March 2011

Hannah made slime out of cornstarch and water for a Brownie badge


Night School at Montessori - Hannah demonstrates how to figure out speed (distance/time)


Night School - Leah paints a shamrock


Night School - Elijah adds (remember, this is kindergarten!)


The girls enjoy their new hand-me-down water table


We headed to St. Louis during Spring Break


We saw the arch (a pretty great picture, if I do say so myself!)


We enjoyed the museum under the arch


We didn't enjoy being at the top of the arch as much as I expected... Well, Elijah liked it.


After starving them by not eating lunch until nearly 2pm, they thought this was the BEST TASTING lunch ever! We were at The Magic House, a children's museum in St Louis


We met Bob the Builder


and saw Bob's friends


pretended to be construction workers


stood in a bubble


scooped pretend ice cream


worked at a bank


went grocery shopping


and scooped sand. The Magic House is by far our favorite children's museum... even better than the one in Indy, in our opinion.


I don't recall the story behind this painting of Hannah's, but I like it!

January and February 2011

So, it's been many moons since I posted anything...  I blame Facebook.



I thought I'd upload some pictures and see what we were doing earlier in the year.



Trent allows Leah to pet him.



A new collection of Build-a-Bears


Elijah being stubborn and attempting to put his pajamas on over his bathrobe...


All dressed up for church


Ready for... kindergarten?


More snow


Sisterly love


Trent being Trent


FEBRUARY


Trent and Leah... again


Messenger bag I made for Hannah's piano books


Leah and Riley eating lunch


Pete brought this home and the kids named it TooDee.

GET THEE BEHIND ME, MR. PIBB!!

When I first moved to Indiana, I ordered my usual Dr. Pepper at a restaurant.  The waitress asked “Is Mr. Pibb okay?”  I was taken completely by surprise by this horrifying question, but I muttered, “I guess so” anyway.

            Let me explain.  Where I come from, the Heartland of America, the Buckle of the Bible Belt, where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plains, good ol’ O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Dr. Pepper IS what we drink.  Sure, there are people like my parents, transplants from Yankee Kansas, who prefer Coke, but Dr. Pepper still reigns supreme. 

            All restaurants in Oklahoma City and Stillwater, where I spent the first 31 years of my life, serve Dr. Pepper.  Even though DP is distributed by Coca-Cola there, restaurants who serve Pepsi drinks also serve Dr. Pepper.   Why?  Imagine this little scenario.

The Good Ol’ Boy family sits down at their local chain restaurant, and their chipper waitress asks, “What would ya’ll like to drink?” 

“Dr. Pepper all around, please!”

“Is Mr. Pibb okay?”

“Um…  I’m sorry, but we’ll have to eat somewhere else”.  Billy Bob Good Ol’ Boy whispers under his breath to his wife, “We’ve got to get out of here!  We can’t expose Junior to these infidels!”

            Yes, it’s true.  If Pepsi serving restaurants didn’t serve Dr. Pepper, they would lose business, probably LOTS of business.  My people are a God fearing people and the thought of Mr. Pibb passing their lips is akin to blasphemy.  So, imagine my surprise and disdain when I was offered the unmentionable Mr. Pibb in my lovely new hometown of Practically-Kentucky, Indiana. 

            In the past 6 years since moving here, I’ve pretty much given up caffeinated soft drinks.  I went in search of my beloved caffeine-free Dr Pepper one day and was unable to find it.  When we visited Oklahoma, it was nowhere to be found.  You must go to Texas, the birthplace of my beloved DP, to find it (though I imagine it might be found in Utah as well…).  So, when my husband went to last year’s Alamo Bowl to see the Oklahoma State Cowboys (GO POKES!!) play, I gave him my wish list of 24 golden cans of caffeine-free Dr Pepper.

            And all God’s children say, “AMEN!”

Snow Day Dec 2010

Yesterday it snowed all day long, and we ended up with about 3 inches. Then last night we had near blizzard conditions, and the temperature dropped significantly. Schools were, of course, closed because they seem to close if there is a heavy frost on the ground...

The roads were wet, but not icy this morning, so I was able to go out and get Hannah some snow boots. When I bought Elijah's last week, I convinced myself that Hannah's were probably still big enough. They weren't. I bought the last pair of pink snow boots that Walmart had. Thankfully, they were the right size!


It was 13 degrees with a windchill of -6 (or so) when the kids went out to play, so I set the timer for 20 minutes. They made it about 15 minutes before Leah peed her pants (I forgot the cardinal rule of going potty BEFORE putting on snow pants...) and the other two were too cold to stay out any longer.


After coming in, Elijah remembered that last year after playing in the snow I made them popcorn, so we needed some today too. I think they were happy to be inside! But at least they got a chance to play in the first real snowfall of winter (it snowed a bit last week, but it was completely melted before noon).

Santa Comes Early to our House

Before I get to the Santa bit, I had to share this picture of Trent. He jumped into the basket as I was sorting laundry, and he was perfectly happy to have me pile dirty clothes on top of him... Oh, the life of a cat!


I knitted a hat, mittens, and scarf for Hannah's Build-a-Bear cheetah, Grace

Now on to Santa. Since we spend Christmas in OKC, it is helpful if Santa can come to our house a little early. This year I decided the last weekend before our trip would be the best time. So, I called up Ol' St. Nick and made arrangements (my mom used to do this all the time, so I knew it would fly with Santa AND the kids).


Santa left a Fisher-Price nativity set and the extended sets as well.


The Wise Men


The manger scene


The inn at Bethleham (which looks suprisingly EMPTY to me...)


The kids were hankering for a run for their Zhu-zhu pets (battery operated hamsters).








And of course Santa fill the kids' stockings (which I never figured out where to hang this year...).


Leah dancing to the musical ornament that Santa brought for me.


Hannah, Elijah, and Trent enjoy the Zhu-zhu pets (Treat REALLY enjoys them!)

Merry Christmas!

The 2nd Night of Hanukkah 2010

These are the infamous Squinkies I posted about on Facebook. They are tiny rubber animals/babies/people/furniture that come in a plastic bubble and can be dispensed from a gumball machine.


Hannah shows a Squinky.


This is my non-traditional sufganiyot. They were YUMMY!


I failed to get any more pictures this year...