Egg Speckles and Swirls

Tonight was Easter egg dyeing night at our home.

I opted for the speckled egg technique again, because I think it's fun, easy, and less messy than the usual submersion method.  Incidentally, we learned that dry beans and popcorn kernels work better than rice, because rice absorbs the food coloring rather quickly.

Joy made a few speckled eggs, then decided to branch out into finger painting.

Daddy preferred to color his eggs using a more traditional method.

Then we all had (too much) Easter candy for dessert (and I combed Todd's hair).  Also, if you're wondering about that kale in the vase, I'll explain that later this week.

I blew the egg whites and yolks out before we colored our eggs, and once the dye had dried I hung the eggs around our home as Easter decorations. :)

Crawl, Drag, and Squirt

Joy finished her PE class's obstacle course pretty quickly last week, so she qualified for an annual school event called . . .

. . . Crawl, Drag, and Squirt.  It's hosted by the local firefighters, and the kids get to crawl through tunnels, drag a mannequin to safety, and squirt targets with a fire hose, among other things.

A firefighter accompanied each student to show them where to go and make sure they did things safely.  Joy got a little hung up on the chopping part, so she didn't qualify for the next round with kids from other schools, but it was still a fun competition.

Anyone want a drink from the fire hose?

Down By Tucker Creek

It was a lovely day today . . .

. . . so we headed over to Tucker Creek Trail to get a little fresh air . . .

. . . look for geocaches . . .

. . . and do some bird watching.  I think this is red-shouldered hawk.  Whatever he is, it was fun to watch him hunting for some lunch in the creek.

A Piggy and a Bunny

We went searching for another geocache this afternoon.

Today's quest took us through some nearby neighborhoods, and when we noticed a street sign for Marie Dr, Anna Marie paused for a photo op with her sibs.

After about twenty minutes we reached the site of the geocache.  It was a huge stump with lots of foliage around it.  We quickly found a pink pig toy and thought it might be the geocache, but since we couldn't open it to get a logbook out we figured it was just a random thing someone had left there.

After several more minutes of searching, Joy found the geocache.  It was another pill bottle, like the one we found yesterday.  I'm guessing that's a popular geocache container because it's weatherproof and easy to hide.

And yes, we remembered to bring a pen this time.

Incidentally, our family's username on the geocache site is "creepersrule."  I picked it out because I knew Joy would love it.

We traveled along a little river trail on the way home ('cuz Goslings never go back the same way, right Mom?).

Along the way we spotted a little rabbit near the trail, and Joy decided to slowly crawl toward it to see how close she could get.  She actually got within a few feet of it, then Todd dashed over to see what she was doing and the bunny dove into the bushes.  Oh well--bunny whispering was fun while it lasted.

Bathroom Boycott

Today was a big day.

I took the little training toilet out of storage.

I got out the fun doggy underwear that Todd picked out at the store.

I printed a chart so we can write a number every time our number-loving son successfully uses the toilet.

I even checked out a potty training book from the local library.  There's just one problem . . .

Todd decided he absolutely does not want to be potty trained.  His enthusiastic siblings tried to persuade him that potty training is super cool and he should totally give it a try, but t'was all in vain.  At least Anna enjoyed reading the library book half a dozen times this afternoon.

Our First Geocache

Joy recently read about geocaching in a book, and she wanted to give it a try.  There are over three million geocaches around the world, and I was surprised to learn that there are a few dozen in our little town of Conway alone.  A geocache is basically a waterproof container with a paper log inside where people can write the date they find it.  When someone places a new geocache somewhere, they note the GPS coordinates on a website so others can find it.

Joy discovered that there was a geocache just a few streets over from our neighborhood, so I downloaded the app on my phone and set off to find it with Joy, Anna, Todd, and Cweepy the Creeper.

"A few streets over" turned out to be a little over a mile away . . .

. . . and our progress slowed considerably when we ran out of sidewalk halfway there.  Joy offered to take the stroller off-roading if I would walk her bike.

We're getting close.  See the speed limit sign?  The name of this particular geocache is "I Can't Drive 35."  I think it's a reference to a song, and to the person's annoyance at the slow speed limit on this street.

The app guided us faithfully until we got within a few yards of the geocache, then it told us we were on our own to find the container because it the GPS locator is only accurate down to about 30 feet.  We looked around until I saw a rock next to a tree that looked like it wasn't original to the area.  I picked it up, and sure enough, there was a little pill bottle underneath.

We opened it up and found a paper log.  Apparently another person found this geocache just yesterday.  It was pretty cool . . . until we realized we forgot a pen to write our own entry.  Sigh--guess we'll have to come back (in the car next time).

On the way home, my environmentally-conscious daughters decided to collect bottles to recycle when we got home.  Good for them. :)

Conference Bingo and Happy Pudding

It's Conference Weekend again!  I love hearing hours of inspiring talks from God's prophet and apostles, but it has been hard to find a way to make Conference engaging for my kids.

The most helpful approach I've found so far is a variation of Conference Bingo.  I print off bingo sheets with a different Gospel topic in each square (e.g. prayer, resurrection, family), and when the kids hear one of those things mentioned in a talk they can place a checker on their sheet.  At the end of the session, they can choose a reward for every five checkers they've collected.  Rewards include snack packets (Cheez Its enjoy immense popularity), Gatorade bottles, and coupons to choose dinner or skip a chore on Saturday.  Anna still lost interest after the first few talks, but I figure even listening a little bit is a good start.  I'm impressed that Joy takes notes in most of the talks.

On a different note, since today was April Fool's Day, I stirred food coloring into vanilla pudding just for fun, and added some, uh, garnishes to make it look happy to see us.  

A little nonsense now and then 

Is relished by the wisest men.