Question

How can such a cute, little, cheeseball of a girl like this.

Make such a big mess like this?

Yes that is most of a box of Captain Crunch with crunchberries and part of a box of rice krispies all over our living room floor.
She is a quiet little mess maker too, stinker!

While these two had no part of making the mess itself they also did not bother to stop her....

I say they are an accessory to the crime.
I thought girls were supposed to be less messy!

Spring, St. Patricks Day and Scooters

We actually had a few nice days during Spring Break this year!  Since it was nice out we were able to enjoy riding scooters down the sidewalk.

We discovered Gabe's old bike helmet was getting a bit too small for his rather good sized noggin so I found this one at Target.

He loves it and much to his little brothers delight, Ty is able to wear Gabe's old helmet complete with his beloved "Queen" on the side!  It matches his scooter and his boots!

 Even Callie likes to ride the scooter! 

While scootering you always need a snack to keep the energy up so we ate the St. Patricks Day chocolate cupcakes we had made(really just chocolate cupcakes with green sprinkles)  Everyone was a fan and it kept the chocolate mess out of the house!

Speaking of St. Patrick's Day, this was our attempt at an Irish dinner for the night.

Boxty's (potato pancakes) with Guinness Beef stuffed in them topped with Gorgonzola cream sauce, they turned out pretty well, we attempted them last year too and the finished product was better this year.  
Back to scootering for a minute,  Ty loves scootering so much that even when it was time to be inside he tried to sneak back out again, he had gone to the bathroom and was having a hard time getting his pants back up, we told him to just take them off since it was almost time to get jammies on for the night, not thinking much of it he took them off, soon after Carl looked out the front door and saw Ty like this.

Yep outside with his helmet, boots and shirt minus the pants, I should have snapped the picture while still outside but the shock of him going outside sans pants threw me off.  Here's hoping for many more scootering days this month!

Dear Commander Lindsey

Today we watched Space Shuttle Discovery land for a final time at Kennedy Space Center. Gabe was very excited to watch the wheels come out and the shuttle touchdown. Right after it had stopped he turned to me and asked if he could write the astronauts a letter. I told him he could so he immediately began work on a picture and letter for shuttle commander Steve Lindsey. Here is his work.

I also enclosed the following letter with a few of the things Gabe wanted to say but couldn't fit in his writing.
Commander Lindsey,
My 5 year old son Gabe wanted to write you a letter and draw you a picture. We arrived in Florida from Iowa in November to try and watch Discovery's launch, as you know that didn't occur but Gabe was very glad they found the problems so you and your crew stayed safe. We watched lift off and landing on NASA TV instead and his enthusiasm did not dwindle, even though we were unable to see it live. He loves the space program and was in heaven when we visited the space center. He wanted to tell you that he thinks you did a good job and he's very glad you made it back to Earth safely. He also wanted to let you know he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up and he hopes he gets to go to space. Enclosed is a picture and letter from him(with a translation of the 5 year old writing) Seeing Discovery on the launch pad when we visited was an awesome experience for our family. Congratulations on a successful mission.
Sincerely,
Hollie Clark and Gabe

Tomorrow we are going to drop it in the mailbox:) I don't know if Gabe will continue to want to be an astronaut or if he will ever have the chance to become one but I do know that his knowledge and love for all things space brings a smile to my face. Gabe we love you from Earth to the Moon and all the way back again:)

Airplanes, Waterparks, Nice Weather and Other Random Silliness

But not necessarily in that order:) The other day I heard the boys doing countdowns in the dining room and I assumed they were playing with their toy rockets or space shuttles, instead this is what I found.

They were using the chairs to blast off from the dining room and were disarming bombs and getting rid of the bad aliens after they launched. The hats and coats were there space suits and helmets and the backpacks were their space packs. What a busy day for them.

We had a few days of nice weather this past week and one of the days since everyone was up from nap by the time I picked Gabe up from the bus we decided to scooter and stroller down to get him and visit the swings. I could tell it had been awhile since they had been able to swing because they all loved it,

I was getting worn out trying to move between the 3 of them for extra pushes. We decided to take the long way home and walked around the block so the boy could get some more scooter time in. Ty doesn't quite get the concept of being able to put both feet up on the platform every once in awhile and was a little slow but he had fun anyway.

A few days after that a friend of ours posted that a P-3 Orion Navy Plane would be landing at the airport that day. Knowing my boys would love to see it we headed to the airport that afternoon and waited for it to arrive. It took awhile to get there but once it did it had their attention.

They thought it was pretty cool to watch it land and then come up to the area where we were waiting.

Since it was running late Callie was extremely tired and we had to leave for a nap but our friend, whose dad flew one of these planes in the Navy was able to go inside the plane and look around, you can see her cool pictures here.

And finally to top off our week we got out of town for a few days. We stayed at the waterpark near the Amanas with my mom and dad. We had been their once before for a friends birthday and the kids had really enjoyed themselves then so we thought it would be something fun for the weekend. They loved having Grandma and Grandpa there and once they all warmed up to the water(with the exception of Gabe who is a fish and dives right in) they all had a great time.

In the morning we went to McDonalds in Coralville for some breakfast. The kids loved these motorcycle seat benches.

We also were able to do some shopping and we got to spend some time with Uncle Pete and Kim. It was a great little weekend getaway!