Close...on St Patrick's Day

I printed out several fun coloring pages and mazes to keep the kids busy for a while today on St Patrick's Day.  One of them was a "color-by-letter" for Kiera.  She loves to guess what the picture is before she colors it to see if she's right.

I printed out a pot of gold...

She guessed it is a basket full of grapes.  :-)  Love her!

On another note, I am very excited to prepare a more traditional Irish meal for dinner tonight.  (Did you know corned beef isn't very traditional? I read it was more of a nobility dish, only made popular by immigrants to America... but I read that on the internet, so who knows...)  The first time I tried, Gabe distinctly told me not to make corned beef again.  I thought it was *ok*, but not a favorite.  Last time, I made green potato soup and beer bread.  Tonight, we're having Beer braised venison stew, Irish soda bread, and colcannon.  Can't wait to see how it turns out, especially the colcannon!  (To be honest, I'm a little nervous, but hey, it's worth trying once, right?!!)

Christmas Gifts and Pretty Sure He never saw this coming...

 Melia looked all through her new molding book before she decided to do something else :-)  Without any instructions, I think it turned out all right! 

 Our first completed batch of cake pops!

And I really don't think in all of Gabe's wildest imaginings that his deer would ever become the girls' dress-up "toy."  Ever. 

My Decorator

Kiera decorated the house for me yesterday.  She was giggling to herself, and I asked her what was so funny... this is what I found...

She said something along the lines of "it already feels like a party!" 

"I think it's time to break out those Christmas decorations Gabe!  Gabe?  Gabe...  Hon, where is it in the barn that you stashed those??"

A little mixin' in the kitchen...Edited...

I finally got around to remembering to buy the ingredients for Russian Tea, which Mom and Dad introduced the kids to while they were camping and we were in Utah!  I happened to have a little jar at home, but that was QUICKLY emptied by my two little addicts!

We seriously laughed at Melia's goofy head tilt in this shot!

And Kiera was adamant that I show her Wenatchee Wild tattoo in this one... SO attractive, I know!  ;-)

Added Note:  For the record, Isaac loves it too.  This morning I found him dipping a spoon into the jar and licking off the powder.  He's pretty hardcore.  :-)

Kiera's Breakfast

Two small corn tortillas
olives
brocolli (raw)

Hmmmm...  But she said "YUM!"

A few Kiera nuggets...

While we were shopping the other day, Kiera was going nuts over all the "stuff" she was seeing and wanting.  Finally I just spit out "Kiera!  Why do you want SO much stuff?"  She replies back, matter-of-factly, "Mommy!  I am just a little girl with big dreams!" 


This week, on our way up to Gma Nae's house... Kiera pipes up from her seat, "Mom, could you pick it up to Kangaroo Speed?"  (Which, for the record, is up to 50 mph...  I was only doing 40.   Not nearly fast enough for her...)

Hunting Pics

Daddy's deer :-)

 When we arrived, the kids were thrilled to have the freedom to run and play!  Kiera quickly returned yelling, "Look what I found!!!"  She was THRILLED.  As the story goes, Gabe and Shaun had been shooting at squirrels/chipmunks a few hours before we arrived, and Gabe had pegged this one... and forgot about it.  We all couldn't believe how Kiera fell in LOVE with her dead little chipmunk!

Melia, examining the specimen..

But, as you would probably guess, we could NOT keep a dead chipmunk!  This absolutely broke her heart- I cannot even begin to explain how she SOBBED for a good 20-30 minutes, and then again every time she looked at it's little tail (which was cut off thinking it would ease her pain...)  SOBBED, people.  No exaggeration needed.

Melia, later at home, watching as Daddy cuts up his deer.  She received a pretty one-of-a-kind anatomy lesson for a 7 year old, and fully loved every minute of it.  Not sure what God's got up His sleeve for this one, but boy, she's gonna be quite the little "lady!"

I know.  Gross, right?  Totally.  Gabe's.  Idea.  OK?  OK.

Ice Skating after the last day of Co-op!

Kiera: revelling in her "big friend" time!

Yes, I did skate too! Brought back lovely memories... and made me very empathetic to Melia's requests to take lessons... :-) But she needs to learn to swim first!

Apple Blossom Pictures

These are kinda backwards because Blogger uploads them that way. So evening is first, then afternoon, then the parade. :-) I'm sure you can figure it out!

Isaac LOVED his boat ride. So much so that when he was screaming because I took him out, I went and bought more tickets so he could go again.

Imagine even more screaming when I took him out the second time. He tantrumed all the way to the car. I learned my lesson, though I'm not exactly sure what that lesson was.

Cutie Patooties

See what I mean by "adrenaline-junkie?" :-)

Love this pic...

Here we go!

Dogpile on Ken!

Melia, in the Grand Parade with her friends (and mine!)

Kiera, watching the parade. She has such a beautiful stoic face...

Isaac, waving to the peoples in the parade. He was amazing, sitting in his stroller the whole time!

Happy Birthday Kiera!

Kiera recently turned 5 (Yes, I know... She's FIVE... I'm trying not to think about it...), so here's some of my favorite pics of our spicy, adrenaline-junkie, wild child... We had our family party here at our house, and a littles party out at the toy at Rocky Reach Dam (her request, my priviledge ;-)

Bubble machines are the best!

All lined up for juice and cupcakes!


Her reaction to my suprise cake for her... She'd been grouchy about it since we made the cake because it wasn't going to be like the picture- and she just didn't believe me that it would be better...

Posing...
Hello Kitty Purse cake... WAY better than the boring yellow purse in the picture! :-)




CASH!

Such a funny smile

In shock over her baby doll set

Just what she wanted :-)

Ahhh Life....

We've been having so much fun lately, but that fun also means we've been crazy busy. I just thought I'd drop a little line here and say... Raising ladybugs is SO much fun! They're turning into pupas tonight... so I had Melia start on her "Ladybug Life Cycle" journal before it's too late to draw them as larva.

Oh, and I said "Adios" today... so now the girls are saying "Howdios" :-) Heh heh... I love it too much to correct them!

How to Say K-I-W-I

Melia: Kiweed
Kiera: Bikini

Quotables

Kiera: Look! We found rolly-pollies!
Daddy: Kiera. You may only eat three rolly-pollies.
Kiera: Ok!
***************************************

Kiera: I'm making a river.
Melia: I'm walking around talking about stuff. It's good exercise.
**************************************

Kiera: I like Isaac. He's so cute and fun and naughty.

Kiera's Biscuit Recipe

" 'Dis is my recipe:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 cups salt
5 cups rice
1 cup butter
6 eggs

That's my recipe!"

Don't you want to come try some? ;-)

Isaac sure is blessed...

He has fabulous big sisters!

Answered Prayer!

I pray for wisdom in parenting a LOT. Probably a dozen times a day. Today, God really gave me a couple opportunities to exercise wisdom with Kiera, for which I am SO grateful. ******************************************************** **1. Kiera had asked for a Spree candy, to which I said no. She walked away without complaint, but as she passed the table, something fell out of her hand on the linoleum. I looked at her, asking what it was. She held up a Spree candy... So besides a little training, I also had her throw the whole box into the garbage. ********************************************************** 2. She had poured out a box of Jello into a bowl and was waiting for the teapot to heat up. A few minutes later, she ran over and volunteered to help Melia with whatever task I had just given her, but I noticed her lips were extremely orange! She'd been helping herself to the spoon! Not only did she not get to help Melia, she also was not allowed to help stir or pour the Jello. ********************************************************** Isn't that awesome? Both totally random ways that God allowed me to see her disobedience. Thank you Lord!!! :-)

Playing Kitties in the Back of the Van

Today... while in the Sonic Drive-Thru (during happy hour of course!).... the girls are playing kitties. Melia's the kitty, Kiera's the owner.

Kiera: Yes, I'd like a milk slushy, with cat food in it please. And a popsicle slushy too. Thank you.
Melia: meow?
Kiera: Yep, she'll be right out. Good kitty.

Busy in the Kitchen!

Today we've made cookies for Papa Tim (extra healthy :-), biscuits, and monkey bread.

While making the monkey bread, Kiera asked if she could lick her hands when she was done. I said yes, and she says, "Good, cause my fingers look SOOO yummy!"
:-)

Before I forget...

This evening, the kids and I headed to Moses Lake for Shaun's annual B-day bowling bash. This was our first time, so they were SUPER excited! Every town we came to, Kiera asked if this was it... then if not, which town this was... When we finally got to the right town, she asked the name, to which I answered "Moses Lake." She says, "OH! This is where Moses' Ark is!"


At some point on the trip, Kiera responded to something that was said with "Ugh. That makes me nauseous."
Melia says, "What does nauseous mean?"
:-)

I'll post a link when Andrea posts her pictures of bowling. Isaac threw SEVERAL screaming fits because he wanted to bowl too. So that's my excuse for my lousy scores... At least half the time, I was bowling with him on my hip :-) It made me feel better when everyone said he was SO heavy... That makes me not a wimp, right?

Grapefruit Results

Well, you can see how you all voted over on the side :-) Isaac had the overwhelming win, which is not terribly suprising...

But the truth is, they all liked it :-) Even Gabe tried a piece and said it was ok, so he deserves a half vote. But all the kids liked it so much that I bought a box of those red grapefruit cups at Costco... and have been having to say "no" to the constant begging ever since.