Ice Skating

After reading my post from earlier today, Rachel pointed out that I did have something to blog about: we went ice skating last Wednesday.

Stan kept the two youngest off the ice, took pictures and put change in the vending machines to keep them happy while the five older girls and I skated.

Ice skating makes me feel like a kid again!

Pictures of the Kids

I have no idea what to blog about. My muse is absent this week, but here are some pictures of the kids.

I was scanning a bunch of photos of the young women in our ward for an activity this coming Mutual and during the wait times I either tortured or thrilled my children (depending on their age and attitude) with the camera.

Naomi was thrilled. She jumped up and down so much while I was trying to take her picture that most of my efforts resulted in either her bangs or her chin, but here is one where I caught her whole face.

Michael peering intently at some crusty brown thing he found in the yard.

Kelly found some bugs in a lily.

Gwen's hair was a little messy after wrestling with Heather on the living room rug.

Heather helping Naomi get out of her church clothes and into a play dress.

Rachel's hair is getting long.

Summer was playing the piano in a dim living room between me and the window. I think she has a lovely profile.

Farm!

For the last half of our Spring Break week, Summer and Rachel went to Youth Conference. They had a wonderful time staying up late, trimming bushes, socializing, weeding, speed dating, scraping calcium deposits off gravestones, ice skating, and dancing.

Summer was a "big sister" this year and, along with the "big brother" in their family, gave devotionals every morning and family home evening lessons every night.

One of the boys (...removed by teenage censors).

There is a farm on the Orange County Fairgrounds that had free admission this past weekend, so I thought it would be a perfect time, while my two girls who think they are too big for that kind of stuff were busy somewhere else, to take the five younger kids. We had a wonderful time!

The petting zoo was where we started and we had to visit again on the way out. It was all the kids' favorite part of the day.

This baby goat was still bottle fed.


That is a pig Kelly is petting.

They didn't have anything for the kids to feed the animals, but that didn't stop Gwen from trying. She started with her finger...

...and then the goat found her hair!




This was my view most of the day: five adorable kids looking over (or through) a fence.

Sometimes, I walked around to the other side of the pen to get a front view of an adorable kid looking over a fence.


These piglets went from taking a nap to eating in two seconds flat once they heard milk being poured in their dish
.
We watched the calves being bottle fed.

These two were trying to get the milk off each others' noses after they finished their lunch!

There was a big plastic cow to practice milking on.

Michael was really excited about throwing a hatchet.

He also found a mentor at the clay table.

Kelly made a covered wagon with horse and rider.

Michael made a cup, with help from his new friend.

Naomi made a table, all by herself.

Have you ever seen a banana flower before?

These sweet peas are for my mom :)

This looked like one pampered chicken to me!

Isn't this checkerboard bunny nifty?

If you want to see more farm animals, here they are - happy viewing!

Wow.

My necklace is being bragged about on


today.

What a compliment! Thanks Karen :)

Happy Birthday Heather

Heather is twelve...and wise enough to request having one candle in a candle holder, instead of twelve in her cake, which may not have worked well in still warm cheesecake.

Naomi liked watching her open her presents.

Stan gave her the coolest gift: an antler he found while he was working in the Sierras last week. Heather tried it on Kelly.

Here she is, lovely even when her mother gets a little crazy and turns her lilac. She is such a kind, thoughtful daughter. We feel so blessed to have her in our family :)

Happy Birthday Heather!!!

Spring Break

The kids have off school this week. We spent at least 45 minutes, if not an hour, Sunday night scheduling each of the next five days. Yesterday, Rachel packed a picnic lunch and we took off. First we went shopping for fabric for Easter skirts and an Easter tie. Better late than never, I guess. Then we took off for the hike we had planned. Unfortunately, the rain got worse, not better. We ate our sandwiches in the dollar store while strolling the aisles. Then, we went to the movie theater and ate our crackers and apples while we watched The Spy Next Door. Today, the day we planned on staying home all day, the weather is lovely.

I am putting together work samples and blogging and helping Rachel sew her skirt. Summer is babysitting. The highlight of the other kids' day seems to have been watching the piano tuner!

Jewelry

I like making jewelry and painting my toenails and baking cakes. Little bits of creativity smashed into my schedule help me keep my sanity.

I made this necklace and bracelet during Kelly's Spanish class.

Summer and Heather gave me a package of Shrinky Dinks for inkjet printers for my birthday. I had fun finding images and making little thingamabobs out of them. I think this one is my favorite. Thanks to the Graphics Fairy for all the lovely clip art she makes available. Summer introduced me to her blog. It is wonderful and addictive!

Weird Momma

The other day, my sister Sara overheard a snatch of conversation while we were on the phone and asked me if my daughter thought I was weird.

I told her ALL my daughters think I am weird.

I recounted the conversation at dinner that night and Heather was horrified. "I don't think you are weird!", she said.

I decided a poll was in order. Here is what each child said when asked if they thought I was weird.

Naomi - No.

Michael - No! (I knew he'd say that.)

Kelly - No.

Gwen - Nope.

Heather - see above

Rachel - Uhhh, yea.

Summer - Yes! But mostly in a good way.

p.s. Summer did my hair in this last picture ;)

Yesterday's post...

...was an April Fool's Day joke. Could you tell?

We also had April Fool's Day food last night.


"Cupcakes" that were really meatloaf with mashed potato frosting

"Meatloaf" made from knock off Cocoa Krispies and fruit leather

My Brilliant Idea

A while ago, I bought this nifty sprinkles container. It has 6 sections, each with a different color of jimmies.

Each section has it's own lid so that you can use one at a time without mixing the colors.

It was kind of pricey for colored sugar, but when you have little kids around, sometimes it is fun to have stuff like this in the kitchen AND I used my Michael's 40% off coupon.

Anyway, we have had fun with them while they lasted, but each color was only enough for one small batch of cookies or cupcakes, so they went fast. As you can see, we only have blue and orange left.

I didn't really want to keep buying sprinkles at that price, so when I saw this big container for much less money, I snatched it up.


I told Kelly and Michael that we could eat lunch after they were done sorting all the sprinkles into individual colors and putting them into my six section container.

I think they might try to get Mo to help.

While they are busy, I am going to go start dinner. We are having the missionaries over.

Oh, to have the energy of a three year old.

This morning, Naomi asked Kelly if she wanted to watch her "running show."

Then, I asked if I could film her.

She said, "Yes."