My magic cards . . and one more

My friend saw this pattern for really neat magic cards. The image goes from black and whit eto color when you pull the panel up. We set aside one morning and worked despite fussy children, and the results were so funny. My first one was the purple and pink one. So today I tried again and was thrilled by the results. It is a card for my mom's birthday in a week and a half. After the first card I thought it was too much of an ordeal, but it gets easier every time you make it.

We love the zoo!

So we went to the zoo yesterday. It was so much fun, aside from the HUGE crowd, but we got to see the animals and that is what mattered most. There were the usuals, the elephants, tigers, giraffes (with a new baby), the cougars and the bears. But we got to see some different and exciting things too. The leopard walked back and forth right up by the glass again, but it was still just as thrilling as last year. When we were in the ape house, one of the apes came from teh very back of his habitat and climbed right in front of use and sat there looking at us and "smiled". It was pretty neat too. Nathan's favorite was the new "Ghost of the Bayou" exhibit with a very rare white alligator (the picture doesn't do it justice). WE all got a kick out of the penguins too. What a fun Saturday!

Fingerpaint, kites and spring (?) break

So we had a nice spring break, once we got past the dentist on Monday. Wednesday the kids and I headed up to Ogden. The weather was quite chilly, but we found enough sun in the afternoons to go out and play. Sue had bought fingerpaints, so one morning we wrapped aprons around everyone and went to it. The kids enjoyed it so much and it was fun to watch what they did. Sue had bought little plastic trophies at the dollar store (four to a pack, how convenient!) and we had an art show with awards that night. Meg got the most colorful, Michael got the squiggliest, Liz got the prettiest princess and Nathan got the most preshistoric for his assortment of colorful dinos. They were all pretty tickled by it.

Saturday we went to fly kites. The wind was a little gusty (check out MEg's hair in one of the pictures below) but the purpose of having fun was met, The kids enjoyed flying their kites, and we stayed patient when we had to untangle strings.

Spring is still playing jokes on us, but we hope it will be a bit more consistent soon.



I just thought this picture of MEgan trotting through the field was too cute.

Anne of the Island

OK, so I know I blogged about Anne of Green Gables already, but I have read more of the books in the series, and I am hooked. I love the movies SOOOOOOOOO much, butr I have really felt the charm of the books. The movies actually do a great job (especially the first one), but so many of the ideas of the second one are drawn somehow from teh books. I am loved reading and knowing more about Anne and it has been a real treat to read them. For those movie lovers, make it to the end of book three and you won't be disappointed. I am eager to see what happens next in teh Anne saga.

Stamp projects

Here are a couple of things I have done with my stamps and supplies in teh last little bit. I LOVE the Stampin Up! paper and it is so fun to use it with the inks and everything. I also enjoyed trying out the rubons. It was fun to put them on the jar with the treats for my friend's birthday. I also LOVE my scallop punch and put it to good use making flowers.

Photo Theory

HEre are some pictures we took of the kids on Easter Sunday. WE were sure to take pictures, but now I am finally taking the two minutes to add them to the blog.

After this Easter Sunday "photoshoot" I have formed a mathematical hypothesis about photographing children. We all know (or maybe just assume) that the more children you have in a picture the more difficult it will be to get a good one. I agree with this wholeheartedly, and while some may think it is a linear correspondance (for instance, doubling or tripling each time you add another child to the mix) I believe it to be more of an exponential curve. The base of the exponential function is a given number (based perhaps on the age of the children involved), but the exponent itself will increase with each child added to the picture. If only blogspot had a graphing feature I could display this all out for you. Anyway, as proof of my theory I post the following picture. Of the tons we took of the four kids together this was the only one where all of the kids were looking at the camera with the desired expressions.