Leprechauns!!

Prior to having kids, St. Patrick's Day was just another day to us... maybe we'd wear a green shirt or drink a green beer but otherwise never celebrated much. Now we have a 5 year old who is OBSESSED with it. I think part of it is that they talk about it a lot at preschool. Last night he told us (about 15 times) that he wondered if a leprechaun was going to come to our house during the night and mess things up. So before Josh and I went to bed we made a little mess in the living and dining room. This morning Joey came running into our room and said "MOM! Get up! You HAVE to see what the leprechaun did to our house!" When we were checking out the damage, he said he was going to look in the refrigerator. He opens the door and says "WOW! Check out how clean our refrigerator is!" (I cleaned it last night) and then said "Sometimes leprechauns just want to be helpful." He went on to talk about leprechauns for the next 15-20 minutes...

"Margoux told me leprechauns are not real but I know they are."

"Did you know leprechauns leave green footprints?"

"Leprechauns leave candy after they make a mess." Oops!

"Leprechauns are SO sneaky!"

And on, and on and on...

Then we were on our way to the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown and got stuck in traffic. While we were waiting we saw a group of people dressed in festive outfits, getting their float ready to go and Joey yells out the window "It's a leprechaun party!! It's a leprechaun party!!" 

This kid seriously cracks me up... I don't care what anyone says, 5 is a really FUN age!

Rare Opportunities...

This weekend we had the opportunity to meet Joey's biological brother, Zach. He's 13 months older than Joey and was adopted by a family in Montana when he was 5 months old. We've known about Zach from the time we received Joey's referral but have only recently been in contact with his family.

Zach had a break from school so his parents asked if we could meet them in Bismarck for the weekend. I will be the first to admit I was a little nervous for this meeting. We've been trying to prepare Joey for awhile (as much as you can prepare a 5 year old) but all it took was about 45 minutes and they were best friends and my nerves were quickly put at ease. His mom and dad are two of the nicest people we've met and Zach is a complete sweetheart. He and Joey have so much in common. Not only do they have similar physical features but also many of the same mannerisms and expressions. We spent the entire weekend watching the boys bond (Sam included) and enjoyed visiting with his parents. We've already made tentative plans to meet up again this summer and are so excited to build on this relationship. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Joey introducing Zach to his Nintendo DS. They took turns playing Mario Bros. and talked about it all weekend.

BIG hugs!

Getting ready to hit the pool.

Sam had an absolute blast in the splash pad. 

Joey and Zach playing under "the mushroom"... just like Mario Bros.

We took the kids to a science museum that turned out to be really cool.

All the boys loved the bottle rocket exhibit.

It wasn't easy getting Sam away from the tool exhibit.

This picture warms my heart!

Joey's new look...

Joey had an eye exam this past weekend and we discovered he has an astigmatism in his right eye. The doctor said it's very minor but still thought it would be a good idea for him to get glasses. Surprisingly, he was really excited about it. It took us awhile to decide on the frames but these are the ones he picked out and I must say, they make him look quite sophisticated -- for a 5 year old. 

One Weekend, Much Excitement

This past weekend we went back to Minot to visit our family. It was a busy but fun weekend mixed in with a little bit of stress. 

Friday night, my mom sister and I met up with my aunts and some of my cousins for a few drinks and lots of laughs. It was a much needed girls night out! 

Saturday morning Josh went for a run with a friend of his so I took the boys to watch my cousin's hockey game. Sam would've given anything to be out on the ice with the big boys. It's been a week since we went to the game and he has talked about hockey every single day. Joey has a little hockey set and Sam has been playing with it every day. And it MUST stay upstairs. He has quite the imagination too. He pretends to put on all his gear... he starts with his hockey pants, then he puts on his skates, then his coat, gloves and finally his hockey helmut. I am keeping my fingers crossed this is a short phase. 

After the hockey game we went to Space Alien's to celebrate my nephew's 7th birthday. The kids had a blast playing games, eating pizza and birthday cake and watching Khai open his gifts. Later that afternoon we went over to check out Josh's dad's new house. It's coming along and looks great. We're looking forward to seeing the finished product the next time we're back in Minot. We also found some time to meet up with a few friends and catch up a bit.

Saturday night, my mom invited some of our extended family over to her house for dinner. The kids were playing, the adults were visiting... all was going well until Joey knocked his tooth out. He and Khai were wrestling around downstairs and all of a sudden he came upstairs, crying, with his hand over his mouth (and lots of blood). We initially thought his bottom tooth had been pushed back into his gum. My mom started calling dentists and we headed to the ER. After a call to our dentist in Fargo and an emergency visit with my family dentist from Minot, we discovered the tooth we were seeing was actually his adult tooth. It grew in right behind his baby tooth and when Khai and Joey were playing, his baby tooth was knocked out. Poor kid, he just can't seem to catch a break when it comes to his teeth. Needless to say, we were relieved at the outcome but still felt a little silly for overreacting. The best part of the story is what happened the next day, on the way back to Fargo. I asked Joey (again) what happened with his tooth and he said, very nonchalantly, "Mom, I bit Khai's toe and when he pulled his foot away, my tooth came out." Seriously, why couldn't he have told us that right away? And... what possessed him to bite Khai's toe? These are probably things we will never know... BOYS!?!

Sunday morning Joey woke up to find money from the Tooth Fairy and was SO excited! He just kept saying "I don't know how the Tooth Fairy knows where my Grandma lives. How does she KNOW?" I often times wonder what we ever did before we had kids. Life must have been so boring because these little guys of ours sure know how to keep us on our toes. 

Proud Mommy!

Joey has been taking Tae Kwon Do lessons since last fall and just recently received his first medal! The instructor comes to preschool to teach twice a week and recently sent home a note saying Joey received the medal because he was the leader in the class and showed outstanding enthusiasm and focus during class. He also accomplished the following subjects:

1. Kimasae Punching (Punching Technique)
2. Four Directional Pattern
3. Two Kicking Technique
4. One Step Technique 
5. Self Defense Technique 

I'm so proud of my little man!!!