Snow Day

We headed to the snow Wednesday afternoon. It was a beautiful day and both kids had a blast. Rowan took a few minutes to warm up to it as he had fallen asleep on the drive, but overall, he loved it. His hands got cold a few times (he kept taking his mittens off!) and he'd cry "ouchie, ouchie" but not connect that it was his hands in the snow that were making him hurt. He finally realized what I was talking about and allowed me to put his mittens back on. Athena was begging to go back to the snow since Rowan didn't go last time and she enjoyed herself the entire time we were there. It was really quiet up there, most of the time, just us.

We took Athena's training wheels off yesterday and she practiced riding around our yard. Today we brought her bike to the park so she could practice more and she almost has it down! She crashed a lot, and got frustrated a few times, but I was surprised at her persistence. She feels so "big" now, I can just tell she is ready for this. She has a bigger bike too, but we thought it would be easier to learn on her old little one since she can reach the ground so easily. I think that really did the trick. Chris is so proud too, he was on his own bike ride today while I took the video, I'm sure she won't mind showing him in person her new tricks. She found out by accident that riding on the grass was easier, and as you can see, getting started is the hardest part!

Ant Sized Adventures

I signed the kids up for this class through one our regional parks. It sounded right up their alley. They learn about different animals that live in the area, sing songs about them, go on a nature hike, and do a craft. We were a little late today, but the kids still had a blast. We are looking forward to attending again next month.

This opossum was the "special surprise" for the kids when they returned from their hike. We were told there would be no live animals in the class, but there just happened to be an opossum rescuer at the park that day so he showed the kids this little critter. They loved it. I even learned a thing or 2 about opossums today.
We saw tons of these woolly bear caterpillars on our hike. Rowan was absolutely enthralled by them. I couldn't believe it. He just loved them. He was very upset when we found one that wasn't moving and was a little squished. He kept saying, "no, no, no!"
Rowan and his buddies checking out the caterpillars.
Rowan checking out the coyote skat - did he have to get THAT close!?
And Athena happily with the opossum. The teacher really wanted to meet Athena because she loved her name so much. There is a plant there with a goddess name, although it is named for Artemis, and its common name is California Sagebrush.

Getting Ready

She's been getting ready for V-day for about a week now, Each day, another creation.

Tired of sick sick sick

I think I talk about being sick a lot on my blog, and the past 3 months, I've had reason to. We've had a lot of illnesses running through our household, this last one hit our smallest member quite hard though. Today he was on day 5 of the stomach flu (athena was over it in 12 hours just so you get the picture), I finally had to take him to Children's Hospital where they gave him IV fluids. You could just see the color come back to his face, his eyes not looking quite so sunken, it was amazing. He was still very lethargic and weak, but they thought it would be best to take home to rest. He is perking up a little as of right before bedtime tonight. He tried to walk but still can't stand unassisted because he is so weak. I am really hoping he makes it through the night without any vomiting as we have had 4 straight nights of this (one of the nights we were all sick!). I am pretty sure we have done 20 loads of laundry since he is too little to tell us when he is going to be sick, we just use towels. Anyway, I just wanted to update folks on his health. He does seem to be turning the corner but I'm keeping my fingers crossed because he fooled us yesterday by perking up just a bit, and then took a turn for the worse today. Here are some photos to journal what has been going on, don't worry, there aren't any gross ones!
The massive mountain of clean laundry piled up in the corner of the living room.
Kids watching a DVD together, resting and hydrating.
Sleeping on mama (this is what he did almost all day thursday and friday).
Just cleaned up after an "episode". Ready to watch "Thomas".
The mountain of arts/crafts Athena has created in her boredom.

Snow

Chris took Athena to the snow today while I took Rowan to Children's Hospital (more on that in the next post). Here are some pictures from their day. I was so sorry to miss the adventure, but had other things on my mind. We are so lucky to live somewhere with such awesome weather year round, but just a short drive to the mountains we can see snow a few times per year. I think my kids are so lucky!

Bread Making

I baked some bread today using this recipe, substituting agave for the honey, and leaving off the egg wash. My friend has made it for me and it tastes fantastic. Unfortunately, my loaves turned out a little on the dense side and didn't rise enough. They are still edible but not what I expected:( I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself since it was my first try, AND I pretty much expected failure because I had to leave for a few hours in between. I did my own trouble shooting and that fit the bill, I left it out of the oven to rise too long (duh), and so the yeast just grew too tired. I hope Athena will like the taste of it because she was really looking forward to eating fresh bread like Natalie gave us. I'll post the picture so you can see my sorry loaves later on.

**Here are my bricks, I mean loaves of bread:)