Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

From the Leprechaun Chase

Before school this morning

A New Year's Tree

This year, I surprised the kids with a New Year's Tree. It was such a fun way to celebrate.

On the eve of New Year's Eve, my husband and I took everything off of the Christmas tree and redecorated it.

Our Christmas tree became our New Year's tree. It was a New Year's Eve surprise for the kids.

The kids had no idea that that balloons had surprises inside. After dinner, we told each child to get a balloon. To make it simple, I had 4 of each color and I knew what was inside each color of balloons. So, the first time I told them to grab a white balloon, I knew they would all get jokes.

Some of the balloons had jokes. Some of the balloons had money. We opened balloons throughout the night.

They loved it.

A couple of my kids do not like popping balloons. To get around that, my husband had them throw up their balloon and he would pop it with a pin.


All four kids thought the New Year's tree was fantastic. It was a fun (not to mention cheap) way to celebrate with the kids at home. It also made taking off the ornaments a lot less sad. We will be doing this year after year.

Happy 2014!

Wordless Wednesday: 40

Lake Tahoe on the 4th~ A few favorite moments

After the Run to the Beach Trail Run at Kings Beach.

Zephyr Cove is a happy place.

I love the smiles I saw at Zephyr Cove.

My beach babe building a castle at Nevada Beach.

Mr. Sandman

Sunset at Nevada Beach

Our view of the Lake Tahoe fireworks from Nevada Beach was outstanding. (cell phone photo)

Family photo at twilight.

April Fool's Day

I like to -okay, love to- celebrate. April Fool's Day is a great excuse to have fun. I couldn't skip it. I also couldn't devote much time to it. It's sandwiched between Easter and our upcoming Disneyland trip. I decided simple tricks would be best.

Shoes

Before school, my 12 year old found that there were plastic grocery bags inside his shoes.  It went like this, "There's a bag in my shoe? Oh..." with a big grin on his face.

My 9 year old found his shoes tied together. It went like this, "Someone tied my shoes together. Hey, is this an April Fool's Day trick?"

Lunches

I packed lunches with "lunch bugs". A lunch bag with a bug printed on the bag. Brilliant! I knew my boys would love them. 

My 12 year old said it made him smile. My 9 year old said that a teacher thought they were really cool. My 7 year old said his friends thought the bugs were real. My 5 year old daughter hated them.


Brownies

When the boys came home from school, they were greeted with the smell of freshly baked brownies. I make brownies fairly often and my 9 year old always walks in and says, "Brownies!" 

The confused looked on their faces when I handed them each a brown "E" was priceless. Hilarious. 

They loved the joke. And, they still got brownies.

Bedrooms

My 7 year old found his bed made upside down. The pillows were at the end of the bed. He thought it was funny. He also found his favorite poster turned upside down. (He thinks that's so great, he wants to leave it that way.)

Probably the worst trick for my two oldest boys was the rearranging of their rooms. I switched all of the University of Alabama decor with the University of Oregon Decor. They were not amused - well, they were but they wouldn't admit it and they couldn't stand it for long.

Dinner and Dessert

Last but not least, we had ice cream sundaes for dinner and chicken, rice, vegetables and rolls for dessert. It was a backwards meal. Needless to say, no one ate "dessert" very well! My husband said that if they didn't eat dessert, he wouldn't ever give them dessert again. The kids had a lot of fun talking about how much they loved dinner.

Favorites: 
My 7 year old liked dessert for dinner.
My 9 year old liked the brown "E"s.
My 11 year old liked dessert for dinner.
My 5 year old daughter didn't know what to think of any of it (but she did not like the bug bags!).
My favorite was the brown "E"s. The kids were confused and then amused. Their faces were priceless.

Friday Funny: Christmas Blooper

FUNNY FACE!

I am not sure which makes me laugh more- being able to see all the way down my throat or my youngest son's face.

Defrightful Friday Fun

My kids think painting is delightful. Today, I surprised them with Halloween puppet painting.









The youngest two are still painting. They've moved on to creative panting on paper. I better get back to them before something really frightful happens.
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Simple Family Fun

Last weekend, the circus came to town. I love the circus.

I mean, I love the circus. I have a clown collection. I love clowns. I even wanted to be one for a time. The last time I went to the Ringling Barnum and Bailey circus I went early- to see the clowns.

I really wanted to take the kids to the circus. I could just imagine the fun time we'd have. But the weekend was going to be busy. Tickets for a family of six would be costly. Plus we would be tempted to buy souvenirs or snacks. I wanted to go to the circus. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend money on the circus.

The weekend came and went and I never mentioned going to the circus.

On Sunday, we flew kites.

We took turns launching the kites. We took off our shoes and chased each other in the wide open field. We laughed a lot.

We spent hours playing together.

It was the kind of experience that led to the kids saying over and over without prompting, "That was so much fun."

It was one of the best afternoons we have had in a long time.

In the evening, during prayers, my son thanked God for kites, for his brother wanting to go to the field, for the idea to fly kites, for the fun we had, and for kites (again). It was a precious prayer.

Perhaps, the best family activities are ones where the family is active together.

There's no doubt in my mind, the circus wouldn't have meant as much as a simple day flying kites.

The best things in life are the simple things.