Pajama Day at preschool...

Nathan was excited for his pajama day at school.  He picked out his jammies to wear.  They were too small for him but he was excited and happy, so off we went!

Finally lost our tooth!

Carson's tooth has been loose for a few days and he didn't want us to pull it.  This morning before school I asked his if I could look at it.  He would only let me use one finger to feel it.  Mean mother that I am, I stuck my nail in and pushed it hard to the left.  It popped out and he spit it at me.  He was a little mad for 10 seconds and then excited that it was out as he knows the Tooth Fairy will be by tonight!

Carson went to the dentist and has some new teeth coming in.  Sadly they are behind his baby teeth and they have not loosened his baby teeth at all.  

If you look closely, you can see Carson's new teeth coming in behind his baby teeth.

He is booked to have his teeth pulled next week but we have been encouraging him to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle and see if he can get them out before then.  Paying to have 2 teeth pulled gets expensive, especially as he also has the root coming up from his last extraction so needs to have it pulled as well from where his spacer sits on the right side.  The funny thing is that he told us about the thing growing 'in his spacer' but didn't notice the new lumps behind his teeth at the front.  Clarke is especially concerned about Carson's teeth as back in PR, one of our ME cases he likes to refer to as "Shark Tooth" as he had the entire row of his adult teeth come in behind his milk teeth and had never had any extractions.  Clarke has been reassured that we won't let that happen to Carson but he doesn't like the memory!

Field Trip - Riverview Greenhouse

The kids from Au Chapeau got to visit the greenhouse.  They went on a tour and got to see various plants - they were able to feel the leaves and the dirt and ask questions.  Then, in the back of the green house is a petting zoo.  It was a hit!

 They had a bunch of stale ice cream cones to feed the animals with in the zoo.  There wasn't a huge collection but it was fun.  The rabbits pretty much stayed hidden.

Nathan liked the ducks.

The billy goat, Nan, was a bit of a rascal.

I was impressed with the decor.  The grain elevator had ramps built up on the other side and all the animals, billy goats, rabbits, chickens, etc. could climb up and hang out if they wanted to.

In the main portion of the store live a macaw and a cockatiel.  They aren't super friendly but the kids enjoyed watching them be fed blackberries and lettuce.

Pie Making Contest

For a Relief Society activity on March 17th we had a pie making contest.  Only 7 people signed up to bring pies and they were supposed to double as our dessert.  Seeing as I was in charge of the event by default, I made 5 pies.  Jay wanted to make one as well.  He rolled out his crust, just like I do, and then he and Nathan pressed it into the shell.  They decided it was more important to use up all the dough and Jay thought some areas needed more than others.  He then decided to put chocolate chips on the dough (no recipe is complete without this favorite ingredient).  Then for some reason butter was the next addition.  Yep, he buttered it like a slice of bread, poured on some shamrock cake decorations and then went in search of the Winnie-the-Pooh cake topper from his first birthday party.

He then insisted that we enter it in the pie contest.  Here is is, on the table, pie #1.  He asked what you needed to win the contest and I told him that the pies would be judged on how they looked and how they tasted.  He wanted to know if there was a category just for "cute."  I told him we would have to see.  Jay won a prize for the best pie from the Primary.  He won a package of rope.  Later that night he told me that the rope was the best prize ever and he couldn't be happier.  I wouldn't let him eat the pie.

Robber Police Cowboy

This morning as I was about to head to work Nathan was struggling with something and I asked him what he was doing.  He said he was okay and when I looked he was trying to undo some handcuffs.  

Silly me thought that maybe one of his brothers had put the handcuffs on him, but no.  He informed me that he was a Robber Police Cowboy.

Apparently he arrested himself.

Happy to say he got the cuffs off and that we still have the keys in case he gets in to a similar predicament in the future.

Angry Birds craft/cake

Jay is a huge fan of Angry Birds.  He is also my "crafty" child.  He decided he wanted to make an angry birds cake.  He created a recipe (I will admit I was scared to taste it but Clarke had some, as did Jay, and also Nathan) with flour, sugar, eggs and milk as well as chocolate chips.  The decorating became the highlight though.  He used the left over icing from Claudette's cake which consisted of some purple and yellow icing mixed in with a festive chip icing.  He then build a structure to put on top that you would fire your angry birds into.

Jay showing off his creation.

Close up - it had a tendency to list to one side. You can see that there were pompoms, lots of marshmallows, some foam decorations and the quintessential popsicle stick to finish the project.

Marshmallow Roasting

The weather has been so nice lately and the boys have been able to play outside for long periods which is great.  It's wonderful when they come in and sleep soundly at night!
       Our Sunday afternoon activity for today was roasting marshmallows in the back yard.  Enjoy...

It took Jay exactly 2 seconds to get a flaming marshmallow - he insists that he likes black marshmallows!

I caught Carson unaware.  He was happier than he appears to be roasting marshmallows.

Right after I took the last picture he posed for me.

Jay loading marshmallows for his brothers.

Nathan, complete with marshmallow in his mouth, roasting more.

Concentrating hard on the task at hand.

Group photo.  The smoke was blowing around and Jay was trying to avoid it.

Of solar flares and magnetic fields...

So, I was up late one night (that never happens!), unable to sleep and playing on Facebook when I came across a post about a change in magnetic fields due to the solar flares that we were experiencing.  So, in addition to the Northern Lights being visible in Washington state, your brooms would stand on end.  I decided, at shortly before midnight, to test the theory.  

Large, angled broom, standing on end!

Both of my brooms standing by themselves.
I was so impressed with this whole thing, especially as I have angled brooms that I went upstairs to show Clarke.  He had been sleeping.  He partially woke up, gave me a strange look and muttered something about me being crazy before he fell back asleep.  At least I have proof!

Claudette's Birthday Cake

Claudette had a birthday on Saturday and the boys wanted to bake her a cake.  Carson said he wanted a flower cake and after 2 days of fighting with him that I didn't have a flower cake pan, I discovered that it was a bundt pan that he meant.  So, we baked a cake in a bundt pan and then decorated it.  Originally the cake was purple with a yellow centre.  We baked the cake on Saturday and put it outside on the deck to stay cool until Sunday night when she came back to work.  Apparently the purple dye turns blue in the sun!

The boys singing.

Close-up - sadly I didn't get one of the two-tone icing, I got called in to work.

  Carson was sad about the color change.  When you cut in to the cake though you could see that the icing was purple on the inside so then it was cool because the icing was 2 colors at once!

Spring has arrived in Southern Alberta...

You know that spring is truly coming when you see the first gophers of the season.  They are now out and about all over Medicine Hat.  All those years living in the north, I never really realized how much I missed these guys.