Babysitting Carnie

Last month we had the opportunity to help out some neighbors and horse-sit for them a couple weeks. They had purchased a pony for their daughter's birthday and needed a place to hide him until the big day. Our kids were very eager to offer our pasture as the ideal hiding spot. 

Sarah was tickled pink at the chance to keep a pony for a bit, and she was very diligent in feeding and brushing him every day. She wants so badly to own a horse of her own, and she considered it a privilege to pretend he was hers. 

He was a retired carnival ride pony- and was very gentle with our kids. They loved to take him bits of carrot or apple. He was a popular creature on the farm, even though the goats were convinced he was a terrible monster and wouldn't come near him. 

The children spent many hours outside in the pasture each day, playing with Carnie. They loved to brush his hair or braid his tail. 

They also loved just Being around him, watching him graze or exploring the pasture together.  I managed to snatch a bit of time between commitments to sneak outside with my camera on one such day. Matthew was enjoying a quiet afternoon in the winter sun with Carnie.

Carnie was happy to slowly wander through our yard, grazing on new grass. Matthew was happy to follow along and just talk to the pony. 

I love these little magical moments, when my children get to commune with nature. I really believe it feeds our souls to spend time with plants and animals, and I'm so thankful we have the chance to give our children this type of childhood. It may be a simple country life, but it's a life full of joy. 

Priceless Gift

With his little hands tenderly cradling a fragile flower, my son looked deeply into my eyes.

With a sideways impish grin, he dramatically lifted the flower in the air as if it was an offering.
The rose was beautiful, with perfect petals framing the bright yellow center. There wasn't a single spot of imperfection on the silky petals.

Matthew solemnly announced, "This is for you, Mom."

I gasped in delight and exclaimed, "It's gorgeous! I didn't realize we had roses!"

With a goofy roll of his eyes, Matthew said, "Of COURSE we have roses! They're in the back of the property and I've been checking them everyday after school to find a good one for you. It's taken weeks of hunting, but I finally found a perfect rose today!"

I was speechless.

His words touched my heart. I had no idea he was searching for flowers for me. For weeks.

This gift from his heart spoke volumes to me.

At this moment, I see how motherhood brings life's greatest joys. How lucky I am to be his Mom!

Messy Birthday Party

Here are some glimpses of Matthew's Messy Birthday Party...and a super short summary. I'm too busy lately to spend much time on blog posts. So. Here's quick the run-down:

We invited his entire class at school and church, so we were swarmed with 25 guests. I've never had this many kids at a party, but it worked out well since we have plenty of space for them to spread out and play. Only half of the children participated in the games because so many children just wanted to pet goats in the pasture, play with chickens, or climb trees. I was content to let the kids play wherever their hearts desired, since most of them don't live on farms. I think it's so nourishing to the soul to play with animals or climb trees, and the kids had a great time.

Instead of birthday cake, we have cupcakes and let the kids decorate the frosting however they wished, encouraging messy artistry with a variety of sprinkles and toppings.  We also served Worms'N Dirt cups, which I think I could eat all day if given the chance. I have a serious weak spot for Oreos!  Nathan cooked spiral-sliced hot dogs for lunch, which look pretty crazy and are super fun to eat.

We had several games and stations for kids to experience.

Our giant pan of Ooblek Slime was a huge hit. Just mix cornstarch, water, and food coloring (and I'm seriously too lazy today to look up the actual recipe right now....) until it makes a slimy mess. It's so fun to play with since the ooblek is both a solid and a liquid. I think we used 3 or 4 boxes of cornstarch, and the kids just loved playing all afternoon at this station.

The most popular activity was shaving cream on the trampoline. The kids were laughing the whole time. They had so much fun getting messy, and they were surprisingly silly with this activity. Everyone had a good time, and this activity is definitely a keeper for future parties. The kids entertained themselves for ages, which let me off the hostessing hook a bit! 

We also had silly relay races with cooked (and heavily-oiled) spaghetti noodles. I had two giant pans of noodles at the starting line, and teams had to pass the slimy noodles from person to person to reach the finish line. A large pot waited at the finish line to see which team collected the most noodles at the end. It was an absolute mess, and the chickens were very happy to help 'clean up' any stray noodles on the ground. 

I also had a three-person slip'n slide set up on the lawn. When guests were too sticky or messy, they'd take a dive down the slip'n slide ride to clean off a bit before heading back to the messy fun. 

Canvases were lined up outside for kids to create messy abstract art. Children dipped cooked noodles into paint and threw the colored noodles onto the canvas to create designs. 

We also staged a flour fight. We filled large socks with flour and tied a knot on the end. Children would run around swinging theses socks and blast opponents with clouds of white flour. We also armed kids with spray bottles filled with water-based paint to spray on each other. (Don't worry, the guests all wore old clothing to the party and the parents knew we'd be getting paint on everything!)

The toddlers really loved the spray bottles as well. They were so cute, spraying the plants, the balloons, and the sidewalks. 

Nathan pushed kids really high on the tire swing while some guests tried to hit the riders with flour socks. It was a great way to end the party as guests slowly disappeared to head home with goody bags.

Glimpses of our country egg hunt

I just love these little blue galoshes! Diego wears them everywhere! 

(Old news alert! I'm playing catch-up this week!)

This year I organized an Easter egg hunt that would help the children be unified, rather than competing against each other for eggs. I hate the competitiveness and greediness of normal egg hunts, so I made a way to encourage them to work together. It all has to do with the gold eggs (more at the end of the post).

Here are glimpses of our Easter egg hunt this year. I spread 100 eggs around our property while the children were at school. The school bus pulled up and dozens of noses were pressed against the bus windows, looking at the colorful eggs scattered in the yard. Our Littles were so eager to hop off the bus and begin the hunt. 

The children had a wonderful time and did a great job working together to help each other find eggs. 

At first Diego thought the eggs were just pretty toys to collect, which he dutifully did. He giggled each time he discovered another colorful treasure.

Then he finally opened one. And discovered the sugary goodness inside. 

He lost interest in any other eggs and the world paused for him while he licked out every last speck from the sugar-coated marshmallow chick inside. From then on, he 'got it' and ran laughing from one patch of grass to another, searching for more treats.

 Cutest thing ever.

Matthew found several golden eggs this year, and generously gave a gold egg to each sibling. 

At one point Daniel was disappointed that he didn't have as many eggs as everyone else. Matthew quietly went around the corner, removed several eggs from his own bag and hid them. Then he came running back with excitement and yelled, "Daniel! Look over there! No one found those eggs yet!" 

Daniel was SO excited and Matthew watched with a small smile on his face while Daniel scooped up each egg. Matt didn't see me watching from across the yard. Oh, my heart melted!

I wanted the children to work together as a team this year, so I made a puzzle with clues to lead the children to the baskets. Each large egg had pieces of the puzzle. The gold eggs held the most important parts of the puzzle with the key words of the clues. 

It was neat to watch the children pool their pieces and work together to solve the mystery. Each child contributed to the solution, then they read the clues together and ran away to fetch the prizes. 

It was a delightful day! I hope your day today is full of joy!

Final Stretch of Destination Imagination

One week until our little band makes it to competition! Yay! There is light at the end of this tunnel! 

During crunch time, we've had our DI team come over several nights each week to finish preparing for their big day. They have been busy painting backdrops for the performance and constructing a unicorn. 

The boys worked hard at painting the village Sarah sketched onto a bed sheet:

The girls labored over the finishing touches of CandyLand. Again. We've working on it for WEEKS. Why? Cause we wanted to be original and took the pointillism approach to paint it exclusively with thumbprints. Sigh. It seemed like such a good idea at the beginning... but over 100 hours of work later, we no longer thought so. It took weeks to finish this one backdrop, and it's not even worth very many points. 

Ah well. At least it looks cool. And -who knows?- maybe the judges will love it and grant the award for extra creativity.

We also worked on gluing together a unicorn costume for Matthew. Here is the beginning stage of the costume:

After hours of work and a bit of play followed with lots of pizza, we were ready to call it a night.

Oh- did I mention what date we did this crafty meeting?

It was Valentine's Day.

Forget candlelight dinners or roses for me when competition looms.

Instead, I was given giggles and hugs from these darlins:

Nature and Science Center

My kids beg me to find excuses to drive into 'the Big City' just so we can visit this magical place.

What is it, you ask? In a nutshell, it's an educational complex nestled in the heart of the sprawling metro park in downtown. 

It has a mini nature museum (which is all hands-on for kids...the 'awesome' points just skyrocketed for that detail), a small zoo, nature paths to explore, a dinosaur dig for kids to excavate giant fossils, and educational activities. Did I mention it's all free?

If you time the trip just right (which we make a point of doing), you can catch the professional Naturalists who staff the center.

They host a super-nifty area called the Trade-In desk.

Kids bring treasures they've found in nature (sea shells, fossils, rocks, bones, bugs, etc) and learn more about it with the Naturalists. 

Here Sarah shares some of her recent findings from our pasture- some animal bones. She was able to learn what animal each bone came from and what type of bone it was. 

Can I just say, we LOVE the Naturalists here.

 They never just straight-out tell a child what the object is. They help the kids discover for themselves all the information they can. 

Instead of saying, "That's a raccoon/possum/deer/cat skull", they show the child a dozen different skulls and ask them to find out which one their sample matches the best. When they have a match, they learn what animal it belongs to. Then they discuss in detail what every little orifice is for, or why the teeth are shaped the way they are to accommodate dietary habits, or why the eyes sit on the head a certain way, or a million other details about zoology you ever wondered. 

Our kids love the exploration process here! Here Sarah and Matthew review their notes to figure out what animal they discovered.

The naturalists make exploring nature a grand adventure with their contagious enthusiasm, and even grown-ups enjoy listening to the details. 

Kids can trade in their treasures for points which they use to 'shop' the Naturalists' store. 

The store is a wall of shelves stocked with all the treasures other kids have brought in (see the background in the pic above? That's part of the store.)

Here Matthew and Daniel deliberate over potential prizes to cash in their points for. This is the hardest part of the visit as they agonize over their choices. Which is better: polished rocks or fossils? A huge cow skull or butterfly collection? Should they just save points for a bigger prize the next time we visit? 

Usually my kids have collected animal skulls, turtle shells, and various antlers or horns. 

For years Sarah also had her heart set on getting the most expensive prize- a preserved butterfly collection.

For years she had been saving up points for this goal.

Today was the day she finally earned it. 

We have one VERY happy girl.

Dragons and Superheros

This is the world of imagination where the boys spent the afternoon.

Matthew is a dragon (see the fire erupting from his mouth?) attacking a city (notice the buildings engulfed in fire?).

I love the red firetruck and firemen battling the flames. See the little firefighter climbing bravely up the ladder to rescue a screaming citizen from a burning building?

Three firemen on the ground are desperately trying to quell the flames (although I'm not sure how they managed to get their hose to spray in three different directions at once...)

Daniel is SuperDan, flying to the rescue in his blue cape and protecting the city with his red-hot laser-vision (see where the lasers wounded the dragon? The details they think of are interesting.)

The awe-struck citizens on the street are pointing and exclaiming, "Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's SUPERDAN!"

Boys are awesome.

Matthews turn in the spotlight

Matthew's turn in the spot light:

He adores math. It's one of his hobbies. (I didn't know math could be a hobby until now.). When he is bored he begs us to give him mental math problems to solve. He taught himself how to divide, multiply, and figure out square roots. For his birthday the only thing he wanted was a calculator of his very own. He will sit on his own and solve math equations for fun.

He's very artistic and has a knack for creating art. He loves to paint and sculpt.

He creates amazing sculptures out of 'found items' around the house. He constructs so many wondrous things. He and Sarah built a teeny Indian village out of bits of twigs, grass, pebbles, and leaves. They build a beensy campfire pit in the village with a spit suspended over the fire pit. On the spit hung a perfect little pot made by twisting grass around an acorn cap. He's so fantastic at thinking outside the box and inventing new things.

He begs me to read aloud to him at night. Right now we are reading a gripping and funny fantasy called "Heir Apparent". I recommend it whether you have kids or not. It's unique and well-written and very entertaining. It's definitely a keeper in our family library.

Matthew and the sensai slice cake with a samurai sword.

For his birthday we celebrated at a local martial arts dojo. (I won a free party package there, so we gave it to Matt.) They let him wear an honorary black belt (his mouth just about hit the floor when they put it on him). They let him cut the cake with a samurai sword (I bet the sword craftsman would cringe to know how his masterpiece was degraded to be used as a prop!). 

He has a heightened sense of justice and takes it upon himself to regulate the affairs of the populace around him. That can be a blessing and a curse...

He is such a great big brother. He reads to Daniel and Diego. He dances to make Diego laugh. He builds luxurious blanket forts and cushion palaces for Daniel to rule over and play in. 

Last week he turned his bedroom into a pioneer museum. He collected items from around the house and arranged them into displays. 

He turned his bed into a covered wagon and stocked it for a trip across America.

The other exhibits included pioneer clothing (from our re-enactment days), pioneer games, typical pioneer foods, and a collection of  appropriate books (clever boy, he even remembered to include Charles Dickens and Jane Austen alongside the pioneer trail journals we own!)

The boys and Jane Austen

Last week in family prayer, Matthew said, "We thank Thee that we could watch Pride and Prejudice today."

Who could have guessed my boys would enjoy a six-hour Jane Austen movie? Not I.

I was floored to hear Matthew analyze the characters with Sarah.

Over the dinner table they had a debate discussing the following question: Who would make a better husband: Mr. Bingley or Mr. Darcy?

Matthew pointed out that Mr. Bingley was more at ease with people and therefore would have greater social prospects for their future family. Matthew also pointed out that Bingley is sincerely friendly and cheerful, unlike Darcy's frequent sour expressions and awkward conversations.

Sarah defended Mr. Darcy by saying his fortune was greater and his house more beautiful. She conceded that earthly wealth does not make a good husband, but pointed out Darcy's anonymous service and generosity as evidence of his good character. Her trump card was Miss Darcy, the younger sister. Georgiana Darcy is so friendly and kind, and Sarah was convinced she would be a delightful sister in law. "Besides," she stated in her closing argument, "No one is worth marrying if you have to be stuck with the Bingley sisters. They are so awful!"

Daniel agreed with everyone's arguments and couldn't decide which husband would be better.

Grinning sheepishly he said, "Luckily I don't really have to decide since they're not real. And I'm a boy anyway. I pick to marry Jane, she's the nicest."

I'm tickled that my children are learning to love one of my favorite stories from one of my favorite authors.

Pine wood derby drama

It's official. We have a Cub Scout in the family. Welcome to the world of merit badges, pack meetings, and scout camp. Oh yes, and the competitive Pinewood Derby.

This was our very first activity with our local scout pack (or do you call it a den?). 

Matthew worked for days on his car design and was so proud of the results. 

He lovingly carried his car to the check-in station before the race. The race official directed us to glue the car weights on more securely before entering the race. After carefully applying glue and waiting for it to dry, something terrible (but totally foreseeable) happened. 

I glued my thumb to his car. With superglue.

I'm not talking about a teeny patch of skin being stuck to a corner of the car. 

My entire thumb was irretrievably cemented to his car. When I shook my hand vigorously to loosen the glue, the car just dangled from my thumb and flapped about helplessly. 

The race was due to begin in five minutes! There was no way he could send his car down the track with me in tow. (Admittedly, it would be pretty comical.)

I pulled and tugged repeatedly at the little car, but this glue was serious about doing its job. It wasn't letting go of my skin at all. After this abuse my skin was beginning to surrender and rip. What was I going to do? 

People began to notice my awkward new fashion accessory and offer helpful suggestions. 

I tried scraping my fingernail between my skin and the car. No good.

I tried running it under hot water. No good.

We tried rubbing it with caustic acetones. No good.

One father pulled out a box-cutter and offered to let me try using that...I had visions of blood running down my hand as I politely declined his offer. 

I felt like a terrible mother even though I was laughing at the situation. 

It was funny.

When I was almost ready to try the box cutter, somehow the car just popped off my thumb. 

I don't know quite how it happened (maybe all the pulling, tugging, scraping, and soaking had a cumulative effect). The paint ripped off and stayed on my thumb (the paint happened to be bright red, so it looked like I used the box cutter after all). 

I rushed back into the race arena and entered his car just in time. 

He had a great time watching the races and cheering for his friends. 

He won half of his races, placing him solidly in the middle of the ranks.

The car now sits on Matthew's book shelf, next to his favorite possessions (which include a rock tumbler, a snake skin, photos, and books). 

It is still missing a patch of red paint on one side...I cringe every time I see it. Then I angle the car so it's 'bald spot' faces the wall.

Matthew catches his winning car at the end of the track.

Matthew's Milestone Moment

We fed over 65 people in two days. In our little house. I hear you asking, "Why would we do that to ourselves?"

Ready for the feasting to begin

For the best reason possible: Matthew was baptized!

I'm so thankful for a husband who holds the priesthood who has authority to baptize our son. It was a lovely service. He was surrounded by grandparents, uncles, and friends. 

We really wanted to celebrate this joyous milestone in his life. Nathan and I cooked for 2 days preparing for the affair.

We served his best ever chili (Seriously. That's literally the name of the recipe.) A friendly word to the wise- if you don't like to cook all day, don't ever try this chili. After eating this version, you'll never be able to even choke down any other chili again. There's no going back after tasting this bowl of happiness. However, this darn recipe has 30 ingredients! It even asks you to make your own chili powder by grinding smoked chilis. That's just not my cup of tea....I don't enjoy cooking. I officially resigned from ever making chili again....this is now Nathan's realm in our marriage! Nathan creates this recipe the way I create a painting- very lovingly.

We also served 6 types of cornbread, Rudy's-style creamed corn (I think only Texans know what magic that name conjures. Rudy's creamed corn=ambrosia from heaven. You don't even want to know how many calories it has!), veggie trays, 5-layer bean dip, green salad (not surprisingly, this wasn't eaten much. I can't blame anyone. Salad pales in comparison to such yummy food.), lemonade, and chocolate cake. I think everyone felt like they were rolling out the door.

I was feeling a rare creative impulse earlier that week, so I had indulged the in my inner need to create decorations. (Disclaimer: Before you start comparing yourself to me and assume that I make amazing decor for all our parties, let me say this: I haven't decorated for even birthday parties in years. I don't even do crepe paper or balloons.......this party really was a rare event wherein I actually WANTED to decorate for my own satisfaction. Please don't think I'm 'on top of things'....because I'm really not.)

Our "Happy Birthday Wreath" fit the color scheme nicely, so it joined our party.

I wanted to decorate with things we already had. Luckily mason jars have become really popular lately as party decor. I have an entire closet full of these glass beauties, so we just dressed them up a bit with cheerful colors. Sarah and I cut colored vellum sheets and tucked them into each jar. With a bit of bright ribbon and raffia they looked finished. It really didn't take very long and this was an easy project for little helpers to assist me.

I arranged jars down the centers of each table. I also scattered colorful confetti on the tables to add a playful touch of color. I love bright colors, they are so cheerful! We added tea light candles inside each jar and lit them before guests arrived. It created a welcoming ambiance (really, I was just hoping they would be distracted from my fixer-upper house!).

 We let Matthew choose who to invite for this party. We were blessed with the attendance of his grandparents (who drove 32 hours round trip to be here for ONE DAY! We felt so blessed with their dedication!), his school teacher, school friends, neighbors, church friends, and even dear friends from our old hometown 20 miles away.

With the expectation of 35 children coming over to play, I created some games for them. I made a 'scavenger hunt' sheet for each of them to do. It listed 25 activities to do on our property. When they completed the list, they could choose a refreshing Popsicle (or two...it was pretty warm that afternoon!). It helped provide loose structure to the children's play and I think it helped prevent boredom or contention. The list included items such as:

Push someone on the tire swing
Give a ride to someone in the wagon
Climb a tree
Collect an egg from the hen house
Pet the dog
Ride the disc swing
Draw a self-portrait with sidewalk chalk
Do a silly dance
Find an ant carrying food
Ride the teeter-totter swing
Jump on the trampoline

Anyway, you get the idea. The children had so much fun doing the activities.....we even had teenagers doing the scavenger hunt!

 It was a wonderful day of eating, laughter, eating, happy conversation, playing outside, and eating some more. I'm so thankful the friends who were able to celebrate this special day with us!

Kids crave dirt

Along with milk and vegetables, kids need dirt and worms to grow.

Today my children spent all day in the pasture playing in the dirt. They were so enthusiastic about their game. I was given breathless snippets of updates each time they dashed through the house for a drink of water or restroom break. Other than that I didn't see or hear them for an entire afternoon!

At the end of the day they tramped back to our house, covered from head to toe in mud and dirt. (I won't mention what my floors looked like after this parade!)

They were exuberant in their accomplishment and begged me to take a tour of their dirty creation.

(Pun totally intended!)

Very proudly they led me into the pasture, their faces all glowing with unconcealed pleasure.

With a grandiose wave of his arms, Matthew said, "Ta-DA!"

They had spent all day digging a trench.

It was over 100 feet long. 

They said it was the best day ever.

I was reminded yet again by my little ones to enjoy the little pleasures of being alive. 

I am so happy where we live!

(As a side note, Nathan and I have wanted to dig a Polynesian-style BBQ pit big enough to roast an entire pig...I wonder if the children would be so obliging as to take care of the excavation....)

Poopberry Club

Matthew made an exclusive club last week. He told Sarah and Daniel that only 'cool' people can belong to it.

(This reminds me  of a Joke Journal entry from Nathan's childhood. One year his brother gave Christmas gifts consisting of a single piece of paper stating, "Merry Christmas! You belong to My Club.")

The name of the Matt's club was carefully planned, calculated to impress even the most dubious observer. It is The Poopberry Club. 

Daniel came up to me imploring, "What cool thing can I do to convince Matthew I'm neat enough to join his club?" 

Sarah walked pass, telling Matthew he could use her bracelets as tokens of club membership-ness if he would let her join. He inspected the colorful glass beads and charms, made concessions that they were indeed girly, but announced grandly that they would do. Sarah was delighted and passed out bracelets to the members. They set to work making a large club sign announcing their coolness. Their adoration of all things "Calvin and Hobbes" was manifest in the sign: 

"G.R.O.S.S. Get Rid Of Slimy girlS. 

Except Sarah. She's cool."

My curiosity was piqued. I asked Matthew to tell me more about his club. In a conspiratorial whisper he exclaimed, "In the Poopberry Club we do cool things, like finding sticks and poking them into old horse poop in the pasture. The poop stays on the stick, then we put berries on the poop. Those are our "poopberry sticks". When intruders try to invade our clubhouse we'll throw our poopberry sticks at them! Isn't that so exciting?! It's the awesomest idea EVER! Our club ROCKS!"