Saint Patrick's Day

David made a new friend on the bus and then discovered that his new friend was also a member of our ward! Turns out he lives on the next street over, and getting to his house will be very simple this summer. While at the ward's Pinewood Derby we learned that this same family, along with David's new friend, are students at the Irish Dance school I'm so very interested in! They invited us to go watch them perform at a nearby library, and thus began our Saint Patrick's Day celebrations!

 Andi, of course, loved the sparkly dresses. She kept asking if she could be one of them for Halloween and if I would make her one of those dresses (ha).

 Peter loved the dancing, too. He sat through the entire 30-minute performance and didn't get squirmy until the last five! He also decided he needed to go stomp his feet on the board they laid down for the hard shoes. It was pretty adorable.

 David's new buddy is the fuzzy boy on the front row. Turns out there is an entire class of six to seven year old BOYS at this school. David is pretty interested now. :)


Saint Patrick's Day itself was pretty low key. We wore green. I made a fun lunch for everyone. David's got packed up:

I made GF Smac n' cheese for dinner and boiled the noodles in green water. Kids loved it!

We read a little from Saint Patrick's Confessions and recapped his story before going to bed. We listened to a lot of pennywhistle and accordion music during the day and the kids hopped and skipped around the living room. I really like simple days like that. :)

Can Drive for Cub Scouts

David and I went out Saturday afternoon to pass out flyers for his can drive fundraiser. We walked down three streets and passed out 66 flyers! Took us three and half hours... David was very good and didn't whine, but cheerfully worked for most of the time we were outside. At the very end he slipped on some ice and hurt his foot. He said it hurt, but despite the pain he finished out the street while we waited for Jonathan to come pick us up.

We took one break about half-way through and stopped in at Kroger for a snack and treat. We both appreciated the warm store and getting out of the cold wind!

Today we drove around the streets again collecting the donated cans. After just one street we'd filled the car to capacity and had to stop at the bottle return place before we could pick up the other streets' donations.

 David was so enthralled with that machine! He thought it was pretty nifty how it scanned the cans and bottles and rolled them into a storage bin in the back. I guess for a boy heavy machinery is a pretty fascinating thing. :)

After getting almost $70 for those cans we headed off down the other streets.

Again we filled the car to capacity, but we weren't able to turn in those cans yet. We'll have to make a stop by WalMart tomorrow to deposit those, Jonathan needed the car to get to the church tonight.

I'm very proud of how hard David has worked on this fundraiser. He was very worried before starting that no one would take his flyers. I coached him to say, "Hello! I'm doing a can drive for Cub Scouts. May I leave this flyer with you?" He was afraid everyone would say no. In the end only one person we talked to said no, they didn't like Cub Scouts. Instead most doors we knocked on happily took a flyer, and a number of them said they'd have cans for us.

David asked me today why the one man said he didn't believe the Cub Scouts did good things. I told him that some people just disagree with the program and how it is run, but that's okay. People are allowed to think differently than us, it does not make them bad people. He thought about that for a bit, then said, "I like Cub Scouts. I think it does good things." And I agree. I also believe it has helped him a lot, too. Since being involved with the program, any work Cub Scout related has been met with enthusiasm and cheerfulness. He doesn't complain that it is a hard thing to pass out flyers, or to work on projects, or build his pinewood derby. His usual sullen attitude is markedly more pleasant when we are doing anything Scouts. I hope it sticks, because I firmly believe that Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts builds good men and good leaders. The best boss I had was a firm believer in the good Scouting can bring, and I'd place money on him learning some of his leadership skills through Scouts. (He also always had an emergency preparedness kit in his trunk, I wonder if he still has one there...)

Anyway, I'm excited to see the fruits of David's labors as we get the final tally's on our first weekend can-driving. We're going to go for one more weekend at the end of this month. I hear it is the opening day for baseball here soon... ;)

Sunday

Popcorn and Sunbeams don't mix. Makes a huge mess (though I should have expected that, it is a classroom of three-year-olds).

Despite the mess today, a couple of minor tantrums, and one HUGE diaper explosion (none of which involved my OWN three-year-old), I'm really loving my new calling to teach the three/four-year-olds. They are a delightful group of girls and one funny little boy. I think I would be quite happy to spend a long while there, they are very easy to please. :)

When we got home from church today David discovered that his mouse cage was cracked open. Max was missing. Crap. We hunted through his room but no mouse was found. After a desperate prayer (on my part) we actually SAW Max the Mischievous Mouse run under the dishwasher. At some point he moved to under the refrigerator. David spent the entire afternoon (about four hours) waiting to see if Max would come out. He never did. I'm almost convinced he's moved on and found another hiding place. And I'm not quite sure what to do besides more praying. Blah!

Spent some time in a Google Hangout with Baba and Gran this afternoon. Emma joined a little later. Peter played an adorable game of Peek-A-Boo (one of his favorite games) with them. And we played around with adding a bunch of people to the hangout...

Gotta love the goofballs in the corner:

:)

After discussing a big Michigan visit (YAY!!!) we said our good-byes. So hard being far away from family. So grateful for the technology that keeps us close!

After dinner we read a bunch of books: three Fancy Nancy books (Andi's favorite) and a chapter from a Magic Treehouse book (David's favorite). Kids went to bed and I had a folding marathon while watching Swiss Family Robinson.

Looking forward to another calm week. AND I get to pick up my new glasses this week, so I'll be seeing better soon! My night vision has really been suffering the last six months or so and got to the point that I was scared to drive at night, especially if it were snowing or raining. The dr remedied my near-sightedness (my astigmatism remained the same from my last Rx) so the night vision should be fixed! I also got sunglasses, something that has been recommended to me by several drs because my Rx is so heavy. Sunlight bends right through my lenses and burns my eyes. After the dr pointed out slight malformation of my right retina on a picture he took of my eyes (!!!! Never had THAT done before!!!) I determined a little less damage to my eyes would be a good thing: sunglasses were in order. (As a side note, the dr said the picture looked weird, but everything looked normal when he looked at my eyes himself, and he spent a LONG time on that right eye. He does not think I will be going completely blind anytime soon. So don't freak out, Mom.) All around excited to see clearly and distinctly again. Yay!

David's Pinewood Derby is this week. Wish him luck!

All About Andi

This week Andi had a very specific movie she wanted to watch. She called it "Beauty and the Rest".

Jonathan was stumped and never figured out what she wanted. Andi and I had the following exchange a couple days later:

"What movie do you want to watch, Andi?"

"Beauty and the Rest!"

......... "What?"

"Beauty and the REST!"

"Beauty and the Beast?"

"NO. Beauty AND THE rest."

A few minutes pass as I try various interpretations to no avail.

"So you want to watch Beauty and the Rest?" (I enunciated each part carefully...)

"Yes! Beauty and the Rest!"

....... "Sleeping Beauty?"

"Yes!"

"Ooooooooh! The Beauty that RESTS!! Geez."

And she happily watched her movie. Jonathan was glad I finally figured it out.

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We've completely switched to gluten free, and she has a special bracelet she wears during grocery shopping trips, church, and any time we think we might come in contact with people who might try feeding her. Though I'm not sure she needs the bracelet, every time someone hands her anything she asks one question:

"Hm... Is this gwooten?"

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Sometimes the gluten thing gets us in trouble. Like when we serve her "oatmayo" for breakfast and she says,

"This has gwooten, it make me sick."

"Um... no. It is gluten free, you can eat it."

"But I don' wike it, so it has gwooten in it."

-.- So if she doesn't like it she decides that it has gluten in it. Great.

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She picked out her Easter dress; a big puffy, 50's style dress with a collar. She wants gloves and a hat, too. Her favorite things are purses, nail polish, and pretty things. Sometimes I am included in those pretty things, especially if I wear a dress for the day. :)

Haircuts and Ham Chowder

Yeah, so I'm really just copying all of my Instagrams over to my blog, but whatever. Cheater post is still a post!

David is nearly finished with his Pinewood derby. He's working on the axels. Slow going when you've got school all day.

Andi has started chewing on her hair again so we decided it was time for another trim. I pulled up a bunch of pictures on Pinterest and she (surprisingly) chose a pixie cut! With BANGS. Do you know how long it took us to grow her dumb bangs out??!!?? TWO YEARS. We finally have them even with the rest of her hair and she wants bangs again.

Oh well. Good thing it is a cute cut.

I also cut David's hair today. He'd REALLY been needing a trim. It was my first real go at scissor cutting the top. I forgot to shape around his ears and the back of his neck, so I have some fixing I need to do in the morning, but other than that I think it turned out okay...

And here's another photo of Andi's cute pixie (a pixie that is more like a short bob than a pixie...). Cute!

(I promise she was happy, just the picture with a smile was fuzzy.)

We got a recipe from my mom for Ham chowder, we have it at least once a week. That can't be healthy, but it is one of the few things that everyone enjoys and will eat without complaint. It also whips together in 20 minutes, so that is a HUGE plus. So dinner tonight was Ham Chowder with extra veggies. Recipe:

Ham Chowder

1 clove garlic

1 onion chopped

1 cup sliced mushrooms (I used canned mushrooms tonight, I forgot to buy fresh)

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour (I use arrowroot powder to make it gluten free)

2 cups milk

One 13 3/4 oz can chicken broth (we like it with a full 32 oz better, not so overwhelmingly rich that way)

1 lb grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup cooked broccoli

1 cup cooked carrots

6 oz cooked smoked ham, cut into bite-size cubes

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup corn, frozen or canned

melt butter, cook garlic, onion, and mushroom. Add flour/arrowroot powder, slowly add broth and milk. Slowly add cheddar, stir until melted. Add remaining ingredients.

Ta-da! (my mom included that at the end of the recipe) :)

I steam the broccoli and carrots while preparing everything else. By the time the soup is ready they are done so I just throw them in and serve. Again, favorite soup. We add lots of extras of the veggies. Makes enough for the boys to take some to school/work, and for me and the littles to have some at home with a salad for lunch the next day. Yum!

....

Just replace the word "friend" with "blogger". We've had a lot going on and I've just lost track of time. 

We had the well water tested for my daycare. Came up positive for bacteria so we had to have a well guy come and chlorinate the system. We all wandered around smelling like we'd walked out of a public pool for a few days. That was crazy. Then we have been getting the last of the little things unpacked. I will be through with that someday!!!! I was also commissioned to sew the baptism dress for a friend's daughter. The design is lovely, but I definitely wanted to try out the pattern and my adjustments on the girl before cutting into her fabric. I spent the week tweaking a pattern and cutting into some cheap chiffon in preparation for yesterday's fitting. The dress was lovely, I see all of the adjustments I need to make, and I need to quickly learn how to line a dress with flutter sleeves.... Hm. Puzzles. Sewing has been slowed down by my stupid loose joints, I completely dislocated my shoulder on Wednesday. Usually it slips back in relatively quickly and is just painful for a day, but I was shoveling the driveway and hit ice. The shovel stopped, I did not. And my arm came right out and stayed out. It is an odd sensation to want to lift your arm but be completely unable to move anything. Hurt like the dickens. Had Jonathan help me reset it (trick is demonstrated here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WILDO5FIXbg) and spent the next three days sore. Must try not to let it come out completely again...

 Susan has had a profound effect on the family. Everyone, at least once during the day, settles down to cuddle with our kitten. And it has resulted in everyone being much calmer. All the time. I thought it was a fluke couple of days, but it has been consistent throughout this week. I love it.

 She's getting big so quickly. I think it is all of the napping she does. Peter is tolerating her much more and actually seeks her out to drag her into his lap. Poor thing, she's nearly had her neck wrung several times, but I intervene and help Peter pet her more gently. And the good girl never complains, she doesn't scratch or bite in anger. And she's generally pretty good about keeping the claws in while playing, though we must all be very careful when dangling string in front of her. And feet under the blankets are totally fair game.

 It was mid-winter break this week so David had Monday through Wednesday off. Wednesday we bundled up and went on a walk to enjoy the sunshine. We walked a wonderful little track around downtown. We stopped in at the central park and played on the swings and checked out the skating rink. The kids are super excited about going back and skating this next week.

 A couple weeks ago there was a winter celebration downtown and they had ice sculptures still up.

We took a quick picture in front of this ice dragon. Seconds after we walked away the head and half the neck fell to the ground right where Peter's stroller had been. A couple behind us flipped out after having watched us take the picture then move on, and then the head fell. Everyone was really glad that head hadn't fallen seconds earlier onto my 16-month-old baby.

 Thursday night I left the littles with Jonathan and took David to Cub Scouts. They passed out awards and he got to add some nice bling to his uniform: 10 belt loops, his Tiger track and 9 beads, and the Outdoor Activity Award. He's six activities away from Tiger, and he's got several other belt loops to add to that belt.

 He was also asked to fold the flag that night. He was so honored and was pleased as punch.

After that we went and got his Pinewood Derby cut at a friend's house. David and I got onto Pinterest Monday and scouted (bahahaha) out a design he liked.

We also went and picked out paint and supplies for his car. He picked it all himself. I was not sure at all how it would turn out, but he liked it.

 He got to work on his car on Friday when school canceled due to inclement weather. He worked really hard all day and diligently sanded and painted his car.

Today we added a clear coat sealer. Next we'll work on the axels and add some stickers and we've still got to figure out the weights.

David is so excited for this Pinewood Derby. I didn't realize what a big deal this race is until we went over all of the rules on Thursday. The council sent out a rule note at the last round table for everyone to pass out to their cubs! It is CrAzY how intense this race is! I am just hoping David's car doesn't come in last. He's put so much work into the car, he'd be so disappointed if he didn't do well. I guess we will see...

Had a Primary training tonight. A sister who works at LDS Family Services came and talked about working with challenging kids in our classrooms. She was amazing and a wealth of information! I walked in keeping my Primary class in mind and walked out knowing how to help Andi more. I talked to the sister afterwards to find out when their parenting classes are scheduled, but she suggested a few other resources. She said that Andi may have great speech now, but language is a whole other ballgame and we might want to look into more language/behavioral therapy through the school district. Hadn't even thought of that! She also recommended a few books so I've got a good reading list to get started on. And I'm so grateful for the tips she gave tonight, I think they will be so helpful. Church today was very hard for poor Andi, and in replaying the meltdown in my mind, especially with all of this new information, I can see exactly where I made some big mistakes AND where I handled some things very well. I'm being transferred from CTR 4 to Sunbeams, so I'll be with Andi, I think that will help. But still, a lot of the information was incredibly helpful and I'm so grateful for inspired leaders and their wisdom.

The biggest thing I walked away with from the training tonight was a realization that I represent God to my children, and how they come to know me is how they will see their Heavenly Father. The question was asked "How do children know Heavenly Father loves them?" and I had this quick revelation, and I felt the question "So how does your example reflect Heavenly Father's character?" If I am overly critical and quick to react negatively and always too busy for them they will see Heavenly Father as a critical and negative person who has no time to spend on them. That is not at all who He is, so I am even more determined to be an accurate representation of who He is to my children. I'm not sure why all of this hit me so hard, but it was a big moment for me.

So this week will be a bit more sane than last. We'll have the well tested again, I'll be sewing the real baptism dress, and I'm going to get these last few boxes taken care of. I MUST!! It is starting to drive me crazy. I'm hoping we only have to wait a few more weeks before my licensing can go through and I can have the daycare up and running, so I'd better get the last of the boxes unpacked and have everything put away or I'm not going to have any more time. So a good busy this week, with lots of great goals. I'm looking forward to the challenge. :)

Valentine's Day

We didn't do anything very special this year. Opted out of the candy and got the kids each a new, red shirt. David cried for joy when he saw his (a Super Mario shirt). I figured David would come home with a ton of candy (which he did) so sugar was the last thing we needed to give to the kids for Valentine's Day.

We sent David off with a wrist corsage for his teacher and several shooting discs that he handed out as his Valentine. Yes, I am one of those terrible parents that doesn't hand out candy. Just call me a snob, I really don't care.

David designed this monster box for his Valentine mailbox. Pretty hysterical if you ask me...

He was quite proud of it and has it displayed in his room now. It will probably stay there until next Valentine's Day.

Jonathan got me a card and a Dr Pepper. Earlier this week he brought home the best gift ever:

Meet Susan. She's adorably cuddly and cute and tiny. We keep mistaking her for a random sock on the floor and almost stepping on her. But she has been the best little pick-me-up for me. Snow and the move and a million stressful things have made my depression battle really tough lately. After my doctor jokingly said I needed a dog  I really started looking into them (apparently they are almost better than meds for people battling depression). However I quickly came to the determination that I am just not ready for a dog. I'd really like a jogging buddy, and that takes a lot of training and work and time, time that I just don't have right now. So I'm getting ready for a good dog by doing a lot of reading and researching. But in the meantime, we found this little gal. She's been the perfect ball of fluffy-happy for everyone. And to make things just awesome, she's totally litter-box trained and doesn't scratch at the furniture. Less work and lots of cuddles for me. It has been comforting. Andi has even been way more calm with her around. We'll see how long that lasts, but for now it is greatly appreciated. Peter, however, is tolerant of her. He will pet her, enjoys watching her play, will follow her around... But the second she tries to climb into his lap he flips! It is rather comical, but the poor chap just doesn't like these little stuffed animals that move. :)

Nothing else to report. There is lots of snow on the ground. I can't wait for summer. And a garden! And the warm weather. And jogging on something other than ice.... I feel a bit like Olaf...

PS - Andi has been Frostbitten - she ADORES Frozen. She wants to be Elsa (why? I don't know, Anna is the one that saves the day). We can't go a day without watching the movie. Her birthday is in May, if you want to be her best friend anything Frozen will make her happy.