Pi Party

When we lived in Pittsburgh our friends had pi parties on Pi Day (3/14) and we decided we had to take that tradition with us! We always need an excuse to eat pie! A couple days before, Drew reminded me it was almost pi day so we threw together a last minute party, and it ended up being a lot of fun. Because it seems to be my nature, I worried myself to pieces about the details: Would anyone come? What if we had invited too many people for our small space? Would it be boring? Did we need games? Will anyone notice if I don't dust my blinds? Would there be enough pie? Would there be way too much pie? (never) Who should we invite? I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so should we invite everyone we have ever met? :)

Anyway, of course everything was fine and we had a really great time having lots of good friends over for some delicious pie and some great conversation. There were 11 adults and 12 kids, and the kids seemed to have lots of fun together too. We need to do this kind of thing more often.

I found the idea to have label cards for each pie on Pinterest. We had 7 different kinds of pie! Lemon meringue, razzleberry, banana cream, vanilla cream, chocolate cream, pumpkin, and cherry. Yum!

Happy Pi Day!

Motorcyles

For the past month or so we have been going to Mattawa every Saturday for Drew to go ride motorcycles. He says it is such great exercise, and he also really loves it, so it is a win win for him I guess. Here are some pictures.

  

We had this amazing breakthrough with Darcy a couple weekends ago. When we first moved back to Washington and Darcy was exposed to dirt bikes she was completely terrified. The sound would make her shake she was so afraid. These are too much a part of Drew's life for that to be ok! :) So for over a year now we have been working on helping her be more comfortable around them. The day before we went to Mattawa she told us she was going to have a ride this time, and when the time came she just marched outside and got right on! We were soo proud of her!! And amazed! She still doesn't want to go for frequent rides, but she faced her fear that day and it was awesome.

 

 

Here she is riding with the gang. 

 I got to go take pictures of the guys riding at the track a couple times. I love taking pictures, I just really wish I knew what I was doing a little more. Here's Nick on a jump.

 Nick (the bushman) taking a break.

Drew jumping.

 Break time for Drew.

 Ashley took a couple laps around the track too, and was getting some serious air on those jumps!

 I couldn't be left out of the fun.

 Nick on a corner with some cool roost.

 Jack (a friend) came to ride for a little bit too.

Drew

 The first day I went to take pictures I left Ezra sleeping at home with my mom, but the next time he got to come and had the time of his life! This is him making the motorcycle noise (We hear A LOT of this these days.)

 Ezra reaching for the handlebars.

Ezra's first ride on the track.

Morning Musings

I have a few things I want to write down this morning.

First, last night we had such a great family home evening. Drew explained the story of the Resurrection to Darcy and why we celebrate Easter. He told that story so wonderfully and in a way Darcy could understand. She was completely focused on what he was saying. She listened so intently and asked some amazingly thoughtful questions for a three year old. I was also enthralled, and I felt the spirit in our home. I am so grateful for that experience and I am hoping I can find some ways to help us focus more on our Savior this Easter. Then we played musical chairs and did some really awesome dancing around those chairs, Drew included (or maybe especially). Some family home evenings we wonder why we bothered, but this one was oh so good.

This morning I was doing Darcy's hair. We have a little step stool with two steps that the kids stand on to get their hands washed, hair done, etc. Every time Darcy stands on it Ezra thinks he needs to be on there too, which is often a source of frustration for all of us. Today Darcy was standing on the top step and Ezra got on the bottom step and was trying to push his way to the top. To help pull himself up he grabbed onto the back of Darcy's pants (stretchy leggings). In the struggle he lost his footing and slipped off. I grabbed him enough that he didn't get hurt, but then Darcy and I ended up laughing so hard when we realized he hadn't lost his grip on her pants on his way down and had taken them down with him. Her cute little cheeks were playing a little peek-a-boo. We laughed on and on.

My favorite parenting blog ever, that I found a couple months ago is called 71toes. This woman is such an amazing mother and I love her ideas and have implemented a few of them. It turns out her parents are parenting guru's who have written lots of parenting books. Last week I got her mom's book, I Didn't Plan to be a Witch and have been loving this read. The main thing this book has done for me is help me realize that we all struggle somehow in our quest to be great mothers, and that I'm not alone...or crazy. :) She encourages mothers to always be writing down their experiences, because it will help us get through our struggles. So I am determined to start writing more. The good and the bad.

I hate bath time. So, so much. I had always imagined how cute my little ones would be playing happily in the bathtub, and that I would enjoy it just as much. Not so! It turns out I can't stand the water being splashed everywhere, being on my knees struggling to wash these wiggly bodies, or the wrestle to capture the slippery bodies and get them dried, lotioned, diapered, and dressed. It is craziness. This seems like such a silly parenting struggle, but it has been a real one for me. Since I have been reading my new book I have been trying to turn bath time around. I have tried to think through how I would handle it all before I got into the situation, and tried to see the situation through their eyes. I don't know that I will ever love bath time, but just this morning when I was starting to get frustrated I was able to take a couple breaths and think through what I needed to do, and make myself calm down. I was so excited that I could turn the situation around, so the kids and I all finished bath time with smiles still on our faces. Yippee!