Building Projects & A Taste of Spring

Colleen had improved, and then she woke up with this strange swollen left eye....but the right one was the one that had green junk coming out of it. Crazy kids.  We continued to keep a low profile in public places in hopes of keeping germs to ourselves.

I undertook a massive quilting project (4 quilts in 17 days!) that started over this weekend. So how does a mama get it done? By bringing her sewing tools to wherever her kids want to be. The did hours of perler beads one afternoon and I happily cut 2 of the 4 quilts in between ironing their creations. 

Daddy undertook his own project of building us new shelving units for our bin overload in the basement. The kids enjoyed observing and "helping". 

Saws are loud!

So we were walking through Michael's Arts & Crafts to pick up a framing order, and Austin focuses on this giant cardboard rocket ship, meant for coloring and playing. He comes home and counts how much money he has in his wallet ($15) and begs for jobs to do to earn the rocket ship ($20). He has laser focus on the goal. A few days later I get a super-coupon in my email and realize that he can afford the rocket ship at the $16 price that he had then, with my coupon. So we go to buy the rocket, and he decides that he actually wants the pirate ship. He owns that giant box with pride and excitement. Interestingly enough, Patrick had mentioned to me that very morning that he needed to find a building project to do with Austin, because he had spent so much time with Amelia building the basement shelves. So I promise Austin on our way out of the store that Daddy will help build it that night after dinner.  Patrick sets out to help Austin and then is dismayed to discover that building the pirate ship includes like 30 something steps. It definitely kept them up past normal bedtime, and Mom may have had to come to their rescue a few times.

But I kid you not, Austin spent 3.5 HOURS one morning coloring this ship. He has been intentional and meticulous. Listening to our favorite Sparkle Stories the entire time. I put up the baby gate on his door so the girls can watch, but he alone is allowed to color his prized ship. And he is intensely into it, requesting that we call him "Captain Austin" at home.  We've had some good giggles with piratey phrases around our house.

As the sewing onslaught continued throughout the days, this girl had a lot of fun dressing up and playing.

If you listen, you can hear her singing part of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

We had a couple days of spring weather that demanded that we eat lunch outside. 

Then right after school we went outside to play in the driveway. Within 2 minutes, this girl went careening down our driveway at a full speed run and dived right into the pavement at the bottom of the hill. She gave herself a good abrasion on her forehead and knees. She's going to have to learn how to walk and not run before summer comes.

More warm afternoons doing homework outside.

Showing off his skills with a pastry cutter.

So grateful for this storm door. This little girl watches the bus pick up and drop off every day (when she's awake), and the bus driver usually honks and waves at her. It's one of the highlights of her day.

We had to run an errand near Daddy's work so we met for quick lunch. Austin was thrilled with the surprise. 

Amelia requested to make deviled eggs for dinner one night (from one of her cookbooks). So we had them with pigs-in-a-blanket on our breakfast-for-dinner night (Thursdays). She impressed me with how well she did almost entirely alone. 

While Amelia made the eggs, Austin & I played checkers (inspired by our meal at Cracker Barrel).

Just in case you were wondering, child safe lids are not always child safe. We had just come back from Costco and the kids were helping me unload. I turn around and find that Colleen had unloaded Daddy's Airborne bottles onto the kitchen counter and had opened one.

We like Chinese Checkers because it's a three (four if you count Colleeen) game.

Amelia and Daddy getting ready to go to the Father-Daughter dance at school.

Austin was thrilled with his special attention while they were gone to the dance. We had brownies and a game of checkers after Colleen went to bed.

Valentine's Activities & Sunshine

We were thankful that everyone was healthy for Valentine's week! We had postponed and rescheduled having Meera & Pragathi over to cut out Valentine's cookies for a party we were hosting later in the week. So they came over on Saturday afternoon and helped us bake dozens of cookies.

This girl LOVES Pragathi. She yells her name when she sees her walking to/from the bus stop each day.

Amelia celebrated the 100th day of school on that Monday. Her answers cracked me up.

On Monday afternoon, the neighborhood girls came over for a cookie-decorating party. They each decorated their plateful. My floor was covered in sprinkles, and everyone was grinning at their creations.

On Valentine's day, Austin set out to make more colored hearts.

Showing off his party loot.

Amelia came in excited to display her party craft.

Our library hosted a Mo Willems Birthday/Valentine party. So we attended. The kids had fun listening to the books, playing games and decorating additional cards.

Then we walked across the street and went to Amelia's ballet class. They allow parents to come in once a year to observe the students. It had originally been scheduled for the prior week, but was canceled due to ice. It worked out well for us that everyone felt better, so we all came and watched her class.

Showing off his window art creations. Eventually I'll remove the tape and clean the windows...but they love to randomly draw on them with the window markers.

This girl. As soon as she got over the worst of the virus/infection, she has turned up the mischief level to high. She requires constant supervision now. I don't know what switched flipped in her brain, but she is now climbing onto all prohibited surfaces, shoving electrical cords/markers/tools/anything prohibited in her mouth. She makes a dash for all electrical devices to turn them on/off, moves furniture to play with light switches and thinks climbing in and out of the tubs is hysterical. It's a good thing she's so cute. But she and time-out are becoming well acquainted. In 1 week, we've trained the kids to shut all doors as often as possible, in an attempt to minimize the damage done when Mommy is otherwise distracted or occupied.

On the amazingly warm Thursday afternoon before the President's weekend holiday, we made a dash for Duke Farms as soon as Amelia got home from school. Our friends met us for a brief time of running through the mud, swinging sticks in the air and releasing weeks of pent up energy.

They were all super-excited about a garter snake.

They literally spent almost an hour just piling mulch up on rocks and then clearing it off.

So grateful for health when we can get it!