The Richardson's: February 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

To Catch a Leprechaun

Sneakiness, a little green man, and lots of trouble will soon be in the air. St. Patrick's Day is about 3 weeks away and it's time to prepare for Mr. Leprechaun again. The kids had so much fun last year creating the trap and seeing the goofy tricks this little man played on us. Yesterday we started to make our new trap...last year's didn't work...so hopefully we'll be prepared to catch him this year.

We started out with green paint and mixed in gold glitter.

Then traded off painting a box.

The kids then added more glitter on top of the wet paint...what a mess...but so cute!

This is what we have done for now...we're letting it dry. This morning we added cut out shamrock shapes and a window. I'll post some more pictures when it's finished.

This was last year's trap. We may reuse the stick ladder we made or think of something different.

Last night Andy and I had "date night." Andy's parents watched the kids...they had tons of fun with Grandma and Grandpa...and we went out to eat and then went to a surprise birthday party for Andy's old coaching partner from Gilbert, Scott Auderer.

Scott's wife Tammy organized a little surprise 40th b-day party at the Ballard Golf and Country club. Here is Scott coming in...he just thought he was coming here with a few friends to have a couple of drinks and watch sports. He really was surprised!

Wes and Randy...two of Andy's coaching buddies.

Scott's lovely wife Tammy...she's so sweet! I can't tell you how nice it was to catch up with some of the people we used to sit by and talk to at Gilbert. The coaches wives were back together again and we had lots of laughs!

My Three Happy's for the day are on the next post...

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

If you asked Ava, "Who's your best friend?," without a doubt she would Reagan. These two have been in preschool together this year and are two peas in a pod. They have so much in common and absolutely love being together. On Thursday last week, we had Reagan over for a play date. These girls had tons of fun...plus it was pajama day at preschool so they were all cozy in their princess jammies

When I walked into Ava's room they were playing dolls and putting on make-up at Ava's beauty salon table.

The kids all wanted popcorn and hot cocoa for snack. Isaiah joined the girls for a little bit and was showing off how much popcorn he could hold in his hand.

Chocolate mustache smiles!

Reagan and Ava playing Barbies

Time for some Perfection and Memory...little brother joined this too.

I heard Ava and Reagan whispering and I asked them what they were talking about...Ava said, "Can Reagan come over for another play date tomorrow?" I'm sure these two will be back together very soon!

My Three Happy's:

1) Making Star Wars droids with the kids this morning...pictures to come. These turned out cute!

2) It's supposed to get to 50 degrees today...time to get outside and play again.

3) Seeing all our friends at Scott's 40th b-day party last night. We loved catching up with everyone!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Rainbow Water

First off, blogger has been a bit strange lately. For the past few days I've been trying to upload pictures and make a post. It was as if someone had re-imaged it and things were in different places and I was unable to do any kind of typing or pictures. When I logged on today things were just as they should be! Technology...you never know how it can change!

I look back and realize it's been over a week since my last post. Really???? This week as flashed before my eyes as has so much of this year!

On to this post...rainbow water. The kids were taking a bath a few nights ago and I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. We called it our "Science Experiments." They were all about his...sometimes I feel like I have to ask them a million times to get in the tub. This time I couldn't start the water fast enough. They were ready to go. We started out with food coloring and water. I used little plastic muffin liners. Ava and Isaiah filled each liner with a little bit of water. I then added a few drops of different colors to the water. We watched what happened and then stirred with paint brushes. Then dump...that colored water went into the tub.

Next up was foamy soap. They squirted some Bath and Body Works soap into each container and we added drops of food coloring to the bubbles. It was neat to watch the bubbles absorb the coloring...it reminded me of a snow cone. This was like creating your own washable bathtub paint!

Isaiah was painting some kind of scene on the side of the bathtub.

At first I thought...this better not stain the tub...but nope. It wiped away perfectly clean! They loved this. We then moved on to oil and water and they thought it was cool to see that they don't really mix that well. I think this was one of the best baths they've ever had! Tonight we used water colors and paintbrushes in the tub. The walls were covered with "artwork," but that wiped away clean too.

All the foamy soap colors we used

Miss Ava wanted her hair like Mommy's.

She wanted her hair braided and guess who did this...Daddy! How cute is this!

One happy Bootles!

Yesterday it was actually quite nice out. We headed out to the backyard and played on the play set. We haven't done this in so long. They loved the swings. I told Isaiah the blue baby swing is going to be taken down this summer...he's just too big for it now and does just fine in a normal swing. I think he just likes the security of being able to swing high and not hold on!

The kids were pretending they were on Disney World rides. First it was Winnie the Pooh, followed by the Haunted Mansion, followed by Star Tours. We were singing songs and making the music that you would hear if you were on the ride.

Toots...short for Tootsie (I don't know if I've ever shared Jackson's nickname) was happy about the weather too! He loved being outside with us!

These two love the great outdoors...and how funny that this was last night and tonight the snow/rain/sleet mixture is pouring down. The temperature is supposed to drop tonight and the snow is supposed to blow...only in Iowa!

My Three Happy's

1) Ava had her friend Reagan over to play after school today. It was so cute to watch them interact with each other. It also gave me some extra time with just Isaiah.

2) Tomorrow is Friday...our class is going to the Civic Center to watch a Clifford play. It should be fun...what a great way to end the week.

3) I finally posted again. I swear the past week and a half just slipped by me.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Sweetheart Snatcher

This morning the kids were shocked to find that our house had been visited by none other than "The Sweetheart Snatcher." This mysterious creature loves conversation heart candy and is known for sneaking around and trying to take it away. At school I used this fun unit from one of my favorite teacher blogs "The Inspired Apple" and adapted it so I could use it at home with the kids.

Last night before we went to bed, Ava and Isaiah placed candy hearts all over the house in hopes that we would be visited by "The Sweetheart Snatcher." This critter eats candy and then leaves little clues and presents around the house on Valentine's Day. Presents????...this word made the kids eyes pop, not to mention the fact that they thought a tiny creature, similar to our friend the leprechaun, would soon be tip toeing around our house.

Ava with her bag of hearts...she was very careful where she placed them...it had to be the "right" place.

Isaiah went all out for this...he was in every room and every nook and cranny. The Sweetheart Snatcher had lots of work to do if it was going to eat every little candy around our house.

When the kids were tucked in and sound asleep...these clues along with gifts were scattered throughout the house. If you can read this heart you'll notice it says, "a present from you to me." It was supposed to say, "a present from me to you"...but it's alright. I knew the little ones would be too excited in the morning to notice. This first clue sent them down to their play kitchen in the basement.

This clue sent them to the linen closet upstairs where they found more presents and the last clue.

This clue sent them into their rooms to search for their gift bag and stuffed animal.

They found the Jake and the Neverland Pirates and the Tangled soundtracks.

Isaiah looking under his bed for his present.

Ava with her new dragon friend...this guy along with her bag was hidden in her closet.

Isaiah's dragon and bag were stashed under his bed. He was so excited. I can't believe how fast these two jumped out of bed this morning! It reminded me of Christmas. The looks on their faces as they ran around the house this morning were priceless. They were so excited which makes it so fun for us!

After school Ava played miniature golf with a game I made last year...courtesy of Family Fun magazine again. There were little numbered flags on each hole but those got a little bent at school while my class was playing this game during our Valentine party.