On April 7th Tony had asked the day off work so we could go to Baby Animal Days together. We knew the forecast was terrible but we didn't want to miss out on it, so we trudged along anyways. Tina, Tammy and Zach met us up at the American West Heritage Center in Wellsville (right next to Logan). Somehow they were lucky enough to get the olden day car shuttle while we walked up from the parking lot:
We got to pet lots of adorable animals.
These calves liked to suck on the kids' fingers.
These are baby bunnies,
and these are piglets.
We had to wait a few minutes to see the bear cubs. In the meantime, the kids played with these masks from a bank promotion.
They were so cute, totally worth the wait!
The kids got to hold tiny baby turtles.
And they did the candy cannon, even in the rain!
We let them get bead necklaces which they strung , rubber band shooters, and Buddy got a cheapie harmonica.
We were very disappointed that we didn't get to hold the bunnies, chicks or ducklings (both of which Christian calls "chicklings") because it was too cold for them outside :( After we left, we looked for somewhere to get a bite to eat and decided on the brand new Logan Chuck-a-rama. They have this cute covered wagon inside at the front.
Because we were in the area, we had to stop by the Gossner cheese factory and the Pepperidge Farm plant. We ended up with lots of cheese curd and goldfish crackers!
Here is the blizzard we had to drive home in:
Faith had her spotlight in her class at school and needed some photos for it. She wanted one taken with her favorite collection--her snow globes!
On the 11th Tony got the trampoline set up (except for the net which we are still waiting for as of June 13th). It's hard to see in this picture, but there was popcorn popping on our apricot tree!
Cuties having fun outside, even though it's still so cold and wet.
On the 13th I dyed some uncooked rice rainbow colors for preschool. Here are the preschool kids having a blast with it.
The entire rest of that day, Buddy was obsessed with the rice. He played with it and then even hung out in the bin! Luckily it was so much fun that it was almost worth the mess :)
The 16th was Faith's first spring soccer game since the week before had been cancelled due to weather. Go pink panthers!
That afternoon was the Braegger Easter egg hunt and dinner.
They opened up the plastic eggs to see what goodies they got--money, treats and darling clothes!
Thanks Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Tammy! Here are the kids giving Tam a hug.
On March 5th we tried on crazy St. Patty's Day hats at WalMart.
On the 7th I had my preschoolers make Mardi Gras masks. Faith made one out of the leftover supplies after she got home from school that day. I love how she made blue fluffy eyelashes out of feathers!
On the 12th I got this cute shot of Faith with Crumpet. I didn't realize until just now how Christian interacts more with the cat and Faith more with the dog. Still, they each love both of our pets and are always begging for more.
Faith brought home this cute pretzel cabin that she made at school for President's Day. I love the added touch of Lincoln (on the penny) in the doorway!
This had been hanging up on our metal decoration where we post cards and crafts. It's the Savage family Valentine card:
front
back
We were so surprised and excited! Recently we found out the baby is a boy and they've been thinking about names. Brandt, Mason and Enoch are the front runners at this point. I'm so looking forward to meeting the little guy this fall and seeing if my doula/hypnobirthing skills work just as well this time around!
We also took down these darling pictures of a groundhog seeing his shadow. Faith made one and Buddy wanted to make one just like it. Click the picture to get a better view (sorry the color is weird on the artwork, I tried my best to darken the image up so that you can see it well).
On the 12th we stopped to feed the ducks at Barnes Park,
then took a trip to Kangaroo Zoo.
We even did their black light mini golf this time!
The 14th was Pi day (π = 3.14...) so we had chicken pot pie for dinner and pie for dessert. Actually, I'm not a huge fan of most pies so I made a chiffon cheesecake in a graham cracker crust pie shell and had frozen mixed berries for the top :) (Christian is not unhappy, this is just one of his many "cool" looks that he likes to try when mugging for the camera!)
On the 16th Buddy sat through the PTA meeting so well that I treated him to Yogo Togo frozen yogurt.
When we got home he made this awesome "Spider Man hand" that shoots (imaginary) web.
That night the kids put together an amazing and very intricate leprechaun trap:
Here is the description of how it works:
Unfortunately, the little bugger was too sly for us--he was in the trap but somehow escaped. He left behind his little footprints as well as confusion from having traded the items in our drawers and cabinets (especially hiding the silverware and kids' bowls), switching around our pantry (moving the cereal boxes up to a high shelf), and coloring our milk green. What a tricky guy!
For Fun Friday on the 18th I decided to do experiments having to do with ice, liquids and surface tension. First, I had a big block of ice I had frozen in a tupperware container. I sprinkled the top with salt and then dripped on food coloring. The salt melted cracks in the ice which the coloring seeped into making a really cool art piece! Next I passed out cups of water and ice to the kids along with some string and showed them how the string didn't stick to the ice at first, but after laying it over and sprinkling with salt, the top melted and refroze the ice to the string. I got these ideas from this blog.
Next I had a large vase filled with hot water and a little pimento jar (thanks Jenn, you're a lifesaver!) filled with cold water and a little blue food coloring. After I lowered the small jar down into the vase, we observed that the blue water stayed in. I then dumped both and filled the vase with cold water and the small jar with hot water and red food coloring. After lowering that one in, it looked like a water volcano, with the red water erupting out and up in the cold water! This picture is the closest thing I could find online, but here is a cool video of something similar.
After that I did the experiment where water gets sucked up into a jar. I started with colored water in a pie plate, a burning candle in the center of the water, and then placed a mason jar over the candle. As the flame heats the air, it expands and escapes out of the bottom of the jar. Water gets sucked in as soon as the air starts to cool. Here's a pretty good video of the experiment.
Next I did the colorful milk experiment. I poured some milk into the pie plate and then dropped food coloring onto it. I got dish soap on a q-tip and put it into the milk, making the coloring swirl around. Part of the reason has to do with breaking the surface tension, but the real action comes from the properties of the soap breaking up the fats in the milk. Check it out!
Lastly, I showed them water droplets on waxed paper and how they have a spherical shape. I passed out pieces of wire to the kids and had them make bubble blowing wands out of them in shapes instead of circles. We took them outside and found that they still made round bubbles! They weren't the greatest wands, the bubbles tended to pop just as they left the blowers, but still fun! (That's Spencer, Faith's "friend" looking at the camera and Faith and Buddy are farther back on the left.)
Of course, we stayed for lunch and recess.
After saving this shell from our preschool "Volcano Lava Luau" day when we ate lots of coconut, Buddy had me write "coconut head" on a piece of paper which he attached inside. For reasons known only to him, it's a hilarious joke to hand this to people :)
I was putting some artwork away in the memory box and had to get a shot of Christian's darling hand and finger print koala that he made at our preschool.
On the 26th we used a Christmas gift card and went out to eat at The Olive Garden. Christian was too busy playing to eat his fettuccine until the very end when we were ready to go. He shoved almost the entire thing in his mouth at once (hence the alfredo sauce dripping down his chin.) Way to keep it classy, Bro!
On the 30th we celebrated April Fools Day in preschool so I played a couple of pranks on the kids. First, I found dog poop on the carpet and, after picking it up with toilet paper and making a big deal about how gross and stinky it was, popping it in my mouth (mini Baby Ruth candy bar). I put out a small bag of puffy Cheetos and apple juice for snack, but the kids found carrots instead of Cheetos sealed inside the bag and were really confused when they couldn't drink their juice (it was lemon jello).
For art I passed out finger paints to the kids and warned them that although they were really bright and fun, they were also very poisonous so they had to be careful with them. I showed them how to paint on one half of the paper and then fold it and open it back up to make a positive mirror image. Then, on another paper, spreading glops of paint, folding it, and drawing with a crayon on the outside of the folded paper so that when you opened it there was a negative (the drawing was white while the surrounding was color) mirror image (it was opposites day at preschool that day). I kept making a big deal about how dangerous the paint was, but at the end I "accidentally" licked my finger!! Before the kids came unglued, I quickly shouted "April Fools!" and explained that the paint was just pudding with food coloring in it. It was a fun day at preschool!
Anyway, after Faith came home she and Buddy had a blast with the leftover finger paints and made about a zillion masterpieces.
