This week so far...

I made this yummy Lemon Chicken Picatta for dinner. It was delicious.

Joshua the builder hard at work...

Poor little baby got pink eye...one dose of the eye drops though and he's good as new

And Ethan with his favorite books- the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. Why Ethan love them: Jack and Annie go on adventures through the magic tree house to different times and places. Why mommy loves them: they mix fact with fiction so he remembers people and places he might not normally pay attention to- like Leonardo DaVinci, Shah Jahan, and Basho the Japanese poet. He even wrote his own haiku after reading the Dragon of the Red Dawn, based on our Saturday adventure: 

Wild turkeys walking

Riding bikes along the trail

Seeing the green pond



Born to run

Yesterday evening we went to the riverfront park in Brandenburg to ride bikes. The water levels were really high and the parking lots all flooded out. It was interesting to see the amphitheater and bridge submerged. Anyway...we rode on the trail which is about 2 1/2 miles long and beautiful (we always see animals like deer, wild turkeys, rabbits, etc...) As we started to head back Ethan said he wanted to run and started running. I was walking my bike so not to leave him behind and instead he left me in the dust. He ran an entire mile without stopping! Then he stopped for a minute and started running again. He ran the entire 2 1/2 miles back. It was pretty impressive for a 4 year old.

At one of our little rest stops he said to Anthony "you need to raise me for lots of stuff" we first thought he said "race me" but he clarified by saying "you need to raise me for running and mountain climbing and adventuring!" Then added "and to be an artist". We asked if there was anything else and he said he would make us a list when he got older... Four is definitely my favorite age so far!

This afternoon it was beautiful and sunny so I walked while the boys rode their bikes to the little nature preserve by our house and had a picnic. The boys love reading all the signs and running around on the trails. Ethan kept asking questions about what different animals looked like and it was so nice to have my iPhone to look everything up and show him pictures. I think it is my favorite homeschool tool yet! And this is where I said "no more vegetables until you eat your sandwich!" I guess I should be more grateful that they love veggies so much...

Help for Japan

Want to help Japan? Donate to a charity. Here is a list of legitimate charities who are providing immediate relief for people in Japan http://abcnews.go.com/International/japan-earthquake-donating-relief-funds/story?id=13122660  You can also donate through the LDS humanitarian relief from your tithing slip under humanitarian aid. Even if you can only donate ten dollars it will make a difference!!!

And a few pics to share (more phone pics- my camera is just too heavy to carry around all the time)...it actually felt like spring today! We ate breakfast on the back porch and for lunch had a picnic at the park and fed the ducks...Yay for spring!

   

 The Osborne's

Happy St Patty's Day

 We had a visit from a leprechaun last night... he turned the water (including the toilet) green, the milk green, tipped over all our chairs, put shoes in the refrigerator and a few other pranks. We didn't catch the sneaky guy but we made some rainbow pancakes to celebrate the day.

This evening we took the boys bowling and they had a ton of fun.

  

The Osborne's

Related...

For our Relief Society birthday celebration last night we had to bring a baby picture of ourselves. I searched high and low and could not find my baby book. I figured it must have been ruined in the flood last year...but late last night Anthony found it in his stash of journals he keeps in the garage. So yay! They are not lost forever. It was funny to look through and see how much my boys look like me. Here are some pictures of me and Grant. We're definitely related...

Time out for Women

Friday and Saturday I attended Time out for Women in Nashville with some great friends. It was wonderful, like always. Got to do some shopping, eat yummy food at cheesecake factory and be spiritually uplifted (all without any little distractions!) I did bring my camera but was too lazy to actually carry it around so all you get is a phone picture of the capitol and War Memorial...and three of the super fun ladies who came with me!

He looks so sweet and innocent...

Don't be fooled...

(and yes, we were ready to catch him)

And my picture today- I got to photograph this sweet little baby- less than 6 pounds! All my hats were way too big though, guess I better make some premie sizes...

The Osborne's

Almost Friday!

I LOVE the weekend. This weekend in particular- I'll be going to Time out for Women in Nashville! So excited. So my strange and random pics for the last few days (sorry for the low quality lately- I've been using my phone- too heavy to carry my camera around all day...)

Tuesday: Joshua loves to feed Grant- he grabs his high chair, pulls it over to him, takes away his food and feeds him...such a big helper!

Wednesday, I made a big batch of this yummy black bean salad/cowboy caviar and Grant downed three bowlfulls! Guess he's a fan...

 

Thursday: Joshua loves to build- while I was helping Ethan with his math, Joshua was very intently building with the Math U See blocks. Notice anything wrong with the second picture? What a silly boy... 

 

When Ethan was done with his math work he started writing something in the front of his math book-

I hope he is always this confident in his math abilities!

The Osborne's

Dentist

Ethan had his first cavity filled this morning. He was so brave and the whole thing was over in 15 minutes. He got to wear these cool shades just in case the dentist needed the laser, but he didn't. He didn't need any numbing at all, just a quick drill, patch and we were done. No tears or anxiety, hallelujah. The dentist is a much more pleasant visit than the doctor!

For my Sunday picture- I took this of Grant- he was playing with the leftover birthday balloons and laughing hysterically when I'd throw them into the air.  

 

The Osborne's

March 4th & 5th

This sharing a picture thing is harder than I thought it would be! I do take pictures every day but actually downloading and sharing them requires a lot more time and effort. Friday we had a reading pajama party and I forgot to get a picture of it, but here's a silly picture of three little boys splashing in the tub. Saturday is "breakfast with daddy" day. Ethan's job is to make the juice and Joshua helps with the pancakes (chocolate chip today- YUM). Mommy gets to do whatever she wants until breakfast is served. I love Saturday!

   

The Osborne's

Green eggs & ham

I can only tackle one birthday at a time, so we celebrated Dr Seuss' birthday today. We had a visit from the Cat in the Hat (my husband is such a good sport ;) and we read the book and ate Green Eggs & Ham for breakfast (the food coloring came out a little too fast so the ham was almost black- but they ate it nonetheless...) Yum yum! 

Birthday Boys!

Anthony's birthday was on Tuesday and Joshua's was Wednesday, so we have been in party mode! I can't believe my Joshua is already three! He is growing up so fast. He is becoming Mr. Independent and whenever I try to help him with something says "I can do it myself!" in his high pitched little boy voice. He constantly makes us laugh with the silly things he does. We love you Joshua!

Joshua wanted an M&M cake for his birthday and since my cake decorating skills are practially nil, it was perfect. Ethan helped put the m&ms on and probably made his lines straighter than I did. It was a white confetti cake with yummy buttercream frosting- get the recipe here!

 

Ah, the presents. This is probably the first time I have not pre ordered a birthday gift. I could not figure out what to get this child. He loves to build things but he already has 4 building sets, loves trains but already has a huge train set, I seriously could not think of a single thing he needed or was terribly interested in. I dragged all three kids to probably 5 stores last week looking for ideas and I cannot believe how many dumb mindless toys there are! There are lots of great things for babies, but not much for the inbetween stage. I finally took him- on his birthday- as a desparate last minute attempt to find something. We went to Target (should have gone there first- they have the best selection of quality toys) and let him choose from 4 things and he chose a little people zoo set. Then we went to their favorite place- Barnes & Noble and got him a few books. Who knew shopping for a 3 year old could be so hard???

Baby Grant providing the party entertainment- pulling up his shirt and saying "belly button!"

Ethan providing the after party show! I got him some earplugs because he's had earaches the last few times after swimming lessons and I got the adult size rather than child size...but that didn't stop him from trying them on... This better be the only time in your life that you look this ridiculous!

And last, a video to share- Joshua loves to identify the apostles- I laminate the conference Ensign edition and he carries it around the house saying their names. It only took him 3 or 4 times of hearing their names before he remembered them all- you just have to speak "toddler" to understand him ;)

The Osborne's

Celestial University and silly boys...

In our Relief Society this year we're doing the Celestial University program. So one of my goals was to learn to knit/crochet. I found these adorable sock monkey patterns on etsy and have been having so much fun with them! I've also made a ton of adorable baby hats to use for my photography. In March I'm taking the challenge to take a photo a day and share it- so be prepared for some strange and random posts...

In other randomness... Ethan declared himself an artist with this drawing...

Grant loves to push his fat little finger through the middle of bread and spin it around...

 and...Joshua likes to entertain us during breakfast by sticking cheerio's to his face...

hope your mealtimes are as equally entertaining...

The Osborne's