Driving lessons

What a busy week!
Monday was nice outside, so we got to play outside when we got home from daycare.

Tuesday, daddy picked us up and he had braces on his teetch! We knew he was getting them, but we still have to get used to Daddy with braces on his teeth. After daddy picked us up from daycare, we went to visit our friend Jaxson, ate pizza and had a good time while Daddy worked with Jaxson's dad on a church meeting. It was a fun night to play with a friend (and his legos!)

Wednesday morning, we both got quarters for being good and getting ready in the morning without being hounded. Daddy gave us the option of saving our quarters in our piggy bank or taking them to soo bahk do and using them for a gumball. I chose to save mine so I can buy legos! Hannah chose to use hers for a gumball, so Daddy told her to put it in her pocket and save it. By the time Daddy picked us up from Sue's, Hannah had lost her quarter. She was very sad - she even cried, but Daddy said it was her responsibility to hang on to it, and she lost it. Neither of us got gumballs after Soo Bahk Do but we did get McDonald's because Daddy had to help with something for a little while at church. We played while he worked, then I got to ride back to our house with Daddy's friend Ryan.

Friday when mommy picked us up, Hannah asked if we could go to Angie's on Saturday. She said that Angie had to work, so Hannah asked if we could go to Grandma's. She said "OK." On our way home, she said maybe we should go tonight so we're just there tomorrow. When we pulled up to the front of the house, our suitcases were waiting on the step! Hannah was so impressed. She asked Mommy how she got our stuff ready so fast! Mom and Dad are GOOD. So, we packed up and drove out to Grandma & Grandpa's house. We even got to stop at the Pizza Ranch for pizza on the way there. It was delicious, but Daddy is still having a hard time eating most foods. Poor Daddy.

Saturday, we got to drive Grandpa's skid steer. It's just like a bobcat. We were excited just to get a ride, but getting to drive it was awesome! We've been admiring those since they re-did the road in front of our house a couple of years ago. I loved driving it.

Daddy had to take his bike to be fixed, so we stayed home with Grandma, Grandpa & Mommy. After we had quiet time, Grandpa took us into town in his cool car. We got to roll down the windows, feel the wind in our hair (it was a little too windy for us - especially Hannah) and ride through town. It was so fun. Mommy even drove us back home in Grandpa's Mustang.

Great Grandma Marita came for supper, then when grandpa brought her home, we got to see her new apartment. She lives really close to Grandma & Grandpa now. Her apartment is really small, but she really likes it there. She even took us to see her friend down the hall to show us off and say hi to her.

This morning, Hannah and I both got up early so we could have breakfast with grandpa, then I put on my shoes and told Grandpa I wanted to drive the skid-steer again. Daddy asked Grandpa if he was going to let me do that to him, but Grandpa just laughed and said "yes." So, I got to drive the skid steer again! Hannah drove for a little while, but it was cold, so she went in the house and had Mommy do her nails.

Great Grandma Marita, Great Grandma Leona & Great Aunt Dee came for dinner, so we had a lot of people at dinner! Mommy's uncle Roger & Aunt Trish stopped to say hi but they didn't stay to eat.

It was a long drive home. We were tired and getting crabby. We were very ready to go to bed when it was bedtime. We're looking forward to catching up on our sleep this week. It's spring break, though we will still be going to Sue's and keeping busy with everything we have going on.
Noah

According to Noah's dream the other night: Mommy, Noah, Hannah and I won the Super Bowl last night. We were Playing for the Giants. We were the only for people on the team. We beat the Packers and had to use teamwork to lift the trophy after the game because it was so big.

Minnesota reports - done!

We had the best surprise today!

We both helped with reader's theater in Sunday School, then had class. After class, we got to go to the nursery while Mom & Dad had a murder mystery meeting. They keep talking about Murder Mystery stuff - we really want to see this murder mystery that they've been talking about, but Mom & Dad said it's a party at church. They said we can help set up but the party is at night and it's too late at night for us.

After nursery, we got in the car & drove to a Perkins far away from our house. It was kind of chilly in there, so Mom went to get a jacket for us, and when she came back, Angie was in front of her! We got to see Angie, Grandma & Grandpa for lunch. I was so excited I RAN to Angie to give her the biggest hug. Noah was so excited to see them, too. He was really happy to see Grandma & Grandpa and Angie, too.

On our way home, we stopped at the store near our place bought new shoes. Mommy said she wants us to have really good shoes that won't fall apart this summer. They tie, so Mom said we aren't allowed to wear them until we learn to tie. These are our first tie shoes since we've started putting our own shoes on.

Yesterday, we had a busy day. We wore our green for St. Patrick's Day. Mommy & Daddy took us to eat at a new restaurant. They were playing irish music, and we danced to it while we waited for our food since we sat near the dance floor. It was pretty good, but we got so much food, we couldn't finish.

After eating, we went to Target to pick out a birthday party for Dylan. Noah picked a water gun, so I helped choose which gun to get. Then we went home to wrap it and left for the party. It was a long drive, but it was pretty fun when we got there. It was a martial arts party! I was too shy to go out on the mat with the boys at first since I was the only girl, but Mommy wanted to see me do my kicks & punches, so I went out and showed her. They instructors running the party showed everyone some blocks, kicks & punches, let us hit & kick some noisy paper, then we did a couple of obstacle courses before cake & juice. It was awesome! We were so tired when we got home, though, that we had supper and went to bed early.

Friday was a big day for us. We had our Minnesota reports! We've been practicing and getting excited all week. When we got off the bus, Mrs. Hanks walked us onto the grass and showed us signs of spring - flowers! They were purple and just poking through the grass near the school building.

Mom & Dad came to watch us do our reports. We did our circle time, crafts and gym time. (We had an uneven number of people when we paired up to play with balls, so I chose Mommy to play ball with me. A bunch of other girls wanted to join our group because I had mommy, but Mrs. Bodin said to say with our partners so I had Mommy all to myself! Noah played ball with Nicholas.) After gym time, we got to do our reports. Noah went first, then I went.

When we did our reports, we looked for information, then told Mommy what we wanted to say, she typed it on the computer and we read our reports. We made boards with pictures on them so we could point to pictures as we talked.

Noah lost his place just once when he read his report. Mrs. Bodin asked him some questions that he answered, but then he found his place and finished his report. Mom & Dad said he sounded like a politician when he answered classmates questions. Whenever anyone asked a question, he said "That's a very good question" and pointed at the person who asked.

Here's a link to Noah's report: http://youtu.be/oQsBC9HNe8k

He got to bring Honeycrisp apples to share with everyone. We ate them during our special St. Patrick's Day movie, and a lot of our friends thanked Noah for the yummy snack that he brought for his report. Daddy & Mommy searched 3 different stores before finally finding Honeycrisp apples, and Noah really appreciated it.

When it was my turn, I started shy & quiet, but I started getting louder after I started and gained confidence. I didn't lose my place when I read. And, Mrs. Bodin helped me answer questions - it turns out she saw Paul Bunyan and sat on his boot when SHE was a little girl, too. He knew HER name, too. Wow.

Here's a link to my report: http://youtu.be/0NoJt_jBW3Y

After we did our reports, we each got a Minnesota lisence plate with our name on it, a Minnesota report certificate and a Minnesota state shaped card saying that we did our reports. Yay!

After school, Mommy drove us to Sue's to find out if she caught the leprechaun. We've always tried to catch him using a box, but today Sue used Megan's laCrosse net. We thought that would work! She caught his leg, but he escaped. He did leave us green beads and chocolate gold coins! That naughty leprechaun!

Friday night, we went to the new Menards. It was pretty nice! It has elevators, cart escalators and lots of cool stuff. We can't wait to go back.

Wednesday morning, Mommy & Daddy got us up early and we got to Sue's early. Mommy & Daddy had to go visit a different school. They said they liked it, so they said they have 2 schools to choose from for us to go to kindergarten. We can't wait to see what school we'll attend next year!

Monday night, we got to go to Daddy's volleyball game. Daddy picked us up from daycare, brought us to his volleyball game and met Mommy there! We got to play iPad while they played volleyball. Then Mommy took us home to bed. We were still pretty worn out from the time change over the weekend.

It was a pretty busy week. We're working on being good kids in the morning. Daddy has started a new incentive program - if we get up, get ready and get through our morning list without Dad or Mom hounding us, we get a quarter! We love getting to put that quarter in our piggy banks!

It's been a busy week. We're looking forward to a less busy week this week before Spring Break next week. Mom said Sue won't take a spring break - just school.

Have a good week!
Hannah

We've had really warm days this week. We've been able to go outside at school and at Sue's, so we've been happy!

We've had a pretty normal couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago, after our trip to Ikea, daddy put up our new dining room table. We now get to sit on a bench. It takes up less room in the dining room, so Mom & Dad are happy about that. They gave our old table to our neighbors' niece and she was happy to have our old table. Our new table is pretty cool!

We even got some snow, too. The snow was so heavy, our neighbors' tree branch fell down in the middle of the night. When we started to walk out to our car, a tree branch fell RIGHT on our powerline and garage, so we couldn't even get to Mommy's car to get to daycare. Good thing Daddy was shoveling snow on the other side of the garage, so he drove the car around to the front of the house for us to get to Sue's. It was still hanging on the powerline when we got home from daycare that day. We were getting ready for bed when the guys from the power company came to fix it. They cut down the branches then they got into a bucket on their truck that lifted them up to cut the branches of the trees. That was so cool to watch! It's kind of like Grandpa's scissor lift.

Last weekend, Mommy had another tournament with the Divas. We got to go play for most of the afternoon while Mommy played and Daddy watched her with the videocamera. I played iPad games with Deion while Hannah played girl stuff with the girls. Mommy finished early, so we got to go out to eat with the kids. We went to Green Mill and had yummy Mac & Cheese! It was fun.

Wednesday after soo bahk do, we went back to school so Mommy & Daddy could talk to Mrs. Bodin about us. We finished our peanut butter sandwiches while they talked, then we went to Target to get my snack for school next week. I got to pick out Cars 2 Cheez-its. I wanted fruit snacks, but Mom & Dad said no. I decided the Cheez-its were better than a tantrum in Target.

Thursday, Hannah had pictures for dance. Mommy did her hair while I got to play LeapPad games. She was so excited to wear her costume and take pictures! Daddy came to get me so I didn't have to sit and watch girls take pictures. We went and got pizza for supper! It was delicious.

I started reading a chapter book this week. When I got done with the first chapter, I got upset because the book was too long, but Sue gave me a bookmark and told me I could stop whenever I wanted to, and pick up the book later when I wanted to read again. That's pretty cool! She gave one to Hannah, too, but she was not comprehending the book as much so she lost interest quickly.

We had a very fun weekend this weekend, too!

Saturday morning, we got up and daddy and mommy brought us to a surprise. We went to SkyZone. It's a trampoline park - there were different trampolines on the walls, a pit of foam blocks to jump into, different courts of trampolines - it was so awesome! We had so much fun. We loved it! We bounced for an hour. It started to get busy about the time we left, but we loved it when we were there! We can't wait to go back.

After that, we went to Red Robin for dinner. I got to have a strawberry smoothie and Hannah had lemonade. What a special treat! After dinner, we went to look for a chair for Cheyenne to sit on (we got rid of the chair she sits on in the living room, so we need to find her someplace to sit now) and to the hardware store so Daddy could put up a shelf. When we got home, we played outside while Mom & Dad put up a new shelf. We even got to go for a bike ride for a few blocks. It was such a beautiful day! Daddy grilled a delicious steak dinner for supper. It was really a great day.

Today was a little more lazy. We got to wear crowns, eat goldfish and drink koolaid while we talked about Deborah the judge in Sunday School. Then we went home for Mac & Cheese. We played outside for a little while then upstairs while Mommy & Daddy worked on organizing some things around the house.

We're getting excited about our Minnesota reports. We will give them on Friday! Mommy printed out pictures for us, so we made nice boards to show our pictures while we talk. We have our speeches written out so we can give them to our class. We're so excited, but Mom & Dad are frustrated with us because they say we need to practice more. Hopefully we can practice enough and do a really good job on Friday!

Have a good week. We're not only looking forward to our Minnesota reports on Friday, but it's also GREEN DAY at school.

Noah