Sickness in Our Home

I have really not felt like blogging lately.  We've had too much sickness in our home.  Blaaaaah.  So to tied you over until I feel like blogging again, here is a picture of me with my birthday cake. 

This year we stayed on the safe side and Jeremy made a cake from a box.  He is perfectly capable of making a fancy chocolate cake, but I requested this this year, which was good because of people being sick.

Whoops!

I just put pictures from the camera onto the computer and realized I totally didn't blog about Mother's Day.  Silly me.  So, Mother's Day:

The kids wanted to bring me breakfast in bed so Jeremy made cinnamon rolls and the kids helped frost them.

Jeremy made me a lovely Mother's Day Dinner.

Skillet Chicken Parmigiana with pasta and garlic bread.

For dessert, strawberry shortcake (though Jr. Jr. and I were the only ones to eat the strawberries.  Everyone else had angel food cake with whipped topping).

Jr. sent me on a special hunt to find his Mother's Day card he made at school and a pea plant he brought home in a pot he colored.

There were more cards and more fun, and I had a great Mother's Day.

Catch of the Day

Jeremy:  The couch is eating our daughter.

Bird Watching

We've been having fun getting out recently to go bird watching.  It's amazing how many places nearby are great for bird watching.  With Jeremy's animal identifying, we've been having fun finding out what things are after we take pictures of them.  Here are just some of the birds we've seen recently (remember, you can click on the pictures to see them larger):

 Mallards

American Robin

Crow

 Caspian Tern

American Avocets

Snowy Egret

Pelicans

 Red-winged Blackbird

Western Scrub-Jay

 Goldfinches

 

A couple of lovebirds

Did I mention we've been having fun?

Screen Free Week 2013

Well, we survived another annual Screen Free/Turnoff Week.  Jeremy and I actually did spend a bit of time on the computer for work and church callings.  I didn't have enough time to prepare before the week because of "The Digger."  But there were no movies watched, no Wii or other video games played, no shows watched on hulu.  O.K.  Well, the kids did have special permission to have screen time while visiting friends, but no video games at home.  We were able to do other things for recreation.

Some highlights:
Dress up with friends

Working on skills such as balancing and counting

Trying new foods (homemade sweet potato fries, yummmm)

Fun with household objects

Playing non "plugged in" games, including creating new ones and the items to play those games

Cleaning

When I asked Jr. Jr. to clean up the cheerios he spilled on the floor, he decided to do it... with his mouth.  I guess he didn't want them to go to waste.

 
Park playing and animal watching/identifying

This is a Caspian Tern.

Science experiments

Our homemade whirlpool

Well needed rest and lots and lots of reading

I always love Screen Free Week.  Once a year when the distractions from movies, video games, and computer are lessened.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go start the next book in the series I started during Screen Free Week.