Silly Bunnies

Don is such a good Daddy.  He always plays along with whatever the kids want him, too.  Ashley dressed him up in bunny ears as he was building a castle for Adam.

Library Storytime

While big sisters browsed for books, we took advantage of Saturday morning storytime.

Puppy Hospital

It's the little things that remind me how much I love being a Mommy....... Ashley has a favorite puppy named Cotton. She's had her since she was a toddler. We have spent many hours playing with and finding this puppy together when she has been lost. Well, her little nose came off yesterday and she was so worried. I told her we'd take her to the "hospital" for surgery. I set up and operating table, she packed a bag for Cotton, and reassured her. (Cotton was very nervous.) She checked her in and I made her a hospital bracelet. Then we gave her anesthesia and I performed the operation. I was pretty sure you had to snap/screw the nose back into this piece underneath but as hard as I tried I could not figure it out. So instead I added a bit of gorilla glue to the piece underneath the fabric, inserted the crew part of the nose, and it worked! It feels nice and sturdy and after a few hours recovery time resting and a bit of ice cream after that - puppy's throat was a little sore, I was told - she's back to having adventures with a very happy, adorable little 6 year old.

Ashley's Restaurant

Daddy and I had the best lunch date today. We tried out a new restaurant called "Ashley's Restaurant". The food was delicious, with tasty menu options like cheese sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt, grapes, and strawberries. There was a menu with word searches, mazes, and other puzzles. The chef and server were both adorable and so helpful. I highly recommend it for a wonderful dining experience.

Blue Eyed Baby

St. Patrick's Day!

We've had another fun family St. Patrick's Day party!  We played games, laughed, acted silly, had a fruit rainbow with dip and cookies to nibble on, and watched Darby O'Gill.

Book Club

Another fun book club today!  The kids played and had lots of fun together.  We're so lucky to have these dear friends in our life.

Hi, Mommy!

Church With Mommy

This little cutie melts my heart everyday. He's old enough to go to Nursery class on Sundays, but he tells me he "just wants to stay with Mommy."  And I'm fine with that.  I love hanging out with him.  Sometimes he goes to class with me and other times we hang out in the hall, reading and playing together.  Other times we take walks outside and talk and play with his characters.  Today he brought his "Frozen" dolls.  None of my children have been big Nursery attenders and I've always treasured this time.

Spring Days Playing Outside

Spring Morning

Where am I going? I don't quite know.
Down to the stream where the king-cups grow-
Up on the hill where the pine-trees blow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

Where am I going? The clouds sail by,
Little ones, baby ones, over the sky.
Where am I going? The shadows pass,
Little ones, baby ones, over the grass.

If you were a cloud, and sailed up there,
You'd sail on water as blue as air,
And you'd see me here in the fields and say:
"Doesn't the sky look green today?"

Where am I going? The high rooks call:
"It's awful fun to be born at all."
Where am I going? The ring-doves coo:
"We do have beautiful things to do."

If you were a bird, and lived on high,
You'd lean on the wind when the wind came by,
You'd say to the wind when it took you away:
"That's where I wanted to go today!"

Where am I going? I don't quite know.
What does it matter where people go?
Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

Friday the 13th

We love to party around here.  Any excuse to have fun together, we take.  So when Friday the 13th rolled around and everyone felt like celebrating in a spooky way, we baked some chocolate cupcakes and wrote out "13" with chocolate chips on each one.  Then for a "spooky" movie we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."  After the younger two went to bed we watched some old Twilight Zones with the older two.  It was a fun, spooky night.

Family Walk

We enjoy our little family walks.  Today was a warmer spring day but still with a lot of snow on the ground.  On our walk Daddy, of course, had to make a snowball and throw it at someone.  That started a full blown snowball fight.  Little Adam was so cute trying to throw snowballs at everyone, as well.

Pooh Bear Sort of Days

Adam's favorite things to play with are his Winnie the Pooh figurines.  Every day he can be seen carrying at least two around with him everywhere he goes.  One in each hand.  It's so precious.  Ashley will often help him set up the Hundred Acre Woods and they will play for hours.

Hike at Hocking Hills

Dad took Alexis on a hike in Hocking Hills today.  It was beautiful but very icy.  Not good for the younger ones, but perfect for them.  They had a great time walking around and viewing the beautiful icy waterfalls.

A Rainbow Family Home Evening

Tonight for Family Home Evening we tried a fun activity the kids loved.  We talked about "Spiritual Whirlwinds" and how they are situations and choices that can uproot your firm spiritual footing and cause you to lose your way.  For an activity we taped streamers to the fan and turned it on low.  After dancing underneath the fan the kids took turns trying to grab one streamer at a time and then answering the question on it.  Not all streamers had questions, but the ones that did had situations where they had to say what they would do to choose the right/remain strong.  It was a big hit with the kids and we all had a lot of fun.  :)

Sled Riding - or Bumping

We took the kids sledding today.  Adam fell asleep in the car on the way there and so I stayed with him while Don and the girls went sledding.  It's a good thing he did because the snow had melted and refrozen just a bit and kids who had been sledding on the hill yesterday had apparently built little ramps.  So it was a very bumpy ride and not one of them made it to the bottom without flipping over.  So it was a very short outing and we ended up leaving after just a couple of tries down the hill.  Maybe next time....

Sleeping Beauty

I love watching my children sleep.  There's something so peaceful and serene in the moment they are asleep.  It's like time has stood still and I can keep them in that moment in time, just enjoying everything about them and marveling at the wonder of their precious spirit that I get to mother.  I also love taking pictures of sleeping children.  I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of Alexis asleep in a long time.  So one morning I snapped this picture.  She will sometimes sleep on the living room sofa.  She finds it comfy and so we let her.  She's growing up so fast and I just want to savor every moment I have with her until she spreads her wings and flies out into the world.

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

Daddy built this special little Olaf snowman out of snow from outside for Adam to play with one evening.