Two Little, One Little, No Little Fishy

These two little fish that Emma and Justin earned at the Jefferson Family Fun Fair on April 20th, have gone to a better life.

Although I didn't want the fish to begin with and sort of hoped they wouldn't last long, I didn't really expect them to die within 1 1/2 weeks of receiving them.

I'm not sure if they were overfed (which is more likely), underfed (a few times Justin and Emma may have forgotten to feed them), the bowl (actually a large vase) ended up too dirty, or some other reason.  Justin's fish actually died on Monday and Emma's fish was gone tonight.  I figured it was best to show a picture of them in their bowl alive instead.

Justin's fish is smaller than Emma's.  So long Nemo, so long "Daph-fin-e."  You will be missed by Justin and Emma.

Jefferson Family Fun Fair Winnings!

Anna, Emma, Justin, Cameron, and I attended the Jefferson Family Fun Fair and this is all the stuff that they won.

Tax Day at Panda Express

Although our taxes were sent in last week electronically, we did still have to send a check in the mail to the state of Illinois by April 17th, the day taxes were due. Of course, we still needed to send it in.

Before heading to the post office, Clinton checked online to see if there were any places that had Tax Day specials, discounts, or freebies. There were a few places offering freebies or discounts. One of the places he saw was Panda Express had a FREE single serving of Shanghai Angus Steak! It was valid only on April 17th. All you had to do was print off the coupon or LIKE them on Facebook and show them with your phone. That was easy enough.

Neither one of us had ever been to Panda Express, but we did find a location near us, so off we decided to go. We made sure Justin had a little lunch before heading out. We didn't think Justin would like anything there. Clinton and I both showed them our phones and that we did LIKE them on Facebook. I decided I wanted to try a fried rice to go along with it. It was all very tasty. Justin even tried some of both and had quite the fun with the chopsticks, too.

There was another freebie at Arby's. Again, we had a location close by us, but we almost never go there. They had FREE Curly Fries. We printed off two coupons and each used one. We got a little Jr. Roast Beef sandwich for Justin to try, but he wasn't interested in it, so Clinton and I split it. I purchased a Jr. Shake for Justin, but their machine wasn't working. So instead, I got the apple slices with strawberry yogurt dip. He really liked that.

When we had searched for a Panda Express location on the computer before, we noticed that there was another location in Bolingbrook. So, yes, we decided to go to the other location, show them that we did LIKE them on Facebook, and we each received another FREE single serving of Shanghai Angus Steak! It was a fun way to spend a little time together (almost like a date, although we had kids with us) and eat some delicious food. We'll have to remember to check it out next year on Tax Day!

Today was also Clinton's mother's birthday. We called her late that night. Happy Birthday, Sharon James!

UNO Roboto is Justin's Choice for FHE Activity

Detailed information will come tomorrow.

The Soccer Siblings

First soccer game of the season and the soccer siblings finished up having their team photos and they are off to play. Benjamin and Emma were the only ones that had games today. Anna's game will be on Wednesday.

I'm pretty sure that Anna and Emma are taller than they appear here, but the ground they are standing on is lower than Benjamin's so it shows a larger gap in height.

Benjamin's team is Blur, Anna's is Cobras, and Emma's is Flames. Emma's team didn't put a team name on their shirt and they just settled on a name right before pictures were taken today.

Their Aunt Yolanda came to watch part of Benjamin and Emma's games with Brenna and Devin. They finished up their games earlier and had a little bit of time to grab a bite to eat and arrive at half time. Emma's team lost, Benjamin's team won, and Anna's team didn't play today. Regardless of who won or lost, the kids had a win-win situation today. Their Aunt Yolanda went shopping to IKEA afterwards and their cousins, Brenna and Devin, came home and played for a while. After the shopping, Anna and Emma went back with their cousins to sleep at their house. I'm sure they had fun.

Since Emma was not here, that left Benjamin more in charge of Cameron while I met Clinton after the Priesthood Leadership Meeting and attended the Adult Session of Stake Conference with him. When Emma is around, Cameron does get looked after and played with a little bit more. Hopefully all was well with Benjamin, Justin, and Cameron.

I loved attending the meeting. All the talks were great. Justin McPheters, a member of our Woodridge 1st Ward, a High Council member, a LDS Family Services therapist, and friend was one of the speakers. This is his last time speaking in the area since his family is moving to Utah on April 27th. I will miss their family greatly.

High On A Rocktop

Justin is a boy, and just like any boy, he wants to climb. He loves being up high on top of things, just like on this rock.

Easter Egg Hunt at the Potters

Once again, another Easter Egg Hunt. This time it was at the Potter's house. They live right behind us in the culdesac.

Easter Egg Hunt at the Fishers

Once the Easter Egg Hunt began, Benjamin took off to help Justin first before finding his own.

Cameron's First Easter Egg Hunt

How EGG-citing it was today to help Cameron collect eggs at his first Easter Egg Hunt. He loved looking at all of the colorful eggs that were spread all throughout the gym of the church. It would have been outside, but the high today was suppose to be 55 degrees, so it was held inside.

As I held Cameron with my hands, I tried to lean his towards the ground low enough to reach the eggs. Most of the time the eggs would be bumped by one hand and begin to roll all around and away from the other hand. Occasionally, he would be coordinated enough to grasp it with two hands at once. When he did do this, he was successful in picking up the eggs. Of course, Cameron tried putting all of the eggs he collected inside his mouth. Cameron was fortune to find a "chick" egg. Anna and Clinton helped Natalie Chandler hide all of the eggs and Clinton took pictures, too.

There were a bunch of families at the church today for the Easter egg hunt. The bulk of the children were 4 years of age and under. Everyone was suppose to bring 10 eggs per child. Since Benjamin was involved with track, it was only Anna, Emma, Justin, and Cameron, but that's alright, we have an Easter egg hunt on Friday at the Fishers and one on Saturday at a neighbor's house (Will and Aubrey Potter). Benjamin should be able to get some treats then.

With having three different Easter egg hunts and our own Easter, hopefully the kids can be taught more about the true meaning of Easter and not focus on the eggs, candy, and the Easter Bunny. This is another opportunity to teach our children about Christ.

Spring Soccer Season Begins

The hustle and bustle of another spring soccer season has begun. Benjamin has soccer practices on Mondays and Fridays from 5:30-6:30pm on the Cypress Cove field. Anna has soccer practices on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00-7:00pm on the Sunnydale field.

Benjamin's coach is the same coach he had last season. They had a good season, but the times they lost were to the same good team. I don't know how evenly matched the 4 teams will be, but last season 2 teams were good and the other 2 teams struggled. Some of the players on Benjamin's team have been on his team before. He knows

Anna's coach is someone new. The only person she has had on her team before is Nolan. She does know some of the other people from playing against them other soccer seasons such as Eric, Aubrey, Melissa, and Thomas.

Emma has yet to hear from a coach and find out when and where her practices begin. I spoke with a person at the Woodridge Park District and they are discussing this with the Woodridge Soccer Association (WSA) to find out. I believe they had a coach before and then something fell through. Who knows if she will get to play if they don't get a coach.

Justin can't wait until he can play soccer next fall. I think he'll play well. Cameron will probably pick up soccer pretty quick just like Justin, since he will end up with 4 siblings playing the sport. Our Saturdays will be busy, but I'll enjoy it.

Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox, What Time Is It?

I don't know what got Justin thinking about Mr. Fox, but during dinner the discussion started. He wondered where he had played that game. I remembered it was from swim lessons this past summer at Cypress Cove.

It was a game Justin and his swim class would play towards the end of their lesson. It was good practice for them to be reaching and stretching their arms to catch people just like they would use them to swim. It was a fun way to practice something useful.

Justin enjoyed the game during his swim lessons, so after dinner, the kids began playing. As you can see here, Benjamin is Mr. Fox and he is trying to get Anna, Emma, and Justin. Anna is a little further ahead than Emma and Justin, and probably the only safe one. It looks like Justin has tumbled to the floor and that Emma is about to drop like her brother.

There are different variations online of how you could play, but here's how we played the game based on how Justin learned it:

Mr. Fox starts out at one end of a field, room, or designated area with his back to the group. The group at the other end then yells out “Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox, what time is it?” Mr. Fox then calls out a time that is on the even hour (1 o'clock - 12 o'clock). The group then takes that many steps towards Mr. Fox. As people get closer to Mr. Fox and continue to ask him what time it is, he can answer, "It's lunch time" and begin chasing them to tag them. Mr. Fox can continue to tag everyone, if he wants to, but the first person tagged is Mr. Fox for the next round.

Another variation I saw online is similar to how Justin played, but once people are near Mr. Fox and ask him again, he yells out, "Midnight" instead. Mr. Fox then turns around and chases the group. Those that he catches are to sit out. The last one left becomes the fox. Another variation is to allow each child who is tagged to become an honorary fox and help catch people.

Swinging in the Sun on a Saturday

Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday. When the kids first woke up, they headed downstairs to watch tv. I told them they needed to come up at a certain time to eat breakfast.

Following breakfast, they all needed to put away their laundry baskets of clothes before playing any wii games. Benjamin hurried up and did his, so he could go play "How To Train Your Dragon". I thought it was funny that the movie Clinton checked out and the wii game that I checked out where for the same thing. We didn't even plan it that way.

While Benjamin played (and I think Justin watched him play), Anna, Emma and I tackled their room and closet. It was horrendous. We spent quite a bit of time in there. Benjamin ended his game at a certain time and everyone continued to clean up their rooms and have lunch.

Around 2:00pm, Clinton had planned to take whichever kids wanted, and were ready with their rooms, to the park. I didn't figure he would be gone so long, but Benjamin decided to play at home first on the game and bike over a little later. By the time he biked over to Castaldo Park, they weren't there. They had headed to various places and ended up at the Woodridge Community Park District playground. Emma stayed behind to finish up her room. Of course, I continued helping her. Finally, around 4:00pm we finished, so I dropped her off at the playground where Clinton, Anna, and Justin were playing. Luckily, she got the chance to play. She would have been extremely sad if she missed that chance.

Once everyone was home, it was time for taking showers, fixing dinner, and eating. It was an amazing dinner of one of our family's favorites - biscuits and gravy along with potatoes. What a good way to celebrate a productive day. Although I was busy the entire day, I really enjoyed it. The boys' room could still use a little cleaning up, but their room and the girls' room is much better. I have a lot more to tackle this next week. My desire is to get more cleaned up prior to Spring Break, so we can enjoy it a little more. We may also set up a little trip during that week, so it will help if things get prepared earlier.

Hooray, ISAT Tests Are Over For the Week

It's Friday night, Benjamin's ISAT tests have ended, Anna and Emma made it through their week of ISAT tests and have one more day next week, and all they want to do is relax.

I stopped by the library today and checked out a few wii games and a movie. Clinton also checked out a few movies while he was there. The movie they decided to watch was, "How To Train Your Dragon".

It is a good movie. I believe we have all watched it before, but it has been a while. It was nice for them to relax a little after dinner. I'm sure tomorrow they will want to play some of the wii games, so I think a little room cleaning will be needed first. Benjamin and Justin did most of their room tonight.

Initially, I told the kids that whomever would finish up their room first, could play a game. Benjamin and Justin did start on their room right away and once Benjamin was finished (to his satisfaction), he went to play. His room does look better, but it is nowhere near what I want it to look like. :)

Anna and Emma will need to begin their cleaning tomorrow. Hooray to get things clean (or at least cleaner).

Buffalo Wild Wings

Tonight was our school's restaurant fundraiser night at Buffalo Wild Wings. I don't think we have been there in quite some time. The last time we've gone there was probably over a year ago. Prior to that, we had gone maybe a few times a year the last few years. Our school would have fundraiser nights each year, plus we would come on other occasions.

Buffalo Wild Wings use to be under different management and Wednesday night (their Kid's Night), they would have $1.99 kid meals with free ice cream topping bar, raffles, and face painting. I believe that manager has since moved to another location. I don't know if he does the same things there, but it was fun.

Benjamin wasn't sure what to get, but he was looking over the kid menu and noticed that two of the chicken tender kid meals were cheaper than a regular chicken tender meal. I know Benjamin would normally want to seem older to everyone, but this is the only time he is thrilled to be young - he still qualified as "12 and under", so he took advantage of it, but one meal would not be enough for his appetite.

Anna, Emma, and Justin received kid menus and crayons in their paper bag, plus a piece of candy. Emma had a Reese's peanut butter cup, but since Anna and Justin had smaller candy, they actually received two pieces. They thought it was nice.

Clinton tried out the hand-held device that they have. You can login and play trivia games that have the questions displayed on their large tv screens inside the restaurant. I think he won one of the games and lost another. There is no real prize except knowing you did well. :)

Everybody ordered a meal, but Clinton asked if we could try a black bean burger that is suppose to be healthy. He heard about it on the Doctor Oz show. Wow, the things you can see and learn from watching shows during the day when you "work" from home.

We had a good time and ate delicious food, but I think I may have to hunt down that other manager and see if he does a special kid's night. I think it would be more worth it to go back for that.

Best of Buds, Tired and Together

Although Justin's bed is the top bunk, he sleeps with Benjamin almost every night in his bed. Justin knows that he should only sleep with Benjamin when it is not a school night, but that still doesn't stop him. He may crawl into his bed before falling asleep or crawl down during the night.

It is important that they both get their rest during the school week and this week it is even more important. ISAT testing started this week for the kids. Anna and Emma started today and Benjamin will begin his testing tomorrow. He also has Jazz band tomorrow morning at 7:00am, so he should be awake sooner than usual.

It is usually hard to wake up Benjamin without waking up Justin if they are sleeping together. Good thing for Justin that Benjamin loves him a lot. Benjamin has told me on more than one occasion that he loves having Justin sleep with him because he is such a warm body. He generally doesn't need many blankets when he sleeps with him. As you can see, Benjamin is actually sleeping without a shirt in the middle of winter (although this winter has been extremely, and strangely mild).

I'm not sure if Justin chose to sleep at the foot of Benjamin's bed or if he was asked to do that. Once I laid Cameron down I went into their room to take a picture. Benjamin's head popped up and he asked me if I took a picture of him. I guess he wasn't quite asleep yet. I told him he was in it a little bit, but that I wanted to take a picture of Justin since he was about to fall off the bed. I know he wouldn't like it if he knew I was posting this picture and blogging about him. Gotta love that boy! :)

A New Addition To The Family

Benjamin and Justin were having fun with the new addition to the family, Ethan Kinnear. Although he may not look it, Ethan is Benjamin's age and in 7th grade. The two boys were having fun with him tonight while Cameron kept watching all of the action right in front of him.

Ethan's parents called during our dinner with the missionaries to see if he could earn any additional community service hours before Monday, March 5th. He and his family attended our ward Chili Cook Off last weekend and we discussed this topic. He even stayed afterwards for 1/2 hour to help clean up. Ethan and Benjamin are working towards being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS).

In order to join, you must attend all mandatory meetings, need to have 20 community service hours per year, two of the total hours must be performed at their junior high doing peer tutoring on a Thursday - one hour each semester, complete and turn in their NJHS application, uphold the five pillars of the NJHS, pay a $5 membership dues each year, and maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA. At least 10 of those hours need to be completed by the March 5th deadline in order to be inducted into the NJHS at a special induction ceremony on March 14th.

Benjamin has no problem achieving his community service hours. With YM/Scouts and church, he has it covered. He already has 40 hours from Thanksgiving until now. They started later in the school year and told the kids they could count their time from Thanksgiving and continuing. If we could have counted hours from the beginning of the school year, Benjamin would have a ton more. The YM, EQ, and High Priests are in a rotation to mow at a Women's Shelter. He has put in several hours over there this school year and will start up again once the mowing begins.

Ethan needed another hour of community service by Monday in order for him to be eligible. We gave a suggestion of cleaning up a park or the grounds of the Woodridge Community Park District building. If he needed someone to work with, we sort of volunteered Benjamin to go. He told us that would be fine. Benjamin didn't mind doing this with his friend. We drove over and dropped him off at the park district building and planned to pick him up in one hour.

Clinton went to go pick up Benjamin, but passed Ethan's dad on the way over. They dropped him off for us and Ethan ended up staying for a while. Justin loves hanging out with Benjamin's friends and he is good about letting Justin hang out with him and his friends, too. Ethan is like a brother, but from a different mother. A picture of him and his three "brothers" was needed, so here it is. Thanks for the fun evening Ethan!

Family Fun Night @ Meadowview

I'll blog about it in the morning.

Lucky For Us We've Got A Leprechaun

Justin, Anna, and Emma decorated Justin's leprechaun that is due tomorrow for Totschool (preschool). Justin loved coloring some of the area interesting colors. I told them that if they wanted to find a skinny marker that was similar to a "skin" color, that might look nice. Well, I guess they couldn't find one and Justin started to use orange - the closest color to a "skin" color I suppose. Once the face turned out orange, the hands were left alone to be white.

There were a few other areas that Justin decorated so colorfully, but they were colored a little bit more to not have the areas look so very different than the rest of the parts. The beard is orange construction paper, cut into strips, and taped on. I'm surprised that they didn't use glue. I would have thought they would have used glue. The lacing on the boots are made with orange ribbons.

Hope Justin enjoys seeing his picture hanging up outside of his classroom.

Building A Snowman With Dad

It finally snowed again this season. I didn't mind that it hadn't snowed much or that it hasn't been extremely cold, but it was fun to see the great things that can be done with snow.

Clinton was excited all morning about making a snowman with Justin. He told him that after he dropped the girls off at school, they would go play outside in the snow and make a snowman. I had to remind him that Justin had school today, so he couldn't play outside very long. Since he wouldn't have much time before school started, Clinton decided it was best to wait till after school to play. He told him he would pick him up from school and they would go sledding outside. They probably spent about 45 minutes sledding and then came home and went right to work on building a snowman.

The snow was wonderful. It was the best packing snow. I didn't see them roll the first two parts of the snowman, but I did get to see them do the head. It was very cute to see Justin help. He came and asked me for a carrot for the snowman's nose. Unfortunately, we didn't have regular long carrots that would be perfect for a nose, I only had baby carrots, so that's what was used. Justin loves carrots and asked if he could have one to eat. I gave him a few to eat at different times and one time he dropped one on the wet, dirty ground. I told him to wipe it into the snow to get it clean. He decided to drop it in the snow, try to grab it with his chubby mittens, and wipe them off. He had a difficult time picking them back up. It was quite funny to watch.

Clinton and Justin gathered sticks to make the arms and also looked for some good rocks for the eyes. Justin came up to Clinton with what he thought was a great rock, but it wasn't actually a rock, it was a clump of dirt. He put it down and had to look for another one. The snowman was topped off with one of Clinton's hats that is from when he worked at Whittman-Hart.

A great time was had by the both of them. I took a few pictures quickly while the snowman was still intact. The weather wasn't cold enough to keep it from melting. You can still see the snowman, but he has a distinct "lean" to his body. I guess we'll have to wait and see how long he lasts.

Justin's On Top of the World

Justin may not physically be on top of the world, but he sure is feeling on top of the world by being up high on his daddy's foot. Clinton was talking and playing with Cameron while lying on the floor next to him. Justin came along and started lying on top of his side. Clinton told Justin that instead of lying on his said, he could stand on top of his foot.

For those who don't know how strange Clinton can lay down on the floor, you can see a little bit of it here. His back leg is resting on the floor while the knee of his front leg is resting on the floor. The interesting thing is that his knee and the foot from his other leg, are not too far from each other. When Clinton attended the yoga classes his work offered once a week, his instructor thought he was unusually flexible in some poses. I still find this position strange to see and very difficult to do.

I can only imagine the look on Justin's face as Clinton told him he could stand on top of his foot. Though I didn't see it, I'm sure he was quite surprised and thrilled. Emma offered to hold Justin's hand while he attempted to step up. He looks as if he is flying high on top of the world. Emma and Anna each had to take their turns next. It wasn't difficult for Clinton to hold them up, but it was tricky for them to figure out how to properly balance themselves.

What simple and interesting things can bring us joy in our day. They all loved it. Benjamin didn't attempt it since he was at scouts, but I'm not sure Clinton would have let him either. :)