The next thing I knew, he was putting together his Lightning McQueen race track.
He had the directions out and was following the pictures to put the pieces in the correct order.
It didn't seem to take him long before he had it up and running. I was SO proud of him!!!
She's just cute.
And she loves it when I do self-portraits of the two of us.
This was MY completed project. The toy room now has one wall with cool orange and navy circles.
Gabriel's school was honored as a 4-Star School by the Department of Ed. Part of being a 4-Star School requires that their ISTEP+ scores are in the top 25% in the state. It is a really big deal for a school to be designated a 4-Star school. Friday they held their celebration. The PTO treated all of the kids in the school to a special 4-Star School t-shirt and a carnival. Mrs. G painted Gabriel's face like a tiger. He got to eat popcorn and a slushie. The kids played games and got balloons. He was so excited for the carnival that he talked about it all week. I'm sure it was a crazy day for his teacher if all 29 students were as excited as Gabriel!
This picture was in the Staff Insight. I got a copy from the supervisor of public relations. Gabriel is all the way on the right side in the second row. Look for the red sleeves.
Friday Dan and I divided and conquered. While I took Gabriel to Bridgepoint to Family Movie Night, Dan took Grace to visit Great Gramma. Grace sat in Great Gramma's chair with her and read a book to her. Grace loves to look at pictures in books and tell stories to go with them. For now, that's how she reads books, and I LOVE it! It's the sweetest thing to listen to.
Wednesday evening Daddy took a little snooze while cuddling his favorite little girl.
Thursday evening it was Mommy's turn to get some cuddles in before bedtime. Even Hershey wanted in on the cuddle action. Love, love, love these sweet kids!
Last weekend Grandma, Grace, and I went to Michael's to get a few supplies for a project we're working on. Just as we walked in the door an employee asked if Grace would like to do a craft. Clearly she's never met Grace . . . this girl LOVES to do crafts! She took Grace in the little room by the front door and gave her the supplies to decorate her own Fancy Nancy tiara. Grace wore her tiara through three stores and all during lunch. How fun! And what great timing we had!
Jake and Blaise played Don't Break the Ice. It was a perfect game for a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old.
Marcy was in charge of putting the game back together each time the ice broke. Sam thought it was so fun that his teacher was at his house, and he even slipped in a few "Marcy's" instead of Mrs. Kist.
The bigger kids tried a game of Headbandz. It is a super cute game. Unfortunately, the kids told each other what was on their headband, and the game didn't last long.
Gabriel and Sam got out Connect 4 Launch.
Grace was super excited to play the Play-doh game.
Jake got out his BIG piano. Grace thought it was the best toy ever!
Grace mentioned that she was hungry. As soon as Alicia said the word "popcorn" this girl was sold! She brought the entire bowl over and sat down next to Alicia. Knowing Grace, she probably thought Alicia popped that bowl of popcorn just for her. Ha!
Sam and Gabriel played Angry Birds for quite a while. It must be a pretty fun game. Birthday gift idea?? We'll see.
I promised Gabriel that when his school played Bridgepoint, we would go together to see the game.
I made good on my word Wednesday when Bridgepoint played TJ at TJ.
Bridgepoint Bears played hard, but TJ prevailed. 
I think Gabriel thought he might hurt my feelings if he rooted against my school. He kept telling me that he really wanted Bridgepoint to win. Maybe he was rooting for Bridgepoint because he knows several of the BP players from daycare? Who knows. It was fun enjoying the basketball game with the kids.
Wednesday when we got home from school, Grace decided to try on Daddy's hat. 
She looks pretty darn cute in her Daddy's hat!
Grace wanted to dance to Just Dance 2, and Gabriel couldn't help himself. He had to join her!
They danced and danced.
I couldn't let them have all the fun. So when they turned on Kidz Bop, I joined in the dancing too.
On Kidz Bop, you can challenge each other and see who follows the dancer on the Wii the best.
Grace takes after her buddy, Alicia. She bogarts my camera and then takes pictures of herself. Ha!
There is one song on Kidz Bop, Paparazzi, that I absolutely cannot beat Gabriel at.
Before long a princess came upstairs to dance with us too! 
Teresa went into the pen to get a lamb for the kids to pet.
The kids loved the goats. The goats belong to the Zollmans' son and daughter-in-law. In the past when we have visited the farm, there were not as many goats. That baby goats, kids, are so adorable. We got to see one that was just a few hours old. Its feet were still wet from birth.
Alicia . . . taking a self portrait with a kid. So funny!
Jake and Gabe held the goats and posed for a picture. The kids were asking if they could bring the baby goats home. It was tough for them to understand why that wasn't a good idea.
Grace couldn't get the goat to stay on her lap because her coat was bulky and slick.
I was shocked that Grace grabbed and handful of feed and walked over to the pen to feed the goats from her hand. Usually at petting zoos and such, she is very timid about getting to close to the bigger animals. She was feeding the goats and sheep like she was on the payroll though.
The kids couldn't wait to go inside the pens to get closer to the lambs.
Gabriel was able to walk slowly enough up to the lambs to finally pick one up.
Sam picked one up too.
Once Gabriel was able to pick the lamb up, he said, "Mom, Mom! Look! Take my picture!" I guess I was slacking on my job a little.
Before we left Gabriel and Grace started feeding the sheep.
I think Grace would like to work at the farm. She loved feeding the animals.
Before we left, Teresa took the kids for rides on the 4-wheeler.
Gabriel told Teresa to go faster. The kid has a need for speed!
Me and my girl . . . I tried to wipe the pink make-up off her face before we left home. I just couldn't get it all to come off. Ha!
The chef tossed the egg in the air and caught it in his hat. It looked like the egg just disappeared in thin air. That was a really cool trick.
The boys sat on one side of the table. The adults sat on the other. Surprisingly, it worked out pretty well. The boys were pretty well behaved.
Our chef tossed pieces of scrambled egg into the kids' mouths.
He made a pretty cool volcano. He filled the center of the onions with soy sauce and let it bubble up like lava. Grace hid under the table any time the chef made fire on the grill. I don't know when she'll outgrow her fear of hibachi fire. Ha!
I don't know what Grace's funny expression was about.
Before our lunch was over, the server brought the kids chopsticks. They had fun trying them out.
