Mariposa at the library

Waiting for Bunny (she's at her guitar lesson) and usin' the library's wifi.








She found the perfect book:


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Mariposa's tooth bug

Mariposa had to make an extra trip to the dentist to get a "tooth bug" (aka a cavity) fixed. Poor girl must have her mother's teeth, or at least her mother's love for sweets. Unfortunately this visit didn't start out very well. First, she didn't even want to get in the chair. Luckily I brought the iPad so that distracted her enough to get her comfortable in the chair, but then she wouldn't open her mouth.











So eventually we got her in the chair (number one), then to open her mouth (number two), then to allow a finger in her mouth (number three). We practiced with the "alien nose" by using Star Wars references.





Ok, so we got numbers 1-3 down, and even number four (mirror in the mouth).





At this point, Marcus came after running errands, and he had a special friend with him--Princess Ariana. We worked on number five (mask on forehead) and number six (mask on nose) until finally they got enough laughing gas in her that she was calm. Notice the time on the clock. Our appointment started at TEN twenty.





I retreated to the lobby to watch the rest of the kids. I guess it went ok, although I did hear some crying and Marcus saying, "Number two! Number two!"
Papa had a cleaning at the same time, so Mariposa showed off her fixed tooth to him and all of us when she was all finished:












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No School

No school today, or at least no school this morning. There's no way I'm interrupting this...


Bunny is playing legos with James in the sunroom. She said to me, "I didn't know playing with James was so much fun!"
And Gemma loves the Groovy Girls. She thinks she IS one...


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Burby loves Cheerios

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Lent

Marcus gave up sweets for lent. Yikes! He doesn't even have stevia in his coffee anymore! Bunny and I gave up brown sugar in our oatmeal (ok, so I copied her; I didn't think of anything ahead of time). James said he gave up salty nuts and soda pop, which is funny since we don't really ever have either. Mariposa keeps making things up...right now she say her dog dress that she doesn't really like anyway. She also just told me brown sugar too, but I reminded her that she just had some this morning.

I did add something though, or I guess you can stretch it and say that I "gave up" my Tuesday afternoons to go to the local abortion clinic and pray for the clients, doctor, and nurses...and for an end of abortion.


This is where I go to pray. My shift is the "too late" shift, right after the girls come out after their "procedure.". It's pretty sad. They aren't supposed to drive so the husband/boyfriend comes with them. Last time, there was a guy and a girl walking to a big pickup truck, and the guy didn't even open the door for her or help her up to her seat. I am thankful every day for what I have and that I was born into the situation that I was.


The group has had some saves in the past year, and some interaction with some clients, but mostly just prayer for what already has been done.
Ironically, the clinic used to be a natural birthing center, just beautiful in it's day I'm sure. The doctor started adding abortions to his services years ago...the midwives found out and left...and now that's all he does. Good hours, I'm sure, an easy life for him...but NO life for approx. 3-6 babies at this site every week. And years of regret ahead for the moms and dads.

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A new obsession

Marcus decided it was time to introduce Star Wars to the kids. This was a day he has been looking forward to since a long time ago.





We had a lazy weekend for once, so they watched all 3 original movies back to back to back. Notice I said "they.". I did chores all weekend. Oh yeah, and I finished my second book of the year:


Mom had been talking about this series for years, and gave us kids each the first 2 books in July of '09. But I do things on my own time, so I just finished #4. Now my in-laws are hooked...Meghan has read all of them, my MIL loves them, and Nicole just ordered a whole lot off eBay. We're looking forward to the movie coming out this summer. So fun!

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A new tradition, and an old tradition

Last Saturday, James and Marcus went to the homeschool group's Builder's Expo in Portland. I heard he had a fantastic time playing legos and seeing others' creations.


Meanwhile, I took the girls and met some cousins at the Hillsboro St. Patrick's Day parade on Main Street.








Candy only, please...no road apples.


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Some pictures of Gemma

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What's two more kids?

We had to run some errands the other day, and the boys were off school so I thought, "what's two more kids?". We had fun, first at the library then at New Seasons.


The big kids think they know how to play chess. I think the lady sitting next to them got a kick out of watching them.


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Other culinary creations

A typical Saturday morning: Marcus makes pancakes for us. This little tradition is especially important to Bunny, maybe it's the age where traditions and routines are important. She's not in this picture probably because she sleeps in every morning after staying up LATE reading (her latest favorites are Magic Treehouse).


I had been itchin' to make Boston Cream Pies recently, so Mardi Gras was a good excuse. I made two, and took them up to grammae and papa's to share.


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Not-so-thin mints

Whoopie pies with mint filling and chocolate ganache


Recipe in a recent Bon Appetit magazine. yummy!

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Lucy visits the nut farm

Our canine friend Lucy spent a weekend with us. Bunny was fantastic taking care of her; I think we're close to getting a dog of our own!








So tired.


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Eliot Fun Day

Last week we took Eliot to the mall to celebrate her 6th birthday!
First, a stop at Claire's Boutique for some bling.


She chose a pink purse, with money left over to spend at the Hello Kitty store.


One of her favorite parts of the afternoon was pushing Gemma in the stroller.


After choosing a zipper pull at the Sanrio store, she still had 75 cents left to spend on a kiddie ride.


Subway was the restaurant of choice:





And no outing to the mall would be complete without a trip to Starbux!


Happy Birthday, Eliot!


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Scared of Skunks

Apparently Gemma doesn't like skunks, which is very ironic.
















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