The Secret Garden

 Leah and I have been reading The Secret Garden together before bed.  She was inspired to make her own Lego creation after hearing about how they discovered the garden.

You can see Mary Lennox and Dickon in the picture above.

This one shows the door, covered by leaves and vines.

Pre Easter Company

My parents came up for a little Easter fun on Easter Saturday.

So we had an egg hunt (not sure where Peter was - he probably wouldn't stand still long enough for a picture)

They also brought a few fun science experiments to entertain the kids

Best use ever of Diet Coke

We also shot off some baking soda/vinegar rockets, but those are surprisingly hard to get on film.

Suffice it to say that fun was had by all!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I don't know how my brother managed it, but the amaryllis bulb he gave us for Christmas was in full bloom today for my birthday - and they were beautiful!

Eli can be gentle!

Those of you who know our Eli know that he is a rough and tumble, very physical boy.

What many people don't see, however, is how gentle he can be around babies or kids that are littler than he is or even with his siblings when they are sad.

And today we found another way to bring out his gentle side.

 We caught a little lizard in the backyard and Eli really wanted to hold him.

We told him he could hold it, but he would have to be very still so he wouldn't scare it.

I don't think I have ever seen that boy hold still for as long as he did today!

Be Mine

The kids came up with their own ideas for valentines this year - after looking through my craft stash.

Here is a sampling of their creativity:

 We attached a tiny bottle of sparkly nail polish to this one.  

To give you an idea of the scale, the card is about the size of a business card.

 This was Lincoln's idea - the little Lego men are actually crayons that we made using broken pieces.

 And this was Leah's - she is fascinated with paint samples and is always looking for ways to use them.  Here, we stapled a stack of mini Post-It notes inside and folded it over to make a notepad.

This was my Valentine to the kids when they woke up this morning.

And this was the valentine I received from my love.

We hope your day was as LOVE-ly as ours.