St. Patrick's Day

A leprechaun visited us on St. Patty's day again this year.  He left us a few of his favorite green treats.

 He made it all the way downstairs, leaving yummy things along the way.

 And he even managed to make break free from Alden's leprechaun trap before making his way out the back door.  Alden had gotten pretty creative.  I suggested wrapping a box with a hole cut out of it so that the leprechaun would step on it and fall in.  Alden suggested that we paint some rocks "gold" so that the leprechaun would be enticed to climb up there.  He got away but he did leave some of his gold with us (Hershey's nuggets and "gold" dollar coins).

We'll have to be more clever next year!  Our neighbors' leprechaun was a mischievous one - he left all kinds of green surprises for them, like green toilet water and green pancakes for breakfast!  Maybe we'll get a mischievous leprechaun next year.

While Alden is Away...

I was pretty worried about Eli when Alden started preschool.  I'm pretty sure he considers himself to be the same age as Alden (in fact, I think all three of my kids think they're Alden's age!).  I thought Eli would be lonely without Alden around for a few hours every day.  

Eli and Gracen seem to be hitting it off well, though, especially in the last few months as Gracen has officially moved out of the babyish things stage (like starting to speak in full sentences, wearing underpants, and refusing to nap).

This is how they watch TV together:

 I like this picture because it is so their personalities: 

Gracen in love with dancing and Eli hamming it up for her.

 Sweet! Have I mentioned before that I love having my kids close in age?!  Makes me feel sad for the next one...whenever that may happen.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Paint

Jaron is a little anti-Pinterest.  In fact, he calls it "the killer of all original thought."  On the contrary.  I actually feel like I get (and use!) a lot of good ideas from Pinterest.  Like sweetened condensed milk paint.

The boys had a blast mixing up all the colors of paint in an ice cube tray.

 

 Then we got to work.  I painted right along side them.  This picture shows my section (upside down) and Alden's re-creation of my two men fishing in a boat.  To the right of Alden's two men is my favorite part - his giant starfish sea monster.  Nice!  Notice one of the men is catching the sea monster. :-)

 It's been too long since this actually took place; I can't remember what the other half of Alden's picture was!  WAAH for being behind on blogging!

 This is Eli's section of the paper.  He painted a rainbow and then got really frustrated when he couldn't paint fish like mine.

 

We had  so much fun with this!  It was a perfect project for the wallpaper rolls I buy at ReStore for $1.

Train Expo

Man alive it's been a long time since I blogged!  All because Blogger wants me to pay $5 to keep posting pictures.  I got a lot of good advice on how to dodge the system but I think I'm just going to buck up and pay, for the sake of easiness.  I've been avoiding it because I haven't had time to play around with creating new accounts, etc.  I find I'm even avoiding taking pictures because I'm too far behind on posting them!  But EBSCO Host seems to be down tonight and I can't access the last two articles I need for my research paper on sexual identity and sports (fascinating, actually).  I guess it's fate that I should be going to bed early blogging tonight!

What seems like many week ago, we drove to KCMO to attend a train expo.  I mostly did it for Eli, my train fanatic but Alden seemed just as interested.

 

All Gracen cared about was the Radio Disney booth. Dance, dance, dance!  

She's such a girl - I love it!

Some of the train displays were really creative!  I loved this little drive-in movie theatre.

And this carnival display was fantastic.  It didn't seem to be built from a kit, instead it was built from a myriad of stuff (toys, metal rods, etc).  All of the rides were electric and spinning and turning.  It was fun to see!

 

 This display reminded me of Idaho.

 

And this one reminded me of Sweet Home Alberta. *sniff*

 And this roller coaster was just plum amazing.  I think it was built out of toothpicks!

Gracie's Best Friend

My sweet little social butterfly has her first best friend:

 I think Ella helped motivate Gracen to potty train - all I had to say were the magic words "Ella goes pee pee on the potty and wears underpants!"  Gracen literally cries for Ella, especially if we drop Eli off at her house for preschool and I come back without Ella in tow.  Ella's big brother, Gideon, is smack dab in the middle of Eli and Alden's age and is good pals with both of them.  We're sure going to be sad when the Dunlap family moves away!

BUY more picture storage?!

I haven't posted in awhile.  As predicted, Biopsychology is taking its toll.  The fact that Gracen has stopped napping and has subsequently robbed me of two good daytime homework hours each day doesn't help.  I did plan to whip out some posts out today and Blogger is telling me I have to BUY more storage space before I can put up pictures.

Has anyone had to do this?  Did you do it?  It's not like it's expensive ($5 per year) but still...

Random Thoughts

I've had a lot of random thoughts swirling around my head lately.  I'm going to write them down here since I type ten times as fast as I write.  I really should just start a digital journal but I guess I'm waiting to fill up my "brick and mortar" journal first.  At the pace I'm going, it should be filled in 10-15 years.  Here's what's on my mind lately:

1. The scriptures.  The foundation of my religion is Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon is called the "keystone" of our religion - in a way, it holds other pieces of our religion in place.  It is called Another Testament of Jesus Christ and testifies of Him, His commandments, and the lives of people in ancient America.  I cannot fully explain it, but there is a power that comes into my life from reading this book.  Last Sunday, a leader in our church challenged us to read 30 minutes everyday.  I haven't consistently found 30 minutes everyday yet but I do read every single day.  And because I do, I can feel that my life is tangibly different.  I can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost as a greater presence in my life and it affects everything I am: the mother I am, the wife I am, the teacher I am, the student I am, and the friend I am.  Reading the B of M also teaches me volumes about what kind of a God there is.  And let me tell you, I am learning that God is more good and kind, and more aware of us, than we can ever imagine.  I love learning of the nature of God.  It's like a wise teacher once told me: the more you learn of Him, the more you love Him and the more you love Him, the more you want to keep His commandments.

2. Exercise.  We recently splurged on a pass to an exercise facility in our area.  Honestly, I mainly got the pass so that I could take the kids swimming in the fabulous pool.  I usually exercise for 30 minutes 5 times a week at home and have always thought that going out to a gym to "get 'r done" would just take too much time.  I've been surprised at how much I love going to the gym!  When Alden and Eli are both in school, I pay the $2 it costs me to put Gracen into their childcare and I get almost two-hours to myself.  I love a good quality treadmill.  Yesterday I ran 3 miles, which may sound puny to some, but it's an accomplishment for me!  I have a new love there: the rowing machine.  I can't fully explain why but I love the "swoosh" of the water each time I row. :-)

3.  Swimming.  Although connected to #2, it deserves a number all its own.  I loooooove swimming!!  Tuesday was the first time in about a year that I've gotten to go swim lengths.  I set myself a goal of 100 lengths and finished in just over an hour.  I didn't go at a fast pace and didn't really break a sweat but I did thoroughly enjoy the water (and I did re-awaken a few muscles that I don't use on a regular basis).  I'm sure other people think I'm nuts but I love floating and gliding at a slow pace through the water.  I also love swimming at the bottom of the pool.  I can't fully explain it, but I love the feel that water gives you of being completely surrounded by something and nothing at the same time.  My heaven will definitely include a pool!!

4. School.  I started Biopsychology recently.  I was intimidated by the subject matter and even more intimidated by my instructor when she e-mailed us her fair but high expectations prior to the class start.  I got my lowest score yet in this degree on my first assignment.  But I'm not deterred, I am finding that I love the subject matter and the text does an excellent job at explaining intricate brain processes and a massive amount of information in a concise and straightforward manner.  Now if only I could discipline myself to cut Facebook and blogging and Pinteresting out of my homework time, I could actually get it done before midnight!!

5. Night shift.  Jaron just finished two weeks straight of 14-hour night shifts in OBGYN.  I did not enjoy the disruption to our lives as Jaron spent all day sleeping at the house while the kids and I tried to make ourselves quiet and scarce.  I do love taking the kids places but I also love being able to be home with them.  Jaron just started surgery and its supposed to be a demanding rotation.  He left yesterday at 4:30 AM and just texted me that the end is not yet in sight.  28 hours and counting - that's a new record for us!

6. Our bodies.  Because of my class, I'm learning a lot about the brain.  Holy smokes is the brain ever a complex organ!  It is astounding that we understand as much of it as we do ("we" being those who actually do understand it - not me!).  It is nothing short of amazing what goes on in our bodies every single day.  And even more amazing is that, generally, nothing goes wrong.  The more I learn about the body, the more grateful I am to have been blessed with a healthy one!

And that, folks, is what's on my mind.