Two Good Discoveries

I finally caved and bought an OK to Wake Clock.  I'm so cheap, guys: I've wanted one of these clocks for literally years but could never bring myself to spend the money.  Then Zulily had them a few weeks ago for a nice little discount, and I spent two days distracted by thoughts of how lovely it would be to know the kids were going to be in their room until 7 every morning, no matter what time they woke up.  (The clock lights up green at your set 'wake up' time, signaling when your kids can get up; our time is 7AM.) 

The clock is a dream.  If you've been debating for years like I had been, just get over it and get one.  Mornings are much sweeter now that I know exactly how much time I have before Daphne and Christian will come out of their room, and I think it will be quite nice to have that time when the baby comes, too. 

This purchase comes husband approved, by the way.  To quote him, "that clock was a really good buy."  Deep and insightful, right?

and look!  so beloved by the kids, as well

I washed baby clothes today.  Sadly, so many of our gender neutral newborn clothes were covered in yellowish stains left over from Christian's incessant spitting up.  Poor baby number three having to be dressed like that.  I've seen this blog post floating around Pinterest with a recipe for home-made stain remover, so I made it today.  I just WISH I had taken before and after photos! (Because obviously those would be interesting photos to look at.)

I measured 1/2 c hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 c of Dawn dish soap (leftover from making weed killer, not from actually washing dishes with, because OF COURSE I make our dish soap), and 1/4 c of baking soda.  I scrubbed it in, let it sit for an hour, then washed like normal.  I dried them in the sun for extra bleaching power...and it's like magic.  The clothes are perfectly stain-free.  

I tried to get David really excited about this new-found stain removing recipe, but I don't think he was paying too much attention.  Maybe I should magically erase a stain in one of his favorite outfits sometime.  THEN I bet his excitement would rival mine.  

Eggs and Matching Blues

I said to David, "Don't you think this year it would be fun to make our own egg dyes using food and spices?"

His response was basically along the lines of, no.

But that could not stop me!  I didn't go crazy...just beets, coffee and turmeric, since those items were readily available in my cupboards.  Cooking them was a fun and sensory-filled experience as our kitchen smelled like an Indian coffee shop that sells beets and vinegar.  How delightful is that?

The colors turned out lovely.  More subtle than the store-bought kits, but kind of earthy and natural looking.  I definitely recommend this project.

David almost missed our egg-dying due to overtime at work (story of our lives), but we kept the kids up late so he could participate.

(When he finally came home he took a drink of the coffee dye.  He said it did not taste good.)

And while I do endorse making your own egg colors, I don't so much endorse doing a project that involves dye at a time of night when the kids are usually sleeping.  Just a good parenting tip for you right there.

After eggs and basically shoving some overly-hyper kids into their beds, Daph sang Christian to sleep with an Easter song she composed herself.  It went something like,

Tomorrow is a special Church Day
Because Jesus is Alive.
We are so happy, 
Because Jesus is alive.  

Before church the kids hunted for eggs.  We very nearly lost one, but Christian finally found it wedged into the toe of one of my boots.  That would have been an unfortunate egg to lose track of.  

While giving the kids hints as to where to find eggs, I clearly remembered hunting eggs once many years ago, and my dad's hint being "do you think it snowed last night?"  So of course I excitedly looked out the window only to see no snow and just a dumb egg on the window sill.  A major let down that's never been forgotten.  

As far as Easter outfits go, I wanted the kids to match this year.  Daphne got a new little blue dress and Christian already owned a matching blue shirt, and then even David owns a few blue shirts, so they all got to match.  I own nothing blue so I did not match.  That was sad.  At least the three of them looked beautiful and handsome.  (Daphne insisted on wearing her fur vest because it's her favorite, even though it kind of hid her dress.  Oh well.)

This was the first Sunday David has been to church with us since Christmas. We liked it. 

the bow tie did not go to church

and then there's that...

Happy Easter!

Livin' it Up, Spring Style

fetch

fantastic craigslist find

10,000 lettuces

so clearly David's son when doing this weird thing with his shorts

forgive the horrendous swim outfit C is wearing.  both kids desperately need suits

popsicles

Fun Fact about H&M Children's Clothing (in case you're needing to summer shop for some kids):  I think they're magical because somehow they grow with your child.  All the shirts I got for Christian last summer still fit him this summer, even though he is several inches taller.  All his shorts from last summer fit this summer, especially because his buns are much slimmer without a cloth diaper.  All he needs for the summer is shoes and swim shorts and possibly a church shirt or two.  Isn't that nice?  Daphne's H&M sundresses lasted two summers, so this year she gets a couple of new ones.  Those H&M Basics: fabulous.  And so cheap. 

Fun Fact about Ikea Popsicle Molds (in case you know kids who like popsicles):  They are the best ones.  I bought one set a few years ago and loved it so much I went to buy another, but they were already sold out for the season.  I experimented with a few other brands from other stores and none compared to Ikea's.  The next year I bought another set of Ikea ones, and I guard them like priceless treasures because losing them would be devastating.  In a first world problem kind of way, obviously.    

(No one paid me to say those things, although they probably should have.)

Fun Fact about Our Week:  If David gets home on time tonight, it will be the first time since going to days that he's gotten to be home every single evening of the work week.  This is the complete opposite of last week where he was gone every single evening.  The days are so. much. better. when he is home at night.  

Just one more fact to share...seems like we may have some twinsies here; what do you think?

that's my dad there on the left

Look at What He Did to My Baby

I can barely handle it.  I thought maybe Christian would cry when he saw himself (because that's what I wanted to do) but instead he thinks he is the most handsome thing and can't stop gazing at himself and patting his head.  Daphne would like a matching cut (no) and Christian would like me to get one, too (also no). 

On the plus side, I bet he could totally pass for age three now.  I'm sure there are way more perks to being three than being two.  Liiiike.....having to pay for a ticket on an airplane?  So never mind on that.  He definitely needs to go back to being two. 

Slices of Life, Vol XIII

A few recent favorites from Christian:

*We were at home with the Nat King Cole station playing on Pandora.
Christian:  "Can we go inside the music?"
Me: He asks this a lot and I never really know how to respond.  "Nope, sorry buddy."
Christian: "Is it because it's dark in there?"

*I asked him if he likes babies.
"No, I don't like babies. I like chocolate that I can eat." 

*BUT, I think he is more into feeling and watching the baby move than his sister is.  Yesterday, after getting kicked by the baby a few times, he asked if he could "bomp the baby."  I didn't know what he meant, but then I noticed his hand in a fist...so I went the safe route and said no to bomping.  Last night he prayed, "fank you I feel the baby movin'."  How sweet is that?

*He's pure boy in how entertaining he finds bodily functions and noises.  The other day he ran up to tell me, "Mom!  It's tooting time!"  He was so excited.

*But then he says things like, "I like those shoes because they make me looks like a pwincess."  

*It warmed my heart when he told me "I want to go to Gwamma's house and ride a tractor with my friend Mommy."

*Then it did the opposite of warm my heart when he said, "Mom, you're big and huge."

Daphne told me the other day that she's decided she's not going to be funny anymore.  I totally don't believe her because she's still making me laugh every day.

Like...

*"If you marry your brother then you only have to worry about one grandma!"

*"Did you know the Bible says when kids grow up then their mama and daddy become grammas and papas?"

*She likes the baby, too:

"wake up and come out, baby!"

kisses

Gardening, A Little Bit

Good thing we chose rainy Tuesday for an OMSI trip, because the cloudy warmth of yesterday and today have been good for outdoor fun.

The kids love it when we clear the driveway so they can ride down on their scooters.  I appreciate Daphne's deep concern for safety by wearing her bicycle hat.  Christian falls down and says, "I OK, Mom, I just crashed over my car."

We figured we wouldn't be doing much gardening this year.  Then we realized we can't handle not doing anything, so we planted up our galvanized tubs with some carrots, peas and lettuce.  Daph and I put in neat and orderly peas and carrots in one pot.  David and Christian had, um, issues with their lettuce.  I looked over and realized they were basically emptying the entire packet of seeds into the tub.  Apparently in 45 days we will have about 1 billion heads of lettuce.

Daphne is requesting tomatoes, peppers, corn and pumpkins also, but I'm telling her she needs to talk to her papa about those things this year.  Sad for us and our tiny garden (yet plentiful amounts of lettuce).