Zoo

Jons been working hard recently so he decided to take a day off work and we headed to the zoo.

This was our first trip there with out a stroller.  We were all able to ride the tram together hassle free! It was pretty nice.

They did great.  Well, mostly Zach.  The rest need more time outside and less time playing Minecraft.

The only sad part was the giraffe area is being worked on so those were the only animals we didn't get to see.  Other than that, it was a cold, but fun morning.

Wordless Wednesday: Comfy dog

Tap queen

Corrie had a tap dance recital on Friday.  She did awesome, of course.  Ben did a great job of announcing every song we were about to hear.  Sam was awesome at staying awake. Ellie and Zach took time away from annoying each other to have some fun and enjoy the music! 

Pj's

Its that time again.  Its getting warmer and the kids were in need to new pj's.  Zach just had to have Mater and Ellie was so excited to see pj's that look like a dress.

Jungle Book

Ben and I went back to LCCC on Tuesday to check out a performance of the Jungle Book.  He's currently reading the book so I thought this would be a great school field trip.  It was geared toward an early elementary school audience so it was short.  Ben was a little disappointed they left a lot of details out, but he still enjoyed the show.
I thought it was much more tolerable than Curious George, but when they incorporated some moves from "Thriller" into their jungle dance, they lost me!

Wordless Wednesday: Its not that cold in here!

Weirdo

I just don't understand this kid!

The boys

Happy Easter

The kids have been looking forward to Easter and the day didn't disappoint.  We colored a few eggs last night before bed.  They woke up this morning to a basket of candy, bubbles and a game.  We celebrated the day at church and Ben took his first communion.  

We had an amazing lunch made by Gram and dad and then headed outside for Grams Easter egg hunt.  They made me proud by sharing eggs with dad and letting each other have the eggs which were their favorite colors.

After the hunt, I realized just how much candy we accumulated in 1 day from us and the grandparents. Its kind of ridiculous.  I think we'll be sharing some of our goodies.

We ended the day with some play time outside with friends.  Zach was all about pushing his new bunny in the swing.  He's such a sweetie!

Happy Easter!

Wordless Wednesday: Sometimes they play nice!

Not quite!

Zach, with the help of his brothers, squeezed into the Easter jacket and hat he wore on his first Easter back when he was 6 months old.  I don't think that will work for this year!

Made, with love, by Corrie

Ellie was decked out yesterday in an outfit made by Corrie. She's had the sweater for a while, but her skirt is brand new and she LOVES it!

The best part is the skirt is reversible and she is already planning to wear the other side for Easter. Life is good when you're a 4 year old girl with a twirly skirt!

Wordless Wednesday: Diva

Sad day

Last week, on St Patricks Day, we lost a friend way too soon.  He was actually the father of one of our best friends. We haven't spent that much time with him, but he was one of those guys that you only had to meet once to feel like you were his oldest friend.
2 weeks ago he went into the hospital for a semi routine surgery.  Last week, he had enough and left us.  He lived in a pretty small farming town where he was very well known and very loved.  We heard the calling hours were 5 hours of non stop guests.
We got up very early Saturday morning and made the trip down south to attend the funeral with Ben and Zach.  
They talked quite a bit about family, sincerity and legacy. It made me think a lot about our family and our relationships with our kids.   We headed to the cemetery and a lunch after.  This was Bens first funeral where he understood what was happening.  He had a lot of questions and it was hard to watch him get emotional for his friend.
It was a sad morning, but I'm glad we could be there to help out our friends even just a tiny bit. I'm glad Ben got to support his friend.  I'm glad we got to say good bye and I'm grateful to walk away with a new perspective on the legacy we leave behind.

Happy 11th

Jon and I celebrated 11 years of marriage last Friday.  We had a great day and it flew by.  We got up early and headed to Lakewood for breakfast.  We had planned to go to the zoo for a quick visit before Sam had to be at school, but we didn't have enough time and headed to the Nature Center instead. It was a short visit, but the kids had fun.  

Ellie enjoyed herself, but she refused to be in the pictures. The log and the puppet shows are always a favorite as well as finding the Nemo fishes.

After a quick lunch for Sam, we dropped him off at school and headed home for a recharge.  The kids favorite babysitter headed over after nap time and Jon and I headed out for a hot date at Mongolian BBQ and The Art Museum.  We took advantage of the quiet time and headed to Starbucks for a warm treat before we headed home.  It was so nice to spend some time with and without the kids. Unfortunately we had to get up very early Saturday morning so we postponed the tradition of watching our wedding video for a day and called it a night.

Wordless Wednesday: Brothers

Pierogies

Pierogies are a very special thing in the Purdum family. They are truly amazing and very rare.  They make an appearance any time a new baby enters the family and thats about it.  For some reason I got it in my head that it would be fun to spend a day with Corrie learning how to make them.

Spending a day with Corrie is always fun, but pierogie making is torture!  It wasn't too terrible until we got to the rolling and stuffing.  It quickly went from decent to pure hell!

It was a long and painful few hours, but the end result was completely worth it.  They turned out pretty amazing.  I hope Jon is savoring every bite, because they wont be making an appearance again any time soon!

Chocolate

She really likes her ice cream.

Wordless Wednesday: I see grass!

"Char-we"

Zach and his best buddy, "Char-we"!

Curious George

We went to see a production of Curious George at Lorain County Community College this week.  It was a short play geared to preschool/kindergarten age kids.  Ben was a little old for it, but managed to have a good time with us.

The other 3 loved it.  It was fun to see them all smile at the silliness.  I'm looking forward to taking Ben to another play next month geared for a slightly older audience.

Homebound

Its been crazy cold here.  Like too cold to even go outside to play.  We've made it out to some play dates, but we've spent a lot of time at home this winter. Luckily the kids have been pretty awesome (most of the time) about being cooped with each other so much recently.
We finally managed to hit 30 degrees a few days ago and its held on this week.  Sam couldn't wait to get out to play and had a blast with Charlie.  After a quick cold snap, its going to get into the 40's! Ben is so excited about this, but I hope the snow doesn't melt too quickly so our snow bunny, Sam will be able to enjoy it a bit longer.

3 out of 4 love snow

Some of the kids wanted to play outside yesterday.  One of the kids wanted to pout because I told him to go play and have fun with his siblings!  I know, meanest mom ever!

Just a matter of time

I love my daughter, but I'm not naive.  Shes a terror and an instigator.  I've known for 4 years that if she ever got her hands on scissors the first thing that would be gone is her (or Zachs) hair.  We've done a decent job of hiding the scissors, but apparently a pair got away from us.  She gave herself a haircut yesterday.  It wasn't just a little haircut. She cut from her part to her ear.  Since her hair is so curly, it wasn't totally noticeable if you just glanced at her, but I knew.
We took her to get another haircut this morning.  Its so short.  I miss her long, bouncy curls.  She has boy hair now and I don't like it.  She said she likes it, but she hasn't looked excited about it yet.  I hope she didn't get my really slow growing hair gene.

Story time

Me: Ellie, please get out of Charlies bed.

Ellie: I can't mommy.  I'm reading him a story!

Happy Valentines

Sam doesn't have school tomorrow so they had their Valentines party today.  They filled out Valentines cards, picked out special candy and decorated shoe boxes.  It sounds like Sam had a great time and he was very excited to come home and go through all his cards.  Hopefully this will make up for the fact that we don't celebrate the Hallmark holiday here!

Wordless Wednesday: Hug train

Hill

We ended last week with some sledding.  We heard about a hill near us that was perfect for all four kids.  It was shorter on one side and longer on the other.  The people that lived in the house before us left us a sled that just doesn't move very quickly but was perfect for Zach.  As usual he was fearless.

The cut

Ellie had her first real hair cut last week.  I trimmed it once a few months ago, but it was still long and hard to brush out each morning.

She was a trooper.  She sat still, didn't complain or cry and in the end, told me she likes hair cuts.

Its not the best after picture, but she looks very cute and about 2 years younger!

Birthday boy

Someone had a birthday last week.  It was a low key day. Jon worked hard, but treated himself to crab legs for dinner along with home made chocolate chip cookies.  The kids sang their hearts out and I think the birthday boy had a nice night.

Snow

I did a bad job of keeping up with the blog last week.  It seemed to fly by, but I don't really know what we did!  I do know that we got a ton of snow last week.  After a major storm last Sunday, we had a minor one last Wednesday.  We had a foot of snow on top of our table and I'm guessing close to 18" total.  I think Charlie is the only one who didn't really appreciate the snow.  The kids had a great time sledding and building a snow fort.

Party

The kids went to a birthday party at the Jump Yard over the weekend.  It was a huge building full of inflatables, slides, bounce houses etc.  We didn't see the boys for most of the party.  Zach was completely fearless and Jon was more than willing to go down with Ellie.  I think everyone had a good time.  

Close, but not quite

I think they need a refresher aunt Corrie!

Snow

We've had our first real snow storm of the season.  We have at least 6 inches. maybe a bit more.  I actually get excited when they predict a storm.  I love the thought of being closed up with each other for a bit.  Its not really unlike most of our days.  We spend a lot of time at home in the winter, but the kids usually have friends over and the possibility of running an errand or doing something spontaneous is always out there.  With a snow storm, the thoughts of leaving the house disappear. Parents don't want their kids running up and down the street looking for a house to play in.  Everyone is inside, pj's are a must and lots of cuddling occurs.  I love watching the snow and seeing it cover the trees.  I love knowing that we're in it together.