Family Fun

A little while ago Adam took some days off work and we enjoyed some fun activities. We make lollipops one day; the kids picked out root beer flavoring with heart and bear sucker molds along with a tray to make gem shapes. It was fun and the kids really enjoyed eating them after they were finished. They were so proud that they had to take some over to our neighbors.

We also bought some diet coke and a pack of mentos. If you have not tried this experiment with your kids it is definitely worth it. It doesn't last long but they think it is so awesome! My pictures don't do it justice, It shot about 7 feet up! We tried it with the smaller bottles, but it did not shoot nearly as high as the 2 liter. Adam tried putting a mento in his mouth and taking a drink to let it shoot out. It did not work very well but I loved how Anika looked so disgusted. :)

Happy Earth Day

Earth day is a great day to appreciate the beauty of nature and do something to help keep it nice. My family loves to be outside and we really enjoy all that it has to offer. Anika started a club at recess with several girlfriends called "The girls nature club"-they plan to clean the earth to help keep it beautiful. The moment we got home from school she begged to go outside to clean up around our pond. I am so proud of her! Here are some snapshots from the past couple weeks that I love. Adam took the picture of the little bird so props to him.

I dare you

Yesterday Adam and Celtin had a conversation that went something like this.

Adam: Look at all those big worms (it is raining and they are all over the sidewalk), I will give you 20 dollars if you eat one.
Celtin: Yuck, no way-would you eat one for 20 dollars?
Adam: No but I would eat one for 100 dollars
Celtin: I will eat dog food for 1 dollar
Adam: Celtin look (tossing a piece of dog food into his mouth) now you eat one
Celtin: (puts it in his mouth) Gross I have to spit it out
Adam: Just chew it up and swallow it
Celtin: I threw up (he walked away but suddenly threw up...in the toy box)
Adam: Why did you throw up in the toy box?
Celtin: I didn't mean too, I just did-do I get a dollar?
Adam: I don't know because you threw up...Why did you throw up?
Shylo: Why did you make him eat dog food....I am not cleaning it up!

Boys-do they ever grow up?

Just Like You

Lochlan just adores Anika and Celtin. He follows them around trying to do everything they do. I guess that is why he seems to be growing up so fast. He gets so excited when it is time to go pick them up at school. They play so well with him and can make him laugh like no one else. It is so fun to see them interact with each other. Anika and Celitn are the best big brother and big sister; I am so proud of how they are with him! The big kids have a few chores around the house including unloading the dishwasher-I guess Lochlan has decided that he should help too.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter! We dyed eggs for Family Home Evening and the kids had a blast. Last year I let the kids each dye a dozen eggs but we never ate them all. Since Adam eats 2 raw eggs each day this year I thought maybe we would dye some "not" hard boiled eggs. Although we made it through without breaking any of them it caused me way more stress so next year I will just hard boil them all. :) We enjoyed a fun day on Saturday with several friends from the ward. The kids rolled eggs, had an egg hunt and we all enjoyed some yummy food and good conversation.
.
We stayed out until 11:00 so I thought the kids would sleep in but that was not the case. They came in around 6:30 too excited to sleep anymore. They climbed in our bed and we tried to get them to go back to sleep but after 10 minutes we gave up. Lochlan found his basket of goodies on the couch and immediately wanted us to open a plastic egg...he knew he would find candy inside. Anika and Celtin had to follow clues in their eggs to find their hidden basket. I think they had a lot of fun but next year the clues will have to be a little harder because it seemed too easy for them.

We had stake conference and it was a very good meeting. The kids were well behaved and I actually heard a lot of what was said. The kids wore their new Easter clothes. Anika had a matching dress for her bunny and Celtin insisted on getting a white shirt and blue tie so he could match his dad. After church we had Ryan, Carli and Hayden over for a yummy Easter feast and games. Although it was a little chilly we went outside to play boccee ball and let the kids fly their miniature kites. It was a good day!

House Guest

We had a couple of house guests over spring break. The kids loved having them here! They were mostly quiet and not too messy so I didn't really mind them either. Cookie and Ginger normally live in Ms. Buchers 2nd grade classroom but get to stay with host families on long weekends. Anika was dying to look after them and since we thought Adam was going out of town for work over spring break I agreed. (His trip ended up getting cancelled and he took 4 days off to stay home with us instead YEAH!) Lochlan was fascinated and even learned to say Cookie. He would run to Anika's room several times a day to see them or feed them carrots.

They are cute but I have a hard time not thinking of mice especially when I see Ginger running around. She is only 6 months old so she is smaller and she is all brown and very active. I am glad it was only for a week! Anika took care of the water and food but I had to vacuum Anika's room daily because the kids would get them out several times and they inevitable brought some of the cage bedding with them. I also had to clean the cages halfway through the week. YUCK, but I guess it was worth it to see how much fun the kids had. :)

Goodbye Winter...Hello Spring?

The kids love the snow and spend all winter outside, well the days that are not completely frozen so maybe only 1/8 of the winter.

They bundle up as warm as they can with all their winter gear then they run around and play in the snow/ice until their cheeks are red and their noses frozen. This of course happens in a matter of 5- 10 minutes after which they come in only to start the cycle over the next hour.

It makes me miss winters in Utah where they could play outside for 30 minutes or more before they had to come in to warm up.

We have had some really nice days in the 60's. Oh how I have missed my dear friend the sun. Winters out here can be so long and grey. Occasionally when the wind dies down I can feel her warm kisses on my cheeks and it just makes me so happy! Lochlan loves going outside and has figured how to open the front door so we must keep the deadbolt locked. We walk down the street to the park or ride bikes and scooters. Lochlan loves riding in his stroller and playing with sidewalk chalk. I like the snow but I LOVE THE SUN.

Just when I have said goodbye to winter and packed away the snow clothes (knowing all too well that it will snow again) it snows again. This was the first day of spring break. The snow was extremely wet and the sun graciously came out later to begin the melting process. Not exactly how I pictured spending my spring break but we had a good time anyway. So here's hoping that Spring is really here to stay!