Okay.  I went to get my hair dyed this morning.  I loved it when I dyed it last year around this time, but wanted to have it done professionally this time, to avoid splotchiness and missed spots.  I was so excited...Here's before:

And a little bit disappointedly, here's after.  You can barely tell it's red!  I was hoping for a deep burgundy kind of color...sigh.  But at least it's not splotchy.  Next time I will go with the store bought stuff, buy two boxes, and employ my mom or a friend to make sure I get all my hair.  It's subtle, which is probably to be commended, but I was hoping for a little more punch.  Live and learn.  And spend money.  :) 

 It's game time!  Mimi's game was during my hair appointment, and Brad had the girls, anyway...but I made it back out in time for Mac's.  She was so cute!

Looking like she knows what she's doing! 

I REALLY like her coach.  He is definitely trying to teach the girls some skills, and how the game is actually played.  He doesn't let them get away with much, but he also somehow (probably very nearly) doesn't get overtly frustrated.  Heaven only knows what is going on in his head, but he's a good coach. 

What a beautiful day!  Springtime in Utah is glorious, and not nearly as late as in Minnesota.

This soccer thing kills me...it's pretty darn funny to watch these little, or in Mimi's case, young children run after the ball with some semblance of purpose.  Mimi thinks it's great.  And it would be even greater if the kids didn't steal the ball from their own teammates.  My only other wish?  That Mimi and Mac had practice on the same night.  Mac's team will likely be moving practice to Thursdays, but we will see.

Soccer practice, again!  Mac is doing well.

Her coach still insists that she realize how fast she can be with her size.  He told me tonight that it will click soon..'give her three weeks', and she'll get it.  I really like him.  He's definitely dedicated, and knows not only how to play the game, but how to teach it to young children.  I think he gets a little frustrated with these little girls, but he keeps his cool. 

The girls LOVE to play with face paint...I was Leiden's canvas this evening.  I was made to be a rainbow tiger.  Rawrr!

Pre-Easter

Sunday best!  Another day at church with three little bubs.  They are getting to be very good during Sacrament meeting, which is a relief.  I look at all the younger kids around us, and their noise and clamor...and I am glad that while they certainly have their moments, mine have (mostly) grown out of that.

The family dinner schedule changed, recently, and now the extended family only meets every other week.  My mom was disappointed she wouldn't be able to do an Easter dinner in April...so she did it this week!  She decked out the house and table for Easter, and we had a lovely meal.

Complete with decor, favors, and treats. 

These little ones were acting like the Easter Bunny came early! 

And I was very happy to see their joy. 

Thanks for dinner, mom, and for making it fun for the kids!  Happy Early Easter!  ;) 

Tropical Soda

We met up with Grandmere and Bapa for lunch today...we love Hires, contrary to Mac's thrilled countenance.  And the latest there?!  Tropical mix ins for their soda...read coconut and lime!  I LOVE coconut and lime.  Shiver's calls it a 'dirty' soda.  They are so good.  We will have to go there more often!

REI

Love it when this comes in the mail!  It is going to go towards a new pair of hiking shoes to take with me to Germany.  Woo hoo!  It's pretty awesome when money comes in the mail that you hadn't remembered!

Stitches and Soccer

Visited the doctor again this morning to check the cuts for infection.  She seems unfazed by the whole thing.

The redness is even starting to go down.  We were told she looks great, and to come back and get the stitches out on Monday.

And I am officially a soccer mom!  Although only in the sense that I am the mom of two soccer players.  So now I spend evenings at the soccer fields, watching practices.  Four year olds playing soccer are pretty entertaining to watch.  And these little kids steal from their own teammates! 

Mac is excited to be starting soccer.  Her coach is pretty hard core...he knows what he's doing, and is actually teaching them how to play the game.  He says as soon as Mac grows into her feet and realizes how fast she is, she will take off.  She's the biggest girl on her team, so all she needs to do is learn how to use it to her advantage. 

More on Stitches

Poor girl.  A day later, and it looks a little better...at least the swelling has gone down.  She hasn't said it hurts, or anything, and I know she's been touching it because she talked about how it feels like she has hair on her forehead.  (The stitches)  Fascinating fact about stitches:  perhaps they are done differently, depending on the place on the body, or the type of wound or cut they are closing, but these were five individual threads looped through and tied.  I always thought it was more like a hemming stitch, tied only at the beginning and end.  Interesting.  I forgot to mention that the doctor and nurse said I also kept my own head admirably.  I guess a lot of parents get in there with their kids and can't keep it together watching the stitching done.  I guess since my dreams of being a doctor are not quite dead yet, this is good news.  If I can watch it be done on my child, a stranger is no problem.  :)

Stitches!

Oh, dear.  Tonight while I was helping girls get their teeth brushed, I heard Mimi start to cry really hard from down in the basement.  She came running up and I met her, and there was blood everywhere.  Calm mommy mode kicked in, and I hauled her to the bathroom, dripping blood as we went, to try and clean her up and figure out where she was hurt.  After I got all the blood off her face, I was astounded to see that there was really just two small cuts.  One on her forehead, kind of between her eyes, and another under her left eye.  Good heavens, they bleed a lot.  The one on her forehead slowed down bleeding, but was still going pretty good.  The one under her eye worried me, so I called my mom to race out and stay with the other two while I took her to urgent care.  She was fine once she calmed down, and we were able to determine that she had pulled the craft room door closed really hard, which banged the door into the pull up bar I had in the doorframe.  This somehow caused the well wedged bar to come crashing down, and hit her in the face.  The  poor sweet thing.

The doctor checked them out, and wanted to put stitches in both, so I was glad I went.  Mimi did SO well.  She was super still, and didn't cry or fuss.  The doctor and nurse were literally astounded that she was so calm and said that much older children and even adults don't even act that well.  She got 5 stitches in her forehead, but when the doctor tried to stitch under her eye, he didn't like how the cut puckered, so he opted for skin glue. 

They look pretty rough, and will for a few days.  We go back to the doctor to check for infection in three days, and then to get stitches out a week or so after that.  Poor girl got to bed very late, but seemed fine.  I will need to put the pull up bar in the doorway only as I immediately need it. 

This little Mimi is far more accident prone than the other two girls.  I'm not sure if it's her big body that she's still growing into, or her personality, or what, but she's our only visitor to the ER, and the only one that has ever gotten stitches.  So far.  :)

Happy St. Patty's!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  The girls got this lovely set up for breakfast...I thought they turned out pretty darn cute.

The next masterpiece for the day was dessert for after corned beef and cabbage dinner tonight with family!  I love layered cakes...they are fun to make, and especially fun to cut into!  Green, in honor of the Irish. 

The cake itself was also in honor of this crazy lady, whose birthday was yesterday!  We sang and put candles on the cake for her to blow out.  This cake turned out to be pretty funny...I wanted to have six layers, so I used small 6" cake pans...not realizing they would make a TALL skinny cake.  It leaned rather alarmingly the whole evening.

But so fun to look at! 

But, as the leaning could have easily predicted, as we were sitting at the table after dinner and dessert chatting, the uncut portion of the cake toppled right over!  And then started to separate down the middle! 

It kept going, splitting in half.  We all kind of just watched in stunned but amused silence. 

It had a most undignified end...completely broken apart, and when the right half separated completely, it rolled a little, causing the top half to hang over the edge into my water cup.  My goodness.  We all burst out laughing...at least we had already eaten and I had already gotten pictures of it while it was still a whole masterpiece!

Happy Birthday, Mom, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Thanks for the laughs.

Today I broke out my new drill.  Fixed up my new laundry lines for hanging clothes, and some other minor fixes around the house.  I love drills.

Meemer got outside today in the beautiful weather and hit the roller skates!  She does a really good job shuffling around on them.

It's kind of exhausting putting on all the gear that goes with them, and then taking it off 10 minutes later when they are 'so tired of rollerskating', but they must be safe!  And Mimi is not the most coordinated of young children right now.  She definitely needs it!

The girls' pots were ready to plant in today, so before the girls left with Brad, we headed out with potting soil and wheat berries.

This is one of my favorite spring activities.  It is so fun to see the wheat sprout and grow into beautiful green grass.

I got more planting done, today, so the walkway to the front door is looking pretty.  I love primroses and ranunculus.  

Spring is upon us!

Derek is doing well at his training in Jersey...he doesn't really need to be there, but is willing to check whatever boxes need to be checked.  We are both looking forward to a long weekend in Germany in a few weeks before he heads to the Middle East.

Plants

I often wait far too long between purchasing and planting, so today I got out there and got it done!  Cold weather crops are in!  We have a nice little row of peas, with trellis all ready to support them as they grow.  In the same little bed there are brussel sprouts, and broccoli!  I hope they work...I'm not entirely sure they will get enough sun, but we will see. 

I do miss having fresh berries in my yard, so I planted some strawberries in a large planter in the front that gets full sun.  I don't know if they will even fruit this year, but I feel good getting them in the ground.  

My plans include raised beds in the backyard, complete with tomatoes, and zucchini, and watermelon, and cantaloupe, and basil, and rosemary...it goes on.  I need to keep keeping busy!

Mostly a Hair Day

Crazy hair day at school for the girls' Spirit Week.  My creativity is limited in the mornings when I crave being back in bed!

My mossy shamrock is finished, and went up on the door today, looking forward to about a week before the holiday is over!  At least this year there's a decent break between St. Patrick's and Easter! 

And success!  I finally convinced Leiden to cut her hair...although she really decided to do it on her own.  Before: 

And after!  It looks so cute.  Healthier and it frames her face better.  Go Leiden!

I'm tired of the yard looking boring, so we got some plants to plant in the beds in the front yard, and some new gardening tools.  I swear I buy new ones every year and they get misplaced.  Perhaps I can keep track of these a little better.