Easter Crafts 2016

Painting wooden egg signs:

Little Bear

Pudge

Pequeño

Dying Easter eggs:

Can you guess who made this one??

(If you guessed "Little Bear", you're right!)

Zoo Day

We spent the afternoon at the local zoo today. The kids were really excited because we were able to sign them up for the upcoming zoo camp (only the older two are old enough right now) which they loved last time. 

Pequeño was most excited to see the horses and brought his stuffed horse (from Grandpa R.) with him today.

Pudge's favorite puzzle

One of the presents that Pudge received from Santa this Christmas was a puzzle with endangered animals which he is obsessed with. He loves to put it together multiple times a week. Once he has it together, he tells us things about the different animals and sometimes gets his animal figurines and plays with them on the puzzle. Today he wanted a picture of himself with the animals.

He's such a sweetheart and loves every animal. He can't wait until we are able to have a few of our own although that won't be until we move onto our own land. The kids have already been talking about which animals they plan to have and what they want to name them. 

Cabela's and Hiking

We spent Saturday morning at what is probably Papa and the kids' favorite store... Cabela's. Papa had a list of a few items that we needed to get and the kids love checking out the animals.

They each ended up buying something. Little Bear bought a fire starter/whistle, Pudge bought a compass, and Pequeño bought a smaller (keychain size) compass/whistle. Pudge was so excited to give the cashier his money and made sure that they knew that he was paying for his very own compass. 

After a quick lunch, bathroom break, and adding some of our purchased water and snacks to our hiking bags, we started hiking on part of the Appalachian Trail. We started at the Port Clinton entrance which is close to Cabela's. Knowing that the initial ascent was going to be steep, Pequeño started on my back and since I'm also 25 weeks pregnant I wore my heart rate monitor which we used as a guide for when to slow down/take a breather/water break a few times on the way up. 

The kids favorite snack this trip was Peanut Butter Clif Bars. We'll definitely buy them again. They were a great eat as you go snack and they were big enough that we would often split one bar between kids. 

Kindergarten Registration

Pudge had his Kindergarten registration this afternoon. He had been nervous about going to "the big school" all morning but was fine once he got there. As soon as we walked in, someone said "Oh, this must be another Rinker! He looks just like his brother!" which made him smile. He immediately answered with "Yes and we have even more brothers. There's even one in Mommy's belly!". So he happily continued to talk about our family with the woman who came to show him around the school and take him to the kindergarten class while I (and Pequeño) went through the various stations to fill out all of the registration paperwork and turn in those that we had brought. When we finished, we went to the classroom that Pudge was in and found that both of Little Bear's Kindergarten and 1st Grade teachers were in the room so I talked to them for a few minutes while he cleaned up the station that he was in and picked out a book to bring home. They both said that it was like night and day between Little Bear and Pudge's personalities. Where Little Bear is very quiet, reserved, and hesitant in new situations, Pudge is very outgoing, eager to join the group, and was immediately comfortable in the classroom. He left asking when he "gets to" go back for school which is great.

Class of 2029... Wow.

Little Bear's latest Lego fun