One green crazy day

Saturday = St. Patrick's Day

The girls took Saturday to heart. For the brief 2 hours I was home (due to Youth Conference) they had a competition who could dress in the most green, who looked the cutest, and the "overall winner" award. They had dad be the judge since " Mom, never picks a winner." (Yep, they know me, I love them all.) Here were the results:

Most green = McKay
Cutest = Kirsten
Overall = went to the bird.

I like Jacob's way of thinking.
Katanya spent the couple days before telling me how last year on St. Patty's Day she went to work with me and pinched the guy there over and over again because he wasn't wearing green. What a memory. She even picked out the same green shirt she wore. Cruz couldn't of cared less. In fact he didn't even want to wear green except for the fact that Katanya said she would pinch him if he didn't.

Jacob and I spent the whole day with the Youth. We got up served breakfast, went to the service projects, served lunch, served dinner, and chaperoned the dance. I stayed later and helped the "food crew" dip 800 cake balls. I don't want to see breakfast burritos, tortillas, or cake balls for awhile. I loved meeting new people and spending time with the girls and other ladies from the Stake! McKay was a great babysitter (15 hours and not one whine or phone call) and she got paid in green......jalapenos. Her favorite. : ) (And blessings of course, with other added bonuses.)

From the 10's to the 50's

Around the first of February, Kirsten needed a poodle skirt for her "musical 4th grade performance." Of course, I left it 'til the last minute. Literally, I had just a little over an hour to make it, style her, and get to the school.Thank goodness for the circle skirt tutorial Betsy referred me to! I'm now making the girls a "modern" and cute skirt. Go to www.danamadeit.com to see how. Click on here tutorial and go to circle skirt. I modified it just a little to make it a poodle skirt.
And we went for the 50's look.
Kirsten loves to model and pose so I snapped away! Her group performed "The Locomotion " and she did great!

The shot fired around the living room

Last Sunday, we told the kids over spring break that bedtime would be just a half hour later and they still were going to go to bed earlier. So as on schedule, we read scriptures and got ready for family prayer.

And then....someone shot one rubber band.And then it was war. The kids backed out fast! Jacob and I took our corners and it was on. (Notice the rubber band in mid air.)It's all good til someone shoots an eye out. As you can guess, one of us got hit in the eye. One of us got scared and put on safety glasses.I loved how anytime I got a good hit on my sweet hubby, he bit his lip and tried even harder.
The three younger ones joined my side and ran around gathering rubber bands. Somehow this lasted almost 45 minutes.I had a good teacher show me how to shoot and aim a couple weeks ago. (I don't know if he regrets it now.) Yes, that is a battle wound on my arm.

My target was the elbow. I think I hit the bullseye.....several times. I also think I won.
Jacob tried to take me down at the end and the kids came to my defense. Now before you think I'm a hubby beater, I took some hits and I had some pretty good welts too. Especially the one right by my belly button that lasted for a couple days several on my back. I just can't admit defeat and I never give up!

Confession time

Look carefully and slowly.

Here is my fridge. Looks normal and harmless right? Look closer.

Lots of water, fruit and veggies. Look closer.

Can you see it?

That's my hiding spot. No one ever checks the veggie / fruit tray.

Since I started running 25-30+ miles a week, there are some days I feel like I'm starving. Some days I just crave meat and some days other stuff. This one, I blame Betsy. She brought home some leftovers during Thanksgiving and introduced me to a yummy place called Thai Spoon. Their red curry is the BEST I have ever tasted. I'm also a sucker for pad thai (that's the leftovers in the plastic container, I had to make it fit.) Anyway, we came back from Utah, I started running again, and this is what happened. I ordered two lunch entrees and ate them both, the same day. I didn't want to share. This has only happened once (shhh, twice since January 1st) so I'm really not out of control or anything. I just figured it was best to get it out before I did more harm than good. : )

Biting your tongue

Cruz finally lost his first tooth right before Christmas. He asked me when I was going to pull it out. I didn't really want to so I had put it off. One night he finally asked again and I looked and it was so loose that he could bend it all the way forward and back. I told him I wanted to wiggle it. I did, and he said a quick "ow." He then said, "Mom promise me you won't try to pull it out" Little did he know the tooth was in my hand. The next tooth he lost sometime on New Year's? We were playing a game and Jacob said, "Cruz, when did you lose your tooth?" He didn't know. I think he may have eaten it. So on the next tooth, (last Sunday) this is what the tooth fairy found. (Cruz doesn't like leaving his teeth under his pillow. He leaves it in a bag on his dresser.)
When did the tooth fairy become Santa? (I do like the fact that he said "Love" Cruz.)

The Birthday Paradox

In Idaho, the science fair was in April. Here in Texas, it is the last of January. I think I prefer it this way. Kirsten had to pick and choose a project (and get it cleared) by the first of December. So at least we knew what we were doing.
Kirsten, (with the help of Dad) chose to do the Birthday Paradox. This paradox states that in a group of 23 random people there is a 50% chance that at least 2 people will share the same birthday.
Kirsten gathered a lot of names. She wrote everyone in her family down, went to work with Jacob, and asked everyone their birthdays, and even McKay helped and took a couple lists to school to have people in her class fill out. Her theory proved true. Out of 35 groups (of 23 people) 55% had the same birthday. (This project fell under the mathematics section.)

Kirsten has done the science project every year and every year she had fallen short of first place. She just wanted one first place ribbon. Before school started, I told her that her project looked great and she had put a lot of work into it but because there was 8 classes in her grade (175 fourth graders) to be happy with whatever she got. She came home ecstatic! Plus her first place qualifies her to go to Region's in Austin. Way to go Kirsten!

Our last day in Utah (for awhile)

Before we headed back to Texas almost two week ago, we got together with Erika and her family. Cousin time is a necessity.Erika was so sweet to let Kirsten and Cruz sleep over. (Katanya was having a few asthma issues.) They stayed up all hours of the night. McKay got to spend the night with Hannah and Maddy. McKay loved shopping with Maddy. In fact just the other night, she told me I wasn't as fun to go shopping with as Maddy is.
It started snowing right before we headed to the airport. You would think by the way my kids were jumping up and down, trying to catch snowflakes on their tongue, and excited, that they had never seen snow before. I was so glad to get home to warmer temps!