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Recently, I received a fun surprise package in the mail. It was from MOPS, and it was a 3-game set of Charlie Church Mouse for kids ages 2 - 8. As you can see from the picture above, all 3 of my girls were quite intrigued by it. The reason Daniel and I were so impressed is because it takes Biblical stories, pauses for fun games that are totally educational, (math, money, time, art, spelling, rhyming, etc.), and then finishes the stories. The kids learn True Biblical history, while playing and learning other things, as well. If you have young ones, I recommend you check it out!
Today a dear friend from MOPS invited some of us homeschoolers over for a fun Spring Celebration at her house. Of course, in my excitement I neglected to bring my camera. We heard Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed, painted some pots and planted flowers in them, colored spring pictures, used spring stickers to turn a wintry scrapbook paper into spring, and enjoyed a fun lunch. Did I mention I forgot my camera? ** sigh**So, I decided to take pictures of our dinner instead. I was quite proud, as this was a total experiment and the big girls LOVED it! Here goes...
First, I baked some baguettes. (I found a simple recipe online.) The girls waited anxiously, checking the oven often. What is it about the smell of fresh-baked bread?
While the bread was baking, I stir-fried some zucchini with olive oil, dill, and garlic salt. I also mixed some lemon juice, mayo, and garlic for the spread.
Once the bread was done, I sliced it in half for open-faced sandwiches. I spread the mayo mixture, topped with the zucchini and grated cheddar, (and turkey for the girls), and broiled them for 3 minutes to melt the cheese.
What a fun dinner! It was pretty simple, and the girls said they loved it. Can't beat that! 
Littlest turkey threw everything on the ground except the bread. She is a carboholic, and it's my fault. I'll need to do something about that! And, for the "surprises" part of this post, I went to Old Navy yesterday with just Sierra, and scored a bunch of adorable girls clothes on clearance... plus I had a 30% off coupon and a $50 gift card. In all, I bought each girl 5 items, plus 6 items for myself, and spent $25. This morning, I surprised the girls with their clothes as a "happy spring" gift. They were ecstatic; my girls love clothes!Happy Spring to you!
We hadn't been using our Kid Concoction book at all, recently... that is, until Natalie decided she wanted to make sidewalk paints. I had forgotten the proportions, so I looked them up and remembered just how very simple they were: equal parts cornstarch and water, plus food coloring. Perfect for a beautiful day!
The next day, the book was still sitting on the counter, so we decided to do our bathtub paints. Again, very simple: 1/4 cup clear liquid soap with 1 Tbsp. cornstarch plus food coloring. Unfortunately, they decided to wash away all their pretty pictures before I could grab the camera. Stinkers.
As Spring is now here, we hope to enjoy many more Kid Concoctions, and to try some new ones! As always, we'll keep you posted!
My husband gets Father of the Year, today, and it's because of this run-on sentence: He slept in Natalie's room last night after she continually got up so that she would stop waking me up, stayed home from work so that I could go to MOPS, took the girls to Barnes and Noble, miniature golfing, and then to Chick-fil-A for lunch, ran to the store (with Sierra) to get some milk and veggies for me, made dinner, and still had energy to make a fresh blueberry pie for dessert. I am SO blessed!
Now, I'm not really a pie person... I'm more of a cake girl. The thought of canned fruit makes me gag. But, there is something about my husband's fresh homemade blueberry pie that I just LOVE! I know what I will be having with my coffee tomorrow morning!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!(Almost) every night at dinner, we play the "Highlights, Lowlights" game. Let me play it with you now:
Highlight: The girls were so excited to wake-up to a special table with Lucky Charms.
Highlight: We printed the true story of St. Patrick, as well as this fun maze from Family Fun, and then laminated them back-to-back for fun placemats.
Lowlight: Natalie felt too sick to eat her Lucky Charms. She had a high fever! (Instead, she drank her green smoothie!)
Highlight: Our wonderful neighbors brought us chocolate shamrocks from their trip to Ireland over Christmas. I didn't have any green candles, so I wrapped a green sticker around the white one, and I think it was even cuter than a green candle!
Highlight: These fun "I'm so lucky to have you" printables from the ladies at 1825.
Highlight: I used a heart cookie cutter to cut some shamrocks from green rice krispy treats... BIG hit!
Highlight: We shared some rainbow goldfish with our friends.
Highlight: We did a rainbow science experiment with Papa about density. You can find the experiment here.
Lowlight: The experiment flopped.... the colors all ran together and we had a sugary glass of brown liquid.
Highlight: Papa re-did the experiment with more concentrated proportions of sugar, and we got our beautiful rainbow!
Highlight: Coloring a leprechaun page and doing other fun activities for "school."
Highlight: snack time
Highlight: Getting rid of more conversation hearts! (I greatly dislike having leftover candy from holidays past).
Lowlight: Natalie's fever spiked to 106.6, and I took her straight to Urgent Care. Thankfully, it is coming down... she still doesn't feel good. Poor baby.
Overall, I think the highligts far outnumber the lowlights. What a fun day!
Dear Sierra,
Could you please explain to me what is so bad about going to sleep? I only make you take one nap a day. You can't deny that you are tired... I have evidence; (see exhibit A: falling asleep while eating lunch at 11:30am!)
I have you in a wonderful routine. You nap at approximately the same time every day -- and you always scream, protest, and throw your stuffy-wuffs out of your crib. I am lucky if you sleep more than an hour.
Night time is simply wonderful. We read stories, and then I turn off the big light, give you snoop dog and your milk, and we cuddle on the white chair while I sing you songs. You put your head down and close your eyes -- sometimes you even fall asleep! You like to tease me and give me your milk, only to take it right back. Or, if you are feeling especially silly, you like to make my nose honk, or see what happens if you push my forehead back against the chair. To be honest, it is my most special time of day with you, and you make it very hard to want to put you in your crib.
Inevitably, I think of the messy kitchen and school-planning that needs to take place, and I have to say goodnight. I usually wait until you can't stop rubbing your eyes. We go over and kiss the froggy light goodnight, and then I put you in your crib.
You don't cry too long, now; maybe a minute or two after I leave. But, you still have to cry -- you have to protest. You cannot lay down contentedly and sleep. It makes me sad. I wish you could... when you get a little older, your big sisters will have to teach you Psalm 4:8. "I will lie down and sleep in peace. For you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Shortly after the crying, you babble. I could stand by your door and listen to you for hours. Such sweet sounds! And then, alas, you fall asleep. Most of the time you sleep well. If you wake-up, (usually 1 - 3 times a week), I just let you cry. But, if it is too close to wake-up time, I bring you to bed with me and we cuddle some more until you fall asleep.
I am so thankful for your cuddles!! And, I pray that you learn to appreciate your sleep!
Today I went swimsuit shopping. Came home empty handed... I don't want to talk about it.
On another note, my girls are loving spring. They spend their days searching for pet rolypoly bugs, and that can keep them entertained for hours. Rolypolies I'm ok with. Snails... not so much. This is their latest. Pretty gross, isn't it? They play with them until they accidentally fall too many times and are crushed.
Don't worry... we wash our hands often!
