I feel like I'm being watched

Dev has been devouring the Magic Treehouse books like crazy.  Like two or three a week.  She loves them.  When we go to the library, I try to point out other books that I think she'll like.  But she barely considers them.  It's ok.  I'm glad she's found a book series that she likes that much.  During Spring Break the library here had a Magic Treehouse party.  Tragically, I didn't bring my camera to that, but it's ok because it was not mandatory that a parent be there.  So Iggy and Bogey and I went out into the children's area and did puzzles and played on the computer until Dev and Cal were done.  In a little while, all the kids came pouring out of the room and fanned across the library.  Confused I looked up and Dev yelled to me (not clear across the library, but still)  "We're doing a treasure hunt!!"  She was so excited to be doing a real treasure hunt with clues and a prize at the end and everything.  She and Calvin were very careful to follow all the clues exactly, and they were led back to the room they started in.  I started to get a little concerned when the other kids started coming out and looking around the library for clues some more.  Dev and Calving stayed in the room for the rest of the time.  When I asked her about it afterwards, she said, "The other kids were sent back out because they didn't get the right answer to unlock the clues.  They had to go out and figure out what they missed."  So it turns out that my kids were the only two that did all the clues in the right order and cracked the puzzle on the first try.  Smart kids! 

Anyway, my whole point was that ever since then, my house has been treasure/hunt/spy arena.  It is what led me to find this on my desk the other day:

"Spying be on look out.  Spying. Watch your step and look out for spying diguises, too.  signed, Jack"

And obviously, on the back, there was some very important paper work that needed to be done.

I thought it was funny, but I busted up laughing when a few minutes later, I saw this coming down the stairs:  

I LOVE the little spy at the top of the stairs, too

 hmmm...I wonder where those kids are?  All I see here are inconspicuous multi-colored slugs.

 This is the way their game works.  They tell me that they are "sneaking."  This means that they are trying to get to some location in the house (past me) without me seeing them.  If I see them, I have to yell out, "I saw you!"  And they have to go back to the start.  So Dev was trying to get down to the toy room, and I was sitting at the bottom of the steps.  She's gotta be quick.  Gotta be quick to get past me! I'm even a quick draw with the camera. 

 I discovered their secret headquarters (they were ratted out by the double agent, Iggy.  He led me right to them! Bwa ha ha ha!  I love this picture.  Notice the flip notebook in Calvin's hand. They were discussing the mission.  I threw the door open and shot! ...the picture! 

 I love my creative kids!

St Patrick's day

 I admit it.  I am not one of those mom's who goes nuts over holidays.  Sorry to disappoint.  It's exhausting to try to add a holiday on top of what we're already doing.  BUT deep inside (very, very, deep) I want to be one of those moms who is perfect and on top of things.  Maybe someday.  This year, as with every holiday that comes up, I had big ambitions to make this the biggest St. Patricks day ever! It wasn't.  And there were so many ideas that I couldn't get to most of them.  I did manage to tell them to throw on something green before we left for church, so. . .  success! 

But one thing that I did do, that I have been doing for many years is making a green dinner.  In the past, I just put food coloring in whatever was on the menu.  In recent years, though, I've tried to actually serve things that are green.  This year's menu:  zucchini quiche, broccoli, and green biscuits.  

 I realize it doesn't look super appetizing, but it's GREEN!  and that' what I was going for. 
 

 Sidenote:  I love Bogey's Bogey's shirt

Gasp! Iggy's not wearing green! I'll pinch those cheeks for us, shall I?







Happy St. Patricks Day!

His birthday wish...

 Bogey had a birthday recently. 
He went through the usual excitement--
picking out his cake (Captain America)
deciding what he wanted to do most on his big day (play Mario) 
but he surprised us all when he announced what he wanted more than anything for his birthday was. . . .

His very own bag of chips! 

Ok, buddy.  I think we can handle that. 

 

He was thrilled to open his presents, and he had a good birthday.  

 

And he made very good use of that bag of chips.  
I love this kid.  He cracks me up!  Happy Birthday, big guy!

Goings on

Church was cancelled today because we had a huge storm.  It only dropped about 4 inches of snow, but I have snowed plastered to the inside wall of my patio, so the wind was blowing pretty hard.  I love going to Church, and I love taking care of the responsibilities I have there, but I cannot tell you well enough how nice it was to sleep in, cuddle with the Hubby, make a nice breakfast, change into my pajamas, and take a break!  I don't just mean from Church, I mean from life.  Thank you, storm, for clearing my schedule for me.  That hasn't happened for a long time. 
My biggest trial right now is that I am so busy.  With two callings, homeschooling, and a busy husband, I barely have time to think straight.  (I realize that those three things may not sound that busy, but trust me--my plate runneth o'er.  My cup is full.) But I realized recently that I am so busy being busy that I haven't taken time to enjoy my life.  I asked for all these things, right?  I enjoy all these things, right?  So, why am I  wallowing in how busy I am?  Why am I caught up in the thick of thin things? I don't know either.  I think I will stop.  I've tried this whole week to stop, in fact.  And I've done really well.  I've enjoyed my kids more.  I've caught more of how awesome they think, how they like to explore and see the world.  I've taken more time to see what they see and laugh at the funny, cute things they do.  It's been a good week.  
I've thought a lot about this blog, too, and I've decided something.  I have to blog for me, and no one else.  That's hard for me because I'm so aware that I'm putting words out there for just any Joe Schmo to read.  But I've spent a lot of time trying to make my blog what I think everyone else would want, and it doesn't work.  My blog has to be for me.  SO I decided that while I am trying to capture the simpler, happier things in life, my blog is a great place to record it.  I guarantee that I will have long gaps in between posts sometimes (I'm busy), and as long as I'm ok with it, that's all that matters. 

This is what happens in my house when I leave my camera out:

They take blurry pictures of themselves! 

beware a kid with a camera

One of Calvin's recent projects was to make a collage of pictures of things that started with each letter of the alphabet.  I told him he could either look through magazines or borrow my camera and take pictures himself.  He chose door number 2.  (Hands down) He had a lot of fun walking around the house with the camera, snapping pictures.  Here are just some of my favorite pictures that he took:  

 B is for Baby

 G is for glasses

 D is for Dev

 (B) is for (Bogey!)

 M is for Mommy!

 C is for Carrots (and crackers! a deuce!)

 G is for Giraffe

 G is for Green (not sure what this green thing is honestly)

 P is for plant

 M is for map

 F is for fire (yes, there was adult supervision.  Thanks for your concern.)

U is for Umbrella

 

Junior Paleontologists

 The kids have been very interested in dinosaurs lately.  We've studied lots of books on them and watched lots of Dinosaur Train on pbskids.org (awesome site, if you don't know about it already).
We decided to do a little Paleontology work.   (by the way, if my kids look younger to you in these pictures, it's because they are--younger.  We did this project quite awhile ago, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.  Better late than never, right?)

First, I got three plastic tubs (these are old salad tubs.  I save them for when we plant the seedlings in the spring).  I went out in the garden while the kids were still getting ready for the day and filled them with dirt.  Then I buried the "bones" randomly in them.

When we got started for the day, I told the kids that we were going to be Paleontologists to see if we could find some dinosaur bones.  We had to have the necessary tools.

We talked for a bit about how real dinosaur explorers use certain tools that help them dig up the bones in ways that will preserve them.  The bones are delicate.  Scientists don't want them to break or be disturbed, so they dig them up very carefully with special brushes and shovels.  We talked about what forming a hypothesis--or making a guess about how the dinosaur must have looked based on what we know about the bones and the way they were found in the dirt.

You'd think they had just been given a box of gold, instead of a box of dirt  based on their reactions.  They LOVED this project!!!  

Even little Bogey spent lots of time carefully digging and brushing the dirt away from his "bones."

As they dug and brushed and discovered the bones hiding in the dirt, they placed them on the table.  Once they were sure that they had recovered all the bones, they set to work forming hypothesis about how the bones fit together.  It was really interesting to me to see all the possibilities they came up with.  Kids are so creative.  When I put the bones in the dirt, I was pretty sure that there would be one obvious way for all the bones to fit together, but they came up with several that I hadn't considered.  I love that about kids.  Genius, I tell ya.

Dev is trying to fit together the back legs

 

Calvin thinks he's got it

 This is Calvin's finished dinosaur.  He was pretty proud of it.

 Bogey was so proud of his that he carried it around with him for a few days.  He told me while I was taking this picture that his dinosaur was reptilian and cold blooded and needed to sit in the sun for a long time to warm himself.  (Above picture is sideways--I don't know why it wouldn't load turned the right way.  Cock your head to the side, please)  And as a result, I found this:

on the floor many, many times throughout the remaining week.

If your kids are even the slightest bit interested in dinosaurs, or science, or dirt, or pipe cleaners, or exploring, I would highly recommend this activity.  It was lots of fun!

I was talking to a very dear friend (who know who she is--Hi! I miss you!)  recently, telling her some of the things I was working on, when she suddenly said, "You know that story in the scriptures about the guys who are given the talents, and the two guys with 5 and 2 go and trade their talents and make more, and the guy with 1 buries his?"  uh, yeah.  "I think you may be a little guilty of being the one talent guy.  You kind of are a talent burier."    I hope you can tell from her candidness that she is a very, very good friend who cares a lot about me.  Only she, and maybe some in my family could get away with a statement like that.  I've been thinking about that a lot. 

A LOT.  Do I?  Am I? 

I reviewed the story in the scriptures for myself one day (See Mathew 25)  while I was thinking about our conversation, and came away with the conclusion, that I am absolutely that guy.  I am a talent burier.  In the scriptures, he says that he buried his talent because he is afraid of losing it.  It's ironic that the thing that he does to keep it safe is the thing that makes him lose it. 

If I don't develop my talents, they will be taken away, not because God is mean like that, but because without exercise, the talent fades away.  Plants die when they aren't nutured.  Muscles weaken when they aren't exercised.  Skills are forgotten when they are not practiced.  Testimonies don't keep; they need constant refreshing.  On the other hand, those skills and talents we do take the time to nurture grow stronger, and we are given more. 

My friend is right (as per her usual).  I do have talents that I am burying.  I have established this blog as a way to share what I'm learning with friends and family.  But I am afraid.  What if they don't like me?  What if they think I'm bragging?  What if some weirdy finds my blog and uses the information for weirdy things?  What if someone leaves a negative comment?  I struggle, struggle against those thoughts all the time.  I'm really not quite sure where to go from here, but I think understanding it a little better and expressing it openly is helping. 

I will attempt now to unbury my talent, and take it to where I can make it into more talents.  This is not going to be easy for me, and I may realize more than once along the way that I've buried it in a new spot.  I'll try to notice and unbury it again.  I was given this talent for a reason, and I don't think the reason is to bury it.