Preschool graduation

Oliver's preschool had their graduation ceremony today (silly, but adorable!). The kids performed songs for us, and then walked in wearing pint-size caps and gowns to accept their diplomas. Very cute. :-)  

Boys and sleepovers

Oliver had his first sleepover at a friend's house last night. His friend has 2 sisters and, according to his mom, was desperate for some boy time. The friend lives near a different creek (the creek actually flows through their back yard, how fun!), and the boys did lots of exploring and climbing outside, looked for bugs, played spies, and just had a great time in general. 

(Proud mama note: my friend had nothing but great things to say about Oliver's behavior and manners! What a sweet boy. :-))

Oliver came home today full of stories of the fun adventures he and his friend had. He also came home full of mud (from making and camping in a tree fort), and with this little guy that he found in the tree fort:    

Oliver asked if we could bring it home and keep it in his room. My response: No, not while you're 5 1/2 and you share a room with a 3 1/2 year old. Because we all know what would happen! 

So we compromised . . . he could bring it home, and leave it on the kitchen counter until his daddy gets home from work to see it. And then we will release it into the back yard. :-)  

(Doesn't it look scared? Obviously it doesn't want to be in our house either!)

10 on 10 photo challenge

10 on 10 is a photo challenge of capturing regular life every hour, for 10 hours, on the 10th of every month. I've been meaning to try this for a while, but today was the first day that I finally remembered before it was too late. :-)

Good morning!

Post-breakfast building

She loves to help me make my coffee!

 Playing outside by ourselves after we brought the older kids to preschool

Ready for speedwork on the treadmill

Much-needed rain!

Playing after lunch

Laundry to be folded (and still needs to be folded)

After-school playdate at a friend's house

School paraphernalia on the kitchen counter

Making a glittery mess

Playing before dinner

Creamy chicken, rice, and veggie soup (crockpot recipe)

I made this for dinner yesterday and it was so yummy! Everyone gobbled it up and it was so easy.


1 lb bag of baby carrots
4 stalks celery, cleaned and sliced into 2 inch sections
1 medium onion, chopped
3 extra large chicken breasts, frozen
2 cans of low-sodium, low-fat cream of mushroom soup
2 cups of water
s&p to taste
~1 1/2 cup rice


Place the veggies in the crockpot first, then put the chicken on top. Add soup, water, salt and pepper. Cook on low for 8 hours (after 4 hours I stirred it a little bit to make sure the chicken was covered in liquid). Add the rice and stir thirty minutes before it's done. Enjoy! 

A sweet conversation

Yesterday at naptime, I had just finished reading the kids’ pre-nap stories to them, and they were putting the books away. Oliver saw the book Buttercup had, and he said:

Oliver: That’s mine, you know.
Buttercup: [to me] Is this one Oliver’s?
Me: I bought it for Oliver after he was born, and it was his for a little while, but that’s only because he was the first. Now it belongs to everyone.
B: Was that when I was in your tummy?
M: No, not yet. You were in my tummy later.
B: Oh. [brief pause] Is that when Jesus and God had me?
M: Yes, that’s when Jesus and God had you.
B: Did they hold me?
M: Oh yes, they did. They held you until it was the right time for you to be in my tummy.
B: I like that. I liked that they held me before I was in your tummy. I didn’t kick them.




My sweet girl. I love everything about that conversation, but especially love the thought of Jesus and God holding my babies in their arms before sending them to me. The things we learn from our kids! I love them so much. :-)

May the Fourth be with you, and funny kid stories

Today is Star Wars Day! I had been planning on having a fun Star Wars-themed breakfast, activities, treasure hunt, etc today, but since Buttercup and I are the only ones who like Star Wars these days, I decided to save my brilliant ideas for another day when my awesomeness will be more appreciated. :-) 


(We have watched this video a couple of times today though)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU&ob=av2e


But I do have some things I wanted to document before I totally lose them with the rest of the important things I keep forgetting.  


First up, something funny that happened at the creek last week, after Oliver, Buttercup, and I caught tadpoles. Buttercup got bored after we caught the second round of tadpoles, so she, Theodore and I went to the playground and left Oliver at the creek. There was an overweight boy about 10 years old swinging by himself, and some not-very-nice 7 or 8 year old girls, picking on the boy. (Their moms weren't paying any attention to their behavior, and the boy wasn't my own kid, but what do you do? I didn't say anything to the girls, but I still feel like I should have.) 


After a minute or so, the boy wandered off in the direction of the creek, and I could see him talking to Oliver. Over the next hour, I checked on them every once in a while, but they were having a good old time catching tadpoles and minnows, getting dirty, and just being boys.  When it was time to go home to get ready for dinner, Buttercup, Theodore and I headed back to the creek to collect Oliver. He and his new friend excitedly showed us what they had caught, talked about what they had done, showed me how dirty their shoes were, etc. They were laughing and acting like big, tough boys. 


Then I saw something black on Oliver's arm, and realized it was a tadpole. I said, "Hey, Oliver, you have a tadpole on your arm," and I was reaching for it to brush it off. He looked down, then started screaming like a little girl while frantically wiping his arm to get rid of it, HA HA HA!!!  Oh, I laughed so hard, it was hilarious. Buttercup, the other boy, and I were just dying, we were laughing so hard. I wish I had that on video. He was even jumping up and down while he was screaming. It was so funny!


The next funny thing is something that Buttercup did after lunch one day last week. Every once in a while during a meal, she'll get out of her chair and walk over to me for a hug. On this particular day, she had yogurt or hummus on her arm when she came over to me, and ended up smearing it all over my shirt.  I gave her a big squeeze and said (kind of sarcastically), "Thank you for wiping your food on my shirt."  She looked up at my face, patted my cheek very softly, and said, "You're welcome, Mommy. I love you."  


HA HA HA HA! My sweet, crazy girl.  :-)  

Rainbow rice

Oliver and Buttercup like to play with dry rice, beans, and popcorn, and I found this fun idea to color the rice that makes it even more fun! 

You'll need:

rice

rubbing alcohol

food coloring

food storage bags (for mixing colors)

Pour some rice into the food storage bags, add some rubbing alcohol and food coloring, and mix it all up! (The directions from the website say to use 2 cups of rice and 1 tbsp alcohol, but I didn't measure anything.) 

When you're finished mixing, spread the rice out and either bake it in the oven on the lowest setting for a couple of hours, or set it in the sun to dry. 

Lots of fun! And, since the rice is brightly colored, it makes it easier to see when you sweep up the stray pieces afterwards. :-)