Bunny Time

Want to see parents freak out?! Compare pictures--our babies grew up--FAST! The bunny, admittedly, is aging beautifully.

2011

Ukrainian Egg Dyeing

Do you remember I mentioned my friend, Annie, and her Ukrainian egg decorating?  Well she opened up her home to let women come in, undisturbed by their own children, to try their hand at this egg dyeing method.  It took me two hours to make this egg. It is a cool process of applying beeswax and then dyeing, covering the color you want to preserve with more beeswax and they dying in the next darkest color. It was mind bending at the beginning but then it began to come together for me.  I kept is as simple as I could and was pleased with the way my first go at it turned out.  Green and red seem to be used a lot so I went with green and brick.  I had fun and thanks Annie for teaching me a cool tradition passed down from your Czechoslovakian grandfather.

Annie blowing out the yolk

Annie, Danette (my neighbor & friend), Me

Rhys Receives Recognition

Don't you just love alliteration?

Rhys had his name read out over the announcements at school and received a certificate for being Falcon of the Month. He was recognized for "working very hard in school and having a positive attitude."  Way to go, Rhys!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

On Monday evening we had a great discussion at Family Home Evening about leprechaun traps and then we talked about the traps Satan sets for us by telling us lies (Go ahead and hit your kid/sibling--that'll show them, you're friends won't like you and will be embarrassed by you if you leave this inappropriate movie, there is no Christ, you've messed up so bad you can't talk to your Heavenly Father, nobody is watching so just do it, etc.). We talk about the feelings we get when Satan tries to pull us down and trap us.  We talked about how those feelings, that "stinkin' thinkin'" is a red flag that Satan is at work. 

We talked about what Heavenly Father thinks of us, even as the imperfect humans we are.  We talked about the feelings of the Holy Ghost communicating warning, truth, and comfort. It was a great discussion. 

I love that as we have consistently tried our best to teach our children the gospel and work on our own spirituality, our kids have been more receptive to our gospel discussions and actually take part and add to them.  It's taken a long while but the little moments we see it blessing our family, is worth it.

Well, after that we moved on to creating the leprechaun trap with the ideas the family has been suggesting over the past week or so.  Sophie wanted answers.  She left a note asking how old the leprechaun was, a mini flashlight to read it by, mint chocolate chips for him to eat, and a blanket for a soft landing.  Nicest captors ever, I'd say.

Strike a pose!

But even with everyone wishing us luck, he got away.  Once up he pulled the ladder up, climbed down into the trap, answered the note, ate chips, and pulled the blanket out to jump down on to get out.  And then proceeded to scatter and wind green streamers throughout the entire house-laundry room, closets! What a mess!

Rhys just waking.

Turned our milk green, once again, as we poured it.

Before departing for work and school we knelt for family prayer which was offered by Sophie and included, "And please bless the leprechaun to stay out of mischief."  Love her.

Upon leaving for school, we found green balloons in the back of the minivan, as he did once before.

Crazy thing is a leprechaun got into Rhys' kindergarten class as well.  He was super naughty--dumping trash, taking toys.  What a goober!  The kids are really hoping he brings back the train tracks and play food or at least just hid them somewhere.  We talked about it with his teacher at Open House.  

On the walk home, I did not wear any green and Sophie playfully pinched me.  Rhys following her lead, pinched too, but Oooweee! He took just a little skin and left a bruise!  Then we had a great discussion about gentleness.  It was seriously due to a lack of experience pinching, thankfully, and not a mean spirit.

Tomorrow I am making our St. Patty's dinner.  To avoid stress and perfectionism, I totally give myself permission to do things when they are most convenient for me.  With open house and then later, a church activity for the women, we moved that dinner to tomorrow.  It is Springtime Barley and Mushroom Soup with Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread. The soup has leeks, asparagus, and fennel. I'm using currants for the first time in my life, instead of raisins in the bread. I am really looking forward to it. If I'm feeling really amazing I might post a picture of it here later but don't cry a river if it doesn't happen. 

So I posted to Facebook, some of the fun we were having and some were saying what a fun and awesome mom I am.  My response: "The flip side will shortly come. Once they figure out a leprechaun is not real then their whole world will fall apart because the Easter Bunny, Santa, the tooth fairy, and the switch witch are all a sham and mom will seem like a lying devil whose sucked the fun out of their life! But until then... :-) "  I liked by sister's suggestion: "Let Neal break the news to them."

In other news, it was beautiful today! And the Dallas Morning News posted this:
Tuesday's forecast: High of 79. Mostly cloudy early, then partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. If you find a stray thunderstorm, take him in an have him checked for a microchip. His parents are probably worried sick. ‪

Is that not funny?!  I love that.  We didn't get any rain today but enjoyed some walks. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Pi

Today was Pi day so for those of us who don't get all excited about math and numbers, there is PIE! I did have to use some math given the recipe had measurements, if it make any mathematicians feel better. Individual Strawberry Chiffon Pies with homemade graham cracker crust.

Winter Spring Break

Why our district feels the need to schedule spring break during winter, we know not.  Still time with the kids is good. What have we done...

Movies viewings at our awesome public library. Woohoo! We love free entertainment! 101 Dalmatians and Big Hero 6 with exciting raffles that didn't pan out for us but we still had fun.


Play time with cousins at Kid Mania.  Crazy busy at spring break but once we found a table (15 minutes into our stay) my cousin, Barbara and I chatted up a storm while the kids ran crazy for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Insane!

Sophie and Rhys did great playing with and entertaining my best bud's two youngest.  Sophie took serious the title of "babysitter" while I prepped dinner. They were both great and so were the two guests.

Sophie held, read, sang, covered, tickled, made music, provided pacifiers, and loved on this little one.

Sophie has created a fort in the playroom with a taped sign in all marker caps: Animal Clinic. It's been there all week and they've been happy all week.  I don't know if any healing has taken place for the animals but Mom is enjoying their imagination.

It was in the 60s today so we had a nice walk. Baby leaves and little buds and blossoms popping up everywhere.  So much to look at and enjoy.  The fuzzy dandelions just started popping up and we blew our fair share of seeds into the air. Shhhh! Don't tell our neighbors.  Okay, really we were in a green belt at the time.

This is Sophie's new thing this year: posing.

So, so sweet!

My friend, Annie, has a beautiful tradition of creating intricately designed eggs using the Ukrainian dying method.  We stopped in to see some of her work and show us the tools and share the method with us.  She explained that it is not a Easter tradition there but these eggs are given at special occasions and are filled with symbolism to wish the receiver well.  We've been checking it out online as well and learning more about the symbols.

Just so everyone is clear that my kale chip and seaweed loving kids are not forced to eat only vegetables, we baked cookies that met Sophie's specifications (chocolate dough & mint chips) and Mom's (ingredients I can approve of and yummy)!  My kids and I love baking together. I recently came upon a website that I've been happy with for creating whole grain treats without super flat or texturally weird results: Texanerin.  She's got a killer Chewy Oatmeal Raisin and her Molasses Cookie is on my To Try list.

For St. Patrick's Day I bought a couple cute packs of Lindt candy in green packaging to give away as inspired to do so.  Today, the kids ran out to give our rockin' mail carrier, Gaye, the goodies with a handwritten note letting her know how "lucky" we are to know her.  She treat our kids great.  Let's them run along the whole street watching her and talking up a storm with her. She even lets them hand her mail or open the mail box doors on a few.  She is always smiling and saying 'hi' when we are out.  I made sure to step out and tell her what it means to us.

Also this week, I started the Orange Rhino Challenge to help me better control my negative, quick reactions or my temper with my family, especially the kids.  I'm sure it's not a perfect system but my Heavenly Father and I would be happy with "better" for a start.  I am actually tracking my behavior and to see if there is a pattern and what alternatives I have...which I am finding are many.  I know when I yell, using mean words, or flick or spank my children, things only get and I don't like that mommy, so I am looking to really lessen or eliminate those behaviors and replace it with something that helps or at least does no further harm.

Neal's been working so hard this week and putting in extra time.  I so appreciate him doing what I would hate to do everyday.  He is a trooper and a good provider financially, as well as emotionally for our family. 

But I am pretty sure he would rather do that than clean up the vomit this morning. Yep, we are bringing our break to a close with a stomach bug.  It's just my little guy so far and I hope he's on the mend soon.

Daddy-Daughter Camping

It snowed all Thursday in the early morning hours. On Friday afternoon, the snow was mostly melted with an occasional patch here and there.  That's when Neal picked up Sophie from school and headed out to go winter camping.  Winter camping is synonymous with torture in my book but Neal and Sophie have a completely different thermostat system in their bodies. It's why I can joyfully suck the life giving warmth from them with little detriment to my loved ones.

Anyhow, off they went to camp with the Huffs and Goodes and their daughters but the Goodes had to cancel due to illness (and perhaps common sense). But Neal and Chris had it good and so did the girls.  Sophie's feet had a hard time warming up  but thanks to the low temps sleeping bag Aunt Kira and Uncle David donated to us, she did good during the night.  Smores and hot cocoa warm the soul too.

They had a good time.  Sophie got to pee in a bucket becasue the bathrooms were 10 minutes away and it was cold, in the mid 20s.  She also learned to cast her fishing line and was happy to report that upon returning.  They saw a vulture with wings spanned perched in a tree. Both got a touch of sun. Neal did the best he could to make up for lost sleep from camping and having daylight savings time in the same weekend.  He's a trooper and an awesome dad, just ask our kids.

Rhys is looking forward to daddy/son camping which he calls "Boy Camping" in April or May.  In the meantime we ate out at restaurants of his choice and played at parks.

Sophie and Rhys Quirks

So we occasionally address teaching a table manner here and there in this house though one may not know this by watching our family eat.  This is why I am telling you.  Recently we covered "What to do with your napkin." I learned a few things myself.  One of which was that the napkin is placed on your lap after the prayer has been said. If no prayer is said, you watch the host and follow his or her lead.

Sophie has become the napkin police.  This is what we call her.  She is watching just waiting to pounce on whoever moves their napkin to their lap before the prayer or put the napkin on the wrong side of the fork.  Given how insanely attentive she is to this subject, it amazes me that so many napkins are left on the floor after a meal.  By the way, the napkin is to be placed to the right of your plate when you are finished.

Sophie is really into writing lately.  I think in a Fancy Nancy book the idea of a diary was mentioned and she ran with it.  She is "in love" with a boy in her class.  This one she has been stuck on longer than the usual few days...hours....What can I say, young love is fickle. Anyway she thinks she has to write his name and heart on every page of her diary.  He doesn't know she thinks "he's handsome" because she learned in 1st grade you don't tell your boyfriends you love them or they treat you awful mean or ignore you completely.  Ouch!  So they never know.  But she told his mom because she is the speech therapist at the same school.  Somethings are just to good to keep secret, I guess.

Anyway back to writing--the diary has been on hold for a little while because now she has started a collection of poems, most from Fancy Nancy books. 

Most of them are real gems like this one...

Okay, so she has been steadily losing teeth. The last one her teacher, Mrs. Steele, pulled out in class at the beginning of January, when looking at her snaggletooth, she said, "Sophie, your tooth is going to poke me in the eye. Come here."

Well the other front tooth got really loose over the weekend and although Keri gave it a good go on Saturday night, the tooth remained.  Before going to school the next day, Sophie shared an original work from her poems book.

Guess who?
She's nice
Fun
Guess who?
She pulled my tooth out
Ooooowwww
Guess who?
Mrs. Steele!

Well Mrs. Steele did our dirty work again! Sophie left school with a larger gap in her smile.  I told Mrs. Steele that I had loosened it for her. Didn't want her to pull a muscle or anything.  She was loving that Sophie wrote a poem about her and shared it with her that day.  Yep, Sophie's pretty much awesome.

 Rhys' gets so into playing with his action figures or thinking of them that he starts to whisper, not quietly, everything he is imagining and thinking.  He's got some really great stories and ideas going but BEWARE! If you take notice he is doing this or comment or question any of it, behold, you will receive the wrath of Rhys. We are not suppose to notice his rambunctious whispering.  Okay.  Whatever.  He has been informed that if he says it aloud we are allowed to notice.  If he doesn't want us to notice, he must only say it in his head.