Boy Meets Girl-Girl likes Boy-Boy is Clueless

I alluded, in my last post, to a girl in Wyatt's class who has a crush on him. Of course Wyatt is a typical 7-year old boy and is clueless. But one day he came home from school and said that Emma had asked if Wyatt wanted to come over to her house and play her brother's Wii. (Her brother is one year older and I am sure she has heard Wyatt talk with his friends about how much he likes to play the Wii and doesn't have one.) I didn't pay much attention to it until Wyatt asked if I knew their phone number. When I answered him and said I wasn't sure if I did, he said, "Well I have it. Emma gave it to me."
Of course Matt and I gave each other a look (when Wyatt wasn't looking), amazed at the forwardness of this girl.
The next day Wyatt came home from school with several Jolly Ranchers and when I asked where he got them, assuming they were from his teacher's prize box, he said Emma brought them to school. I asked if she gave some to everyone and he replied, "No, just me. Can I eat them?" Clueless.
Each day since, Wyatt brings something home that Emma has given him and he is loving all the gifts but he couldn't be more oblivious! And for that I am very thankful! Hopefully it stays this way for a long time...

Music and Art Show

Springtime means the end of the school year is quickly approaching, which in turn means lots of projects, programs and field trips and I am beginning to think NOT a lot of learning! But that's what makes the end of the year fun.

Wyatt had his Music/Art Show at school and had been talking about it for quite awhile. He was very excited to have us all there and we were excited to see all he had been telling us about. 

We met him in his classroom for a quick cookie and punch reception and it was so cute to see how excited his friend Titus was to see Blake and show him around the classroom. It's amazing how the boys just gravitate to one another!

Titus had asked if I could take a picture of Wyatt, Blake and him on the beanbag chair, so when Sadie snuck in after feeling a bit left out, I tried to include her in on the 'funny face' fun!

I always love observing how my kids act around their peers and I found it entertaining to watch Wyatt and his buddies make shadow puppets on the smartboard.

Wyatt's art he selected to be displayed for the art show

And the music show

They sang several songs and throughout the year, the kids tried out for different instruments to play at the show. I wasn't surprised to see Wyatt had picked the drums--he loves the drums and I am not sure if it's because my Dad plays them or he just loves the ability to pound on something and not get in trouble!

The song he played the drums for didn't have a lot of percussion in it, so he spent a fair amount of the song looking like this. But I can tell you he liked this much better than being the focal point of a song and having all eyes on him.

And then I look over to see Blake doing this....lovely.

After they performed all their songs, the kids in Wyatt's class each had a chance to bring someone out of the audience and teach them how to play their instrument. Emma, a neighbor of ours and a girl in Wyatt's class who has a bit of a crush on him (unbeknownst to him---more to come in the next post) picked Sadie and Sadie loved every minute of it!

And thank goodness she did, because Wyatt picked Blake.

Matt went up with Blake just in case he decided to make a scene and it was a good thing because Blake was a bit surprised by all the reactions he received and was a bit embarassed. 

I had several parents come up to me after the concert was over and comment on what a great big brother Wyatt is to Blake and how he looked out for him and helped him out. People asked me if they are like this all the time and honestly, they are. Wyatt LOVES having a little brother and takes his responsibility of being an example and protector of his siblings very seriously.

My new favorite pic of these two..

Wyatt also presented us with his Book of Poems from their poetry unit and there were two that I wanted to include in this post. It's exciting for me to see what Wyatt is thinking about at school and of course, as a mother, it warms my heart to see how much he loves Blake and to hear how he feels about certain situations.

At the back of his Book of Poems, there was a page 'about the author'. It had various facts about Wyatt but Matt and I couldn't help but laugh when the question said, "Where do you get your ideas for your poems?" and Wyatt's answer was, "My brain". Of course! We could just picture him thinking, as he read that question, "What kind of a question is that? Where else would you get your ideas?" Oh the poor boy has no imagination--just like his mother!!

Patience or Patients

Blake, like many 2 years olds, was getting quite agitated with me yesterday for not getting what he wanted quickly enough. He was hungry and tired and kept getting more whiny and upset, so I looked at him and said in a calm and stern voice,
"Blake, you need to have more patience" to which he replied, while visibly trying to calm himself down,
"Daddy has lots of patients."

Sluggy and his pals

When my parents were here over Mother's Day weekend, Sadie found a caterpillar and adopted him/her as her very own pet. She named him Sluggy (I am pretty sure she said it was a 'him') and tenderly cared for him as she would any living creature or tiny child. (No lack of maternal instinct in this girl!)

She sat and coaxed Sluggy into walking onto her hand by saying, in that 'baby talk' voice we have all heard too many times, "Come on Sluggy, you can do it buddy, come on....come on. There you go! Good job Sluggy!"

And then she found a friend for Sluggy and HER name was Fuzzy

So proud of her little home she made for them....

After we got back from the hospital and dinner that night, Sluggy was gone (and somehow she knew it was Fuzzy that was still there!)

But the next morning, Blake found another caterpillar outside and said, "Sadie, I found Sluggy" and she was overjoyed! Sure enough, it was definitely Sluggy himself. I told Sadie that he must have come back because he knew his mommy (Sadie, of course) was here and would take such good care of him.

She spent a fair amount of time on Sunday taking the caterpillars out of their 'home' and letting them walk around and get some exercise.

Thankfully the caterpillars are in abundance because on two separate occasions, Blake would be looking at them with Sadie and watching her and then just grab one and step on it!! Sadie was at first mortified and got so upset and we attempted to tell Blake that he couldn't kill them, but he did it a second time before he realized that they didn't come back to life. Poor Sadie.

By Monday, she had six caterpillars and I believe she had named them all, but I couldn't keep up. When she got home from school, she took them all for a walk in the stroller.......

I think the one climbing up the back of the stroller must have been Sluggy, attempting escape once again.

Today we are up to twelve. I don't think they will last long, however, and on a few occasions I have heard her say, "I don't like it when they play dead" and then just poke them with a stick to make sure they still have some life left in them. They are hanging in there, but I'm not sure how much abuse they can take. They may all be wishing Blake had his way with them!

Mother's Day

My parents came up for Mother's Day weekend and it was a really wonderful weekend with them. My parents made sure there were here on Friday in time to see Wyatt's baseball game and it was a great one! Then we took my parents to their first Twins game and had a great time, although with the rain delay, the game didn't get over until midnight! 

Saturday was another beautiful day, spent doing a little yard work and a little bit of fun. Matt and Wyatt went to hockey in the morning while the rest of us worked around the yard. Then we all had lunch, Blake napped, Wyatt and Pops and Matt played baseball for several hours across the street and Mom, Sadie and I went shopping for plants for my pots. Once we got home, we all went to visit my cousin's 1 year old daughter Sienna, who is at Children's Hospital right now undergoing treatment for leukemia. It was so sad to see her but also great to be able to visit with her mom, Becky (my cousin's wife) and Becky's mom as well as Sienna's big sister Avery. Kids under 5 years old aren't allowed on the oncology floor, so we took shifts with Blake. Boy, seeing something like that and so much sickness in such a little body with all those chemo drugs she is enduring sure reminds you to be thankful for healthy children. What a blessing!

Then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the patio at Punch Pizza. (And my parents drove our car with the kids so Matt and I got to go on our first official ride on the bike together!)

Sunday we had church and then ate brunch at Pier 500 in Hudson. While we were waiting for our table, we walked along the river and enjoyed another beautiful day. I finally took a few pictures of that...

Mr. daring was a bit too comfortable throwing his rocks in right at the edge

My mom and I on Mother's Day

This was the first Mother's Day my mom has had without her mother and I am hoping we were able to make it a special one for her. After an amazing brunch, Sadie and Blake napped while Pops, Matt and Wyatt played more baseball and Mom and I did a little shopping.

But we couldn't let them leave without planting something! 

(Matt and I keep saying that every time my parents come we always end up working on some type of project so we tried out best to not work too much this weekend, but they seriously have so much energy and are so helpful! Plus they don't really like sitting around so projects are what they love to do--unless of course, they could play with their grandkids instead all the time! And they did a fair amount of that as well!)

Matt took a short break on Sunday before they left to go for a bike ride and of course, Blake wanted to wear his shoes when he got back....this kid and shoes!

A sneak peak at my upcoming post about Sadie and her love for these little critters...

I had to take these pictures because we were laughing so hard. My parents love working in their yard/garden together and many weekends in the spring, summer or fall, I will call their house and they will have been out in the yard all day long. They just love it and thankfully they are good at it and enjoy doing it together. But they both have ideas about how some things should go and this was one of them. My mom started to empty this soil into one of my pots and you can see from my Dad's face that he had a different idea about how it should be done. But he kept his mouth shut and just watched my mom struggle until she needed his help....

My mom couldn't stop from laughing and was rendered completely ineffective in helping my Dad because of it. It was hilarious! And typical!

Meanwhile, this was going on....

Oh man...it was like a zoo at our house for a bit there but it was also so fun. My parents are so great with the kids and play with them nonstop when they are here. I really don't know where they get their energy from--Matt and I can hardly keep up with them. Yet they complain that they feel like they don't have the energy they used to----all I can say is that we would not have been able to keep up with them when they were in their early 30s!! 

Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for putting off your planting and gardening for another weekend so that we could enjoy some time with you. We all had a great time!!