Sunday, March 23, 2008

Zoo Junction

3/23/08  After church today, Max was quietly working on what he is calling  "Zoo Junction." He told me that it is a place where "there are no cages.  If you don't know that, you'll be eaten."  He said the blue part on the end is the bathtub.  The holes in the big red part are where the elephants get drinks of water with their trunk.  He was so proud and excited about his creation.  I love his happy imagination.













3/24/08  Todd rarely allows toys to stay out like this, but I think he was impressed with Max's little story.  So, here is Max the next day.  After school he came home and immediately set to work on the bigger, badder Zoo Junction.  He's looking proud, don't you think?  

Coloring Easter Eggs

3/22/08

Maddie and Max chose the Dudley Tie-Dye Glitter Egg Dying Kit.

First you drip different colors of dye onto the egg,




Then you put it in a plastic bag and rub the colors around until they cover the egg and blend.






Then you prop them onto an egg holder and dump glitter onto them before they dry.




I always like seeing the kids with their dye stained fingers after coloring Easter eggs. Maddie's were pretty colorful. Max's were surprisingly clean!


All done!






Maddie in her Easter jammies and bunny slippers. She matches her Bitty Baby.






Sprinkling out carrots for the Easter Bunny.

They wanted to make sure the Easter Bunny knew where to find them!


Easter Morning



3/23/08

Very early this morning, the eagerly anticipated basket and egg hunt was afoot.  


Maddie was the first to find her basket.






Max found his basket and quickly dug through it looking for animals.  The easter bunny didn't disappoint.  













The kids found the first Easter egg at the same time.








The kids kept telling me to have a Happy Easter Day!







Maddie helped me bake a Carrot Cake before church.  
Mmmm!  Our favorite Easter dessert!





Into their Easter outfits.



















Getting ready to leave for church.

You'd better have a Happy Easter!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

St. Patrick's Day Performances





Maddie had two performances on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. This is just before we left the house.












Here she is resting before the first show at Robert Morris College in the Loop.






Here she is clapping the time for the other dancers.







Here is Maddie's first performance!
In the beginning she is in second row, to the left of the center lead girl.  Then the front row goes to the back and you can see her better.






Dress rehearsal on the stage, right before the second show at Mount Carmel Academy here in Lakeview.








Maddie in the middle, Rylie to the left, Lucy to the right.






Here is Maddie's second performance!
She is in the front row, to the left of the center lead girl.


                                                     Going home!

Maddie was so glad that she was able to perform.  After the last show, she ran over to me and was jumping up and down, "I want to do that again!  That was so fun!"  She was not tired after the long day.  She watched the rest of the girls from the back of the room and tried to dance along with them.  I think this week with the performance troupe has really motivated her to keep at it and look forward to more shows.  


The fancy solo dresses that some of the older girls had on were very intriguing to her.  Now she has a goal to work towards in dance.  Only the best of the best are allowed to have a solo dress.  

Downtown St. Patrick's Day Parade

3/15/08  
Maddie was in the Downtown St. Pats Parade with her Trinity Irish Dance Perform- ance Team. 
 
She was on the float right next to her friend Rylie.  They were so cute waving their flags at the crowd.  


Here is Maddie in full Trinity uniform, curly wig and all.  I was a little freaked out when we first put the wig on her, but I got used to it by the end of the day.  Because it was cold, she had on black leggings.  Usually they wear just white socks and ghillies.




Todd, Max and I walked in the parade with the other Trinity parents. Max was very good, but his usual silly self.  Poor Todd had to carry/wrestle that crazy boy on his shoulders most of the way.  





















We saw the Chicago River dyed bright green on our way to Red Fish for BLFGT sandwiches. (Bacon, Lettuce, and Fried Green Tomato...Mmmmm.)

Astrovernnight at the Adler



On March 14th 
(Pi Day)


I took Maddie 



to 


Astrovernight at the Adler Planetarium.  We got there at 6:30 p.m.  As soon as she jumped out of the car, she slung her sleeping bag on her back and then spotted the moon up in the sky. She was pointing up at it excitedly and said, "I hope I can see the moon through a telescope tonight!"    

We were able to see the moon, Mars and even Saturn that night.  It was exciting to see the rings!  You should have heard Maddie exclaim when she was shown Mars in the sky.  "You mean that star right there is really Mars?  Right by the Moon?  And I can see it with my NAKED EYE? Can I see through the telescope?"  When we saw Saturn, she was looking through the telescope and describing to me the shape she was seeing.  The guy helping her with the telescope said, "I think we have another Einstein on our hands!"  










Making star finders.





The phases of the moon presentation was very cool.  Maddie wants to do this again at home.  First you take a styrofoam ball and put it on a popsicle stick.  You stand in a dark room with a light bulb on in front of you, and then you move your arm into various position so that the shadows mimic the phases of the moon.  Fun stuff!





Making pocket sundials.








Setting up our bunk for the night.  


Maddie had fun setting up her sleeping bag and really liked the special things I brought for her.  The book "Voyage to the Bunny Planet" by Rosemary Wells was a big hit.  The scratch art space book was fun for her too.  I also brought a roll of quarters so that she could squash as many pennies as she wanted while we were there.




We were able to sleep wherever we wanted in the Planetarium.  Maddie chose to sleep right under the giant Saturn, since we had seen it through the telescope for the first time that night.




Maddie was so happy all evening.  She kept saying, "I'm SO glad we're doing this Mom." and, "I'm having so much fun!"  She definitely had stars (and planets) in her eyes all night and a big sparkling smile on her face too.  After the star show and snack time,  she finally crawled into her sleeping bag and turned off her lantern.   She fell asleep almost immediately, but not before she threw her arm around my neck and whispered, "Mommy, I have to tell you something...  I love you."  

Friday, March 21, 2008

Clifford at Kohl




On March 3rd, we went to the Kohl Children's Museum to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog.  Clifford tried to give Max five as he left, but of course Max had to run away.  So Clifford chased him out the door!  Max got a kick out of that reaction.  










In the art room making clay frogs and centipedes...






Pumping it up...







Maddie aiming the water gun at bell targets.





Bike Tricks

These photos were taken on March 2nd, but this is an every day occurrence in our little apartment.  The kids clear a track through the place and then rip roar around as fast as possible, doing tricks and laughing their heads off.  I love seeing their faces like this, all giggly and silly.


































                                                              CRASH!!!