Megan's first gymnastics meet

Megan had her first gymnastics meet yesterday. Luckily, it was in the afternoon so we were able to go. It was in Hampstead, NH, which was quite a drive, but it was totally worth it. It was so fun to watch her do each event. She ended up placing 8th overall for her age group, which is totally impressive, since it was her first meet. In the individual events she placed 5th, 7th, 8th and 8th. I can't remember which award was for which event, but anyway, she did such an awesome job! We were so proud of her. Here she is before the meet.

Here she is with all of her ribbons! She was so happy!

Spring-ish Cookies

Nathan and I made sugar cookies yesterday. I was going to make them Easter cookies, but the only spring-ish cookie cutters I had were a carrot and an umbrella, so we used them. We also used the train one, of course! Nathan really LOVED putting the icing on. I had always wondered how people got icing to be shiny when it dried. Now I know! Here's the recipe for the icing: Icing 1 cup confectioner's sugar 2 teaspoons milk 2 teaspoons light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon almond extract assorted food coloring

Bento

I've discovered some really cool Bento websites, so I decided to start making some for Nathan. It's an expression of love in Japan to make your child really creative, healthy bentos. Mine aren't nearly as creative or healthy as the ones I've seen on some of those websites, but it was fun, and Nathan loved them. There are lots of really cool supplies out there. I think I'm going to have to order some. Here are the first three I've made with stuff I had around the house.

Bento #3 A spider because the whole school was watching the drama club's production of Charlotte's Web musical that day. I added a container of applesauce and a drink, too. Bento #2 A spring theme He also got a container of pineapple chunks and a drink.

Bento #1 I thought the little train sandwiches were really cute.

Easter crayons

Dan, Nathan and I peeled a whole bunch of old crayons while we listened to conference a few weeks ago. Then, during the break between sessions we melted them and filled some Easter molds with them. We put them in the freezer for a few minutes and voila, Easter crayons. We invited Emily up, too, because she loves crafty things. These were really fun to make, although it took me forever to clean up everything afterwards (I'll have to do something differently next time. Note to self: It's really hard to get dried wax off hot cocoa mugs.) Anyway, Nathan handed them out to all of his classmates on Friday before we vacation. They thought they were really cool.

Nathan made some with a Western theme for himself. he loved them.

Hop and a date!

Nathan, Mom and I went to see Hop on Thursday night while Dan was at a meeting in Topsham. It was super cute. It's one that we will definitely be buying when it comes out. Nathan laughed so hard, especially when the Easter Bunny "deposits" some jellyjeans as proof of his identity.

Dan and I actually had a date last night, which was long overdue. We ate at the Ocean Pearl, then we went to the movies and saw Hanna. It was good, but not as good as we expected. It was kind of weird. It was definitely action packed, though, which made it exciting.

I just discovered a new blog this morning. Every once in a while I discover a new one that I know I just love, and I can spend such a long time browsing. Well, I definitely did that this morning. I spent way too much time looking through all the projects on there and being inspired. For those of you who want to check it out, go to eighteen25.blogspot.com. There are so many awesome ideas. Jackie, you will love it!

I'm so excited that we are on vacation! I'm planning on spending a lot of it on school stuff. Hopefully at the end of the week I will have very little left to do for my Master's. My presentation is on the 29th, so I have to get that ready, plus some work for my online class. My paper is pretty much done, just a few minor changes. Yay!

Busy weekend!

We had Gabby overnight on Saturday night. She is so much fun. Each time we have her we notice more language skills emerging. Megan brought her friend Kianna for the weekend. She is a super sweet, polite girl.

We celebrated Caleb's 10th birthday on Sunday night (He's our great nephew and Gabby's brother). I embarrassed him by making him smile for the camera:-)

Branson was baptized on Saturday! After the baptism, they had a birthday party for him in the cultural hall. I can't believe he's 8! Time flies!

Home for the day

• Nathan and I are home from school today. He was sick during the night (he threw up just a little bit, Dan said). He was really emotional when I mentioned going to school, so I thought that maybe he really is coming down with something. He tends to be really emotional when he's getting sick. I'm not sure if he's just wanting to stay home or what, but we'll see.


• I've been reading lots of chapter books to Nathan this year. We've recently been reading a lot of Dick King-Smith books, and before that we were reading Mary Downing Hahn books. We've also thrown in some Geronimo Stilton and some Believe and You'reThere books. I'm so glad he loves books. He doesn't really like reading himself, yet, but I bet he will when he becomes more fluent.


• Four of our five fish have died. There must be something wrong with our water. I got some ph neutralizer tablets, and hopefully that will help. The last two seem to be doing okay so far.


• I am really anxious to get my work for my master's done. I always feel guilty when I'm doing anything, like reading a book for the fun of it, or scrapbooking. I think, "I should be working on my paper." I'm just looking forward to being able to just relax and enjoy my free time. I'm also looking forward to being able to do some other things, like join an orchestra, do foster care again, do more scrapbooking, etc.