Selfies

Sometimes I find photos on my cell phone left by my kids.  They are always awesome.

Playing Catch In The Backyard

There is a pile in my family room with pink baseballs (t-balls), pink mits, pink shin guards, a pink soccer ball, pink cleats, a pink bike helmet and a pink jump rope. Our garage is a sea of pink as well. Apparently we like our sporting goods extra girly.

Curlers & Cuddles

Pots

Pinch pots made with Red Fish's kindergarten class today.

Bird Puppets

This was one of the most fun art projects and also the biggest disasters we have made in a long time. I will definitely be doing a variation of this at art group this summer.  (Assuming I still do art group- life feels crazy right now but my kids would be really sad if we skipped a year.) I wanted to try a sculpey project based on something my younger brother made in elementary school.  Sculpey is awesome because it can be baked in the oven and it has a great texture to it.

 We started by putting a ball of tin foil on a stick.  Then we covered the foil in a sheet of sculpey that we rolled out. 

 Then the girls sculpted the details of their faces.  They decided to make bird puppets. 

I thought they turned out pretty awesome. They baked well and held all of the detail.  Here is where the project began to go askew.

We tried painting them.  As soon as the paint dried it started flaking off all over and we had to hurry and put a thick layer of modge podge on them to keep the paint on.  The paint smeared all over the place and made a huge goopey mess.  Then I dropped the head several times and broke them and made a huge mess trying to glue them back together.

The next day the girls made bodies out of painted felt and feathers.

 
They look fantastic except for all of the glue.  They are standing up in glass bottles in this picture but they can be used as puppets on their sticks. They look a little more like monsters than birds but I love that.

Sleepover With RiRi

Sadly little cousin RiRi is getting ready to move cross country and we won't be able to have many sleepovers in the future.  We needed to take advantage of the time we have left so the girls had a two night sleepover. I really expected for it to be kind of crazy and it was refreshingly easy. The girls stayed up until eleven on the first night whispering but for the most part it was giggles and hours at the park, bike rides, tea parties and a trip to the mall for hot dogs on a stick.  It was a perfect weekend for the girls to spend time together.  I love their little relationship. We are going to really miss have RiRi this close and I wish we had taken better advantage of it.

Leprechaun Trap

 Last year I thought all of the over the top craziness for St. Patrick's Day was crazy. I posted on Facebook that it was out of hand and everyone needed to go back to just wearing green.  Somehow this year I have made a complete turn about and we have been going all out.  The girls have been talking about their personal Leprechauns that have been pulling pranks at school and Red Fish was building a trap at school.  The girls decided to build a trap at home and they worked on it for hours.

I recently started letting them use low temperature glue guns and they went crazy with a pile of recycling and green art supplies.  This might be the most fun they have had in a long time.

The trap was bated with a potato and plenty of sparkle because that is apparently what leprechauns like. The leprechaun was impressed with their trap but did not get caught.  He left a note and some gold coins.

Western Day At Preschool

This kid is too cute for words.  She has been looking forward to wearing a dress up outfit to school for weeks.

Thoughts From The Tub

Thoughts from my six year old in the tub- "I wonder how I get my eyes to evolve to the sides of my head so I won't look like a predatory animal anymore. I don't think I want to eat meat anymore because I am nice to animals so I want my eyes on the side of my head like a prey animal. Maybe they are still in the front of my head because I'm an omnivore. Right Mom?" Um.... yes? "When the giant says- Fee Fie Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread- Does that mean he is an omnivore too but just a really bad one?" Um...I think that makes him a cannibal?

Painting Giant Easter Eggs In The Driveway

St. Patrick's Day Feast

 We thought it would be fun to have a green family dinner with my side of the family.  We had a St. Patty's dinner with friends last week and it hasn't stopped us from having another. We are getting very festive this year for some reason.  In part because I feel like my kids are growing up fast and the magic of holidays will change in the near future.  We had spinach salad, green corn bread, green mashed potatoes and brocolli pasta with green cupcakes and cream cheese clouds with a rainbow of fruit.  I didn't get a picture of the lime sherbet drinks with green mustache straws.  I love these silly little family traditions that we are building. I love celebrating holidays and enjoying the moment.

Crazy

 One of my friends had a crazy party and all of the guests had to come dressed as one of the people from the Capital in the Hunger Games.  It was fun.

Lions

We tried pastels today. It's fun to try out new mediums.

Color

New Fish

 Spring has inspired us to head outside and try more art.  Today was oil pastels and intersecting shapes.

Red Fish

How Moms Watch Movies

Cupcakes

On Sundays we bake.

Little Talker

On some Saturdays, it is my job to set up the primary room for church the next day.  New Fish has been coming with me to set up chairs and get everything ready. She likes everything to be "royalty ready" as she says. Her favorite thing to do is to pretend she is giving a talk or try to say her articles of faith in the microphone. Sometimes she pretends she is teaching sharing time.  It's hilarious and it makes setting up much more fun.

Swimmers

We went swimming because these little water babies didn't have school.  I was in the water but I didn't have to hold on to anybody and they played with each other and had a fabulous time.  They are getting some independent, it's crazy.  Red Fish has been able to swim for awhile but New Fish has really taken off with her swimming over the last few months.

Weekend Trip To See The Great Grandparents

 We took a quick weekend trip down to see my grandparents over the weekend.  This has been the longest I have gone without seeing them in my life.  Red Fish didn't have school on Friday so we decided to make a quick trip.  While we were there we checked out the new children's museum and the girls especially liked the autoshop inside.

Blowing giant bubbles at the children's museum

 We went to the park and attempted (unsuccessfully) to fly our kite.  If anyone has kite flying tips for us we are all ears.  We do not have a great talent for flying kites apparently. The girls make friends everyplace they go so they made several "REALLY GOOD FRIENDS" at the park in the hour we were there.

Getting ready for church

I love this picture.  It is the stuff memories are made of.  They are all snuggled in bed watching tap dancing on tv

The girls spent a lot of time plundering my grandmother's closet and jewelry box and dressing up in all of her things, just like I used to when I was little.  They played pioneer games and card games and read books.  It was a good trip full of good memories that I hope will stick in their little brains.

Dentist

Red Fish got a "Sugar Bug Bite" on her tooth.  I always warn them to brush all the sugar bugs off their teeth so I guess a little cavity equals a bug bite.  When I got my teeth cleaned she had her nose about an inch away from my mouth asking the dentist a million questions.  She is always my little scientist.