Pure Love

Found this picture on pinterest while working on a project for my primary class, and absolutely loved it!  So, thought I'd share...

Jenifer Moss

Many of you have asked how my friend, Jenifer, is doing in her pregnancy, and I just wanted to give you her blog, so you can see for yourself!  She's up at OHSU full time now, waiting on bed rest very patiently for what is to come.

http://www.toddnjenifermoss.blogspot.com/

I took her two little girls up for a visit, partly so they could see their mom, but partly so my kids could hear this amazing woman!  She's at 33 weeks, and will go into surgery next week.  It will be a long surgery, with a long recovery, but I know she can do it!  Anyway, keep this incredible family in your prayers!  Placenta Praevia with Placenta Accreta is nothing to mess with, but either is a world full of prayers :-)

I have the privilege of watching her 2 youngest children at least one day a week, and they have blessed my family's life in more ways than one.  Go Jenifer!  That baby boy is one fortunate child to come into your family!

Happy Memorial Day

We woke up early this morning (Glenn thought for sure it was 1AM) to attend a flag ceremony and pancake breakfast put on by our church.  The flag ceremony was incredible!  Every scout and cub scout were up front (unfortunately it was raining, so they had it inside), and watching all these kids walk in, looking their best, representing their country, was spine-tingling.  We all arose as the flag entered the room, listened to music as they marched in, all in amazing reverence as the flag moved up to the front.  We all sang America the Beautiful, and a beautiful narrative began about how this day came to be, and about the different wars our country has fought to keep us, and the world free.  Meanwhile, the flag was passed from scout to scout. They posted the colors, and one of our scouts, and a Veteran volunteer, played the bugle call.  I really appreciated the time to think about and honor those who have fought for my freedom.

Thank you to those, including my father and father-in-law, and my nephew and 2 nieces, who have served, and are serving in our armed forces to protect my freedom, and the freedom of those around the world.  I'm grateful to live in a free nation, where I can walk freely, talk freely, and raise my kids in freedom.  May we all work hard to preserve our freedom, whether in the military or not.  We are "one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL."

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

Flowers

I've been teaching a high school biology class about plants.  This week, I brought a variety of flowers for the kids to identify plant parts, and then dissect different parts and analyze under a microscope.  I fell in love with flowers again.  They truly are so unique and beautiful, especially this time of year.

 Each plant brings a different smell, color, or shape that makes a bouquet special.

 Even the goofy flowers, like my goofy Alex, make the bouquet special

 Tiger Lilly's are gorgeous for it's pronounced features, and amazing auroma!  I could smell those all day!

 I love these flowers that come from a bush in my back yard.  They make beautiful clusters, and mixed with the deep rich leaves, makes it so visually appealing.

The Yellow Poppy's are illegal to pick in CA!  I had no idea.  They are beautiful flowers, and always remind me of the Wizard of Oz

 Daisies are amazing, because they are composite flowers, and the petals are actually ray flowers.  And the yellow disc is actually a cluster of flowers!

 The bearded-iris is beautiful, and has a unique beard that attracts all sorts of insects.

 The rose is always a rose.  So beautiful.  And I think of Grandma Brown.

 These flowers come as a bunch of tiny flowers clustered together on a branch.  They don't smell, but they are spectacular as a bush, covered in thousands of these!

Fuchsia's are just unique the way they hang down, and such a vibrant color.  Gorgeous.

Each of us is a flower in a grand bouquet of flowers.  Some of us take a while to bloom :-)  But we all have something beautiful about us!

Starting the Blog... Again :-)

I am the mother of 4 kids...

8 feet...

40 toes.  And so far we haven't lost a single toe!

I love watching my kids create together...

I love watching my kids work together...

I love watching them play together...

and I love watching them work on projects together

I love my kids, and am grateful the Lord has entrusted me with them.  Today I want to remember how much they mean to me, how important they are to the Lord, and how blessed I am to be able to be their mentor in life.

Hoppy Easter

Our Easter activities started last week, when we had some leftover frosting.... James made cupcakes all on his own, and the kids went to town! We didn't have cupcakes with frosting. When Ellie had the frosting, she made frosting with a little bit of cupcake. Everyone had a wonderful time! It felt so good to have Easter colors around!

Next, on our Easter Activities, was dessert for Easter dinner. I had been given these egg shaped jello molds, so I wanted to use those! Off we went. Hmmmm... what could we do with those eggs to make the dessert for fun? Well, after searching with the kids on the Internet, we had it. The boys love origami, so we decided on a bird theme! We made a nest with Tiger Butter and Chow Mien noodles which was fabulous! And certainly a dessert on it's own! And Ellie and Glenn LOVED forming that nest! But, I was bound to get those eggs in there! So, we put a little wax paper in the middle, and put our jello eggs inside, while James went to town on making origami cranes to sit next to its nest. It was quite the interesting dessert to say the least! The kids loved the eggs, but I personally will not make those eggs again. They all split in the middle when I opened up the mold. It was frustrating. But, we stacked them together, and made do. We had multicolored eggs (Alex's favorite... of course), and just plain orange. The tiger butter was my favorite... of course! Who wouldn't love white and milk chocolate mixed with peanut butter!


Next, were the Easter eggs. Hmmmm... Well, I was busy making hot cross buns, and let's just say I was a little distracted! When Glenn dropped an egg that he had colored, and it cracked open with a runny yolk inside, I realized that I had forgotten to boil the eggs! Yeah, well, it was only after they colored 18 eggs! Good thing we had plenty of eggs! I quickly boiled up another batch, and all the kids had a great time coloring the eggs, and adding stickers, and crayoning in star wars people and names. Great fun!
Last, came the table decorations. James loves to do origami, and wanted to do something other than cranes. So, we looked up info on the Internet, and was lucky to find a site with Easter origami, and had a side link to Star Wars Origami!!!! Ok, James just about flipped out! The kids are supposed to do a service project daily... something simple, even like making your brother's bed. But James kept scheming up ways to make Star Wars origami during the school day..."can I use it as a service project, if I make an A-wing fighter for Alex?" Yeah, it was hilarious. Anyway, we also found instructions for baskets, and bunnies. James was happily at work to make a basket and bunny for everyone. Alex and Glenn made eggs to go inside, and I was scheming a way to get my Cadberry Eggs for the season... "Oh, James! If you make the baskets, I can get a Cadberry Egg to put inside each one!" James then wants to know what is a Cadberry egg. WHAT???? On Easter, when he tried one, James says to me, "I can't believe you've never let me have one of these before in my life?!" I was surprised he'd never had one either. Now, he's hooked!



Easter weekend was a beautiful weekend! Sunday wasn't so great, but Saturday was beautiful! And we had no baseball! So, we went to work in the yard! I had gotten a compost bin last year, and we finally had the time, energy, and a son, to work on it! James loves to put things together, and the bigger the task, the happier he is. This assembly required power tools, and he was anxious to start! So, I gave him the box, and he took it from there. He asked for help holding things once in a while, and I checked in on him to make sure he was doing it right, but he certainly was! And did I mention he loved the power tools!? He had to drill, then screw... and he loved changing the ends! Yeah, hilarious. Can't wait to remind of that when he has to build a playset for his own kids!

But, he did it, and did a fantastic job! We already put some grass clippings in... life is good.
While he was working on the compost bin, I had to fix our lawn mower. The pull string was literally on it's last string... it was hanging in one spot by one thread. So, my mother-in-law, who is very creative and handy, came to mind, as I decided to take a needle and thread and sew the two thick spots of chord together with skinny rope. Then I taped it close, and it did pull, so it should hold at least for a little while. James is almost 10 now, and any big person job he gets, he's quite excited about. Mowing the lawn is one of them! He LOVES it, and can't wait to do it again. And by the way, the clippings can go in the compost bin which spins... what can be more exciting than that?!

Ellie wanted to make sure to get in on the nice day, too. She had a play date with her dolls. She zipped them up nice and warm in her coat to go outside, for a fantastic swing! She talked to them the entire time, making sure they were happy!

Glenn has become a member of the split club at karate, now. Yep, he's all the way down. It just looks painful! But, he's excited that he can do it!
And of course, Ellie can't be outdone. She's also very flexible, and can do the splits too. It's amazing!
Then there is Alex, who is NOT flexible, and tries to do the splits, and just cries cause he's not even close! So, we made up the horse stance club, and he's happy he's a part of that. For now.

Well, unfortunately we didn't actually get any pictures of Easter. But, we all enjoyed our time with the Dye's, despite my mishaps that day of having shoes completely come apart on me, sweet potatoes spilling over in the car, and getting frosting on my shirt... fun fun fun! It was still a wonderful day, and I'm glad we could be together as a family, and remember Christ's sacrifice for us. I'm so grateful for that, so we all can be together again with our families up in heaven!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Baseball has begun!

It's baseball season, and boy does it tucker us all out! Those days where the weather is perfect, and we all get out to the field to practice catching and hitting, are few and far between right now, but our favorite moments as a family. All the kids love to play catch, and when Papa's home, the weather is nice, our family is gone to the fields to play! We are hoping these days will start to be more frequent! Until then, we do toughen up in the cold and rain, too. At least it's not snow, right? :-) But, after a long afternoon/evening of either practice or games, we all feel like Ellie! She's just lucky enough to be allowed to nap!

Glenn, is a serious player. If you looked at his team picture, every one of the kids are smiling and having a good time, and Glenn... has his baseball face on. Glenn's coach... the best of all coaches... is fun, hilarious, and has such a good time with the kids! But he's also trained the kids to give them their baseball face... the serious one. Now, most of the kids give it, and then they all laugh and giggle. Not Glenn. He gives his face, and keeps it :-) Good ol' Glenn!
Then there is our happy go-lucky James. He's always smiling, especially when he's pitching, just got a base hit, or just got someone out! Then he's grinning from ear to ear! And he's definitely the first to congratulate someone else when they've just done something spectacular, or even mediocre! And if they mess up, he still has a smile on his face, and tells them they'll get it next time. He's the kid that doesn't get upset. He's smiling and happy whether they are winning or losing. He just loves the game!
This is James on second base, getting ready to steal! Ok... so they don't steal yet... but the kids sure are ready to try!

The tricky thing about baseball, is that it is exactly at dinner time. So, we have to get creative! Lots of sandwiches, and cut up fruit and veggies. The first game, I brought strawberries, and they were gone by the next time I turned around! They were a roaring success!

The first game for each of the boys was beautiful weather. It was getting cold when the sun was starting to go down, but really, it was nice to have the sun shining without any rain! And even though the boys are playing, Alex and Ellie play right next to the field! They'll be pros by the time they start!

Alex is going to be a serious ball player, too. He's adamant that everything he does is right. If he's not catching the ball, he's upset that he's not doing it right. If he can't hit the ball, he's upset that he's not doing it right. Or he'll complain that the bat doesn't like hitting the ball! But, he is a perfectionist at the game, and already takes it quite seriously. But, he sure is happy when he catches the ball!

The other exciting thing that happened this week, is the Glenn lost his tooth! This will be number 4. Only one of his four teeth have come out easily, and that one came out so easily, that we never found it! The others have all been unique stories! And this wasn't any different!

James and Glenn were SUPPOSED to be upstairs matching up a large pile of mismatched socks. That was their assignment, while I was doing something downstairs on the computer. Well, about 20 minutes later, Glenn comes downstairs... crying... This is what he says, "I had a sock in my mouth, and James pulled it out, and my tooth hurts really bad!" This was said all through tears. So, as I'm thinking to myself, why on earth did he have a sock in his mouth (thankfully they were clean), I ask him to open up. His top front tooth, was completely twisted backwards!!! I'd never seen anything like it! Trying not to look completely shocked, which would have scared Glenn, I calmly (with my heart racing) walked briskly to the kitchen, grabbed a Kleenex, and walked back. Then asked him to open up, and just grabbed his tooth with the Kleenex and yanked it out. He SCREAMED! Ok. Let's all take a deep breath! James is on the couch with ears plugged in the fetal position... he does NOT handle blood at all! And Glenn is crying, and I'm so relieved to actually see the tooth in the Kleenex... Whew... it worked! What an ordeal. Needless to say, the tooth ferry felt bad for him, again, and he got 2 quarters, instead of the usual 1 :-)

Turns out that James was pouring some socks onto Glenn's head, who was laying on the bed, and Glenn was pretending to be a sock monster, and eat the socks. Boys!!!! Hopefully they will be more diligent in matching socks next time!

The picture above, is of Glenn trying to eat a pear with NO FRONT TEETH!

Our last greatest adventure last week, was going to see King Tut at the Elsinore Theater in Salem. It was very well done. I still think Robin Hood at the Children's Theater was our absolute favorite! But, King Tut was one of their favorite lessons in history, so they had so much fun seeing a rendition of the story in a play right in front of them! And as you can see, Ellie loved it, too! She was as gold as gold, thankfully, and we were all able to have a wonderful time!

Well, that's it from the Dye family. I hope everyone is enjoying springtime, and all the beautiful flowers and colors it brings! Take care everyone!