March 2011

This month has been pretty much a do what needs to be done kind of month. We had the inspection on our finished sheet rock, giving us the go-ahead to finish our bathroom. We went to the cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet and enjoyed the many cakes that were decorated. I'm finding joy and excitement as the boys complete their achievements. It's still a super hard calling but it's getting better. Ben's our next boy to come in and then I get about 2 more each month this year! We'll have to figure something out to divided them up. I can't do much more than the 9 I have right now! But, I'm so grateful to have 2 capable assistants.

We enjoyed the school's book fair family night. We had dinner there of pizza from Papa Murphy's and took pictures with the Cat in the Hat. The kids each got a book and we did a few crafts. Joshua had a bumpy day. Sarah accidentally got him on the top of his head with a hoe. He came in crying with blood dripping down his forehead. I think he was most upset when I washed his head with cold water, though. It was only a little cut and didn't continue to bleed at all. Then at the book fair, he was running up and down a ramp. When Sarah joined him he ended up tripping and skinned his forehead. The next day he did something outside and has a little cut under his eye. I always knew he'd be our crazy accident kid.

Last Saturday was such a nice spring day -not like yesterday or today with the wind blowing so chilly! We (Kannon, because he's good like that) decided to go to the park for a picnic. We rode our bikes over and enjoyed an hour at the park.

Ben made our sandwiches and they were yummy. We got pretty bothered by a bee that wanted our food. I even thought it was stinging me in my pants at one point, but it wasn't and I never did figure out what was poking me.



We played on all the equipment and tossed the Frisbee around a bit, too.

On Saint Patrick's Day, Ben and I looked at each other and said, "oh, it's St. Patrick's Day" and went back to our rooms to put on some green. To my amazement I didn't have any green. If you asked me for my favorite color I'd tell you green. So, it surprises me that I don't have any clothes that color. (I did remember a shirt that has some green on it - it was tucked in the back of the closet so I missed it. I wore it the next day instead.)

Here's Ben sporting the socks I bought him. He also tucked a sticker on his shirt so he wouldn't get pinched. I told him I thought that when I was a kid, if you were wearing green and someone pinched you anyway you got to do something back. We always had to be careful with my dad who tried to be sneaky about it. What was the "something?" Extra pinches? A punch in the arm? I can't remember!

Now, Sarah wore green like only a little girl can get a way with! She wanted pony tales AND a bow on the top. So, this is what we came up with.

I made her skirt the day before. I really like the choice of ribbon, kind of like a rainbow. Speaking of rainbows, I wish I'd had my camera available earlier in the week. We put a rainbow across the top of her head with little pony holders. She kept it in for 3 days. It was so cute, hopefully she'll let me do it again.

And Joshua. He wore this adorable shirt I picked up at Target a month ago. "Totally Charming" with the Lucky Charm guy on it. (and you can see his owie on his forehead)

So the only thing I found of my own that was green was a bracelet. Not even my favorite crayola color green. It was that bright lime green color. About halfway through the day I spotted a piece of fabric I'd cut off of Sarah's skirt and tied that on my wrist, too. At least I didn't get pinched!

We spent a good few days researching, planning and building a Leprechaun trap. This was a school family assignment. And we all pitched in. It was fun to do together. I didn't get a picture of it until he brought it home from school. In the wind coming home some of it blew away. Then Joshua attacked it, but you can get the idea.

The top here is missing the slide. We built a slide out of pipe insulation by cutting it in half and using toothpicks to make a ladder. So the Leprechaun would climb up the ladder and slide down, then follow the glittery path to the gold. But just before he reaches the gold the "ground" would slip out beneath him. We cut a square out of the box top and stuck it on with toothpicks so that it would flip over when stepped on, dropping the Leprechaun into the big box.

When Ben first got started he had a bunch of toothpicks poking up for the Leprechaun to land on. I had to remind him a few times that if he kills the Leprechaun he won't be able to get his gold! So we settled for this.

The Leprechaun lands in the bowl and can't get away because of all the toothpicks! We had a good time doing this, but didn't catch a Leprechaun. Maybe next year!