Bongo Boy...Jacob got his last birthday present yesterday. He got REAL professional bongos. They are super cool and have great sound. Boy, the neighbors love us! Good thing we renewed our lease before we got the bongos...ha! Jacob was thrilled and Julia joined right in.

Career Day...John spoke at Career Day at Jacob's school on Friday. He spoke to the 4th and 5th graders and life and being a pilot. Jacob got to come and listen and help pass out flyers and pictures to the kids. He thought that was cool. John said it was really different to speak to 4th vs. 5th graders. Fourth graders are genuinely interested. Fifth graders just want to be cool...ha! Then, John got to stay for the egg races at school. Each kindergarten brought to hard boiled eggs to school. One was plain and was used for the race. The second was decorated and name and then entered into the "Egg Fashion Show"...ha! Jacob's egg looked like a Solid Gold Dancer with gold glitter, googly eyeballs, and feathers for hair. He named it Spidey.

Julia has been our little bunny rabbit for 2 days. They made bunny masks at school on Thursday and she has been wearing it and hopping around the house ever since.

Big Birthday Surprise...John surprised me yesterday afternoon by announcing I wouldn't be cooking dinner last night and I should be ready to go out around 6-6:30pm. He had arranged for a babysitter and was taking me out on a surprise for my birthday. I was SO excited! Not just about the surprise part but that he had taken care of everything. All I had to do was get ready. We rode the train in Manhattan and went to a great italian cafe in the West Village called La Lanterna di Vittorio & Enoteca Bar Next Door (www.lalanternacaffe.com). They have live music every night so we opted to sit downstairs and eat while watch a jazz trio perform. It was a lot of fun. I have a whole new respect for drummers since we sat right in front and it was just amazing how many things this guy could do at one time and how many different sounds he could make come out of those drums...WOW! There was also a bass player and jazz guitarist. It was great!

Star Sighting...On our way back to the train last night we passed country music star, Steve Earl. For all you Tumbleweeders, we've danced a couple of his tunes back in the day...ha!

More pictures...

Bigtime Birthdays...Today Jacob celebrated his 6th (and Nikki's 36th) birthday. It was a BIG day! Julia and I brought cupcakes and ice cream to Jacob's class to celebrate in the afternoon. Julia had a great time hanging out with the class and sitting next to Jacob's teacher during show-n-tell and storytime. She had a hard time understanding why all the kids wanted her to sit indian style on the rug, though. She finally just crossed one leg and give them all a look like this was as good as it gets. Ha! Then since it was such a beautiful day, Jacob spent the afternoon blowing bubbles and playing on the front porch while his sister napped. He even made some amazing playdo animals. This was followed by a pizza party with mom, dad, jacob and julia. It was all capped off with opening presents and Jacob and Daddy staying up until 11:30pm playing with all the new toys. WOW!!!

Big Kids...Wow! Today, I got Julia registered for Pre-K for fall. It was so weird to have a youngest going to school each day. They were so organized but wild since I had both kids with me. First, you turn in your forms and proof of residency to the registrar, then, you meet the nurse to verify immunizations, health problems, etc. and then onto the social worker to schedule Julia to evaluate her social and emotional development. I can't believe what a good school system Long Beach has!

Super Dad...John went to the parent/teacher conference for Jacob with his teacher at school. Jacob has really come a long way. We are so proud of him. We still have some areas to work on but he has grown so much since September. He really amazes us every day! Day before yesterday, he came home with a list of books he wanted from the book fair. So, I sent him to school yesterday with $6. He came home and he had bought a book for his sister and one for him. He just makes me so proud. He is so loving.

St. Patrick's Day...We had a quiet St. Patrick's Day what with all the snow and sleet the day before. But Saturday night, John and Brona came over to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Since Brona is from Ireland, she made traditional Shepherd's Pie. It was very yummy. We also had soda bread and some cake. She also brought over some costumes for the kids to play in. It was a really fun evening.

Burrrr....We spent the last 24 hours with freezing rain and sleet. No pretty snow this time. It started sometime during the night and was still at it when I got up Friday morning and when I went to bed Friday night. Yuck!!!


Friday night, Jacob had a Gym Show at school. It was really cute! All three kindergarten classes did demos of some of the skills they are learning in gym class (including listening skills). Some were old favorites like the scooter relay race and the parachute game. But there were some new games like a rope game and a pizza box relay (since apparently Long Beach has the highest per capita amount of pizza restaurants for the size town on Long Island...ha...a claim to fame). He was thrilled to have an audience. I took a couple of pictures on my cell phone so I will try to post a couple of them if they turned out. Jacob is on the far side to the left of the gym teacher.

Student of the Day...Julia was student of the day yesterday at school. I was so proud! I want to frame the sticker but will probably settle for putting it in her baby book. She gets to bring her first show-n-tell on Thursday to school.

About 5pm yesterday, Jacob said he felt like throwing up and had a 100 degree fever. So, he spent the evening resting in his room (ie. away from his sister so she doesn't catch it...hopefully) and is home from school today. Hope he recovers quickly, poor thing.

The Ultra Birthday Party...Jacob, Julia, and I went to a birthday party today for Alexa (a girl in Julia's class at school). It was at a place called Kids By The Sea in Long Beach. WOW! It has an inside playground. Then the kids decorated homemade chef's hats. Followed by dancing the hokey-pokey, the macarena, and the parachute. Then they ate pizza and decorated cookies the size of an adult hand with frosting and candy. Quite the artists! Then cake was served, balloons were given out, party favor bags distributed and a little more playtime. All in an hour and a half! The kids had a blast! It was very well organized and ran. I want to find out about their different party packages. We wouldn't do something that big but it sure was a fun concept and great to go somewhere that they handle it all. WOW! Oh, did I already say that?

Playdate with Hannah and Cooper...Julia and I went back over to Hannah and Cooper's house on Friday to have a playdate. Our neighbor, Brona, babysits them. The girl's had a big time eating happy meals, playing dress up, and drawing. But we've come to the conclusion that 2 3-yr old girls can only remain civil for about an hour and a half without squabbling over sharing or wanting what the other person has even if we don't really want it. And yes, Julia really is a full head taller than Hannah. And Julia is only one month older. Oy vey!

Cutie Patootie's....Jacob and Julia last night horsing around.

Beautiful Snow...It has been a quiet, beautiful snowy day. No wind, no ice. Just slow, steady snow all day long. It had already started when we got up this morning so there was a nice layer on everything but you just brush it off...no scraping or slipping. It was just great to look outside to see it all. Very peaceful. Around 3pm, our neighbor, John, came by and brushed off our steps as he was doing his own. It is great to have such good neighbors. The kids had a ball playing in the snow with their friends after school. Julia even tried doing a snow angel on the ground right by the school doors. The parents all got a kick out of that!

Another Week...Another week almost gone. I've been sick all week with the cold Julia had last week. So far not any better, but not any worse either. Small favors... The kids and I were going to try to fly back with John when he goes to training but doesn't look like that will work out. Hopefully sometime soon we can get back to OK and TX. We are all missing our family. Julia asked today when we were going to Oke-uh-home-uh. She knows Gramma and Big daddy and Mimi and PaPa both live in OK and that MaMere and PaPere live in Dallas. Amazing a 3 yr old can remember all that...wow!