Pinata Creation

For Sydney's school. project this month was to make their own pinata.  As soon as Sydney came home from school she announced that her pinata was going to be a peacock.  I am still not sure where her idea came from but she claims she wanted something different that no one else would choose.  And boy, was she dead on!

At first from my perspective, I was stumped at how we were going to pull this off.  But after one trip to the Dollar Store and $3 spent we came home with 2 colors of blue wrapping paper and one party decoration of a palm tree.

Sydney cut long strips of the wrapping paper and created fringe on the ends.  That is what we layered around the body of the bird.  Next she cut off the palm leaves and gave each one of them a blue dot on the tips.  Then we taped floral wire to the backs of the leaves to help the stay stand straight up.  We even used the trunk of the palm tree as the legs of the peacock.  And lastly for the head/neck of the bird she twisted up foil and covered it in more wrapping paper.

I was shocked at how quickly we put this pretty bird together!!!  Good job Sydney!!

A Facial?

You know when the house

is just a little too quiet,

that something naughty is

most definitely happening.

This time, Dan wanted to 

experiment on a new facial regimen.

Usually he uses is morning yogurt

or mommy's make-up.

Or if he's really lucky,

the kids bathroom door has

been left open and he'll make

a beeline for the toothpaste.

Today he went for a "well-known"

skin treatment.

Just not one that is traditionally used on his face.

Desitin!

Happy Easter 2012

Time for family photos!

Spring has come

and the flowers are in bloom.

If you closely you can see our state

flower, the Texas Blue Bonnets!

 Dan was absolutely NOT HAPPY about sitting still

on his brothers lap.  And wanted nothing to do

with the new tie mommy made.

So Daddy had to help.... a little.

We all know family photos are 

exhausting?  impossible?  suicidal?

I say yes to all 3!!

Picture 1:

Ok, except most of us couldn't see because the sun

was blinding us, Keira has this plastered crazed smile,

Ben is posing as popeye and Dan is once again

pulling his tie off.

Picture 2:

Now Dan is has officially ripped his tie off and threw it

some here behind him, Ben is looking down

and Emma and her empty mouth since she lost

so many teeth these past few months doesn't

like to smile much anymore.

Picture #3:

By far the best one we had.

Although I am mad that Dan is

missing the matching tie.

(umph!)

Rachel (33), Larry (34),

Sydney (9), Dan (20months),

Ben (5), Emma (7), Keira (3)

Happy Easter!

Did The Bunny Come?

I was very shocked to see my

oldest child waking me up on Easter

morning.

Who knew she was so excited?

We waiting until 3/4ths of the kids

were awake and then stumbled

down the stairs.

The kids were so excited for what presents

were in their baskets that they forgot

to look for the 18 hidden easter eggs.

Dan enjoyed stealing toys from his 

siblings baskets and then learned

to sneak their eggs from them when they

weren't looking.

Hence he spent most of his time drooling

chocolate m&m's all over the carpet.

Emma's favorite toy was a Soccer 

helper.  It wraps around your waist like a belt

and then the ball is linked to it by a bungee cord.

Then you put the ball on the other end of the cord

in a basket of net.  It makes it so she can practice

her kicks but the ball keeps on coming back to her.

Plus the ball won't end up over the fence in the

neighbors yard!!

Keira loved her puzzles,

card games and singing bear.

OH look!  Another Star Wars character.

Ben's collection is growing exponentially!

Sydney was a little hesitant with what was

in her basket.  Not as many "toys" as the younger

kids, but she soon learned that the "bunny"

knows her better then she knows herself!!

Plop Goes The Egg

Why do we decorate eggs?

This year one of my kids 

posed this question to me.

And in all of my awesome,

parental glory I replied....

I have no clue.

But they're pretty.

Oh and a hint for all you newbie

parents out there,

definitely do NOT use your dyed eggs

as the eggs the "easter bunny"

hides around the house.

Because

1.  there's nothing like the scent of

hard boiled eggs sitting out for 10 hrs

2.  dye on carpet is a pain to clean

3.  then you cant use them to make

deviled eggs, potato salad and 

egg salad sandwiches.

Shocking,

I did let my 3 yr old have her own

cup of dye.

Keira did pretty good and we didn't

have any big messes either.

Emma liked to experiment by dunking

her eggs in multiple colors.

Ben liked it when we helped him to make eggs

with 2 different colors on each end.

Sydney like putting secret pictures and

messages on her eggs with that clear crayon

before dunking it into the dye.

We also let the older kids try painting their eggs.

Which was very messy and never really dried.

Dad's duty was making the dinosaur

egg holders.  I really liked how these

turned out and highly suggest them.

See, even Keira liked putting stickers on her

dino egg.

This egg was a work of art.

We had a great weekend with a break

from the soccer games.

This was also Larry's and mine

11th anniversary so we ditched the kids

that night and went on a date.

Wild Weather

 Yesterday we were hit with some very surreal weather.

It started with thunder storms.

Something we are very very familiar with.

It seems most cold fronts meet up with a warm front

full of warm moist air from the gulf right over north Texas.

Usually creating spectacular lightening, deafening thunder

and many power outages.

But this time we weren't so lucky.

This time 12 tornadoes touched down in 1 afternoon.

I was lucky for friends that called and told me

the storms were becoming much much bigger

then anticipated.

After turning on the news and a quick phone call

to my husband at work did I come to learn

that the storms were pounding downtown Dallas

and some were turning into tornadoes.

And all of this, was moving to the North East....

straight toward our home.

Around 300pm I picked up Ben from

preschool and decided that since there was

lightening in the vicinity the Elementary School

probably wouldn't let my older daughters walk

home.  So I drove there too, and picked them up

15 mins early from school.

By 320pm the warning went out.

Making me realize that if I hadn't picked up

my kids from school they might not have been

with me.

The newsman announced that a tornado was touching

down on FM 740 on the west side of Forney.

This is exactly where I live.

With my heart pounding and my adrenaline

rushing I shoved my kids into the 1/2 bathroom

that lies in the center of our house.

I gave the youngest sippy cups of juice

to entertain them, grabbed candles (couldn't find

our flashlight) and locked the door.

I asked Sydney (the oldest) to say a prayer

while I got us all situated.

She was chocking up with tears and fear she

could barely get the words out.

Eventually Ben (5yrs old) took over.

For the next 15mins he probably said 10 prayers.

Soon you could hear a massive amount of wind.

Like your head was stuck inside a large fan

with tons of white noise.

A sound only the hand of God could make.

And then the lights flickered on and off.

Next came the shattering sounds of guns going off.

But it wasn't guns.

It was hail.

Very very large hail.

And all you can picture in your head is your 

house crashing around you.

After a few Primary songs

to calm ourselves,

we eventually peeked out

and this is what we found.

These tornadoes were 3 miles from our home.

Usually these types of things are disasters that happen to other people.

But now it's real.

Now it is 2 friends that have lost their homes.

An elementary school with roof damage.

On streets that I have driven on.

And now I KNOW....

It can happen to anyone!

Thankfully my home is intact and

my family is under it's roof safe and sound.