A Kaleidoscope of Color

Last Wednesday, my mom and I both had a free day so we decided to take the kids to the Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. This was the kids' and my first visit, and we all fell in love! The tulips were blooming, the lilac garden smelled heavenly, and the weather was absolutely perfect. As we wandered the kitchen herb gardens, I imagined myself in Downton Abbey, and when we meandered past vine-covered trellises I told the kids I felt like Mary from the Secret Garden. It really was a magical place.

Not a posed photo op

This one either

Or this one!

One of the highlights of the day was a new installation of floral kaleidoscopes. They are exactly as amazing as they sound! We were able to look through kaleidoscopes into a rotating pot of flowers, each turn creating new and amazing color combinations.  They were scattered throughout the grounds, so each time we rounded a bend and saw one ahead, the kids would race to be the first to check out the new flowers.

We stayed for over four hours until finally the clouds began to drip on us and the kids started to realize they were a little tired. The weather could not have been timed better!... almost. We went inside for a treat and to buy a souvenir packet of seeds for each kid. But when we opened the door to walk to the car we realized that the sprinkling had turned to pouring! My wonderful mom went with the umbrella to pick up the car while we waited under an awning, then we all ran to the car and piled in, only a little soggy.

I can't wait to go back again, there is so much we didn't get to see! I think I have a new favorite Twin Cities attraction.

 

 

 

Art in Bloom

Paul just returned from a week-long work trip and I am still alive! This is thanks in no small part to the help of my wonderful friends and especially my mom. She was here almost every day, carting kids to and from various activities and helping me through the crazy dinner hour. She even took pairs of kids to stay overnight to give me (and them) a little break!

When she took the girls overnight, I used the opportunity to do some activities with the boys that I wouldn't dare do with all five kids in tow. Audrey is a bit of a ticking time bomb right now, and Edith is just an unpredictable two-year-old. Without them, I felt safe bringing the boys out to Jimmy John's for dinner followed by a quiet trip to the library to pick out chapter books and get their very own library cards!

On Thursday morning, I was feeling really brave and decided to check out the opening day of Art in Bloom at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It's an annual exhibit that I have always wanted to see but have never before had the opportunity. So why not bring three boys, one baby in a stroller, to a museum on a crazy busy opening day of a super popular exhibit?? Nobody's crazy here, nope, not me!

It actually went really well, except for a bit of fussiness from Blaise. Without the girls, we were able to linger in front of each floral arrangement and compare it to the painting it was created to represent. We asked questions and pondered and discussed... I felt like a total boss homeschooling mom! Since those moments are few and far between when I'm out in public with the kids, it was nice to once feel like I was doing something impressive.

 

In the first room, I had a woman approach me to ask if I was homeschooling. She told me that she homeschooled her kids a generation ago and all these years later was so thankful for that time with her kids. She was so encouraging and inspiring to me! Then throughout the museum we constantly had smiles and way-to-go's sent in our direction.

Of course we still have many (many, many, many) crazy days and I often find myself wanting to pull my hair out, but it was a lovely morning of encouragement and beauty to give me a boost as we close out this school year!

 

The Sun is Out, The Son is Risen!

I sit and write this on a gloomy, cloudy, rainy day, but when we celebrated Easter a couple of weeks ago the weather was perfect! It was sunny but not hot, ideal for sitting on my parents' patio sipping drinks and watching the kids hunt for Easter Eggs.

We took the family to Mass first thing in the morning and sang all of the Alleluias! The church was beautiful, with flowers and silks piled on every surface. Everyone wore their very best attire, and Audrey was especially proud of her twirly dress with pink flowers. She insisted on keeping it on until we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house so everyone could see her in all her beauty.

After Mass we returned home to grab a change of clothes and the kids found their Easter baskets waiting for them on the couch! As a family we gave up all sweets for Lent, so they literally couldn't contain their excitement when they saw Pez and Cadbury eggs and jelly beans, all for them! We let them choose a few treats to sample before leaving, and I'm pretty sure Edith ate an entire plastic egg's worth of jelly beans in one gulp.

We were sad to miss Tony and Catherine and the kids who were home with a stomach bug, but we did get to celebrate with THREE sets of grandparents and Uncle Ben! Whenever I tell people that my kids have all of their grandparents and six great grandparents to dote on them, I am reminded what a blessing that is! I love that for every family gathering we have to answer over and over the question, "So, which grandmas and grandpas are going to be there?"

It was a beautiful day of joy and celebration!

Happy Easter!

Sushi Party!

At a recent family get-together, Ben and Beth discovered that our kids love sushi. They were highly impressed by the adventurous tastes that our little connoisseurs had developed, and so later that week my brother called me to ask if we would host a sushi-making get-together. They would bring all the fixings and would teach us how to roll sushi, all we needed to bring was an appetite. No problem there!

Max's "Original Roll"

On the day of the Sushi Party, as my kids had been referring to it, I came home from teaching at the church to find our table strewn with every imaginable sushi component. Ben was helping Max press rice onto a sheet of nori (seaweed) and choose his fillings, Beth was rolling her sushi using an actual bamboo sushi mat, Paul was heating the sake, and Lucian was taste-testing the first finished rolls. There was fresh salmon, canned tuna, strips of carrot, cucumber, avocado, egg, wasabi, soy sauce, you name it they thought of it.

We made roll after roll, eating it almost as fast as we could make it. Max took to naming his sushi: Odd Roll (inside out roll with tuna, sriracha mayo, egg, and cucumber. Delicious), Ready and Prepared (rolled with soy sauce, wasabi and ginger to save you the effort of dipping), Dream Roll (something yummy...) and Original (carrot, cucumber, salmon. Made to look as much like a cartoon version of sushi as he could). Finally, as our rolling began to outpace our munching, we moved to the living room to read stories and get ready for bed. Ben and Paul cleaned up while Audrey attached herself firmly to Beth.

Of course before the night was even over, the kids were already planning the next Sushi Party, and the general consensus was that it would take place "tomorrow" of course. We weren't able to pull it off quite that quickly, but here's hoping we can do it again soon! What a fun and delicious evening!

Edie Clare Hockey Player

I can't let another day go by without recording the latest antics of our current toddler, Miss Edie Clare. I could have never guessed six months ago, when she was scattering the contents of her diaper around the house, that she would have matured so much in such a short time. Her verbal skills are off the charts, she has a sense of humor, and she is just plain fun to be around!

She has, by her enthusiasm and sheer cuteness, turned our whole family into avid hockey fans. She can sense a Wild logo from a mile off; she has been known to shriek "Minnesota Wild!!" while walking into church when she notices that the teenage boy towering in front of her has the adored logo on his hat. She even refers to herself in the third person as "The Hockey Player". Lately, she has taken to walking around the house with her imaginary friend. She gives him piggy back rides, rocks him to sleep, holds his hand when they walk down the stairs. I asked her what his name is, and she replied, "Scandella!" For the uninitiated, Marco Scandella is a Wild defenseman, and her favorite player on the team.

On game days, we gather together in the basement. Lucian and Audrey put on their hockey gloves and play against each other while the rest of us relax and watch the game. When we settle in to watch, Edith inevitably disappears into the laundry room for a moment and then reappears with a cold beverage for her daddy. "You want a beer?" she asks. How can he possibly refuse? This is, of course, followed by the question "Can I ha' some?"

Recently, Paul was away in the evening and I found myself turning on the game. For those of you who have known me a long time, you know how monumental this is! Edith disappeared from the room for awhile, long enough that I thought it prudent to check on her. No, I no longer have to worry about her diaper staying on, but there are plenty of other things she still loves to get into. I went upstairs and found that she had gotten a beer from the fridge, pulled a chair up to the counter, and was attempting to open the bottle with a meat thermometer! "Mommy want a beer?" she asked casually. Oh dear...

At the high school hockey tournament... totally enthralled

But it's not all hockey around here; Edie also has a great love for singing! Of course, her favorite song is the Wild anthem, but she fills her days with song and will serenade anyone who asks her. Other favorites include Don't Worry, Be Happy, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Happy Birthday, A Tisket a Tasket, anything from Moana, and the theme from The Nutcracker... that is, one line of it, sung repeatedly as she spins and dances in circles until she falls down.

The other day I heard music coming from upstairs. I tiptoed to the girls' bedroom door, peeked in, and found Edith sitting on the floor listening to her CD of children's folk music and singing along at the top of her lungs. Oh my heart!

I can see in her eyes that she still has a propensity for destruction, but she has been learning to channel it in appropriate ways. Her favorite activities are cutting paper and getting into our toiletry drawers in the bathroom. One day I found her with concealer all over her face; the next day she smeared Paul's hair cream all over her head. She has an intense desire to bite people, but she knows it's wrong so she will move in slow motion, teeth bared, until we tell her "No bite!" and then she'll instantly put her arms out and insist "I was huggin' you!"

Most of our children had a rough stretch between age two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half, but Edith seems to have peaked early. The previous year was a nail-biter, but she's grown into a fun loving, sweet toddler... maybe we'll be able to avoid the threenager stage after all!

Maybe.

Trying on her hockey skates!!

She loves her books... and her thumb

Pow-wow with Daddy early in the morning