What Day is Today? Today is Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day we ended up shopping and doing other fun things that I wanted to do. Then, we went out to Doug's mom's house for dinner. (We met my mom, Grandma Farmer, Aunt Susie, Aunt Karen, and my brother in Nebraska City on Saturday evening for Mother's Day and for my grandma's birthday.)

We took some pictures of the kids and some of them were pretty funny...

Clair loves the bean bag chair!

Samantha's Preschool Spring Program

Samantha had her last preschool program on May 2nd. She got all "dolled" up! I curled her hair and she wore her fancy Easter dress. She was so excited her special night was finally here! She had been talking about it for months!

Samantha posing outside her school before the program.

They are almost all looking at the camera! Amazing how much they have all changed since August went I took a picture of them before Samantha's 1st day of preschool! Clair couldn't even walk back then!

Posing by the school mascot - Cardinals. I had the same mascot when I was growing up in Humboldt. The St. John School Cardinal looks very similar to Humboldt's old Cardinal mascot.

Samantha & her friend and preschool classmate - Grant.

Cousins! Emily Moyer was in the 3-4 year old preschool class at St. John's this year and Samantha was in the 4-5 year old preschool class. They both looked so pretty!

Part of Samantha's class before the program. They all sat so still and quiet! Amazing! I wonder what the trick is??

Alden and his future preschool classmate - Mikena. (And a candidate for his girlfriend...) They will both be in the 3-4 year old preschool class in August together! I'm actually worried for Miss Nancy & Miss Janet! These two kids can be pretty crazy together! :)

Samantha's class sang 2 songs. She knew all the words, and one was even in Spanish!

Samantha and her classmate and friend Stella.

Samantha and friend-classmate Jayger (Mikena's big brother).

Singing at Church

The kids have done lots of singing at church over the spring months. Alden even does a great job of standing up there and knows most of the words! We listen to the songs in the van to help the kids learn the words. This picture shows just how odd of a size Alden is right now. He has on 2T pants and a 3T shirt yet his belly is sticking out when he does the actions! (So, we've moved on to 2T shorts and 4T shirts!)

Penguin Party

Back on April 17th Alden attended a Penguin Party at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. He is in the 'Fledgling' school as they call it. It is just for 3 year olds. There was six kids total and Alden did very good listing to the the teacher and answering questions.

Here the 'fledglings' are sitting in a circle. They talked about how penguin's live, eat, grow, and have babies. They also got to feel a feather and tried to walk with an egg on their feet. It was pretty funny watching 3 year olds try that.

Then they headed from the classroom to meet some real penguins. Alden sat right next to the teacher and she pointed a few things out to him.

The class then got to pet a penguin. This was the highlight for Alden. They went over the rules real well, so when asked at home by mom how it was he responded with "you use two fingers to pet a penguin." He also took his "pet" penguin with him to the zoo that day. That animal is actually from the zoo, So he said he was visiting his home.

Back in the class room they all got a snack and a drink. Then tested out some blubber. They stuck their hand in Ice water with and with out the blubber glove to see how big of difference it makes and understand why they can live where it is so cold. Alden had a blast and can't wait to go to another class. We have our eyes on some in July for Sam and Alden. He might do one about tigers next so he is sure he will get to pet a real tiger. We'll just have to see about that.

Easter 2011

So our Easter morning started out bright and early...

The kids smiling before they got to get into their Easter baskets.

We have more pictures like this than of Alden looking at the camera and smiling.

Our plans for Easter were turned upside down after a visit by Clair to the Dermatologist. Clair had this rash that was not going away and a mild fever for 2 weeks. We thought it was Roseola but it turned out to be "5th's" disease. It was not too big of deal, other than Clair had been craby, but she just could not be near any pregnant women. Unfortunately at the Richardson Easter, it was also a baby shower for Michelle's cousin Heather (who just had her baby boy Noah last week!). The last thing we would want to have happen is the baby get a virus inutero. So we ended up staying around Plattsmouth and going to Debbie's Church.

Debbie with the kids after the early service.

Clair got a bunny from Grandma and Grandpa McKnight that played music she was excited.

Alden and Sam Dancing to Clair's Musical Bunny.

We have normally dyed eggs at the Richardson gatherings, so Michelle took matters into her own hands. I thought she was brave or crazy, one of the two.

The egg hunt was fun despite our trio being the only hunters.

Alden charging after the eggs.

Sam on a mission.

Clair learned how to pick up an egg!!!!!!!!

Look at that focus!

Great-Grandpa McKnight & Clair

Alden going over his treasure.

Clair sporting her glasses the Easter bunny dropped off at our house that morning.

Sam is all smiles with a mountain of candy.

Michelle's mom stopped by with Easter gifts that evening to cap off our Easter fun. The kids were thrilled because they had their eye on a few things from Lowe's when they went to visit her a few weeks ago. The girls got Princess watering cans and shovels and Alden got a Cars watering can and shovel, as well as some coins for their piggy banks. :)

Hunting Some EGGS!

On the Saturday before Easter we were invited to the Linda & Carl Glup's Egg hunt. The kids have always had a wonderful time at their hunt.

Clair was good at spotting the eggs, but not so good at picking them up. Here she displays her skill of stopping 2 feet away and pointing.

Finally Ruby Campin got tired of Clair pointing at it, so she picked it up and put it in Clair's basket.

Alden was off to the races. He also slid into many of the eggs to pick them up, and we would say "safe" like he was sliding into home plate.

Samantha was a fast picker-upper. If only picking up toys in the house was as fun as an egg hunt we could have a spotless house.

Alden searching for more. He said "I have to look on their level"

Alden wanted a picture with the Easter bunny right after he got done asking "who's in there" to the bunny. They both posed the same way! It was too cute.

Stella Campin & Samantha

Linda had invited some real bunnies to the party. Kim & Derek brought out Pancake and Popcorn. The kids all loved petting the bunnies.

Clair - "meeting" the Easter bunny. Just like at Disney World she screamed and cried. This is as close as she got (but that was only because Michelle forced her near him).

A Group photo of all the hunters and Linda and Carl in the middle. It was a great day and lots of fun. Samantha and Alden had a blast we are really fortunate to be invited to such a great event.

Super Alden!

Alden is trouble. He got into Doug's swimming bag one night and destroyed his goggles. He thought he was pretty cool wearing them.

Alden watched a show with them on, but not sure how but he did it.

Then he convinced Doug to put his cap on him. This is Alden roaring. Not sure why a 3 year old with a cap and goggles thinks he needs to roar. He managed to rip all the padding off the goggles so it was just the hard plastic on his face. He loved it but it looks painful to me.

Now he thinks he is swimming.

Has it been 6 months already?

Well Six months just seems to fly by these days and it was time for our April check ups at McKnight Family Dental. Alden was the first to Jump in a chair.

Alden is a great little patient and has been since he turned two. The only weird thing is he calls Doug, Dr. Doug when he is in the chair.

Sam was next. Here she is picking out her new toothbrush. Biggest decision of her day. Sam also got an experimental sealant. Doug got a sample of a new product claiming great things, but he is skeptical of everything so he is testing it on Sam before he would use it on a "normal" patient.

Alden with his bag of goodies watching Sam get her teeth Cleaned.

Then there was the wild card that is named Clair. She sat in the chair and opened really big. She did great for a one year old.

What a good helper. Just so you know I also got my teeth cleaned but no one needs a picture of that.