If you're a goldfish, read this...

Yesterday we became "gold fish pet owners"...Take 10.

And yet, for some reason, these resilient
can live in a bag
can be prizes from a carnival
can live in a fishbowl forever
easiest pet imaginable

have never managed to live over 52 hours at our house (yes, goldfish take 9 was a REAL fighter, breaking all previous records, and giving us the false hope that we actually might make it).  But nope, we came home from church on Sunday and he was belly up.

So for Take 10 we pulled out all the stops.  We even bought filtered water, the stuff WE don't even buy for ourselves because it's so ritzy.

And what do we get?  36 hours of awesomeness just to end with yet another goldfish's cold blood on our hands.

Honestly.  My goldfish lived FOREVER in their fishbowl.  Carter's goldfish in his classroom lived the whole year (well, almost) in a fish bowl.  Yet they claim a goldfish needs to be in no SMALLER than a 10-gallon tank...um, excuse me?  have you not seen the success rate of fishbowl gold fish?  OK, not at OUR house per se, but really ... are you with me?

Aren't goldfish supposed to live longer than this in a normal fish bowl?  Where did we go wrong??

So I guess the moral of the story is:
if you're a goldfish,
beware. 

Maybe we'll move on to hamsters.

Last Train from Paris -- and we were on it!

I am Princess Idelle Chatre.  He is Weyland Awfcorce.

It is June 13, 1940.

We are the rich and proper folk catching the last train out of Paris before it gets taken over by Nazis.  

Can't you tell?

Sure we all look like we are getting along, but in reality one of us here apparently committed a murder while on the train.  And it was our job to figure out

who.

and why.

and how.

Thank you to Jackie who planned this awesome AWESOME dinner party.  She bought a How to Host a Murder Party Game super cheap online and we can't wait to do it again.  It was fun to dress up 1940s style with our friends, and if you'd walked in on us you wouldn't have been able to differentiate WHO went to college on a theater scholarship and WHO would rather be caught dead than be on a stage....EVERYONE did a great job!

SCHOOL'S OUT!

I picked up our kindergarten graduate from school yesterday in this hot ride!  We were the talk of the parking lot ... and we loved the smiles and honks and waves we got throughout the day driving to all our end-of-school-start-of-summer celebrations.  Odyssey Fun World, the library to stock up on chapter books (which he's already read 2 since we got yesterday at 5 PM), and out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings.  So cinch up your bootstraps, because here we go into the summer of fun!

Sure would be easier to believe if it wasn't only 54 degrees today!

Colorful Water Bursts

Want a cool experiment to do?

Fill a vase or large pitcher with water.

Put some oil in a measuring cup or bowl.

Add a few drops of food coloring to the oil and stir so the food coloring drops disperse.

 Slowly pour the oil and colors into the water. 

Watch and be amazed as the colors slowly disperse and leak through the water making threads of color in their path.  We talked about density and color mixing, and let them predict what would happen with the colors we chose to put in.

If only every Memorial Day could be spent like this!

Best way to kick off the end-of-school week!!

Carter - the kindergarten grad!

Addison will LOVE the extra playtime with his brother now!

Alana now has two brothers to dote on her daily!  Oh what ever will we do!

Every few minutes we would see Alana sunbathing like this!  So relaxed.  So natural.  And SOOO not something her mother does...where DID she learn this!

Addison building us our own swimming pool.  It was quite fun when it was done!

What a good sport Daddy is!  Thank goodness for showers at the end of the day.

Maybe next year the water will be warmer; then again, probably not.

We're at it again!

These week-day date-nights are SUCH a good idea!  

The movie theater was so empty they even let us bring in a milkshake from Johnny Rockets.  Sweet Sweet movie-theater-working-teenagers :)

Carter's thinking outside the box...

Today Ms Jensen, Carter's kindergarten teacher, brought me over to see all the kids' sealife project.  They had been learning about sea creatures for a while, and were making a 3D art project...They were supposed to just pick a favorite sea creature...draw it, paint it, then stuff it with newspaper, and then she hung them up in the room.  Why did she ask me specifically to see this display of jelly fish, sea horses, and sea-snakes?  Because Carter's project made us both sing the Sesame Street Song:

"One of these things is not like the other."

This was HIS project:

Oh yes.  MY child didn't settle for a simple drawing of a sea-creature.  No No.  He took it the extra six miles and displayed the food chain!  Which the class hadn't even talked about, Ms. Jensen pointed out.  That's how awesome our little Carter man is, in case you were wondering!

(Ms. Jensen pointed out that Carter told her the green stuff at the end was plankton but he had run out of room so didn't want to write it.)

My dating life

I surprised Steve last night and took him out to dinner.  The logistics to accomplish such a task was kinda fun.  I texted a babysitter (wow...so convenient), pretty sure she'd check her phone at lunch.  success.  I coaxed him to come home on an earlier train.  I left the house in time to try to meet him at his car at the train station and kidnap him there.

And that's where the plans failed.  I got EVERY red light, and funeral procession, and duck crossing imaginable.  So it got to the point that I was searching the oncoming traffic for his car as I drove...when I saw him --flying at 50 mph-- I laid on my horn...to no avail.  So I did a legal u-turn, got every red light again, and knew he was going to beat me home to find the kids with the babysitter.  Sometimes the best laid plans....

...well, due to our mad indy-500 driving skills, I caught up with him a few blocks from our house!  I flagged him down and motioned for him to follow me.  At which point I passed our street, pulled over to the side of the road, and hopped into his car. 

"Let's Go!  You're taking me out on a date!"  He thought the kids were in the car with me (of course) so I got to make up all kinds of excuses there, which was fun, of course!  But then I straightened it out and off we went to one of our favorite restaurants: Biaggi's.

It was just really really fun to be spur of the moment like that.  And to be on a date in the middle of the week.  And to be home by 8. 

Carter's Piano Recital

Beethoven would have been very proud.  Very proud indeed!

And so were we!  This was his first recital and he performed just right.  He played "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven and a folk song called "Lightly Row".  Carter has been taking lessons for a year.

We had a video-taping malfunction...I started with one camera and it quit right at the beginning!  YIKES!  So I quickly snatched the camera Addison was using to try to catch the full 45 second performance :)  So, sorry about the arm in the way, and the distance.  But it's the best we could do!  *sigh*

He has always had such a great ear and has loved music.  He prefers the classical pieces more than the kiddie folk songs, and it's no wonder -- he's grown up listening to them at home, and with Little Einstein's influence (we {heart} that show!)  He surprises us as we listen to songs on the radio, classical or pop, and he pulls out the instrument parts that he hears behind the main melody.  Steve and I often look at each and think "How did he HEAR that?"  And it's been that way since he was a baby. 

It was also fun that in the early morning, Carter and I made sugar cookies together, decorated with white frosting and sprinkles to take to his recital, too.  We took some extras to his soccer game, too.  It was a "Carter-Talent" day, that's for sure.

The thing we call Mother's Day

 Sweet and refined?  Yes, at times, but catch Alana at her rawest form and you might see this:

Well, at least she ate all her peas.

She LOVES dressing up as a Princess, dancing as a Ballerina, and going to watch the Ballerina Princesses at the Park District.  This has been her newest fave outfit...

Last night as I checked in on my sleeping kids, I found her PJs on the floor next to her bed.  That's when I noticed she had changed before falling asleep into her wedding dress...and snow boots.  Boy, was she thrilled in the morning that she was already dressed and ready to go!

Her current line that's making me laugh?  After we rinse her hair in the bath, she cries out in utter despair "Towel for mine eyeballs!"

Addison is my hugger!  ALWAYS telling me he loves me, even mid-activity, sometimes even mid-thought.  He'll be telling me something and in the middle just add in "Mommy, I love you."  He is great at saying Sorry, Thank you, Please, and all those other magic words.

What phrase does he say that I am loving right now?  He finds anything and everything that remotely resembles BYU and points it out...and yes, that means every "Y" he finds on signs or in books.  At church he opens up the program and reads BYU by circling all of those letters, in order, as he reads and finds them. 

Phrase that made me laugh?   When he asked me if I wanted a glass of water at breakfast, he asked in an unconventional way:  "Mom, are you in a water mood?"

And, though it will embarrass him when he's older, I must tell you that I love that he calls his drawers "undie pants".

And Carter?  Carter, Carter, Carter...doesn't this picture say it all?  He's such a HAM!  We see more and more of Steve's show business and entertaining ways in this kid as he grows up!  I walked by the bathroom and saw this ... and about 12 other proud poses!  Steve and I chuckled when he came downstairs and systematically announced that he was "no longer fond of Halloween".  He just said it in such a grown up way!

But nothing made us laugh harder than when we were at church and behind us was a girl he'd never met before (she was 17).  In the middle of the meeting, the row behind us started to laugh -- really laugh.  We turned around to discover that Carter had passed her a note that said, "Call me XXX-XXX-XXXX" with his phone number right there!!!

Yes, Mothering these kids is a handful, and as EVERY stranger likes to point out, Yes, I have my hands full.  But it's life. It's what I signed up for.

from Alana

Addison and Carter gave this to me at church!

Carter's Mother's Day Crayon Art!

They're all so sweet!  One just had to take a potty break...

Honestly.

"I have a bigger mustache than you," teased Grandpa as Alana was examining his face. 

"I'm prettier than you," was the princess's reply.

Glow Jars as night lights

The other night I made this:

Glow Jars for the kids' night lights.

 When Carter accidentally snapped a glow stick too much that it cracked and started spilling out, I quickly grabbed a small mason jar and shook out all the liquid from the glow stick inside.

I screwed on the lid and Ta-Da.  

Like capturing lightning bugs in a jar -- without the lightning bugs.

They lasted long enough for the kids to fall asleep, while what remained of the dilapidated glow sticks continued to glow in the trash all night long.

Saying Yes to the mess

Wednesday couldn't make up it's mind if it was coming in like a lion or out like a lamb.  It would flash flood, down pour, and gust wind for 5-10 minutes, then be totally blue skies, warm, and beautiful for the next few minutes, with another storm surge behind that! It was pretty enough to watch from indoors -- where it was dry.

But at 1:30 the hail started, and I couldn't help but grab my boys to go run outside and investigate! (Alana was napping)

"It feels pokey and wet!"

These little balls of ice were "slippery, melty, and cold!"  It's so fascinating that even though it was warm out, ice could still fall from the sky!

Of course this segued into splashing in the puddles...

 

Which naturally transformed into getting a little dirty...While Addison invented finger painting with every piece of sidewalk chalk he could find to dissolve in the puddles,

 Carter found quite a good mud puddle to sink into.

 And just look at that sky!  Blue Sky + White Clouds + Threatening Gray, all at once! I loved it!

 (It was down pouring again within minutes of this picture)

And as fun as this afternoon was for the kids, I must admit, I felt soo soo soo good to let my guard down and just let my kids play and splash in the rain and puddles.  We were having a yes-day moment. And it felt so freeing.  So safe.  And so much easier as a mom when I could say 'yes' instead of saying 'no' all day.

I'm Singin' in the Rain! Just Singin' in the Rain!

What a Glorious Feelin', I'm happy again!

I looked out the window and what did I see...

Litter...Just a bunch of litter...It's always so windy on garbage day!

Wait?  Is that cardboard moving?

With the kids in the backyard, I thought they were doing the same old things -- chalk, bikes, soccer, etc.  I couldn't help but laugh at their creativity and new game as they played with the plain ol' cardboard boxes put out for recycling!

Aww.My lil' hamsters.

Carter's Birthday

"da, da, da,.. da di, da...da..."  

Yes, ladies and gentleman, that, my friends, is the Super Mario Brothers theme song.  Or should I say, the new Madura Family theme song.  It is heard CONSTANTLY throughout our home.  We don't have a Wii.  We don't have a DS.  We only have old-fashioned internet.  And with only 30-minute potential playtime per day, you wouldn't think we hear it as much as we do.  At any given moment, this fine ditty is being sung, hummed, or the tune to new lyrics of whatever we are doing -- calling your brothers and sisters to dinner, for example.  I learned to play it on the piano so now the kids role-play Mario as I play.  We burned it onto a CD (great pick up toys motivator), and if that's not enough, it's still ringing in our heads from the LAST time it was sung.

For Mom, this whole Mario craze is a bit much.  But for a boy who was turning 6, it was the perfect segue into his perfect party.

The Invitations:  Who knew you could download the Super Mario Brothers Font!  Loved it!...Guests pulled the star out for the party details written on the back.  We invited 11 kids.

The Goodie Bags: Dag nabit!  I will never live down that I didn't take the picture I wanted before the kids came...I made these cute Yoshi goodie bags for the kids to collect their prizes.  Since I didn't get a pic of mine (dag nabit!) here's the source where I got the idea:

The Mario Disguises:  I also made Mario hats for each kid out of craft foam visors from Michaels and white craft foam with a stenciled out M.  And much thanks to Grandma and sticky-back felt, we also had GREAT mustaches!  (...see their yoshi bags?)

As the kids arrived, they each posed for their own Mario portrait (to be used later as 'Thank You' cards..."Wii had such a fun time at Carter's 6th Birthday Party" ... clever...).

Then they went outside to play with what we'd surprised Carter with just before the party.

"Carter, come see what's outside for your party!"

 

Pure shock and excitement to see a monstrous Castle Bounce House in our back yard!!!  King Koopa's Castle:  Carter's expression to see the bounce house in our back yard was priceless!  We didn't tell him about it beforehand -- partly because we are fun like that, and mostly because the forecast was 43 degrees with 70% chance of rain.  We didn't want to have tears of disappointment -- you understand.  THANK YOU to our friends who just happened to ask if we wanted to borrow it!

And can you believe it?  14 kids all at once and NO INJURIES or TEARS!  Just lots of smiles!

 

We were SOOO lucky that it didn't rain!!!  THANK YOU THANK YOU!  And 43 degrees really wasn't so bad with a sweatshirt and all that jumping!

Mario Bingo: We rounded 'em up for a few rounds of Mario Bingo, complete with prizes for each as they got bingo.  I printed the cards from here.

Super Coin Jump:  The kids jumped on a mini trampoline to grab gold coins taped to the ceiling.  They were racing as a team to get them all down before the Mario theme song was all over (which, by the way, you can download the Mario theme song here.)

Which, of course, would have been somewhat more productive,  yet not nearly as funny, had we not put them up so high ... (for the record, Steve had them perfect, but I thought they were too low so we changed it right before the party...go figure!)

So Steve ended up hoisting the kids up mid jump to grap the coins.  What a sport!!!

Hot-potato Bomb-Omb:  Yep...the character in Super Mario Brothers that is a walking bomb that blows up every so often.  It was a party game waiting to happen.

Yoshi Egg-Toss:  Now this was awesome :)  Steve's Mom and I blew out raw eggs for each kid and restuffed the shell with confetti!  3 eggs had gold stars in them to be winner eggs.  

They threw them against the wall at Mario.  Of course, throwing them against Bowser or some other bad-guy character would have been better, but this was the only guy I could get to print up larger than an 8 1/2 x 11 (I printed it as a poster at Costco, and is now one of Carter's new favorite bedroom decorations.  Downloadable here)

Yes, of COURSE confetti and egg shell went everywhere.  Yes, the blue cloth helped a little, but it was WORTH the mess, and the vacuum got it all up easily.

Gold Coin Search:  We threw 3 bags of mini rolos all over the back yard.  They ran and hunted and loved it.

 The Yoshi Egg Pinata: This was Steve's thing.  Every night he'd come home from work and add another layer of paper mache to the egg.  What a mother bird :)
It was the PERFECT strength for these kids! 

The Mario Cake: Yes, made by yours truly, with my second-ever attempt using fondant (the first being 5 years ago when my friend JaNae of Cake Flair showed me how).  It was a rainbow cake on top and a double chocolate cake below. 

I have a thing for these AWESOME sparkler candles, but I think I forgot to ask how Carter would feel about it!

 

But the fear didn't last too long!!!

 

 If I may, my favorite part of the cake was the pirana plant.

See how cute!!!!

OK, I'm done.

But I do love this cake!

 Two things I would do again at every birthday party: 

1. After the kids sang happy birthday and blew out the candles (and recovered from the sparkler) we took the cake into the kitchen to dish up while Carter opened his presents!  It was SO smooth!  Why didn't we ever do that before!  Now the kid who gets cake first is still eating his piece when the last kid gets his piece!  and 
2. We dished up the ice cream into individual muffin cups before hand (the foil kind).  It sped up the whole ice cream thing immensely, then was easy for the kids to choose which flavor they wanted.

It was a perfect birthday party.  Exhausting -- yes -- but perfect and memorable -- absolutely!

On his actual birthday, Carter took these Mario Mushrooms to class.

They are jumbo sized marshmallows dipped in Wilton's Candy Melt, with edible sugar pearls on top, poked onto a lollipop stick.  I LOVED being in the class to see how much the kids loved them!

And for his actual birthday day, our dear friend let us borrow her Wii so Carter could play the REAL Mario Brothers.

NOTHING could have made his day better.

 Nothing.

Happy Birthday, Carter!  We sure do love you!