Visiting Neighbor Chickens

Our neighbor has three chickens.  I didn't know this, but chickens love to dig.  These chickens appear to be free range chickens and frequently dig their way under the fence, go across the ravine and pop up in our yard every once in awhile.  The boys enjoy their visits, but are not quite sure what to think about how safe they are.  I thought it was silly at first how scared they were until I got pretty close.  That beak and claws are pretty threatening looking. 

The boys recognize the sound of them rustling through leaves.  Found them.  This is the closest Luke has gotten, notice the foot still on the ground.

"Hey there's another one!" (Not noticing that the black one came out of the woods and is considering hopping up on the bridge).

AHHHHH!  Now what?!?!

RUN! (the chicken is still on the bridge, behind him)

New Bike

Alex got a new bike this weekend. As you can see he pretty much loves it. There has been a bit of a delay since he has limited area to ride it. We wanted to wait until he was old enough to ride it while we walked.  Thanks to daddy we started to ride it without the helmet.  That will be fun to break that idea. 

Just as much fun pushing it around.

A bike for me!

Had a bit of trouble learning to pedal.  A tricycle is easy, but a guess the angle is a bit different here. 

All smiles

Last Day of School

It was Alex's last day of 3/4 year old preschool last Friday.  He will be returning for the three weeks of "summer camp" in June and 4 weeks in August.  It's a little less structured and a lot more time outside.  It should be a good time for him, definitely a lot less of a transition needed in September.

His teacher Ms. Pam.  His favorite Ms. Peggy left one day early for her vacation to Florida.  But, she will be back in a week for the beginning of summer.  Ms. Pam on the hand is retiring.  She mentioned that she will return every once and awhile to help out with special events.

Artwork

Bracelets that were made the last day.  I like the idea of adding jingle bells.  It made them much more interesting.

I like this idea too, of adding a hand print of their friends. 

Nichols Arboretum

We went to another park we have never taken the boys to.  The trails would not work with a stroller either.  Alex ran most of the way like usual (but was showing signs of fatigue by the end) and Luke made it half way and then needed a shoulder ride from daddy.  It was pretty crowded due to Memorial day and the peonies being in full bloom.  Alex was not impressed by the peonies.  "Let's go, this is boring" was his remark about the flowers.  Luke liked the bright pink ones and asked me multiple times to take a picture.  Both boys enjoyed the water as usual. 

Bird Hills Hike

We have been to this park a few times now that both boys can walk and greatly enjoy to run to free.  Alex prefers to jog most of it.  Wow, that boy has some energy.  You can't really manage the trails with a stroller, much of the paths are very narrow and close to the edge of the ravine.  The boys enjoy the rusticness of it.  There is constantly something to check out (a tree knocked over showing it's roots, chipmunk holes, large stones buried in the path, etc)  I think they also like the view of the stream down below.  They also like going across the street to Barton Nature Area and throwing rocks into the Huron River and watching the canoers pass by.  They love waving to the people passing by.  It's the largest park in Ann Arbor, nice to add it to the list of parks frequently visited.

tree fell into the path the trunk was here and all the leaves were in the way for several feet, had to turn around

 

watching the rocks go splash

Mother's Day 2012

I had a great mother's day. I got to sleep in, went to brunch at Kris's mother's house, to church with no children, out to dinner with no children and a long evening walk with Kris without children. It seems kind of strange to enjoy a day without your children on mother's day. But, I think it's great to get a break from motherly duties once in awhile, why not on mother's day.  We went to a wonderful dinner at my mom's house on Saturday night too.  (No, my mom did not make the dinner.)

Salt Drawing and Bingo Dotters

On Friday, Alex and I drew pictures, shapes and letters in salt. This was the first time I saw him willing to draw something. Alex has always had the personality of not attempting something until he knows he can nearly be 100% successful. So, I always request him to do something and if he refuses. I model it for him and try again later. Well, Friday he bought into drawing. So I took a picture, since it was going to be quickly erased and I didn't want to loose his first drawings.

His first drawing of a person.  I gave him cues of start with a head, now what does he need to see, etc.  Typical mistakes are seen like arms coming out of the head.  Eyes off the face, now that's interesting.  But, he has a body. 

I tried to think of other things we could draw with basic shapes.  So, I asked him to draw his fort.  I drew the initial square and he completed the rest.  The roof is a little long, but he got the posts, window, door and slide.  The placement is off, but general idea is good. 

This one if by Luke.  I told him to use the bingo dotter to fill in the shapes.  I think he did a great job for 25 months!  Nice work Luke!  I have a feeling he is going to be more the creative/musical  mind.  We were at my mom's house having dinner last Tuesday.  As soon as he was done with dinner and I washed him off, he ran right off to the piano.  Suddenly from the kitchen table we could hear him playing.  He plays very deliberately , no banging.  I went in to make sure he was positioned on the chair okay and he was swinging his legs and nodding his head with the beat.  I sense a musician...

Gemini

Alex's class went on a fieldtrip to see Gemini on April 27th.  This was Alex's first experience of a "concert".  He really likes to watch Raffi on DVD and this was very much like it.  Gemini's home base is in Ann Arbor, but they have many "award winning" recordings.  We have "The Best of Gemini" so Alex was familiar with many of the songs they sang.  They played many different kids of instruments.  He like the "slide whistle" the best.  It was pretty entertaining for him, but he was ready to go after 30 minutes. 

Poor Pine

These pictures were taken on Monday the 16th. Theresa had to work on the day of Luke's party. She brought a present for him on Monday, when she came to watch the boys, as she typically does. He loves his porcupine, calls him "poor-pine". It's in his bed every night (with a variety of other animals). Not good for a kid allergic to dust to sleep with so many stuffed toys. His animals get many baths, I'm not sure how porcupine will fair in a bath in a the wash machine though. Hmmm.

Bubble Mower

These pictures were taken on April 15th. Yes, I am nearly a month behind now on my blog. Bernadette got a bubble mower for his birthday. (We did too, but it worked out well because we need two to avoid a lot of fighting.) They look pretty funny running round the yard together. I wish it had an odometer on it so I knew how many miles they got in in a day.