Spring-y project

I just love the colors Mary Beth used on this butterfly she got as an Easter gift from my parents. The boys got dinos- we'll have to see what they do with theirs...

Play Outside!

Recently, I read an article in the NY Times called Playtime is Over, by David Elkind, and he said something that amazed me (in reference to Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods)- “our young people are more aware of threats to the global environment than they are of the natural world in their own backyards.”

Please take a few minutes and read this article and then send your kids out to play. :)

Happy 5th Birthday my little Mary Beth!

First off I just want to say that it was LITERALLY yesterday that this little peanut was born so there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY she is 5 already. Plus she looks like she just turned 4 so that doesn't help matters... sigh. Today when we sat down to supper Mickey said, "why does everyone have to keep getting older?" I'd like to know the answer to that too Mickey...
So anyway, Mary Beth HAD to open a couple of presents right away this morning so I let her open 2 of my mom and dad's. She loved her tote bag but she fell IN LOVE with the nightgown (of course) and had to try it on immediately. She wore it to bed tonight.

After gymnastics I asked her what she wanted for her birthday lunch and she said an egg roll. So I took her to the little Chinese restaurant by our house and got her an egg roll. She loved it.

After she opened her fortune cookie she said she liked my fortune better and wanted to trade. I had to do it since it was her birthday. But just for the record, mine was better. :)

Oh, and the owner tried to guess Mary Beth's age and started with 4 then went to 3 and finally, reluctantly, said 5??? SEE!!!! She cannot be 5!

Then we went down to the ice cream shop and she picked out her OWN cone. A rare treat since we usually buy one ice cream for them all to split. Since there was about 30 flavors it took her FOREVER to decide but finally chose cookies and cream.

After ice cream we went to the balloon store and she picked out 2 pink balloons.

When we got home I made her a number 5 birthday shirt which she decided she wanted to put on right away. Then she wanted to plant the seeds that my mom and dad sent her for Easter. We poured water over 2 pellets and wow! they grew to be HUGE mounds of potting soil-stuff. She was amazed.

She carefully planted her seeds and even had some soil left over. She gave it to the boys so they could plant some sunflower seeds. All of these things went on our newly set up nature table in the kitchen.

Then I sewed Mary Beth this birthday crown. I got the idea from Soulemama but did it a bit differently. I was really easy and I think it turned out super cute. I plan on making this a birthday tradition in our family.

She HAD to open a couple more presents so she opened Aunt Becky's nail polish and "tall-up" shoes. LOVED them. If you give a Mary Beth some nail polish she will want to paint her nails... so we let her- all by herself- for the first time ever. She actually did a really good job too! She picked dark silver out of all the colors... hope that doesn't mean she's going through a goth phase.

The boys were excited to give Mary Beth their present: the Melissa & Doug ice cream set just like the one at the children's museum here in Fargo. She always plays with it for ages when we go there so we knew she would love to have her own. Plus it's a wooden toy- which we love.

She had also opened her wooden bead set Mom and LOVED it- she worked on making necklaces while I made her hat.

Apparently it's just as hard to be 5 as it was to be 4...

"Oh Mom."

For supper Mary Beth chose pancakes(whole wheat) with a strawberry funny face. We threw in some ham since we are trying to eat it up from Easter. I wonder how many more meals of ham everyone will accept?

Present time again. The TAG reading system from Mommy and Daddy and a set of TAG books from Great Grandpa and Great Grandma. She loved them.

Stawberry rhubarb birthday pie with TONS of cool whip. She ended up only eating some of the cool whip and left the rest.

We hope you had a wonderful birthday today Mary Beth! We love you so much- the past five years have been so fun with you in our family.

You are our precious little angel. And our silly little "bugga boo" as Daddy calls you.

wonderful quote

Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Upon receiving the award, she was asked how we all can promote world peace and she answered, "Go home and love your family."

Easter morning

The kids miraculously slept until 8:30 on Sunday so Mommy and Daddy were well rested for Easter festivities- thank goodness! First they found their baskets and took time to look at their treats. The bunny left paw prints on the kitchen table and had eaten all the carrots that we left for him.

Next came the Easter egg hunt. The bunny must have known that we are working hard at being healthy eaters because instead of filling the eggs with candy he filled them with legos! The kids thought that was the best thing ever. They had to get to work right away putting their creations together while Mommy started breakfast before church.

We had a fruit salad and my family's traditional Easter breakfast that Goma(my great-grandmother from Italy) and then my mom always made: Italian fritata. It has eggs, ricotta, and Italian sausage in it. Everyone LOVED it and there wasn't one piece left.

Then we all went to church and unfortunately I missed my chance to get a picture of everyone in their Easter clothes!?! They took them off so fast when we got home that I didn't even realize what happened. Oh well- they looked really cute. Jeffrey wore a tie for the first time and Mary Beth had her Easter bonnet and gloves on- just like me when I was little!

Easter Part 2 tomorrow...

happy times...

“Accept the children with reverence, educate them with love, send them forth in freedom.”

– Rudolf Steiner

food revolution