Its been a long time

Yes, it has been a VERY long time since we last posted, but we have been VERY busy. I think Patrick and I could sleep for a weekend straight if we were able to. Unfortunately we don't have that sort of leisure time. Sarah has been finishing up her last semester of school. Yup, 3.5 years later and she will finally have her MSW. It is crazy thinking that we she started the MSW program Elle was just 16 months old and Jay wasn't even born. Now Elle is almost 5 and Jay will soon turn 3. Sarah can't wait to read books (other than school books) again and do some crafts. Speaking of crafts, she couldn't wait to get her feet wet and made a crochet cowl.

What else is new? Well, Sarah will be ending her part-time GRA job and will begin full-time work again on December 1st. She will be working for the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department providing care management to older adults. One of her practicum placements was there, so it will be nice returning to an agency with which she is familiar. It is also nice that she was able to find a social work and aging job in Lawrence as they don't open up every day.

Patrick's team is doing really well. He has ~70 (yup!) swimmers on his team only after about 6 months of the team existing! Pretty amazing. His swimmers are in Columbia this weekend and have been doing really well. Patrick has also been juggling a few design projects.

Elle has been attending two preschools this year and loves them both. She is really coming out of her shell this year. Last year she was quiet and didn't do a lot of talking. Now when I pick her up she willingly says by to her teachers and her classmates. For Elle's snack the other day we made a fun turkey (see below). After putting on the "feathers" we realized that this was not going to be able to fit back into our fridge as we had just gone to the grocery store. So, Patrick had to make an extra run to Elle's preschool to drop off the snack because she doesn't attend that preschool until the afternoon. The week before we also made a snack of homemade cinnamon rolls for Elle's preschool. When Sarah printed the instructions the second page didn't print so she thought the recipe would be easy. It wasn't until after starting that she realized how time consuming the recipe was. They turned out great, though!

Jay is also attending "school" two mornings a week. It is like a pre-preschool program. He loves going and playing! Most of the other kids had separation issues at first, but not Jay, who's Mr. Happy. Every day when Patrick would pick him up his teachers would say, "Jay had another good day today." Jay also has a big boy bed, which he calls his dinosaur bed because he has a dinosaur quilt. There is storage space underneath the bed, but right now we have it set up so the kids can play under there.

Art Show

Well, we are way behind on posts. We have been so busy the past few months! I'll try to do a brief update as to some of things we've been up to.

Near the end of the school year Elle's school (the Lawrence Arts Center) had an art show for the preschoolers. Each student picked out one piece of art they had made during the year and then all of the pieces of art were displayed (at preschool kid height) in the gallery. Elle was excited to show us her art piece. She also knew where the art was for Levi, a friend in her class. Elle's art piece is the one to her right and the other picture is a self portrait she painted.

On Earth Day we went to the Earth Day festival downtown and kids painted birdhouses. A bird has made its home in one of the birdhouses! This bird is quite little but has the loudest cheep. When we water near the birdhouse he'll come out and cheep at us as if to say, "what are you doing here?"

Every once in a while the kids ask to have a sleepover. This picture is from the first attempt at a sleepover, which didn't work out too well. Being that Jay is still in a crib, to not be enclosed and to be in a different room (Elle's room) was too exciting and he wouldn't stay put. So, the sleepovers have taken place in Jay's room from that point with Jay in his crib and Elle's mattress on the floor. Elle likes to tell nighttime stories, as she's doing in this picture.

We planted a few things for a garden this year and have had a few successes. Our lettuce, which was a flop last year, did quite well. Now that lettuce season is over we have peppers where the lettuce was.

Up a Tree

I had started a running list of things I wanted to write about on our blog, but it seems to have disappeared, so I'm sure there are some events that I will miss writing about. I'll write about a few now and some more soon.

First and foremost, I want to say that Patrick has started a new swim team in Lawrence. It is a long and crazy story- one that would take me much too long to write about. His team is called Ad Astra Area Aquatics. Ad Astra Per Aspera is the Kansas state motto and it means To the Stars Through Difficulties. Starting this team was no easy undertaking, so the name fits. We are really excited about Patrick's team and its potential. He has four great assistant coaches, an excellent business manager, supportive parents, and awesome swimmers. Tonight we are having the team over to our house for a BBQ!

Elle recently had a birthday. It's hard to believe she is already 4 years old! We had a nice day on her birthday, despite it being rainy. We went to the movies and saw How to Tame Your Dragon, which was a cute movie. We had KFC for dinner followed by a Princess and the Frog cake. Elle took snack for her preschool class on her birthday. We made mini hamburger cookies, which were a big hit.

What else has happened recently? Well, last month as we were playing in the front yard, guess who we found in our huge front tree? Colby! I don't know how he got out, but we're glad he didn't go far. We had to get out the ladder, but Colby was still fearful to come down. So, we put some canned cat food in a bowl, which tempted him, but he still needed help getting down. Now he's safely inside and hopefully won't have any more outdoor adventures!

St. Patrick's Day & Easter

Let's see what else we've been up to lately...

On St. Patrick's Day the kids found green milk in the fridge. Elle wouldn't drink it, though, as she said it didn't taste good. We also went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was a bit chilly this year and absolutely mobbed. I've never seen the St. Patrick's Day Parade so crowded. Luckily, the Honda Element is quite short and Patrick was able to maneuver an amazing parallel parking job. One of the floats passed out flowers. When we got home we had to plant it or else the cats would've eaten it. Three days later Lawrence was slammed with a good 5" of snow (yuck). However, our little flower from the parade survived and is doing quite well!

The kids have had some fun painting on the back porch. So much fun that they decided to paint Jay- hair and all. This paint is not washable so it was impossible trying to get the paint out of their clothes and quite difficult getting it out of Jay's hair. Don't you just love these pics of Jay painting, though?

Last month Patrick participated in a couple of design contests and won one! This contest was for a hubcap company. The winning design wasn't Sarah and Patrick's favorite design of the one's that he did, but it was still cool that he won.

We had an absolutely beautiful Easter day. We never quite got around to dyeing Easter eggs. However, the kids received a visit from the Easter Bunny. We spent a great deal of time outside (including hunting for Easter eggs) on Easter as the weather was so nice. We put up the horse tire swing the kids received for Christmas. We went over to a friend's house for dinner where we played washers and grilled pizzas.

Catching up on part of March

As you can tell, we haven't been much into blogging lately-- sorry! We'll try to catch you up on the past month or so. First of all, Jay has started potty training. This is how it's going...

He's actually doing okay. We're not pushing the potty training too strongly right now, but try to have him go at times. He's had a few successes, too!

Some time in March Sarah looked out the window only to see a huge batch of black birds in the front yard (they were in the back yard, too). It was quite odd because they were only in our front yard and didn't seem to want to venture into the neighboring yards. Kinda creepy!

Last month Sarah's mom visited for a week, which helped us out a lot. Sarah had the grand idea of taking an old dance dress and having it made into a dress-up outfit for Elle. We snapped some photos of Elle in the dress prior to it being altered. I need to take a picture of Elle wearing the altered dress, which turned out pretty neat.

Jay's Second Birthday

Our little man turned two years old a couple weeks ago. He's growing up so quickly. Patrick's mom came into town for Jay's birthday. She and the kids made cupcakes, which Jay took to daycare to celebrate his birthday. At home, the dining room was decorated with streamers and Sponge Bob party supplies. The Sponge Bob and Patrick Starfish balloons still have some air in them and have been in Jay's birthday since his big day.

After a yummy dinner we had a delicious Sponge Bob ice cream cake, which was eaten on Sponge Bob plates. We all had blue tongues from the frosting. Jay did an awesome job blowing out his candles. He blew out both of them, although he did them one at a time. After dessert came present time. Elle was a big helper, aiding Jay unwrap his gifts. Jay had a blast and it was definitely a better birthday than his first (he was sick last year on his birthday).

Luckily, and at long last, it looks like winter is ending. This has been one of the longest Kansas winters we've ever experienced. Lots of snow, ice, and cold, cold weather. This weekend we were able to spend time in the backyard doing some yard work and enjoying the sun. We opened the windows to the house and let in some fresh air. We're crossing our fingers that this weather lasts. We also were able to hang out with some friends this weekend. We went to Wonderscope Children's Museum with friends and their kids and then cheered on the Jayhawks while they beat Missouri! Always a fun time.

A Busy February

Sorry it's been so long since we last wrote. The past month has been really busy. We are quite disappointed the Colts didn't win the Super Bowl, but not many teams have such great track records as the Colts. They definitely had a season to be proud of.

A couple weeks ago Sarah and Elle travelled to New Mexico. Flights were booked at midnight on Thursday night for a flight that left at 6am Friday morning. Needless to say we were tired. Or at least Sarah was. Elle somehow tapped into extra energy she must've been storing. On the flight into Albuquerque, Elle, who was sitting next to the window, said "there's a dirty bath down there" upon seeing the Rio Grande.... The reason for our quick and unplanned visit was because Sarah's 96 year-old grandma was in the hospital with aspiration pneumonia and a bowel obstruction. Amazingly enough, she pulled through. It was so good to see her, talk with her, and read books to her. We also had the opportunity to see Sarah's other grandma (see picture) and take a trip to the Disney Store. We returned to Kansas with a Buzz Lightyear for Jay and as soon as he saw Buzz he said, "Buzth!"

Speaking of Jay, he turned two this past week so we'll write a post soon about his birthday!

This Air Doesn't Look Good

Well, what a busy sports month this has been! Lots of good Jayhawk games. Tonight the Jayhawks are gearing up for the Border Showdown- Kansas vs. Missouri. As many say, "Muck Fizzou!" We also were pretty excited yesterday to celebrate the Colts victory, which means they are going to the Super Bowl. Can't wait for the big game in a couple weeks! Last weekend we took the kids to a women's basketball game. The tickets were really cheap and the stadium is never full for women's games, so we thought it would be a fun excursion. Unfortunately, Jay napped for basically the entire game. Elle enjoyed pointing the Jayhawk mascots out. During half-time there was an awesome performance of gymnasts from South Dakota. It was amazing to see them leaping around and doing tons of twists off of trampolines. It was one of the best half-time performances we've ever seen.

Since our last blog post we had six days straight of pure fog. I think it was due to the warmer temps + abundance of snow left on the ground. The first time Elle saw the fog she said, "this air doesn't look good." She also said, "it looks soggy out." The fog is gone as it all of the snow except for the piles left by the snow removal vehicles. Elle is also very pleased to announce that Oreo, the classroom guinea pig, is back from being on "holiday."

Patrick has been really busy with design work lately. He is working on the logo and branding the CSA (Community Sustainable Agriculture), which we were a part of this past year. They just started the CSA this past year and are hoping to expand this year. Patrick is excited to help them out in their business venture.

This last photo is a picture of a lion drawn by Elle. We are quite amazed by this drawing. She did it by following a step-by-step drawing book, but it still seems quite good in our opinion.

We're Tired of Single Digit Temperatures

Since the New Year started, Lawrence has continued to be covered in a blanket of snow. We received more snow this week. During those days the temperature hovered in the single digits. Brrr!! When Sarah woke up this morning the thermostat read that it was -4 degrees out. One must keep in mind that our thermostat is tucked into a corner so it doesn't even get the brunt of the cold. Usually when we compare our outside thermostat temperature to temperatures around town, our thermostat is higher. Needless to say, it's been cold! We're looking forward to the coming week of having temperatures in the 30's. Here's a picture of our thermostat noting the -4 degrees outside:

We rang in the New Year in a quiet fashion. We did puzzles with the kids and made pudding covered with whipped cream (which the kids loved). The kids ran around the house with glow sticks for a while, too. Everyone was sound asleep before midnight. How boring we are?

We have been finishing up the last of the zillions of Christmas cookies we received. We keep them high above one of the cabinets (out of the reach of hungry dogs). Jay is quite familiar with where the cookies are kept and he is constantly pointing up and requesting cookies. He, however, can't quite say cookies and it sounds like he is saying, "tooties, tooties...."

Elle started back to preschool this week although she didn't have class on Friday due to the cold temperatures. She came back from school on Monday quite distressed that Oreo, the classroom guinea pig, was gone. "Oreo is gone" she announced to us. When asked where Oreo was she said, "He's on holiday. He'll be back on tomorrow day." We'll see if Oreo is back in the classroom this next week. One other thing to note about Elle from this week- one day during a dinner in which we had stir-fried tofu she said, "I love toe food."