Kindergarten buddies!

I love volunteering in the Kindergarten classroom! I don't think I could do this all day... I really admire those K teachers who DO do it, and do it well.... but every other Thursday is just perfect for me.

Today was their buddy Jake's birthday, and ANOTHER "intruder" drill, where we closed and locked the door, turned down all lights and covered windows, and huddled in a corner.  Then tried to convince the kids this was serious, yet not scary.... 

Oye.  I love me my Kindergartners! 

Brave Bennett, Chicken Charity

I told the kids they all have the privilege of trying at least one brussels sprout before having anything else tonight. Bennett took care of it right away (knowing from past experience that resistance is futile). Charity is protesting. Loudly. His encouragement to her: "cmon Charity, it will not make you die." 

I'm the YW Leader Easter Bunny

If my girls don't show up at activities for awhile,  I kill 'em with kindness and it sometimes works; )

Y winners vball

Just saw this posted on the YMCA facebook page, and recognized two little winners :) 

(and had to smile and shake my head at Courtney's choice of footwear)

Swing into Spring...?

Maybe if we play and dress like it's Spring... the sun will magically come out and melt all this leftover snow!!

Daddy-daughter swing team

He can NOT resist the lure of a sweet {yet demanding] 3 yr old call out: "Daddy PUSH ME on the SWING!!"

Plant Eaters Anonymous Mtg

Not really called that, but I thought the acronym P.E.A. would be cute and fitting ;) Mom hosted a reallyreally great book club/potluck/cooking class focused on following the Word of Wisdom more closely!

The planet's best hummus

I didn't even know hummus could taste this amazing. The Oh She Glows recipe (plus extra lemon and garlic, minus tobasco)....soooo good. Gave away the extra as door prize at Mom's cooking class/book discussion tonight. Which means I'm a more generous soul than I thought I was, because I really just could've kept the whole thing and ate it solo. In one sitting.

Adventures with mom the plant eater

I'm looking forward to this tomorrow and inviting a bunch of friends!
I'm making hummus and a scottish dish called Skirlie.

MOD pizza

Another new restaurant in North Spokane. Not that I'm a restaurant go-er, but it seems like something new is always popping up. I liked it! If I were to become the restauranty type, I'd go here. It was fun to create my own pizza with really creative with ingredients - artichokes, cashews, roasted garlic, etc. Loved having Lindsay in town! Family is the bestest.

Girls having fun with guinea pig

Night out with sisters and MAMAMIA!

Finished the BoM !!

Obsessed

Brianna: "She hasn't eaten much. She probably wants to wait until we leave her alone. But we dont want to ever leave her alone!"

LaserTag at Wonderland!

Sent from my mobile.
_____________________________________________________________

Ears pierced!

Sent from my mobile.
_____________________________________________________________

   Brianna has been looking forward to this day for years! Zero fear of those piercing guns. She went in and boldly, gleefully, let them shoot amethyst (purple) earrings into her cute little lobes. Nonny got the honor of taking her on this outing. Lily joined in the piercing (round two for her - the first set had to be removed, sadly, cuz they sunk in and got stuck). Courtney went and watched and has declared she never wants her ears pierced! Ok with me - I don't need another baby growing up too fast! Actually I thought I'd be more sentimental about this milestone in life. I'm not really. Too much else going on? 😉😕  

GREEN!

St. Patrick's Day is my favorite holiday. So easy. No pressure. Nothing to make/bake/give....Just wear green! We don't do the whole Leprechaun thing for a couple reasons... I don't like lying to my kids, even if it's just for fun and imagination. And... there are other things I need/want to do with my limited time :)  But wearing green? We can do that!
I hope they always are as sweet and excited about these fun little holidays and never get those smug, I'm-too-cool-for-this  teenagery attitudes about them. Stay green forever!!

Mailing

But I'm not tell anyone what I'm mailing! TOP SECRET! To be revealed in the next year or two at most ;)

love!

At my conference with Courtney's teacher, she showed me a sample of Courtney's work. The students were instructed to write anything they wanted to and draw a picture to go along with it. This is what Courtney did! ❤❤❤

Zag day at school!

We have zero Zag gear for our kids. No shirts or sweaters or headstuff... nada.  We're poor, sad excuses for Spokanites.  Fortunately, I have this ONE Zag shirt in my closet. Literally have never worn it. Grabbed it at a yard sale once for a quarter I think. Obviously an inspired decision ;)   So I'm glad at least one of our kids got to dress up for Zag day at school! Not surprisingly the one who volunteered also insisted on keeping her other shirt underneath...."cuz it just goes together so great!"  :)

hiiiiiYAH!

I can't say enough how much we're loving Martial Arts!! The instructor,  Opal, is fantastic.  So patient with these squirrely students. They're learning such great skills. And I can't get over how relatively inexpensive it is.

They earned their next belt today, whoohoo!

Getting Brianna to practice

She has a love/hate with piano. Her teacher is awesome and lessons always go well....but getting her to actually sit down and do a solid practice session without me reminding her or sitting right with her is challenging, especially if we haven't gotten to it til the end of the day.

But one thing that does help is me offering to braid her hair or rub her shoulders while she plays. THEN she cooperates QUITE well,  ha. If someone did that for me I'd be on the piano alllll day :) 

Why I haven't been running

Cuz I reallyreally love doing the Stairmill while watching Netflix! I can't watch Netflix while running as easily....and I'm not a fan of running in the ice/mud stuff we've got going....and it's better for my knees....and there's probably deeper psychological issues related to competitive running PTSD here but we'll just blame it on how much I like escaping into Gilmore Girls episodes :)

There aren't a lot of things I'm really good at in this world....but Stairmilling is one of the few. 60 min on this sucker at 104 steps/min, 400 floors....that's good stuff! 

She's obsessed with yogurt sticks and I'm obsessed with her

Official first night as roommates!

Help Courtney pre

Fast Sunday weekend

I love that part of my faith includes fasting 24 hrs on the first Sunday of each month. It's such an awesome principle that literally would solve world problems if everyone observed.  It's such a small sacrifice compared to the blessings received from it. Physically, there's irrefutable evidence demonstrating the health benefits to going without food for short periods of time (like, ahem, 24 hours). Socially/economically, isn't it awesome we get to make Fast Offerings and give the money we would've spent on food to those in need! And spiritually, there's a beautiful strength gained from making a sacrifice, dedicating our fast to a special desired blessing/cause. I have an absolute testimony these prayers are heard.  

I like to making Temple Attendance part of my Fasting weekend.  I start my fast saturday afternoon, go to the temple, visit Sammy, attend church sunday morning (testimony mtg! Always interesting to see who goes up ;) , and end my fast Sunday afternoon. It's honestly my favorite weekend each month!  Bonus: my visit with Sammy included our first outdoor walk of the year. Yay for not-freezing temps!

Vitamin D and bubbles

#Ypedal2017

I didn't know if I'd be able to do this event  (that I was peer pressured into signing up for and wasn't too excited about doing), but man I'm so glad that we did!!!! Brianna had SO much fun pedaling for an hour! The music and energy was awesome!! Then she won the prize drawing!!

Feelin lucky📗💶👽💚👽🐢🐦🐸🐍🐊🐛🐉🍏🍈🌱🌲🌳🌴🍃⚓⛪📶📳♻

It's time for the changing of the holiday decor! Byebye Valentines, hello St. Patrick's Day. It's a lot of work hauling everything up and in and out....but worth it to see how excited the kids get!

I like St Patrick's Day. It's easy. Just wear green!🍀🍀🍀🍀

Problem solving preschoolers

Cute as buttons

Sent from my mobile.
_____________________________________________________________

   Their assignment today was to wear as many buttons on their clothes as possible. It was also spirit shirt day. I wonder if we are the only ones who thought of attaching the buttons to the spirit shirt