Monday, April 29, 2013

Experimentation

We performed a color science experiment today.  We looked into what happens with absorption!

The girls colored big dots with marker on the bottoms of paper towels.


Then we put the paper towels in water, and watched the water move up the paper towels.


The girls found that the water goes up the towels, and takes the colors with it!


It's pretty remarkable how well the color moves with the water.  The girls were impressed.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Tulip Festival

Madison and Joni offered to take the girls this morning to Thanksgiving Point to see the tulips.  It was very kind of them to provide a break for me, and they had fun!

He sent me these pictures:


They love to feed the koi.


They surprised the girls with little umbrellas to keep the sun off.  Very cute.


Last, but not least, the big hill.  Perfect for rolling.  And rolling.  And rolling.


While the girls were gone with Mad and Joni and then later when they were gone with Brad, who came into town to see them, my parents and I went antique shopping.  And we may have made a little stop at this fine establishment for some delicious treats.  Yum!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Today I got to see an old friend, Claire Brown, strangely enough from Minnesota.  She heard I was back in town and we got together for the afternoon.  She has kids the same age as mine, so we let them play and we chatted.  We took off to the park and they played some more! 


It was nice to see her and her little family.  And we are loving this weather!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

More Seeds and More Bikes

I went outside today and did the rest of the seed planting and a bit of bigger stuff.  We now have spinach, cilantro, lettuce, lemon basil, honeydew, pumpkin, and watermelon seeds planted.  I got my basil and rosemary in a planter that I can take with me when we move to our own place, and I got my tomato plants in another.  We are set! 


The hard part is waiting for it all to grow!


We headed up to the church parking lot today so Mac could get some momentum, and it was pretty much a bust.  It is slightly graded--just enough that she was uncomfortable.  Mac uncomfortable means Mac ornery.  Like crying and screaming.  Okay.  I guess we'll try the parking lot again later.  Mac ended up going and sitting in the car to cry while the other girls kept riding. 


Mimi kept wanting to go downhill.  That's not a good idea.  At all. 


Little Leiden has grown since she got this bike.  She needs a new one that is bigger so her knees don't hit the handlebars!  I'm thinking there's a birthday surprise coming up that will remedy that!  :) 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Bye-Bye, Training Wheels! And Hello, Training Wheels!

My parents' house has a concrete mini basketball court in the back, perfect for tiny little people on their even tinier little bikes to zoom around.


This little bub got new training wheels put on her bike today.  She was very excited at the store getting them, and even told a couple random strangers that she was getting training wheels.  This year she seems to actually get the whole pedaling idea.  Last year, it was beyond her scope of interest.


The Mac-Attack had her training wheels taken off, today, and she is doing GREAT!  She was super brave and didn't complain at all when I suggested taking them off.  I ran around after her a couple times, but I really have no idea how to teach a kid to ride a bike.  She seemed to do better if I wasn't holding the bike seat, so we just kept hitting it hard.  She has made progress even just today.  She'll be zooming around with Leiden in no time!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Spring Planting

Last night we had the seed of faith Family Home Evening lesson, and so tonight, we planted seeds! 


We planted carrots, brussel sprouts, kale, spinach, cilantro, basil, and romaine lettuce.


I also brought home two tomato plants, a sweet basil plant and a rosemary plant.


Leiden was in charge of making tags for the planters.


Then Mac got in on the action and wrote 'carot'.  SO cute.  The water got to it, though, and she used a washable marker.


We still have cantaloupe, pumpkins, honeydew, and watermelon to plant.  I have to keep reminding myself of the longer growing season here than in Minnesota.  It would be SO cool to use pumpkins from the garden at Halloween!  I'm sure I will be watching the planters like a hawk to see tiny green shoots!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Saturday

 It's a Saturday, and we're wandering the town!  We went to Hire's for lunch.  I love Hire's.  I had forgotten how much.  And I am so excited to be able to use Instagram again!  I really like these little square pictures with effects.


All three girls ordered cherry lime rickey's, and were impressed with the limes they could squeeze, and the cherries in the bottoms of the cups, but were less than impressed with the drink itself.  Hmm.  I always stick to rootbeer there! 


My dad and I are interested in planting seeds, so we headed off to IFA next.  Where they have baby chickens, ducks, turkeys, and bunnies!  I would love to have chickens for the eggs.  It would be a ton of work, but it sounds so rewarding.  Pretty sure a rental home will not allow chickens, though.  Maybe someday.  And I was very surprised at how yellow baby ducks really are!


My mom has been teasing the girls, particularly Mimi, that she was going to get hair nets for them.  Today she actually did! 


We had hopes that dinner would stay on plates and in tummies with the hairnets, but alas, Mimi's wouldn't stay on.  So much for that!

Friday, April 19, 2013

New Phone

Very exciting day.  Well, eventful, anyway.  So remember how the Tahoe was making all kinds of noises and needs a new transfer case?  I finally decided to let the mechanic make the repair because the noises are getting worse and it is banging around a lot.  He wanted me to bring it in so he could check it out and make sure he gets the correct part.  I dropped by and left it with him for a few minutes.  When I came back to get it, he told me that it is not driveable, and he's surprised I even made it to his shop.  Well.  He should have the part in by Monday or Tuesday, so that's good.  I guess the transfer case had blown its plug (?) and had fluid leaking out, and metal parts banging around in it.  He said eventually it would have just seized completely and the drive train would not have been able to turn.  I'm sure that's a very simplified version of the story, but it's about all I caught.  To cheer myself up after dropping the car off, we went and got me a new phone!  Actually I needed one, anyway, so off we went.  I just got the upgraded version of the phone I already had, but it's new, and the camera works on it!


After getting my new number and coming home, I tried to make a call and it wouldn't work.  I waited and waited, and then finally had to go BACK to the store and they had to give me a new number.  Finally we were up and running.  The girls particularly like the purple protective case that's on it.  They are not hard to please.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

City Library

We took a trip to the downtown City Library this morning before Mac went to school.  It's a pretty place.  Mimi and Mac found some books to read and sat down.  We acquired a new library card, too.


The girls especially liked the see-through elevators, and we rode on them a little more than necessary.  It is a big and tall building with tons of windows. 

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Sunday Afternoons

I've been working on Leiden's dress--very exciting.  It is going to be beautiful.


Every Sunday growing up, we would come to my Grandma's house for dinner, and every Sunday we would go for a walk with my dad.  We would wander up East Capitol Blvd, and if we had lots of time we would go all the way up to the old firing range that used to be there.  That was my favorite.  Now it's a gated community with multi-million dollar homes, but we can still take walks.  The girls followed along with my dad, running, stopping when told, then running again as soon as they forgot they weren't supposed to.  Of course, Mac took a dive and scratched up her tummy, so we headed back shortly after to get a Band-aid.  I really need to just start carrying them with me EVERYWHERE.  They are in the car, but I should have some in my purse and in my pockets! 


Mimi saw Uncle Mark tying his shoes and thought she'd give it a go.  She tried very hard. 

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Haircut--Mimi!

Took Mimi to get her hair cut today.  The before was taken way to closely to her, so you can't even see how long it is.


The lady evened out some cutting Mimi had done a few weeks ago when we were still in Minnesota.  Mimi had taken her little side ponytail and snipped.  I found the hair upstairs and also, I found CAT hair cut on the bed.  That cat is SO lucky Mimi didn't cut her skin.  Whew.   


I love hair cuts, but I'm thinking I should have gotten a little stacked a-line for Mimi as well.  I guess there's always next time!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Haircut--Mac

Haircut!  Mac has been complaining when getting her hair brushed for some time, now, so I finally took an evening and took her to get it cut!  She wanted to go short, so we did.  Here's a before:


So it begins! 


It's a cute little a-line bob, 


with some stacking in back.  SUPER cute.  Hopefully this will alleviate some of the sadness during brushing time.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

First Day of School--Mac

Today was Mac's first day of school!  She is very excited to be able to still go to preschool.  We went in and met her two teachers this afternoon when I dropped her off.  Her teachers are Miss Kim (pictured), and Miss Brooke.  They seem very nice, and after being apprised of the situation, they were very sweet, saying they would keep a close eye on her and love her.  Awesome.




Mac is now the proud owner of a new Children's Discovery bag!
I have to say, I love being able to drop her off and pick her up without having to leave the car.  When you pull in, they have 3 or so teachers there to open car door and let them out as you pull around their loading area.  Then when you pick them up, you put a special sign in the window of your car that tells them who you're picking up, and they radio it in, and the kids come out as their names are called.  Again, there are teachers there to load the kids in.  So nice.  It would have been particularly nice during the winter!  Hopefully things will go well, there!

Monday, April 8, 2013

First Day of School--Leiden

Leiden's first day of school here!  I left the other two at the house with my mom, and walked Leiden in.  Her teacher was in the office when we got there, so that was nice.  We were able to introduce ourselves, and I was able to briefly explain the situation.  Her teacher, Mrs. K, immediately found a girl from her class in the hallway and had her take Leiden and show her around.  So far, so good!


This was the face I got when Leiden ran to the car after school!  She had a good day, and ate lunch with a girl named Alison, who has red hair and freckles.  Awesome.  Today was drizzly and a lot colder than it was last week!  I'm glad our little 'vacation' was while it was warm.