Birthday dancing cow loving fun! What??

Maren:
Last week was St. Patrick's Day and the leprechauns were at it again!  We celebrated at school with a lot of mischievous fun and since it was a Friday, mommy was there to participate.  Our silly leprechaun, "Clover" left our entire class room a mess while we were at lunch... tables were turned over, chairs were thrown around, he scattered kleenex all over the place... the whole place was kiddie-whompus!   We all thought it was hilarious of course and it sent us over the edge!  Sitting still in class was just out of the question.  After Clover made a mess of our room, that silly leprechaun took off and we had to go on a scavenger hunt to find him... when we did we found a pot of gold!
The following day was our annual Father Daughter Dance in Grants Pass.  This year I wore another very special dress... the dress my sweet G.G. made for my mommy when she was a flower girl a long, long time ago.  I felt like a princess in the dress and know that G.G. was smiling down on me.
My best buddy Jace also turned six last weekend and we had a really fun birthday party.  He decided on a ninja party this year complete with a Ninja Line, obstacle course and zip line!  I was a rock star! I was one of the only kiddos to be able to climb the big rope... I did it four times all the way to the top.  I also really loved the Ninja line... its a lot like the monkey bars at school so I was really good at that too!
Mommy takes my new dog to work with her every day and Jolene has made some new friends.  Along their walk there is a field with a bunch of cows and my sweet Jo-Bean loves them! She runs up to the fence, gets nose to nose with the cows and just wags and whines!  Its so cute!!

Maddox:
As you can see, the last few weeks of March have been full of fun stuff.  I was playing pretty shy at Jace's birthday and spent most of the time in mommy's lap.  I enjoyed the hot dog roast and the cake but otherwise pretty much refused to participate.  I enjoyed watching all of the other kiddos have fun and then right at the very end decided I would allow mommy to take me down the zip line on her lap!  I giggled a bunch and thought it was pretty cool.
The following weekend we helped our good friend Caleb Oppelt celebrate his 6th birthday too.  That one was more my speed and I didn't have trouble participating.  There were two different bounce houses there and mommy and daddy had to pry me out of them to leave!  I was so busy running the whole time that mommy had a hard time getting a picture that wasn't just a blur!
One of my favorite activities that we have done in the last few weeks was when we went for a bike ride down on the greenway.  Sissy and I rode bikes while mommy and daddy walked with us.  I really enjoyed the ride on my little strider and am getting more and more confident all of the time.
Mommy also has been busy at her sewing machine lately and finally made me a sleeping bag just like sissy's!  I was so excited about it and I can't wait to go camping this summer!

 

Monster trucks

Maddox: 

This last weekend Mommy and Daddy took us to see the Monster Trucks at the Fairgrounds.  Daddy was just gonna take me as a fun boys outing but mommy convinced us that she needed to tag along.  We decided to bring sissy and Xxander too!  We went a bit early and got to go down into the "pit" with all of the trucks and the drivers.  When the show started it was a bit overwhelming and loud but the trucks were fun to watch.  I think our favorite part was when the motorcycle riders came out and started doing flips and tricks in the air.  One guy even did a no-hands flip which we thought was amazing! 

Lately, mommy and daddy have been struggling with me being a bit aggressive.  I have a tendency to hit, scratch, bite, kick, etc when I am mad... especially with my sister.  Mommy has been making me run laps to the sand box and back for punishment because a basic old "time out" doesn't seem to be hitting home anymore.  I think she finally reached the end of her rope the other day when she through out a bargain... If I could go for a week without any aggression then mommy would buy me the toy of my choice.  Well, I am proud to say that it worked!!! Yesterday after swim class mommy took me to the store and I got myself a Mack Truck!  

Late Winter Fun

Maren:
March is here already and we have officially reached the half way point of my first school year.  We celebrated the 100th day of school by having a fun party.  We got to dress up in our best old people costumes.  Nonna took me to goodwill where I got to pick out a nice dress that was sure to make my G.G proud.  I topped it off with one of G.G.'s necklaces and sweaters!  Mommy sprayed my hair white and wrapped it in a cute little bun.  The 100th day of school also happened to fall on Dr. Suess' birthday so we finished the day off with another celebration.  Our school had a great party complete with a green eggs and ham dinner.  
 A few days later a big late winter storm blew in and brought with it some nice snow.  Luckily, it dumped a large amount of snow on a Thursday night and we had a snow day on Friday.  Daddy was working but mommy dressed us in our winter clothes and we headed up the hill for some good sledding.  It was a great morning of laughter and snow ball fights finished by a warm fire, soup and grilled cheese sandwiches once we were home. 
Fitting of late winter early spring, just a few days after our big snow storm we had beautiful sunshine days and warm weather. My teacher, Mrs. Safko, does a great job at getting us outside so we can get our wiggles out.  In class we each got to color our very own butterfly.  After we colored them, we cut them out, glued them to sticks, and then glued pretty colored tissue paper on.  We went for long "butterfly walks" around town waving our butterflies through the air and waving at everyone else that passed by. 

Maddox: 
Mommy signed me up for swim lessons again this month and even though I'm not super stoked about going, I am progressing in my skills.  I can float on my back now and I no longer get as scared about it.  Miss Nicole, my teacher, says I am doing a really good job.
The last few weeks we have been bringing Bella home with us after swim so Miss Heather can volunteer in Jace's kindergarten class.   I really love having her over and we play so well together.  Mommy is just amazed that she can be there for hours and we play with no fighting.  We share really great and go back and forth with what/how we play.  One minute we will do what I like... cars, trucks, and building stuff and then the next we will do something that Bella likes... playing mommy and daddy.  Mommy gets a real kick out of watching us play.