Seven Quick Takes

I.
Where did the week go?  I kept thinking I'd pop in to update, but here it is Friday again already!  We had a great Trinity of Lenten Respite between St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day.


(Fantastic diaper courtesy of Annie, fantastic bum courtesy of Avila)

St. Paddy's day was quiet, as Grace spent the night at a friends and the boys were at a Super Cross event.  But St. Joseph's Day more than made up for it with a neighborhood brawl and police showing up, literally, in our back yard.

II.
Celtic Woman is THIS WEEKEND!!!  I am SO excited!!!
III.

Blooms are popping up everywhere.  These in particular made me smile.  I got the bulbs from my aunt years ago and I believe they are from my grandparents farm.  I have seen bits of green each year, but this is the first time they have flowered!

IV.
The beautiful weather spurred me to take this kids to the neighborhood park the other day.  It is right next to the YWCA, where the local director of Planned Parenthood was giving a talk.  I about died laughing when I saw THREE different friends going in to covertly gather information.

V.

Cute little girls interrupting a photo shoot.  But who could resist? 

VI.

We have been in the slooooow process of reorganizing our upstairs.  The plan is to move the majority of clothing out of the kids rooms and into a storage system in the laundry room.  I am hoping this effort will force me to cut down seriously on the amount of clothing everyone has as well as cutting down on the messes in the kids rooms.
When I saw a "cedar wardrobe" (which, it turns out, meant particleboard with a cedar veneer) on facebook at the local supply and surplus store, I jumped at the chance to get it.  My husband may divorce me now.  (Actually, he was quite cheerful about it.)
It only weighs roughly seven tons, but he and I manhandled it up the stairs (it only took an hour!).  Visions of death-by-wardrobe may haunt me forever.
And then we got to the top of the stairs and the $@%! thing fell apart!
Sweet Andrew patiently put it back together for me.
And soon it will happily house the kids clothing.  We did have to tell them to NOT climb inside looking for Narnia.

VII.

I am still working away on the eggs for the Easter Swap over at This Cosy Life.  I finally got the pattern figured out so that not only do they look like eggs, but they open to tuck in a toy of bit of candy as well. I *may* attempt to write up the pattern and share it here.  I have never written a pattern before, so we'll see.  Sometimes I craft like a cook - a little of this and a little of that.  If nothing else, I'll share pics soon.

For more quick takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

Seven Quick Takes

I.

Yesterday, our homeschool co-op shirked all education responsibility and capitalized on this fantastic weather we've been having.  We canceled our regular classes and met at Happy Hollow Park instead.  The kids had a wonderful time romping with friends in the sunshine!  Bella insisted that the name of said park is "Happy Halloween Park".  She's such a goofball!

II.
Tonight is the Pinewood Derby!  I have a couple of very excited boys, ready to race.  I am pretty sure victories aren't in our future, since they care way more about appearance than speed!  PeterXavier made his look like a mouse, complete with wavy tail and Christopher's is a stylin' silver with gold stripes.

III.
Bella's been on a roll lately with saying silly things.  Last night we had a impromptu visit with friends down the street and her friend Helen was running around without a shirt on.  (Oh happy 80* weather in March!).  Later, Bella commented on her shirtlessness saying, "I bet Helen wanted to wear shirt, but it was probably in the wash-ish-a-sheen."  I'm not sure which is funnier - her pronunciation of washing machine or her assumption that Helen only has one shirt!

IV.

Grace, many moons ago!

Grace is very excited to have been invited to her very first over night at a friends house this weekend!  I can't believe she's ready and willing, as she is usually so shy.  I've been happy to see both her and Christopher grow to be so independent and confident.  When they were both really small (and my only kiddos), I caught a great deal of flack for indulging their attachment to me and not letting them "cry it out" either at night or to be left with other adults.  It's nice to see the all the Attachment Parenting talk that attached young children grow to be more independent bigger children might actually be true!

V.
On that same note, it's interesting that when you have more kids than the average joe, people stop giving you unsolicited parenting advise.  (They may give you other unsolicited advise, but let's just take what we can get here!)

VI.

Last night, we were driving around and passed a McDonald's with a playplace.  Bella commented on how fun it looked.  This set Grace off on a tangent about the horrors of McD food.  I was cracking up in the front seat as she described nuggets as "crushed bones, food coloring, and poison!"  Once she stepped down from her little soapbox, PX piped up "Well it tastes good to me!!"

VII.

My main agenda today is to knit an insane number of wool eggs.  I am participating in an Easter craft swap, hosted over at This Cosy Life.  I am a bit behind and more than a bit intimidated by the craftiness of the other ladies!  Yikes!  I'll share my finished product before I ship them out.

Happy Weekending!  For more quick takes, visit Jen.