Exploring

It's about time we went exploring. Enough negative talk about nothing to do. We must look beyond the city we live in and explore the ones around us. So it was off to Reno's Fleishmann's Planitarium.

This is M with the gravity sticks. You know them as the noisy hand scratcher. When you turn them upside down they make noise. She and F had so much fun playing with them. We watched 'Extreme Planets' on the dome screen. The info was a little above their levels of understanding but we really enjoyed feeling like we were moving. I love the dome screens. We loved seeing the earth and the moon upclose.

There was small room with all kinds of Visual activities. Every thing had to do with sight. It was really interesting.

This is Albert. There was only one picture of him and he was 3D. It didn't matter where you were standing... he would be looking right at you. So I took a picture in front on him, to the right of him, and to the left of him. His face would turn and look straight at you. K said, 'Freaky!'

After our movie we bought some Freeze Dryed Neopalitan Ice Cream. That was different.


The kids were hungry after the movie so we stopped at TGI Fridays for a late lunch. Yum. I really enjoy taking the kids out to restaurants. It's fun for me and I know they'd much rather go out to eat than eat my food.


After our trip to Spain, I introduced the kids to Nutella. This was our snack before dinner. We love it. Tonight we tried it on strawberries. It was so tasty. M had 2 chocolate tortillas! Oh they are so good.

Next month I want to take the kids to Animal Ark. It doesn't open till April. I am really excited. What a fun day.

Welcome to the World!

Today my sister Amanda gave birth to 2 tiny, yet healthy, baby boys. Andrew Scott and Anderson Seth arrived this afternoon. Weighing in at 2.4 and 2.6 and only 27 weeks in the womb. I am so THRILLED to report that Amanda and her new baby boys are doing well. Drew couldn't be happier, I wish I could see him. My mom said he's glowing with fatherly pride.

I am so grateful for answered prayers. The Lord has been with this little family from the start and what a testimony they are to all of us. Miracles happen. Amanda's doctor called those babies...Miracles.

Congratulations, Amanda and Drew. We love you.

Easter Pictures

I told the kids yesterday that today we were going to take Easter pictures. And when it was time to change into their clothes and get ready...every single one of them whined! Oh my gosh! Crying, tantrum, grunting! I got them all dressed and at first we were just going to do it inside...then I saw how beautiful it was outside. I didn't expect it to be super windy.

The first stop was part of the golf course with a pond in the background. Ford was hiding his face and crying that he was cold. So we got in the car. The second stop was on the golf course in front of a utility house. I call it a house because it was really small but made of decorative bricks. The house shielded us from the wind so the kids weren't so cold.

I am still editting but still haven't figured out how to get the sun behind them without getting shadows on their faces. Timing is everything and I really wanted to get these done. Timing and Patience. Maybe I'll take them out for a walk on Sunday when they are already dressed.

Easter Fun!

I love coloring eggs. And so do the kids. What fun they had decorating their eggs for Easter. We missed out on our annual egg hunt because our backyard is just dirt. So the kids decorated and I hide their entire baskets around the house for them to find Easter morning.

Brandon made eggs and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. So yummy! Thanks, hon. Then the kids looked for their baskets. They were so excited to use their crayon rolls at church and to eat all the yummy chocolate. I bought them these inflatable animals...their weird...but they loved them. We got ready for church and were out the door.

For dinner we had the traditional ham. I made rolls, deviled eggs, and green bean casserole, and much to my dismay forgot to make the potatoes. How could I forget the potatoes, you ask? I have no idea other than I did. I was so sad. But Brandon said I could make them for Monday nights dinner. Ham, anyone? Everything was so yummy and we all ate too much candy. We'll be hitting the gym in the morning.

For FHE we talked about Christ's Resurrection. I love this story. It's the perfect ending to His life here on earth. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of Jesus Christ and the joy it brings to our family.

One Fine Day

What a beautiful Saturday! As I have said many times before...there is really nothing to do in the town we live... and so we found a great park in Carson to go to. One child asked where we lived and after telling him he got confused. I know he was thinking why don't you go to a park near your house? I told him that when you live where we do...you go to other cities to play.

We met some friends and had a picnic lunch and played on the amazing playground. Now that I say this I guess I should have taken a picture of it. It was huge. Imagine Mc D's outside and twice as high. The kids had a great time. They went down the slides, climbed the rock wall, went up ladders. What fun. There were tennis courts, basketball courts, a skate park, and a little baseball diamond. It was perfect. We made sure to bring all our sports equipment so we could enjoy the entire park. We had such a great time. Thanks, Workmans and Heussers, for sharing this really cool park with us.

Is it Friday yet?

What a busy week.

St. Patty's Day and all the trimmings . Monday

Work on Twistable Rolls 12:30am, Landscape bid 2pm, Baseball practice from 5 to 6:30pm, come home have dinner 6:45pm, bathe kids 7pm, VT come at 7:30 . Tuesday

Run errands in Carson City 9am, A's class put on Ocean play 10:15am, work on Twistable Rolls 12:30am, M's friend to play after school 3pm, Cub Scouts 7pm . Wednesday

Late start 9:30am, gym 9:40am, A's class put on Ocean play 12:15am,Volunteer in M's class 2pm, Piano
Lessons 5:15pm, Card Swap 7pm . Thursday

And Easter is Sunday! I have one more roll to make and I'll call it good. I need some 'play' time. Is it Friday, yet?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I love St. Patty's Day. I remember celebrating it last year with lots of friends who came over for breakfast. Green food galore!

My mom was born on St. Patty's Day so this was a huge deal growing up. Happy Birthday, Mom! We would start our day off with Green Eggs and Ham . Green Oatmeal . Green French Toast . Green Butter . Green Orange Juice . Green Milk . and a special Green Gift from mom to us to wear to school. I loved seeing all the things she could think of to dye green. For dinner we always had Green Irish Soda Bread . Green Salad complete with Green Peas (yuk) . Cornbeef and Cabbage . and sometimes a Green Jell-o Salad . I loved these dinners.

I hope my kids are excited for St. Patty's Day. They are all decked out in their green today and my mom even sent the girls little jeweled shamrocks to wear on their faces. Super cute. The girls love them. I even had to wear some. Thanks, Mom. Everyone got socks and stickers, as well. We are having Green Eggs and Ham . Green Orange Juice . Toast with Green Butter for breakfast.

After we dropped the kids off at school, M and F helped me get some potatoes and dessert at Smiths. We decided on St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies. You all know the ones I'm talking about. The huge, super soft, lots of yummy icing on top! Love those cookies. Then it was home to take a shower, make the kids lunch, and get M to school. F and I came home and while he shot baskets, and sang 'Getcha Head in the Game', I made cards for Card Swap. Busy, busy and I ran out of flowers. I'll have to get some later. I also need to work on the kids Easter project. I am making them all crayon rolls. Thanks to Mary's friend who is so creative...Jaime, I think is her name. Anyway cute idea and I will post them when I am done. Instead of using crayons I am using Twistables. I hate when the kids break and take the wrappers off the crayons. I have thrown so many crayons away because of that.

For dinner I am making Cornbeef and Cabbage. An Irish tradition. Green Bean Casserole, Larry's Roasted Birthday Potatoes, Green Pineapple Juice, and Irish Soda Bread with Green Butter. Yummy. Brandon says he's coming home with a pizza. He thinks he's funny. I hope you all had a great St. Patty's Day.

Coming Home

Brandon has been gone all week and he came home today. Hurray! We missed him so much during the week and he actually called me almost everyday! Everytime he called I got so excited to hear his voice that I would forget to tell him things about our week or ask him questions I needed answers too. It's always better when he's here. And I sort of wish we could just have a 'hangout with dad' day but life moves on. We have 3 birthday parties today. A and M both have parties to go to and then tonight we are all going to celebrate at a 'Over the Hill' party. We have to wear all black. Our friend, Larry, is turning 50! Yikes! It should be a good time.

Happy to have you home, Honey! I love you.

Finally...A Baby Girl

I was so excited last Thursday when I got a text message from our good friends the Fox...es. They have 3 stinking cute boys, one of which is betrothed to M. They had Baby #4 and never wanted to know the sex of the baby. And it was a GIRL! I love it. She is adorable. Brandon just happened to have a work trip next week and I gave him specific instructions to take a gift for the baby and a picture with her. I am so happy that they finally got their girl and she is going to have so much fun with all those little boys to take care of her. What a sweetie. Congrats, Ang and Skee. I love her name btw. So cute.

Talk to the Hand

While driving around Reno, I heard a high pitched baby voice say, 'Talk to the hand, Makinwey. Talk to the hand.' I laughed so hard! Brandon asked what was so funny and F repeated what he said earlier. Brandon turned to me and said, sarcastically, 'I wonder who he learned that from?' We love that boy!

Science Fair

It has finally come. I hated science fairs when I was in high school and now I am doing science fairs with K. She was really excited about it so I bit my lip and went with the flow. She did everything...almost. Her ideas was to find the most effective way to pop popcorn. Her conclusion was that oil popped popcorn the best, leaving few kernels unpopped, however, if you weren't careful you could potentially burn your popcorn. The air popper was quicker and more desirable with lots of kernels unpopped. K definitely learned something and that's what science fair is all about. Learning.