Project in Progress

I have been working on turning some of my dad's shirts into dresses for Grace, Mary Ann, Darcy, and Charlotte.  Here are the first four I have made.  I'll edit this post later to elaborate, but for now, I'll just post the link I used for the pattern/tutorial for the dresses:  Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.  Visit back later for more details!

2015 Almond Blossom Pictures

On February 20, everything worked out right:  the almonds were blooming, the weather was nice, and for the first time in all of our almond blossom pictures, Jeff came home from work early and could be a part of the process.  So, I got the kids dressed, and while we were waiting for Jeff to get home…

Benjamin found the Resurrection eggs.  Not my first choice for him - unsupervised, anyway - and I'm not sure we will find all the pieces again.  He enjoyed it, though.

Grace worked on finishing her book.  I'm sure Jonathan was reading, too, but he's harder to catch on camera!

And, we went to take pictures.  I'm including this one with the fence for those of you who remember our fence pictures in years past.  Now, here are the rest of the photos.  (Bear in mind that I took 92 of the kids.  I am not including all of them!)

They are growing up.

And, since Jeff was home - he had just returned from yet another business trip - we got some pictures of him with the kids.

Jeff asked Jonathan to take some pictures of us.  I'm posting these for my mom, who thought there should be some pictures of me.

Jeff wanted a dipping picture.  Oh, my!

And, here's a dose of reality, after running through the White Way of Delight:  emptying shoes of debris from the orchard.  It was a really fun time!

 And, for those who want to take a stroll down memory lane, here's a link to almond blossom pictures in years past.

Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt

We did it again this year!  It was after Valentine's Day, since we were having adventures with our friends on the actual day, but we did do the hunt the Monday after Valentine's Day.  No surprises here…just the same old hunt with the same old clues, and a book for each kiddo at the end of the hunt.  They don't look like they minded, do they?

I love finding photos like this in my Photo Stream...

Crayons and Crafty Stuff

Not too long ago, the moms group that Benjamin and I attend had a fundraiser for the local foster care agency.  We worked for months to make whatever crafty things we could come up with, then sold them at a special event that we hosted for the community.  We raised just over $4,000 for the children and families this agency helps, which was really exciting.

I sewed some things, and made some Lego guy candies, but what sold the fastest were something the kids and I made from almost nothing:  Lego and snowflake crayons.  I say almost nothing because they at least didn't cost us anything.  We used old crayons from friends, broke them up, and melted them into new shapes in silicone candy molds and muffin molds.  Here are the kids helping with the paper peeling, which took a lot of time, but we started early and did it little by little.

Grace started after she had been really angry about something - I forget what - and she later told me, "It took the madness out of me."  Apparently a little bit of tearing paper diffuses her anger.  Noted!!!

These are just iPod pictures, so they are not very clear, but you can see that I stacked up different colors of each shape and sold them as a crayon set.  They were a hit…but all that paper peeling was time consuming.  Anybody who found themselves at my kitchen island had a chance to help.  I'm happy that we took something discarded and made money for an important cause and important people.

And, it will take me a few years to forget how much time this took, and then I'm sure I'll try it again.  Last time I made repurposed crayons, it was for a party favor for Grace's birthday party (hearts, I think?) which was really fun…at least, from what I remember!

A Romantic Valentine's Day (Super Long, Not Proofread Post!)

Over Valentine's weekend, which was also our weekend for the Presidents' Days this year, our friends invited us to meet them at the coast and go to our favorite aquarium.  The last time we did this was three years ago, with the same wonderful friends.  And, one reason I love to have the blog is that we can go back and look at pictures of that weekend in this post and in this one.  Benjamin wasn't even close to walking at that point - and life was very different!  (I still had two kids in diapers!)  But we are thankful to make memories together again, and to live so close to such an amazing aquarium.  We had such a great visit that we decided to be come members like Dave and Jen, so now we have passes that we are happy to share with our nearby friends and family.  Just ask me!

And now, the pictures...

I don't know if we'll ever get over the wonder of the jellies.

Getting in early on Dave and Jen's pass gave us the opportunity to get some fun pictures, both because it wasn't crowded and because Jen and I could take pictures for each other.

This one is of Jeff and Grace.  Thanks for the pic, Jen!

Watching the divers clean the tank was a big attraction, especially for Benjamin

And oh, the octopus!  I'm not sure I have ever seen an animal more creepy and amazing and beautiful, all at the same time.

How does it have spots one moment, and not the next?  (And did you know that ones the females mate and bear young, they die?)

Jellyfish Benjamin.

The Jellyfish exhibit had this feature where we could draw our own Jellyfishes and then launch them into the tank.  We spent a long time here!

Just to clarify, this one was Jeff's.

There's nothing like touching the sea creatures yourself.

Our family has grown up!  (And this year, we took Jen's advice and stood by the sign that doesn't face the sunshine.

We ate at a grocery store cafe for lunch.  We are at a stage that allows for kids at one table and adults at another.  This was a short-lived game of hot hands.  And I don't have a picture of dinner, but we ate at Pizza My Heart in the same fashion:  adults at one booth and kids at the next.  The kids had a rousing conversation about "Would You Rather?"  The most memorable either/or options Jen and I heard, which were mostly orchestrated by Ella and Jonathan, were, "Would you rather dive into a sea of jellyfish or parachute into a tarantula farm?"  or something like that.  Jen, did I remember that correctly?  Both the firstborns enjoyed arguing with each other over each option!

Now, back to the aquarium.

Deep in conversation.  I have been told that Benjamin's cheeks are really thinning out, that he's losing his little-boy look and turning into a big boy.  True, but the cheeks are still there.

Here they are in the wave room.  Ella and Delia have done this so many times that their expressions are made-up…but they're pretty good little actresses!

Here's a girls' selfie Jen took on her phone.  Grace loves being part of the girls' club with Jen and her girls!

Our crew on this gorgeous, sunny day at the coast!

After the aquarium, we took some time to explore rocks and tide pools.  It was super fun, and even worth the parking ticket.  For the record, it's illegal to accidentally park in a bike lane.

Grace wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day.

Jonathan drew some jellies...

And Grace says this is Gracie Fishy.

Jen and Dave have a talent for finding all the local places to go that we have never gone.  One of them is this butterfly sanctuary.  We went in the early evening, so we got to see jillions of monarch butterflies settling into clumps in the trees for their evening rest.  My pictures of that didn't turn out so well, but here are three others.  It was after this that we had pizza with our friends.  What a gift to make more memories with them at the coast!!!

Despite the fact that it was Valentine's Day, Jeff found us an inexpensive place to stay a little way from the coast so that we could wake up and enjoy one more day of the ocean before going home.  Dave and Jen went home at this point since they had already been at the coast for awhile.  We went to Point Lobos the next morning, which Dave and Jen had recommended to us.

We learned that these seals don't usually come this far north.  They usually stay further south, but it's too warm, and they can't find enough to eat, so they're here for the first time at this time of year.  They're pregnant, and some of them have been birthing stillborn seals because they are malnourished.  It's very sad!  The area was roped off so that nobody could get too close to them.

Benjamin took this picture.

And Jeff took this phone picture of Benjamin.

After our time at the coast, we went to the park and play for a long time, although I don't have lots of pictures.

And this was not the exciting part, but we stopped at a store on the way home, and Grace and Benjamin had fun in this fire truck, although we never gave them money to turn it on.  I guess we never have, and that's why it's still fun to sit in one that's not moving.

This is an anticlimactic end to a super long blog post, but if you made it this far, congratulations.  (Mom!)  We're thankful for a fun weekend of special memories!  Thanks, Dave and Jen, for sharing it with us!