Spring Happenings

Spring has been full of many wonderful things so far:

Djeryd finally persuaded us to let him construct a forge in the backyard so he can hone his blacksmithing skills (he uses slave labor to pump the billows so he can monitor the fire – Erik and Anna are embarrassingly obliging).

Easter was a treat with General Conference (which was wonderful!) and visits with grandparents on both sides of the family and our traditional Easter nests.  And I invented a new soup called Easter Soup that I made with all the ham and garlic-mashed potato leftovers – YUM!

Elle is teaching herself to read.

Anna is her inspiration.  This is a picture of her reading the final few pages of her first Harry Potter book.  She finished Chamber of Secrets within the following week and is currently in the middle of Prisoner of Azkaban.  Her reading is finally taking off – yea!!

This guy got his driving permit!  Holy smokes!  How time flies!

And he’s running track.  It has opened up his whole world in such a fun healthy way.

We found out Anna has some seriously disturbed teeth.  Criss-cross applesauce is going on all over the lower half of her mouth.  First she had to have three perfectly good baby teeth pulled out . . .

And a week later, she wound up with these little babies strapped to her teeth.  She is ecstatic and Erik is enormously disappointed (he’s had the orthodontist look at his teeth “way more times than Anna”).

Erik has been helping me in the yard a lot.  The garden is about half planted and the yard is looking really nice.  This is the best garden/yard position we’ve been in since Sean and I hosted a wedding open house for some friends about eleven years ago. 

Elle had her first ride in a swing (normally she’s snuggled up nice and tight in the stroller, falling asleep).

At Alyx’s urging we have been spending a fair amount of time at the park trying to soak up this beautiful weather.  It is hard for me to get out the door (there always seems to be one more thing to do before we leave), but I’m trying hard to say “yes” and let dinner take care of itself.  So dinner’s later than normal, which means everything else, including bedtime, is later than normal, but we’ve sure had fun! 

I hope a little piece of this spring magic stays with my kids long enough for them to share it with their kids.

Lemonade Ladies

During Spring Break my little ladies decided to set up the lemonade stand their grandpa made them.  They charged a small fortune (a cup of ice water from the fridge was a whopping $1.50!). 

They made a killing thanks to the generosity of our neighbors and  a relative or two.

Alyx kept meticulous notes of each transaction in her princess notebook (that girl loves her notebooks).

I loved the spirit of the whole enterprise and I love that they are both old enough to keep each other company out in the front yard while the rest of us moved in and out and all around doing yard work.  I still remember the lemonade stands of my childhood.  We would spend most our money on candy at the convenience store down the street then sell it to each other until all four of us were completely broke (and stuffed full of candy).  Ah, the stuff of childhood!

Preschool: The Letter P

There are so many words that start with the letter P.  This was the easiest week ever!  First we made Painted Pictures of Poppies.

Then we read the Princess and the Pea and made little collages with mattresses and blanket stacked on top of a real Pea.

We had Pineapple and Popcorn for snacks.

And we finished up with Patterning.

Anna didn’t have school that day so I had a little teacher’s assistant.  Boy, oh boy, was that wonderful!  I’d hire that girl in a minute!  She was Patient and Productive, and Practically Perfect at Persuading the little Princesses to Participate. 

And for those of you who are curious, these are the words that did not make the cut: Pneumatic, Phosphorescent , Psychosis and my Personal favorite, Pterodactyl.