For Grama Elaine

I thought this would be a boring post, so I left it out when I showed the lego bomb. However, we regularly have "lego mania" contests here. Each kid builds something, keeping it hidden from the others. Then they place them on display. Displaying usually means covering them with towels, blankets, or scarves until judging time. The judge is me. I give out prizes for things like "most original use of blue" or "best creative in color management." Here are the results of the latest contest: Sarah won "most colors used"
Theo won for " best use of people"
Marty won for the "best use of wheels"
Amy's award was "best use of a set"

Anyway, it keeps us busy and happy. Hope this gives you a smile, Grama Elaine, and we hope you are feeling better, too!

And then, THIS happens

If he has to be gone, I wish he could take his dog with him.
Good bye, $16.00

When Papa's gone, this always happens

Whenever Matt goes out of town, something always happens. It could be a dead battery on the van; it could be a kid gets sick; it could be abominable behavior. Sometimes these things do happen, but more often than not, we get off schedule and it leads to this: an overwhelming need to sort out the crayons. Because, "Mama, they are all old and broken."

Which leads to this:

sorting in a large area of the family room.

Which leads to this:

Melting them down into crayon circles in the oven.

Which leaves this by-product:

also known as "unfinished business."

And then, this sort of thing happens, just because there isn't anything else going on:

the dog licks all of his stitches out from his neutering surgery,

and has to be taken back to town again,

and then he won't let anyone touch the incision (guess I can't blame him there),

so he has to be sedated, taking another hour,

which means we have to go to Petsmart to spend money on this collar,

which means we have to hand feed him since he can't reach his food,

which of course means we have to check him every hour and water him too,

because he can't reach his water either.

Yeah, that's usually what happens when Matt is away.

We miss you, Papa!

Lego Bomb

Our family room floor--all day yesterday.

Knitting class

I'm considering teaching a few of the local home school moms to knit. There has been some interest, so I figured- "Why not?" We will be knitting these cute bunnies and chickens, with the goal of having them ready for our Easter baskets. Wish me (us) luck!
This bunny starts out as a simple square. Really, it does.
This chicken is a bit more involved, but do-able. In 2006, I knit 39 of these for the kids to take to school for Easter favors. They were a hit, but I probably won't be doing that again anytime soon. Gosh, another reason to love home schooling!

My baby isn't really a baby anymore...

Marty lost a top tooth today.

Guess I'm going to have to face it--my baby's growing up.

Ashes

We burned our palms from last year the other day, and the kids thought it was awesome.

Just as Jesus throws our sins into the fire and turns them to ash when we avail ourselves of the sacrament of reconcilliation. Yeah....that's AWESOME.

Lenten Activities--part 3

Lenten Countdown

I got this idea from Matilda over at 4Real:
http://tiredtwang.blogspot.com/2007/02/making-preparations-part-2.html
and thought it would be fun for the kids to "see" the forty days of Lent. When I shared this with some other moms, one of them had the idea to put on a family picture to move along the path. On Holy Thursday I will add a holy card of The Last Supper; on Good Friday, a sticker of the Crucified Christ and a"stone" to cover the tomb; and on Easter the "stone" will be rolled away to reveal a holy card of the Risen Christ. But, ssssshhhhhh.......the kids don't know that part!
Here's a picture of the chart as it is now, in our school/dining/family room;