Big Z turns 3

For months Zade has been asking for a motorcycle and a red helmet. That wish was fulfilled on his third birthday:

Since Scooby Doo is the only thing he ever wants to watch, we also picked up a little movie for him too:

Even though he loves to watch Scooby Doo, all he ever wants to wear is Spiderman outfits.  He saw this cake and had to have it:

To celebrate as a family, we all went to Chuck E Cheese.  Even though we went there last year, Zade wanted to have his birthday there again.

EASTER EGG HUNT
For play group this week everyone brought a dozen Easter eggs, which were hidden, and all the kids looked for them.  Tara had to tell Aria and Salem to slow down and leave some eggs for the rest of the kids.

Pizza Casserole

We had the missionaries over for dinner and decided to make home made pizzas.  The kids little pizzas turned out great, but the large one for the rest of us wasn't so fortunate.  It was loaded with topping and was placed on the cooking rack without a pan underneath it and began to sag through.  Ultimately, we had pizza casserole. :)   

For craft group this week, the kids blew egg yokes out of the eggs, so that they could decorate the shells and keep them for a long time.  Only one egg broke: Aria blew so hard that the egg exploded. The kids dyed the eggs and then put on everything from paint, glitter, stickers, etc.  

Quirky little man

POTTY TIME
Whenever Zade needs to go to the bathroom, he often seems to wait until it's an absolute emergency.  Usually he's holding himself and screaming "I have to pee!" while doing a little dance in a circle.  If someone doesn't help him quickly, he begins crying or screaming louder.  What we don't understand is why he doesn't just go to the bathroom himself, since on many occasions he's proven he can do it all by himself.  He prefers though to have someone accompany him. He's a funny little man.

RUNNY NOSE
Zade also becomes very upset if he can feel that his nose is beginning to run.  And when we say beginning, we mean that somewhere deep inside it's starting to run, even though when we wipe it, there's nothing there. It seems like most kids will let their nose run even if it runs down their face, but not Zade.  Zade shouts out in a panic "tissue!", and if you do not get him a tissue quickly, he will begin crying.  Such a cleanly boy. When he has a cold, we generally wipe his nose every few minutes.

ZADE THE BUILDER
Zade likes to build little forts all over the house.  These forts consist of completely random objects, such as a cat scratching post, a blender, an apron, a glove, a small chair, a blanket, and a tricycle.  At one given point in time, there are often 3 forts set up at random places in the house.  (They kinda look like little beaver dams). If he wakes up in the morning and finds that someone has removed even one item from his fort, he collapses in a pile of sorrow.

That said, he is fantastic at self entertaining.  In one of his little forts, he can spend a good hour just playing by himself.  He's such an easy going little guy, and very creative.

SHIRTS
Zade has around 15 shirts, but will only wear 4 of them.  He prefers his Spiderman shirts, and if those are dirty, he'll wear his Transformers shirt. He prefers to wear the same shirt for multiple days in a row. If Zade could have his way, everything would be Spiderman.

Roller Skating for the 1st time

We decided it was about time to introduce the kids to roller skating.  So we took them out to a rink and they both made valiant efforts to not fall down.  However, gravity combined with wheels is a mighty opponent.  So we decided to get Aria a little roller walker to help her stay up. Aria was brave enough to get on the main roller rink with Tara behind her pushing the walker.  Zade didn't really use a walker much, and he was perfectly content to just skate on the carpet.  We were proud of them for trying their best and by the end, we were all exhausted.  They were tired, and we were tired of holding them up. :)  

Zade was probably more into the arcade than skating.

CRAFT DAY
Every Friday the kids have a rotating craft day at different people's houses.  This past Friday we were at Aria's friend Salem's house.  The kids went on a treasure hunt following shamrocks for the treasure, which ended up being chocolate gold coins, skittles, and marshmallows.  The kids made rainbows out of them:

KITTIES

Aria, within the past 2 months, has developed a deep interest in the cats. She loves to play with them, and make special beds for them. One of her favorite things to do is put them in their traveling carriers and talk to them, which the kitties utterly detest.  (We don't blame them).  Every night Aria wants the cats to sleep in her room, so we have to hunt them down in the house, put them in her room, and close the door so they don't escape.  After she falls asleep we let them out, much to their relief.  

Aria has also recently gotten into watching Tiny Toons.  She loves the character of Elmyra, perhaps because of their shared love for animals.  :) 

Penn State

After spending most of the month of January interviewing for jobs, at places like the University of Florida, UC Davis, Vanderbilt, and Washington State, and I have just accepted a job at Penn State University as an Assistant Professor of Accounting.  The business school there is quite large, with roughly 5000 students, of which 1000 are in Accounting. It will be a fantastic place to work and live.  We are all very excited to move to State College this summer!  We've never lived on the east coast before, so this will definitely be a new adventure.

Zade the Mechanic