She's gonna blow!!!

This little horse recently had her last battery transplant.  How did it go?  Not well.  The mommy horse and her colt (not shown) were a gift for Hannah's 3rd birthday.  John and I have decided to only replace her batteries, at most, once a year, because she seems to have some issues...some postpartum issues, to be specific.  For the first little while, she energetically plays the tune to twinkle twinkle little star to her dear colt.  After a few days of constantly playing the same tune over and over again she starts to loudly and tiredly sing off tune. 

One day, after Maddie was born, Hannah pushed her button only to start another ear-grating song.  I remember laughing until I felt like sobbing.  Her ragged hair and barely recognizable song hit a little close to home.  Me, with my own post-partum craziness, felt like hugging that mommy horse and telling her that we would survive.  I did survive!  She wasn't quite as lucky. 

Last month she sang her very last tune, again it slowly morphed into something un-recognizable, and then to our surprise she started ticking...like a time-bomb...and we couldn't turn her off.  Maddie took her down to the playroom and she continued to tick for another two days.  Luckily she didn't explode, she just slowly phased out.  I don't think that we will ever put her through another battery change, she needs her sleep.

Adopt a tree house project

We have a walking trail close to our house that is perfect for riding bikes. During one of our bike rides last year, we discovered a tree that some children had converted into a type of tree house. Since then, my kids have begged to visit it quite a few times. During one of the visits, we met the makers of the tree house. These kids said that they had made it about 5 years ago, and that they didn't come back to play in it much anymore.

This year, during our first bike ride of the season, we noticed that some of the boards were coming off of the tree and that it was hard to climb into. Johnny suggested that we fix it, and a light bulb turned on in my head. Maybe this would be a great opportunity for him to spend some time with his dad. So (sorry John) I recruited him to spend an evening with Johnny fixing up the old tree house on the trail.

John loaded up the bike trailer with a hammer, some nails, a battery powered skill saw and some wood, and off they headed down the trail. They made a new ladder and a railing (Johnny's suggestion) to the platform. Johnny was so proud of his work that he couldn't wait to show the rest of us. The next day he lead Hannah, Maddie and I down the trail to see his handy work, we were very impressed.
Then we went a little further down the trail and saw this eagle's nest type tree house that I had never noticed before. Against my better judgement I let them climb up there. They had a blast and nobody broke an arm or a leg or a neck, bonus. I don't know why I wanted them to have this experience so badly. I could be that I loved climbing trees when I was little, and we haven't had any good mature trees to climb since we have had children.

Maddie spent most of her time collecting the little colorful balls that you can find all over the trail and putting them in her bag. I think that they come from air-soft guns, I'm not sure. I snapped a picture of her by her bike and then she snapped a picture of me.

Dinner at the Fooly Cafe

I love April Fool's day, I don't really get into the pranks, but I love to play with food--so this is what my children get, an evening at the Fooly Cafe. Last year was my first year trying this menu idea out. Last year we called it a mystery dinner, but I think that I am ready to make it a tradition and that I will call it the Fooly Cafe from now on, I like the ring of it. It's simple, first they chose what they want for their beverage, first course, second course and third course...and then I serve it to them.


They didn't get to choose their dessert, but they were all pleasantly surprised at the crazy amount of sweets that were set before them. I served peas and carrots (green sixlets and mango licorice), mashed potatoes and gravy (vanilla icecream and caramel topping), and chicken nuggets (donut holes) for desert. This idea was from the Family Fun website.

For dinner we served lots of different things, for the "Happy cuppy" option, I followed the Family Fun recipe for meatloaf cupcakes too. It was funny to see the looks on Lucy's and Maddie's faces when they tasted the mashed potato frosting. They kept tasting it, trying to figure out why it didn't taste sweet. Oh, and the extra child is Hannah's friend, Gabby. She decided to stay for dinner that evening.

Hannah decided that she wanted to cover her shoes in tin-foil for April Fool's day. I'm still not sure why she wanted to do this, but she went to school with the shiniest shoes ever, and feeling awfully clever. We joked with her that maybe they were solar powered shoes.

This is what we all woke up to on the morning of April 1st. John had woken up early and turned the table and chairs upside down. The kids loved it. One thing is for sure, if we had a heavier and more expensive table he couldn't have done this. Yes, I am trying to look at the bright side. ;)

A get-away with the girls

I love the ladies in my family, and I am always excited to have an excuse to spend some time with them. My sister, Valerie, turned 50 on Valentines day this year, and we had been planning on having a surprise birthday intrusion for a few months previous. About a month before we all headed to her home, my oldest sister, Marilyn, informed us that Val found out about our plans. It turns out that her husband and our brother-in-law, Greg, had accidentally forwarded one of our planning e-mails to her. Val jokingly called him a "techno-tard" (one of my favorite politically incorrect words now) but we have a sneaking suspicion that he may have done it on purpose so that she could be prepared. She was grateful to know that we were coming. I fell in love with New Mexico, it is a beautiful place, let me tell you why.

I made some lovely memories with some of my favorite people there. (I am embarassed about the above picture, but it is the only picture that I have of all of us on my camera. My sisters took much better photos.)

We were able to visit Val in her "natural habitat." I loved her home: she has an amazing collection of house plants which are very loved; she made us a very tasty meal in her kitchen; she gave us a tour of her eco-friendly, beautifully decorated and almost completely self-made home. I feel proud to have a sister, and brother-in-law, who are so talented.

I was able to witness my sister, Kathleen, scrub her shoes off with a stray toilet brush. I had dreamed of this day, but I never thought that it would ever happen.

Of course the opportunity didn't present itself until we happened to be visiting a very interesting place in New Mexico. A few miles away from Val's house is a community called the Earthship Community. They make their homes entirely from eco-friendly and recycled materials. I like Val's idea of eco-friendly much more, but these homes were very interesting to visit. Most of the homes were almost completely underground with just solar panels peaking up from their roofs above ground. If you were to look across the land you would never guess that people actually lived there. We joked that these homes were made with "blood, sweat and beer."

We experienced (probably) the hugest cinnamon rolls and pastry's on earth. Here Amy is holding one of them, and the local dogs display their begging abilities.

While we are on the subject of dogs, I was able to witness my sister, Marilyn, give a "double-dog-dare" for the first time in my life. Her and Kathleen shared a plate of delicious Mexican food and Kathleen loved it so much that she wanted to lick the plate. Marilyn double-dog-dared her.

I always thought that Kathleen was above taking dares, but apparently not above taking dares from such authority as her older sister.

One more thing that I loved about New Mexico was their use of my very Favorite color. Turquoise is the color that they use the most to signify good fortune. Almost everywhere you go, you see this color. I couldn't get enough of it.