Thursday, March 18, 2010

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day is starting to be one of my favorite “minor” holidays.  My kids love seeing what mischief the Leprechaun has been up to at our house.  This year, he managed to turn the water in all of the potties green!  Mikayla was pretty surprised by that. 

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He left green Dum-Dums on the kids sandwiches that they had for lunch. IMG_4663

When Mikayla asked for a snack, she had no idea that the Leprechaun  would turn all of her Froot Loops green!IMG_4667At dinner, he made sure that we had some Green Gatorade and green peas.   He also turned the mashed potatoes green (thankfully, the still tasted good).IMG_4672

For dessert, I made the kids a green jello dessert.  Gavin wasn’t overly thrilled with it (I wasn’t surprised – he is a VERY picky eater), so Mikayla was more than happy to eat his portion, too. IMG_4660 IMG_4666

Some cute pictures of my St. Patty’s sweeties.  Gavin is wearing a little hat that Mikayla made at school – he is such a goofball ;).

spring is near…..

I whisper this in fear that I may scare it away.  We have had some gorgeous weather the past couple of weeks (coupled with some very rainy days).

Last week we went to the park for a couple of hours – we had a great time.IMG_4586 IMG_4588 We spent a lot of time on the swings trying to go “higher, higher!”

IMG_4594 Gavin proved that he has no fear and is very agile.  He went up this rope ladder with ease, over and over.  Mikayla still has a little bit of a tough time with it. IMG_4599 Mikayla is definitely my social child.  She can make friends with anybody and always has a new best friend when we go out places.IMG_4603 Gavin loves to climb up the slides.  He ran around non-stop for almost two hours, which can easily be seen by his red little cheeks.

We have also been able to spend several afternoons in our backyard.  The kids have had a great time rediscovering all of the fun stuff that they can do back there. IMG_4641 Mikayla was gathering leaves and searching through the “forest” with her walking stick.  She has such an imagination!!IMG_4643 Gavin perched at the top of the slide and all ready to go down. IMG_4653 They also had a great time playing together in the sandbox.  I love watching them play together.  They even share on occasion!  I hope that we have this mild weather for a while – I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Did you know that today is Dr. Seuss's birthday?  Dr. Seuss is a popular guy at our house.  Some of our favorite books are….

Cat-Hat-Book one-fish-two-fish 51K5K4V5VGL._SL500_ greeneggs

I thought, for fun, I would make a fun dinner in honor of his birthday.  I found this idea for making “Cat in the Hat” Pizzas, here.  Jeremy was working late, so I needed a fun and easy dinner and this seemed to fit the bill. 

First, I took a pre-made pizza crust and cut it into six pieces.  I shaped each piece to look like a top hat.IMG_4559 I then spread the pizza sauce on.  Gavin seemed pretty intrigued with this step. IMG_4560 Next came the mozzarella cheese – my favorite part of the pizza!IMG_4561 Next, I took some turkey pepperoni, cut each in half, and made strips like those on the hat of “The Cat in the Hat.”IMG_4565 IMG_4562 IMG_4563

I had some great little helpers and quality control experts.  :)IMG_4567 These are the finished pizzas.  They aren’t very pretty, but they were yummy.  The kids (well, Mikayla, since Gavin eats nothing other than quesadilla, grilled cheese and chicken nuggets) enjoyed the pizzas.

To round out the day, we read “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” for a bedtime story.  Thanks Dr. Seuss for all of the giggles and cuddle moments with my children!!

Snow – Round 3!!!

I have lived in Georgia my whole life.  I can not remember a winter season where we have had so many winter “events.”  It has been one fun winter for my children.  When we woke up this morning, Mikayla was very excited to see a pretty good dusting of snow on the ground.  As the day progressed, the snow started coming down very heavy and very thick.  I don’t know if I have ever seen such big snowflakes!

We had plans to meet my friend, Hilary (we have been BFFs since we were 13!) and her son, Bryce for lunch and since the roads weren’t bad we decided to go forward with our plans.  As we were leaving, I snapped this picture of the house.  IMG_4538

After we got home, I suited up the kids and we headed out to play.  We had a great time!  We didn’t last a long time, though.  This was a very cold and WET snow.  After about 45-60 minutes everyone was ready and happy to go inside.  I was envisioning have to drag a screaming Gavin inside, but when I asked him if he was all done and ready to go “night, night”  he said, “Okay!” IMG_4540 IMG_4541 Don’t they look absolutely thrilled to be in the snow again.  We have had so much this year, I fear that they make think this is normal.  IMG_4542 IMG_4543 The kids had a great time helping making the snowman.  Gavin was very good at “pat, pat, pat”-ing the snow in place.  Mikayla did a great job of finding us “accessories” for the snowman.

IMG_4544 IMG_4545 I think he turned out pretty good!!  :)

IMG_4549 IMG_4552 IMG_4555 The kids tried to sled, but it wasn’t icy enough and we don’t have a very big hill in our front yard.  That resulted in me dragging them all over the yard.  At least I don’t have to feel guilty about skipping the gym this morning. 

IMG_4557 IMG_4558 Afterwards, Kayla and I made some snow cream.  It was pretty good, although, I think Mikayla enjoyed it much more than I did.  It’s all about the memories and experience right?

Well, as much fun as I have had with all of this snow, I am very ready for spring and the warm weather that accompanies it.  I have also affirmed to myself that while snow is nice in small doses, I would never choose to live in an area of the country that had this all winter.  I don’t think I would survive! ;)