1st Grade Music Program

Tonight was the first grade music program. Aidan had such a fun time performing, and enjoyed the celebratory cake we had upon arriving home. (sometimes you've got to make an event of these things!) Great job Aidan!

Snore in the Drawer

Sleeping beauty is still up to her games. . .

She's getting more creative with location!

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz. . .

that's my boy!

Trout for lunch, shared with dad.

He loves it!

I predict there will be more fish in our future with this boy. He loved it even though Aidan was making gagging noises from across the room and screaming "I'm NOT eating that FISH!!!" But he's going to have to learn to clean his own! And I'm going to have to learn to like fish. I'm such a fish weenie. I literally couldn't even finish my favorite delicious left over pizza today. Something about the smell (which incidentally was unoffensive) and the memory of watching its guts come out. Oh well, maybe over time.

Because I know Gordon wants you to know: Gordon loves me even though I am a fish weenie. I appreciate this about him. But he would like everyone from Alaska to know that I grew up in LA, so I'm not a complete loser, I'm just not used to fish guts. Also, when my little brother wanted to fish at family camp once, my dad made my mom take him. So as you can see, I come from a long line of fish weenies. Also, I would like to point out that there are fish weenie's that come from Alaska. My sister in law Keren is one of them. And just having her around saves me from feeling like a complete loser when the shrimp starts frying and everyone's drooling over salmon on the barbecue. . . I love you, Keren. And thanks for loving me anyway, honey!

the Fishing Derby

When I heard about the area wide fishing derby for cub scouts, and saw how many awards we could wrap up by going, I knew we had to do it! Gordon was tied up for the morning with the big scouts, so I nominated myself to take the big boys fishing.

We showed up right as they opened at 9 a.m. and were the first two kids there! Right as we got there, it was explained to us that the pond was well stocked, and we could expect to catch as many fish as we liked. Then, we just needed to take them up to be weighed, pay for them, gut them, and all the gooey nasty stuff. My stomach turned slightly. Humm. "Is there a catch and release option?" "No, this is a private pond, and it's privately stocked, so you have to weigh everything you catch. No releasing because it's not good for the fish."

Oh boy.

I'm going to get to gut a fish today.

As many fish as we care to catch.

Maybe this wasn't my best plan ever for earning the world conservation award. Isn't there a gardening option?

But, the boys are excited, and get their poles and we head down to the pond. Just as we get there, a very enthusiastic 14 year old scout approached me and asked if I had bait. "Nope, not yet!" So he heads up the hill and gets us some beautiful night crawlers. "Just pull their heads off and use a piece of them. Stick it on the hook and you're good to go! You can use the rest later."

Stomach turning more. Bad idea for the day. Kill worms, kill fish. . .

"Would you like to help me with that?" "Well sure!" (insert HUGE sign of relief!) And so Josh the scout became my best friend. What's that Aidan? Your bait fell off and you need another wiggly worm? Go talk to Josh. What's that Ethan? You think your worm fell off too? "Oh Josh!!!? We need you over here!"

And then. . . Aidan caught the first fish of the day. (the first fish of the fishing derby!!!) Unfortunately this fish was only 3 inches long. I felt SO sorry for it while Josh very nicely came over and removed the hook from where it was sticking out of it's eye. The poor little thing. Josh bashed it over the head for me went to hand it up to me, then saw my face and mercifully wrapped it in a towel before handing it off.

Aidan starts to cry.

I think I'm going to puke.

But guess whose loving it. . . ETHAN! At least one of us is into this! So, Aidan decides no more murdering fish babies for him, he's just going to run around and get dirty, which is fine by me. Less fish guts. And then Ethan gets a bite! He was SO excited! And even more excited when it was a big one! He was so thrilled as we scooped it up in the net and was just giggling with delight and I knew the fish guts were going to be worth it.

Josh my hero removed the hook for me (bless your soul josh) and we announced that we were done fishing. "just head up the hill and . . . " Oh, don't say it! Josh sees that I am not up to this, and offers to be my fish gut savior. So, with a happy heart we all head up the hill where Aidan balls his eyes out as his baby fish is gutted, it is decided that there isn't enough meat on the poor thing to even take a bite, and to top it all off, she's pregnant. The whole thing goes in the gut bucket on my direction and best friend Josh says, "good decision." I feel like a murderer.

Then Josh thoroughly enjoys more fish bashing over the head, big fish is all cleaned up for us and Ethan proudly totes it back down the hill in a black bag. I ask him if he's excited to eat Mr. Rainbow Trout and he says "yes! I want to try it!" so I stop scheming to give it to one of the parents who actually looks like they do this once in a while and enjoy fish.

Trout for dinner tonight.

Fishing Belt loop, patch segment, and world conservation awards earned.

One happy kid. . .

Anyone know how to cook up a trout?

Tulip Time Take Two!

Sometimes, we just can't get enough of these beautiful blooms. . .

So we have to load up the tractor and haul another load down to Woodburn.

The drive was a pleasant one!

There is just nothing like a blue sky day with happy little people down in Woodburn!

Sleeping Beauty

Over the last couple of days Emilee has come up with a new game, pretending to be asleep. She is so funny. She did it twice today, once in the car, and then after her nap I found her here at the bottom of the stairs, so sweetly playing by herself. When I approached, the smile started to form. . . and then she got a little grumpy with me because she knew I knew she was awake. So, I played along of course and did a stage whisper of "OH, she's asleep! I'll just tip toe by!"

and she quickly went back to her peaceful slumber.

Oh, such a life of leisure, to be able to take a fake nap at any hour of the day.

Sleep well, beauty!

Every once in a while. . .

. . . there are some amazing perks to living in a wet place.

Just today I was cursing this spring rain, wishing for sunshine. And then, we had a little sunshine and rain together, and it was a pretty nice sunset. This was the biggest and brightest rainbow I have ever seen, right out my back window.

Tulip Time!

Somehow I convinced Gordon on Saturday that we should go down to Woodburn, OR for the annual tulip festival. It wasn't too cold and not raining, so it seemed like a good field trip! The boys were very excited to get out of the car when we got there and dive into this field of very tall grass. They pretended to swim through it for a while.

And then we went to the tulip fields. It was extremely crowded, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

And, I still have a couple of children who will stand still and smile for me. How nice!

In case you are wondering, without doing all the normal bribing, threatening, and such, this is as good as it gets for a portrait of my four children together.

Happy Tulip Time!

Pine Wood Derby

Last night Ethan participated in what will be the first of 9 pine wood derby's that we will do in the next 7 years. It was great! I don't know who was more excited and nervous, Dad, or Ethan! Well, actually, I think Ethan was excited and Dad was nervous! He did well and most importantly, had a great time. They've been working hard over the past two weeks to get this car ready, and finished it off the night before. Great job, scout!

Ethan with "the blue streak." Winner of the "sportiest car" award! Check out those racing stripes.

Happy Happy Birthday, Chandler Dear!

I was awake this morning right around 3:30, and I couldn't help thinking about where I was at 3:30 in the morning 4 years before. It is not my favorite memory of bringing a child into the world, one of those crazy wee hours of the morning rides, no wonderful drugs, and that "are we going to make it?" feeling. It was an overwhelming couple of hours (for which I will forever hold a grudge against Dr. Cruz) that ended with a big fat 9 lb baby being set on my tummy. He stared up into my eyes. I started rubbing his back, and his feet with the towel, trying to get him to cry. When the doctor realized I was panicking, because the baby wasn't crying, he and the nurse both told me to chill out, because that was what the baby was doing. "Look, he's breathing just fine! He's just happy to be out." And he was. He never cried. And then he was the perfect baby, so calm and sweet, just happy to look around and be in the world.

Enough of that. . .

Last night we had his birthday party a day early because we've got the pine wood derby tonight, on his actual birthday. Here is how it went! We had an egg and spoon race. . .

Which ended in a photo finish tie!

We had rice krispie cake, with light sabers on top!

He blew out all the candles!

There were presents!!! LEGOs. . . any guesses on if he liked them?

his favorite bike got a new set of tires. . .

and a big castle fort for the bunk beds from mom. . .

It was a great little party! Happy Birthday to my big boy! I love you so much!

a new dress for Easter

I have been eying patterns from this company for a long time. They are so cute! But, every time I go to shell out the $15.99 for the one I want, I just can't do it! So, I've just looked, and not done any. Then, last week, I was in need of a distraction. With the house so clean, there just wasn't much to do, and I needed a project! So, I decided to try and make this cute dress:

Only I didn't have a pattern, so, I made my own! I had no idea I was so tricky. Here is how it turned out. . .
A shameless copy, don't you think? I have always said I'm not that creative, just a really good copy cat, and this just proved that point to me once again.

Sweet little boxed pleats. . .

Miss Emilee is much pleased, and was happy to oblige wearing her cute new dress for Easter day. I'm definitely going to try making my own patterns again, it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, and very satisfying!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter Eggs

65 children

+

1100 Easter eggs

+

100 cupcakes

+

a little rain

+

a lot of mud

=

Easter Egg Hunt 2010

This year we borrowed a bull horn from a friend, which was a good move. It made moving the crowd very easy! Even the kids perked up and listened. Above, we are calling out instructions to head over to the park. . .
And here (below) are all the kids lined up and quivering with eggticipation. Can you see me there in front of everyone, trying my best to give instructions over the bull horn while Chandler constantly pulled on my coat and exclaimed "Look, another one!" while pointing to eggs. It was a bit distracting, but I got through it.
As always, we released the little ones first. They need a head start before. . .

the Mayhem!

This year we added a little game with a nest in the trees or bushes for each child. They had to find the nest with their name on it, and that kept them busy a bit longer.
Here is one of the nests. I made them from brown paper lunch sacks and they were adorable. I had this vision of them sitting in the trees with the ribbons and name tags swinging in the breeze, but the rain prompted me to put the nests in ziplocks, which turned out to be a good thing, cause it was WET!

And it didn't matter one bit. The children so enjoyed hunting for their special nest, and I think everyone but one child found theirs. The cupcakes were devoured (darn it we forgot to take a picture, they were so cute!) and everyone had a great time. I love this tradition!

Boy Joy - the Happiest Meal

I do not buy happy meals. My children know this. They know not to ask. The last time happy meal toys entered our car, we were on our 900 mile road trip and I didn't even buy happy meals, I just bought the toys along with their hamburgers by means of survival. I do not believe in happy meals. They are not really happy, they are expensive junky trash toys. How I loathe them!

Yesterday though, after a rough morning with Chandler, I promised him that he could choose where we picked up lunch from, if his behavior improved significantly before preschool, which it did. So after preschool and errands, he chose McD's. As I made my way through the drive through, I noticed the dragon toys on the sign from that new taming your dragon movie, and for some reason, I just impulsively bought him a happy meal. Not even just the toy, the whole thing.

I pulled over to hand him his meal, pulled the toy out and set it aside, and then handed him the box, and our conversation went something like this:

Chandler: Mom! What is this box?

Mom: It's a special box for your meal today!

C: It's so beautiful! Look at the beautiful pictures!!! Mom, look at the beautiful handle!!!

Mom: I know! It's kind of a fun treat for you today!

C: Is that milk for me? (we always get water)

Mom: Yes!

C: Thank you mom! This is a beautiful meal! Milk for me too! I'm so happy!

Mom: You know, there was a toy dragon in there for you too. . .

C: WHAT? Where? (sees it) WOW! Mom, this is a great meal! Thank you for this meal!

3 minutes later. . .

C: Mom, I love this meal! Thank you for my special meal! I'm so happy for my special meal!

This went on and on until long after the fries were gone, we were home, he had told brothers, dad after work, the babysitter, his cousin, friends at the front door. . . he told everyone about this marvelous gift that was given him today in the form of a happy meal.

I think it was the happiest happy meal ever served. . . worth every penny . . .

So do you think if I wait almost 4 more years before buying him another happy meal I'll get the same sweet reaction and appreciation?