Schlumberger Family Easter Party

It's that time of year again. Candy, Chocolate and Easter Egg Hunts. We got to meet the Easter Bunny and (scary) Easter Chicken this year. Sicily is not in the picture because she was just a little too scared.
But she was happy to pose with some eggs. And though we're not all cute in our Easter clothes, it's still a cute picture.
The Annual Schlumberger Easter Party has fun stuff every year.
The Petting Zoo had the cutest chickens I've ever seen. Aspen actually caught one and tried to hold on to it for a while, but they're a lot bigger than our little chicks.
Phoenix just trapped it in the corner so he could have a pet.
They also had Blow up Slides, Horse Rides, Train Rides and an Egg Hunt at the end (we got about 75 eggs between the kids).
Here's a few shots we took before the camera died.

Sicily didn't want to get on an actual horse, so the carriage was more her style. Phoenix tagged along.
Phoenix got a little more brave when he saw the "Ponies," bigger shetlands actually. Aspen would have ridden horses all day if we'd let her.
For example. She's a farm girl at heart, minus the flip flops on the horse, and the fact that she put the wrong foot in the stirup initially so they had to lift her up so she could get on. My poor city kids.
London picked the biggest horse they had. And wanted to take it home to add it to our zoo, until I told him how much they poop. Dog poop was plenty for him apparently.
Cute little pose, with a cute little Phoenix Easter Bunny.
And the Train. Random kid in box #4, but 1, 2, 3 and 5 are mine. They always want them to go faster. If it's been my Uncle Bud driving they would have caught some air, even in the parking lot.

Soccer, Soccer and more Soccer

I swear I dream about soccer now a days.

I'm having the wonderful experience of Coaching Phoenix's soccer team this year. Why, you might ask? Well, I kind of got roped into it. And though I don't really know soccer too well, we're having a lot of fun.

One practice a week, one game every Saturday. 6 little 6 year olds, 2 girls 4 boys. No goalie. Pretty basic and right at mine and Phoenix's level.
Phoenix is the little red head right in the middle of the screen. We're the "Green Dragons," and we're loving this.

Movie Night

I co-hosted a Baby Shower for 2 of the ladies in my Ward the night of April Fools. London and Aspen (thank goodness) were invited to sleep-overs. So Jared took Phoenix and Sicily upstairs for a movie night. Sicily, as you can see did not make it all the way through the movie.
Phoenix braved coming downstairs amongst all those ladies to tell me to bring the camera upstairs and help Dad. This was too cute to not document. Apparently Jared's bottom makes a pretty nice pillow, she is completely zonked. And to make matters worse, Jared couldn't move with out waking her up. :) So after a little maneuvering he was free, and she was still asleep.

Poor LIttle Chickey

When you have chickens it's almost as nice as rabbits. Any table scraps that are meat obviously go to the dog, but everything else goes to the chickens. This time around it was bagget bread that was just a bit too hard to be eaten by people.

The chickens went crazy. But one little black chicken got a little carried away. Notice the little one on the back right. She made herself a necklace. The poor thing was just peeping and crying till I pulled it off of her. I'm not too sure if she ate any more after that. I'd be scared of my bread too if it had tried to strangle me.

Squids

There are a lot of things you can do with Hot Dogs, but this has got to be one of my kids favorites. We made them for April Fools this year, along with Cloud Juice (which is typically water but for April Fools we made it Invisible Kool-Aid).

Squids: Diced up hot dogs, slide 3-5 raw spaghetti noodles through each one, cook spaghetti like normal, then cover with sauce.
They love em! Daddy is not as big of a fan, but I like them almost as much as the kids.

Playgroup and Chickies

We always have such a good time when Playgroup is at our house. 6 little 3 year olds running around, brings a lot of giggles and fun.

Today we started outside drawing chalk outlines. They all wanted a different color, so if you can't find your particular child just zoom in, they are all there. Xander, Kayla, Sicily, Nathan, Gary and Noah.These 2 little red heads are the only girls in our group, and you couldn't have asked for better girls. While the boys are sword fighting and wrestling, these 2 cook and play with babies. They are so alike they could be sisters. And they'll definitely make good Mommy's one day.
But what's more fun for 3 year olds than trying to catch a chicken. Lucky for the chickens they're a little faster than these kids.
Well, faster than most of them. (Sorry for the sideways video)

Those who wanted to hold a Chicky caught one and posed for a picture. You have to zoom in on those poor chickens though, some of them are really going through the ringer. :)

Azaleas

We have these beautiful Azaleas growing on the side of our house. There are also some in the front of the house but they aren't near as pretty as these.
The kids were constantly playing with them. Bringing them inside to put in water, wearing them in their hair, throwing them over the fence when we played with the chickens so it looked like it was snowing pink. And the best part was there was always more to play with. Azaleas are so pretty, they don't bloom very long, but I love when they do.

Science Fair Round 2

This is last years Science Fair Project that London paired up with his good friend Star Ni. We boiled down purple cabbage, to make cabbage juice. Then added acidic and base substances from around the house to change the purple cabbage juice to various colors of pink, green and clear. The overall findings were to help discover what would settle an upset stomach, clear colors were better. Things like Baking Soda and Tums, not Tabasco or Lemon Juice.
This years Science Project he did on his own. We grew sugar crystals in different environments. Cold/Hot, Dark/Light, Pure/Impure. We found that the best crystals and fastest crystals grow in the cold. Go figure. This is meant to speed up the process of computer chip formation or something of the like. :) I can't remember exactly. But it was fun growing crystals.

Aspen's School Projects

Apparently 2nd Grade has really cool projects that are typically more fun than work. This is Aspens latest Book Report. It's a "Can Character." It's Humphrey the Hamster, isn't he so cute?

We used a #10 can and double stick tape then looped yarn around and around to make his fur. I found the biggest googley eyes I could find, then added the construction paper mouth and ears and vooala, he's adorable. She also had to make paper strips giving Character descriptions of Humphrey, and do an oral presentation reading all the strips to the class to get them interested in her book.

She got 100%, A+ !!!

If you haven't read this series, you need too. It is so cute. The story is told from Humphrey's point of view and he's the class pet. So fun.
She actually won this one at school. It was a group project depicting the Rain Forests. There was also a Tundra, Mountainous, Ocean, Desert ... I think it was all about preserving our world. After they'd been displayed for some time they did a name draw as to who of each group got to take home their poster and Aspen won! :)

Birthday Treat

These are the BESTEST Hostess cakes EVER!!! And I don't know where Jared actually found an entire box, but I know he loves me because he tracked one down. Usually you can only find individually wrapped ones at the gas station, but my Super Sleuth Husband knows how to show his love. :)Happy Birthday to Me! After all of Phoenix's Birthday cakes, this was more than enough for my Birthday. Our B-day's are exactly a week apart, so we're kind of caked out by the time mine rolls around. (March 28th if you couldn't do the math)
Proof that I do get my picture taken once in a while.
And some lovely flowers too. Jared always manages to pick out the pretty ones that last forever. They just liven up the room, don't you think?

My Birthday Morning

My kids wanted to surprise me with "something" on my Birthday morning. Aspen came into my room after my morning run and asked me to come downstairs so they could give it too me. I asked why they couldn't give it to me upstairs, and she said because it'll be easier for us to clean it up off of the tile.

So I cautiously followed her downstairs. At such point the threw and coated me with home made confetti. :) What funny kids. The best part was, they really did clean it up themselves. And all in time to get to school on time. :) I have great kids.

Phoenix's Birthday Week

Monday March 21st Phoenix turned 6!! He is the sweetest little man you will ever meet. Quick to smile, quick to tease, and quick to love. We love our Phoenix and are so glad he is part of our family.

We started his Birthday Week with a cake on Sunday the 20th, because Dad was flying out for the week Monday morning. Phoenix wanted a Soccer cake, so after much deliberation we ended up with a 4 Layer Lemon Pudding Soccer cake. Yumm-o!
On Monday the 21st, his actual Birthday, I took cupcakes to his class. Seeing as they're Kindergarteners they got to eat them outside.
And at the end, though they were supposed to be lining up to go inside, they were a little occupied comparing their Transformers rings that were on the tops of the cupcakes. Funny boys!
Now, onto the Party! Phoenix picked an Army Theme. This was one of the easier cakes we've designed. Oreos, Twix Candy Bars and a little icing goes a long way.
Yumm-o again.
Jared designed an awesome obstacle course for all the little boys. Complete with army crawl and water gun shooting or little army guys.
Running to the water balloons after going down the slide.
And finishing off with BB-Gun shooting of Balloon aliens. It was a big hit, good job Daddy.
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Phoenix, Happy Birthday to you!
And the final Pinata! What's a party with out one.
Only a couple of wacks knocked this Pinata down. The boys were much pleased with their candy.
We love you Phoenix! Happy Birthday!

Pet Chickies

We have recently acquired 8 little chicks. They are the newest addition to our Family Farm. Other creatures include, but are not limited to: Fish, Dog, Snake and an even more recent and forth coming post, a Lizard. We can't seem to stop collecting pets. I know Jared hates this, but me and the kids love it. And after to initial building of a home for them all, Jared has nothing to do with the animals, and he loves it that way. Though he does like to show them off to all of our guests. :) Go figure.

Anyway, 8 chickens, 4 breeds, 2 of each breed. They are meant to all be hens, but I am waiting till they are big enough before I uncross my fingers. I'm not allowed roosters in our area, and I don't want one anyway.
Beaux has been on the hunt ever since they came into our possession. They are currently residing in our fenced in, chicken wire lined garden area. Until Jared can convert our great big blue Charlie Dog House into our new coop. In the mean time...
I did try to introduce Beaux to our new pets. As you can see he is a terrier, and terriers are breed to chase and kill anything they can catch.
This being said he has somehow captured and killed 2 of our 8 chickens to date. Luckily of 2 different breeds so there is still hope we will have at least 1 of each breed left. I'm technically only allowed 2 but I'm going to keep 4. So whichever are not roosters get to stay. Cross your fingers for me that that many even survive my dog....Dang dog!

Surfside Beach

Final Day of Spring Break 2011 was a trip to the Beach. We went early to beat the crowds, but it was a little cold. That didn't stop my kids from swimming, especially Aspen, whom I did not get many pictures of as she spent half of the day in the water and the other half collecting Sea Glass to make a flower pot out of.

We started the day by teaching our friends that these are not Jelly Fish. One Dad was burying them all before he would let his kids get out of the car. They are actually seaweed seed pods. Cool eh? They're like blue balloons, they even POP! when you step on them.
Phoenix only ventured into the water a little bit, he's not one for the cold. But he had Plenty of fun digging and digging.
I didn't even realize Jared had taken Sicily out for a swim until I heard her crying. Our little snow sled (which has seen more beach than snow) apparently tipped her right into the freezing water. She was not too happy.
But after a warm up under the towels and a few snacks she camped her little butt in the sand and had loads of fun.
Though London doesn't mind the cold water I think he went numb, so he came in for some sand time too.
Our friend Devin came with us and got completely coated in mud. I'm not too sure how this happened, as he spent a good portion of the morning under a towel keeping warm and playing his DS. Aw well, at least he had a little beach time like the rest of us.
We always take our kites to the beach. There is ALWAYS wind and NO trees, so it's perfect. Jared prefers his trick kite, which he scares people to death with when he dive bombs them, it is pretty funny actually. But today we had a flock of Pelicans fly over making a perfect camera shot for me.
We did bring our puppy to the beach with us, and he loved everything. I think he made it his personal goal to smell, taste and pee on every patch of sea weed he could find. He was a little afraid of the waves though, and after Phoenix splashed him a few times...
he wouldn't go back into the water. But that doesn't mean he didn't have fun chasing all the kids and sea birds. It was a good day for Beaux.
I love the Beach. I love that we live so close. The kids always have a good time at the beach. We actually got a couple of Jelly Fish stings this time around (Aspen and London) but they powered through it to make the most of their last day of Spring Break.