Egg Hunting

Our church this year is at 9 am. I love 9 am church, but this year is a little challenging. First of all, New Years Day was at 9 am. Try staying up until midnight (or later) and then getting everyone up and out the door that early. Secondly, 2 out of 6 of our birthdays are on Sunday this year, so that makes it a little...interesting...for the kids. Thirdly, Easter Sunday was at 9 am. My kids aren't super early morning kids (aside from Jarren), so that posed some problems. Egg hunt at 7:30 am? Nah...the Easter Bunny came after we left for church, but before we got home, since we're dog sitting a hyper, semi-violent dog who definitely would have done damage to the eggs (and candy). The kids came home and went on an egg hunt and spend the day enjoying the candy and sunshine. It was a very nice day.

Finished Eggs

Jenna's jungle eggs

Kendall just left his sitting in the dye for about an hour, so they were very vibrant

Jarren quickly threw his in and pulled them out, so they were pastel

Kristen had mini monsters and didn't want to mess with pipe cleaners and "hair" so they just got sticker mouths and eyes, but were still really cute

Coloring Eggs

Kendall, wondering what that thing was for

Kristen got pretty into it, even though she didn't want the monster pack

Jenna, happy she got the jungle animals. She took about an hour to decorate hers

Jarren, being silly and quickly

I thought this year I'd buy a couple of those egg coloring kits to change things up a bit. I had one that I got on clearance last year, so I made sure each kid had one. Kendall had no interest in using it and Kristen wanted the one Jenna had. Jarren just wanted to play with his stickers and decorations, so...in the future? I'll stick to food coloring and crayons.

Found

 
Found:
One white tiger that is soooooo adorable!! Goes by the name of Ren. :)

I am in love with this book series, The Tiger's Curse--book 1; (The Tiger's Quest--book 2; The Tiger's Voyage--book 3). My friends and I went and met the author, Colleen Houck, and had our book(s) signed back in December. The girl two in front of us won a big gift pack. Rats!!

I saw a cute white tiger shirt in Forever 21 last month, but they didn't have my size. Double rats!!

Then, a few weeks later, this cute, cute tiger showed up in the mail. I cannot figure out who sent it to me. I've asked everyone I can think of and I have my suspicions, but no one will own up to it. So....THANK YOU to whoever sent Ren to me!!! I love it!!! And if you want to read a fun, cute, fantasy romance (clean), pick this series up!

Just Because....

I went and got Jenna from school one day and came home to find a big box that had just been delivered for me. I opened it and it was a bunch of beautiful roses from....Jon! JUST BECAUSE!!! That was sooo sweet. They sure did brighten things up.

April Fools!

 I love doing food tricks for April Fools. This year was a little trickier than usual, because it fell on a Sunday and everyone was home, but I still managed. Jarren and Jon TOTALLY fell for the trick!!

meatloaf cooked in an aluminum foil liner

colored mashed potatoes added on top to look like frosting

I put these "cupcakes" on a plate with fruits and veggies and had some of the family pretty confused. Kristen's was just mashed potatoes. She was sooo worried that my trick would be to give her meat, so I had her help me make them. They were pretty good!

Ni Hao!!

Our school started a Chinese immersion program in the 2010-2011 school year. How it works, is a kindergartener applies and then s/he starts the program in 1st grade. S/he will continue on through 6th grade, studying school curriculum for half the day in strictly Chinese and the other half of the day in English. Once you're in the program, you're in. You cannot decide to start in 3rd grade. Apparently, these kids are pretty much fluent by the time they leave elementary school. Crazy. I don't get how they can actually do it, but they do. Anyway...Jenna's teacher strongly recommended that she either be a part of this program or to do ALPS (accelerated learning program). I was hesitant about ALPS. First of all, not all schools have the program, so she'd have to go to another school where she knows NO ONE. Secondly, the schedule is year-round there, so she'd be on a totally different schedule from all of her friends and family. She is so shy, I just couldn't see that as a great thing for her. After talking to her and seeing her excitement about Chinese, we applied. They take siblings of current students first, so I wasn't sure she'd get in, but we got a letter yesterday telling us that she has been accepted. She is soooo excited!!! I think this will be a great thing for her--to challenge her academically and help her develop self-esteem.