March Tidbits

Hat Day at school! We have a Beyoncé, Waldo and you know Gita was proud to show off that crab hat.

 While I don't believe in complaining about the weather (it's not going to change and it doesn't make you feel any better), I have to say there is a lot of truth to this one. The first time the weather hits the high 50's/low 60's we are all just cringing for another round of snow.

I was not around for a couple of mornings of scripture study. I'm told some things went down. Apparently Sydney said, "You're twice as mean as Mom!" to Brent right in the middle of reading scriptures. They were just reading and it seemingly came out of nowhere. A couple of days later she said, "I forgive you  Daddy for being so mean" then gave him a hug and promptly ran off. Also, Ireland and Gita informed me "Dad hugs us the wrong way" which could sound really bad. When I wake them up in the morning, I snuggle them close for a minute and rub their back or give love pats. Brent wraps them in his arms and then stands up so they are also standing and forced to really wake up. Apparently they didn't like that.

Ireland's teacher is as big a Harry Potter fan as she is and for a whole week her class was sorted into houses and they could come dressed up. I'm so happy those costumes still come in handy! Ireland was excited to get dressed every morning.

My new favorite thing to torture Liesel is about 15 seconds after Brent yells out how much time she has left to leave for the bus, I'll yell a completely different time. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I have to admit, it's a little too fun to hear her get all exasperated.

We discovered Sydney had been dialing it in when it comes to her afternoon asynchronous work and made her catch it up. A few days later she wanted to use a homework pass and I told her she'd kind of already done that and she was going to do that homework. Sydney flew into a rage and I said, "Let me tell you how this ends- you are doing that homework. Do you wanna take the freeway or the dirt road?" She wrote me this note letting me know I am the worst mom in the solar system. Now you know.

She also threatened to throw a shoe at me and if there's one thing I will not abide, it is a child being outright abusive to a parent. She ended up throwing it on the bed and so I decided to keep it. When she tried to retrieve it, she lunged and it fell down the backside of the bed. She had to try a variety of methods to get it back and I have to admit, I enjoyed that quite a bit. You wanna mess with the bull? You're going to get the horns.

Here is the leprechaun trap Ireland made at school. Technically this is our Irish gnome that lives on the fireplace mantle, but you get the idea. She drops the cage over him when he goes for the bait.

Sydney: Muggles aren't a thing.

Ireland: Yes they are. You just don't get it because you are one.

Brigitta made a heart out of tater tots and I'm kind of loving it.

It's a Nielsen family tradition to sing every birthday song we know until the candles almost burn into the cake. After years of everyone struggling with the words, I typed them all up and laminated them and we finally had a full chorus for Ireland's birthday. There's one called Happy Birthday UGH and it's sung in a really depressing manner with fist pounds on the table with the UGH. I laughed seeing Gita get so into it.

Speaking of Gita, her eczema was getting really bad on her hands. It was weird because it would get better and then worse- and she'd never had trouble with eczema on her hands! They were super raw and I was getting worried.

Then Brent made this discovery. Can I just say the person who invented homemade slime should be locked away for life? She had taken an Elmer's glue stick, water, baking soda and laundry detergent and who knows what else to create slime. THAT'S WHY HER HANDS WERE RAW! Her clever concoction was basically stripping away her skin.

After consulting with Uncle Tim and then following up with out pediatrician, we slathered her in hydrocortizone and then covered her hands in clean cotton socks so it would soak in as much as possible while she slept. She looked like a mental patient!

Aye de mi this girl is going to kill me! I know she doesn't mean to be so much trouble and my heart went out to her when I saw her sleeping with those socks on her hands. That night Brent and I talked about our pequena traviesa. In Spanish that means "little troublemaker" and even though I was in East LA and he was in Guatemala, there was a telenovela named Pequena Traviesa with a very popular song. We both heard it and could sing it from memory and laughed how the lyrics are so perfect for Brigitta. It's like the Lord was giving us both a head's up looong before we met, fell in love, or even had children. 

Ireland alerted me to a beautiful sunset out her window. Of course the picture doesn't do it justice!

We are currently reading in Mosiah and when Sydney read 7:15, she asked, "What's bondage?" I couldn't help but respond with a curt, "JAIL." We all love this clip from Parks and Rec:

The next morning Brigitta was reading here in Mosiah 6:7

Gita: What's contention?

Me: Fighting, squabbling, bickering. What would our house be like if there was no contention for 3 years? It would be...

Ireland: ...not our house.

I splurged on this wreath I spotted on Etsy and I'm glad I did! It makes me happy every time I see it.

Brent wanted to wait until there was absolutely no threat of snow before taking the cover off the trampoline. After finding all the girls on their Chromebooks, I asked him to reconsider. Girls need to be outside to run and jump and play! They were happy to help him remove the toggles and then it was a question of who would get in the first jump. Of course it was Brent- he needed to test it for "safety"!

Ireland had her Living Museum project at school and she selected Nelly Bly. Grandma Nielsen loves antique clothes so she scoured her closets for something that would work and I have to say I was really impressed! 

She had to memorize her speech which she practiced over and over in her room before the big day.

Sydney, Gita and I were hanging out on my bed and I started tickling them a bit. Then Gita tickled Sydney but stopped abruptly saying, "Her armpits are sweaty!" Then the held her hands out to her sides and flicked them while making a stank face.

The girls now get free lunch from school but it's in a paper sack and they don't get to choose. I'm guessing the schools are just trying to use up the glut of chicken nuggets because that's the most common one but every now and again the coveted bosco sticks wind up in there. Anyway, as soon as the three youngest clamber into the car they scour the contents of their lunch sack and make trades. On this particular day, Sydney was very unhappy with her lunch and immediately wanted to cash in on past trades.
Sydney: I gave you a slushie yesterday!
Ireland: Fine! Here! *slams down a rice crispy treat*
Sydney: That's not a slushie!

A friend of mine gifted me this quilt- all I had to do was sew on the binding. Her son recently died and she's preparing to move so she needed help with her abundance of quilting supplies, which I was happy to do. Every time I look at it I can't believe I actually own this generous gift from such a gifted quilter!

For some strange reason, it's a bit of a taffy pull getting the girls to make their bed every morning before scripture study. It's as if they are shocked at the request even though they know it's a daily expectation. Anyway, Sydney was sitting by Brent waiting for her sisters when we had the following conversation.
Me: Have you made your bed?

Sydney: Yes
*I'm not saying Sydney is a liar, I'm just saying she lies sometimes and she often fights the morning bed-making routing more than anyone. So I quietly walked down the hall to make sure it was, in fact, made (it was). Upon returning to my room...*

Sydney: *blinking for effect* So was it made?

Gita tried out this outfit which is a hand-me-down from her older sisters.
Me: This look really works for you! I could see you embracing the boho look.
Gita: Wait, you want me to be a hobo?

There's a radio station here 100.3 that toggles between contemporary hits and 80's/90's music. Sometimes it feels good to sing a song at the top of my lungs and the girls don't know the lyrics so they just have to listen to me belt it out. Listen to Your Heart was the one that came on as I drove them to dance- haha!