Roar!!!!!!

The Mighty T-Rex after coming after us!


The Fiesty Liliensternus-before eating!

Ryan & I waiting for the show!

Dad and Ryan so excited!

Having a 4 (almost 5!) year old boy we've learned a lot about dinosaurs. Probably more than I ever wanted to know and told regularly that I am wrong about some things. We took Ryan to "Walking w/the Dinosaurs" for an early birthday present. It is a show created by the BBC and has life-like (and size!) dinosaurs that move and interact as if they are right in front of you. PHENOMENAL! Ryan loved it!!! He did not take his eyes off the show nor did his mouth stop talking. It started out w/a "paleontologist" taking us through the different eras of the dinosaurs. Pretty remarkable; dinosaurs fighting, eating food, chasing each other as well as the paleontologist. It ends w/the giant T-Rex. We bought the tickets months ago and thought 7th row was pretty good. They were even better than we even imagined b/c the first 5 rows were blacked out. Why were they blacked out you ask? If you sat there, you ran the risk of losing your head to either a tail or a dinosaur taking a nibble. :) Ryan swears one of the dinosaurs tried to eat him. The pictures I've included are not the best quality and do not do the show justice but they warned us not to use our flashes b/c the dinosaurs can get a bit feisty. I know better not to mess w/a dinosaur or a 4 (almost 5) year old's sense of seriousness. A wonderful memory to add to our collection!

Exhaustion....

Life is so tiring some days. Playing is wonderful and sickness is terrible. I tell you what, if one more germ bug hits this house I am going to fumigate the whole thing.
The good exhaustion: The weather has been so beautiful on and off the last couple of weeks we have spent most of our days outside-our house, our neighbor's house, NW Trek.... We all know Ryan loves to go outside in search of his new treasure; whether it be a bug, a worm, a new plant or weed. Jack is the same. He just follows Ryan around doing exactly what his big brother does. We continue to remind Ryan that Jack is watching and will try anything he is doing.
We have been so fortunate, our family had not gotten sick in a long time until...Easter. Jack started it w/the flu. Yuck! All I have to say is I LOVE my hardwood floors and am so thankful for them!!!!! (Remind me of this when I start complaining again about the messes!) Ryan came next. (Thank you hubbby for staying home and dealing w/them!) Jeff next! I was sanitizing and Lysoling everything. Praying that my teaching immunity is paying off. No such luck! I ended up in bed this week. Jack had a small rash for a couple of days so Jeff decided to take him in thinking it was really nothing....nope! He had strep. We put 2 and 2 together=I had it too. Not fun! Medication is a great thing! ENT doctors that will prescribe you meds w/o seeing them until after the meds have kicked in is another wonderful thing. I am now feeling 95%. Jack hasn't stopped moving. We never would have thought he was sick. I am hoping that is the end of that!
Exhaustion...need I say more?
With all the germs and sanitizing, Easter pictures have been postponed. I swore that this post would be about Easter...not quite yet. Maybe tomorrow....:)

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion...I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." Kurt Vonnequt, Jr.

Spring Break!

I love Spring Break! I've always loved it as long as I remember. Now being a teacher, I appreciate it that much more. It is time to relax, clean and just play. We've done all of that and more this week. Cleaning our garage was a huge task but so rewarding. One day I went w/a couple of friends and scrapbooked. So relaxing too!

We also went to Cle Elum for one night and headed over to Chelan Falls for the day. Beautiful! My in-laws are building a vacation home on the river. It was the first time I saw the house. I can't wait until it is finished. The boys and Daisy had the best time. I think most of the mud and dirt came home w/us on Jack as you can see in the pictures. It took Daisy about 2 minutes to realize there was water. We had to drag the ding-dong out to get warmed up. She did not want to leave the river. She then would roll in the dirt and then jump back in. Crazy dog! Ryan loved playing w/the water (not in!), making mud pies, and trying to catch little creatures in the water w/a bucket. Jack loved throwing rocks and mud and just sitting at the water's edge. He also found a great dirt pile to roll around in. So fun and so exhausting. We ended the day w/fresh milkshakes in Entiat. I love Spring Break!

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
Anne Bradstreet

Crazy Daisy Dog!

Birthdays are a time for great celebration. We always seem to plan and plan for these great events. Today is Daisy, our now 6 year old lab's special day. Unfortunately, time ran away and we forgot. We put her in the kennel and headed off to the pet store. She is one of the family members that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. When we first got her, I was so excited. A cute little puppy with the big belly and loving way she licked everything. She was and is still very cute. There are many moments in my day and throughout the last 6 years that I think, "why on Earth did we get a dog???" Not just a dog, but a shedding dog w/hardwoods? Not just a shedding dog, but a 70 pound lap shedding dog?

Let me tell you all the things that she has maimed or destroyed or have disappeared since her arrival: kitchen cabinet corners, window sills, an aluminum blind (I can't imagine how that looked by people passingby), an Ethan Allen chair, endless socks, indestructible dog toys, shoes, toys, books, the latch to a seatbelt, balls, a backyard, sticks of butter, 70 chocolate cookies w/melted Andies mints on them, garbage, garbage, garbage, loaf of bread (only the crust, mind you!) and so many other things that have escaped my mind. How I haven't thrown her out or left her in the woods, I am not sure.

The thing about Daisy is she is so sweet. She knows when she has been in getting into mischief and just looks at you with those big eyes. She will let the boys do anything to her. I do mean anything. They have laid on her, rode her, pulled her tail and ears, poked her eyes, looked at her teeth-and she let's them w/such grace. She knows when you are sad and need a little love. "Daisy" was one of the boys' first words. Ryan and Jack both look for her for a hug. Man's best friend indeed.

Yes, there are days I hate having a dog but I will be one of the saddest in our home when she is gone. So with that, happy birthday Daisy-our world would not be the same without you!

A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. Josh Grobin (Marley & Me)