Metamorphosis

The easter bunny gave my kids a butterfly habitat, and they have had a lot of fun watching them change. Each day they have checked their progress and have been excited about the changes. If it stops snowing one of these days, we'll let them go. I don't want them to freeze to death though.

Brand new and tiny.

Right before they formed cocoons. They grew huge! It seemed like overnight, too.

After they started hatching. If we get to let them go I'll take another picture.

My shadow

Sara follows me around a lot. I'd be lying if I said I loved it all the time. But I do try to enjoy it. She is a sweetheart and is growing up so fast. On Thursdays, while Kate is in preschool, we go to a story time at the library for 18 months to 3 year olds. She LOVES it. And I love watching her do something that is totally at her level. It is the perfect class for her and I am so glad we've been able to do it this year. It's nice to give her a little special attention when her siblings aren't around. Today was the last day until the fall. Thanks Sara!

She had to go to the doctor this week to have a wart removed. She's going to be my child with the weird medical things I'm afraid. It was on her thumb. The thumb she sucks so it presented a bit of a problem. I obviously didn't want it spreading. But I couldn't put medicine on it because she sucks it. After talking with the nurse, I was convinced we'd have to freeze it off, so I had Jerry give her a blessing before he left for work. It's funny because she hated that. I basically had to restrain her for that. But then at the doctor's office she sat perfectly still while he sprayed the liquid nitrogen on. She's a funny girl. The doctor was quite impressed at how still she was and didn't even wimper. He didn't want to freeze it off because of her age, but given the place of it and the thumb sucking, he also thought it was the best decision. Hopefully, it is all gone. I was hoping that putting a band aid on it might stop her thumb sucking. But, she's happily sucking her other thumb. Oh well, a mother can dream...

The materialism of earth day

Ahh, Sara is soundly napping, Kate and Matt are involved in a lego game... I love these rare moments. And it gives me a minute to talk about something I love. I love the earth. Isn't it so beautiful? I love how different it is. I love the desert of the southwest and the lushness of the northwest and the mountains and the beaches. I love it all. I love the new life in spring, the colors of the fall, the snow that gathers on tree branches. I love the sunrises and sunsets. The cloudless blue skies, and even the storm clouds on the horizon. Almost every day, I am grateful for God and His beautiful creation.

Growing up my mother had a compost pile. I hated it. I loved going to my friend's houses when we could just dump all our garbage in the garbage can. It was so easy. We also saved our newspapers to be recycled. And we collected aluminum cans to recycle. My sister and I would take walks along the roads and pick up cans and other garbage. We never littered and I never understood the signs along the side of roads warning of fines for littering. Seriously, who litters? All of this was in an effort to take care of and appreciate this wonderful creation.

I remember earth day in grade school. (Does anyone know how long it has been a "day"?) But I don't remember ever making a big deal about it. I think I remember some "plant a tree" day but that was about it. So, to get to the point, I love the earth. I love taking care of it. I love trying to add to it's beauty by cleaning it and planting more of it to enjoy. I've always recycled. I've always looked for ways to use less. And I've never really thought about it. But, oh, it drives me crazy to hear all these commercials about earth day. And for my children to be indoctrinated on this "reduce, reuse, recycle" even though I've always supported that theory. And the thing that makes me the most annoyed is knowing that people are making so much money on this theory. Stop trying to force everything on me and my children and maybe try living and showing by example for once.

Last year, we "celebrated" earth day. It was a nice spring day so it was an easy choice to walk to school and pick up garbage on the way home. In addition to cleaning up a little, it was also a way for me to slow down and spend time with my kids teach them about why we love the earth (because God created it for us) and how to take care of it (don't litter, clean up, etc.) It was a fun day and I know it was because my kids still remember it and wanted to do the same thing this earth day. Well, the weather was a different kind of spring day-cool, rainy, windy- so I wasn't so inclined. Plus, we are using only one car right now so I already feel so thrifty and earthy anyway, that I thoroughly enjoyed that that was a day that we had a car. Not to be deterred, Matt walked around our community and cleaned up all the garbage. And I loved him for wanting to make a difference. But then I didn't scold him when he left his bedroom light on that evening!

All's well that ends well

Tomorrow Matt heads back to school after being off track for the past 3 weeks. It's so weird that he's starting on a Thursday. In fact, I'm not even positive I'm going to remember in the morning that I need to get him going out the door. But we've had a good time off track. He reminded me the other night that we never rented a video game for him, but honestly we didn't really get that bored.

We had fun, but really, the past few days were the most fun.

We flew kites. This past Monday was the best day. It was perfect kite flying weather. It was warm, and the wind was strong enough, but not so strong that we didn't want to be out in it. This picture is from a different day. Both days, Kate had so much fun. She let all of her string out and just laughed the whole time. So cute!

Kate started soccer. She really wanted to play this year. She's on a team with her BFF Mary and her betrothed husband, Luke. That's pretty much the highlight. I think we might have to wait for Sara to get a real soccer player. Kate spends her time running behind the group, turning to me and yelling, "Hi, Eris." (A story for another day.) But she sure is cute out there!

The past couple of days we were lucky enough to have my mom visiting for a couple of days. My kids love attention from grandparents. We took my mom to one of our favorite spots. It's a short, easy, paved hike and the kids love to play on the rocks. But mostly while she was here we put things off for another day. Remember my post about my schedule? I love my schedule, but I also love having a reason to do things tomorrow. And it worked out good because this was the weather today:

makes for a great day to clean the house!

A murderer of dreams

Last fall, Matt decided to plant some apple trees in our backyard. Our kind neighbor had invited us to her house to pick apples from her tree. He saved the seeds from the apples he ate and dug holes in our backyard to bury them. I figured they probably would not sprout since he was barely getting them in the ground and there was so much grass around. So, I suggested that he plant one in our empty garden box thinking one might sprout there. Well, I thought one would sprout in a few days and he'd be happy and then forget about it over the winter. Well, none sprouted, so I thought he'd just forget about it over the winter. He mentioned them a time or two, much to my dismay, but I still held on to the fact that winter is long.

This past week we headed out in the backyard to get our boxes ready and to plant some peas. I made it out there first and noticed a couple of random weeds so I started to pull them out. As I started pulling one, I thought for a second it was a strange weed and almost looked like a tree. I thought it was maybe from the tree right next to the box at first, but then... I totally remembered the apple seed. So here, I had this moment of decision. I was at first excited that one of his seeds sprouted. I was even proud of him for not forgetting about them. But then, I knew... there was no way we could grow an apple tree in our 4 inch deep garden box. And I knew, if he saw that seed sprout, he would not want to dig it up. So, I did the unthinkable. I pulled the sprout and threw it behind me! I know, I know. It's cold and heartless. Instead of wanting the apple tree battle, I destroyed all evidence of it. Isn't that the meanest thing ever?! I'm like the worst mother, I know.

But it gets worse. As the kids came out, they helped me put some new compost in and they were digging around in the dirt, and yes, Matt was talking about the apple seed he planted there. I was feeling so bad. And then all of a sudden he pulls up this little shell and says, "Hey! I think this is my apple seed!" It was! It was the remnants of the seed that the sprout came out of! Oh man, this is just killing me. I almost told him the truth, but then I knew he would be SO disappointed and mad at me. I didn't want to tell him I'd thrown out his apple tree. So, I lied! I said, "Oh, cool. It looks like maybe it started to sprout, but it just wasn't able to grow in the winter." Oh, I am horrible. I am hanging my head in shame. And then I said something about how one apple has lots of seeds in the hopes that one might actually maybe turn into a tree. And we left it at that and planted our peas and moved on. I hope!

But one day, Matt will read this. So I just want to say... "Matt, that is so awesome that one of your apple seeds sprouted! I'm so proud of you! Oh, and can you forgive me? Please?"

I needed a few

Oh, I love my dear Sara. I love her big, brown eyes. I love her cute little grin. I love the way she runs. I love the way she snuggles. I love so much about her, but boy she does wear me out. So, sometimes I need a reminder, or a few, of why I love her.

I love our conversation yesterday:

M: Sara can you bring me your shoes?
S: Brings me one shoe and her sunglasses

M: Sara, can you bring me your other shoe?

S: No, I'm full.

M: You're full of work?

S: Yeah.

M: Oh, I'm full of work, too. I guess we won't have dinner tonight, or baths, or stories...

S: No, no, no... April Fool's!

I love the way she loves her dad.

I love the way she loves to be outside.

I love the way she is learning to entertain herself, even if it's just a little bit.

I love the way she loves animals. I loved her excitement when we got to babysit our neighbors pets again.

I love the way she plays operation. If she ever wants to be a doctor, I hope she chooses to be an orthopedic surgeon. It's the only field that might allow her aggressiveness that borders destruction as well as the "Ughs" and "darn its" that go along with her playing.

I even love the way she cleans off the wall where she drew all over it.

I also loved when we were watching some Star Wars movie trailer on Matt's Star Wars game together. There was a moment when Princess Leia was a hologram thing talking to Obi Wan and Sara suddenly and excitedly yells out, "I saw Jesus!"

Yes, I DO love my Sara.

Y Mountain

For a long time, Matt has wanted to hike up Y mountain in Provo. So, somehow, it came up when I was talking to my sister about their spring break and we decided to hike it. Matt was very excited and I knew he'd do just fine. I was a little worried about Kate, though. It is a very steep trail. She's a tough girl when she wants to be, and she did just fine. She did get a piggy back ride from her very nice aunt up the last couple of turns, but other than that she walked the whole way. Enjoying a snack at the top.

The view from the top and also a great vantage point to watch a dropped cookie and water bottle roll down. Luckily, they both turned to the left!

Happily safe at the bottom!

Off track favorite

Matt is currently off track and a few days into it he said, "You know what day I love? I love the day that Kate has playgroup and Sara takes a nap and you and I can play together." It melted my heart. Thursday was just such a day. We spent it old school, playing legos and watching a Spongebob episode on the couch.

Science experiment

This is what happens when you microwave a disc for 2 seconds.

Well, this and an awesome blast of light, like lightning. Thanks, Dad, for telling us about it. Surely you knew we wouldn't be able to resist trying it!

Our Easter

My favorite thing about Easter this year is this picture I got of Kate:

I absolutely love the snow boots with the leotard. And this one is a close second...

The kids had fun with a couple of easter egg hunts in our backyard and with friends.

Sara was so excited about finding eggs and has eaten her weight and then some in candy.

We were also lucky enough to have my parents in town for the weekend. We fit some time in between conference sessions to hang out with them, my sister and family, and niece and fiance. All in all, despite the snow, it was a really great weekend. And as we spent some time today talking about the resurrection, I smiled that my kids occasionally "get it", as in get the real reason for celebrating holidays.