Stuck in the Clock

James and Andy's school had a field trip, basically walking across the street to Tillman Hall.



I was in charge of Andy and June. We walked hand in hand all the way there. The original plan was just the older classes would go to the top to see the carillon bells. When we got there, our guide apparently wasn't aware of this arrangement, and we all went up.



Here are June and Andy waiting for the elevator. I was picturing there wasn't one and just stairs the whole way. There still was about 60 stairs, but it wasn't bad. After the first 50 or so, there was a break and we were behind the clock!



So cool. James's group went up first:



We stayed below and took pictures:



When we went up, our guide played the bells:



It was loud:





Andy got to go up and see the bells. I didn't get to because June was clinging to me afraid of the stairs. They did get to play some of the bells:





On the way down, they played a little game:



And took in the view on the way down:



"That is where my Daddy works"



Once all the way down, we had a little snack:



As James said, "That was awesome!"

Fringe Benefits

When I was about to start my new job, I was trying to make a list of questions to ask. Mark had one question for me to ask, "what sporting events can we go to for free?" Turns out one of them is baseball. I know, hardly a sport, but still a nice way to pass the time. One of James's friends from school had some extra tickets. We didn't need them since we get in free, but it was a good excuse to try it out.

James was really excited:



His friend was decked in orange!



Did I mention they had really good seats?



Mark liked it!



James even seemed to pay attention for a bit:



Andy liked playing with the camera:



We made it to the 8th inning. That will be tough to beat!

Crepe Murder

We have some crepe myrtles that we wanted to trim. There is one by the pool that does block the afternoon sun and my hope is by trimming it down, it would allow for MORE SWIMMING! Even though swimming is months away, the trimming needs to be done now. Here is the tree in question:



It is a crepe myrtle. It does look all that big, but it was! Here is Mark making the first cut. Way to start small!



I did do some cutting, as well as cutting up the LARGE branches on the ground:



Almost done:



The finished product. Hope we didn't kill it!

Valentine's Day Mystery

We had some strange things happening around our house, and they all involved food. A batch of pancakes were made. No one really said anything, but I did feel that they tasted a bit salty, but Andy still ate them. Then a batch of waffles, I thought they tasted a bit weird, Mark thought they tasted fishy and accused me of making vegan waffles. But Andy still ate them. For Valentine's Day, I thought I would be super mom and make homemade donuts.



YUM! The recipe was actually for Maple Donuts with Smoked Salt. I made a few with salt and they were AWFUL. I thought it was the salt. Whose dumb idea was that to put salt on a donut. DUMB! Anyways, I served the remainder to the kids for Valentine's Day breakfast. They were so excited! Until they ate them. James is looking a little unsure:



But Andy still ate them:



To be honest, Andy just ate the frosting off. James decided that what was wrong with his donut was that it did not have enough frosting. Mark just said they were not good.

I went over and over this in my mind. What was wrong. It couldn't be the flour, I used different types in all the different baked goods (is that weird?) It couldn't be the oil, I used coconut oil this time. I finally honed in on the baking powder. I knew I had bought some at Trader Joe's the last time, maybe it just tasted weird. I went to the panty, reached for the baking powder, and it said...."BAKING SODA!" Oh, that explains everything. The baking soda is in a little can, just like baking powder, but trust me, NOT the same thing!

Went to Ingles, bought new baking powder and tried it again. This time, delicious!





Mystery solved!

Sleepover!

Back in December, there was a sleepover party for our neighbor Henry's birthday. It apparently was the coolest thing ever. Since then, James and Andy have been asking, when can THEY have a sleepover party. Everything worked out for this weekend and Friday night was their first (planned) sleepover. We had the traditional pizza for dinner:



James has actually decided he doesn't like pizza, so he had crazy bread. We had star wars cookies for dessert.

After food, we headed outside for a glow-in-the-dark scavenger hunt.



I bought some flashlights and glow in the dark night creatures from the dollar store for the boys to find.



I am guessing that since they were from the dollar store, that is why they didn't really glow in the dark?



The post hunt picture:



Then they got jammies on and laid in their sleeping bags to watch Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. Mark and I only caught the end, but man, we need to see the whole thing!



We let them stay up past bedtime, and man, my kids were DONE by 8:30. They got all settled in Andy's room to sleep.



Apparently Gilbert had some thoughts on joining the party. That was weird.



They took about 20 minutes to settle down and go to sleep. It turns out James is super serious about sleeping and actually ended up going to his room to sleep. I don't blame you James. I would totally rather sleep in my bed instead of on the floor!

Then Mommy had her own little sleepover party with a good friend:



They were up probably around 6:30 the next morning. They watched a little tv, had some pancakes, played some wii and I kicked them out/returned them to their fathers at 9:30.

I think everyone had fun, but I am glad to have a quiet night tonight!

"FUN"-DO!

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking to do something fun and different for a Friday night dinner. I decided to try a cheese fondue. I believe I called it Friday Fondue and the kids were interested. I think we had bread, pretzels, apples, can't remember what else, James was trying it, but Andy not so much. He ended up eating some bread. James seemed to like it, but at the end up dinner he declared he did NOT like it. I informed these kids that not only was their a cheese fondue, but a chocolate one as well. That blew their minds!!! This past Sunday, I made it happen. We had chocolate fondue for dessert. When they saw the set up, they were so excited!



James is so excited!



YUM!



Strawberry overboard!



Here is Andy!



Wait...Andy did you put any chocolate on that? No, well, should I force him to dip it in chocolate? What is wrong with you stubborn child?!?!?



Well, James like it, and so did mommy and daddy!