Hopscotch

One of the preschool teachers came over to play on Friday, and helped the kids play hopscotch.

Our Injured Hockey Player

Unfortunately, Alex's wrist is broken after all. He has been a total trooper about having a full arm cast, and continues to play as hard as ever. On Saturday, he and Jeff played a little driveway hockey together. We hope that OrthoIndy will allow him to have a swimming cast when we go back to get another x-ray next week.

Doctor Daddy and his Monkeys

My nickname for the kids is "monkeys." Our week so far has shown how much they live up to this!Monday night after bath, Elena and Alex were singing the "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" song. Little did we know that they were actually jumping on Mom & Dad's bed, until Elena let out a blood curdling scream. It turns out Elena fell off and "bonked her head" as the song goes. She got a pretty good gash on her forehead that was gushing blood, so Doctor Daddy fixed her up with some of the special super glue stitches. Thank goodness we avoided the ER!

Tuesday morning, I received a call from the preschool. When I saw the number on my cell phone, I figured it was something about Elena's interesting head wound. Unfortunately, it turned out Alex had fallen from the monkey bars. Alex was in a lot of pain from his arm where he had fallen, so we rushed over to Daddy's office for a quick look. Doctor Daddy declared it not broken (thank goodness), just sprained. I hope these little accidents are not a sign about the rest of the summer to come!

The Birthday Cake

Alex's Birthday had a sports theme this year, so his cake did too! He managed to blow all of the candles out in one breath.

The Birthday Boy

Alex and Mom got up early to go to Dunkin' Donuts for a special birthday breakfast. The birthday boy made a wish on his chocolate sprinkle treat while wearing his #5 shark shirt.

Many of the presents Alex received for Birthday #5 were legos: Sponge Bob legos, race track legos, race car legos and a big box of 400 legos.Elena managed to get chocolate frosting and sprinkles from her donut all over the place while Alex continued to unwrap presents. Other presents from Mom and Dad that he unwrapped included a baseball tee and bases, pool toys, a bike bell and lights, batman bracelets, and ninjas.
Mom and Alex had fun assembling all the legos together on this rainy day.
Happy Fifth Birthday Alex!

Alex's Birthday Celebration in Michigan

Alex celebrated his birthday early while we were up in Michigan with the Walker clan. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed the hockey cake Grandma Liz picked up. Alex continues to be very excited about hockey lately since the Red Wings are doing so well in the playoffs. After cake and ice cream, some of the cousins helped to unwrap his presents.Uncle Tommy, Aunt Tracy, Nicky and Sofie smilied big for the camera.The kids played a little Wii before bedtime. Alex is getting pretty good at Mario Cart, even though we don't even have a Wii!

Swimming in Michigan

The kids spent four hours swimming in the pool at Warwick Country Club on Saturday. It was so much fun to watch them playing with their cousins, aunts and uncles.

Watering the Flowers

I have gone a little crazy this year buying flowers! We have been going to the nursery two or three times a week since spring arrived. It has been a wonderful stress relief to play out in the yard as a balance to working so hard. The kids love playing gardener too. Elena is especially fond of watering the flowers with her little watering can and digging around with her Dora shovel and gloves.Alex has been a big helper with the mulch, and even pushes the big wheelbarrow this year.
Jeff and Alex took a break to play a little soccer while Elizabeth and Elena watered some of the newly planted flowers. Alex and Elena will both attend soccer camp with Challenger Sports later in the summer!
Elena took a bike ride to admire all our hard work. So pretty!

Mulch, Mulch and More Mulch

We ordered THIRTEEN yards of mulch this year. I am sore just thinking about it! It will be awhile before it is all spread. Fortunately, the kids are a "big" help (or at least they are trying to be). The pile is a lot of fun to play in!

Mommy's Home!

Monday is Jeff's day home with the kids while I work a LONG day. It was so nice to be greeted by happy kids playing outside when I came home!

A Mother's Day Bike Ride

On Mother's Day weekend we had a celebration dinner with the entire Galvin clan at Buca di Beppo. Afterward, we headed over to Toys R Us to pick out new bikes for the kids.

Although Elena does not own a single Barbie, she insisted that the Barbie Bike was the one she HAD to have. There were plenty of other choices with characters she loves, including Disney Princesses, Dora, Hello Kitty. However, Barbie was by far and away the favorite option. The grin on her face upon bringing it home is proof that SHE thinks she made the right choice.
After test driving all 47 bikes in his size at least three times each at Toys R Us, Alex chose a yellow super fast racing bike. When we got it home, he rode it around the obstacle course on the driveway with the training wheels on. While Alex and Elena tested out their new bikes, Jeff decided to take the training wheels off Alex's old Thomas the Train bike.
Alex figured out how to ride without training wheels right away, with no help from Dad!So Jeff took the training wheels off the new bike too!
Elena loves riding around on her new bike! Elena took a little ride to admire all the beautiful flowers.
Elena decided a change in shirts was necessary (who knows why), and then played with the obstacle course cones for awhile.

A future cheerleader?
Conehead!
Where is Elena? Time to get back on the bike again.The family headed down to the nearby cul-de-sac for a little adventure.All this riding around is hard work, so the kids took a little break.
Time to head home!What a fun day!