Monday, March 30

In His Hands

My sweet little Jonathan has created his own blog. He hasn't posted much on it, but everything that has been done so far has been all him! I'm so proud of my little boy, no my BIG boy! He came up with a great idea and I can tell more wonders are on the way from his hands.

Hope you enjoy! Jonathan's Hands can be seen here.

Saturday, March 28

Alex says hello!





Winter Storm of the Year

It crippled Denver and was said to dump around 2 feet of snow in southwest Kansas. It hit New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas yesterday. This was the largest area of a snow storm I have seen in a very long time (maybe ever). At the beginning of the week, I had heard around town that there was something coming on Friday and we were going to get some snow. I laughed inside, saying to myself that we had such a beautiful spring week the week before, surly this wouldn't be that bad. Wednesday night, I heard someone at church saying we were supposed to get 4 inches!

Real quick, to preface this, we've dropped cable and we don't have antennas yet, so we just see a lot of static and we just aren't watching that much television any longer.

So, I told Jeff and we checked out the weather websites and discovered Wednesday night, that we were predicted to get 8-10 inches of snow here! Other stations were saying 4-6. It has gone up and down all week. Yesterday I watched the internet radar and saw this storm knock on our door and then fissle up. There was still a large area behind it and the action for us was going to begin at 2 o'clock this morning. We were actually looking forward to the snow, one last play and another chance at a good snowman this year. People all over town covered flowers and parties were cancelled for today. Even Jonathan's last game of the year (which happens to be a make-up from the last snow we had) was cancelled for today. We've been watching outside and on the radar, this storm is loosing it's punch, space, and turning into rain. Our city is right on the line of where this storm is fighting itself. So far all day today, we've had rain and the occasional sleet.

UNTIL NOW. We were just about to sit down to lunch and Jeff said to look outside. The largest flakes I've ever seen were coming down! I couldn't get the camera in time, it happened pretty fast. But now, the ground is covered in a layer of white and the snow is falling. From the look of this radar, we could be in this for several hours now. I wonder what will happen!? How many inches will we actually get???

Well see!....

...2 hours later
The snow's still coming down and we have about an inch so far! Doesn't look like it's going to stop soon. Hmmm...

...6 hours after the snow began...
Well, it's just about over. Alex, Adie and I went outside for a while and ended up building a snowman! Woohoo! Actually, it's a snowgirl! While we were putting her together, Adie said that she should be a girl because the last one we made was a boy. That was Jack frost from January 2007. Jo has been sick the last couple of days and so today he stayed inside, since he gets pnemonia easily. But tomorrow, we will all stand with our snow girl and have our first family snowgirl picture with Alex!
The total for snow here was only about two inches or so. Not that much, but enough for a snowman!

Monday, March 23

Two Cardinals

It is so windy today. A little dangerous to be outside actually. Pooh would be singing his blustery song and I think I saw Piglet flying by! ;)
We have two beautiful Cardinals that have been sitting outside our dinning room window for quite some time now. The kids decided to give them names. So, we have Brody (the female) and Marlin (the bright red male). I think these two are living in our house (two holes on the side and the fact that we've seen these two nearly everyday suggests that fact). It really has been a lovely day.

Saturday, March 21

A Fun Spring "Break"

Yes, I put quotes around break. I just don't think we could call this last week a break! There was still much learning involved, even though we didn't crack open the school books. We went to the zoo, nature centers, the lake, Powell Gardens, our co-op, Jonathan's science class, and a Dairy Farm field trip! This week was so busy but so much fun!

The dairy farm was great. We got to see the whole process of how milk gets from the cow to the jugs in our grocery stores! I was unable to snap a lot of photos, only a couple, it was so crowded and holding on to Alex was quite a challenge. We got to taste some interesting flavors of milk - banana, strawberry, orange, root beer, and chocolate. The milk was great! No growth hormones, and fresh from that morning! It really was a lovely day.

Powell Gardens was great, it wasn't full of flowers yet, but it sure was a pleasant walk. And the lake was beautiful.

Jonathan is enjoying his science class (home school science lab at a local nature center). So far they've learned about eggs and compasses. There are three more weeks for this one.

I took Adie and Alex to the zoo during Jonathan's class and that was fun! I had Alex in a back-pack and Adie in the stroller (poor little ladie gets so tired walking the zoo). We have a membership so it's nice to go and just see a few things and then know we can come back anytime we want for free!

Our bird feeder is great. I believe we will have to get some more as time goes on. The whole family is getting a lot out of watching all that's going on. We do have a theif of a squirl coming along these days, so we'll have to figure that out. And this week, a new bird decided to grace us with his presence. It looked like a sparrow, but red like raspberry juice! I looked it up in the field guide and discovered that it was a male Purple Finch! I've never seen one before and they truly are beautiful!

Tuesday, March 17

And they don't even know it...

I've got a secret... Shhh... don't tell them.

I've got a picky eater. Seriously, doesn't like meat, most veggies, and nearly everything on the table. Does like sweet foods, fruits, and carbs. The other two are semi picky. So naturally, I worry about what I serve at the table. Don't we all?

Well, recently my beloved sister shared her secret with me. Deceptively Delicious. Oh boy, is it wonderful! Secret ingredients in all recipes! These are pureed ingredients so they are not even recognizable. I had already been pureeing food for our baby and this was nothing new for me. All I had to do was add it in to foods that I figured my pickiest would go for.

A few days ago I made a white lasagna. I wasn't sure about it, but wanted to give it a try. This was made with chicken and a butter sauce with pureed yellow squash. It turned out fabulous and was a hit to the entire family. For the first time ever the pickiest ate seconds and nearly a complete third serving of this dish. My heart skipped a beat and jumped for joy! I get a thrill out of sneaking things into their diet that is chock full of nutrition for them and I love the added value of the food I'm serving at our table. Not once has the question - Mom what is this? come out and neither have they refused any of it. I've served protien packed mac-n-cheese, spinach stuffed green-eggs-and-ham (Dr. Seuss was a fun addition to this one), sweet potato pancakes, and other fabulous dishes of foods my kids won't eat (or so they think);). There are more on the way.

This has been a hit, and they don't even know it!

Sunday, March 15

Birds, birds, birds!

Yesterday birds finally decided to take a taste from our bird feeder! One of the birds that graced us with his presense was a Hairy Woodpecker. It was beautiful! I had never seen a woodpecker like that before (my impression was that they all look like the good ole Woody Woodpecker from the cartoon of my childhood!). I have started a new gadget to the right, hopefully it will show up.

Have a wonderful week!