Rouge One

Movie Night with this cute date. 

He is the best one to watch a movie with. 

He always has my enjoyment foremost on his agenda. 

He wants to make sure that I have a good comfortable spot with a nice blanket and someone cuddly to snuggle with. He also likes to hold the remote control so he can stop the movie and explain key elements that he is worried that I will not be familiar with because I haven't watched the other movies *recently*. Also he liked to point out Easter Eggs and theories about side characters that are being discussed in the blogoshpere. He is pretty much the world's foremost expert on Star Wars. I'm glad I got to watch Rouge One.

In Our Element

Water. Pool water. It's how we winter. 

Superkid and Abizella just completed another swim team season. 

That's another 6 months of going to the pool 3 nights a week with these little fishies in the books.

Tonight the big Toads got to swim with us too. 

There was a fair amount of dunking, chasing and wrestling.

But that makes for a good time as evident by our happy faces when it was time to go home.

Two Things

There are a lot of things I love about Sundays. 

But these are the top two for today: 

#1. This picture I got sent from LC's substitute Primary teacher. 

Evidently he was satisfied with his quality explanation of baptism.

#2. Family Home Evening. Tonight Pops was on the lesson.

Don't let the disinterested expression on the kid's faces fool you. 

They are loving it. You know why? Because everyone is sitting on their very own BIG JOE bean bag chair. Which means they now have the luxury of sitting disinterested instead of expending all that energy on brawling for personal space.

GNO

Saturday was an awesome day to be Abizella Tidepool Toad. 

First, she got to go to her first ever Beehive conference. 

It was a land of crafts, crazy camp songs and food. 

Abizella was truly in her element.

I love this girl. 

She didn't know a single girl there, but made some new friends and had a fantastic time.

After we did a Costco run and a whirlwind housekeeping job, she and I treated ourselves to  Girl's Night Out at the movies. Beauty and the Beast- Live action. It was SO GOOD. I wasn't expecting to love it like I did. We are totally going to buy it and make our boys watch it too.

We followed this up with a quick cheeseburger at McDonald's drive through and then General Women's Conference at the church. 

What a fun day to be a Toad-ette!

On a Whim...

Ever since Chinese New Year I can't stop thinking about that delicious Taiwanese feast Pops picked up on his way home from the temple at Mulan.

It's not close- 

it was about a half a day's journey round trip, but it was time well spent.

There were a few naysayers among us that voted on Panera instead. 

Good thing this isn't a democracy. 

The kids will have a cultural experience. 

They will learn to use chop sticks. 

They will love Chinese food. 

Superkid and Jaws are fans. 

They rest needed to be convinced beyond fried rice.

A little bit of Sprite to whet their appetite...

And Bam! Our Chinese feast was served. 

I don't think you understand. 

All Chinese food served in the U.S. is terrible. 

This is the sole exception. 

This is the real deal. 

We selected all of our favorites from the menu:

Spring Rolls

Stir fried string beans

Spicy shredded garlic pork

Kung Pao chicken

Hunan Beef

Pork fried rice- 3 orders!

And they ate...

and ate...

...and ate!

They went back for seconds!

It was a beautiful scene...

How did I get them to eat so much?!

Ancient Chinese secret!

Okay- the truth is, I told them if they tried every single thing that we could make dessert. And surprise, surprise- they tried it and they liked it. A lot. Which is kind of a bummer because that means we don't have much in the way of leftovers.

Because we were so close and because we needed to burn a few calories and because we love to see the temple, we decided to go there today.

We didn't get any good pictures of the kids...

The gargoyles of the temple...

We needed a unplanned day. Family. Isn't it about time?

My Secret Weapon

Now that Jaws is in preschool it is time to step it up with the numbers and letters. Good thing I've got the most creative and fun daughter ever! I asked her to run through numbers and letters with Jaws and I came home to find two super-awesome, tailor made games. Jaws loves them. I love them. I love her!

Plan B: Catch Him With Our Bare Hands

Because our leprechaun traps failed us once again, we decided to take matters into our own hands- literally. We've decided to start training to catch the leprechaun with our bare hands. And what better place to train than the YMCA?!

First we worked out our quads on the bounce house. 

Then we marched down the hall...

To the ropes course...

Where we worked on our balance and agility....

Also our feats of strength and courage...

(seriously scary all the way up there!)

Just in case the leprechaun is amphibious, we also got in and swam laps.

And if all of our training fails us, we're pulling out our secret weapon...

Luck of the Irish!

We're not quitters.
Sure, we've never caught a leprechaun.
Sure, he's taken us for fools.
Sure, we've never gotten to cash in our wishes.
BUT- he always leaves us good loot!

But if we had caught him, Superkid would have a Wolf ship, Abizella would have a real Harry Potter wand, Tadpole would have a real Pokemon, LC would have a real live pet peeve and Jaws would have flowers on his head.

As I was tucking in LC and Tad, Tadpole astutely observed, 

"Mom, we know you are not the leprechaun because you are too big to fit in the traps and you don't have any god coins." 

This one would make a fine detective.

This kid hasn't taken his hat and glasses off all weekend!

I wonder if he could fit in a leprechaun trap?