Molly, Valentine's Day, Science Experiments, and Botox :P

Once again I've fallen behind and am trying to catch up with all the news over the past couple of weeks. This post may be choppy and out of order, but here goes:

I'll start with some pictures of Molly.

She loves to find the room that is the sunniest and take a rest from everyone. She usually cannot escape long before someone finds her.

 

 She also loves two of the blankets we have on the couch. If you are covered up with one she is sure to come and be your snuggle buddy.
















She also got a haircut. I got to sit in on the shampoo and cut. We are trying to determine if this (the grooming portion) is something we could possibly manage ourselves. I'm not convinced yet that we could, but we shall see. It was fascinating watching her transformation. After her blow dry she was so incredibly fluffy. My friend said that I wouldn't even recognize her when the cut was all done. She was right. Molly looks like a completely different dog. The younger kids kept asking if I was sure I didn't bring home the wrong dog.

Here are some pictures of arts and crafts that we've worked on lately:

Rhaevyn has been painting more rocks. Chris confiscated these two characters from Japanese movies: Totoro and No Face. He loves having them on his desk at work. The bottom picture featuring Magic Man and a quote were done by Aeva.

I  made some Valentine paper fortunes.

Myles made an owl Valentine for Sister Lee. I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was super cute and she loved it. Elsa made some heart ornaments she delivered to her friends Mari and Darian. She also made an owl for her pediatrician which she had an appointment with just after Valentine's Day.

Meg did not want to be left out, so I cut some hearts for her and let her glue them on some paper. She asked Chris to take her over to her friend KK's house so she could give her artwork to him.

Elsa is trying to let her hair grow out. She is currently fixated on the American Girl movie, Molly. The main character wears her hair in braids with ribbons, so Elsa wanted the same type of hairstyle. She is reading one of her favorite books, Frog and Toad.

Rhaevyn took some time out of her busy schedule of school, homework, and  piano practice to play Barbies with Meg and then to do a tea party with Elsa and Meg.

Myles had seen a recipe that our Primary President posted on Facebook and really wanted to try it. He made it one day for lunch. It is kind of like a burrito bowl. They turned out really yummy!

On one of our blustery days Myles made plastic bag kites for the little girls.

For Elsa's science lesson one day (two weeks ago) she drew our solar system to scale, sort of. Myles and Meg wanted to help. Our fingers were numb by the time we finished as it was sooooo cold outside. Our solar system didn't last long as it rained that night.

A couple of Mondays ago we came upon this beautiful bird, which I am guessing is a blue heron. We were killing time while waiting for Aeva to finish up in her Japanese dance class. We drove past it about four times. I wanted to stop or go slow, but there were cars behind me, so I kept turning around and driving past it again and again. The kids really enjoyed seeing it, and Myles had happened to bring the binoculars with us that day.

We had a very sweet and simple Valentine's Day:

Heart pancakes along with sausage and hash browns for breakfast.....

 

 

 ....homemade cards for the kids with their favorite NY seltzer.
 

 

Rhaevyn made a Valentine for Aeva and got her Jello.

 

 Chris got me a book about Queen Victoria, which I am loving. I made him my most favorite Valentine's card yet. I love the pictures I found, and I used quotes from novels/books written by authors such as Jane Austin, Sydney Smith, and a Sermon by Henry Ward Beecher.

Elsa has really gotten into cooking and baking. Yesterday she wanted to make banana cookies. Myles helped a bit with reading the directions with her, and Chris helped with the oven.

Myles got a great deal on some socks (thanks Oma) and went to Sister Lee's house to make a sock Monkey. His name is Hambo, and we think he turned out so cute. Myles had a lot of fun helping to make him.

 This was one of Myles's recent science experiments. We were studying the element Magnesium and studied the result of water and Epsom salt. 

 Hey, how do you like the results of my Botox treatment? My lips look so plump!

 Just kidding. I had some sort of allergic reaction. My lips were swollen for about a week and a half and just inside my mouth was fire engine red with little blisters. It was so completely painful. I was happy to have my normal looking and feeling lips back after about two weeks. I narrowed the culprits down to a new lip balm and/or some soup made with Italian sausage (which was pretty hot). I've been staying away from both :)

Ever my little helper when I am cooking:



Meg clowning around with Molly:

 

The girls have about a month left of winter quarter. They register for spring classes this next week. I cannot believe that Rhaevyn will be 18 soon, and I won't be in charge of her schooling any longer. I remember when she was five and I started homeschooling her. It feels as if that was just a few short years ago. I cannot fathom just how fast the past 13 years have gone. It is fun to see how she is busily planning for what classes she needs to take to work towards her degree/major. I just want to hang on to this time and slow down the sands of the hourglass. 

There have been some Japanese University students at the college for about a week. Aeva has gotten some practice in with speaking to them in her Japanese class. Rhaevyn was able to go for part of a welcome party that was held for the students. She has decided to take the next class of Japanese next quarter. Aeva will be on her third Japanese class. Friday I waited at the school for Rhaevyn while she took her sociology test. As she was coming to meet me in the main building the Japanese University students were going out. I had talked to them briefly while they were in the school bookstore. They seemed very nice. Anyway, Rhaevyn talked to one of the students briefly, and they exchanged emails. Her name is Nono. She seemed very nice and even waved to me (I was inside). We took turns bowing to each other. It was a neat experience. Aeva's Japanese dance class is going well, and we can't wait to see the dance she is working on at the festival in April. 

Our dishwasher has given up the ghost. Chris tried to fix it, but it had reached the point where he could not. We've had it since Myles was little, so I suppose it had given us some good years. While it has been fun to spend time talking and laughing while we all help wash, rinse, dry, and put dishes away I am looking forward to a new working dishwasher. We've tried to cut down on dishes by using one cup and paper plates in the meantime, but it still feels like the dishes somehow multiply mysteriously. I am grateful to live in an era where dishwashers exist!

This has been a humdinger of a week with such exciting events as several dr appointments, a ruined mattress, and a dog catastrophe on top of getting the girls to and from school and homeschooling the other two. Meg wet her bed Valentine's Day night because unfortunately she somehow made it to bed without her diapers. The mattress was a complete goner. Myles was good enough to sleep on the couch for several nights so that Meg could sleep in his bed. We made a trip to Ikea last night to get Meg a new mattress. The world is right now in the Lindsay home with all children in their appropriate beds. Molly ate a Philly cheese steak sandwich on Wednesday. I had to stop and ask myself "Do I really still want a dog????"It wasn't just that she ate the sandwich; it was the results of eating that sandwich that had me questioning. We have had to learn not to leave any type of morsel on the table and to make sure the benches are pushed in. Molly has learned to jump up on the benches to see if we have left any goodies on the table. Chris has caught her scooting out the chairs as well. Anyway, we hurriedly left the house Wednesday afternoon to drop some paperwork off at the high school so that the girls can register for spring quarter at the college. Then we dropped a book off at the library and proceeded back to the house. Rhaevyn had made lunch, but hadn't had time to eat because I announced that we had to get to the high school before the office closed and before I had to leave to take Aeva to her CGT class. She thought she'd finish it when we got home (in 15 min). It didn't occur to any of us that this would be a problem. Anyway, we get back home and find Molly under the Elsa's bed with poop at our front entry. I put her in her crate letting her know how very upset I was. She threw up in her crate. I had Myles take her out where she threw up again. I was trying to determine what was odd about her barf. I couldn't put my finger on it. I ran Aeva to her class, at which point we talked to Rhaevyn on the cell phone. Molly had gotten sick again, outside thankfully. Rhaevyn had realized that she had left her sandwich on the table. I'd like to think the dog learned her lesson while barfing up half of the sandwich undigested, but I am pretty sure she didn't. Oh well, hopefully we've learned our lesson about leaving food where the dog can reach it. I did announce to the kids that this is the first and last dog I will ever own. It's a good thing the kids love her so much or I am not sure she'd still have a home with us. My germaphobic anxieties were on overload that day. Honestly, at some point I just wanted to cry this week, but the kids ended up making me laugh which I am so grateful for :)

Okay, I think I am completely caught up on all the news and events of the Lindsay house.