Monster eggs for Easter

Since nothing is quite normal around here, we made our Easter eggs into little monster this year!

It apparently takes a lot of concentration to decorate the eggs before dyeing them...

Here are the results of their hard work.

Yes, Simon made his eggs say "Broncos", "Avalanche", and the puke colored one says, "Easter". I like that the Broncos egg has orange hair. Hannah named her three egg monsters Fred, George, and Joe.

Happy Easter!

Shoes

I took Seth to a birthday party today. After all the fun of bouncing and playing was over it was time for pizza and cake. They all needed to get their shoes back on. I sent Seth over to retrieve his shoes from the giant, rolling, cubby-cart. He got his shoes out. I went to help him and noticed he had sand in his shoes. I suck as a parent from time to time, so I figured I didn't notice the sand the first time I put his shoes on. It probably came from the sand box in the back yard. I shook the shoes out in the trash and helped him get the shoes on his feet.

We were sitting there while Seth ate his pizza in yet another noisy room, except in this one your feet stick to the floor, and a woman I don't know walked up to me and asked me if these were my son's shoes. "Size 9, right?" I looked at the shoes she was holding. Seth's shoes. I just laughed and apologized. She had tried shoving her son's feet in Seth's shoes only to discover they were too small. I didn't even realize the shoes Seth put on were too big. Go me. We swapped shoes. I apologized again and told her I had been confused about not knowing how he got the sand in his shoes. They had gone to the beach earlier in the day.

Yup, I rock as a parent...

FPS State

Oops, it's been a while since I posted! What can I say, life gets in the way some times. As usual we're just busy all the time. The kids are on their Spring Break right now so that should give us all a chance to take it easy. I get a week off of school again, but the way it works out I'll still have stuff to work on. Oh well. I won't have to be on campus for a week, again. Oh, I think I got A's in my 3 half semester classes! Yay, me!

First, in quilt related news. I got a top done! W00t! It's a soft, flannel, baby quilt.


AND, I got one of my quilts back. It'll need binding. AND... ah... that's it for quilt related goodness....

So, yesterday we went to see Hannah's FPS (Future Problem Solvers) team do there skit, that went along with the challenges and solutions they made for their future problem they had to solve. (See how this works, they SOLVE a Future Problem?) Their skit was by far the best out of the all the junior teams. I am biased, I know, but they had a whole song they made up to the tune of Under the Sea! Totally cute. After the skits and before the awards ceremony, the kids are checked out of their hotel rooms, and if they are like my child, they discover their phone is missing after the room keys are turned in. Grr.

Now for awards time. Did they do well enough to go to Internationals again? Only the first place winner in the Junior Division will go...

They won second place with their skit... WTF?

They came in third for their division... bummer...



No Internationals this year! I am proud of how hard they worked. Hannah was bummed, but hey, this is supposed to be about learning and having fun, not just winning. It's hard not to win though. They can try again next year.

Hannah is however, happy about having less to do after school. She was getting pretty busy with FPS 3 days a week and gymnastics going to 2 and a 1/2 hours, 3 days a week.

We plan on playing and having fun over break. Raining or not! So far we have Jenkinson's Aquarium, the Philly Zoo, and a weekend in DC planned. Not to shabby of a start for a two week Spring Break.

Here's Hannah's FPS skit if you'd like to see it. Keep in mind the kids came up with the skit at like 10 at night and performed it the next morning. Dan used my iPhone to record it. Turn up the volume 'cause it's quiet.

Spring is on the way!

We've had some beautiful weather the last few days. Today is supposed to be 72! I love these early spring days that give you a taste of the warm weather that's on the way. Things are starting to grow again. Time to think about this years garden...

Yesterday, I noticed we have two birds building a nest in the tree next to the house. I hope they don't get scared away. It'd be so much fun to watch them. Seth and I watched them bring twigs to the nest. I'm not sure what kind of birds they are. I think they look like doves.

When the leaves grow in on the tree, I don't think we'll be able to see the birds very well. They're probably depending on that. :)

I thought I'd show you some of the fabric that is taunting me.


I am going to start on something tonight. This stack doesn't even represent all I have on my little to do list. I think there are 3 potential quilts in this stack alone, plus I've got fabric ready to make a quilt for a baby boy and my fabrics to go with my dad's t-shirts.

Seth is asking me to get off the computer and come play outside. We're going to have a picnic in the back yard again today. Better go make some lunch!

Toys and classes

My new toy/birthday present arrived in the mail last week! I now have a zoom lens for my camera. Hurray! Seth was my first victim.

Zoom out....

Zoom in...

I got to try it out at Theater Week too. I had a few issues with it, like I gave everyone red eye! I have to learn about this lens a bit more. In a theater you can't bounce the flash and the light is too dim to not use the flash. Any suggestions?


This should be the last play for a while. It was pretty cute though. They did Beauty and the Beast. Simon was one of the servants in the castle. They had like 120 kids participate and amazingly, they were well organized. I can't say I had anything to do with it. All I did was bake some brownies for the bake sale. I love it when people tell me my brownies are really good. I tell them to thank Ghiradelli, not me.

I am at the midway point in my semester. Phew. All my Spanish work is finished, the transfer seminar in over tomorrow, and I take the final in the nursing class Wednesday. Super excited to be done! Then, I only have two classes to contend with for the remainder of the semester. Next semester won't be so easy on me. I talked to my advisor and I'll be taking two nursing classes, chemistry, and Spanish 201. Two of the classes will have labs so it'll be 14 credits total. But, Seth will be in preschool next year. If he doesn't get into the program here in town (It's a lotto system because there are too many kids. Don't get me started, it's beyond ridiculous that they can't accommodate all of the children!) we'll put him in a preschool program on the days I have classes.

Anyway, with the slight relaxation of my schedule I think I'll be able to get a few baby quilts made. I am itching to make something with fabric. I'll have to take a picture of the stacks I have sitting here waiting to made into something. Thankfully, I'll always have an excuse to make quilts. For some reason people keep getting married and having babies...

The orphan, the scientist, and a birthday

This was a week for role playing. Hannah's school play, Annie, went off without a hitch. They had a great time. Hannah was one of the little orphans. She had a few lines and was in the chorus in the song performances.

Isn't she a cute, dirty, little orphan? Nice flowers, huh. They're from her other family that loves her and remembers to give her things like flowers after a performance!

Oh! Hannah is going to states again with her Future Problem Solvers team! Maybe they'll go to the international competition again. It's in Wisconsin this year. States is at the end of the month and they're currently ranked 3rd. Last year 2 junior teams went to International.... we'll see. Cross those fingers.

Simon's class did presentations on famous Americans. Now, my son didn't pick someone like Neil Armstrong or George Washington. He choose Robert A. Millikan. Who's that you ask? Good question. He's a Nobel Prize winner for physics. You can go read all about him...

They were all so cute. Everyone was all dressed up like their famous person. I couldn't find Simon a bow tie and a three piece suit on short notice so he wore a tie and suspenders. Meh.


I've spent all week doing homework. Everyday except Friday because it was my birthday! I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but I had a good day. A normal day. I had a full day with JCP&L stopping by to change the meter, the pest control people came, Tiff and Chloe played at our house, Simon's presentation, ran Simon to and from TKD, and stayed with Hannah at the cast party until 10:30. I have to say when Hannah was invited to a middle school cast party my mommy senses went off. They are a lot like spider senses, very sensitive to stimuli. I recall high school cast parties which involved drinking. I know she's only in 6th grade, but a lot of the cast was 8th graders and that makes them 13-14 years old. Big difference from little 11 year old Hannah. I should have trust in all children, but I don't. So, I stayed. I hung out with some other wonderful mamas while the kids hung out. They danced to music in the basement and ate lots of junk food in the dining room. Hannah and her BFF stuck to each other like glue. That's just what they do.

Yesterday, we went as a family to see Alice in Wonderland. It was good flick. I like what they're doing with 3D nowadays. Pretty cool stuff. Seth wiggled on my lap most of the time which would have been okay if I didn't have to pee. :)

So, Happy Birthday to me! I'm 34 now. I've been married to a great man for almost 14 years and I have 3 wonderful kids. By the time I'm 40 I should be completely done with school. I really love where I am in life. (Disclaimer: I'd love it even more if I could get some quilting in...)

Week off

I was really excited to get this week off of school. Spring Break, w00t! I had thought it'd be sweet, I'd be able to quilt, watch movies, play with my friends... then, then reality set it. I still have lots of homework to do. So, I renamed this week, "Catch up Week." Seems more appropriate to me. I'll get another week off for Easter Break at the end of the month. By then 3 of my classes will be over. Maybe I'll have more time to play then. Or maybe, I just need to get used to not having free time. It's just a few years, right? And when I'm all done, I'll be a registered nurse with a BSN! Then, I'll go back to school for two years, get my master's degree, and I'll be a certified nurse midwife! I know it's all worth while. I know it is.

Until then, my new motto:

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... I know I can.