Random March Happenings, Part I

Here are some fun things we did in the Month of March:

March 1

Starting the month of right with a picture of my cute Ian....

March 1

...and a picture of guinea girls! 

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March 2

Ian playing Fur Elise. He's getting so good!

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March 4

I took the kids out for some goodwill shopping, and Elisa found a bunch of Dork Diary Books for herself, which she may or may not read. Then we went to subway for dinner. I'll make sure to use coupons when we go there next, otherwise they're kinda pricey for just some sandwiches. I'm not sure why we went out, I guess Erik was working late and I needed to get out of the house.

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March 4

I wasn't really planning on going, but a ward friend said she'd give me a ride so I agreed to go to a multi-stake activity. I left the kids home to watch themselves. I don't worry as much now that Elisa has a phone. Usually, I don't bother with these types of activities and I was reminded why---It was just some get-to-know you games but I didn't really enjoy any of them very much. After the games we used the "Relatives around me" via the family search app, and I found a 2nd cousin (3 times removed I believe). I think my ward friend was more excited about it than I was. I met the lady (who was very nice), but now I don't even remember her name. Toward the end we had some desserts, I took a picture of the table to show Elisa. 

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March 4

A sleeping beauty! 

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March 5

Ian had a birthday party to go to at his favorite place, Luv 2 Play! I dropped him off and took Elisa to get a drink at the Boba Tea House, and then drove over to pick up some girls that are in our ward to drive them and Elisa waaay out to Peoria for an ice-skating activity set up for the youth (young men/young women) in our ward. Elisa isn't technically one of the youth, but this activity wasn't technically a ward activity so I sent her anyway haha. She had fun. I didn't stick around too long because I wasn't sure when Ian's party was over and I didn't want to be late. I guess I could have stayed longer to watch Elisa skate, because I hung around for almost another hour waiting for Ian to finish playing. He had such a good time! Someone gave Elisa a ride home, I was glad not to have to drive way out there again!

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March 5

I wanted to take the kids to Cracker Barrel the night before instead of Subway, but Erik wanted all of us to go, so we all went the next evening instead. After dinner, the kids used their spending cards (except Elisa who can't find hers) to help themselves to some toys and candy in the store. Erik helped himself to some root beer.

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March 6

Ian learned to blow bubbles with his bubble yum bubble gum. Silly boy. He was poppin' those bubbles for some of church, until I made him spit his gum out.

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March 5

Erik bought some brisket at Sam's club and wanted to invite some friends over to help us eat it. Erik invited his friend Dan and his family, and we also invited another family from the ward. I made potato salad, lemonade, and set out a veggie platter. The other families brought rolls and the dessert (apple pie). All in all a fun evening. There were 8 boys there and they had fun together too.

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March 6

Silly Gabe. Does he not know that I can see every picture he takes?

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March 7

Gabe had a (seemingly random) band concert. Gabe has not been practicing his trumpet at all and I didn't even know about this band concert until a few days before. I think they played a bit better than the December concert, but other than that, I can't remember much else. 

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Yeesh. No.

Erase that, aka paint over.

Better--much--better, but I still didn't like it.

I made a banner for the mirror to mach.

Finally finished!

March 7-10

I had basically zero St. Patrick's Day décor, but I did have lots of paints and several canvases! I thought I'd try my hand at making a St. Patrick's Day painting. I spent more time changing it up than I did actually painting. And the part I spent the most amount of time painting I ended up painting over since it looked horrible. It is hard to paint neat lettering, I think. I ended up having a friend down the street make me the vinyl letters, and it was well worth the $5 I paid her. Although the paintings were vastly improved, I didn't like the clovers because they just weren't convincing. So I once again took the paintings down and put some better clovers on it along with a horseshoe and a couple more gold coins. Its not super perfect or amazing, but I like the final product alright. I also made a banner using the same type of clovers (I made them using fabric and lots of mod podge) and horseshoes. There. Now I have some St. Patrick's day décor, even though no one cares about St. Patrick's Day much.

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Happy Valentine's Day 2022

This is how we celebrated Valentine's day 2022:

 

A few days before Valentine's Day (the 12th) Erik and I went out to Mastro's for dinner. We left the kids home to watch themselves. I made sure they had food and a movie to watch while we were gone. Erik said he'd pay them each $10 if they behaved themselves. The kids are still alive and have all their limbs and digits so everything turned out fine. Mastro's is in Scottsdale so a 20-min drive. To be brief, we weren't blown away by Mastro's in the least. Everything was expensive and mediocre. We tried oysters for the first time, and I can't see what the hype is about. They taste briny and slimey. The pretzel rolls were the only good thing in the breadbasket, and my lamb was kinda tough and under seasoned. Erik said his steak was a good cut but they didn't have the sear that he likes. As a side, we ordered that truffle gnocchi. I though it was quite plain--I couldn't taste the truffle at all. I received a similar dish for one of my Hello Fresh meals and it was much tastier than Mastro's. We ordered the chocolate raspberry cake for dessert, and we weren't too impressed that that either. The cake had a odd, crumbly texture as if it had been previously frozen. Even though we weren't too impressed by Mastro's and probably won't go back, it was still fun to go out.

The bread basket

4 oysters, two different types (one from the Atlantic and one from the Pacific I believe), and enough cocktail and horseradish sauce to serve 40 people. Capers, which we also tried for the first time, were served with the oysters as well. They were sour and reminded me of green olives, just a little bit.

My lamb and the gnocchi 

Erik and the raspberry chocolate cake.

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Valentine's Day was couple after our meal at Mastro's. I don't remember what we did for dinner so it must not have been anything special. I bought the kids some oversized Hershey's kisses and some Dove chocolate hearts and gave them to the kids along with a hand-made specialized card. I made a Yoshi for Gabe, a Mario for Ian, and a guinea pig one along with a silly poem for Elisa. The boys were jealous that they didn't receive a poem. Sorry boys, but I'm all out of ideas since the guinea pig poem. It was surprising enough that I managed to even write one poem, seeing as I don't care much for poetry, so I doubt there will be another. I also gave the kids the card and bag of Hershey kisses that Grandma and Grandpa left for them when they came down for Ian's birthday. For dessert, I made the kids some "Cupid's cocktail", which was just cherry 7-up with ice cream. And of course a dollop of whipped cream and a cherry on top! I don't think Erik and I exchanged gifts, I considered going out a good enough Valentine's gift for us.

 

Front of Elisa's Valentine

Back (poem) 

All 3 Valentine's. I made them using my art markers.

Candy time!

The kids enjoyed their Cupid's cocktail.

Random February Happenings, Part II

Here are more fun things we did in the month of February:

Feb. 20

I made Elisa this week a few weeks before I took this picture. We found the skirt fabric at Goodwill. She kinda chose the style of it. 

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Feb. 21:

It was president's day and the kids had no school. I had previously set up a well-child checkup for Ian that day. It was mostly a waste of time, but we did learn that Ian has gained 19 lbs in one year, yikes! After the check-up, I took Ian to redeem his free pizza at Pizza Hut, and then I took Elisa (Gabe refused to come) to redeem her free pizza from Sardella's. The pizza was much bigger than I thought it would be--I was expecting a personal-sized pizza like Ian's. I bought myself some (overly expensive) chicken wings, but had I known the pizza would feed 4 I wouldn't have ordered them. 

Next, we went to the piano store. I needed to give the owner of the store his card (forgot to take a pic of it) that I made (it was a pop-up piano in cardstock) and I had all my students sign it. I was two months late in getting it to him, but better late than never. While we were there, he showed me a bunch of pianos, but mainly this Roland digital that I'm strongly considering buying, even though I did (and still do) have some hang-ups about getting a digital piano. It's a great piano other than being digital. I'll probably visit the store again before making a final decision.

While I was at the piano store (of all places), I got a text from someone in our ward who had acquired a Steinway piano she wanted to sell, and she wanted me to play something short as a demo to send to some guy that was interested in purchasing the piano. It was an amazing piano to play on. She said she'd sell it to me if the guy didn't end up buying it. I was and still am interested in buying it, but it needs to be professionally appraised before we shell out 19 grand for it, and thus far I've been dragging my heels on that (shouldn't she get an appraiser instead of me??), and I haven't heard a word from her about the piano for a month so I'm not sure what will happen with this piano--and there's also the matter of what to do with my ED Seiler if I do buy this piano from her. So, we'll see. 

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Feb. 21

Gabe was sad about putting in work at the piano. 

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2-22-22 (Tuesday)

It was TWOSday which I thought was cool but in reality, was just like anyday before it. The kids celebrated TWOSday by wearing tutus, ties, or tennis shoes. Elisa wore the tennis shoes (I think?) and Ian wore a tie to school. His teacher sent me these two pictures.

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2-22-22

Elisa claims she's always awake when I come in her room at night, but this picture proves otherwise...

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Feb. 27

I hid all electronics on weekend and this is what happened: the kids played outside and used their imaginations. How about that!

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Feb. 27

Gabe and all of his Super Mario Bros. stuffies that he obsesses over. He has quite the collection going!

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Feb. 28

Ian is officially in the gifted program! For math only, even though last time he took the test he scored high enough in the non-verbal. However, receiving a high enough score in the non-verbal "doesn't count" unless coupled with either math or reading high scores. But this time he didn't score as high in the non-verbal as he did the first time he took the test. So does he qualify for non-verbal or not?? I'm confused. I'll ask the gifted teacher if I can ever remember to do so. I'm also surprised that he didn't even come close in reading, considering he loved his ABC's so much when he was a toddler and started reading at age 3. Go figure. I'm also surprised that all three of my kids have smart math brains since I certainly don't. I hated math with a passion when I was in school. Ehh, maybe I shouldn't be too surprised since I guess that comes from Erik, and my dad is also good with numbers.

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Random February Happenings, Part I

Here are some fun things we did in the month of February:

Feb 4

Silly Gabe pretending to sleep, I guess he forgot to put his shirt on!

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Feb. 5

Gabe has a hard time getting himself to do his work, so either Erik or I have to hover over him to make sure he gets his work done.

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Feb. 5

Poor Gabe....he had a meltdown. I was trying to get him to do his homework and he didn't want to.

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Feb. 5

Ian took this panoramic pic of Elisa's room and me helping her clean her room. She is the messiest kid and keeps her room consistently filthy, even with adult help.

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Feb. 6

Elisa had the scripture in primary!

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Feb. 8

Taking some pictures of Ian being silly. I even made him into a demon, haha.

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Feb. 16

Gabe playing the last song in his level 3A books. He is now in level 3B. He's progressing steadily, not of his own accord though haha. 

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Feb. 19

I volunteered to man (woman?) the kid's craft table at a local event created by someone in our ward called "Ryan's Race". Its basically a 5k with a bunch of other activities. I took Ian with. Elisa was at a sleepover and Gabe had no interest or reason to come. It was chilly at first, but warmed up after an hour or so of being there (8am). There was someone else to help with the craft table so it wasn't hard at all. Ian found a friend so he had a good time. At the last minute (literally, the last minute) I decided to run the 1 mile race. I was dressed to run anyway and someone from the ward said they'd look after Ian. I guess I was following some kid who didn't know where he was going so I ended up running approximately 1.3 miles. I also stopped near the end because I wasn't exactly sure where to go next so I had to ask someone. My overall time was 17 minutes for one mile, yikes! After the race I helped kids make some foam bracelets and eye masks at the kid's craft table. The woman that helped came with her daughter with who was Miss Cave Creek and might compete for Miss Arizona eventually, so we talked about that and I considered maybe signed Elisa up for the Junior Miss, but as of yet I'm not super interested entering her, besides is $250 and we'll be out of town for the ceremony.

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Feb. 20

Ian enjoyed this activity in primary at church. He's the biggest kid in the whole room!

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