Check Out This Beauty!

Not the cute little girl in the picture, but the “beauty” on her forehead. Mom got a call recently that Elizabeth had an accident on the playground and had a giant goose egg on her forehead. Apparently it was much larger before Mom got there and took this picture. E had slipped and bonked against a piece of playground equipment. She didn’t cry and was really brave until Mom got there. The ice helped the swelling come down, but she was still left with a fairly considerable bump on her little head. Mom saw that she was doing okay and tried to reengage her with her class to get back to work. Elizabeth wasn’t too keen on this and whispered, “I need my Brudder.” It was so sweet. She didn’t ask Mom to stay or cry about it or anything else. She just needed her protector. Ben was busy with classwork so E put on a brave “princess smile” and gave Mom the thumbs up sign that it was okay to leave. But she really just wanted her Brudder.

Coupon Crazy

While we should be coupon crazy about things that can save us money, this is about coupons for family time. We gave the kids a set of coupons at Valentine’s Day to allow them to choose family activities, projects, game nights, meals, etc. It has been really fun to see what the kids have selected.

February:

Ben – Plan a Meal and Cook – Ben chose Breakfast for Dinner and helped with sausages, pancakes and hashbrowns. We all enjoyed his efforts!

Ben – Date with Dad – The boys went to a Home Depot workshop for kids. Ben got to build a race car with Dad’s help and had an awesome time.

Elizabeth – Date with Mom – The girls went shopping for new pajamas and clothes and to spend some birthday money. This girl can shop! She lasted much longer than Mom expected and had a great time.

Elizabeth – Plan a Family Outing – Elizabeth most wanted to eat “copcorn” at a movie. So we all went to The Lorax and shared a big container of popcorn. E danced and sang during lots of it while she wasn’t turned around devouring her popcorn. We all enjoyed her selections!

March:

Ben – Pick a Family Activity – Ben wanted to go hiking. We went to a nearby park and hit a trail there. His description of hiking included “large hills” so hopefully this was adequate. We all enjoyed being outside and even made friends with a baby duck that followed us all over the trails.

Ben –Plan a Game Night – Ben chose Connect 4 Launchers for the family and then finished the evening with a very excited Checkers game with Dad. For a five year old, he is very good and looks forward to playing lots more Checkers games.

Elizabeth – Plan a Meal and Cook – Elizabeth is a girl after Mom’s heart. She chose Pei Wei for her meal. She is too small to order online, but went with Dad to pick it up and we all enjoyed our favorites!

Elizabeth – Pick a Family Project – Elizabeth agreed that her project could be planting our gardens for the year. We picked out what veggies we wanted to grow and got annuals for the flower beds as well.

Sea Lion Cove Opening

We have been blessed with a zoo membership this year and had not gotten the chance to go yet due to other obligations. The sea lion exhibit has been closed for a while now and was completely redone. It was reopened in March and there was a special event for zoo members. Dad was out of town so we’ll have to go back again soon, but the rest of us packed up and spent our Friday night at the zoo. The weather was gorgeous and the crowds were not bad in most of the zoo. The sea lion area was super crowded, so we didn’t get to see a show, but we checked out a viewing window and some zookeeper chats nearby. We got to see just about every other animal in the zoo and ended with a train ride per the special request of Elizabeth. We cannot wait to go to the zoo more this year. The kids are at a perfect age to enjoy it.