Riverskate

We packed up the whole family and headed down to Soldotna for the weekend for the 2010 Riverskate competition. I took three of my special skaters down with me to compete and was judging and was competing myself so it was a busy weekend at the rink for me! It's always fun to get in some good quality time with me old skating pals though-sure doesn't make it feel like "work" at all :)


We were able to stay with Lem's Aunt Teresa and Uncle Bill again this year and the girls had an absolute blast at their house. They've got a clan of grandbabies themselves so they're house is packed full of toys and movies and snacks so they girls were right at home. Both the girls slept well, ate well (and Ella even napped well during the day!) and had lots of fun taking pony rides on Uncle Bill. We got to visit with Matt and Janelle and their kiddos too while we were there.

My dad and Kate drove up and got to see me as I did my first character spotlight program. I skated to "So this is Love" from Cinderella and took first place! I pretty much did that program for Sycely, because she loves Cinderella and I really like the girls to get to see me involved with skating and actually doing it. It's been such a big part of my life for so long and I want them to get to see me doing it, not just hearing "Mommy has to go to skating now" when I leave the house. I'm happy to get to show them that when you love something and you develop a skill and a passion for that interest it really can bring you lifelong joy.

April (snow) showers bring...

Well, April was an interesting and challenging month weather-wise for sure! We had snow, sun (melting the snow), rain, snow and more sun. It was quite the roller coaster. One day Sycely was in a spring coat and boots on the playground at school (many of kids just in t-shirts) the next day they were decked out head to toe in winter gear thanks to yet another "spring" blizzard! Eventually, the end of April did bring warmer temps and more sun so the new and old snow finally melted away and the grass was exposed. We were finally able to get outside to start playing with our summer toys, even though it was still pretty chilly even after the snow was mostly gone.

Week of the Young Child happens every April and this year our early childhood association teamed up with the University's early childhood department to offer a free creative activities fair for young children and their families. This event was our official kick off of WOYC and at our booth we handed out ribbons for folks to wear during the week to help promote awareness of the needs of young children. I'd also gotten proclamations from both our Mayor and Governor officially declaring April 11-18th Week of the Young Child. Lem had a class that day so Nanny took Sycely to ballet school and brought the girls to meet up with me at the fair afterwards. Lem was able to come check out the fun too when his class got out.

We got to do something extra special with Sycely in April. We finally used the free Performing Arts Center tickets we'd won at last year's high school reunion to take her and Uncle Ian with us to Wizard of Oz. Oz has been one of Sycely's faves this last year so it was super fun to get to take her to see it on the big stage. She, of course, insisted on wearing her Dorothy dress and ruby red slippers, but you're only 4 once I guess, so what can you do? :) The four of us went to dinner beforehand and enjoyed a fantastic performance. My favorite was the real live Toto. That little guy was so amazingly trained! I was so impressed by his "acting."

April brought about yet another round of new babies amongst our friends and church family. I think 6 new little ones was April's total. So, I got to sew yet anther round of snuggly blankets. Sycely actually helped me with the whole process for baby Anna's blanket. She helped pin, trim and sew and tie it. Ella "helped" in her own way by, um, breaking it in...before it was even put together! With the melting of snow (finally!) and the influx of new babies, we decided we could trust it was in fact officially spring so we got to planting. The girls and I spent one morning labeling starter trays (Sycely did all the labeling herself) and getting our seeds planted. This year we're starting off with carrots, peas, zucchini, sunflowers and by Sycely's request- Marigolds-no idea, so don't ask ;) They're still inside waiting for it to be a little warmer at night before we get them in the ground but they're are thriving in front of the office window. It shouldn't be too long now before we can get them planted outside.

The rest of our April was filled with more of our usual activities. Lem took some classes, signed up to teach summer school (at Dimond this year-yay!) Sycely's ballet class was learning their number for the spring recital, I was getting ready for the skating competition in Soldotna and had my last month of prepping for the Mrs. Alaska pageant. It was a full, but fun month and keeping busy sure did help get us through that last month of snow!

Easter

We had a really great Easter this year. It was really fun that Ella was able to actually participate in all the fun, too. We kicked things off with the traditional egg dying. Sycely, as usual, put lots of effort into the artistic details of hers. Ella seemed more successful using a paint brush and the glitter paints than dunking them-I think we only broke 3 eggs, though.

Easter morning started with opening Easter baskets filled with fun treats for the girls. We followed that up bunny pancakes for breakfast, by special request. After breakfast we got the girls in their (matching) Easter dresses and headed off to church.

After church we came home, fed the girls some lunch and got ready for some Easter egg hunting. The girls kept watch at the front window just in case any furry Easter characters turned up. We still had a decent amount of snow on the ground so we stuck to the front driveway to keep things accessible for the girls best we could. Ella didn't take long at all to get the hang of egg hunting and Sycely was super great about letting Ella have a chance to get some eggs, too. Both of the girls got new spring coats as a special Easter present from Mommy and Daddy, too. After our egg hunt, Ella took a nap while Sycely enjoyed her new Easter treats from her basket. Lem and I got things ready for our Easter meal with the fam.

Nanny, Papa and Uncle Ian came over for Easter dinner. We had a delicious meal and enjoyed the decorating Sycely had planned and helped put together. It was a pretty simple, relaxed and definitely enjoyable evening for all of us and the perfect ending to our fun-filled Easter.

Elim

Sycely's class was doing an Iditarod project and each child got to bring home Elim, the stuffed husky to spend the night. Only, Sycely's turn with Elim just happened to come as we started 11 days off for Spring Break, so Elim got an extra long visit with us. Each child made a page for Elim's memory book detailing the adventures they shared with Elim during their time together. Here's our story of our time with Elim:

http://www.asdk12.org/staff/wheeles_lem/pages/Elim.pdf

Lem's Birthday

Lem got to enjoy what we like to refer to as a Birthday Extravaganza this year (meaning you get to celebrate with more than one special event over a couple of days.) We kicked off his celebrating with a special Night Away date. Nanny and Papa had a sleepover with the girls at our house, which went MUCH better than our last attempt when the girls stayed at their house. Lem and I had dinner at Simon's, dressed in our finest (any excuse to dress up fancy, you know?) It just so happened that Lem's Aunt and Uncle ended up being seating at the table next to us! So, we got to not only enjoy a delicious, kid-free meal, but great company as well! At the end of our meal our server told us out bill had mysteriously fallen into other hands. Gary and Lynda had paid for our dinner for us! So sweet and generous! Probably the best tasting free dinner we've ever had :)

We were spending the night at one of the new hotels in town. Lem's gotten in the habit of doing online surveys to earn Rewards Points. He'd stocked up enough point to earn us a free stay. Lem got to open up some presents from me and then went on a very late night run to Dairy Queen for some yummies for us. The next morning we had a scrumptious breakfast at Village Inn before heading home to our girls.

On Lem's actual birthday we had his fam over for dinner and cake. I was pretty stoked to be doing my first round of bday decorating at the new house. Sycely and I made and decorated a cake and we opened presents before Papa had to head to work. The next weekend we were able to enjoy some drinks and appetizers to celebrate with some friends as well. Technically, it was an extravaganza but next year is sure to be the most spectacular yet as Lem turns 30!

Mr. Hopps

We got to host Sycely's class bunny from pre-school for Spring Break. This was supposed to be a treat for both the girls, but it turns out Ella is in LOVE, I mean, obsessed in love with that bunny! She typically heads straight for his cage when we drop Sycely off at school and it's not unusual for her to leave crying and upset when I tell her to "Tell the bunny bye-bye." So we brought the low-maintenance house visitor home for the vacation. The rascal did chew through my laptop cord but redeemed himself with snuggly lounging in front of the fire place for hours at a time. He sure didn't end up spending much time in his cage-he was either snuggled up with us or sprawled out warming himself pretty much all daylight hours :) Ell would wake up and ask to "get the bunny out" as we were picking her up from her crib in the morning. For about a week after he went back to school she was still going to the office and asking to get him out. She'd cry, brokenhearted every time I reminded her we'd taken the bunny back to school :( Here are some pics of our time with Mr. Hopps.

Spring Break

Spring Break really didn't hold too much excitement for us. We didn't go anywhere tropical (quite the contrary if you read the details about our trip to Homer!) We did get our master bathroom painted and get to spend some good quality time together just chilling as a family. We were also able to host a couple dinner dates at our house. We had Jeff and Lea and baby Benjamin over for dinner and had Ian, and his friends Chris and Laura over another night. Nanny and Papa were gone visiting Eris in Arizona so we didn't get any dates in either.

Sycely was finally up for taking a spin around the rink with Mommy so I took her out for a skate before our Special O practice. She still hasn't quite got the confidence to skate on her own, BUT she's got skates on and she's on the ice, so that's progress that makes me smile!

Really, our trip to Homer was the big excitement for Spring Break so we spent most of the rest of our time painting, watching movies and enjoying our time as a family.