St. Patricks' Day

We love doing fun little things to celebrate each holiday. For St. Patricks' Day Jim made some green scrambled eggs with some bell peppers. The girls thought they were pretty crazy, but it was fun. We couldn't quite figure out how to make green ham. :)

At school Violatte saw that the leprechaun had come and left little footprints all over the tables and walls in her classroom. And he had turned the milk green. Then, they made a little leprechaun hat. Both Violatte and Annalee had to model it.

Happy Birthday Violatte!

Violatte turned four years old yesterday! It is so hard to believe that she is so big! She is such a beautiful, helpful, wonderful girl.

Violatte said that for her birthday she wanted a chocolate and strawberry cake. So, I made some cupcakes and put a raspberry creme filling in the middle, chocolate frosting, and strawberries on top. We also made some homemade chocolate ice cream to top it all off.


Violatte always loves seeing the fish at her school and at the doctors' offices so we got her two pink kissing fish (both are names princess) and one Bala Shark (named Jedi).

One of the gifts that we got Violatte was a little catch set. It has two pads and one ball that sticks to the pads. It makes it easy for kids to play catch. She really seems to enjoy it.
We also got Violatte a princess coloring book. She loves princesses!

We are so grateful to have Violatte in our family. She is such a sweet little girl and we are so proud of her and happy to see her growing into a beautiful young girl.

New Pics of Luke

Luke is now a month old! The time has really flown by! He is such a sweet guy and we really love having him around. He is such a calm little guy (except when he is hungry) and just really brings such a sweet spirit into our home. Here are some recent pictures of him.

This one is my favorite. He is so alert and looking so intently at me.

I had laid Luke on the floor and when I came back into the room, Violatte was laying next to him just talking to him. It was so cute!

Luke has some fun facial expressions he does.

I just love to cuddle him.

Violatte's Artwork

Violatte has done a lot of great artwork in her school lately. Here are some of the things she has done.

This is a cherry tree she made for Presidents' Day. It is made from her hand and arm.

This is one of my favorite things. She made a house out of popsicle sticks and the trees and flowers are made out of things she found outside -- like leaves and sticks.

This is a valentines day picture Violatte made. The poem on it says,
"A piece of me
I give to you.
I painted this flower
To say "I love you."
The heart is you,
The hand is me.
To show we are friends . . .
The best there can be.
I hope you will save it
And look back someday
At the flower we shared
On your special day."

This is a walrus. I love the whiskers and eyelashes!

This is a picture of a squirrel that she painted.

This is "Geri Girrafe"

A painting of a kitty.

A dog made out of hearts for V-day

A Polar Bear

A Zebra

A dreamcatcher

A spider

An owl

The Power of Pepper

I learned this week that pepper spray would be painful. And I don't mean a little bit painful -- I mean a whole lot painful.

It all started when I took a shower while the girls were watching a movie. When I got out of the shower Violatte was rolling on the floor screaming like she was in pain. I couldn't figure out was wrong . . . until I smelled pepper very strongly. I went on a search and found our large container of pepper dumped out and all over the floor and table. It suddenly hit me why Violatte would be so miserable. I rushed her to the sink to rinse out her eyes and mouth and face and while I was splashing water on her I saw Annalee rub her eyes, and before I could stop her she was screaming too.

I spent the next twenty minutes switching girls between splashing water on their faces and holding a cold wet cloth to their eyes while I splashed the other girl's face. It was a mess. We were all soaked. I stripped off their clothes since they were also covered in pepper, wrapped them in blankets, and had them lay on the floor in the front room with wet clothes over their eyes. I opened all the windows to air the pepper smell and taste of the air out of the house.

Just then the doorbell rang. It was a friend of mine. I debated opening the door, but since the windows were open and I knew she could hear the girls screaming and knew I was inside, I opened the door. Then, I realized I was in only my robe and I felt so stupid. She took one look at the girls' swollen red faces and me in my robe with my hair still wet and I knew she could tell it had been an insane day.

Thankfully, Jim came home to pick up some things. All the girls had wanted was Daddy and the moment he came they calmed down and everything seemed better.

All that night, while I was at work, I tasted and smelled pepper. I think I have a fear of pepper now.

Family Visit

This weekend my grandparents came to visit. It was so fun seeing them! Sadly, I didn't get many pictures, but here are some of the ones we did get.

Luke and his Great-Grandpa Walker.

Annalee with her Great-Grandpa Walker