Colorful

We had spring break a few weeks ago. It was lovely. We rested, had a few outside adventures, ate big breakfasts, and generally enjoyed the time off. The first activity of the week was making tie-dye shirts. We had planned to do this for Phoebe's birthday right after we moved into the house, but things were a bit chaotic then and the supplies got put away for a later date. 

We unintentionally picked a windy day for this project. That made things exciting. Some of the shirts were so saturated with dye that it took them several days to dry. And, even though I wore gloves most of the time, I still ended up with very colorful hands that stayed very colorful for more than a week.

Renegade

Phoebe had another chance to put together a costume, this time for school. She had to choose a character from a book she liked, then she had to put together the right look for that character. She picked Nova from Marissa Meyer's Renegades series. I've read the books and I can confirm, this definitely looks like Nova.

And yes, those are my boots she's wearing.

Awake

A few nights ago I was asked about my sleep habits. I said I don't get much sleep, and that I have trouble falling asleep, but I'm pretty good at staying asleep.

That was dumb, I should not have said that.

On Sunday night Topher reminded me that he often will wake up in the middle of the night because he wants to snuggle. And then sometimes it takes him a long time to go back to sleep. Monday was a long day because of our middle of the night hangout.

On Monday night I was in bed by 10:32, the earliest I've gone to bed in ages. I stayed awake for awhile, but I think I finally drifted off. I think. Maybe. Around 2:00 in the morning I was wide awake (even before Topher called to snuggle) and not very rested. I was a very grumpy human. And I stayed awake until 7:00 in the morning. It was not a pleasant experience. When Sophie and Topher woke up I invited them to eat bagels while sitting on my bedroom floor and watching cartoons on a phone. Maybe I've trained myself to only sleep while Paw Patrol is playing quietly in the background?

Today has also been a looooong day. Bryan and the kids keep asking me what's wrong. My answer has consistently been, "I'm really tired." I guess I make weird faces when I'm crazy exhausted.

Here's to hopefully sleeping tonight.

Sunday Stroll

Spelling is Fun

Topher and I played Scrabble this week. Instead of spelling words (he understands the concept, but his execution of it is appropriate for a three-year-old), we had to either say the name or the sound of the letter we were placing on the board. It actually went pretty well.

One thing that bothered Topher? He's pretty sure his name is spelled TOER (he thinks E and F are the same letter and he knows the F sound is in the middle of his name) and I simply didn't agree.

Nifty

Our YM/YW activity last night was about indexing the recently released 1950 census. Part of the fun included a 1950s costume contest. We were joining virtually, so I hadn't given the costumes much thought until the night before. That's when I remembered a box in my basement of my Grandma Miriam's clothes that I had inherited when she moved out of her house.

Yesterday morning I brought the box up and started pulling out clothes. We found three dresses that had a major 70s vibe, a knee-length black dress, some Easter bonnets and purses that belonged to my aunts, a bag of wigs (?), some shawls, a few pairs of elbow-length gloves, fur collars (real, I think), velvet collars and cuffs, a few hats, and one amazing black skirt suit. Phoebe tried on the skirt suit and it fit well enough to wear for the activity.

Topher and Sophie tried on a few things as well.

Peter wore this awesome shirt that Uncle Jordan and Aunt Leah brought home from their honeymoon more than four years ago. And I attempted to give his hair some lift. Mousse and ratting were both employed to achieve this look.

And I happened to find this shirt for Cooper at Target yesterday afternoon. Did you know that the plastic flamingo lawn ornament was created in 1957?

I, as one of the YW leaders, dressed up with a scarf and a high ponytail.

We were the only ones to join the activity virtually, so none of us thought we were in the running for a prize from the contest. That's why we were so surprised that Phoebe won first place! I guess it paid to wear something from the actual decade (or close to it) that we were celebrating.

Phoebe, in costume, with hair, purse, and shoes.

Goodies on a Great Day

We all wore church clothes on Easter Sunday, but I didn't get a fancy Easter picture of all of us. I did get a few pictures of the kids coming down the stairs after they had changed out of church clothes. That's when they saw the adorable Easter baskets Bryan's mom sent. Sophie named this the "best Easter ever" and the other kids all agreed.

I also managed to take pictures of Easter dinner, including the delicious carrot cake that Cooper made. I smoothed the honey-sweetened frosting after I took the picture, and it was prettier after that.

Thank you Shari for the amazing baskets and wonderful treats!

When You're the Best of Friends

On Saturday night, before we recorded the talk and scripture, Phoebe was busy drawing. Topher looked at the character she had created and said, "Oh! That's Michael, he's my best friend." Then he helped choose colors for Michael's clothes and carried the picture in a protective plastic sleeve for most of the rest of the evening.

Michael also joined us for church on Sunday.

It's good to have friends, even when they're flat and made of paper.

Easter Contributions

Sophie and Topher provided the talk and scripture for Easter Sunday. This was Topher's first time doing the scripture. He was happy to record a movie, he was less enthusiastic about getting into his church clothes on Saturday night. Sophie nailed her talk on the third take, which was awesome.

The Good News