Fun Things

Emma has learned to climb up on the couch to the ledge of the counter where the sink is….turn it on and play in the water.  I put a rubber band on the sink and although it didn’t prevent her from turning it on, she couldn’t turn it on, leave it on and play in it.  I have a video where she turns it on, then quickly lets go and tries to put her hand in the water but then it shuts off. She does it over and over till finally she got smart and used her other hand.  Silly girl
 
For our Fun Friday this week, I let the kids help me pick up out some fun foods at the grocery store, and they each helped me make part of lunch.  We had Chocolate muffins (which are basically just nasty cupcakes without frosting), fruit pizza’s, rainbow glitter yogurt, and kool-aid.  What a lunch!

This event is out of order, but last Sunday night for a family activity we did playdough.  We made a few new batches of new colors and got pretty creative!  Yes, I even joined in on the fun!

Frozen Lips! {and other stuff too}

Monday, Memorial Day we had a couple friends over for FAmily Home Evening.  It was a fun night, but I spent a good 10 minutes sitting watching this little cutie eat her popsicle.  This girl just makes me laugh!! This is how she always puts her feet when she is in her booster.  She pops that tray off so many times.



Daddy Time



Our Super yummy Dinner. I LOVE Grilling and I love that now it's finally warm so I don't freeze when I go out to grill!  Cabbage, celery, carrots, onions and mushrooms, with balsamic vinegar chicken and lemon pepper Tilapia!



Thursday we had our end of the year preschool picnic.  We just eat brought our own lunches, sat our lazy mommy bums on the grass and let the kids play and get dirty! And that's JUST what they did!





This silly goose had just had sunscreen put on here face when she rubbed her sandy dirty hands all over her face. 



Savannah reading the warning label.  NOt really, she was actually trying to figure out how to get it to work...heehee, I love child lock caps!

Dates, BBQ's and BABIES!

The Young Women in our Ward were having their Fundraiser this Saturday and although I couldn't make it, I signed up to make a dessert for their dessert Auction.  It's one of my favorite treats (when I'm watching my calories), White Chocolate Popcorn. We tried to color the popcorn in the Young Women Value Colors.  The red turned out more pink (despite how much coloring we put in) and then white just didn't stay very white (the popcorn was micro with butter already in it) but I know it's yummy and still turned out pretty cute!  I found the veggie trays at Wally's on clearance and even though I didn't necessarily need the different sections, I figured it left someone with a fun little tray to keep!



The first Saturday of the Month is usually when we schedule dates with the kids. This Particular Saturday was VERY busy and we weren't sure if it was going to fit in, but we forgot about it last month and the kids were counting on it, so we squeezed them in! Duck took Jayden to his work to ride the forklift (Jayden's request), Maliyah went shopping with Dad (also her request) and Jayden and I went on a hike and water gun fight! I did have to kinda trick him into this one, but when I knew I wouldn't make it to the GYM, this was one way to get in a little exercise AND my date!  It was really fun, he was a great hiker, and totally soaked me with his water gun. 




A more panoramic view of Klamath Falls.  I should have pointed it out, but you can see my house in this picture!



We spent the rest of the afternoon with these two little cuties! They are my friends Foster kids and Maliyah is just in love. Okay okay so am I!  I can't help it...they are too cute!



He was mad because he couldn't get the little 'cars' flip phone open and I wouldn't help him unless he said please. I'm mean like that.


That evening I was supposed to take Maliyah's 8 1/2 yr pictures, but we got invited to a last minute BBQ Birthday so we didn't have enough time for pictures.  I'll have to see if I can pull it off tomorrow although today would have been perfect becuase it's cloudy!  There's just too much going on today. I have to play the piano at Seminary Graduation in an hour, then we have the missionaries and a new family in the ward coming over for dinner.  Then starts a SUPER busy week for me...but I'll for sure squeeze her pictures in. Jayden's 4 1/2 ones too!

Preschool/Geography

This week we had the missionaries over for dinner. I wasn't sure if we would have enough dinner to fill them up so I needed to come up with a dessert. I decided to try a low calorie dessert. So I found a chocolate cake recipe that I modified and added to. I liked it. Duck didn't completely agree. I used splenda instead of sugar, applesauce instead of butter, only egg white, and did 1/2 wheat 1/2 white flour. What I should have done different? Used pumpkin instead of apple (only cause that sounds yummier) and not done the wheat flour. I don't love the splenda taste all that much, but I didn't have any other options for sugar replacement. We ate it warm with a little drizzled fudge sauce and light cool whip. I thought it was yummy.



Thursday morning I hosted preschool at our house. The theme was geography. I didn't find a lot of resources online that worked for that age group so I had to be a little creative. I borrowed a friends globe and I had a world map. So first we talked about the World. Then talked about the continents and learned a continent song. Then we played a game where they each got a turn spinning the globe and while their eyes closed, stopping the globe. Whatever continent their landed on I would tell them a cool thing about that continent and show a picture. I even learned some really cool things! I may have known them at once when I was in school, but I certainly didn't remember! I just found my pictures through google.

After snacks (circle blue jigglers, pretzels and apple slices) we learned about countries, states and cities. I showed them where the US was, where Oregon was and then where Klamath Falls was. I had to get through this information pretty quick so I didn't lose their attention.

Once we got to the cities then I had a map for them, one of the US and one of OREGON. They had stickers and each got to place the stickers where Oregon was and then where Klamath Falls was. Lastly we played a state matching game. I had opened the state coloring pages into photoshop and just added color to them, then put them in a word document and printed two of each. I only did 12 states but eventually I want to finish them all for my kids to memorize the states and their capitals.

We finished off the morning with a dance party! I was going to play the 50 states song, but the kids requested Rio so I made them help me find Rio on the map first, then we played it!



The rest of the day was totally busy for me! I had so much on my list of do's already and then had forgotten that we were goign with Duck to Bend that night for the weekend! So now I had to cram my weekend into one afternoon. It was busy but I got most of my work done and packed for the family. We were really lucky as well to have our friend/babysitter Cassandra come with us! She is a Young Woman in our ward and we had never used her to babysit before, but my friends kids love her. Well the weekend proved her ability to win over the hearts of the kids! They really enjoyed having her and hopefully we didn't totally scare her off! We got into Bend kinda late so didn't have much time to do anything except just hang out in our room and watch a movie, but that's all the kids needed to be in heaven!

Update 2-14 through 3-7-10 {homeschool project too}

(I don't know why, but all my posts aren't coming up on one page like it's supposed to. I have TONZ of pictures I just posted so I hope you take minute to track back a couple of pages. Especially because the last post for this week is Savannah's 7 month pictures and they are WAY too cute!)

I"m going to use my update post to add the rest of our Valentines Day since I only got through breakfast on my last week! It's been three weeks actually because we have been in Utah, but I"m glad to say...hundreds (literally...and maybe a thousand) pictures later I am DONE with this weeks posting! It's taken most of the afternoon and I still have lots of journaling to do, but at least the pictures and events are documented and posted! Since I do have SOOOO many pictures I will try to be brief on any stories or descriptions just posting the minimum.

The week before the trip was a crazy time, like always trying to get a million things done before leaving on top of packing and getting ready for a trip! It's always hard and a little stressful, but definitely worth it to be there for such wonderful family events.

The kids did fantastic this trip, taking naps when they were supposed to, for the most part going to bed really well at night and mostly behaving okay! It was craziness as we had many people staying at my parents house most of them and a million things we were trying to fit in during the week and a half that my two brothers were together, but it was wonderful. And for anybody who didn't know the event for this trip was that my 21 year old brother Jordan was returning from his mission in Japan, and my 19 year old brother Austin was leaving for his mission to Italy! Mixed with fun family events, emtional moments, and spiritual events such as Austins setting apart and a special stake conference with L. Tom Perry, it was a trip worth taking and I'm so glad we decided to go and stay for the full 2 weeks. Coming back home is often as crazy as trying to get ready to leave, I have lots to catch up on, but I think we have done pretty good, unpacked first and back into the swing of things already. MOstly...I"m so thankful for my bed again!

Thanks for all those who helped make that trip to wonderful! Especially my parents and Poor Jordan who had to deal with my kids and all our noise! We love you all!

Here are a few pictures of our Valentine Dinner with the missionaries and our friends Riley and Jillian. (I'll link to any recipes)

Appetizers - oreo truffles!





Goodie Bags - full of treats, games and Candy Cane Lollypops!



Dinner of red roasted potatoes, pink shrimp, chicken, and veggies with heart peppers.









OH! And I almost forgot, here is a little of our Presidents Day too!



For school we talked about why we have presidents day, talked about Washington, told his cherry tree story and some others, then finger painted cherry trees!



Cherry Smoothies





Even sang Happy Birthday to George and had granola bar bites with candles to blow out!









and then Maliyah did Savannah's hair. Combed down and hair spray too....lol.

Home Made Lemonde - Homeschool

I was watching Janine's kids while they continued to unpack from the move and I wanted to come up with a simple little science project for our school that day. What I found was pretty simple, but perfect for the age range of kids that I was trying to entertain! I found this idea on a website that Of course I don't remember and since we have done it three times!

Quarter a lemon and use one quarter per ziplock baggie.
Smoosh the juice out of the lemons.



Add 1 TBSP Sugar and moosh.

Add ice and water and mix.



Stick a straw in the top and zip shut as much as you can. (the website I found said to cut a small hole and that might have worked better)





then drink away!





Savannah just pretended.

Just some random activities

this post is going to be a little collection of a few activities!

First a sewing project:



I promised to not say a word.

But these are NOT my hands



We are making blankets to donate in exchange for some Disney tickets. This is our final one to make yay!

Next:

Being Valentines week I tried to implement a little fun into our school day. First off...SNACK!

We made pink heart toast.

First while the bread is toasting turn your sugar pink.



then cut your toast into heart shapes









Then...LOAD it up with sugar (at least that's how Maliyah does it)





And don't forget the pink milk!



After snack we had the energy we needed to work on our next project. A bulletin board to hang all our crafts we make in school! I stuck the two little in front of a movie and headed outside to teach the two older about my router. Yes, I start them young. They will be making me money soon. JK seriously just kidding.







After the wood was all routed and sanded, it stained it a light green. The kids helped measure and cut the cork board and glue it onto the wood strip. Daddy hung it while I was at PE with Maliyah.



Perfect! now our heart men can have a place to hang! Which by the way were really fun to make. Kyson was a pro at making the accordion appendages and his hearts scary face!