Easter Egg Dye and a Black Eye

What a weekend! It started off with Marcus' scooter getting stolen on Friday after school. He was devastated. Marcus was invited to Daniel's birthday party on Saturday afternoon so he and I glued candy to the top of the box, like a candy bow. It was a lot of fun. Miriam came over to play while Marcus was at the party. Dahlia and Miriam got hold of an Easter Egg dye kit and ate the tablets. I admit, I panicked a little bit. Their mouths were stained and they both said how horrible the tablets tasted. I wondered why they had kept eating them but they both proudly kept sticking out their tongues to laugh at the colors.

After the party Neil and Marcus were out riding bikes and scooting when Marcus cut Neil off and he fell over. He got a black eye (no photo available - he absolutely wouldn't let me take one). So after that I was worried about Neil having hit his head, I moved smoothly from one crisis to another. My nerves were frayed though, I got out the cookbook and started looking at cakes. Sunday I made a Brown Eyed Susan Cake and I admit, I had a HUGE piece. I deserved it.

Poison rings and other things

Neil has been watching "How to Eat Fried Worms" and he asked me for a ring with a stone in the center - but not a girly ring! Well, honestly all my rings are somewhat girly, I am a girl. After going through drawers and Dahlia's room we settled on a Halloween spider ring with the legs cut off, and a little red nail polish on the top. Now he has his very own poison ring. And as you can see from his face, he is utterly thrilled (this is the same face he makes on roller coasters - pure glee).

Marcus was very unimpressed that I was making zero point soup for dinner. He asked if he could make his own dinner, and only half listening uttered the fatal words "sure". Well, he got right to work on his peanut butter, chocolate chip and jam creation. Needless to say, he ate the whole thing. I think there was 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on that sandwich but once I pulled out the camera he knew it was his and I was going to let him eat it. Hey, he made his own sandwich!

Dahlia's Birthday Cake, and Bear

Dahlia wanted a chocolate cake, I spiced it up with cherry flavoring and cherry seven minute frosting. The frosting turns out with the consistency of merengue, but is sweet, smooth and well worth the effort. It looks pretty too.

Steve took Dahlia to Build-A-Bear for her birthday. He thought it would be nice to do something without her brothers, something she would really like. This seemed like a really good fit, something she would like, and something her brothers would have no interest in doing. Dahlia picked a pink bear, with pink clothes, pink shoes and pink bows and named her Rosabella (incidentally that's also the name of all of her barbies, most of her other stuffed animals, and her name when she's pretending to be a princess).

Dahlia's Birthday

Dahlia's birthday started early, about 6:30am. She knew as soon as she opened here eyes it was her birthday and she wanted to open presents. The boys left them on the table last night. We gave her a unicorn, made by Kat Hardy that was gorgeous!, some pet shop animals and a new jewelry box (which she quickly filled with pets).

She spent the day with her best friends - Miriam and Katie. She is so glad to be 4!

What my kids do on vacation

This has been a really strange trip to Salt Lake. First Marcus was sick, then we had about a day and a half off and Neil has been sick since then. So this trip Marcus has been building lego's, Dahlia has been dressing up - she's freezing all the time but fashion comes first, and Neil has been wrapped in blankets reading books and sleeping through the fevers. Last night I thought Neil might really be better when the cousins came over and we took their picture, but he was back on the couch with his blanket and a fever right after that. It's been a long week, but at least he isn't missing any more days of school.

Tracy Aviary

Ella and Dahlia really liked the Ibis and the flamingos. Dahlia kept calling to them so they would see her.

We made a quick trip to Tracy Aviary so that Neil could pass off the Aviary requirement in his Bear book. The girls really liked feeding the ducks, and Neil and Annika were running to see everything. It was really nice and warm, and a lot of fun. Afterward we went over to the playground and let them run around.

Schokoladen Kranze

Mom keeps these chocolate wreaths in her desk drawer. I think she thinks nobody knows about them. On Sunday night after dinner we counted 11 packages of them. So we shared some around, and then the fun began.

Nat, of course got everyone started, and then we all had to do it. Fun.

Parowan Gap

We drove out to the Parowan Gap on Sunday morning. Neil took a whole bunch of pictures, like the Indian's face in the picture above.

Neil and Grandpa hiked around a bit looking at the pictograms. Neil really liked the map of the gap. Marcus was sick and stayed in the van. It was windy and Dahlia was cold in her open toe shoes. This is Dahlia, Neil and Grandpa standing in the Parowan Gap.

Neil and Grandpa were looking at the pictograms, and Dahlia was looking for a bunny that Grandpa had seen as we pulled up. We never did see another bunny, but that's all Dahlia wanted to see.

It's Spring!

My garden is growing! The roses are blooming, the carrots are up and there are teeny tiny pomegranites on the tree! I can enjoy the garden until the heat comes, so i'm going outside.

Blue and Gold Banquet

Seth, Neil, Kapono and Brian
Last night was the Blue and Gold banquet. They served baked ziti, salad and rolls. The boys ate pretty good but Dahlia mostly ate butter, with a little bread underneath. The theme was careers so they had several people come and talk about their careers, a dentist, a corrections officer, a Thunderbird mechanic and Dr. Phil, Neil's podiatrist. He showed slides of people's feet, while we were eating. Steve was supposed to speak too, but they ran out of time. They passed around cake at the end and Dahlia ate the flowers off the top of mine, Steve's and Marcus' so basically she ate frosting and butter. A huge success all around.