Fame

My kids are getting famous ... or least getting their pictures on the school district website.

You can see Lucas in this video about the Spanish Immersion program he participates in at school. His teacher is Mrs. Giraldo, and he's wearing a gray shirt with navy sleeves.

Spanish Immersion Video

Sarah participates in the Save the Planet Club that received the LISD Environmental Participation Award for their efforts in helping care for our planet!

Let's hope they get more than 15 minutes outta this! 

Mother's Day Roller Coaster

UP: 

Ethan's First Communion in the morning. Mark made a nice brunch for the family. We got the house ready for our SA friends who were flying in that afternoon. Then Mark and the boys went on a bike ride. Lucas learned to ride without training wheels about two weeks ago. He's been practicing up and down the street and doing great. So Mark takes them on a longer ride towards Jacob's school.

Then I get the phone call. "He's alright, BUT..."

DOWN:

An hour later, we know that Lucas has a fractured ulna (small arm bone) near the wrist. Luckily, children's bones are still pliable (compared to an adult) and it is not a bad break. He's in a soft cast now and we have an appointment with an orthopedist on Monday - likely for more x-rays and a hard cast.

It's his right arm, and he is right-handed, but can still hold a pencil with the temp cast. We'll see what they can do about his grip when they put the hard cast on. I hear there may be some waterproof options too, which would be nice as we head into summer and spending lots of time at the pool. Oh crap. I just remembered we have reservations at the Great Wolf Lodge the week after school gets out! I'll have to ask about that too!

UP:

We got back from the ER at the same time our friends arrived. John is an amateur golfer and was in town for one night to try to qualify for the Byron Nelson Tournament. Carrie and I became fast friends after meeting at a party (now that's a funny story!). They have two sweet boys - Cameron (almost 2) and Carter (7 mos). We had a chaotic night and next day, but fun nonetheless. Always good to see friends!

Ethan's First Communion

Ethan's First Communion was on Mother's Day. A beautiful sunshine-y day and nice service at church about mothers. Ethan received his first communion and we had to giggle when he took a long drink from the communal chalice. First timer! What can you say? 

Field trips and more

In all my years as an elementary school mom, I have never chaperoned a field trip. There's always so many other people willing to do it, and I was usually at home with a baby anyways. Even when Lucas went to preschool, most field trips occurred on Fridays - the one day he didn't have school. 

Imagine my surprise when Ethan's teacher wrote me a personalized email asking if I would chaperone a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. And by the way, I would have to ride the bus. How could I say no? So I chased these four kiddos around the zoo a couple hours and found another couple reasons to let others do the chaperoning! LOL. (Megan, Logan, Payton and Ethan)

Sarah and I attended the Mother/Daughter International Fashion Show at her school. The native outfits from China, Nepal, Finland, India, and more, were gorgeous to look at. We met a Japanese family whose young daughter got to wear a kimono for the very first time. And heard from many other mothers how excited they were about this event because their Westernized daughters aren't all that into wearing their traditional cultural clothing.

Sarah walked the runway with some girlfriends in a very American red/white/blue striped dress that was actually purchased in London and handed down to her by a friend!

Jacob has been using my camera to capture plants and wildlife for scouts. Some of his pictures have turned out amazing! Like this one:

No more training wheels!

Already an accomplished bike rider, the last little Nault broke free of his training wheels today. Much boohoo-ing and general disgust with the idea turned into big smiles and confidence after just a few short minutes. 

Legoland Discovery Center

Lucas' friend, Blake, invited us to go to the Legoland Discovery Center with his family one day. It was a perfect time to see the place - a quiet Sunday, on guest pass rate with Blake's family membership! First up was a little tour of how a Lego is made and each kid was given a LEGO to take home. The LEGO City car ride was fun. The kids actually got to steer these cars (instead of just riding a pre-set course). 

Lucas and Blake.

The model area...replicas of the Dallas skyline, Cowboys Stadium, Rangers Stadium, Great Wolf Lodge, the Fort Worth Stockyards, etc.

The detail was pretty amazing. This is inside the ballpark.

The 4-D movies were also fun to watch. The LEGO movies were in 3-D (hence the rockin' glasses) but then the audience was misted with water when it was raining on screen, smells were piped in when a skunk sprayed, etc.

There were no Spurs players on display, but there was a life-size Dirk Nowitzki.

The whole place was relatively small. There are a handful of rides and a playground in the middle. There were also LEGO building areas and a cafe. It was great for my younger kids but Jacob would probably be bored if we went too many times. But the first time sure was fun!

A little catch-up

Things have been rolling along pretty smoothly here. The kids are plugging away at school and scout stuff. Sarah is in the Save The Planet Club at school and we created this poster for her to talk about recycling during Family Fun Night.

Ethan "taught" a lesson on creating a "Make-Believe Comix."

For scouts, Jacob has to capture pictures of ten species of wildlife in his neighborhood. We live near a pond that is home to many ducks, turtles, fish and other birds. They are very accustomed to being fed by people and will walk right up for bread crumbs.

Like this one we like to call "Afro Duck."

Jacob took this shot of the Blue Heron with his cell phone...he was that close! 

We also captured some backyard wildlife:

This is a Texas spiny lizard. On the house. One of several that must live in the hedges below these windows. Not the cute little green geckos I was used to in San Antonio.

Mark got a truckload of dirt delivered to spread around the yard's patches. The canopy of the three large trees out front has made the grass die underneath. It's interesting to see our landscaping come to life with the changing of the seasons because, up until recently, it looked like the previous owners planted dead things and broken pots.

I'm busy with PTA stuff, as usual. I was elected treasurer for next year, but I'm still finishing out this year's hospitality job with staff luncheons and staff appreciation week coming up next month.

Starting to plan our summer vacation. We're headed back to Great Wolf Lodge and I've got the kids enrolled in basketball and scouts camps. Daydreaming about travel - maybe to the Gulf Coast?

And both Jacob and Sarah need orthodontic consults. Oh boy.

Ethan's 8th birthday

Ethan's birthday fell on the Monday after Easter this year. We grabbed a cake from the grocery store after school and I asked the young guy behind the counter to write "Happy Birthday Ethan" on it. You would have thought I asked him to stick his hand in the mouth of an alligator because he started stammering and admitted he was new and terrible at writing on cakes. Even admitted he had ruined some! So I asked if I could do it myself. He was shocked that I knew how and said that he could learn from me! So he brought out a pastry bag of blue frosting and I showed him how it was done! Steady pressure, cursive to minimize lumpy stops and starts; and make sure you know what you're spelling! 

Ethan's party day was pushed back until the following Sunday. He had a Minecraft party at Main Event. Minecraft is a computer game where everything is pixelated squares. I made the cake for this one, using an idea I got from Pinterest. Brownie-like cake for the dirt, grass frosting, rice krispie sand and jello jiggler water. 

His goodie bags had rocks, diamonds, iron bars and TNT, plus a key chain the kids helped make and some M&Ms for good measure.

Post-sugar high.