Welcome to May

May 1 was a Sunday.  I spontaneously decided to head out to the beach with Dorian for a little while in the afternoon while Levi was napping.  We found some shells, played in the sand, and stopped for an ice cream treat on the way home.  Nathan and I had been watching America's Next Great Restaurant on TV on Sunday nights, so we sat down to watch the last episode together.  The winning restaurant, Soul Daddy, is opening in 3 cities, one of which is Minneapolis.  We want to plan a weekend trip there once we move and try it out!  :)

Wednesday evening we had a showing on our house at 5:45 so we were forced to go out to eat for supper together.  :)  As it turns out, we ate at our favorite restaurant, Crazy Horse, and spent less than $15 after a coupon and part of a gift card.  Yeah!  I LOVE their food.

When I woke up on Thursday morning, I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the day, but I didn't feel like staying home.  So we took Nathan up on his idea to head to the John Ball Zoo for the morning.  It turned out to be warmer than I anticipated and I was very thankful that I had gone with the boys.  It was fun!

Playing together before we left for the zoo.

Feeding the goats is always one of their favorite things to do at the John Ball Zoo!

We thought the bear was hilarious, lounging in the sun.

On Thursday evening, Kelsey came over to watch the boys so that Nathan and I could attend a dinner at Hope that we were invited to.  Nathan was recognized, along with the other professors, for receiving tenure this year.  It was kind of bitter sweet sitting there knowing that we were going to be moving on.  But it was a nice evening and I walked out telling Nathan that I was proud of him!  And it was nice to arrive to a quiet home...the boys sleeping peacefully.  :)

After preschool on Friday, Jacob came home with us.  His teacher said that Jacob and Dorian sat next to each other a couple of times that morning and also that Dorian opened up and really had a lot of fun playing kickball.  That was good to hear! Jacob is such a good kid and Dorian and Levi LOVE playing with him.  It works out well! 

On Friday evening, the boys couldn't wait any longer to share the gifts that they had gotten me for Mother's Day so Nathan claimed it Mother's Day weekend!  :)  Dorian had taken home a present from preschool that he had made and wrapped for me and he was so proud of it!  The flower on the front of the card was made with his fingerprints...precious.  And inside the wrapping paper was a usable, keepsake plate that Dorian had written and drawn on...so precious!  I LOVE it!  Next, I was very surprised and excited to open an iPod touch!  It's so much fun and I can't wait to download more music on it!  I'm VERY spoiled!  Then we went downtown to watch Dutch dancing and get a free ice cream treat.  :)

Saturday afternoon we had made plans to go to Kinderplaats with Jon & Joni and Dave & Kristin and our children.  Dorian and Levi had a blast on the inflatables!  The petting zoo was also a hit.  And they watched intently at one of the shows about farm animals.  We were all able to eat supper outside on our deck since it was such a nice day!  It was so much fun to spend some time with them again!

Hope's graduation was on Mother's Day.  I took the boys to church in the morning and Nathan went to the Baccalaureate service.  Levi just started going to Children's Church with Dorian!  Then we went with Nathan to a brunch at Hope.  Nathan was gone from about 1:30 to 5:00.  Levi took a long nap and Dorian and I hung out in the sun outside most of the afternoon!  We had fun listening to songs on my iPod together, one ear bud for each of us.  :)  Nathan made pepperoni rolls (which is what we've been having more often than pizza) for supper.  After the boys were in bed, Nathan left to drive to Ann Arbor to spend the week doing research work there.  I plan on driving out tomorrow to join him for a couple of days.  He'll work during the day and we plan on swimming in the pool, watching TV, and hanging out together.

Today is Monday.  The picture is of Dorian and his pet worm that he found.  :)  The poor worm was played with for about a half an hour, taken on a bike ride, was swinging on the gate, and I don't know what else.  He was quite entertained and I was just happy that he was so content playing by himself.

The big news of today was that Dorian learned how to ride his bike without the training wheels!!!  I was too busy running along side of him (quite the workout today!) to get any pictures, and he did great.  I'm so proud of him and it was clear that he was so proud of himself as well!  This all started when one of his training wheels broke this afternoon.  :)  We're really not sure where all of his natural athletic skills come from.  I thought I'd credit myself, but Nathan reminded me that the reason I started on the basketball team in middle school was because I only had 4 girls in my class.  :)

It's late, and I'm off to bed.