Last week was insanely busy (LOTS of fun, just REALLY busy!)Sunday: Rodney and (neighbor) Brian, worked on setting up the basketball net the big girls got for their birthday, with some help from MiniMe. Despite the claims that it included all needed tools, ummm . . . not so much. But they eventually got it up and the girls have been enjoying it!
While they were getting sand for the base of the basketball hoop, I suggested they go ahead and get enough for the sandbox too. We've had it since the twins were toddlers, had it set up for awhile at the last house, but the big girls kind of out grew it, AND left the lid off a few times too many, so it hadn't been usable since Little Bit was old enough. She was very excited with her new toy :)
Penny and the boys (Brian's family) came over to play in the sandbox, and they all ended up staying for supper.
As they were leaving, Sassy pointed out that, if it snowed the next day, as predicted, we NEEDED to get together to play in the snow. And so, that brings us to . . .
Monday: it DID snow. We DID get together, and a great time was had by all! (except the poor men, who had to work instead of staying home to play with us LOL).It's a good thing, the kids were impatient and insisted we go out and play in the snow that MORNING, because by afternoon, though it was continuing to snow, it had warmed up enough to melt what had stuck in the morning, as well as the new snow coming down.
All 5 kids worked together to build a snowman (though in some cases the help was . . . not real helpful LOL. Still, they managed to get one built, and it stood for at least 30 seconds before someone knocked it down LOL.
Since we don't have any hills around here, the big girls decided to get the sled out and give the little kids rides. They wore out alot faster than the little kids did (especially when E wanted his turn since he's bigger than Little Bit and J), but it worked well, just the same.
After the big girls declared the sled-pulling-service to be ka-put, Little Bit and J figured out that the saucer worked pretty well on the handicap ramp that goes off our deck.
Monday at sundown was the start of Passover. Daddy was working late that night, so it was just the girls and I for our seder. It was really nice. We opted for a simple meal of beans & rice, and used a simplified program to keep it from being too long for Little Bit, and it worked out very well. Even Little Bit enjoyed it :)
Tuesday was Little Bit's actual birthday. When she woke up she discovered a path of yellow hearts leading from her bed to the "Birthday table". Yellow is her current favorite color, so I covered the table with a yellow playsilk, and made her a yellow felt birthday crown. I'd LOVE to be able to afford a birthday ring or spiral, like this, but since I can't, at least for this year, I just made one out of modeling clay (it worked well, I may make one out of some type of air-dry clay so it can be permanent), and stuck birthday candles in it. For Little Bit, I used 3 yellow birthday candles and her "4" candle that we'd had for her cake. I set that on a pretty plate and had it on the table along with her presents and crown. She LOVED it all!!! 
She came downstairs and dove right into the presents. Once she'd torn through all her presents, she was ready to see what the candle ring was all about. Since her preschool curriculum is Waldorf-based, I've been reading more about Waldorf. One thing that is a part of birthdays in Waldorf schools and homes, is a "Rainbow Bridge" story. The traditional story starts with the child being an "angel, waiting to come to earth", which I wasn't comfortable with, so instead I modified it to start with a "tiny baby in a warm little nook" :) The story proceeds, personalized for the child, so in Little Bit's case, I mentioned how she wiggled alot. Then, when it was a time a "fairy whispered in her ear" that it was time, and she crossed the rainbow bridge and met her family. Typically, Waldorf schools use a large rainbow playsilk as the bridge (or might even have a wood bridge as part of their classroom), and I WOULD like to make a rainbow silk at some point (first I need to find my stash of undyed silks . . . ), but for this year, I used our large rainbow stacker, and just split the pieces up and lined them so that they formed a "path" for her to walk across. After that I lit the first candle, and said a couple quick things about when she was one, and so on for each year. When we had lit the 4 candle, she got to blow them all out. She LOVED it!! We ended up doing it at least 3 or 4 times LOL. The rest of the day continued with meals of her choice and, at her request, a trip to Target to spend her birthday money on LaLaLoopsies.
Wednesday, Penny and the boys had invited us over to play (E was sad that he would be at the babysitter's on both actual birthdays, so we agreed to get together on the day in between). Sassy and MiniMe had told Penny about the miniature daffodils that grew wild by the creek at our old house and usually bloomed just in time for the girls' birthday. So E helped Penny pick out 3 pots of miniature daffodils to give to the girls for their birthday. They were very excited!! Penny also had a special birthday dessert ready for them. We had PLANNED to only stay until after lunch, but the kids were all playing outside so nicely that we ended up staying most of the day.
Thursday was the big girls' birthday. I did pink and purple hearts and pink & purple playsilks, and pink and purple crowns, and TEN candles on the spiral. Even though they didn't make a big deal about it, I think they enjoyed having all the same fun, Little Bit had :)
Thursday is Piano Lesson & Errand day, so piano lesson took up part of their birthday (MiniMe was ok with that, but Sassy was rather annoyed, though I DID make a point of contacting the violin rental place that day to at least get the ball rolling on the violin lessons, STILL playing phone tag with him, sigh . . .), then we went to Chipotles for lunch, at their request. Instead of stopping to get groceries on our way home, I opted to go home first, figuring I'd have to run out on Friday to get groceries. But Rodney was working from home, so it worked out to leave them home, to play Legos all afternoon while I went back out to get groceries and such. We wrapped up the day with the supper of their choice :)
On Friday E & J saw the girls playing outside and decided they needed to come play :) So they brought their basketballs over and all the kids played basketball and E, J and Little Bit played in the sandbox, and they all went out and threw sticks in the creek or somesuch. Since they were still here at lunchtime we decided to combine resources for lunch.
After lunch Sassy and MiniMe had to get ready for Miss Denise to pick them up to take them with her to rehearsal at the church for the Easter program.
So, Sabbath for church was an Easter program. I didn't have time to figure out "real" costumes for Sassy and MiniMe, but they used their baby wraps as headcoverings, and wore solid color dresses, and I think it worked. They passed out rocks (that everyone took up to the front as a "laying down of burdens" kind of thing, at the end), and then dismissed the rows at the end. AND it occurs to me, that I don't have any pictures yet. A friend who was already taking pictures said she'd e-mail hers to me, so I'll have them eventually :)
Sabbath afternoon, since we hadn't seen Brian and Penny much (ha!) we went to their house for lunch, and finally went home at suppertime LOL. When the kids were all playing outside, J got out his motorized "motorcycle, and was taking Little Bit for rides on it :) 
And then, Little Bit got a turn driving :) Once she figured out what buttons to push, she did pretty well, though she struggled abit with the concept of lifting her foot off the pedal to stop LOL. I think that smile says it all :)
And as proof that even after spending significant parts of FIVE days with Penny and the boys, on Saturday night we got home, ate supper, and Little Bit immediately asked "now can E & J come over to play?" LOL.
So, a fun week! Believe it or not we DID manage to squeeze school into the nooks and crannies of our packed week, AND do a relatively good job of keeping up on chores.
No comments:
Post a Comment