Sunday, April 19, 2009

Weekend Top Five: 4/20/09

It was a good weekend. The weather was crazy...beautiful the first day, dreary the second. We logged a lot of driving time, some good, some not so great. Stay tuned for a very funny story in Number One.

Here are the Top Five.



5. Friday at Noah's school
I finally got to do lunch duty for the first time in a long time. I had decided to bring some new chalk for the class for recess. I started to draw a hopscotch on the ground for the kids and they just haphazardly jumped on it. I asked if any of them new how to actually PLAY it, and believe it or not, NO ONE knew. Some other teachers and I were fascinated by the fact that kids don't really play those games anymore like we did when we were little. So I taught them how and when I picked Noah up from school, I found out that all the girls continued to play it at the last recess of the day too.

I think I'll have to bring Chinese jump rope next week and teach them that one.

He also completed his third perfect week in a row AND got to stand up at the all school assembly for showing "good self-discipline".

4. Kalamazoo Nature Center
In celebrating Earth Day, the nature center in Kalamazoo that Steve and I visited regularly when we were dating 14 years ago had free admission so we took the boys down. There were definitely some highs and lows to the experience.


High: Seeing how much more the interactive center has to offer since we used to visit.



The kids loved the indoors rain forest.












Aaron had fun pretending to be a bird sitting on her eggs in this exhibit.












Low: Steve was upset that we never made to to the trail that meant so much to us when we were dating. I won't go into details about why, but I promised him then, as I do again now, that next time we will take the boys to that lookout.


High: The boys got to hike on a bunch of different paths and get down close to some of the swampy area to search for turtles (and there were a ton of them).















Low: I made the mistake of telling Noah to stay on the paths so he wouldn't get any ticks and he spent the rest of our time on the trails PANICKING about bug bites. We REALLY need to get him more exposed to the woods.

3. Sunday Church Triple Duty
In the first service, our quartet had to sing, which is usually not bad. but our CE director had not scheduled a nursery worker and Aaron came waltzing up to the front WHILE the scripture was being read and announced out loud, over and over, that he was going to the computer lab. When he was shushed, he cause a bit of a scene...quite embarrassing.

The second service went better and I ended up helping in Aaron's Sunday School Class as well, playing the piano and letting the kids dance around with some instruments.

Bell rehearsal after church went REALLY well this week. After working so hard this year, it was fun to go back and read some pieces from earlier in the year as we prepare for our two public performances coming up in the near future.

2. A Visit With Friends
After church, we piled the kids back into the car for a drive to see some friends who have only recently moved back to Michigan. We hadn't seen them in quite awhile and only met their younger daughter once or twice since she was born (now 14 months old). Their older daughter is the same age as Aaron.

Noah was nervous when we told him we were going since it would be only "girl stuff" and didn't think there would be anything for him to do. But the kids played well and had a lot of fun.




Noah Actually loves playing with little girls, and it held true with Diva-PJ, as Chris calls the girls on his site Dad of Divas.

She is such a cutie and an absolute delight to sit and watch. Noah loved playing ball with her, chasing her, and playing with her toys too.





We had a very fun afternoon and look forward to another visit soon.

1. Birds and Bees- Preschool Style
We did have one interesting event as a result of our visit with Chris and Jean and their GIRLS.

Throughout the years, we have allowed the boys to take baths with their cousins or friends. We stopped them a few years ago, even though we did allow Aaron and his cousin to play together in the bathtub at Grandma's house recently.

Because of this, the boys know that there is a difference between boys and girls. It is never really talked about, but they just KNOW.
While we there, Aaron left the bathroom door open while he was doing his thing. Diva-J saw him and was FASCINATED by IT.

A little while later, Noah came down and announced that Aaron and Diva-J were upstairs pulling their plants down

DOH!

Up Chris and I ran to put an end to the "doctor" session and after having a discussion about "privates" needing to stay PRIVATE, we went about our evening.

Apparently, the discussion continued in the Diva household after we left. Chris called about a half hour after we got home to announce that Diva-J wanted to know "Why do boys pee out of their belly button?"

(Chris, if you are reading this, I want to hear how the rest of the discussion went.)

I have to admit that it has been giving me a giggle ever since, but it also makes it clear that we have more work to do on Aaron closing the bathroom door when he does his thing.


The week ahead: Not very interesting other than Noah's school carnival on Friday that Steve and I are running a game for. Also, Noah is going for his fourth week in a row of perfect days. It will be a new record. Our other goal would be to get Aaron to stay asleep the entire night. Don't know how to accomplish that one.

Please link up if you posted your weekend. I don't want to miss it.

6 comments:

Cynthia said...

Oooh, the nature center looks like tons of fun...now pass the pizza;P

bethn said...

Looks like a ton of fun.

Shana said...

I LOL when I read about the bellybutton... :o)

Veronica @ Luv My Quiver Full Of Arrows said...

OMGOSH...Chinese jumprope?!?!? I loved that stuff and I always carried mine around in case a spontaneous game sprouted up somewhere. Thanks for the memories.

xoxo, Veronica in CA

Deb said...

I remember that Nature Center! Used to go there with Mike W. a lot way, way back a long time ago.

I'm glad you had fun with Chris and Jean - I loved seeing the pictures of your kids together!

Dad of Divas said...

It wasn't that Diva-J asked Why they Pee from their belly button but how they could pee from their belly button. J-Mom had a lengthy discussion with Diva-J about the differences between boys and girls to help her better understand. How much she grasped, I don't know but she does seem to catch on pretty quickly. We didn;t hear anything else this morning about it, but you never know when the old birds and pees will come up again!