Happy 5th Birthday Alicia

All Alicia

Nicknames: Allie, Leasha, Leasha-beesha, Beesha, Snugglebug, Princess, Sissy
Favorite Foods: Kraft Mac & Cheese, french-fries, fruit, toast, candy, and cookies
Favorite Books: Berenstain Bears, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, Henry Hikes to Fitchberg
Favorite Toys: Trains, Princess Dolls, Animals
Favorite Things To Do: draw, play with her friends, run, climb, jump, explore, play hide and seek, play PBS Kids.org, watch a movie
Big Excitements: learning to read, spring, getting ready for kindergarten

The Big Day

Don't let her fool you... the only reason she woke up smiling is because it was her birthday.

One of the many faces of Alicia... you would never know that we were too sick to even go to church... she even insisted that she wear a dress, stockings, and CTR ring for the day.

Alicia and her dinner of choice... Kraft Mac&Cheese, french fries, and broccoli

The Ostrom Traditional RiceKrispy Treat Birthday Cake

Alicia's evening amusement - "Mommy, I'm not the princess, I'm the Queen and I'm going to a ball!"

Overall Favorite Alicia Moment of the Day:
(while eating breakfast)
Alicia: "Mommy do you see this tear coming from my eye?"
Deb: "Umm... sure hun?"
Alicia: "It's a sign to you and Daddy and Ryan of how happy I am, sometimes people cry when they're happy. This is the bestest birthday ever."

Happy 2nd Birthday Ryan

Ryan's Rundown
Nick-names - Mr. Ry, Baby Ryan, Ry-Ry, Little Man, Goober, Stinkerdoodle,
Favorite Food - pretty much any kind of fruit, most especially strawberries and bananas
Least Favorite Food - most kinds of meat
Favorite Phrases - "socks and shoes", "up and down", "I want it"
Favorite Songs - The Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle
Favorite Things - balls, trains, trucks, babies
Favorite Things To Do - dance, jump, slide, swing, screech, and in general copy-cat whatever Alicia is doing
Random Obsessions - running from the vacuum cleaner, sucking the first two fingers of his right hand, playing with hair, trying on everyone's shoes, "BackPack" from Dora (we're still trying to figure that one out)
Sleep Schedule - 9P.M. - 6:30A.M. pretty much like clockwork and a nap in the afternoon


Pictures from the Big Day

So Ryan woke up and was subjected to the usual birthday pictures... he's perfected the look of pitiful agony.

He didn't want to sit still unless Sissy joined in the fun... which she was more than happy to do.

The big b-day dinner... Alicia's choice of corn-dogs and tater-tots.

Just too much birthday fun...

The Yellow Zone

As pictured previously the thermometer that we have outside on the garden shed has different colors for different temperature ranges. A day or two ago I made the mistake of teaching this to Alicia. I explained that the best time to go outside was when it was in the yellow or orange zone - so far we've been mostly yellow which is hovering probably somewhere between 55-65. When ever the chill of the morning wears off and she sees it slowly climbing out of the green zone she gets all excited - MOMMY IT'S YELLOW!!! Followed shortly by - LET'S GO PLAY!!!!



They had quite a bit of fun attacking the last patch of snow that had the audacity not to have melted yet.






They also enjoyed pulling out the stroller from the garage and taking turns playing baby in it. Watching Ryan trying to push Alicia was actually quite humorous. Then they decided to climb in together and Mommy took them around for a ride.

April Arrived

I've been meaning to post now for a few days but haven't had the chance so here goes...

First of all it's April - YAY!!!! April's a pretty crazy month around here. Already we had a wonderful General Conference weekend and the first two of eight birthdays between family and friends. Still we've got Easter, Alicia and Ryan's birthday parties, gardens to work on, spring to enjoy and the last month of the school semester for Mark and me (the final overall for Mark before his B.A.!!!)

So far the weather's been fairly warm and we've been getting out more. Not sure if it's helped much considering the vast amounts of pent up energy the kids have from the winter. Our crocus are up, our jonquils are trying to bloom. So far I haven't spotted any buds or blooms on trees yet but it'll happen any day now I'm guessing. Lots of opportunities for prettiness. So far the only damper has been the rain. I love rain, but this is still a little too cold to be out in for long and everything has been really muddy for over a month now. (not complaining - just describing) It's helped the grass though and the lawn is starting to look green again. Lots of little creatures are out again. The other day I spotted about five deer up in our woods. Unfortunatly as soon as I saw them they saw me and ran for it.

I guess that's pretty much it for now lots to keep us busy and look foward to.