coming up

Josh is off school today so he and I will be hanging out and resting up for the coming busy weekend. Then Dima's off school tomorrow so he and I will be hanging out together while Josh does school and bell practice for the little number they're putting together for a performance at the church where the school is on Sunday. Since Dima went to an all you can eat buffet with my parents and had clams, clams, clams he's been bugging me to go to another one so this will be our chance to find one and go - Josh isn't a fan of clams and stuff like that anyway so it'll be okay if he can't go to that. He'll do his lunch at school after his practice.

Saturday will be Josh's learn to play hockey lesson in the am then home for nap and our dance group's fest is that night and I'm doing the tickets for it so we'll have to be there nice and early so I can handle the at the door ticket sales. There goes Saturday evening and night...

Sunday the church service at Josh's school then the annual goat races are being held at the Sly Fox in Phoenixville and we'll be watching some goats and then dancing for that event too.

Monday Josh's class has their field trip to Marsh Creek park during his class time. We did this with Dima when he had the same teacher and it's fun and we actually learned stuff about the park. They "fished" with little nets the kids made and hiked around the trails in the park.

Tuesday Dima has his field trip to the zoo then on Tuesdays in the evenings he had been having CCD. This one will be his last one including a church service and all. Wednesday next week we'll finally be back into our "normal" routine. Oh, except for another field trip Dima has the following week.

It's hard to believe that Josh is done with school on the 20th of May. I can see this year that he's soooo ready for kindergarten as opposed to last year where he was reluctant to sit to do writing practice and all that - now he sits while Dima does his homework and he asks to write and draw and paint (we sat and painted beetles-the car kind- and trains and buses yesterday after Dima left for school). He first really got interested in drawing and letter practice when he found that a dot - to - dot book that we have has a tractor and a train and stuff that he's into.

Time flies!! Especially when you're busy.

That smells nice ??

Today Josh and I went to Marsh Creek park. Being Earth Day and even though it was drizzly off and on I thought it would be a good thing to get outside. There's an "EarthCache" near us so it seemed like a good day to check that one off my list - (as of this afternoon I've already found 51 caches!). The Earthcache is one where there isn't a physical thing to find it's more informational. There was a brief description of Marsh Creek Lake and it's history on the geocaching website and to claim it as found you had to meet the criteria of the people who set it up 1. had to answer some questions about the Christina watershed - that the reservoir at Marsh Creek drains into and 2. had to take a picture of your caching "team" at the site the coordinates led you to. As far as the acres that the lake takes up (535) and the other questions I had to look them up. Then I sat Josh on a bench and took his picture - a cute one at that - and as we were walking back to my car a tractor and pick up truck were driving by and Josh inhaled deeply and said " mmmmm That smells nice..." it was the smell of the exhaust! Is it possible that a kid can really be a born motor- head? Ah - yup, I think so.

Where's the princess... where's the princess??

We went to see Aladdin at Desales University this past weekend and ahead of time I explained to the boys about the show being different from the Disney version and read the online description of the show which included the name of the princess "Serena". After he started thinking about the princess every once in a while during our days Josh would ask me what her name was - again and again. Once we got to the theater some of the kids were seated around the perimeter of the stage on little carpets and Josh sat there for a short time then moved up into seats with the rest of us - I was glad he did it voluntarily since I was picturing him trying to talk to or hug the princess during the show and trying to figure out how to contain his enthusiasm. In the mean time Dima went to his seat - it might have helped that we literally sat in the same place we did last year for Jungle Book but he was remarkably well behaved and focused on the show. When they started the performance Josh was asking every few seconds "Where's the princess... where's the princess??" Once she came out he was like.." She's beautiful" If you ask now he'd tell you he remembers the princess and the few times that characters blew raspberries - Josh and his cousin were sitting next to each other and thought that it was just hilarious. After the show the cast sits in the lobby and signs coloring sheets. One of the ushers told me she went to Serena and described Josh to her and she was expecting him to be thrilled to see her. As we got through the line of kids waiting to see her he was actually kind of subdued and even kind of quite while she signed his sheet. Then as she was wrapping up the line of kids he decided he wanted to go hug her and again once he got close was kind of deer -in -the headlights in awe. She was very nice to him and I remembered the actress from Jungle Book - she was super nice to him then too.
She's got a fan for life in Josh if she ever pursues acting seriously.

"How soon can we have another wedding?"

Josh got to go to a wedding this past weekend. He was prepared beforehand with some conversation about being quiet during the ceremony and did really well. He was quiet and even bowed his head during the appropriate times and thought "The Bride" as he called her all day looked beautiful and didn't blurt it out - he managed to whisper.

He had a grand old time at the reception and looked cute in his lederhosen - the group was dressed in traditional costumes and he ALWAYS gets lots of attention when he's got that stuff on. As we were winding down he was saying good-bye to people and asked The Bride's very pretty, 19 year old sister "How soon can we have another wedding?" She said he could marry her and Josh was like - "great, then you can come over to my house!!"

He actually realized his limit and when I gave him a five minute warning before leaving - time he just said he was ready and he wanted to go then. Okey dokey - he's usually the last one being reluctantly dragged out of any party so he didn't have to tell us twice we got out of there while he was willing and he even fell asleep in the car on the way home - he's usually gabbing away and doesn't sleep after an event like that.

I had planned a rip to Hawk Mountain today since the weather's nice and the kids are both off school and when I mentioned it to Josh this morning he literally threw a fit - flopping on the floor and crying and being miserable in general. I'd even gotten up and mapped out a few caches to do on the way up and back and gotten lunch ready to take along. He has been incredibly sassy and bratty all day so as things turned out no trip, no picnic lunch, no nothing but boring day here at home. The trails up there might be difficult for him anyway so Dima and I will have to go on our own sometime. I'd offered to take Dima before and he didn't want to go until he saw a picture of the view in a newspaper he got from school and now he wants to go and it's too bad it didnt' work out. Even since he finished his nap he's been up in his room refusing to say he's sorry to me for being so nasty and yelling things like "I'm not listening to you!!" Oh really, then why are you still up in your room sassy - pants? I've thought about getting out the old Pack and Play that we used to use as his "baby jail" and sticking him in there but he'd probably think that was fun. Right now hopefully he's adjusting this attitude so we can get out of here and DO something today.