Learning curve

My biggest and my littlest are both trying to learn new things, and neither have yet to master their skill ...

I decided when there was barely any food left in the container to let Austin try to feed himself. I really didn't think there was much food left in the bowl, but boy did he spread it out to look like a lot:

And Becca is trying to learn to drive. Well, not really. She's SUPPOSED to be trying to learn how to drive, but she's not interested. She now has to walk everywhere she wants to go, because we told her this is what would happen if she didn't get her learner's permit by her 17th birthday. (I don't get it -- I was chompin' at the bit to drive the second I could!) Anyway, I've asked her a few times to back the car out of the driveway so the boys can play basketball. She's just putting it in neutral, letting off the brakes and then stopping it when it gets to the street. At least that's all she's supposed to be doing. So how, exactly, does it get so crooked in the driveway?

 
Needless to say, I'm sure they'll both learn these skills ... hopefully sooner than later (and hopefully without any expensive messes ;).

School Fun

This morning the kids are back at school after being home a week for Spring break. I sure love it when we don't have to get them out the door, but the quiet of today is nice, too. :)

Anyway, the day before Spring Break was a busy one -- a field trip, a feast and an unexpected trip to the dr. office ...

Zachary's grade got to go on a field trip to a farm. They have all kinds of little classes and things for them to learn. And they start the day off by shearing a sheep right in front of the kids and let them feel the wool fresh off a sheep: 

(The mom next to me was hilarious -- she was so worried about the sheep and whether or not it hurt him. I assured her the sheep would be at least kicking if he didn't like it. :) Anyway, here is Zachary next to bees, which were very mild -- maybe because it was an overcast, cold day?

I was actually glad to leave the field trip a few minutes early because it was FREEZING! Some of the kids were asking when they'd be done, which is too bad since it could have been a really fun field trip. Anyway, I left so I wouldn't miss Tyler's big Hogwart's Feast.


I got to the feast just as they were finishing their celebration where they eat as much candy as they can shove in their faces. If you can believe it, this is how much candy was left AFTER Tyler's house ate all they could:

They also had pumpkin juice (cold) and butterbeer (warm) for the kids to drink up. Tyler liked them both. (I have to say I didn't care for the pumpkin juice but the butterbeer was okay. : ) Here he is enjoying:

Oh, notice he wore his Ravenclaw shirt? :) I love that he loves it. Also, his house won the house cup by 20 points!!! I can't believe it was so close. He got his house something like 1200 points by reading the HP series. All those points and so few separated them. In any case, here he is with the house cup:

I was so happy for him. After the feast they had a wizard's duel where they had to battle and try to get silly string on the person opposite them before the person across from them got them with silly string. Fun times!

Knowing it was going to be a busy day, I was even a little more stressed to wake up and find this:

I took him to the doctor and it turns out it was just a reaction from his antibiotic he had finished earlier in the week. Did it make Austin unhappy?

Not a chance -- just spotted. :)

Becca's birthday

My birthday has to be over quickly, because the next day it's Becca's. :) She actually got a gift from "the boy" on my birthday, and we tortured her by telling her she couldn't open it until the next day. (We weren't serious, but I think the anticipation did her good -- she couldn't stop smiling all evening.)

In any case, we let her open it, and it was hilarious! She was GIDDY ...

 ... until she opened it:

I'm still not sure what she was expecting (and upon inquiry neither is she!). But fortunately she likes it now and would probably even give me a bigger smile than this:

From family "all" she got was clothes. However, she loves them and hopefully will even wear them! (Yes, she's one of those annoying teenagers who LOVES an outfit the day we buy it and then never wears it! Grrrr!) Here she is opening her Supergirl shirt:

We made her cheesecake for her birthday cake, and she loved that. (I wanted to do angel food cake, but Walmart was out. No wonder I generally do my grocery shopping elsewhere! I think she loved the cheesecake even more, so that's good!) Oh, and if you see Becca, don't mention this post -- she'd kill me then die of embarrassment. ;)

Happy birthday to me!

So I had another birthday last week. That seems to happen every year! And the best gift I got? THE earrings. (You'll probably have to click on the picture to see the lovely earrings in their fullest):

Yes, they're gorgeous, aren't they? My sister and I got them for my mom when we were in Ohio visiting our oldest sister back in 1994ish. It was a joke, lest you think we ever liked them. When my mom opened them she said she was worried they wouldn't match anything. We assured here it had every color possible and would match ANYTHING. My poor mom was in a tight spot for a little bit until she realized we were joking.

Needless to say, since that time they've become "the gift." I wrapped them up for my mom to open on Mother's Day while I was in the MTC; Rebecca got them as a graduation gift when she became a pharmacist; I think Rebecca also got them as a bridal shower gift? In any case, they've gone back and forth during these almost 20 years (that long?!!) that it's getting harder and harder to pass them on as a surprise.

My mom sure surprised me this year. Paul told me in the morning he had something special for me. Hmmmm. Then while we were eating dinner, he pulled out a VERY NICE box from a jewelry store. (No worry about me being all excited to get a real gift -- I was more unimpressed that he had spent a lot of money! :) So I opened it and there were the earrings. Of course we snapped pictures to document the occasion (which also happens to capture the fruit loop necklace I got from Zachary).

Sad news for my mom is that my dinner was so yummy I forgot to call her after I ate it ... so she had to wait in anticipation until the next day to hear since she couldn't very well ask if I had gotten them yet. Ha! Now to figure out who to give them to next ... and how ... :)

April Fool's

So this year's April Fool's joke food ended up being a bit harder than I imagined. Tyler has been home from school with a fever all week, so I had to make it while he was home. I had planned on making a "pizza" and telling them it was their after-school snack. I planned to even bake a real pizza so the smell was legit.

Well, I had to put the pizza together piece by piece so I wouldn't get caught. I figured I could keep it easily from Shayla, but it was a little harder from Tyler. But I did it! I got it put together and put in the oven.

I had purchased the ingredients early (phew!), and I baked the cake that morning. I also made cupcakes in case Tyler asked about the smell (which oddly he didn't). I made frosting and colored it red and grated white chocolate. I had intended to buy fruit roll-ups, and when I went to get them they had writing all over them. Aaaggghhh! So I got the fruit-by-the-foot roll-ups and hoped they would work. The next time I was at the store I saw some fruit strips in the baby aisle and thought they might look more like pepperoni, so I grabbed them. Good thing, because the fruit-by-the-foot roll-ups had a wavy pattern that would have never worked! So I used the baby strips instead. Phew! At the last minute I also decided to cut up a green jelly bean to make it look like green peppers. I think it ended up looking pretty real, although a little small:

Anyway, I actually fooled Becca for a little bit. Then when she got close enough she said, "What is that?" I said (while giving her THE look), "It's a PIZZA." She got it and dropped it. Tyler didn't say a thing -- he just ate it. (Not sure if this means he cared or not that it wasn't pizza.) Shayla said, "Why does everything on it taste so good?" What a cutie! Before Zachary got to the table with his slice he said, "This isn't pizza!"

So, another joke down, and I had everyone for at least a second. My kids are getting too smart. I'll have to stick with breakfast things before they get to school and reminded that it's April Fool's Day. Keep the ideas comin! :)