Spring is fabulous, especially here in Corpus.  A couple of weeks ago I decided to go on a picnic with the kids at least once a week until it gets too dreadfully hot and the misquitos get too rampant.  Monday is usually boring for us, so it is often our picnic day.

This is our favorite park close to our house.  The kids love the swings the best.

Today we got packages in the mail from grandma Jill.  The kids were so excited!  I managed to get a few pictures while they were opening the box.

Are my kids spoiled or what???

I am also very spoiled.  My mom also sent me a birthday package.  It was so much fun.  Inside was make-up, clothes, a nightgown, and some of my favorite candy. 

My mom is so thoughtful.  I aspire to be like her.  Thanks Mom, you are the best.

Feed the Birds

After church we went for a family walk.  We walked past a house that had some bird feeders and the kids really liked it.  So we came home and made some of our own - preschool style.

I got this idea from "The Everything Toddler Activities Book".  I lost the book when we moved (we had a box go missing that had several of my favorite kid books and this was one of them).  Anyway, I remembered reading about this activity and it really fit today so I pulled out some stuff and we made this craft.

All you need to make this craft is acorns, peanut butter, and bird seeds, and yarn(for hanging them).

You spread the peanut butter onto the acorn

Then roll them into the seeds

Here is the finsihed product.

Matt so kindly  climbed the tree to hang them up.

Look how cute they are hanging up in our tree, now the birds will be happy.

The Day For The Wearing of The Green

Celebrating holidays is so much fun.  Today we had a lot of fun because to me St. Patrick's Day is all about GREEN, RAINBOWSand MAGICAL LITTLE PEOPLE. 

We celebrated today by making a fancy GREEN St. Patrick's Day Dinner.

We started with CRAFTING

The kids made all of the table settings:

Here they are, hard at work.

They made shamrock candles

Rainbow centerpieces

and shamrock napkin rings

Then they watched "The Last Leprechaun" on Youtube while I made dinner.

Here is a picture of their fabulous crafts that adorned our dinner table tonight.

Here is a picture of all the GREEN food.

For dinner we had:

Fried chicken with GREEN mashed potatoes and GREEN gravy

GREEN veggies tray with GREEN ranch dip

GREEN grapes, GREEN Jellow, and Shamrock Shakes

(mint chocolate chip ice cream blended with milk and topped with whipped cream and green sprinkles)

And here we are, enjoying our feast!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Fun Dates

This last weekend we took the kids on dates.  Matt took Kelsey on a Father/Daughter date and I took Ethan on a Mother/Son date.  Matt and Kelsey went to Chili's and then went bowling.  Ethan and I went to Applebee's and then mini golfing.

Next time we will switch kids and have one-on-one time with the other child.

Ethan and I had so much fun.  I had the camera with me so I don't have pics of Matt and Kelsey's date, but here are a couple from mine and Ethan's date.

Here we are at Applebee's

We even ordered dessert!!

Ethan is so cute and charming so they gave him a balloon.

After we ate we went to Galexy Glow Mini Golf.  I forgot to take the camera inside with us but here are some pics from their website.  These two were Ethan's favorite.  He LOVED the alien the most.

This is a story I largely debated posting but I decided it is a memory I might appreciate later.  Later as in twenty or more years when my children have safely become adults and it is no longer my responsibility to keep them alive.

This is what happened.

I was desperately tired because I had done five hundred loads of laundry.  Ok it was just five, but I was exhausted and being pregnant I put on a movie for the kids and went to lay down.  At 4:00 Matt called and Kelsey and Ethan brought the phone in to me.  I know it was exactly four o' clock because I checked the time on my phone when he called.  I talked to Matt for a minute and then layed there thinking about how it was almost time to start dinner, and I needed to get out some chicken to thaw, and I was dreading getting up because my bones hurt.  A few more minutes passed and I realized that I could not hear the kids.  I looked at the clock.  4:10.  I decided I'd better check on the kids.  I got up, walked out to the living room and called their names.  No answer.  I go to the stairs and call.  No answer.  I look to the front door and saw it was unlocked.

Kelsey knows how to unlock the front door so I ran outside to see if they were on the street.  I could not see them anywhere.  Panic struck.  There is a little park around the corner so I started running in that direction to see if they went there.  I saw a man out mowing a yard.  I stopped and asked if he had seen them.  He said no.  I continued to the park.  When I turned the corner I could see they were not at the park. so I ran around the block as fast as I could, hoping that around every corner I would see them walking.  I did not see them.  I ran home.  When I got in the house I called out their names just in case.  No answer.  I checked the backyard.  No.  I grabbed my cell phone and called Matt.  He said to call the police.  I asked him to do it so I could go get in the van and drive around looking for them.  I grabbed my keys to go out to the garage and looked at the clock.  It was 4:17.

When I went into the garage I found them.  They were in the van playing.  Releif.  Annoyance.  Releif.  Anger.  Releif.  I opened the car door.  Amazingly I didn't yell.  I wasn't really mad at them, I was more angry with myself.  I just told them that I couldn't find them, that I was worried and that they need to tell me where they are going.  I told them that I had called the police because I couldn't find them.--the police!  I called Matt to let him know.  No answer so I texted him.  I made the kids go inside and play in their rooms.  I can't believe I didn't think to check the garage.  In retrospect I remembered the last thing I heard Ethan say as he and Kelsey dashed from my bedroom was, "come on sister, lets go to the airplane station."  I guess to their imaginations that was the garage.

The doorbell rang.  Really, could it be the police already?  It was the lawnmower man.  He asked me if I needed any help.  I told him that I found the kids, but thanks.  It was really nice of him to check.  Texans are good people.  The phone rang.  It was Matt.  He said the 9-1-1 person wanted to talk to me so they were going to call.  I hang up with Matt and the 9-1-1 person calls.  I told them that I found the kids and everything is ok.  So they did not send the police over.

With the kids safely upstairs in their rooms, I get myself a big piece of Amish Friendship Bread (obviously I am an emotional eater) and slump into a chair to let my breathing and blood pressure return to normal.  All I could think about was that Matt was on his way home from work and he was going to be upset and think I am the worst mom, and that I was going to deserve listening to him lecture me on how I need to pay closer attention to what is going on.  He is really protective of the kids, which is a good thing.  Then I get a text.  It is from Matt.  I opened it up and it just said, "I love you."  Then I cried.  And cried.

I never got the bad mom lecture.

I don't know why I felt so much like I should post this experience.  It's like announcing to the world that I am not all with it.  But maybe someone can relate to how such short amount of time can produce such panic. 

Last Week

I've been meaning to do a post all week and just never get around to doing it.   You know I use those excuses like my kitchen floor needs to be mopped or I need to study for a test and can't put it off any longer.  Completely unreasonable excuses.  So this morning I decided not to put if off any longer.

We did a lot of things last week but I am always forgetting my camera so I don't have very many pics.  The weather is FABULOUS so we've spent a lot of time outside.  We went on a picnic two different days.  One to a park and one to a water garden.

We also went with all of Kelsey's dance friends to the Children's Museum.  It is free on the first Thursday of every month and it is such a fun place.  I have gone on "free day" the last two months but I never remember the camera.  I will try desperately hard to remember it next month.

Here are some things we did last week that I DID have my camera around for.

C-c-c-crafting!!!

I bought this kit of light catchers.  They are animal shapes and there were 8 animals in the box to paint.  So the kids took turns picking which animals they wanted and then I let them have at it.

I was going to take the finished product and hang them up but the kids had so much fun playing with them, I just let them have them for toys.  The box came with 8 animals, paint, and brushes.  Best $4 I ever spent.

One of Kelsey's dance friends also invited us to her Fancy Nancy birthday party.  It was fun to get all dressed up.  Kelsey thinks she is a fashion model.  Earlier this week matt purchased "In Style" magazine for Kelsey (her first fashion magazine).  When she was looking at the pictures I could hear her say things like, "look mom, sparkly shoes" or, "Ohhhh, make-up", then she kept asking, "what are they doing mom?"  I looked and they were not doing anything they were just in weird poses to take the picture, some of them were in the rain, or they were twisted all weird, or upside down.  So these next picture poses are probably a rub off from Kelsey looking at that magazine.

I spent a bit of time on her hair so I included some pics of her hair so you could see it better.

By the way, the tutorial for this hair do is found here:

http://www.princesshairstyles.com/search/label/Easter