Happy Easter!

Our church had 6 or 7 (identical) Easter services beginning Thursday evening and ending with 2 services today. They were expecting over 10000 people over the course of the weekend, but cannot house that many. They have to do this at Christmas, too. On a regular weekend we have between 5000-7000 people and just added a 4th service last month. Our pastor has a heart for bringing in as many people as he can to hear the Good News, and it shows. It was nice having so many service options. We ended up going on Friday evening. It was a good choice because there were still parking spots and seats! It was a really good service with a simple message of salvation and God's grace. We discussed the Easter story with the kids several times this weekend, too. They really do understand that the significance of Easter has nothing to do with bunnies, baskets, or eggs. But they do enjoy those things, too!

We colored eggs last night. We experimented a little this year. I read that you can bake eggs rather than boil them to get them done perfectly. I experimented by baking 3 eggs and boiling (bring to boil, remove from burner, let sit 15 min)3 eggs. Both turned out perfectly and peeled easily, so I decided to bake all 24 since that required less clean up. I guess adding 21 additional eggs messed things up. I did everything the same, but the eggs were only half done.      :( Of course, we didn't find this out until Danielle dropped one while we were coloring them. Some of the white was still oozy. I guess we
won't try that again. We also experimented with dying the eggs. Ron read about using shaving cream and food coloring and rolling the eggs around in that. We didn't have enough shaving cream, so he just tried it with one egg. It actually turned out really well and we might try that again next year. We also tried using koolaid packets and water. (We usually use the PAWS kits.) The koolaid colors were much more vibrant, and I think we would probably try that again. We will not try using grape koolaid to get purple, though! The eggs looked black! Tyler thought it was awesome, but I thought it was kind of gross.

Today we went to Mamaw & Papaw's house for our annual Easter egg hunt. Mamaw always outdoes herself, and this year was no exception. It is always amazing to me to look at the pictures from year to year. All the kids are growing up so quickly. They still have fun finding the eggs and enjoy spending time together. The gifts are just a nice bonus. It always threatens to rain or snow, but we always end up fitting our egg hunt in and having a great time doing it. We had a great time today, too.

Looking for Frogs

Today was a beautiful day! Finally sunshine and temperatures in the 50s! Danielle and I enjoyed the weather by going to the park and exploring the vernal pools.

We've kind of given up on the salamanders for now. I think they're about done breeding, so the adults have probably burrowed back down underground. Maybe we'll be lucky and see some after they've hatched and grown into adults, but that will be a couple months yet. So today we were looking for frogs, specifically for spring peepers and wood frogs.

We didn't see either, but we did find a couple western chorus frogs. Peepers and chorus frogs are so little - dime size - and so very difficult to spot! We didn't want to wade into the vernal pools and take a chance on stepping on anyone's eggs, so we tried to spot them from the edges. I finally spotted two but they were towards the middle of the pool and so tiny that Danielle just couldn't find them no matter how many times I pointed them out.

They are so tiny but so loud! And it looks like their throats are going to pop! I have to admit that I got a little closer than I probably should have in the attempt to get a picture. I really couldn't get close enough (or steady enough) to focus well anyway. On our way back we passed a park ranger on the trail. We must have looked pretty suspicious with our bucket and sloshy shoes and wet footprints trailing behind us. Danielle and I had a good giggle about that.

This & That

Today it has been 18 days since we planted our milkweed seeds. None of the pink seeds have sprouted. Those are the seeds that I harvested. I thought maybe they were just taking longer to germinate, but now I'm starting to wonder if I picked them too soon. I waited until the pods burst open, but maybe these just weren't ready yet. The tropical milkweed is doing much better. Many of them sprouted within a week. We had another little sprout poke through this morning, so 29 of 35 little pods have sprouts. 83% isn't too bad. Hopefully the others are just taking their sweet time.

Not sure what that look was about.

Danielle decided awhile ago that she wanted to learn origami. She bought a book with her Christmas money but it was too difficult to follow, so we returned it shortly after. She decided to attempt it again yesterday and looked for videos geared towards kids. She made a puppy, elephant, and bunny and they all looked really good! I especially like the puppy. The other thing I like is that she decided she wanted to learn how to do something and figured out what resources to use to do it.

Today was the first day of spring break and this is what we woke up to find:

Not very spring-like! We made the most of it by sleeping in and staying in our pjs all day. Honestly, I was relieved that no one asked to play outside in the snow today!


Tyler has finished all his self-study work and starts scuba classes tomorrow night. He has 4 classes, 2 this week and 2 next week. Each night they will spend an hour doing classroom work and then 1 1/2 - 2 hours in the pool. I was reading some of the text over his shoulder today and was doing the "mom thing".  I hope I'm making the right choice in allowing him to do this. I am trusting that he is mature enough to take this seriously and to know what to do if an emergency arises. I think I'm right, it's just hard to take that risk sometimes.

I found this in Danielle's school folder Friday. Apparently they didn't do much work on the last day before spring break. It may have something to do with the fact the teacher was leaving for the Cayman Islands the next day and kept checking the weather forecast. :) There was a bunch of girl stuff written on the paper, but I thought the part about her dream house was cute. I love that she wants a tunnel to Tyler's house, and it doesn't even have to be secret.

"Finished" Project

Danielle and I "finished" our tshirt memory quilt tonight. Ideally we will add more to it each year, so it's not truly finished. We didn't fringe the bottom so we could add more rows. I wonder how practical it will be to add to it, though - will it lose it's shape over time or wear too much? Who knows? It's long enough to be a good throw for her when she's watching tv or sitting around. She loves it, and that is good enough for now.

She learned how to thread a bobbin and the sewing machine and did several of the blocks herself. It was fun to work on it together. When I was working on parts that she couldn't help with, she sat at the table near me and painted her nails or made origami animals or waited to take the pins out for me. Having a daughter is kind of nice. :)

She now officially knows as much as I do about sewing...which is not much! :(

The first block she finished all by herself (earlier this week).

All the finished blocks (earlier this week).

The finished quilt

It works!

11.5

Wednesday was a really long day, for a lot of reasons. When I finally got to sit down a little after 9:30pm, I suddenly remembered that the next day was Tyler's half birthday and I hadn't made anything. I have to admit that I shed a tear at the thought of heading back to the kitchen in my exhausted state, but I did it. (I do realize it's a made up holiday, but we have had fun with 1/2 birthdays since they were little. I would have been disappointed with myself if I hadn't done anything for him.) Several days ago Tyler mentioned he'd like to have some cake pops, so I decided to surprise him with some of those.

This was my first attempt making cake pops. I made the cake from scratch, cooked them in my new Babycakes Cake Pop Maker (a Christmas present from my mom), and decorated them. Making them was kind of fun. Decorating them was not so much after a long day. I only decorated half the batch Wednesday night and conquered the other half the next day - that went better.  (The batter made about 4 dozen.) There is a lady in town who started her own business last year making and selling these. She obviously puts a lot of time into decorating hers, and they look amazing! They are also expensive (but worth it considering her labor), which is why I wanted to try making them myself. It was fun and I liked the results, but my friend has no need to fear any competition from me!!

I was exhausted by the time I finally made it to bed. I had to go in early to work Thursday morning but took a minute to surprise Tyler with a cake pop before leaving. He had forgotten it was his 1/2 birthday and was pleased that I remembered he mentioned wanting cake pops. He tried it and declared it was much better than the ones he had tried at his class Valentine's Day party. He raved about it for another minute or so, and, coming from my moody tween at 6:30am, that totally made all the effort worth it for me.

Since Tyler is 11 1/2 and cake pops do not hold candles well, we went with one candle and 11 1/2 cake pops. He was properly amused. The cake pops are really good, and did not last very long! I'm sure I will be making them again soon.

Our Violet

The elementary school play was yesterday. They did a version of Beauty and the Beast. The kids were all cute to watch, and there was a lot of giggling. It looked like everyone had a good time.

Danielle was in a dream scene. Before Papa left on his journey, Beauty asked him to bring her back a rose. After Papa got lost and found himself in the castle, he fell asleep and dreamt about a garden. Danielle was a violet in the garden. The mime had to smell the flowers, which Danielle was not too thrilled about.  I think after experiencing everything yesterday she felt sad again about not getting a speaking part, but overall she had a good time and was glad she was a part of things, even if it was a small part.

I thought she looked very pretty. We were proud of her for doing her best. She was a beautiful violet.

Spelling Words

Our school adopted a new spelling program this year. It seems like every year there is a new "core standard" of state requirements, and I'm sure this new spelling program somehow meets one of those requirements.

Students are grouped according to ability and each group has different spelling words. Initially I liked this system because in the past spelling words had been too easy. Neither Tyler nor Danielle ever had to study for a spelling test. Danielle is in the highest spelling group that I'm aware of, and has been working on prefixes and suffixes most of the year. Honestly, she still doesn't study more than about 30 minutes a week at most. (Tyler doesn't have spelling any more.) The words have become progressively harder, and there isn't any focus on what the words mean or how to use them - just on how to change words with similiar suffixes or prefixes. The kids are given a list of 24 words to study. 10 of the words will be on the test. 2 words that use the same rules will also be on the test.

These are Danielle's words for this week. I think they are pretty much ridiculous. How many 3rd graders do you know use the word "quintessence". In fact, how many 40+ year olds can even spell that word without relying on spell check?! (Not me!)

Danielle's teacher thinks the words for her group are difficult, too, so she has started telling them which 10 words will be on the test. That does make it a little easier, but if even the teacher doesn't like the system, maybe it's time to change it?! Surely there is something that is challenging, age appropriate, and has "real world" use.

A Work in Progress

Remember the tshirt quilt I was excited about making? No? Well, that's because I mentioned it over a year ago! I worked on it that night and then the next day I kind of hit a wall. Danielle wanted to help me with it, so I didn't work on it by myself, but we never made the time to do it together. Eventually the project got bagged and moved around until I forgot about it. I found it again and decided we should get busy on it.

I suck at sewing. I really don't know what I'm doing (which is part of the reason I never made the time), but I can thread the machine and push the pedal, so I'm hoping that will be good enough. I do feel bad that that is about all the sewing knowledge I can pass on to Danielle. Maybe someday I can find someone to give her lessons. In the meantime, she and I are making memories giggling over our crooked stitches.



Actually, this is a really good project for someone who can't sew. I think the quilt will turn out nicely even if the stitches aren't straight. We made a few blocks tonight after dinner and are looking forward to working on more later this week. Tyler is looking forward to helping with his quilt when I finally get around to making it (maybe in another year?!).  The blocks are made from special, outgrown tshirts. Sandwiched between the tshirt layers are pieces from a flannel sheet set that belonged to my great aunt. Here is the little bit of progress we made today.




• We painted star shirts for the 4th one year. We had fun making them and got a lot of compliments.
• The green shirt is one of Danielle's soccer shirts.
• The "having fun" shirt is from the amazing cruise we took in 2009. Best. Vacation. Ever.
• The Cozumel shirt is from the first cruise we took. The boys were sick and Danielle and I went shopping together in Cozumel. She picked out the monkey shirt for herself and a dog one for Tyler. The mouths open.
• The Cleveland Indians shirt is from the game she attended with Grandma and Grandpa when she stayed with them last summer.
• The Disney shirt is from our trip to Disney in 2008. Mickey's and Goofy's backsides are on the back of the square.

This will be a very special quilt once it's done. The tshirts themselves are so full of memories, and the time we're sharing working on it together will be the icing on the cake.

Violet Hair

Danielle is a violet in the school play, which is this Wednesday. She has to wear purple, carry a bouquet of purple flowers, and wear purple flowers in her hair. They offered to put flowers in her hair at school, but Danielle wants me to do it, so we tried out a hairdo this weekend. I cannot take a decent cell phone pic to save my life, but you can see her hair so it's good enough. We combined an "inside out" french braid (to better hold the flowers) and a waterfall braid (to give her hair a little body). I thought it looked pretty and she was happy with it, but I'm pretty sure her beautiful face could pull off any hairdo.

Salamanders

We went to a salamander program for kids at the metropark today. Danielle and I went to this same metropark last weekend to look for salamanders but didn't have any luck. We looked in the exact spot we were at today. Salamanders are nocturnal and spend their days in underground tunnels, so I suppose that's why we didn't have any luck. Here, at this time of year, the salamanders come out at night and head to the vernal pools to mate and lay eggs. This only happens for a very short time period (a couple weeks at most). It takes about a month for the eggs to hatch, then the babies live & develop in the water until their external gills are absorbed and they can leave the vernal pools. It's really all very interesting, at least to me and Danielle.

All four of us went today. It is a very popular program and there were a lot of kids. We attended this program a couple years ago, but we didn't see any salamanders. This time the traps were full! Tyler and Danielle waited patiently while the younger kids swarmed the tubs, pushing everyone else out of the way. Eventually we found a gap and got to observe the salamanders. I guess there are 3 types of salamanders primarily found at this spot - spotted salamanders, jefferson salamanders, and small-mouthed salamanders. We saw the first two. After observing the salamanders for awhile, they were released back into the vernal pool and the program continued on to another vernal pool.

The other vernal pool was much larger, so the kids were permitted to search along the perimeter. The catch was that it was extremely muddy and the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees from the time we left the house! Tyler was tired of the pushy little kids, so he and Ron went back to the car. Danielle and I headed back to the other vernal pool but didn't stay long. She was shivering from having her hands in the cold water, so we decided to call it a day but resolved to come back by ourselves when it gets a little warmer. Even if we can't find a salamander, we'd still like to find a wood frog or spring peeper. We've never found either of those on any of our outings.

I knew we'd get wet and muddy today, so I took my small, waterproof camera. When just Danielle and I go back, I hope to get some better pictures of the pool and hopefully of a salamander or two!

On the DD Bandwagon

I have to admit that we've jumped on the Duck Dynasty bandwagon. Initially, we thought the show was entertaining and fun to watch as a family. We had heard that they were a Christian family, and they obviously uphold strong family values on the show. Even the kids comment on how polite the children on the show are. Danielle bought Ron the book The Duck Commander Family...for his birthday. After reading that and learning more about the family and their background, Ron was sold. I haven't read the book yet, but I have been impressed by what I've seen and heard so far. I know some of the antics on the show are for our benefit - people wouldn't watch if it was boring - but overall I get the impression that they are true to themselves. I like these guys because they are real - the average hard working Joe can relate to them. They are flawed, funny, faithful, and most importantly, forgiven. Here are a couple videos that have been circulating lately. I especially like this first one with Phil, the father and founder of the family business. He kind of reminds me of my dad, who sported the chest length beard before it was cool and tells it like he sees it.



This is Willie, Phil's son and the current CEO of their "dynasty".




This is a funny one. The DD guys were scheduled to be on a late night talk show to promote their new season. The musician who was also scheduled to be on the show cancelled because he is a vegan and they are hunters. The DD guys were respectful about the musician's choice, but they did make a couple spoofs for the talk show. The spoof starts at 1:27. I don't know why the video didn't embed correctly, but you can see enough to get the idea. (In case you know nothing about their main claim to fame, they design and sell duck calls.)

Bombs Away!

You would think that after all the time (&, I'm sure Ron would add, money) I spend caring for the birds, they would be a little more considerate of my property. I came out of work today to find this:

and this

I guess since it didn't happen at home I won't hold it against my backyard birds. After dinner tonight, Ron and I enjoyed a 10 minutes date to do this

I guess I will need to find a new parking spot.

This and That

Danielle & I are preparing for butterfly season! We planted a couple types of milkweed seeds last night. The larger seeds are ones we harvested from our plants last summer. The smaller ones are ones I bought to plant last year but didn't get to because we were still waiting on the patio guys. They are for the tropical milkweed, which is my favorite. Hopefully they will sprout despite the seeds being a little old and rough looking!

Clara was so excited when Ron was shoveling a path across the patio for her the other day. She wanted to fetch all the snow he threw. He didn't have time to play, though. I played snowball fetch with her for a few minutes today when I went out to fill the bird feeders. Retrievers will fetch anything!

I went to the park for a little while this afternoon and did not have a good time. You would think it would have dawned on me that when we have 9" of snow followed by sunshine and warmer temperatures that it would make for some pretty muddy trails. Well, I did think about the mud, I just didn't realize it would be that bad. The really bad part, though, was that I picked a trail that was a loop and when I got almost to the very end of it, I discovered it was flooded to the point of being impassable. That meant I had to turn around and hike back the way I had come, which included going up a very, very slick muddy hill. I couldn't even cut over off trail because there was a river on one side of me and flooding on the other side and ahead of me. I survived, but it was not a nice, relaxing afternoon out. The first time my socks got soggy, I should have turned around and headed for the van! And I didn't even see much. This pileated woodpecker was the only thing worthwhile that I saw, and I couldn't even get close to it. Oh well. I am thankful for blue skies and extra daylight. Maybe next time.