Best Buddies at the Shasta Shuffle

This is Joshua and his best friend, Ryan.  They think they are brothers.  We met Ryan when we first moved to Chico, almost 4 years ago.  They did preschool playgroup together, they were in the nursery at church together and have been at each others birthday parties.  They were in kindergarten together and have the same class in first grade.  They even take Chinese together!  (Ryan's family is Wang Lu's host family!).  At the beginning of this year, I was worried about them spending so much time together, but they have proved all my worries wrong.  They are kind to each other, they make up easily if they fight.  They don't exclude other kids when they play, they both love science.  Now my bigger concern is what if they aren't in class together next year, or what if Ryan's mom moves him to the GATE school at the end of second grade?  I guess it will be OK, they are, after all, brothers and that is a bond that can't be broken!

Here is Joshua in his running clothes doing the Shasta Shuffle!
No pictures of Sarah running this year, I had to take Elizabeth to swimming lessons!

Saying good bye to Wang Lu.

Wang Lu, the kid's Chinese teacher, heads back to China next week.  We will really miss giving her rides home on rainy days.  Sarah loves Chinese and for a while we were worried the program would be discontinued, but it won't be!  Joshua is luke warm to it.  I don't know if he will continue in the fall or not.  Either way, it has been a good experience for both kids and wonderful for our family to know Wang Lu.  We will miss her.  Even Elizabeth knows her and will miss her!

Baseball 2012

Joshua is playing farm baseball this year.  His team is the LA Dodgers.  My favorite team!  He is having a good time and Sarah and Elizabeth love going to the games and cheering him on!  Sarah, of course, made fast friends with another player's sister, so she has even more reason to want to go to the games!

 

 

Joshua got to play catcher for one inning last week.  He liked it, but couldn't believe what hard work it was!  They had "coach pitch" at this age and he has hit the ball almost every time he has been up to bat.  Like everything else, he has a great attitude and if he missed the ball or catching it, he doesn't get upset, he knows he is still learning. 

Easter 2012

Easter was nice this year.  Unfortunately, Donald had to work.  We had the kids hunt for eggs early before church and before he had to leave for work.  I had cute Easter outfits for the kids, so I tried to get some nice pictures.  After church, we were invited to a friend's house for Easter dinner.  That was so nice, it helped the day see less lonely.  Donald was able to get off work about an hour early, so he was there in time for dinner.  It was a pretty calm, relaxed day, especially since I didn't have to cook a big dinner!

Sarah's First Ski Trip

The last weekend in March, Sarah got her turn to take a special trip with Donald.  He took her skiing at Mt Shasta with her friend Ella and Ella's dad Fred.  Everyone had a great time and they had plenty of snow.  They drove up Friday after school and Saturday morning they were all set to ski.  They drove from their hotel to the ski area only to find it closed!  There were high winds making it unsafe to use the lifts.  They found a nice place to park and played in the snow instead.  I think both girls were pretty happy with that  and enjoyed their day playing in the snow and back at the hotel pool. 

The next morning the lifts were open and the girls each went to their ski lessons while the dads hit the slopes.  By the end of her lesson, Sarah was ready to use the rope tow and try out the lift!  She loved it!  Donald was exhausted by the end of the day from holding her up as they went down the hill, but I think they both had a lot of fun and enjoyed their time together.  Mt Shasta was a good place for her to start off and I know she would love to ski again! 

 

 

 

She made steps to get "that medicine"

This is why kids have TWO parents. Lizzie loved her pacifier. Last bad cold she had we took it from her cuz she could not suck and sleep at night. She did GREAT but became a little cranky as she no longer took a nap without her pacifier. So the other day I gave Sarah some cold medicine in a dropper. Lizzie found the dropper and realized the bulb part was very much like her pacifier. Today she created this staircase to be able to get the medicine dropper for some quality sucking time. See, I am weak, I would totally have given in to her having a pacifier for a nap time. This little staircase breaks my heart!

Spring Break in Simi Valley

We went to Simi Valley for spring break.  They have spring break here in the middle of March, so that it includes St Patrick's Day.  I don't like it.  I think it should be at Easter.  Anyway, Donald didn't have that week off, so I took the kids and headed south.  The weather was a little better there, but still cool and a little rainy.  The kids always like to go visit my old elementary school and play.  They decided to play in the very wet sand and got so dirty. 

This is at my sister's house.  They like to go in the dog kennels and pretend they are puppies.

I was able to get out walking every morning with out the kids and I loved it.  This the the view from up houses up above my parents house.  About 10 years ago, they built these million dollar homes up in the hills.  They are huge home and have beautiful views of the valley. 

Donald's mom was sick and not on spring break, so we spent a lot of time just hanging out at my mom and dad's house.  The kids don't mind at all, they love just being there.

Sarah was actually sick for a few days, so she just sat around reading. 

My mom was able to have all three of her kids together to celebrate my Dad's 75th birthday!  His birthday isn't actually until april 16th, but it was good to celebrate early.
This is my sister and Sarah.

Love birds, Wayne and Jolene.

Uncle Ash and his mom "Grandma Betty".

After the kids go so filthy playing in the wet sand at the school, I decided we better head out the beach.  It was almost 70 degrees and deserted.   They dug and ate lunch and collected a few shells.  I love the beach and still wish we were closer.

Jolene was so patient playing this made up Jeopardy! game with Joshua.  I don't have any idea what his rules were, but she played with him and Sarah for a long time.

My mom wanted to take the kids to the toy store and pick out a new toy while we were there.  This is on the way there.  I just love how Wayne is so sweet with my kids.  He spent a lot of time with us while we were there.

Sarah did these cute name poems one morning and I wanted to remember them.
Smart
Athletic
Reader
Amazing
Happy

Those words do describe Sarah!

She made one for Elizabeth too:
Exceptional
Loving
Intelligent
Zesty (how cute!)
Amazing
Beautiful
Exciting
Thinking
Happy