First Annual Peep Games

What is squishy, gross, and shaped like a baby chicken? This is not a riddle. Just an accurate of a holiday favorite. Traditionally, we have put Peeps in the kids spring baskets, but I thought it was time to take Peeps out of the basket and into the realm of competitive sports. 

I started my collection about a month in advance and was excited about the variety of options I accumulated, even if I was not able to get my hands on the Dr. Pepper ones. As it was, this seemed to be an eclectic collection. All this in preparation for our Easter Day Peep Games.

Which meant that I HAD to start off with a blind-folded taste testing activity. Michael is not a fan of Peeps in the best of conditions, so he was very cautious and only nibbled on the Peeps.

Josh was ALL IN every time. The only exception was the Cotton Candy ones which elicited a very negative vocal reaction from his brothers, but in the end he ate them all.

Isaac started off strong but then became more cautious as he discovered that not all Peeps are created equal. 

Ben took the middle ground by taking a big bite of all of them but not finishing any of them.

Regardless of their feelings towards Peeps at the beginning of this test, none of them had the stomach to eat any more by the end. Below is Michael's answer sheet. I told him that he didn't get any of them right, but he disagreed.

Next we brought Jason and Mom into the action with building Peep towers. We quickly learned why no one builds with Peeps.

Kidding, we already knew why.

But that just increased the challenge.

Nana rocked it early on and hers was by far the most stable.

Josh tried to capitalize on the stickiness of marshmallows, but in the end he had to cheat to win.

After returning the non- and less-mutilated Peeps to the big bowl of Peepage, it was time for Peep tossing. Teams were chosen. Lines were made. Peeps were thrown.

There's a possibility that they should have been wearing protective eye gear for this activity. And perhaps we should have put down a tarp because the floor was a "little" sticky when we were done. And Michael claimed he had to wash colored sugar out of his hair later. 

As Nana mopped the floors, the boys started making their Peep parachutes. 

Whether they landed safely or not seemed a little moot given that several of the boys opted to impale their Peeps with the parachute strings. 

Just look at that enthusiasm!

Then up the stairs they went to drop their unfortunate Peeps off the ledge. No one was able to land their Peep on the target, but there was quite a bit of variation in the speed with which the Peeps landed. 

And then we went home and gave away all the unopened packages of Peeps we had left over because none of us could look at them without feeling a little sick. I can't wait to see what flavors they come up with next year.

March on FB

It might hurt to breathe and walk. I might be behind in my school work.  Laundry might be piling up around me.  But at least I'm rocking the word games this week!  

You know who you are. 

YOU. KNOW. WHO. YOU. ARE.

Exhibit A

Isaac eats Lucky Charms for breakfast. 

Goes to school and wins $50 to use at the book fair. 

Exhibit B

Irene does not eat Lucky Charms for breakfast. 

Goes to the podiatrist and gets a walking boot and referral for an MRI.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions....

Kind of wishing I had the editing skills to make a music video of this boot with Justin Timberlake's SexyBack as the soundtrack. 

I've been holding on to this one for a while.

In a fit of snarkiness and tired of nagging, I had these bracelets made for the boys 😆🙄😆

WWMWMTD - what would mom want me to do

Ben the Birthday Boy

The day after solo and ensemble, Ben got to celebrate without the impending performances on the horizon but he did still have his cold. We tried to make his 14th birthday a good one though.

Ben's birthday meal was Curry Corner (not seen here). And his birthday dessert was donuts and ice cream. So no candles but everyone got their own pint of their favorite flavor of ice cream. 

The awkward part of the day was opening the gifts. Ben was so excited to open his gifts that he kept begging to open them earlier in the day. However, the top items on his birthday list were videogames we had to preorder because they don't come out until May and June. So, we handed him a paper with a picture of the game we got him and wished him a happy birthday. He actually was thrilled, but it didn't give him anything new to play that day. I guess that means his birthday will just keep going for the next two months.

This amazing human being has grown a lot (physically and mentally) this last year. Here's to another great year with our BenBen.

Solo and Ensemble - Orchestra

Who are these fine musicians? They are the BenTen Quartet! Much to Ben's embarrassment. They couldn't come up with a name so got stuck with one that was mentioned as a joke by another student in their orchestra class. Whatever the name, they spent many a Saturday and Sunday practicing "Rondeau" by J.J. Mouret in preparation for the middle school orchestra solo and ensemble competition.  

As a side note, Ben is wearing a mask because he was one sick cellist when the big day came. He stumbled to school the day before just long enough to be there for band and orchestra pictures. But when another cellist offered to take his spot if he was too sick, he indignantly told me that HE was going to go and play no matter how poorly he felt. 

They did a lovely job! So impressive!

But Ben didn't stop there! Fighting the cold that would morph into a sinus infection over the coming days, he also performed a solo piece: "La Cinquantaine" by G. Marie. Ben and his cello teacher, Meagan, chose this piece and it is beautiful. Ben plays it well too.

For both pieces the adjudicators only had comments about nitpicky stuff which is an excellent sign. He got 1s (superior rating) for both! 

Metal Mouth No More

 

Today was the day that Michael had his braces removed and can now officially eat all of the foods he's been eating anyway during his brief stint as a metal mouth.

The folks at the orthodontist office are lovely, but I will be relieved not to see them every 6 weeks. And now Michael can be a plastic mouth for 3 months as he wears (or "wears") his retainer to finish off the process. 

So who's up next?

Spring Celebration

A day early this year, we held our spring celebration at home on Sunday with plans for today that got cancelled due to rain and illness. 

 

Not that the kids really care about the activities, they just want their stuff. So we gathered them on the couch (please note that we gave Josh the opportunity to do something with his hair before the pics but he declined) and had them close their eyes.

And then open for their big surprises!

This year I also bought shirts that look like the ones we wore to the White House many moons ago. I had hoped to recreate the photo but at the state capitol building, but forces out of my control (see above) have forced us to move that activity into the future.

This year's loot:

Josh: GS cookies, bracelet, gamer socks, Spider-Man shirt

Michael: GS cookies, bracelet, music poster, Flash shirt

Ben: GS cookies, bracelet, cello puzzle, Captain America shirt

Isaac: GS cookies, bracelet, clay, Batman shirt

Then on the actual equinox today I tried to make moon cakes (again) and they turned out pretty well.

Pi(e) Day

I may not have been very prepared for many holidays this year, but this is one holiday that we cannot let this one pass us by. I will admit that Marie Callender did help out with the apple crumble pie (as she so graciously does most years). This does happen to be the only holiday of the year when I don't have enough round dishes for the day, so we did end up with one square pie. But everything turned out to be delicious. AND there was at least one pie for everyone. 

 

Michael turned out not to be a fan of the Oreo cream pie (more on that later), but liked the chocolate cream pie and the apple pie.

Isaac normally doesn't like crusts, so the pumpkin was crustless. He liked it, but the big surprise of the evening was the two slices of Oreo cream pie (more on that later) that he devoured.

Ben managed to eat all of his pie before I could point a camera at him. 

The Oreo cream pie was a new recipe - and it was DAIRY FREE. I try to make things so Josh won't feel left out, but he also tends not to like the textures of many dessert foods so we typically just get him Oreos. I figured I would try an Oreo pie to combine our theme with what he does eat and it had mixed reviews. Michael was not a fan, Isaac loved it, and Josh said it was good enough he'd eat it if I made it again. I guess that's a win? Win-ish? 

In any case, everyone ate some round food to celebrate our favorite shaped-based holiday.