch more!
This style of fishing is perfect for taking a bunch of little kids. There are hundreds of fish swimming around in each pond just waiting to jump onto your hook. It’s fast, easy, and fun! One of the best parts for me this year is that Mike was there so I only had to get the hook out of one fish! (Yuck)
The Christmas before Zach turned 2 Grandma and Grandpa Oveson gave him a little ride-on firetruck toy. He LOVED this firetruck, and rode it all over the place!
He would take the firetruck when we would go on walks, and he would stop and pick up EVERYTHING he saw along the way and stick it in the back of his firetruck. (The seat lifted up and had a little compartment to stick stuff in). He would have bottle caps, broken pieces of plastic, rocks, sticks, you name it – he had it! (And as you can imagine – those walks took a very long time!) When we got home he would empty out his firetruck and show us all his treasures. He LOVED his treasures, and we would let him keep some of them in a little box.
Fast forward 5 years… Zach is still obsessed with finding and keeping “treasures.” I thought it was a phase that he would grow out of, but I’m beginning to think he may not. You should see his backpack when he comes home from school! He saves all of his sporks and straws (in fact he’s quite proud of his spork collection)…
He brings home the tops that he takes off the cereal containers, he finds stuff on the playground, and he constantly asks Miss Carter if he can keep things she’s throwing away. At home I can’t throw ANYTHING away without sneaking it past Zach. He wants to keep EVERYTHING!!!! I asked him to take an empty chip bag to the garbage the other day and you would have thought I was asking him part with a favorite toy. He insisted he wanted to keep it and that he could use it to put stuff in and he was so upset at the thought of throwing it away! I thought he had thrown it away until I found it under his desk a couple days later. I try to be patient, but the problem is all of these “treasures” are living in my house! What’s a mom to do?
We went on a walk on Monday and he kept finding things to pick up and I kept saying things like, “You better leave that there in case someone comes looking for it” or “I’m sure that belongs to someone – leave it there.” So I thought I was safe. Nope. As soon as we got home he unloaded his pockets and wanted to show us all his treasures. Apparently I wasn’t watching as much as I thought I was. Here are his treasures that he found:
I guess everyone else in the neighborhood should be grateful that Zach has his own “neighborhood clean up project.” He loves them, so I just can’t find the heart to make him throw them all away… **sigh** I guess some things never change. Someday he can drive his wife crazy with it, and I’ll just smile and be glad it’s no longer in my house! Sure love that Zachy!
Preston is such a sweet kid! This isn’t necessarily news – everyone that knows him would agree. But sometimes I watch him with his brothers and I wonder if they realize how lucky they are. I was thinking about it today as I watched several things he did. He had a birthday party today, and got a bag of goodies to bring home. First, Zach took some candy out of his bag and I told him to put it back – it was Preston’s. But immediately Preston said, “No, Mom, it’s ok. I want Zach to have that. I have enough that everyone can have some.” Next, Zach broke the necklace Preston got. I told Zach he needed to buy Preston a new one, and Preston said, “I actually like it this way. He doesn’t need to buy me a new one. It’s ok.” Last, Kyle popped the pirate balloon from the party. Preston said, “It’s ok. It’s still cool. I bet we could now look at it and figure out how we could make one and make a new pirate balloon. I watched all these things in amazement. How many other 5 year old boys are so sweet and forgiving to their brothers? We’re lucky to have Preston!
“Mom, I am SO addicted to fruits and vegetables! Seriously – so addicted!”
While we were playing “Go Fish” tonight Zach asked Preston for a card that Preston had in his hand. Preston stood up and yelled, “I demand a recount!!”
And there is one more funny thing I remember laughing at today, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was! Hmmm….
For sake of clarification, I’ll start out by saying this is Mike. I don’t often post on the blog, but I thought today I should. Last night I watched a movie with my wife called The Time Traveler’s Wife. While I love movies, this post isn’t about movies. It’s about my sweet wife Mary, who means more to me than words can possibly describe. The movie made me think about how wonderful she is.
In the film the main actor time travels at random, without warning and with no control over when he comes or goes. This creates a very unique challenge for his marriage. As I watched the movie I thought about how much my sweet Mary carries as I flit about taking care of everything. Between work, school, church, video jobs and more I sometimes feel like I am whisked away to the next “thing” with little warning or little time at home. Don’t get me wrong, I have a wonderful life. It’s just a busy one. I have to go while Mary is left to take care of the boys and the house and all of the thousands of daily things that make up our lives.
This post is a tribute to my wife. I love you Mary, with all my heart. I’m so glad I’ve got an eternity with you, as anything less would just seem too short.
