It's the Muppet Show....

"It's the Most Sensational, Inspirational, Celebrational, Muppetational....This is what we call the Muppet Show!!!"

Since early March when we first saw the new Muppet Show movie (LOVED IT!!!), we have been all Muppets all the time.  We listen to the soundtrack round the clock, Z pretends that he is Kermit, I am Mary, Scott is Gary and Lil'C is Camilla the Chicken.  We have birthday parties for Walter and Gonzo and Z even puts on his own Muppet Shows.  The movie was great (Scott and I laughed so hard we were crying at times) and now we are going back in time and watching the old Muppet Show episodes.  I wasn't sure if the kids were going to like them but they think they are HILARIOUS!  I love to hear their little giggles as we watch this major piece of our childhood. 

The Muppet Show has been a nice break from Star Wars...that is not to say that Z has forgotten Star Wars or his Peregrine Falcon obsessions (he even wrote a book called, "The Muppet's Meet Star Wars").  Z now spends an hour as Kermit, the next as Luke and then an hour later will be Daddy Falcon hunting for his babies.  It is hard to keep up with him sometimes :)  I can't wait to show him the clip below...it brings his three loves together....the Muppet's, Lego and Star Wars :)

April Fools--Z Style

This is just a sampling of what yesterday was like at our house.  It was a day of constant "joking" by our little man Z :)

-Mommy did you know that Saturn lost it's rings??    APRIL FOOLS

-Daddy did you know that people don't have heads??    APRIL FOOLS

-Mommy did you know that people don't have penis' but girls do?    APRIL FOOLS

-Daddy did you know that Jupiter has big rings and Saturn has small rings??    APRIL FOOLS

-Daddy did you know that horses don't gallop they walk?    APRIL FOOLS

-Mommy did you know that my fishbowl has worms in it??    APRIL FOOLS

And so it went on all day :)  I hope you enjoyed your April Fool's Day.

Mom of a Jedi

Over the last few months, I have been living in a galaxy far, far away and have been mom to a Jedi Knight.  My house is filled with books about Star Wars, Star Wars LEGO ships and the talk from Z is 90% Star Wars.  I have learned a great deal about what it takes to be the mom of a great Jedi and my son has even led me through classes so that I too can perfect my abilities using the force.  It is now my time to share with all of you the important things to remember when raising a young Jedi.

1.  Patience and Knowledge--When your young Jedi wants to talk nothing but Star Wars, it can be rather exhausting.  I am also being bombarded with questions and riddles so it is important to be up to speed on the different characters and what they are up to (and throw in some Yoda Meditation when you can).

2.  Great Engineering Skills--Lego Ships that have been in battle are often in need of repair.  It is important to be quick on your feet while fixing these ships because you will often have to distract the two year old at your feet (if you have one) and work in a productive manner that will allow you  to complete the rest of your Jedi Mom duties (aka housework).

3.  Creative Teaching--Because my young Jedi wants to talk nothing but Star Wars, I try to throw in creative learning experiences.  When he wanted to create a Lego Star Wars Store, I had him create a Store Sign, price tags and taught him how to add up totals on his cash register.  We have written two books about Star Wars, he created the cast out of paper, we have read many books about Star Wars from the library (and he can read quite a few words in them), we conducted a float or sink experiment using Star Wars LEGOs, he has learned about the instruments in the orchestra and who plays what during the Imperial March and he has written two pieces of Star Wars music for his glockenspiel.  Anytime I can throw in a teachable moment, I do.

4.  Balance--It is important to stress balance in a young Jedi's life.  Trips on the Magic Tree House with Jack and Annie, playing baseball, bird watching, building fairy houses, looking for planets and playing with cars and dinosaurs are important to helping a Jedi lead a balanced life.  We have stressed that you can't be thinking about the force all day, everyday and that it is important to lead a full life :)

May the Force Be With All of You!

Z's Big Crush

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!  

The other day we were enjoying the warm weather (50 degrees in February!!!) and broke out the sidewalk chalk.  Z took a big piece of chalk and started writing away.  At first I couldn't quite make out what he was writing but then I realized...."Rachel".  He also started drawing hearts everywhere (see the heart after her name??).  My son is in love.  Apparently he has been writing a secret person a Valentine every day of this month in school.  That would be why he knows how to spell her name ;)

Hope your day is filled with puppy love and hearts!!!

Our Family Valentine's

The Girl LOVES gluesticks :)

Z's Lesson in Giving

Taking Dave Ramsey's Advice, we decided to teach our children the importance of money and saving.  We made 3 jars with Z for his money.

He now has a Spend jar, a Give jar and a Save jar.  All money that he earns/receives is to be split among these three jars (70% goes into spend, 20% into save and 10% goes into give). 

A while back I posted about Z doing chores to earn money to donate to Heifer International.  He did earn some money doing this and also took some of his Christmas money and put it in his Give Jar.  After hearing my dad on the radio talking about the work he will be doing in Hondurus later this month with his Rotary Club, Z decided to donate his Give Money to this effort.  We surprised my dad and sent a check for the organization.  He then surprised us by having Z's name added to the list of donors on the plaque that will hang in the new school they are building. 

My dad's Rotary District has been involved in Missions to Hondurus for many years.  They always take a medical team (nurses, doctors, dentists) to work in the hospitals and out in the villages and a civilian group to do a project.  The have built schools, worked on installing clean water filters and so much more.  My dad has been quite a few times and my sister and aunt (both nurses) joined him on his first trip.  This year my dad's best friend is going along and it is my hope that in a few years Z and I will be able to go too.

"I Think It Snowed While We Were Sleeping"

This is what Z says every morning as he runs to the window.  As he looks outside his happy face falls into a frown and he says, "no snow today Mommy".  With no snow in the extended forecast last week, the local meteorologists were actually apologizing.  Today we have a wintry mix that will end in rain....no fun for the little guy at all.  It is an interesting turn of events for a state that had snow on both Halloween and Thanksgiving.

So we wait...wait for the white stuff to fall from the sky and stick to the ground.   I can't say I am too bummed out...I mean snow in these parts usually means no power!  However the kids got snowshoes from Santa and when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said I wanted snowshoes for S so the whole family could go together (I got mine a few Christmas' ago).  So now we are outfitted with snowshoes and new snowball makers and snow brick makers, and snow pants and boots......and there is no snow.

Z is even more impatient because I told him we would wait for a snow day to open up the big 5 foot cardboard rocket ship that Uncle B got them.  He can't wait to open it, turn our playroom into a launch pad and color the entire ship ("Mommy, you will help right?").  So we wait, we wait for snow to come and stay for a bit.

Chores for Charity

During the month of November, Z's school asked each child to do chores around the house to earn money to go and buy canned goods for the food pantry.  Z took this job very seriously and worked hard to earn money and felt a lot of pride as he went to the grocery store to pick out the food to donate.

This school project inspired me to continue it into December but this time I thought it might be nice for Z to pick a charity to work towards.  I gave him three choices....a charity to help people have clean water, a charity that would give a needy family a farm animal to help nourish them or a charity to help families build a house.  He chose to earn money to help buy a family an animal and is currently working toward a share of a cow (his choice).  This picture was taken a while ago and he is currently up to $11.  He has a ways to go until he gets to his $50 goal but Christmas is not the deadline for us.  He will work until he accomplishes his goal and then he will go online to make his donation to Heifer International.

I hope that this project will be the kick off of to the new piggy bank system that I want to start with him.  I want him to start placing his money into three categories....save, spend and share.  Right now all his money just sits in his piggy bank until something he REALLY wants comes up and then he spends it all :)  We will take it all one step at a time, after all he is only five.

More Z isms

While cleaning Z's room:

Z:  Mom the coolest thing happened last night.
Me:  Really, what?
Z:  I peed in the shape of Africa!
Me:  huh?
Z:  Last night, I peed my bed in the shape of Africa, isn't that sooooo cool!
Me:  Yes Z, so cool :)

Later in the kitchen:

Z:  Mom dad has adult knees inside of him
Me:  Yes Z, Daddy has adult knees
Z:  Yes he has adult knees inside his body and I have kidneys!
Me:  What?
Z:  Daddy has adultknees to help clean his pee and I have kidneys.

Where does he come up with this?!?!?!

Z's Birthday Tree

Today my baby boy turns 5.  He officially leaves the baby stage of life and heads into the young child stage.  This leaves me with such mixed emotions :(  I am so proud of the little boy he has become but I so miss the baby that I use to snuggle up with.  Today, while Z is at school, I will spend some time looking through his photo books and watching old videos.  I will most likely sob through the whole ordeal.  Then when I pick him up from school,  I will hug my big boy and tell him how proud I am of him and how excited I am for this next stage of his life.  He is such a special person.

We have celebrated 5 in a big way :)  He had two parties (one at the lake in early September with family and one here on Friday with friends).  For his birthday present, Z asked to go to Story Land and so we did that last weekend, this morning we will have our traditional cake for breakfast (well Z is going to have a birthday cookie but the rest of us will eat cake ;)) and my dad is coming into his classroom for the special birthday ceremony that they do.  This year Z also asked for a "Birthday Tree".  He wanted to decorate it with the Peace Ornaments he made at school and wanted his smaller presents under the tree (Story Land wouldn't fit).  Considering how much I love Christmas and the fact that it is only 60 days until we would have put it up anyway....we did it!  It is in his room and he LOVES it :)

Happy Birthday Z, I love you more than words can say.  Thanks for making me the happiest mommy in the world and for giving me the best job on the planet.

I LOVE you 100 x 5 x 1,000,000 x INFINITY more :)

Story Land Pictures

 A Few Birthday Party Pictures From Friday

Today I'm Happier Than A Tornado in a Trailer Park!

Da Gum!  Today is Z's big birthday party!  He and 10 friends (and 6 babies) will gather together for a Rootin' Tootin' Good Time...Tall Tale Mater Style.  We have organized a party that centers around that lovable Tow Truck and the DVD of Short Tall Tale Stories, Cars Toon, Mater's Tall Tales.

We had a whole outdoor obstacle course planned where the children would have had to jump over cars, spray fire out with hoses, fight a bulldozer, race Tokyo Mater style and fly to the moon......but rain is predicted :(  So we had to move the party indoors and set up a whole bunch of new activies.

There is a scavenger hunt to look for the 9 different maters from the movie, a table where they can make their own UFO ("Mator") and Mater, a Monster Truck Wrassling ring, Luigi and Guido's Tire Toss, our Radiator Springs Village with all of the Cars Characters, a Cars Reading Nook, Ramone's Tattoo parlor and the Cozy Cone Play area for all the little ones.  When the kids are all tuckered out they can come to Flo's V8 cafe for some pizza, juice and a mater cupcake.

Below are some pictures of the set up.  My friend Claire is the Artist who made all the big (bed) sheets we have hung all around the house :)  She made them for her son's birthday a few years back.  I was thrilled when she offered them to us, they are so great!

It should be an AWESOME day and if "I'm Lyin, I'm Cryin!"

Hanging in our Cathedral Family room :)

The Kitchen :)

Arts and Crafts and Tattoos :)

Design a Mator (UFO) and Mater

The Cozy Cone Play Area

more cozy cone stuff

bathroom :)

Tire Toss

Monster Truck Wrassling Ring

Prehistoric Radiator Springs

Cars Play Village

Z's Birthday Trip to Goodwill

Each year on their birthday and Christmas, I have each child pick one toy for each year they have been on this planet to donate to Goodwill.  This year Z had to donate 5 toys and Lil' C 2 (S and I are working on 34 items a piece....I am finished, he not so much ;)).  For Lil' C this year I picked out her 2 toys but Z picked out 9 toys!  This was the first year that he really understood the importance of this task and took it very seriously.  I was so proud of the thought and heart that went into his decisions.  I did help him with a few suggestions but for the most part he picked the toys himself.

My proudest moment was when I went to put his space station into the car and he cried out, "Wait mommy, let me go and find all the pieces that go with that!"  I asked if he was sure that he wanted to donate the men and space ship that went along with the toy and he said, "Yes so that way the next kid who gets it will know what to do and have fun." 

He was so excited to go with me to drop off the toys and my heart swelled with pride as we pulled up to the store.  My little man is growing up!