Hope you get a terrific teacher, Michael! Best of luck in kindergarten!

We were driving on Interstate 65 from Chicago to Nashville. For anyone who has done this drive, about two hours or so south of Chicago, there is a fascinating wind farm. Hundreds of windmills grandly spin – or on this case, only one was spinning – for about 20 miles. It really disturbed Michael that only one windmill was moving.

Michael: Mom, are windmills alive?

Mom: Why do you ask that?

Michael: Well, they move but today only one is moving so now I’m not sure.

Criteria 1: Living things move — but this is being questioned.

Mom: Well, what makes something living?

Michael: They need food.

Criteria 2: Living things need food.

Mom: Well, what do windmills eat then?

Michael: They eat the wind. The wind is their food. So, I guess they’re alive then.

So, now we know that since windmills need food, they are alive. Good, I’m glad I got that straight. Although Duncan could have told us they were alive all the way back at mile 1 when he started whispering, “Scared. Scared. Scared.” Duncan was a little bit frightened of the giant living windmill monsters. Of course they are alive!

So, we get back to Nashville and we are eating pulled pork for dinner a couple of nights later. Michael has known for a while that some things are meat eaters and some are plant eaters (particularly when talking about dinosaurs). But, just recently he is figuring out where the meat that the meat eaters eat actually comes from. So, he’s pecking away at his pork and he asks:

Michael: Is this meat alive?

Dad: Why would you say that?

Michael: Well all meat used to be an animal so I think it’s alive.

Dad: Yes, but it’s not now.

Michael: But, it’s PART of an animal and it still has all the blood that came from the heart all over it (ok, that’s BBQ sauce but that’s ok) and I know that the blood and heart are alive so this must be alive.

Criteria 3: Parts of living things are alive – but are they still alive if the animal is not?

And the next day he enters the laundry room when I’m ironing my shirt. When I lifted the iron, the steam loudly hissed out of it.

Michael: Mom, is that alive?

Mom: Why?

Michael: It breathed and made a noise.

Mom: Oh, do all living things breathe and make noises?

Michael: Yes.

Criteria 4: Living things breathe and make noise.

Now, while I am enjoying this little journey he is on, at some point he is going to get really frustrated b/c I am not telling him if he is right or wrong:) He is going to go to school in August and tell his teacher living things include windmills, irons, and pulled pork and she is going to wonder what kind of mother (who calls herself a science educator) allows her son to think this way. And… I will smile:)

Michael’s birthday lasted he whole month. We brought cupcakes to school on the 9th and we went out to dinner for Pat’s birthday that night with Oma, Poppy, and Megan. But since we had cupcakes at school already we thought we would just add another candle-lit brownie to the dinner and celebrate Michael’s as well. Then the following weekend we went to Michael’s first minor league baseball game – the Schaumburg Flyers. The Kehoes, McClains, and Oma and Poppy joined us for a beautiful day of baseball… or rather an excuse to consume ballpark food – peanuts, dip-’n'-dots, lemonade, beer, hot dogs… To be fair, we did try to tailgate before the game but they really frown on that practice in the ‘burbs. For Michael, the hit of the day was the playground with the balloon bounce maze. It was terrific! For Duncan, the hit was his nap:)

The next weekend Craig and Steven were in town and we attempted to visit the Shedd, take the water taxi to Navy Pier, and celebrate Michael’s real birthday on top of the Ferris Wheel. Duncan got sick, the Bears had a preseason game, and they were filming Transformers downtown so all we accomplished was the Shedd. But, we had a wonderful time. Michael is now old enough to sit through the dolphin shows! Yippee!

Then Michael went to Virginia for a week to celebrate with Gammy, Grampa, Madison, Caitlyn, Tim, and Cindy. The highlight of his trip (after the plane ride, of course) was feeding a bison and a one-humped camel – the camel ate Gammy’s cup! Michael also enjoyed hours in the pool and two trips to Amazement Square. He had a blast. But, the only picture he took of the trip was of the planes at the airport:

The day he returned happened to be Duncan’s first birthday. We had a small celebration at home with the Kehoes, Megan, Auntie Mo, Oma and Poppy. It included dinner and cupcakes and was more than enough for Duncan — probably a dinner party for a one-year old is not advisable! Duncan nearly slept through the party! The pictures are classic – I will have to share a video of the song as well. I’ve never seen a kid have no reaction whatsoever to a room full of adults and kids singing a song to him – not a laugh, not a smile, not a cry. He was just that tired. But, he did wake up a bit to eat his cupcake!

For future reference, Michael received a camera from the Kehoes for his birthday. I am going to include some of his pictures to provide a 4-year old perspective to our happenings. If he has something to say, I will add that too. It will take some time before he gets used to using the camera. But, his other two pictures since he received the camera are of himself and the Kehoes. Enjoy!

Hooray to my boys for sharing such a wonderful year with us!

Michael and Mia have been girlfriend/boyfriend for about a week now. It started last Friday when Mia announced to Pat that Michael was her boyfriend. She gave Pat a picture of Michael and his dinosaurs that she drew. During the next week there was one altercation. Michael was asked to call kids’ names to get ready for lunch. In the middle of this important job, Mia jumped up and screamed, “Michael, if you don’t call me next I’m going to break up with you!” So, Michael called her next. The next day they were married. Ahhhh… young love!

On a completely different note, Michael and I had a very deep discussion about how Nana’s daughter has gone to heaven. The important question Michael wanted answered was, “How long does it take heaven to go around the Sun?” Hmmmm….

Then family swim started in the big pool. For an hour and a half, Michael jumped into deep water and swam back to the wall – with no floats!!!! Daddy and Mommy were sooooooo proud!!!! We had no idea. He has had swimming two days a week at school but he always wears a belt with two floats. We just assumed the floats were keeping him up and that he wasn’t doing much work. Wrong were we!!! He can tread water very well, float on his back and doggie paddle on his front. It was amazing – so amazing that I forgot to grab the camera. Darn.

Here he is working on some arts and crafts – playing with blocks, placing ‘beads’ on the letter ‘B’ and painting, lots and lots of painting.

Next are some holiday pictures – Michael was Batman for Halloween this year and it looks like they decorated some cookies for Christmas – yum!

Next comes swimming fun every Monday and Wednesday (I don’t know how the teachers get all these 3 year olds to the Y, dress for swimming, have a class, undress from swimming, walk back to the classroom in a morning. It amazes me:)

And, what you have all been waiting for… drumroll…..

Michael makes many appearances in THE PURPLE DRESS!!! Every dance party Michael dons the purple dress… and apparently, sometimes when the dancing is over and the puzzles are out, the purple dress makes a bonus appearance. Enjoy!

And sometimes he does puzzles without the purple dress:)

And sometimes, he gets to wear the pink dress!

I love this one… could this be one for his wedding slideshow?????

This year I took the boys out to Elmhurst to enjoy their St. Patty’s Day parade – always enjoyable and much easier to see than something in the city. To prep for the day Oma invited Michael to help her make her infamous green rice crispy treats:

While the process was fun, the treats were a disaster. We’re pretty sure it had to do with the aged marshmallows. Some things are good aged, Oma – wine, some cheeses. But, I’m pretty sure two years is past the average marshmallow’s prime. So, the treats ended up being bird food.

No worries about our bellies though. On Saturday we feasted on scones, crackers and cheese, hummus and chips, and potato soup before, during, and after the parade. And, it was the perfect day for soup as the weather turned cold, rainy, and not very pleasant. John and Madeline came in from the city to join us – oh, that made Michael’s weekend! He loved playing host and was very generous in letting her use all of Addy’s things (the princess bowl, the princess chair) and even some of his own (his fire truck bed).

For the parade, we put Madeline and Michael in the wagon and bundled them up with hats, coats, and blankets:

I am noticing with these pictures that everyone seems to be in pink and red. I swear this was St. Patty’s day! Maybe we need our true Irish girl, Libby, to show us how it’s done right. Here she is before the parade:

And here she is at the parade:

Duncan enjoyed the parade with his Mommy:

Michael and Madeline soon discovered that if they sat up close to the parade line and held out their hands, or bags, they were more likely to get candy. So, very quickly, Michael unfolded his chair and set up camp right on the parade line. And, yes, he did very well with his loot – if you like Tootsie Rolls, that is.

For almost two hours, our normally chatty Cathy 2 and 3 year-olds, sat silently watching the parade, covering their ears when the bands came by, and opening their bags for more treats. Neither Madeline nor Michael said a word until it was over. And then it was, “Mom, I’m cold!”

“Oma and Poppy are your parents (points to Mommy).

Gammy and Grampa are your parents (points to Daddy).

Mommy (points to Mommy) and Daddy (points to Daddy) are Michael’s parents.

We need to find Duncan some parents.”

Aside from being a little late, everything worked out as planned. And when we stopped in Elmhurst, Poppy picked the right train door and was standing right there! It was perfect timing for Duncan – I think his little rear was getting a little sore from being in the sling for 3 hours:)

So, we spent the rest of the evening playing at Oma and Poppy’s. On Sunday we got to play with Tara, Libby, Kevin and Auntie Mo as well! Michael was so impressed (as we all were) with Libby’s mobility. That girl has inherited her Daddy’s Crazy Legs! She was everywhere! Michael enjoyed playing with her… Duncan enjoyed watching her.

Between the two of them, it was very difficult to get good shots. Michael has always moved 100mph – I think Libby may already be there. She’s going to be logging in Nascar speeds by the time she is 2. But, Tara was able to corale the two of them for a quick photo-op:

Now for the other kiddo…Duncan has been sitting very well but when I tried to snap a picture of him happily playing with toys, he decided he was done. It has nothing to do with Kehoe holding him up… it’s more like this, “Mommy? Why are you in front of me with that silly camera? Hold me! Hold me! Hold me!”

But, he soon rediscovered his smile when Auntie Mo was holding him:

We missed the other cousins but we were able to Skype our hellos to Addy and Makayla – can’t believe how quickly they are growing either. Time flies!