What's the Best Way to Spend a Rainy Afternoon?

Well ( besides running outside every 30 minutes for the entire afternoon, either to pull down the sheets because it just started pouring, or to re-hang them because the rain stopped, and the sky lightened a little and you really, really want to get those sheets and duvet cover dry! ) 
that would be experimenting with a brand new recipe.

Today I tried out a recipe for Black Bean Burgers.  I thought they turned out really yummy.  (When you use ingredients like cumin and cilantro, it's hard to go wrong!)  Unfortunately, I couldn't convince the rest of my family members to try them and I had to make regular burgers and sausages/hot dogs as well.  Too bad, because it would be a super cheap option for feeding the hungry masses.   But now I  have several of the Black bean burgers in my freezer for future quick lunches or dinners.

Not too bad looking, huh?

Yum!

Sometimes You Think Your Day Will Be One Way...

But then it turns out completely different!

Yesterday was one such day for me.  I had great plans for the day to get to work organizing piles of clothes in our spare room.  I have tons of clothes that Elijah and Julianne have outgrown that need to be gotten rid of.  I need the space to start storing items for our upcoming village trip.

But then Julianne woke up with a 104*+ temperature.  And Elijah had a non-stop running nose. 

So instead of organizing and sorting and getting rid of things, I spent lots of time just holding and snuggling fussy, miserable kids.

Thankfully, a friend helped me out and picked up Justin from school so I didn't have to wake my sleepy sickos to walk to the school to get him.

Later that day, Elijah found a marker and decided that green makeup was the cool thing.  You can't tell from the picture, but he was sporting quite the green eyeshadow.

 

And well, today my kids are a little better.  And there will be other days to sort and organize.

Happy Birthday(s) Julianne!

Last Sunday we celebrated Julianne's 4th birthday!  Wow!  Where have those years gone??

The Birthday Girl

We just had a quiet family celebration.  She got to open the presents from Grammy and Gramps and we just enjoyed playing around with them and spending time together.

I like how this picture captures some of the craziness of the moment:  Julianne opening her present, while Justin does acrobatics on the couch and Elijah tries to snatch the camera away from Matt!

Everyone wants to be the first to play with Julianne's new cash register

modeling some of her new gifts!

 Yesterday, she had part 2 of her birthday:  her party.  She invited 3 of her friends.  We played "Pass the Parcel".

Painted flower magnets.

Decorated cupcakes with sprinkles.

 
I think all in all they had a fun time. 

Julianne will have part 3 of her birthday in a few more weeks when the package from Grandma and Grandpa arrives!

Book Parade 2013

I know my posts have been few and far between lately.  It's just that sometimes (many times, actually) I go through the day and well, it's just.... routine.  Mundane.  Stuff like walking back and forth, back and forth to the school to drop off or pick up kids.  Laundry, sweeping the floor, cooking and cleaning up.  Nothing blog-worthy.

But every once in a while, something 'out of the norm' happens.  Like Book Parade Day at the Primary school.  Every year the kids' school has 2 weeks where they focus on reading.  There is a reading competition and activities for each class to participate in.  My kids all love to read, so having to read every day for a week isn't a big deal to them.  I was really proud of Justin, especially.  He read 30-45 minutes each day for the week.  I've been so impressed with his reading abilities!  He taught himself how to read last summer, and with almost no assistance from Matt or I has basically brought himself up to a reading level that passes up all the books that are used in his Kindergarten classroom!  A month or so ago, his teacher was testing the Kindergarteners on sight words, and Justin knew all but 1 of the 240+ words!  But I digress.....

So, the culmination of the 2 weeks of reading and book activities ends with the Book Parade.  The kids come up with a book character that they want to dress up as, and after lunch there is a parade and some other special events for all the kids to participate in.  Now, coming up with costumes for everyone COULD be a major ordeal.  Thankfully, for the 1-2 Book Parades we've actually been a part of now, my kids have come up with costumes that can be made from their big box of dress-up clothes (Thanks so much to the Grandma's who have supplied this box over the years!!!!!).

Kaitlyn, our animal enthusiast, was trying to come up with a book character that was an animal.  Well, she wanted to be a cheetah.  But we couldn't think of any cheetah book character.  Then I got the bright idea of Dr. Doolittle.  At first she was a little hesitant because she didn't want to dress up as a man.  But she quickly got inspired and collected stuffed animals to go along with her costume.

Dr. Doolittle and (her) menagerie

Kaitlyn (back, middle left) with her class

Nathan wanted to be a pirate.  He dressed up as the pirate dog from "Mice of the Westing Wind".  We were going to paint a dog nose and whiskers on him, but we decided not to at the end.  He made a (cute) ferocious pirate.

"Grrrrrr"

Nathan with his class

 Justin dressed up as Darth Vader.  Here he is in the parade, and with all his class.