Tulip Time and Stella milestones

 On Thursday night of tulip time we went down to watch Jenna and Kerri dance.  The kids got to do the last few step brush hops along with them.

 It was fun to go watch them!

Friday morning Stella graduated from Physical and Occupational Therapy at Mary Free Bed!  This was her favorite OT activity - the Chariot - it is a hand bike where the pedals steer as well as make it move or stop.  She always asked to do this one and we would go to a hallway that had hills that she could rush down and then climb back up.

 These were her main therapists in Grand Rapids - PT Sarah and OT Deb.

 The second picture had better smiles but is fuzzier so I had to put both on :)
We still need to continue home therapy activities to continue building her muscles, but it will be nice to stop having appointments!

 Leila's friend Faith from Ditto invited the girls to join her on the float for the Saturday parade.

 It was very cold - it snowed at the end of the parade!

 We sat in the usual spot with Nana and Papa and Dona and her family too.

 Saturday night we went to IHOP for Stella's 5th birthday celebration supper - this year she actually ordered a pancake.  We had such a fun day with the parade that she fell asleep on the way there.

 I helped in Stella's room on Monday so she could have her birthday celebration with her class.

 Tuesday morning she got to open one present, and then the rest after supper.

 Leila made and wrapped a present for Stella all by herself.

 Henry does not need nearly as much sleep as the girls and we have been transitioning him out of naps at the same time as Stella.  However some days this catches up with him.  He could not make it through snack. :)

Me: Stella, have you been writing on this table?
Stella: no.
Me: what does it say there?
Stella: Stella. But it was for sure not me.
I don't believe her.

Later:
Me: Stella I need you to clean up the writing on the table.
Stella: why?
Me: Because you wrote your name on it.
Stella: How did you find out about it?


Kid Quotes:

Henry: mom, dad's watching football.
Me: football?
Henry: I mean hitball.
Me: hitball?
Henry: yeah, hitball.
Me: baseball?
Henry: oh yeah, baseball.
Apparently we have more to teach him about sports.

Stella: This popsicle is actually colder than hot lava. Cuz hot lava is hot.

We grilled burgers for supper.
Stella: I like the ones from McDonald's better, because they're not hot.

Henry: my socks can't stay outside because a bug might eat them.

Stella: These cookies are good, aren't they? They have cookie dough in them. Lots of cookie dough.

Don't Rain on my Parade

 Today was the Kinderparade - and Leila's first time walking it.  I was watching Norah and Greta today so I piled them all into the car and walked them down to the spot I had saved this morning.

 It seemed like the rain was over and I almost didn't bring the kids' coats, but changed my mind since it was sort of misting.

 The kids enjoyed eating snacks while they waited for the parade to start.

 They hear it coming!

 Horses!  Mom take our picture...did you take it?

 Leila is in the middle of the second row.

 Thankfully her teacher got her attention for us so she could wave.  Jer had to go back to work after watching her in the parade, but thankfully grandpa was still with me when it started to pour!  The parade wasn't done, but we had had enough.

 He helped me herd the children back to the van while we all got soaked.

Tulip Time!

 I brought the kids to watch Jer run the Tulip Time 5k and 10k yesterday.

 The 5k started at 8am so I just packed some bags of cereal for the kids for breakfast.

 They approved.

 We sat and watched the start of the race and then moved to the end to watch for Jer.

 He did great and I even managed to get a picture of him with the camera on my cell phone.

 After both races we let the kids play at the park for a while, then we checked out the animals and played with the new frisbees they were handing out.

 Next each of the kids got to climb way up into a city plow truck.

 And we also went on the sheriff boat.

 This cracked me up so I had to take a picture of them looking into the sun even though it was obviously not going to be a good shot. :)

 We were going to take a picture of just the kids, but a woman volunteered to get one of the whole family.  It was super bright again so I was surprised how well it turned out.

 I finally got around to pulling out Dutch costumes to make sure we had one that will fit Leila for her parade marching debut this week, and since she was trying them on, the other two wanted to as well. Once they were all in costume, I decided we had better go downtown and take pictures!

 Leila wanted them to all stand with hands on hips like Dutch dancers do.  I don't think I got one picture of her without hands on hips.

 Stella's costume still fits, but is way too short :)  I tried to keep the camera's focus up so that it wouldn't look too silly.

 Stella saw a woman taking a picture of these Dallas tulips and insisted that I take one too.  They are pretty.

 After we got home, the kids wanted to take more pictures of them Dutch dancing.

They had so much fun!