Month of the Military Child

April is the Month of the Military Child. Although Greg got out of the Army before our kids were born, they attend an Army sponsored day care center (which the kids get to go to because we're civilian employees). Anyway, there are fun activities every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the month of April. So you may wonder, why is she bringing this up.

Well, last Thursday Liam got up in the morning and told Greg that he had to make a hat for school that day. Greg tried to use his Mickey Mouse ears hat, but Liam insisted that he had to MAKE a hat and it needed to be a marching band hat. So Greg did a last minute art project with Liam and made what is a pretty cute marching band hat out of paper they colored on and taped together. Liam even wrote his name on it. I can not stress enough how huge that is - HE WROTE HIS OWN NAME - for the second time. His teacher has been working with him at school because it's one of his weaker areas. So we were very proud of him for that fact.

But back to the story. So I took the kids into school that day and Liam wore his new hat. On the way to school, Liam was getting upset because he didn't have hats for everyone in his class. I said he could talk to his teachers about doing that at school or we could make them at home that night. Then he got really upset and almost started to cry. When I asked him what the matter was, he said that he didn't know how to make everyone's letters (i.e. write their names). So I finally got him calmed down by telling him that we could make the hats and then each child could write their own name on them. When we got to school, I made a point to let everyone know that he had written his name on the hat because we were so proud of him. Later that day, when I went to pick the kids up, I was talking to his teacher and she said it took her most of the day, but she finally realized why Liam has wearing the hat. It seems that the class had decided to make hats for the Classes on Parade on April 4th. So Liam had jumped the gun a little, they didn't even give a handout to the parents about it until Friday afternoon.

Now we just have to make sure to keep the hat safely out of Brianna's reach.

Some of the other fun stuff they get to do this month include: Petting Zoo, Inside Out Day, Stuffed Animal and Pajama Day, Bike Day, Safety Day (when the firemen and police come to school). He'll also be getting graduation pictures this month - all the kids moving onto Kindergarten get graduation pictures. I'm still in a little bit of denial about this fact. I can't believe he's already going to be starting school. He's very excited about taking a lunch to school like the big kids do.

Anyway, during this Month of the Military Child please keep these kids in your thoughts/prayers - it's not an easy life and even harder if you have a parent/s deployed.

Easter 2008

Well, today is Easter and the kids are on a chocolate high right now. Which is why I escaped to the office in my parents house. Yesterday, we came over to my parents to color eggs and make cupcakes. I promised Liam a surprise if he took his quite time. So when he woke up there was a new little inflatable pool in the backyard. Brianna played in it for about 15 minutes before she started shivering. Liam didn't last much longer.

This morning we can back over to my parents house because the Easter Bunny visited here because Grandma and Popi have a nicer backyard than we do right now (that's one of our projects to do). Anyway, Liam was so excited that it was hard to get him to wait for Brianna. They had a great time hunting eggs. We colored three dozen, plus there were plastic eggs filled with candy and toys. So it took some time to collect all the eggs. Liam actually had to get another basket because his was overflowing. He actually thought he found this one egg over and over again, because it kept falling out of his basket.

When we came back inside, Brianna discovered the joy of chocolate eggs. She ate two that we unwrapped for her and then we said no more. So she quickly learned to unwrap them herself. Grandma got some good pictures of her chocolate face. I'm hoping to get those downloaded to Snapfish later today (check out the Greg Boyd Family Group at: http://www1.snapfish.com/groupview/groupid=1602750/groupownerid=4326731/t_=4326731 )

Well, I better get back to the family. Here's some more really cute pictures that Tara took for our Easter Photo Shoot.

Liam's Date

So if you're not aware Horton Hears a Who is now playing at your local movie theater. Liam has been wanting to go to the movies for weeks, but there wasn't been a movie out that he could watch until this past weekend. He asked if Kylie could go with us to the movies when we told him that a movie was coming in a couple of weeks. So Kylie was very excited and Liam was very excited and Ashley & I were just excited that we got to leave our babies home with the husbands and see a movie.

It was so cute. Ashley took a seat, then Kylie, then Liam, and then me. Liam had to sit on the edge of the seat because it had strong springs or whatever and he was getting folded up in the seat when he scooched back. So Kylie notices this and sits on the edge of her seat too. They shared popcorn and M&M's. Then Liam asked if he could stand, so then Kylie stood too. Warning for small children who see the movie: There is a scary vulture that pops out at one point. Liam ducted. Kylie ducted and screamed (not loudly though). Liam sat on my lap during the scenes with the vulture, so Kylie sat on her Mom's lap too. All in all it was a good movie and the kids had a great time.

So we went back to Kylie's house and had lunch. Then we walked to the park and played a little bit. Actually we had the kids racing to each light post on the way to the park. By the time we left their house, Liam was passed out in his car seat. Oh and we took the Honda, which Liam just loves to do. It was a nice day, so we got to drive part of the way with the sun roof opened. It was a fabulous day for him.

After dinner that night (Sunday) and after Brianna went to bed, Liam helped me make green cupcakes for St. Paddy's day. It was messy and fun and the perfect ending to our special Mommy and Liam day - although I'm sure Liam thinks of it as his day with Kylie.

Brianna's New Teeth

So Brianna has been cutting teeth again. A few weeks ago, she got the last two teeth on the top (between her front teeth and back teeth on both the right and left sides) to break through the gums. Yesterday, I had to stay home with her because she was running a fever and they won't take her at day care if she has a fever, even if it's due to teething. So now her last two bottom teeth are trying to break through - then she'll be done until she starts losing her baby teeth to get the adult teeth. I loaded her up with Tylenol this morning and took her to day care even though she had a slight temp, hoping they didn't call me to pick her up - really there is only so much work a person can miss. I got lucky and didn't get the call.

I'm hoping to hear this week whether or not Liam's inter-district transfer for Kindergarten gets approved. Keep your fingers crossed it gets approved - then I won't have to change my work schedule. If it doesn't, then I'm not sure what we're going to do.

Today, Ashley brought Kylie and Noah into work for a little bit. I finally remembered to ask Kylie (and Ashley) if she would like to go see Horton Hears a Who with Liam when the movie comes out in a couple of weeks. She said she would love to - so I guess it's a date. They really are cute together. It's almost like a marriage - Liam loves her one minute and can't stand her the next. ; )

This coming Saturday - the 8th, the kids have an Easter photo shoot and we're going up to visit our friends in San Jose. Frances will be moving to Colorado soon, so this is probably the last time we'll get to see her for a long time. It's so sad, but we haven't seen much of our San Jose friends. It's amazing how hard it is to get together with friends once you have two kids. We find it difficult sometimes to get together with our friends that live in the area. Anyway, it will be nice to see everyone and I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully the kids have a good time too.