St. Patrick's Day

Well, this St. Patrick's Day was extra special at the Klinker household because we got to celebrate with some special guests.  My parents and four youngest siblings came down to visit as well as my 3 Dominican aunts.  We started off the day with green eggs and bacon (kinda like ham, right?) and green pancakes, of course.

Then the girls went on a treasure hunt to find the treasure that a little leprechaun hid in the middle of the night.  He left clues they had to follow, which Aunt Madeline helped them read, and sent them running all around the house.  They were ecstatic!

Treasure and clues

They found the treasure in a pot!

Gold coins!

A couple days before we did a science experiment with pipe cleaners, Borax, and boiling water, which made crystalized shamrocks.  They were a fun way to decorate for St. Patrick's Day!

Along with St. Patrick's Day books, a short video about St. Patrick's life, and coloring pages, we celebrated with more green food (Mint chocolate chip ice cream with oreos and apple pie!) and a wall of shamrocks.  Not only were the shamrocks a fun decoration, but they were also a fun way to tell our guests how much they mean to us.  We cut a shamrock for each person, then Rose wrote why she and Ava are lucky to have that person in their life.

We finished the night by playing games, watching a movie, and doing some JetPunk quizzes.  It was a great weekend with family, and as always, went way too fast!

St. Patrick, pray for us!

Hugs!

Murphy's Law

Rose has been doing an excellent job of being careful with her stitches.  She hasn't been too active or crazy, she wasn't going to go to gymnastics tomorrow...we even switched her dentist appointment to avoid any possible bumps to the face.  We were taking every precaution we could think of aside from wrapping her in bubble wrap from head to toe, yet somehow, her stitches still managed to get busted open!  

Today while laying on the floor in the school room doing a reading lesson, Rose rolls over at the exact time that Ava trips and falls directly on Rose's chin!  Tears and blood flow from my poor 5 year-old's face.  So, I call a babysitter, who was luckily able to be at my house in 30 minutes, and I take Rose back to the ER.

We were in and out of the hospital in an hour, with brand-new stitches (6 this time!).  The doctor was very good.  He took his time and put more stitches in to help reduce scarring.  The only good thing that came out of the ordeal is that the doctor said that part of the skin on the original cut was jagged from hitting the sidewalk and as it was healing, the skin was not going together as smoothly as they'd like.  He smoothed out the skin and stitched her up really well and said now the scar should be less noticeable than with the first set of stitches!  Thank God for good doctors!

Rose was such a good sport!  I couldn't be prouder of how she handled the whole situation.  She was so brave, even though she knew exactly what she would have to go through again.  A cotton-candy slushy from Thorntons and burger from McDonalds seemed to make everything better ;) 

Murphy's Law...whatever can go wrong, will go wrong!

If you could say a prayer for her quick recovery and for her SAFETY...it would be greatly appreciated!

Hugs!

The Fall

I guess it was just a matter of time, with the 4 active girls God gave us, that one would need medical assistance at one time or another.  Today while playing outside in the beautiful sunny Louisville weather, Rose was riding her bike on the sidewalk, going pretty fast, when she swerved to avoid pile driving Ava.  Instead she fell off the bike and jammed her chin on the sidewalk.

An ER visit and 3 stitches later, our brave 5 year old was back and in good spirits!

Poor girl

The only good thing about getting hurt is everyone gets a special treat!  Yay for cupcakes!

Although she put on a brave face the rest of the day, and told her worried sister (Ava) that she was fine.  She confided in me at bedtime, "Mom, I really don't like stitches."  Poor Rose....it was a rough day for her.

This was our 4th visit to the ER in 5 months (1. Paul got shocked when working on the water heater 2. Madeline pulled her arm out of the socket and 3. Madeline busted open the back of her head when she fell into the tub in my bathroom).  Luckily it was only the first one that needed any work done.  Hopefully the ER doctors don't begin to recognize us by name!

Hugs!

SNOW DAY!!!

My girls have been waiting all winter for a good, hearty snowfall and today their wishes came true! 

The trees were beautiful!

Although they started begging to go out as soon as they got out of bed this morning, we did manage to get some schooling in first and Ella down for a nap.

The freshly fallen snow was perfect for making snow angels

Then we just had to build a snowman.

The girls were just smitten with the snow :)

And "Mrs." Snowman was complete!

After an hour of hard playing, we finished our snow day with a nice hot cup of cocoa...with marshmallows, of course :)  It was a perfect snowy day....now we are ready for spring!

Hugs!

Holiday Celebrations

Holidays were always very special times at our house when I was growing up.  My parents went to great lengths to make sure each holiday was filled with memories.  I loved all the traditions we had and eagerly anticipated each celebration.

I want my children to grow up with that same love for the holidays.

Although Valentine's Day is mostly a Hallmark Holiday, it is a fun holiday to celebrate with the kids.  One special thing that we have done for the girls the past couple years is have some treats on the table for them to wake up to in the morning.  It starts the day off on a good note!

This often includes candy (of course), a new book or toy of some sort, and a homemade card with one of their favorite characters.

Their wonderful father also surprised each of his little princesses with their own rose (each with its own vase of course so they don't get mixed up)....they felt so grown up!

I got some beautiful roses of my own as well :)

I tried to make as much of the food that day Valentine-themed as possible.  We started off with a healthy dose of pink heart pancakes with red M&Ms for breakfast, heart-shaped pb & j sandwiches for lunch, and peppermint ice cream hearts between Oreo crumbs after dinner...yum! :)  And we definitely hit up the Papa Murphy's heart pizza earlier in the week!

Besides our family celebrations, we also had a Valentine's party with our homeschool group where they learned about St. Valentine, passed out Valentines to their friends, and decorated cookies.  Overall, I think the girls had a great holiday and hopefully felt very loved! :)

Paul and I even snuck in a little celebration in the evening with a glass of wine by the fire while watching Top Gun...I know...we are hopeless romantics ;)

Hugs!

Oh, Diet Coke

I know what I am about to say may shock many of you, but my Diet Coke drinking days are over.  I have not had a Diet Coke in 4 weeks!  That's right, I gave it up cold turkey (hopefully for good)...and all it took was one comment from a mom in my homeschool group about the affects of aspartame on your body.

As many of you know, Diet Coke had become my go-to on stressful days, when really I should have been relying on the Lord.  I used to limit myself to 2 a day, but lately had been drinking more like 4 a day!  I still miss it some days, but am trying not to cave into temptation.  I will have to find a cold substitute for hot summer days, but now I pretty much drink water and hot tea...lots of tea!

So, if you thought it was impossible for Danielle to give up Diet Coke...be amazed! :)  Where there is a will there is a way.

Hugs!

Homeschooling's best week yet!

Last week was probably the girls' favorite week of homeschooling so far.  Besides the basic math, phonics, and reading lessons, we talked about restaurants and different places to eat. On Tuesday we talked about bakeries, so after we finished our school work, I took the girls to Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen to let them see a bakery first hand.

I let each of them pick out a treat.  

Madeline picked a huge strawberry (pink) cupcake.

Rose picked a cookie "monster".

Ava picked an Oreo cupcake. 

(my favorite...I had to sample each one, of course :)

Needless to say, I got showered with thankful comments like, "you are the best mom ever!"  Maybe I need to take them there more often :)

When we got home, we furthered our knowledge on bakeries by doing some baking ourselves.  My little helpers and I attempted to make cake balls.  They didn't quite look bakery-ready, but they sure tasted good!

Rose taste-testing :)

On Wednesday we talked about pizzarias.  I tried to find a place where the girls could actually watch a pizza  being made, but they seem to be few and far between here in Louisville.  I decided to take them to Papa Murphys...I thought  they could at least watch them put the toppings on.  When we got there, it was just us and the owner.  I told him what we were studying and he decides to take the girls in the back to let them help make a pizza! 

The owner couldn't have been nicer to us and he was wonderful with the girls!  He has 2 young kids of his own, so luckily he was very patient with them and knew what they could and couldn't do. 

Each girl was given a dough ball big enough to make a large pizza.

They first flattened it by hand as best as the could.

Then they put it in a machine to make it into flat sheets.

Once on the pizza plate, they stretched it to fit just right.

Then they each got a block of mozzarella cheese and got to shred it using the cool cheese-shredding machine.  

This was their favorite part of pizza making!

Then it was time for the toppings!  We added LOTS of cheese!

Then sausage and pepperoni for the girls (of course) and some extra toppings on one half for mom and dad.

It turned out to be an incredible experience for the girls...so much better than I ever could have expected!

Then to finish the week off, we went to dinner as a family at Five Guys on Friday night!  

Lots of fun learning and good eating last week!

Hugs!