Happy Birthday Makenzie Faith!

My niece turned five yesterday. This is the homemade apron I gave her for her birthday. I wish she lived closer so we could put on our aprons and bake together!

Happy Birthday Makenzie!

outside

I am so ready for summer! We had a nice break from the dismal gray skies and rain recently. So we took advantage of it and played outside, gardened, and found ladybugs.

Searching for ladybugs...

Found one!

She's flying away!

Climbing a tree.

Suzuki

Marek is taking piano lessons, following the Suzuki method. Which translated means we are both taking piano lessons. I took lessons for years a long time ago, but I have lost a lot of it, so it's really nice to reconnect with the ivories. It's a big adjustment for Marek, though. He wants to learn to play and enjoys piano at home. But the concept of lessons and practicing is still new to him. At our lesson this past week, his teacher took this picture of him in his "get ready" position. He did a great job and I was really proud of him!

chores

Marek has always been an enthusiastic helper at home, inside and outside. Whether it's cleaning, planting, cooking, rearranging, creating, building...you name it, he's generally a ready and willing participant. Since he helps everyday so much, I hadn't given him set "chores" he had to do. Mostly, it's done naturally throughout the day. But he got excited about having a chore chart and I thought it might be nice to pin down a couple of things that he could be in charge of each day to help with that could be his own chores. He chose them - making his bed and helping with dinner. We may have to modify this list to include different chores, but here is the chart I made for him. For every day that he completes his chore, he can remove a planet from the pocket and place it in the sky. When all of the planets are in the sky, he gets to choose an extra special activity for the day. I remember going to the house of one of my best friends in 4th grade and seeing a chore chart for her big family. I just fell in love with it and came home begging for a chore chart, too! I'm sure my mom thought it was amusing how excited I was about having a chore chart!

update

Besides Easter, work, and preschool, our lives have been filled with:

Piano - Trying to instill the habit of practicing every day. (And playing our recordings for 2 hours each day!)This can be difficult when we're taking trips or have so many other things scheduled. Or when I work until 9 at night. But I think it will all pay off in the end. I really like our piano teacher.

Gym class - Marek loves, loves, loves gym class. He looks forward to it more than anything else during the week. It's great to see him doing well in it, enjoying himself, and getting some great exercise!

Swimming - Marek's getting private lessons these days. The girl who was in his class hasn't been there in a few weeks, so we're getting private lessons at the group cost! His confidence is building and he loves being in the water.

Birthday parties - We've been to three birthday parties in the past few weeks (two in one day). It's been a lot of fun for Marek and I've had the chance to see some friends I haven't seen in awhile.

Fun in Gig Harbor - We watched a theatre performance of Puss in Boots, got his first PCLS library card, made a butterfly house from the kids workshop at Home Depot, visited with Grandpa Mark and Grandma Judy, visited extended family, and watched Milo and Otis (for the 10th time). Marek sings the Milo and Otis theme song throughout the day.

Planning our Disneyland Vacation - We're so excited to go in May! It will be a whirlwind trip, but so worth it. I'm not sure who is most excited about this one. :)

Easter Wishes

Happy Easter! We had a beautiful (although very stormy) Easter weekend in Washington. Hoping it was a wonderful time for you as well.

Preparing the eggs...shirt off, as I quickly learned that it stains!

It had been storming all weekend, so the Easter Bunny had to hide the eggs around the house.

Checking out the Easter basket

Posing for an Easter photo.

This is my handsome boy. Love him so much! Love that he loves wearing a tie!

After our morning Easter breakfast, egg hunt at home, and church, we headed to the Anderson's for a family Easter event. Marek had such a good time and begged to stay longer. Here he is, with all of the kids at the Anderson's house, preparing for the big Easter egg hunt.

Finding eggs.

Post egg hunt. Happy and relaxing!

The Andersons have a beautiful house and farm with chickens and horses. Nik is taking Marek to check out the farm life.

Taking a seat in church. Happy Easter!