Spring Break 2011--The Adventure Continues

Thursday--St. Patrick's Day / Green Day



You can't start a day any better than Leprechaun's bringing you green milk and St. Patty's Day decorated Krispy Kremes. So with a sugar rush in tact we decided to go a little green. Or is that grow a little green? I found little flower pot kits at Toys-r-Us (of all places) that came with bucket, seeds, soil and directions. Even though my favorite color is green I ended up with a very black thumb so this sounded pretty fool proof!


Blake opted not to get his hands dirty in the mixing of the soil or putting it in the bucket--and barely brushed the seeds onto the soil before I put the rest of the soil on top. So this would be the only picture of Blake and his green bucket. He was really fine just watching me do it and then riding his scooter. It's his Spring Break too so whatever floats your boat . . . .


Brock was a little unsure at first about mixing up the soil. It came as two big soil pellets and after adding water and working it over it re-hydrated and turned into soil. But I was proud of him and he got his hands in there pretty good!


He actually got a little possessive about putting the soil in the bucket. I went in for an attempted assist once and got denied! So he pretty much did it all on his own.


Once Bryson got the hang of it he got into working over his soil and planting his sunflower seeds.


Here is the actual planting.


Ta-Daaa!


Aunt Kaley came to play in the dirt with us. Yea!!! Here she is helping Bradley get his soil ready.


Bradley finishing up the job.


After Quiet Time (the most blessed time of day) we made Chocolate Chip Green M&M cookies.


Bryson and Blake became my baking assistants in hopes I'd let them eat some brown sugar out of the container like their dad does. Sorry boys--Mom is not that nice!


Meanwhile, Bradley and Brock play some weird game of watching Brock climb into the laundry hamper. Why anyone would want to go inside a BOYS laundry hamper is beyond me. Possibly that's why I have a tendency to steer clear of laundry in general!


Our St. Patrick's Day dinner was a much better experience this year. I learned from my foolishness last year in letting them pick something green to use as part of dinner when after all was said, done and cooked, pretty much everything was rejected. This year we had Grilled Chicken marinated in italian dressing, rice, veggies and my new favorite party drink--Jones (Fill in the Flavor Here) Slush Punch. We of course used Jones Green Apple.


Our Green Apple Slush after we had consumed most of it. You can almost taste it, can't you?

Here's the 4-1-1:

Jones Slushy Punch (A Tribute to my brother Brett and the other 5 GEARS)

Fill ice trays with whatever flavor of Jones soda your heart (or party) desires. I used 4 ice trays full and it yielded servings for about 10. Freeze the soda in the ice trays. Once frozen dump the ice into ziplock bags to save. If you're like me, you don't have 4 ice trays hanging around so the freezing was a process. About 15 minutes before you are ready to serve plop your Slush cubes into your punch bowl or pitcher and let them thaw a little. Then mash with a spoon or potato masher and add 1-2 liter bottle of 7-up or Diet 7-up. (We used Diet and it was really good!)

I got this "recipe" from another Laurel Advisor who said she uses it all the time for parties and baby showers because it's so easy to change the color!

Back to our dinner.






Bryson, Brock and Blake enjoy a cookie from our earlier baking efforts.


Brock was so funny. He'd take a sip of the punch, immediately wrinkle up his nose and make a total sour face, then go back for another sip. It was like "This is totally not good in one way but I've gotta keep drinking it!" Another Jones man in the making!


By the end of dinner things got a little silly with Brock going off on a kissing fest. He planted this one on me and started giggling. BTW: Many Thanks to Aunt Kaley, the official photographer of St. Patrick's Day/Green Day at the Grover House. Nice work Babe!

Spring Break 2011--The Adventure Continues

Wednesday--Color Wonder Day


In the afternoon I took the boys outside (it seems to be the best place to be since the weather is so nice) and got some supplies ready for Color Wonder Day. I bought Color Wonder Finger Paints which Brock was initially really excited about but lost that lovin' feeling quickly when he saw that he had to dip his fingers in the goo in order for it to turn colors on the paper. Blake went to town creating a great picture and then he and I made a rainbow together. Our only disappointment was that we wanted to mix the colors to make new ones but it didn't work. It only covered up the color underneath. So much for the lesson on creating new colors.


Blake and his rainbow.


Bradley and Bryson started working with some sidewalk chalk which is Ultra Cool 3D chalk. You trace the stencils (this was the Toy Story themed package), then color it in, add details to your picture, then put on the 3D glasses and let your jaw drop!


Brock settled in with some purple chalk for about 30 seconds and then took off on his scooter. He's more of the hunter-gatherer type!


The 3 Amigos creating different pictures. It was really cool to see how each one turned out with the 3D glasses on.


How about a 3D game of Tic-Tac-Toe?


We discovered that the warmer colors would raise off the ground much higher than the cooler colors--which prompted a brief discussion of what is a warm/cool color. This geometric drawing that Bradley did was amazing when he was finished. The pink and yellow of course popped off the sidewalk. The green was a little higher than the blue. Too bad blogger doesn't have 3D Vision!


The last thing we did was this giant coloring puzzle. If I'm going to be honest, it was a spur of the moment thing to respond to the kids when they said "What are going to do next?" So I drew a giant square-ish shape on the ground and then drew in puzzle pieces in the square and told them to color the puzzle pieces but you couldn't have same colors touching each other. So each boy took a color and started to organize the coloring. They were pretty impressed with their artwork when they were done. Again, the 3D thing made it sooo cool. Here is Blake (he finished the last green puzzle piece to finish the whole thing) with the 3D glasses on checking out the masterpiece!


No, this picture isn't enhanced with some freaky color thing. These are Blake's legs and feet covered in blue, green, orange and yellow chalk dust. Pretty much everyone was covered in chalk dust literally from head to toe. But a quick bath fixed that and I learned that Baby Wipes will clean off Crayola 3D chalk from your clothing. Well, at least it got bright blue chalk off my pants after Brock walked by and put his cute bright blue fingerprints all over one knee. 3D Chalk and Baby Wipes--gotta love them both!

Spring Break 2011--The Adventure Continues

Tuesday--Pinewood Derby Day!

The original title for today was going to be Road Rally Day but the coughing and asmtha started to take over the house so I decided to keep the kids inside for most of the day instead. This was not an easy choice because who wants to be cooped up during Spring Break? So for most of the day I would not have been in the running for Mom of the Year--or even the Hour. But after Scott came home and we got the Pinewood Derby activity going things started looking up!


Scott brought home new Pinewood Derby cars for all the boys but Bradley and Bryson wanted to use ones they already had. So we quickly put Blake and Brock's together and let them color them. It was waaaay faster and cleaner than paint! Brock kept saying "I ready to race!" He was one excited racer!


Brock and Blake with their finished cars and BIG smiles!


Bryson and Bradley (and Scott snuck in at the last second) chill with their "professional" Pinewood Derby Cars from past races.


We inherited a practice track which came from a very famous 4th of July Celebration in Utah several years ago when Mom and Dad brought derby cars for all the little kids and we had our own Pinewood Derby. The kids still talk about that 4th! Anyway, Bradley set up the practice track so it inclined on a patio chair and we couldn't keep Brock from waiting for an official "On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!" He was just GONE!


They had so much fun and got a little creative in how high they could hold the track and how that would effect how far the car would continue to go after it ran out of track at the end. I just watched and let them race all the sadness of the day away!


Here Blake and Brock watch as Brock's car zooms down the track!


Brock was totally captivated by the whole process. They all had a blast but I think his blast went even higher than the other boys!


I loved watching them all race their car, run after it and wait to race again. We raced into the night even after it got dark and didn't call it quits until a couple of cars took major spills and lost wheels. Not to worry, we recovered all the nails and wheels and I'm sure the cars will live to race another day!

Spring Break 2011--The Adventure Continues

Monday--Wacky Olympics Day

So this afternoon we held the Wacky Olympics. We talked a little about the Olympics before we began and then each boy made a flag for his "country." Like The Country of Blake etc.

Here are Brock and Bryson working on their flags. Brocks had golf balls and a golf club in the middle of a square. Bryson's was blue and yellow with a picture of himself holding the American Flag in the corner.


Blake's flag was a similar design to the American flag but instead of stars he drew "dots" and of course the whole thing was outlined in green. On the back he drew everyone in the family, including Baby Rockstar--the soon to be Grover Boy #5 who still has no name. Bradley was concentrating very hard on his flag so the camera didn't disturb his creative process.


I put on John Williams Olympic Fanfare on my iPod and speakers and we had our Opening Ceremonies with the Parade of Nations through the backyard.


Here they are as they continue along the Parade Route with flags displayed.


The Country of Brock's delegate took a wrong turn but eventually caught up with the rest of the Olympians.


Here is the finish to the Opening Ceremonies with all the flags displayed proudly from our 4 represented countries.


The first event of the afternoon was the Egg-on-Spoon Race. Quite a challenge for some of our athletes and some had to have the rules re-stated due to a slight tendency to cheat. Fortunately, it was only good clean fun in the end thanks to last year's plastic easter eggs.



The second event was the Tight Lip Race. Each athlete had to hold the straw between their nose and lips and run down the backyard and back. Bryson was the champion of this race. This is one guy with some tough lip muscles!


Next, the Balloon Challenge. Runners kept the balloon between their legs and ran down and back. We added a variation called the Balloon Hugger Race where you put one balloon between two people tummy to tummy--like a hug. You have to hold on tight and coordinate all 4 feet or your balloon will drop! There were world records broken in the latter event. Way to pop to the top boys!


4th was the Jumping contest. Not as popular by this crowd but Blake got in 23 jumps in one minute and Bryson got in 70+ before having an asthma attack. The dedication these boys had to these Wacky Olympic games was astounding!


The fifth and final event was the discuss throw. On a best two out of three, Bradley was the consistent winner, although Bryson's distance greatly improved by the third throw. If any two boys know how to throw a paper plate--it's these two!


Closing Ceremonies were simple with all being dubbed Winners for their country.


And the creativity just never stops! Way to balance the Olympic Rings on your leg Brock!