Sunday, April 19, 2015

Our Family in 2015: Week of 4/13-4/19

This sweet boy turned 15 months old this week!

He has turned from the world's most docile baby into a boy who throws his head back and screams the second he doesn't get his way.

He loves to be "helpful" by throwing things in the trash, and has added "Mom" (finally!) to his vocabulary. He loves to sing "Happy and You Know It," too.

He has not been as interested in eating lately. He is way more interested in climbing out of his high chair.


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Dinnertime is always fun around here.  Everyone talks about their day and we laugh.


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In early March I volunteered to sew for Adam's school musical, not realizing how difficult the dresses were.  I sewed three and they turned out pretty good! 


I have the pattern down by now, so I'm hoping that Grace chooses to be Rapunzel for Halloween.

How awesome would it be to have Halloween done in the summer?

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The swing is still the hot item around here.


There is always a line to swing on it.

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Mike has been working on the yard (yay!).

He conconted his own weed killer of vinegar, salt and dish soap.

We are hoping it works well!


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I made Mike a huge batch of oven-baked chimichangas for him to take to work.


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Everyone loves helping make pizzas every Saturday night for movie night.  Grace did the sauce and cheese all by herself this time around.



Sunday, April 12, 2015

Our Family in 2015: Week of 4/6-4/12

Adam and Grace both auditioned for the school talent show (and both made it!).

Adam decided to start his own little YouTube account with his piano songs, including the song he is playing for the talent show, "Don't Stop Believin.'"


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On Monday, we had our traditional after-Easter-FHE of dyeing the eggs.










They all had so much fun coloring those eggs!

Sam was especially amazed.

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Josh made the world's cutest horse at pre-school.


They are learning about the farm and the letter "H" so this fit right in.

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As much as Sam enjoyed coloring the eggs, he had even more fun attacking them one morning when the fridge wasn't closed all of the way.


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Two years ago I bought a tree swing.

The kids have been begging Mike to install it ever since.

He finally did!


And we are so glad!

These kids would rather swing than do anything else, so everyone's been having fun and getting exercise on it!



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Sam attacked the eggs again.

At least this time he had the decency to bring his mischief outside.







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More park play.

This time while Grace was at volleyball practice.



We can't get enough of this weather.



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We had parent teacher conferences this week.  I had to get my annual routine labs drawn early in the morning, and we had a little time to kill before conferences, so we went to the park.


This time Dad got to come along, so it was extra fun.


He pushes them way higher on the swings than I ever would.

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Josh was invited to his first birthday party!

It was a "Cars" theme and he had the best time playing with his pre-school friends.


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Mike has been super-busy (he's Young Men's president) getting ready for the annual youth camp fundraiser.  Our ward has a dinner and an auction, and it's a blast.

My cute Activity Day girls and I made masks and capes to donate.


The dinner theme was "fiesta" and we had yummy taco bowls.



Along with a super-fun pinata.




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On Sundays I teach the older Valiant class (10- and 11-year olds).  Our lesson was on keeping the Sabbath day holy, so I brought some donut holes as a class treat.  (Holes/holy).


Unfortunately, during Sacrament meeting, an electrical fire broke out.

Church ended up being cancelled for the day.


So donut holes were handed out in the parking lot instead.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Our Family in 2015: Week of 3/30-4/5

On Sunday we began our traditional discussion of the Savior's last week.

Each night we talked about what happened, read the scriptures, and then did a small activity or watched the video (from the Bible videos on-line).

We taped them up in the kitchen to remind us all week.



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On Monday, we had a Family Home Evening lesson about preparing for General Conference.

 I had all of the kids write about questions they had or things they wanted to learn more about, and asked them to pray about them throughout the week.

We played "General Conference" Headbanz afterward, and had a fun time.





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This week was Spring Break!

Our power steering had gone out in January (both the pump and rack/pinion had broken), the belt tensioner was broken, and it had a horrible oil leak.  So after praying and talking about it, we decided to use our savings to get it fixed.

The van was being worked on most of the week, so we spent a lot of time hanging out at home.

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Grace came crying to me one evening about "accidentally" making a mark on her floor.


An 8-inch asterisk in blue crayon isn't exactly an accident.

My kids may need to learn the definition of that word.

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Josh has been wanting to try "egg-in-a-hole" for lunch, ever since reading about it in one of the Pioneer Woman Charlie books.

He was a great helper and loved it.


Sam had Trix and scrambled eggs instead.  He loved it, too.


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I decided since we would be stuck at home during break anyways, that the four of us would do yard work everyday while Sam napped, and that there would be a special reward for especially hard workers.

It was a dollar to spend at the ice cream truck one day.


They all had fun picking out a little treat.

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Grace lets Sam sit up with her while she practices piano.

She is so patient and sweet with that little monkey.


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Another day we walked down to 7-11 after our yard work, and grabbed some small Slurpees.


Sam most especially liked that day.

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On Thursday I decided it would be neat to begin a new tradition of having the Passover, and talking about its special meaning.

We had grape juice, chicken (instead of lamb), sauerkraut (for the bitter herbs), and unleavened crackers.



It wasn't 100% authentic or anything, but it was really neat.

Afterward, we watched the video about the Last Supper and Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Most of the time I can't get these kids to sit still during scriptures or family discussions.

But for that little moment the Spirit was so strong in our little living room, that even Sam was quiet.

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We (finally) got our van back on Friday, so Mike planned a little activity for us after he was off of work that night.

We decided to hit as many parks in Henderson as we could... and we found some insanely awesome new ones!



Afterward we went to Freddy's to share a basket of fries.

We've never done it before, and I'm pretty sure that the workers must have been being incredibly sweet, because $2.99 probably doesn't always get you two huge baskets.



These guys were in fry (and fry sauce) heaven.

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On Saturday and Sunday we listened to General Conference.

I really enjoy going down to the Stake Center to watch, but since I had no desire to get everyone ready, we listened at home instead.


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On Sunday after the morning session of conference, Mike hid the big basket of eggs that the Easter bunny had left for us.


And the kids got to go on a crazy-treasure hunt left by the Easter bunny for their baskets. 

                                        

They each got new swimsuits, a family kite to share, and a few treats.



They immediately left to try those new swimsuits out before the final conference session.



Afterward, we headed to the park to try that new kite of ours.

It was so fun and worked great!

Mike had fallen asleep before shopping the night before, so the "fancy" Easter dinner I had planned was changed to sandwiches with canned pineapple.

I missed our traditional little dinner, but sometimes I get so caught up in making holidays "just right", that I neglect getting to enjoy them.

It was a good reminder to me to simplify and enjoy this sweet family of mine.