School Carnival

My school had its annual carnival a couple of weeks ago. Boogs is going to be transferring to my school next year, so I wanted him to see the school. He invited his friend, M,  from down the street to join us at the carnival. The boys really enjoyed the carnival. We stayed for about three hours.

Angry Bird Knock Down

A local Karate school had sparring gear. Boogs was definitely interested in sparring.

These brave teachers let kids throw plates of whipped cream at their faces. Nope, I did not volunteer for that booth!

This bouncy obstacle arm thing was amazing! There was a high arm and a low arm that swung around, constantly changing directions. The kids had to jump over or duck under the arms. It was hilarious watching them try to avoid getting knocked off their platforms.

Boogs asked if we could have this bouncy thing at his next birthday party. No! It is practically bigger than our backyard.

I LOVE that Boogs closed his eyes every time he shot an arrow. His did hit the target a few times.

 Laser tag!!!

The were lots of other little game booths. I think these two visited every booth at least two times.

Of course, you can't go to the carnival without getting a bag of cotton candy. This carnival was such a great way to spend the afternoon.

I am glad both boys had fun at the carnival. Sadly, the next few days were not fun for either of them. Boogs woke up the next morning throwing up. He was ill for five days and weak for a few days after that. He lost almost five pounds and was put on prescription anti-nausea medicine. He was mostly back to normal by Easter Sunday, which also happened to be his birthday. I received a text from the M's mother the day after the carnival letting me know they had taken M to a clinic early that morning because he was complaining of a sore throat. He tested positive for strep throat. Luckily, Boogs did not get strep throat and M did not get Boogs' awful virus.

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Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday also happened to be Boogs' 9th birthday. We had a very low-key day as Boogs was still recovering from being ill the previous week. Every year on Boogs' birthday I "balloon" his door/room. Sometimes I cover his floor with balloons and sometimes I find ways to make balloons fall into his room when he opens his door. This year, I hung tie-dye balloons on his door and made several balloon animals to go with them. This was the first time I have tried to make balloon animals.

Boogs thought the red dog was the most recognizable balloon animal. He thought they were fun but was not too sure about the poodle or the crocodile.

 I even made him a swimming sea turtle hat... er... I mean belt. He was not impressed.

Look at that smile. Boogs loves singing birthday cards. This card had a dog barking and a cat meowing the birthday song.

The only thing Boogs wanted for his birthday was a Webkins Black-Footed Ferret stuffed animal. He is such a sweet boy. I love this picture of him hugging his Daddy and saying thank you.

While we were fixing breakfast, Boogs went to feed his hamster. She was no longer alive. He has had Winter since his 7th birthday. We had a very, very sad morning.

After breakfast, we had a funeral for Winter. Boogs said a few words over her grave.

We went to my Mom's house for Easter lunch. We had a little cake to celebrate Boogs' birthday.

All of Boogs' cousins were out of town, so Boogs was on his own for the egg hunt. It was raining outside so we had to have the hunt inside.

We usually do not put candy in the Easter eggs, we just put coins. My Mom put money in 12 shiny eggs and then hid 95 empty eggs as well. There are usually 5 to 9 grandchildren hunting eggs. She wanted Boogs to have lots of eggs to hunt but did not want to open a lot of eggs and fill them. Boogs had fun looking for the eggs but it was kind of sad that he had the hunt all to himself. It is times like this when I wish he was not an only child.

We spent part of our afternoon like this. That is the positive side of the cousins being out of town. We would have welcomed the chaos.

Thanks Mom for having us over and making it a fun day for Boogs!

Glow Run

Boogs' school held a really fun event a few weeks ago - "I Run My School In The Dark - Glow Run". It was the first time ever that running inside the school building was encouraged.

The kids ran the school by grade levels. Most of the lights inside the building were turned off. Glow sticks, black lights, and Christmas lights were hanging throughout the hallways.

After all of the grade levels had completed the run, it was time for the family run. Wow, was it crowded. Of course, I had to run the school with Boogs. That little stinker left me behind in his dust!

They had some other fun things to do at this event. Boogs can't resist getting his face painted.

Spring Break

Our Spring Break was a few weeks ago. We stayed in town and had a pretty quiet week. Our biggest outing of the week was a visit to Mayfield Park and Nature Preserve and Mount Bonnell. My friend, C, was in town with her two daughters and they joined us for a picnic at the park. C and I have been friends since the first day we met in kindergarten. It is really neat to watch our kids play together.

Mayfield Park is known for its peacock residents. The kiddos really enjoyed watching and listening the peacocks.

There are several small ponds to explore. Luckily, neither Boogs nor the ball explored the ponds too closely.

We wandered around the park area for about an hour before having lunch at the picnic tables.

Mayfield Park is surrounded by 21 acres of Nature Preserve area. We followed the trails down to the water and back.

 The kiddos all wanted to be the trail leader for our hiking group. It was a mad dash for 1st place.

We enjoyed the warm weather and nearly empty trails. I was surprised there weren't more people there on such a beautiful day.

 

This was a great climbing tree. 

After we finished our walk and took another look at the peacocks, we took a 2 minute drive to Mount Bonnell. Unfortunately, my camera stopped working while we were on the preserve trail. Reaching the top of Mount Bonnell requires walking up 106 steps. This site has a great picture of the stairs. While climbing the stairs, C and I reminisced about our 2nd grade field trip to Mount Bonnell. One of our classmates had a broken leg with a cast on. Our teacher, Ms. Keefe, carried her up and down all of those stairs. Our kiddos enjoyed running the little trail at the top and checking out the spectacular views. I wish my camera hadn't died.

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Feeling Crafty

I went to Michael's last week to pick up some adhesive and made the mistake of walking down the ribbon aisle. I found an entire section of burlap with lace and cork rolls of ribbon. I loved their textures and had to pick up a couple of rolls.

 

 I took out a few Stampin' Up stamp sets, inks, and cardstock to made these cards.

I recently bought the Moon Lake stamp set but had not yet used it. The images in this set are so peaceful. I liked the monochromatic look of this card. If I make this card again, I may chalk the image. The greeting is from the retired Birthday Greetings set.

I pulled out my retired Definitely Daisy stamp set for this card. It was one of the first sets I ever bought. When I used it this week, I noticed there was an extra stamp in the box. It turns out it was the letter "O" from an alphabet set. I lost that "O" about ten years ago. I can't believe it has been sitting in this box. I used the happy birthday stamp from Teeny Tiny Wishes on this card.

Story Themed Lunches

Boogs is reading chapter books and graphic novels on his own and I read chapter books to him before bed. Occasionally, I am able to sneak in a picture book for our bedtime reading. I came across this Battle Bunny book and thought Boogs would really get a kick out of it.

Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett

Alex receives a simple and sweet little bunny book from his grandmother for his birthday. Alex alters the story by crossing out words, adding words, changing pictures, and adding-in his own illustrations. He turns the book from a sweet story into a story about the Bunny's evil plan to rule the world. Alex draws himself into the book to stop the evil Battle Bunny and save the world. I thought this was really clever. Boogs was not happy with this book. He was upset the author "felt the need to ruin a sweet little book that was a gift from a grandmother". We read each page twice - first the "real" story, then with the additions made by Alex. Boogs said he wished the authors "had just made their own Battle Bunny book from scratch instead of ruining the Birthday Bunny." I love my sweet boy. A couple of days later, he said he had read the book a few times both ways and decided it was really interesting how the authors twisted the true story. But he would never do that to a book.

In the ELB lunchbox (I used my new black Urban colored lid because of the evil Bunny): pb&j Battle Bunny with cheese accessories, macadamia nut megaton bombs, dried mango with A for the hero Alex, grape mind control helmets, and carrots with hummus.

A Perfecty Messed-Up Story by Patrick McDonnell

Boogs saw this book sitting on the kitchen table. He immediately opened it up and read it. Then he looked at me and sighed, "Another altered book... really?" This book shows Louie trying to tell his story. As he skips along, a great big glob of jelly lands in the middle of his page. Many more things are dropped and smeared onto his pages but little Louie keeps trying to tell his story. Finally, his book is such a mess he gives up. But then he starts to think positively and realizes messes can't ruin his story. Boogs and I talked about little Louie's perseverance and positive attitude that changed the way he felt. Boogs thought it was a cute story. He told me it reminded him a little bit of Bad Day at Riverbend (by Chris Van Allsburg). He has a good memory. We read that book about two years ago.

In the Laptop Lunchbox: book sandwich covered with smeared marker, jelly & peanut butter, carrots with hummus, mango, and yogurt.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Bike Riding

Boogs is really enjoying bike riding. As soon as he gets home from school on sunny days, he asks to go bike riding. The other day (almost two weeks ago, I forgot these pics were in my phone) we rode to the park together. It was a nice long ride.

 Boogs was a little nervous about crossing the bridge on his bike, but he did it.

 We played at the park for about an hour before heading home.

Most of our park time was spent playing chase. We played on the playscape - up & down the slides, across the wobbly blocks, across the monkey bars, up & down the climbing wall, etc. A little girl about 7-yrs-old came over and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was playing tag with my son. She said, "Oh. My mom is watching you. I asked if she would play with me like that and she said no. She said there must be something wrong with you because you are too active." That made me sad.

 Boogs and I had a great time wearing ourselves out before heading home.

We even stopped at another park on the way home.

I am looking forward to many more family bike rides.

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