Project 365: #10

Week Number 10?!  Yahoo!!!

Day 66:

Gracie took a box from a shelf we got for Leah's closet and made it into a little bed.  Nighty-night!


Day 67:

Daddy and Daughter got new shoes!


Day 68:

That time we hung out with friends we don't get to see very often!


Day 69:

More playing when we took very accurate, well understood walk ;)


Day 70:

Doing some fancy hair-dos!  The girls have recently started "styling" each other's hair, and I love it!  It's such a quintessentially little girl thing to do!


Day 71:

Mmmmmm...iced coffee!  Sometimes I forget about it, and I'm so glad when I remember!  This is how I make mine.  I do a half batch, though!


Day 72:

Putting our game face on!  Mario Kart is serious business!


Have an awesome weekend!  We don't have any big plans and will probably go to the library.  I know...riveting stuff!  Spring break is next week, too!

The Ins and Outs of a Walk...

Simple things can become a bit of a...production...around our house.

Take, for example, the lovely family walk we took on Monday.  The weather was gorgeous!

Leah:  Mom, what are we doing after supper?

I'll admit, I inwardly sighed because I knew there was going to be a barrage of questions.

Me:  We are going for a walk!  It's so nice outside!

Leah:  Can I ride my bike?

Me:  No, we are going for a walk.  All together.  As a family.

Leah:  I really like riding my bike with Dad, though.

Me:  Yep.  And you can totally do that another time.  

Gracie overhears and has some questions of her own!

Gracie:  Mommy, can we walk to the gas station?!

She says "gas station" in a fun, excited voice :)

Me:  Sorry, honey, but there's still snow on the ground and it's really wet.  We have to cut through a field to get to the gas station, so we have to wait until the snow is gone.

Gracie:  I like to go to the gas station so I can get fish.

By "fish," she means Swedish Fish, not the healthy fish you get out of bodies of water that have healthy omega 3 fatty acids...she likes the high fructose corn syrup variety.

Me:  Yep.  We can get those another time, but we're just going to go for a walk.

Maggie naturally needs some clarification.

Maggie:  Where are we going to walk then?

Being incredibly concrete as many children are, my girls have to have some sort of destination/purpose when going on a walk.  They can't handle the thought of walking just to, you know, enjoy the day.  

Me:  We are going to walk to the corner right after our friend's house and then turn around and walk back.  We might even cross the street and walk back on the other side of the road.

Maggie:  Which one is our friend's house?

Me:  It's the big white one right past your school.

Maggie:  My school!?!?!  Can we play on the playground?  

Me:  Not this time.  It's really wet, and I don't think we want to go for a walk in snow pants and boots when it's so nice out.  We can do that another time, though!

Leah:  Do we have to wear coats?

Me:  Yes.  It's nice out, but not that nice out.

Maggie:  Do I have to walk on the sidewalk?

Me:  When there is a sidewalk, you have to walk on it.

Gracie:  Why do I have to walk on a sidewalk?

Our street (and the few leading up to it) don't have sidewalks, and we live on a really quiet dead end.  The whole sidewalk and traffic thing are concepts the girls (especially Gracie) just cannot grasp.

On another note, I feel like the girls would make great investigative journalists...

Me:  I want you to be safe, and the street that Maggie's school on is pretty busy.  You need to stay on the sidewalk and hold hands when you cross the street.

Gracie:  I like to hold hands.

Whew!

We ate dinner, and when we were done, Aaron gathered the girls around and gave them a recap of all of the questions I answered so they knew what to expect.  He's a lot better at remembering to do that than I am :)

Anyway, we had a great walk!  

Let me rephrase that...Aaron and I had a great walk, while the girls thoroughly enjoyed what could only be considered interval training.

They ran to a certain landmark (like a fire hydrant, speed limit sign, corner, etc.) and would stop and wait for us to catch up.  Then they'd run to the next landmark!

Gracie would stop occasionally and do this...

...with her hand.  I don't know what that was all about, but it was seriously adorable!

Speaking of seriously adorable:

When we got back into our little neighborhood, we saw our friends taking a walk and talked with them for awhile!

The girls were playing in the little river...aka freshly melted snow!

Leah even made a little boat

and let it set sail in the open waters!

Naturally, the girls ran all the way home, and slept reeeeeeeally well that night!

Oh, they even stepped in some really sticky mud and nobody cried!  Yahooooooo!!!

Do you have any questions for me about going for a walk?  I'm quite good at answering them :)

A Fun Little Day Trip...

We had a happy, successful day trip!

Like I mentioned on Friday, we headed a couple hours away to watch The Sound of Music at the high school our friend, Allison, works at!

I packed lunches for us so we could leave right after church.  The girls did a great job eating in the van...no drama!

Even though Gracie didn't care to have her picture taken.

It's like she's a celebrity, and I'm the paparazzi :)

As a happy little bonus, we saw a fleet of Amish people!

And by "a fleet," I mean several horse and buggy combos along the road.

We even made it to the play a little bit early!

The theater looked a lot like the one at my high school which you can see in this picture taken by one Maggie Joy :)

I was really surprised the girls didn't sing along, although Gracie did dance along in a non-obnoxious way.

Silly little ladies during intermission...

We had such a fun time at the show!  The high schoolers did a great job, and the girls liked seeing kids on stage.

Apparently the boy who was supposed to play Frederick had bad grades, so he was replaced by a junior high girl.  This was especially funny, though, because there's a Frederick line where he/she says, "I'm Frederick and I'm a boy."

:)

We went out for pizza at Rocky Rococos!  We ate at those a lot when I was growing up, so it was very nostalgic for me :)

Although they didn't have the cool cut out thing when I was little...

...nor did they have this fancy, space aged soda machine!

It may have taken the girls quite a bit of time to make a beverage selection.

We enjoyed delicious pizza and the company of great friends!

And that's the perfect way to end a weekend...

Things I Like

I've found lots of great thing on the mighty internet that I think would be of interest to you!

I'm NOT saving the best for last, though!  I'm busting the best one out first!

A Sense of the Resurrection!

This is by the same creative genius who wrote Truth in the Tinsel, which we did for advent a couple of years ago!  

I like that A Sense of the Resurrection (<--affiliate link) is truly interactive...using all of your senses (hence the title :)).  The book includes 12 activities, so you can really do them any time between now and Easter.  I think we'll do a bunch of them over spring break.  

The e-book is really well organized, so you see all of the supplies you need all in one place.  I also like that they are easily customize-able.  For example, the first day recommends using liquid potpourri in jars around your house, but we'll be doing scented candles instead.  There's a lot of freedom to make things easier for you and your family!

Check it out!  


On an unspiritual, but highly entertaining note, watch this awesome video of Pentatonix singing on Sesame Street!  I think acapella musicians are brilliant!

We read this book to the girls and they loved it!

The cover is really uninspiring for little girls, so they didn't want to check it out at the library...plus it's over 300 pages long.  But, Aaron's teacher read it to him when he was in elementary school, and he loved it!  Basically, it's a bunch of court cases that you, the jury, need to decide.  There are 3 pictures of evidence that help you find out the truth.  Each case is only about 5 pages or so long.  

It was fun to hear the girls' reasons for who they thought was guilty or innocent and why.  We though it was fun, but I think it was also good for their observation, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.


Here's some awesome scripture:

He tends His flock like a shepherd:  He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young. 

Isaiah 40:11

I love hearing about God's care for us...and this sounds to me an awful lot like God's caring for mommies of little ones <3

The former camp counselor in me totally enjoyed these 63 Signs You Were a Camp Counselor!


When I meal plan, I rarely plan side dishes and end up scrambling at meal time.  Enter one of my favorite food bloggers.  She created this brilliant side dish planner.  I'm going to be using this a lot!

And last but not least, you know what I like?  A clean fridge!  

Aaron cleaned out the fridge (wiped everything off!!!) while I was napping on Saturday!  I seriously married well.  I also feel like I'm a better cook when the fridge is really clean :)


What are you up to today?  Gracie and I are going grocery shopping.  I'm going to over organize my list and find side dishes to go with everything!

Enjoy your day!

Project 365: #9

Another week of everyday fun!

Day 59:

I really needed to switch out Maggie's clothes from 4T to 5T, but our basement is fa-reeezing cold!  We decided just to wear hats down there and sort clothes.  I'm happy to report that there aren't any more miscellaneous bags and baskets of clothes downstairs!  Gracie's nose did turn pink because it was so chilly!  We should have had some hot chocolate when we were done :)

Day 60:

We took the girls out for Mexican food.  They devoured the hot dogs they ordered and the chips and salsa :)  I love Maggie's silliness in this picture.

Day 61:

Brush teeth time!

Day 62:

Check out that awesome beard!  

Day 63:

Gracie has this cute toy puppy.  When you press on its back, it barks.  However, there is some sort of short in the system so it starts randomly barking.  Yes, even in the middle of the night!  So, just like we would with a real dog, we let it out at night so it doesn't wake us up with its barking :)  The girls think it is quite hilarious!

Day 64: 

Leah is enjoying her new room!  More about that later...

Day 65:

We got a new kind of toothpaste, and because their mom is somewhat of a foodie, the girls all agreed that it "tastes bad at the end."  So, Gracie and I went to get the old standby...Jake and then Neverland Pirates Crest Berry Flavored.  Whew! 

Have a great weekend!  We are taking the girls to see a play of The Sound of Music on Sunday!  Our friend, Allison, is a high school math teacher, and she is playing in the pit of her high school's production.  The girls don't know yet, but they're going to love it!

Sparkling Strawberry Limeade

If Leah had a "usual" at a coffee shop, it would be a strawberry lime cremosa!

So, I thought it would be good to have some strawberry limeade for her party!

It was pretty easy!

You need...

That's a 1 pound bag of frozen strawberries, 1 can of limeade concentrate, and 1 liter or strawberry fizzy water.


and these kitchen tools...

that would be a blender and fine mesh strainer.


First, make the limeade according to the package directions.  

Then, pour about half of the limeade into the blender and plop in about half of the strawberries (I let them thaw in the fridge a bit before using).

Then, blend until the strawberries are all broken up.

Now, put the fine mesh strainer over a pitcher and pour some of the blended limeade into the strainer.

You'll need to run a wooden spoon along the bottom of the strainer to move the strawberry bits around so the liquid can get through.

Every so often you'll have to rinse out the strainer so that you can strain more drink :)

Repeat that whole process again so that you've used all your limeade and strawberries.


Then, you'll have all of the strained goodness in a pitcher!

Then, pour in your fizzy water!

Doesn't that look lovely!

You can always customize this to your liking!  When you make the limeade, you don't have to add as much water as it calls for if you want it limey-er.  You can add more strawberries if you want it strawberry-er!  

The next time I make this, I think I'll squeeze in some fresh lime juice...and garnish it with a slice of lime and a strawberry!

Because then it wouldn't be just delicious, it would be cute, too!

You can't go wrong with a cute and fun drink :) 

Leah's Birthday Recap!

Leah has been 8 for 2 whole weeks now, and we all think that 8 is great!

We celebrated with all the grandparents and Auntie Mindy on the 15th!

Leah chose the cake for her birthday!

It was actually a gluten free cake...so delicious!

Secret Ingredient:  Quinoa!

I over-beat the frosting and it "broke," so I quickly made a chocolate butter cream.  The text is white chocolate.  I "wrote" on a plastic wrap covered cookie sheet and popped it in the fridge.  I arranged the words after it was set.

Leah had fun wearing a present while opening others...

and her sisters were quite an attentive audience!

We had pizza for supper.  I made a half cheese/half hawaiian pizza, a pepperoni pizza, and a half canadian bacon, sugared bacon, pepperoni/half fancy pizza.  The "fancy" pizza had sugared bacon, fried jalapeno, caramelized onions, and craisins.  I didn't tell anyone about the craisins until they ate it and it was delicious! 

I made up a fun strawberry limeade (recipe tomorrow) and we also had stawberries (Leah's favorite) and salad. 

I love this 8 year old!

The 5 of us celebrated Leah's birthday on her actual day of birth :)

She got to open her presents right away in the morning.

Leah was supposed to have school on her birthday, but it was cancelled due to cold or ice or snow or some such thing.  

That was a nice happy birthday from the school district!

Please enjoy this brief sequence of photos:

Gracie was having a hard time getting into the someone-else's-birthday-spirit of things.

Gracie then made Leah's stuffed animal chinchilla pretend to pee on her (Leah...the birthday girl :)) in self defense*.

Aaron gently reminded Gracie that it's not polite to make a chinchilla pee on someone any time...especially not on that person's birthday.

So, there was that (seriously hilarious).

Maggie was happy to watch Leah open her presents and didn't make any stuffed animals do anything inappropriate.  

Lovelies...

Leah really wanted a fleece with thumb holes, and I found one!

She was SO excited and has been wearing it pretty much nonstop.  I feel like I should notify her teacher that Leah is indeed wearing different clothing every day underneath her fleece!

This is quite a resilient fleece, too!  She got sharpie and ketchup on it on Saturday.  I actually got the sharpie out (hand sanitizer for the win!) and the ketchup came out in the wash.  Leah was wearing it on Sunday while cracking eggs for french toast and then dropped an egg and it cracked, getting egg all over her fleece!  So, it's in the wash again, and I think Leah is going through withdrawal.

Aaaanyway, Leah requested hot dogs, cheetoes, strawberries, and cupcakes for her birthday meal.

 

Easiest birthday meal ever!

We had a great time celebrating an ever greater girl <3

In case you missed it, here's Leah's birthday letter!

*Leah did a report/presentation on chinchillas for school (I'll blog about it eventually) which is why we all know about the whole peeing in self defense thing :)  That fact was a huge hit for the second graders, especially seeing as I wasn't about to research and/or have Leah explain how you can tell a male from a female...which is apparently the question each presenter is asked.  Yikes!  ;)