Am I Buggin' You?

So yesterday was a pretty fun day. We got up and made pancakes and eggs for breakfast, and J's friend K arrived soon thereafter, and then we got ourselves together and headed over to FoCo for the Science Center. I was really impressed with this place, and truly, how many places can you take your kids to where the entertainment (and education) spans from your youngest at under 2 to your oldest at nearly 12? We had a great time there.

Chris, Josh, Ro, and Grace all sampled some gourmet edible larvae. They came in barbecue and zesty cheese flavors:
Check out Chris and Grace working the pulley chair:

After that we lunched at CiCi's Pizza - probably the most reasonable meal we've had in a long time, with great service and decent food. We came home and the boys got to work making their own rubber bugs with J's Easy Bake, er, Creepy Crawler Oven. They made quite a few and you know how I love themed activities. ;)

Ro q'd up some burgers and we played some X-Box, the 4 of us, while Grace entertained herself while squirting us all with the squirt bottle we use on the cat. It was hilarious, actually... a little annoying, but it kept her busy while we played. We laughed and had a wonderful time. And then, after she went to bed, we had Family Movie Night and watched a DVD that was pretty highly recommended to us - The Ultimate Gift. We all liked it quite a bit.

So it's been a quiet sort of spring break, but I really enjoyed the down time. It was so good to just hang out with the kids, and not be running all over the place, and doing the museum and CiCi's on Friday just rounded out a nice break.

This morning we did a little bit of garage saling... one evil ;) woman we ran in to who works at J's school reminded us that school is out for them next month! Yikes! Next month?! Where has the time gone? Seems like they just started at their new schools such a short while ago! We found a desk for Christianne's room at another sale... It isn't what I have in mind for her room for long-term, but it's a good, solid desk with built-in drawers and everything and we got it for $10. It's pretty neat, and I think she's pretty happy with it. We don't do a lot of garage saling but here and there we like it.

So tomorrow is church and we'll probably play games and do some more stuff as a family in the afternoon, and then we get back to our routines - kids back to school and Ro back to work. And me... back to routined chores and all that jazz. :) I've got a cabinet to fill (and hopefully after tomorrow, a final bookcase for G's room), laundry to do, toilets to clean, and I've got a bug up my butt to get some scrapbooking done. We'll see what actually does get done by the end of the week...

Do You Sudoku?

Mom and I got pretty hooked on it when she was here. I've done them before, but not often. But since her visit it's now a daily thing.

Snow today, lots of it. Well not lots by CO standards but definitely lots by CA standards. Maybe half an inch or so...? and it's still coming down. It's not really sticking to the roads or anything so it's not that big of a deal, although I'd hoped to go walking today. Oh well.

We're watching a friend of J's this week. He's a good kid and they play really well together. Even C plays with them sometimes and they do well. In fact, yesterday the 3 of them played together so well that in exploring the basement, they decided it would be fun to climb through the window, up the fire escape ladder and run around the house to ring the doorbell. Yep. Fun.

Been a pretty low-key week here, though. We've pretty much stayed home all week. Ro is putting together some cabinets for the basement (yay, maybe I can unpack some boxes) and has been working on a co-worker's computer. The kids have kept busy. I've been piddling around and reading Harry Potter and working Sudoku. I think tomorrow, since it's Friday (I think tomorrow's Friday) we'll go to the Discovery Science Center in Fort Collins and treat the kids to pizza for lunch. Speaking of which... we've been very disciplined - we haven't eaten out a single time in 8 days now. That may not mean much to you but that's our biggest temptation and probably our least disciplined area in terms of $. We love to eat out. But we've realized lately that it's not only expensive, but the service is often lousy and the food is not often what we'd wanted. So why waste $ on things that only irritate you anyway? So yeah... we're proud of ourselves.

I think we're about over our colds, although as usual, my cough lingers. Grrrr... Everyone seems to be okay. We did Family Movie Night last night and watched The Water Horse. I love that movie. And now... I've got a Sudoku to solve.

Just Can't Seem...

The TV is on here most of the time, I think. Sometimes I remember to turn it off when Grace is napping, sometimes not, but it's usually on. We're not always in front of it, but it's just about always on.

So there's a commercial for Kia that has a catchy little tune that probably plays 5 or 6 times a day... catchy but pretty discouraging!

I just can't seem to get it right today.

I just can't seem to get it right today.

I just can't seem to get it right today.

I guess I'm gonna give up.

The bummer is, of course, that this is the song that plays through my head quite often. :(

'Course there are days like today, when I pull up my blog, and I see that I last posted all about it being Friday... when it was actually Thursday. And so the ditty continues in my brain...

Funny, no one corrected me, either. Hmmm...

Such a beautiful day today, bright and clear and sunny and warm. I took an extra-long walk this morning, just enjoying how still and beautiful it was. I took Chris to the mall... wore my flip-flops and capris... and came home to see that there's a storm warning for tonight. I guess the one thing I'm learning about NoCO weather is that it's pretty random.

Prayer needs:

• W - health concerns, biopsy this week
• Talena - healthy pregnancy

TGIF

How on earth can it be Friday already? Truth be told, I've sat down to blog at least twice this week, but I just haven't felt like there was much to say, and I haven't felt well enough to be motivated. It's Friday, though, and I'm glad for the weekend, and I'd like to think I'm feeling better, so... here I am.

Here's one of the "snakes" Grace is afraid of:

So I'm cruising down the freeway on Wednesday, on the way to take my mom to the airport, when the dome lights come on in the car, and at the same time I can hear wind, as if someone rolled a window down. I look at my control panel (Is that what it's called in cars these days?) and sure enough, it indicates that a door has come open. Which door? Grace's, of course.

Can you believe that? For the first time in my life I had to pull over on the freeway, to get out and close Grace's door! Now before everyone chimes in, yes, there is a childproof lock that I had not enabled, and you will be pleased to know that it is enabled now. I hadn't thought about it since we got this car, and seriously, Chris and Josh never even attempted such a thing. They never messed with the locks, the windows, their seatbelts, and certainly not the door handle! I was pretty darn shocked! As it is, I can't keep Grace's seatbelts on her properly. No matter how tight we make them, she frequently slips them off her arms. (She hasn't yet figured out the button to undo the one around her waist, thank the Lord.)

When we got to the airport, I explained to Grace that "Memaw" was going on an airplane back to California. She didn't really appear to get it, just cheerfully said good-bye and that was that. Then yesterday Grace asked for Memaw. I said, "She isn't here. Where's Memaw?" and she replied, "California." She says California so well, and so clearly - she used to just say Cowl (and moo), but now she says the whole word... although when she's being silly she'll say Calichicken.

I love listening to Grace talk. She's told me for a long time when she needs to be changed by saying, "I'm stinky." Now she often comes to me and says, "My butt hurts." It makes me crack up because she's so matter-of-fact. I think she's about ready to start potty training, although Chris and Josh were both 3 before they were trained. Maybe I'll start working on it next week while the kids are home (easier when you don't have to go out much) and get an idea if she's ready or not.

I was told last week that WalMart (all, not just mine) is not going to be giving out the happy face stickers any longer. I know this is shocking news, and you don't know what you're going to do without them. Neither am I. Chris and Josh used to get them (I really don't know what the attraction is) and as soon as we got home they went on their bedroom doors. THAT was a mistake! Those were the toughest stickers to scrape off when we were prepping the house to go on the market!!! No stickers at this house, except on paper! Live and learn - you think you're being a cool parent until it's time to clean it up - then you realize you're more fool than cool.

Anyway, I digress. Grace *loves* those stickers. From the moment we get out of the car and approach WalMart - any WalMart, mind you - she begins to chant: want happy face want happy face want happy face. We usually get one as we go in and she plays with it all throughout the store - sticking it on her shirt, on mine (mind you my breasts are generally where they land), dropping them on the floor, calling out longingly, "My happy face...!" until I go back and peel it off the floor... it's usually lost all of its stick by the time we get home and ends up in the trash, although one stuck to the garage floor for quite awhile before it disappeared.

I just noticed on my desk that I have a roll of Veggie Tales stickers, all the same, 200 count, of Bob the Tomato with a caption that says "God made you special." I think I should throw them in the car for our trips to WalMart. Hopefully that will get me through 4 or 5 months I think.

Finally, for your reading pleasure, I thought I'd share a couple of interesting articles I've come across this week:

• Student Sues WI School... (FoxNews.com)
• Disposing of the Disabled (ChristianPost.com)

And for my reading pleasure, I think I'll go back to Hogwarts for awhile as Grace watches Dora the Explorer. ;)