Photo Dump: St. Paddy's, family dates, etc.

Since it's Easter and the end of the month, I figured I better cover St. Paddy's and some of March...

 Family Date Night- "Fries and Ice Cleammm!!"

Family Fun Day #? ...We've kind of slipped on Family Fun Days. (Paul's weekday off on his on-call weekend.)  "Garrett, where should we go to lunch?"  "Out-in."

"Hiiii!"

"Mom!"

"Nigh-night, Dad."

St. Patrick's Day:  Cookie Making.

I squeezed some food coloring in the milk and waffles.  But I've been sneaking spinach into so much lately, that everyone is used to green tinted food and no one even noticed.  

It was a beautiful day, so we went bird chasing at Rose Hills.

 Watching a train go by.

 I love this picture.  Both feet off the ground.  Happy face.  Pure joy.

Gifts we sent to Taylor, Samira, and Baby Will.

Dinner. (by my FIL)

I was tucking Garrett in, and he kept flipping his hand back and forth saying, "no mom, turn around"  I finally figured it out that he wanted the tiger-striped furry side of his blanket against his body.

Lulu's Toes.

Checking out his haircut while brushing his teeth.

She won't eat oranges, but she pulls them from the fridge and out of the fruit bowl and carries them around all the time.  She thinks it's a scented ball.

Helping me sew.  Always, always, 'helping'...

I saw on Pinterest that #6 plastic works the same as shrinky dink.  We happened to have a #6 to-go box in the fridge, so I tried it and it worked!  It's so cool watching it shrink.  But the permanent marker scratches off easily so not a good idea for jewelry, mostly just to scribble and have fun.

just 2 or 3 more posts and I might catch up.

Project 365: 79-87

March 20- Determination.  She spent a good 10 minutes climbing in and out, tucking feet under her bum, and even putting the lid on her head a time or two.

March 21- Garrett knows how to power on, load, and start the washing machine.  We just help with the soap and setting.  He loves helping and doing things himself.  We've entered the "no, me!"/"me self, mom!" phase this month.  I caught him giving the spinning towels a thumbs-up!

March 22- A new ice cream shop just opened a couple of blocks from us.  And it was free opening night!

March 23- We had a milkshake night which I thought Garrett would be excited about.  But all he wanted was a plate of (apparently really interesting) sprinkles.  (Or as G, my one syllable wonder calls them, "prinks!")

March 24- And then, the wild child falls asleep on you, and nothing else matters.  And, for a tiny moment, you're even a little thankful for your squishy parts.

March 25- My poor neglected children.  3 out of 4 of mine and Paul's parents have birthdays in the next few weeks.  So this day was spent working on gifts, party details/planning, card making/writing.  Right after I took this picture, Garrett said, "cam down mom, play golf."  So we did.

March 26- The to-do list was long... paint friends crib, buy balloons for Poppy, Easter outfit shopping, frost cupcakes for work, laundry... and that was all planned before nap-time.  And then, this cute dude threw up all over in the van.  So it turned into a bubble bath, diet 7-up, cartoon watching day.  And this list making mama is learning to be ok with that.  (The throw up was a one-time thing, by the way.  He played, ate a lot all day, and has been his normal self since.)

March 27- Paul brought this hat home after volunteering at a hospital with an organization called 'Happy Hats'.  It's a group that takes holiday themed hats to chronically ill children who will be spending the holiday at the hospital.  The hats are made by prison inmates.  (Paul was on the news that night, melting my heart making kids smile.)  After hearing about what he saw and learning about what these sweet kids go through, my heart hurt, and I was overwhelmingly thankful for my healthy babies.

March 28- Our after dinner activity.  And we only had two casualties...eggs, not people.

I plan on dating this guy for a long time.

Monday was a bad day at our house.  I actually spent a lot of the day giggling, but simultaneously feeling sorry for Garrett.  Addie would not leave him alone.  It was crazy!  And he wasn't provoking her at all, just minding his own business.  She'd climb on the couch and sit on him or steal him snacks.  One time I saw her grab his 'meow' by the leg, put all her weight into it, and pull, until Garrett almost fell over and finally had to let go.  When he was standing playing at the play kitchen, she'd stand right next to him so they were touching, then she'd side-step little baby steps to try and casually push him out of the way.  At one point she charged him and bear-hug tackled him, he fell on his back and hit his head on a chair.  It was the strangest day and I told Paul that if this is a new phase with her, we're going to be hiring a nanny because I can't handle her on my own.  Fortunately, we've been back to normal since, fingers crossed.

Anyway, by the time Paul got home, I knew Garrett needed some one on one time.  I needed to run to Party City to find a bowl for a party, so I took Garrett with me.  He was thrilled to get out of the house and not have Addie in the van with us.  Party City didn't have what I needed, but they did have a plastic truck for 59 cents that Garrett was really excited about.  Next we went to McDonald's for some ice cream.  Garrett was so cute and so happy the whole time.  I was quickly reminded how important date nights are with each child.  I need to do it way more often than I do.  We started racing the truck back and forth to each other.  Then he started driving it in the window seal.  He was cracking up.  And when it would fall onto the floor he'd let out a loud, "OOHHH!!" and laugh and laugh.  At one point he had me move to the next booth over so we could race it even further.  There weren't many people there, but the ones who were there, knew we were there too.  We finally ditched our ice cream and went to the outdoor seating, were no one was sitting.  He wanted to kneel on the ground and race it on a bench, so I knelt on one knee and he said, "no mom, two knees."  So I knelt all the way down and then he leaned in toward the bench, showing me the position I needed to be in to race.  So I leaned over and we started racing the truck at eye level on the bench.  I didn't know if I'd ever get him out of there, and I realized I needed that night as much as he did.  What a sweet kid he is.

A man started playing a saxophone near the exit and that got Garrett's attention.  We listened to him play for a couple of minutes, found all the quarters we could to give to him, and we were finally ready to go.  I was smiling to whole way home.  And I was reminded how easy and inexpensive (or free) it can be to find one on one time to make your children feel loved and important.

I only took a couple quick pictures because I didn't want to be on my phone during our date.

Project 365: 70-78

March 11- An early morning walk to Coffee Bean for an ice blended before Mimi and Bapa headed back to Utah.

March 12- Family Date Night.  Hamburgers, Trader Joe's, and frozen yogurt.  (According to Garrett: "fries and play slide." (Burger King Playground), "Sticks!" (free stickers for kids at TJ's), and "Ice Cleam!"

March 13- "Uncle" Braden, a Funeral Director friend from Utah, crashed at our place in the middle of the night after driving a case down from SLC.  I made him breakfast while he played with my kids, and then he was back on the road.

March 14- Look at those sweet little hands.  I looked through a baby book of mine today, and I had so much more hair than her when I was this age, but she's a lot cuter than I was! I just love her.

March 15- Garrett was with his grandparents, and instead of being productive at home, Addie and I went shopping and did some party planning.

March 16- Thank you Trader Joe's 'Everyday Seasoning' (with a built in grinder), for making our vegis so pretty and delicious!  Also, I found a great, simple seasoning for the chicken and now I can't find the link to give credit...I think it's 'The crayon box recipes' or something.  Anyway, apparently this it how you should always prep your chicken, whether it's to grill, put in a casserole, add to Alfredo sauce, or whatever. And after tasting it, I agree.  So here it is: for 2 chicken breasts I did, 1/2 tsp of each of the following- salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder.  Mix all those in a bowl, then sprinkle it on the chicken and rub it in.  Heat a couple Tbs. olive oil in a frying pan and barely brown the chicken.  Really just to make the seasoning stick.  The recipe said to then bake it at 350 for 25 minutes but we grilled ours and it was yummy.  I think I would do this to the chicken to use in other recipes because it adds such a great flavor.  And I had all the spices on hand! I feel so grown-up when I have all the ingredients for a new recipe.

March 17- Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 18- Addie was a nightmare all day.  Fussy, needy, constantly bugging Garrett and getting into everything she shouldn't.  Then Paul came home for lunch, so I starting complaining about her, and she was a sweet little angel the whole time he was home.  Yeah, I'm sure he believed me after a good-bye hug like this!

March 19- I made this dress for Addie during her nap.  She would only hold still for a picture if Garrett would stand next to her.  The whole dress cost less that $2.50 to make, and took less than 30 minutes to make it.  I think I'll make a couple more!