The Hills are Alive

...with the sound of music!

We borrowed the DVD from the library the other day, and today seemed like the perfect day to watch it. And Lacy LOVED IT! She was hooked from the first note. She loved Julie Andrews. Watching it with my daughters made me so incredibly happy. I have a long relationship with "The Sound of Music," and have loved it since I was a little girl.

Here is my sister and I, singing our version of "So Long, Farewell."

Yes, we're performing the beginning "cuckoo" portion of the song.

I have been singing "Edelweiss" to Lacy and Rose since they were babies. And now my baby is learning the rest of the songs. She was singing "Do Re Mi" (the "Do, a deer" song) for a week before we ever got the DVD. I'm quite sure she'll learn a few more of the songs in the next week. She was absolutely glued to the television during this movie.

So, I'd like to borrow more musicals from the library to build on her love of musicals. Anything with dancing and beautiful dresses strikes her fancy. We have a few in mind that we'd like to borrow ("The Music Man," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" are two we specifically mentioned), but I'd love to hear your suggestions for musicals to borrow that a four year old girl would love!

Our Adventure

Thursday afternoon, I made a date with Lacy and Rose to go on An Adventure on Friday. We planned out our trip, Lacy picked out an outfit she wanted to wear, slept with it in her bed, and promptly changed her mind Friday morning before we set out to go.

We started off by driving down to the farmer's market. Once there, we walked over to the bus stop and caught the bus that goes up to the Capitol Campus. The girls were extremely excited to get to ride the bus, and had a fun time of it. The best part about it is this particular bus is free, so it doesn't cost me a thing to entertain my kids!

At the campus, we walked to the World War II Memorial and Rose stomped in some puddles. Then we walked over to the cherry trees which are in full bloom. We pretended we were in a house with a flower roof, and had a fun time in the process. We walked over to the bus stop and caught the exact same bus we rode up on, which was just finishing the Capitol Campus loop (we got off at the first stop at the campus). Rose was thrilled when the bus started coming up to the stop and screamed out, "A ORANGE BUS! A ORANGE BUS!" practically bursting from excitement.
WWII Memorial:
The Cherry Blossoms:


We got off at the farmer's market and walked around for a few minutes before stopping and watching a glass bead artist make some beads. That was very interesting to see. Across from her booth was a stand selling plants. We bought four strawberry plants and two flowers, one for each girl. I'm not sure where we'll plant them yet.

Next, we went to the booth that gives free apples to kids. The girls both picked out an apple and I bought a couple of asian pears. Then we stopped at one of the bakeries at the market and we each got a cookie. We ended out trip at the market by eating our treats under some covered picnic tables, which just so happen to be in front of a stage. We got to enjoy live music while we ate. It makes me happy to be able to expose my kids to live music.

When we left the market, I still had a few things I needed to pick up at the store. Including milk, since I made yogurt yesterday that ended up with a consistency of ricotta cheese (it was my first time, my next batch earlier tonight turned out much better!). I suspect that the ultra-pasteurized milk I used may have caused problems, so I found some organic milk that was not ultra-pasteurized. We went to a different grocery store than usual, and I remembered why I rarely shop there. The store is absolutely wonderful, but their prices are much higher than my usual grocery store!

Finally, we returned home and the girls ate my asian pear. We got Pinocchio from the library on Thursday, so the girls decided to watch it. Lacy really loved it! I was surprised, actually.

I thought I would have worn out the girls well enough to get them to go to bed early tonight, but Lacy didn't fall asleep until after 10, and Rose had trouble getting to sleep, too. I'm expecting more restless nights during this weekend and the sugar highs that are bound to occur.

Saturday's adventure: Easter egg hunt!

Lattin's

My sister Leslie and I were planning on going out to Lattin's Cider Mill together today, but she forgot she was watching a friend's kids. Since Dave went out fishing with his buddy Bill and his boys, I invited my friend Emily, Bill's wife, to come with us instead. We missed having Leslie and the gang with us, but had a great time with Emily and her daughters Eowyn and Esme. We had lots of fun seeing all the baby animals! Rose was especially enamored with the goats, and Esme's favorites were the birds. We all had a great time looking at the cute babies and mamas, eating fresh donuts, and enjoying the sights and sounds of nature. What a wonderful day.

This picture cracks me up. Check out the escapee in the top left-hand corner! There were a few goats out in the open that the kids got to interact with. This is so much better than a petting zoo!

Eowyn and Esme petting a goat kid
Rose and a mama goat. She kept talking about the mommies and the daddies. I didn't see any daddies anywhere around, but there sure were a lot of mommies!

Emily and I both appreciated these chickens. They were quite lovely. It was fun to see so many heritage breeds of poultry at the farm!

The whole group, minus me, running off to see more animals!
Lacy and Eowyn, checking out some cute little chicks

You may notice Lacy's top lip looks funny. She slipped last night in the shower and ended up with a huge fat lip! She was really scared when it happened because facial wounds tend to bleed a lot, but other than a little soreness today and an inability to eat an apple that isn't cut up, she is doing just fine today. Unfortunately for her, she gets her coordination from her mother!

The biggest benefit of having great weather is being able to do stuff like this. The girls haven't watched any TV at all since Monday, and only today did they watch a short 30 minute non-commercial video from the library. They are so much better behaved when they don't watch TV and play outside all day. I'm hoping to have many more TV-free days in our future! We will be participating in TV turnoff week later this month, and I encourage all my readers to participate with their families as well!

Easter Eggs

On Monday night for Family Home Evening, we decided to dye Easter eggs for an activity after we had a lesson about Jesus' Resurrection and why we celebrate Easter (Lacy is finally starting to remember that it isn't because the Easter bunny comes!). I do remember how "fun" it was last year, and the resulting stain on our wood paneling from Rose being such a big helper. Heh. There is a reason there is only one major egg-dying holiday per year! And I am certainly glad I have a whole year to recover from this experience, and I'm hoping that Rose will be less psychotically excited about it next year!

We now have a profit on Dave's fishing license

Dave and his buddy Bill calculated out the market value of the fish Dave, Bill and Bill's sons caught today, and deducted cost of the fishing licenses that they both bought recently for the new season (which begins officially at the end of this month), fuel and supplies, and discovered that they now have made a "profit" on the license, on the very first day they used the licenses!

All totaled, they caught 17 fish. Two got away attached to a stringer. One was released. The remainder were brought home. Dave caught the large one, which weighed approximately 6 pounds. Tonight we ate seven fish for dinner with Bill and his family. Rose ate more than half a fish, all on her own! The rest of the fish, including the large one are soaking in a brine right now to be made into smoked trout that we will all enjoy. I'm so glad that the guys were able to have such a great day fishing together!

The Haul:


The Biggun:


The Guys: L-R Tuckerby, Danner, Dave, Bill

About Nestle:

Lacy just told me, "Nestle kills babies, but not Leslie." HA!

Stop to Smell the Flowers

Every time we go grocery shopping, Lacy has to smell all the flowers in the floral department. I don't mind, I think it's rather darling. And most people who see her smelling the flowers smile as they pass by.

Lacy absolutely LOVES roses. Last time we were there, she exclaimed excitedly, "Mom, LOOK! They have ROSES!"

Rose, confused, replied, "My flowers?" I think she was expecting to get something from the flower shop after Lacy's exclamation.

I tried to explain that she is named Rose and those flowers are also named rose, but I don't think she quite gets it yet. Of course, some amount of confusion with names in our family is necessary. I did, after all, name my oldest child the same name as the town in which she was born (for a while, she thought that the library actually belonged to her). As my brother likes to say, at least she wasn't born in Humptulips.

This gives a whole new meaning to the brand name

Rose thinks that because we used this red marker to draw around the boarders of her swollen glands, she now can draw on herself with this same marker. So draw she did. And this gives a whole new meaning to the name "RoseArt."

Of course, Lacy couldn't resist a photo op.

Reading

Dave brought in the mail this afternoon. Rose greeted him at the door, and helped him look through it. Dave found a magazine to read. Rose found a magazine, too(it was actually a glorified ad for JoAnns). So they read together