St. Patrick's Day 2014

Truth be told, I'm not that into St. Patrick's Day! As I was trudging through lesson plan and craft ideas for the holiday, I realized my heart just isn't into it like it is on other holidays! I do not care about leprechauns! :) 

So, I told myself it will be confined to ONLY Monday as our craft day so there would be minimum planning involved. Well, our friend Miss Allie (the four year old) is a craft queen. Now that she has seen what I can come up with, she has some high expectations. :) So, she requested a craft, and this was in the back of my mind...so we quickly printed rainbows and then cut up scrap paper...well, sort of quick. So, viola, pretty rainbows out of cut up papers. Our Pre-St. Pats craft. :) Lorelei asked to color one since I had an extra page.

We made clover cookies. Traditionally, my mom just used green sprinkles on her St. P sugar cookies (as opposed to the usual frosting) which I've decided is because she was simply very tired of frosting cookies by March since she does these for nearly every holiday. :) I was all about keeping it simple too, so we just had fun sprinkling them just like Nana does! :)

(You may notice Makin is cutting out butterflies...we ran out of green sprinkles so had to switch to something other than shamrocks for the last part of the dough! :) )

On St. Pats We...

Made edible rainbow bracelets with Fruit Loops cereal. My kids were so psyched they got to get kid's cereal at the store! :) 

Blew up green balloons (98 cent entertainment here people) and I drew faces on them. You can never go wrong with balloons. They loved the faces and each had their own name on a balloon. Lots of fun hitting them around that day.

Learned a bit about St. Patrick and all he did. I told them how he used the three leaf clover to explain the trinity, then they colored and cut out a three-leaf clover and glued the extra hearts on top of it, which had the three parts of the trinity. We also painted with green paint on green paper with green glitter. :)

We had lots of green fruits and veggies for lunch along with shamrock-shaped sandwiches.


Hope you all had fun wearing green! :)

Gonna Be A Bright Sunshiny Day

It does get sunny and above 30 in Nebraska!!! :) I was starting to wonder. :)

Sunday we enjoyed a family golf outing. This was their last day of winter rates so although it was windy, we deemed it a good day for golf. It was a great combo as Brad golfed 9 holes while the kids napped, and then we joined him for the last 9. As always, we have a great time as a family.







Our little golf stud. :) (But we aren't biased or anything. ;) ) Love it.

Makin's Artwork

Our Monday included 75 degree temps, sunshine, mud pies, park, baseball, soccer, sidewalk chalk, pink lemonade, grilling, and bike rides. Sooo thankful for days like this! (It seriously snowed the day after this...but didn't stick. Here starts the up and down of cold/warm spring!)

Thursday started our short spring break. We had coupons from Drue's mom we have been saving since November. It was finally warm enough to use them! :) Makin said, "Yum! I think I like ice cream now!" (He does better when its not by the spoonful, not so cold for his mouth.) Then we headed to the bike path. The first part of the walk/ride was fun. Lorelei rode far off ahead and loved the freedom of being on her own but still in my sight. (The advantage of this bike path!) The way home it was super windy and we were going against the wind, so it got long, but still very glad we went.

We haven't done anything else really spring-break post worthy! Feels good to have four days to ourselves and getting caught up on errands and house chores though! :)

Hodgepodge Of Fun

This week was low key with lesson plans/art projects etc. I am still recovering from Seuss week and just in a funk so here are a few little bits of fun to post about from the last week.

Makin and Daddy finally got their donut date! :) Makin loved that there was a little toy train that drove around and apparently there was a whistle too.

Home-made laundry detergent! Only have to do this two times a year! Love it!

Celebrating half birthdays about mid-week. Holding up 5 1/2 and 3 1/2. We finally took Makin's cake out of the freezer. :)











Saturday was a day I have been waiting for since we moved to Columbus! Shopping with Michelle and Alea! :) Michelle drove and we girls enjoyed a day to ourselves. Although I didn't find much my style, it was great to get some time away together. Brad held down the fort at home. He took the kids to Super Saturday where they made rainbows out of fruit. Then they enjoyed some backyard golfing. :) Fun day for everybody. :)

Ooops...Extra Quotes

So, I found a paper I missed with some quotes on it. I'm planning to just add these onto their 5 1/2 and 3 1/2 posts but since you won't reread them...I'm making this one for now. One of these days I'll learn to write them all in one notebook and no where else...I hope.

Lorelei

L: Mommy, do you have a gun?
Me: No, what makes you ask that?
L: You don't have a hot glue gun!?!

Me: Are you sure you want to wear brown socks with silver shoes?
L: Yeah. That's my style.


Makin

M: Do you know what we saw at the store? A Dusty alarm clock. (The character from Planes, not dust.)
Me: You don't need a clock because you can't tell time yet.
M: Yes I can. Its 5:40
Me: You're cute, you know that?
M: I know. :)

M: Lorelei needs a Kleenex! (running to me)
Lor: I need one immediately!
M: (after giving it to her) That's better. That was grossing me out!

Makin At 3 1/2

"Look Mommy! My M!"

Makin, at 3 1/2, you are our little boy who is full of sweetness and cuddles, but also attempting to put your foot down on so many things! This has been a little more challenging age, but still so much better than I could expect from you! :)

You are still a quick learner. You know most of your letters and their sounds. Although, when you see a big N you actually say its for Huskers. :) You love to sing songs. You also like to learn lots of words to books we read often. You are getting much better at writing your name, but do not like to practice it. :)

You still love green. And everybody who knows you knows it. :) Second runner up seems to be orange. :)

You still love all things sports and all things that go. You always want to play cars, planes or trains.

Sometimes if you hurt me (usually by accidentally head-butting me which seriously happens 3+ days a week!) you say "Where it hurt?" then you kiss it and then cup your hands in a little circle and put them over the owie like you are giving it a little hug.

You have quite the entourage when you go to bed. You require your sea horse, 2 puppies, elephant, a blanket or two over your bedding, and a variety of cars/monster trucks/planes.

You go "super duper fast" pretty much all the time. You also love to go fast and then dive to the ground like you are sliding into home plate. You have taught me why boys never have jeans to hand down to other people.

You are doing much better about trying new foods and getting to be less of a picky eater. A few things you have tried (not all that you necessarily like, but tried) include peanut butter (you still prefer almond butter), salt and pepper, pickles and spaghetti sauce, to name a few. :)

You do not like bad guys/gals on movies. You get very concerned for the characters in the movies and sometimes tear up because you are worried and have to come cuddle on my lap.

You are very particular about sooooo many things. We have had to adapt to figure out how to keep you from flipping out about things that most kids don't fret much about. (I learned recently this is a trait Brad had as a child so I'm glad I get to blame it on him. ;)) Just a few examples... Sometimes your pillow case corners stick out in a way that is not ok with you. No idea how we fix it, but we can spent 5+ minutes working to perfect the pillow arrangement. We had major seahorse placement issues for a while until we said it was up to you to arrange it yourself and we weren't moving it for you. Certain clothing items (like hoodies) can severely mess up carseat comfort etc. and don't even dream of getting water on those long sleeves!

You recently decided that your favorite hot wheels cars are the ones with spoilers on them. "Spoiyers" is how you say it but you are trying hard to get the "L" sound instead.

Makin's Favorites (His answers in red, my added answers following)

Cereal: Crispix and Chocolate Cheerios, Cheerios
Book: Mater the Spy Car, Both Little Blue Truck Books, Dinosaur Dig
TV Show/Movie: (when we watch them. :) )  Cars Two,  Chuggington, Cars and Mater's Tall Tales (movies), Little Einsteins
Food: Mac N Cheese, Pancakes, 
Snack: Raisens, crackers and cream cheese
Place At Home: the kitchen because I can eat eat eat, Playroom
Place Out: Red Robin,(apparently our kids have very good memories of RR!) Parks, church
Toy: Trucks, cars/things that go
Song: Jesus Loves Me, Away In A Manger (which we still sing sometimes even though its March)

Quotable Moments

Favorite place to eat is "ickdonalds"

Makin: Mom, you have to see my surprise. I have a dog but it doesn't poop in the yard.

Me: (after chuckling at that one) Where does it poop then?

Makin: The bad guy's yard.

It is amazing to me how car-minded he is. He was looking at a candy cane and then out of the blue said something about his surgery and how he got to watch cars while he was walking up. I asked him what made him think of his surgery. "The red stripes on the candy cane remind me of Lightening McQueen." I think he said something about they looked like car tracks going around it also. :)

(playing airplanes)
Makin: Lets go to Florida. (The toy airplanes.)
Me: Why are we going to Florida?
Makin: To see Gigi and Pops.

(I was making Makin's bed.)
"Where's my pillow sheet?" (asking about his pillow case)

"Guess what? Did you know I'm the slowest eater in the whole wide world?"

Heard often..."That was so hilarious." and "Mommy, I'm ravenous."

Me: Where do you want to live when you grow up?
Makin: In a donut shop so I can eat donuts all the time.

(As we were cooking supper, which included corn on the cob.)
(Loud gasp! from Makin)
"Cobs of corn!?!?!?! Yum!"

(I was getting onto the kids about arguing and how I'm tried of hearing them argue.)
M: I don't like arguing but we have to.
Me: Why?
M: Because that's how we work it out.

Lorelei At 5 1/2

You are officially 5 1/2, love it, know it, and let everybody you see know it. :) You are still our excited, chatty, social, bundle of energy and brighten each of our days.

You do a great job staying in character when you are playing puppies etc.

When you get goofy (and sometimes just randomly) you talk with an accent.

You need lots of quality time. Even though I'm with you every day, there are often nights where we will cuddle before bed and you will say, "I need some Mommy time. I feel like I hardly saw you all day."

Our Snow Princess

You are really getting into writing words and spelling words for me to tell you what they say. You are very excited to learn to read now that you know your letters. :) You are still not that enthused to work hard on perfecting your number recognition now though! :) You would much rather just color.

You want everyone to be your friend. It really seems to mean a lot when someone is friendly to you or if they aren't.

You are learning what its like to have another leader personality with you several days a week and learning to make sure to still think for yourself and stick up for yourself. Having a group children at our house has also brought out some "leadership" qualities in you both good and bad.

You are up and down with how much sleep you need. We seemed be getting down to only one or two naps per week, but lately we have been having more again. Maybe you are growing or we are just doing too much?! You still have quiet time for about an hour each day and really seem to enjoy having that down time in your room by yourself. I'm very thankful you are so good about that.

You learned how to snap a few weeks ago and love showing everyone and perfecting how loud you can snap.

Lorelei's Favorites (her answers in red, but I also want to know what I think go along with her answers for when I read this years from now!)

Cereal: "haybales" and chocolate cheerios (which she only gets at Nana's house!)
Book: Franklin books, Dr. Suess Books, Berenstein Bears, Fancy Nancy...this girl likes variety and loves them all
TV Show/Movie: Tinkerbell (when we watch them. :) )  
Food: Basketti (Spaghetti), white wine Chicken
Snack: Chips and Salsa, Pretzels, Popcorn
Place At Home: my room or Kitchen doing crafts :)
Place Out: Eating out at Red Robin, parks, church
Toy: puppies, stuffed animals, ponies
Song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

New Snack Creation By L -
Graham cracker, yogurt topped with pretzels

Quotable Moments:

(I was talking about getting a bigger vehicle, before we got the van of course.)
"Hey! We should get a limousine!"

Me: I might loose my mind.
Lor: But I will catch it!

"Don't you think the tree looks prin? That's a fancy word for pretty."

"I have your bottom!"

(eating Lays Chips, which is a rare treat!)
Makin: Oh, a folded one!
Lorelei: Oh, those are the best! Right Mommy? (My grandm'as favorites are the folded lays, and I'm continuing on that tradition. :) Love that she remembers those little     things.)

(I was talking with them about going to the pediatrician.)
Me: You may have to get shots. But after that you can get a treat after...or something special.
Lor: Like...Ice skating!?

(Asking about my name...) "Even Spanish people call you that?"

Almost daily, "What kind of animal eats _____?" and then pretends to be that animal eating her food.

(Trying to sharpen a colored pencil and it kept breaking.) "It just gets down to nubbins!" (If you are not Berenstein Bears savvy that is what they say about Sister biting her nails...)

(Trying to convince Makin to use sauce with his spaghetti noodles) "It slurps better with sauce!"

Both kids love when I vacuum. Just to show how much they love it, the other night Makin was poking around not wanting to eat his supper. Lorelei tried to get him to eat it by saying, "You won't get your vacuum reward..."

Stahl Weekend Get-Together

We had been looking forward to watching Hannah and Karter compete in their Destination Imagination (DI) performances near Kearney, NE. Since they were all traveling to a town about 2 hours away, we thought it would be a great chance to see H and K perform. This is something similar to what Brad did as a kid and loved, so it was fun getting a chance to see that side of his childhood as well. 

Grand Island is about half way to Kearney from Columbus, and has a Home Depot! AND we were there the first Saturday of the month. :) We had been hoping for months that we could time our city visits with a Home Depot workshop and it finally worked out. This was Makin's first-ever workshop! I wished Brad good luck handing both kids with hammers, nails and glue and enjoyed some Hobby Lobby shopping by myself for an hour. :) They were very proud of their creations. (Trojan horse piggy banks...of course!?) Makin's reaction was, "I got to use a hammer and nails!" Both were very excited that he got his apron and first pin. Lorelei was excited to add another pin to her apron. :)

We then made the next half of the trip and met up with the family after lunch. This is part of Hannah's performance. We were pretty far away from Kater's so I didn't get a good one. They both did a great job and will be coming to Kearney again to compete the beginning of April so we hope to meet up again.

The kids were very excited to not only see their family, but also SWIM. :) Two hours Saturday night and 2-2 1/2 Sunday morning. They had a blast. Their older cousins are SO good with them so they had tons of one-on-one pool time with cousins and grown ups. :) Bottom left is Brad throwing Lorelei to Hannah...so high Sarah didn't even catch her in the picture. :) Couldn't believe she let him do that so many times!

We had a late supper after swimming and then warmed up by the fire with some games. Grandma even learned how to play Candyland. :)

The kids got Grandma to play one more game before going out for lunch together before everyone headed home. Thanks for a fun weekend Grandma and Grandpa!