The little boys and I did a weather chart at the beginning of spring. They had so much fun looking and deciding what the weather was like (I gave them three options: rainy, cloudy and sunny) and putting the icon on the chart. It was a fun activity.

One afternoon they stood discussing their chart and I just had to take a picture.

Wandering with Purpose

Many years ago I heard about geocaching. The idea was so awesome, I thought. But I’ve never had a GPS unit. I’ve mentioned borrowing one but we never have. Somewhere along my blog hopping I read about geocaching’s cousin, letterboxing.

Last year sometime we went letterboxing at Bezeal Park near our home in Pedee. It was as much fun as I was expecting. The kids thought so too. We were onto something. I spent quite a bit of time at the letterboxing site, looking up clues but we hadn’t ventured out again.

A few weeks ago there was a no school and a sunny afternoon. After nap I sat everyone down and told them my idea to go look for a box at Armitage Park, near our house. I was met with some “yeahs!” and some “nahhhhs”. We set out anyway, I told the nay-sayer (#1) that we’d have fun and it was better than sitting in the house all afternoon.

We got to Armitage Park and discovered it was a fee park, without cash I couldn’t park so now I needed a plan B. We found a place to pull over so I could use the internet on my phone to find another clue somewhere in the area. The trick with the clues is there is nearly nothing to tip a person off to where the box might be hidden by the name so I had to look through a lot before I found one that looked promising.

I was looking for a park or park-like place where the children could run a bit and I wouldn’t have to always be trying to get them to stay right with me. I was also hoping for an easy clue so we would have success.

We drove to Stewart’s Pond, which interesting was just down the street from Mr. Wiedz’s office, and got ready to search. Once we were on our way I figured out the clue, which needed decoding, and we got to run and walk around a really great wetland area. We followed the clues which I’m sure led us to the right area. The area we found was littered with old shoes, dead animal bones, broken bottles and lots of trash. Since the area wasn't very safe looking I wasn't keen on letting the boys (the only ones interested) in getting on the ground and digging.

Needless to say we didn't find our target but we had a fun afternoon wandering around and looking for a "tombstone faced tree".

And nothing finishes a day of wandering like a hand-dipped chocolate covered ice cream bar from the Euphoria Chocolate Company outlet store.

Childhood is calling

On Saturday #1 was at a friends house so Mr. Wiedz and I set out to take the boys to the park. Our destination was to be Hendricks Park, a favorite place while we were in college. But Hendricks Park has no play ground; beautiful walking paths and gardens. The boys were not too impressed with all that.

We drove down the hill, Mr. Wiedz remembering an elementary school around. We found the school and enjoyed their play ground. With lots of fun toys and areas to play.

The rings struck me as I remembered them being one of my favorite places to play at my own elementary school play ground. Mr. Wiedz helped the boys cross and even the sound took me back.

Back at it

Remember this?

It felt like I'd forgotten I even owned this piece of machinery. But I got back at it last Thursday. I had it all planned out. Big kids in bed, #5 happily fed and hanging out with Mr. Wiedz, me doing something good for myself, getting back at the routine.

Unfortunately my plan laughed in my face...over and over. Mr. Wiedz had to work late so I was left to put everyone to bed myself, leaving me feeling a little grumpy. So they were in bed by 7:30...

#5 was fed...but NOT happy. For some reason determination got a hold of me though. I broke out the bouncy seat and found the pacifier we have not had to use much. I got some headphones for the ipod and stretched out.
After all that the treadmill almost refused to work. I'm glad for whatever produced my determination because had I been able I might have thrown the treadmill out the window.

Alas I preserved, warming up with 3/4 a mile then running a mile and cooling down with another 1/2 mile.

All that too say I think I was a little early in my zeal to get back at it. I hurt in places I don't want to hurt and have decided to wait another week or so before I try again...baby is only 3 weeks old.

A quilt for #5

I did get #5's quilt finished...3 days before he was born!

If you missed the birth story scroll down to March 21 or so...the post got buried because of weird Internet errors at the hospital.

It took longer than any other quilt I've ever made because I had seen robot fabric on the Internet sometime before I even knew I was pregnant. I thought it was so cute and when I discovered #5's presence I wanted to use the robot fabric for his quilt. But by that time no online store had any in stock. I hadn't seen any in the brick and mortar stores so thought the robot fabric was gone.

With no robot fabric I couldn't get inspired about #5's quilt. I put it off and put it off. Finally, in February, I went to the fabric store and found some fabric. I even pieced a quilt top, then Mr. Wiedz said, "something's not right". I tried again with more of the fabric I'd purchased and still is wasn't "IT".

The problem wasn't the fabric but that I still couldn't get inspired without the robot fabric.

Mr. Wiedz went to work the next week and gave his assistant the job of finding the robot fabric. He also worked on the task, calling every quilt store he could find the name for. He found the robot fabric I'd fallen in love with, ordered it and surprised me with enough yardage for the quilt in my head and heart.

Once the fabric came and the kinks of the block pattern were worked out it was early March. Crunch time. In blazing speed I was able to piece, quilt and bind the quilt. Finishing just days before his birth.

I'm SO please with this quilt. It is exactly what I'd always pictured with this fabric. And looks like such a little boy quilt with the robots and the blue and orange colors.

Love it.

And love these little boy hands, arms and cheeks that lay on it.

And of course love these little boy toes!

Sweet clean baby

After #5's bath the other day I just couldn't resist a picture of his sweetness in his adorable hooded towel.

Sweet baby!

Easter Weekend

We decided to spend Easter weekend at Grammie and Grandpa N's. We'd spent Christmas at their house, which was SO nice, and invited Grandma and Grandpa D to join us.

We set off from our house after #5 ate Saturday morning in the hopes of making it all the way without having to stop.

After dinner Saturday we made up the egg dye and let the kids color eggs. This year we used 2 kits and each kid got 4 colors to use. I think it helped keep the mess down since they weren't reaching across and fighting over colors. They colored two dozen eggs and had a good time doing it.

The Easter bunny comes to Grammie's house in the middle of the night so when #1 woke at 6:15am her brothers were quick to join her. They were sent downstairs with the instructions, wake Grammie and Grandpa but pick up NO eggs!

First they found their hidden Easter baskets.

Then they hunted the eggs. The rest of the morning was spent going through their treasures and shoving as much candy as possible into their mouths before mom or dad could notice.

We had a leisurely breakfast and morning spent enjoying family company. The afternoon was nap time for the Grandpas (Grandma and Grandpa D had joined us) and wii or xbox playing for the kids.

Dinner was delicious ham, potatoes, veggies, salad and bread eaten with family and enjoyed by everyone!

I did a little photo shoot of the kids in their Easter clothes, #5 was my most willing participant.

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