Sock Hop for Dagny and Lincoln

Castle Rock Elementary is having a Sock Hop tonight and the kids are allowed to wear fifties clothes to school today. Landon put this picture in the family text. Megan got these outfits for Dagny and Lincoln and they are so adorable!! Lincoln is such a heart throb in this picture and I just love Dagny's pose!

My kids did the Sock Hop for Halloween (they weren't allowed to wear costumes unless they were fifties attire) and I have such great memories of it that I wanted to go watch. I remember they decorated the gym and the kids went by grades and did all the dances. I loved watching them! This Sock Hop was more of a carnival and dancing was just one part of it. We went in the gym first and Dagny did the macarena. It was so cute!

Lincoln loved playing Pac Man on this arcade game.

Of course Dagny won the hula hooping contest for the group she was in. She has always been a pro at hula hooping. The first time she tried (probably at 4 years old) she was a natural! She knows how to swing those hips.

Bean bag toss is always fun.

The kids have learned a lot about the fifties! Each classroom decorated their door and the kids have been telling me about it for a couple of weeks.  Lincoln was excited to show me the record with his name on.

 This is a picture of his door. Dagny's class had root beer float cutouts on their door along with the recipe. Dagny has also been telling me about diners and milkshakes. I was impressed with all the vocabulary they learned!

Dagny and Lincoln were more interested in running around with their friends and playing the games than they were in dancing. They also had a cake walk, a basketball toss, and a basket silent auction. The evening wasn't quite what I expected, but it was still fun and I'm glad Castle Rock Elementary is keeping this tradition alive.

Spring Break

Spring break this week for Dagny and Lincoln was pretty low key. Melissa's kids are on spring break next week, so no cousin time. Grandpa and Lincoln built with the Lincoln Logs. It reminded me of Blake because he was always building houses for his stuffed animals.

1. Lincoln loves pancakes! He had them for breakfast and lunch today.

We got one day of good weather to play outside. It was really sunny, hard to take pictures without getting squinty eyes, but this was so cute, I had to include it. The kids love to sit, dance, and play on the Bodeman's steps by the mailbox

 

Calista's favorite thing to do: push a doll stroller around the circle, most of the time running.

Dagny snitched my sunglasses, and wanted to sunbathe. She wants a tan. Where do they learn things like this at such a young age?

Pretending she's on a beach enjoying a cold drink.

It's too warm for a blanket, but Lincoln wanted to snuggle up.

Scooter time! Dagny especially loves to ride scooters.

Of course there was quite a bit of this going on this week. They are officially Kid Kindles 

with games and shows, but we call them showpads.

Storytime at the library is one of our favorite things to do. When Dagny and Lincoln started school, one day they saw I had new library books, and they said with much indignation, "Grandma! Did you go to the library without us?" I laughed and told them they get to go the library at school. When they are on school breaks, they love to go to the library, and that makes me so happy. I hope they love to read when they are a little older. This is shaky eggs. All the kids get eggs with beans inside (I think). and they play music, dance, and shake their eggs.

Calista loves the library too. When I tell we we are going, she says, "Yay," and jumps up and down.

Melissa comes to Storytime with us and then they come over for lunch and stay to visit and play until it's time to pick up Claire and Millie. Maddie and Emma were so cute at the library today! Library day is one of my favorite days!

And of course it wouldn't be spring break without a snow storm. We got 8 inches overnight Wednesday and into mid afternoon on Thursday. Dagny and Lincoln spent the night on Wednesday because we were all a little nervous about Landon trying to bring them on Thursday morning. There was a winter weather advisory and that always means a significant amount of snow.

Kimberlea had Thursday and Friday off for spring break, so I didn't have Calista and Everlee. Dagny and Lincoln's snow clothes were at home, so no building a snowman today.

 Lincoln can do 24 piece puzzles in just a few minutes, so I bought a couple of 48 piece ones for him to try and he did pretty good! I love to do puzzles, and I'm happy they like to do them too.

It was St. Patrick's Day on Thursday, and the kids were a little sad about their leprechaun traps, but I told them they could see them when they went home. Dagny had a green nightgown and this cute headband, so that was a little festive at least. She wanted to know when it was time for the pinching to start and that made me laugh.

The kids got a book with a CD from the library, and it made me remember these books on tapes that we had a very long time ago. We used them on car trips when we went to Utah and Idaho before the days when there were portable DVD players so the kids could watch movies. It really brought back some memories. I got them out and Dagny was very interested. I don't have the full set, some books are missing, and some tapes are missing. I think she listened to every one of them.

Picnic time!

One thing about spring snow storms, the snow melts pretty fast. I don't usually get cabin fever, but on Friday I really wanted to take the kids somewhere, even just a park, but it was too snowy for that, and I couldn't come up with anywhere, so we just went on a walk. The resting rock had some snow on part of it, and the other part was wet, so no sitting on it to take a break. The kids wanted to take strollers and stuffed animals, and Dagny had a basket of essentials, so they spread out a doll blanket and took a rest. I love Lincoln's smile!

Some silliness. 

Notice that Lincoln's pants are rolled up. He wanted to pretend it's summer.

One more picture just because they are too cute!

Lincoln is getting that so that he doesn't always want to have a picture taken, so when he wanted me to take a picture of him standing by this tree, you can be sure I was happy to do it!

Then Dagny wanted a turn. These kids sure have my heart!

The snow is too tempting not to play it. It had so much water in the could just pick it up in big chunks.

Then they would smash it down on the sidewalk. They did it several times until their hands got too cold, then they wanted to put their hands in my pockets.

Collecting pebbles. Good thing Dagny had a basket to put them in or they would have ended up in my pockets. I love being outside and this little walk was enough to change my mood. I'm thankful that I live in colorful Colorado and can go outside often.

Back to school on Monday!

 

Baby Chicks

We are down to only 2 chickens, so Delwyn decided it was time to get some chicks. He spent a a couple of evenings building this box to keep them in and painted it purple with some really old paint leftover from Denya's Barbie doll house. I was surprised the paint was still good!

I don't know if we got the chicks earlier in the year than we have before, but this is the first time we have kept them in the house. It's a sign of true love that I agreed they could come in.  The good news is they won't have to stay inside for very long, maybe a month. We got two yellow ones and two black ones. I don't know what brands they are--to me a chick is just a chick.

Farmer Delwyn with one of the new babies.

Calista was the first of the grandkids to see the chicks. She was here when Delwyn came home with them on Saturday afternoon.

When Dagny and Lincoln got here on Sunday, they ran right down the basement to see them. They both wanted to hold one right away. Both kids were a little nervous they might get pecked, and sometimes the chicks flap their wings and try to fly a little. They had a short turn since Delwyn was busy cooking dinner and you can be sure I'm not about to touch one or help the kids hold them.

Dagny named a yellow one Sunny, Lincoln named a yellow one Bennett, together they named a black one Blackie, and Claire named the other black one Moonlight. They seem to like their home, eating a lot and soaking up the heat from the heat lamp.

After dinner all the kids had a turn to hold them. Claire and Millie aren't the least bit nervous since they have chickens at home. They aren't scared to pick up big chickens and they treat theirs like pets. Claire got one to perch on her hand and then everyone wanted to try that.

Dagny was successful!

She was quite proud to show off her chick. She claims Sunny as her

With some help, Lincoln was able to get one to perch on his hand too.

 

Maddie's turn. We had to keep reminding her not to squish the chick.

 Even Emma had a turn petting a chick. She was quite interested and kept putting her hand back out to touch it again. 

More turns. Six kids and only four chicks. They poop quite often, so Delwyn gave the kids some shop towels to put on their laps. And yes, we had to get some fresh paper towels 4 times in the 10 or 15 minutes they held them.

Dagny was finally brave enough to pick one up after watching Claire and Millie. The yellow ones are easier to hold since they are younger than the black ones and don't try to fly as much. The kids did hold the black ones too, but for some reason the yellow ones are in all the pictures. I wondered if they liked being held or if they were glad to go back in the box.

Chickens make Delwyn so happy, so I guess I can put up with them.

Claire Plays Basketball

Claire is playing basketball with Elizabeth Parks and Recreation. She is on the Red Hawks and games are at her elementary school. The season lasts for 8 weeks and then there is a one day tournament. We didn't go to every game, I think we went 4 times.

Warming up.

Getting fancy and dribbling the ball under her leg.

They play 7 minute quarters and switch out after 3 minutes and 30 seconds so everyone gets to play an equal amount of time. The score was 6-8. They don't get a lot of baskets, but they play hard and move the ball up and down the court a lot. It was really fun to watch them learn the fundamentals.

Water break. There are 4 girls on Claire's team and the rest are boys.

During half time they practice for a few minutes.

Claire is pretty good at making baskets when she isn't under pressure. 

Get that rebound!

They give the kids different colored wrist bands so they know who to guard. During this game Claire had a yellow wrist band, so she guards the person on the other team who is also wearing a yellow wrist band. I thought that was a clever idea.

Team photos are now digital, so Melissa could send me one. Technology is just the best sometimes!

 Claire had a great team.  Austin has a little slogan, 'If you had fun, you won." I love that because we can't win every time, and if we had fun, then it was worth it. Austin, Melissa, Delwyn, and I were all a little sad when the season ended. All the kids improved so much, and they were getting pretty good at playing as a team. We all hope she wants to do it again next year.