QUOTES

Jane (8) and Charlie (7) and Jacob (5) often disappear into "playland" for hours. Today, Charlie emerged and I asked him about the game. Here's what I found out:

Charlie: "Jane is always the daughter of a chief and I'm always a famous orphan. Jacob is the cowboy. Usually I'm 18 but today Jane made me  be 11."

Me: "Why are you a famous orphan?" 

Charlie: "Because we pretend I can draw my dot to dot pictures without the dots. But then Jane says fine

then I get to climb higher trees an make friends with cougars."

Me: "What about Jacob?"

Charlie: "I let him tie me up twice."

Come Listen

Family History

Charlie and Jane both filled out this little family tree. I explained a little bit about how a family tree works.

After, we read the part of Elder Bednar's talk where he invites the children of the church to participate in family history. Elder Bednar explains the wonderful blessings that will come as they do that. There is also a challenge in The Friend magazine to interview an older family member. It gives some ideas for questions to ask. I thought that would be a good place for them to start. They decided Aunty Yvonne would be the perfect person to interview but they were pretty shy and nervous about calling her :0)

Smiley Guy

The blasted treadmill...everyday of my life. It's become so robotic that sometimes I go for my run and come home without even noticing.

I Love Being A Momma

"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world"

           

 ~Sister Julie B. Beck~       

Gumboots and Cheeks

Julia is the happiest kid I know. She's the squishiest too. We got to have a quick visit last month and it always makes me wish we could see her more. It was a delight to discover all the new things she's learned since the last visit. I'm not sure who had more fun playing, Timmy or Julia :0) He had her wound up like a top, just in time for bedtime ;0)

St Patricks Day

Green mini pies.

The crust is made from dates and nuts and the green part is avocado whip.

Janey made the darling shamrock bunting.

Kiss Me I'm Irish ribbons.

FHE treat

Vanilla Avocado Banana “Ice Cream” 

1 ripe avocado

1 medium banana (previously frozen in chunks is optimal)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c milk (nut milk, vanilla flavored nut milk, milk, cream, or water)

1/2 c sweetener

1 cup ice cubes (optional)

Blend everything in Vita-Mix or blender until smooth.

Vita-Mix Tips: If you are using a Vita and the mixture is extremely thick, add more milk/agave/splash of water until blending is easier and blend on High. Don’t be afraid of High.  Better to do this on High for shorter duration than lower speed/longer duration.

Store in container in the freezer.  Mixture will freeze solid in the freezer and if so, let thaw for 5 minutes on countertop until you can scoop it out.

Note: After a week, this ice cream had not turned brown even though avocados tend to oxidize rapidly.  And, the flavor still tasted spot-on.

School Time

Caterpillar math. Charlie is always emptying his piggy bank and counting his money. I like it because it's good math practice. Now we make coin caterpillars and add it up.

Timmy writes in his journal every Sunday and now Charlie has started to copy him. I found him on my bed writing. 

Jacob memorized the main skeletal bones. He knows some fun ones like humerus, clavicle, patella, tibia, femur, pelvis etc. He also knows all 50 states and all the Provinces!

Jacob made this pompom/marshmallow/cotton ball popper. Just cut off the bottom of a plastic cup. Cut the end off of a balloon and spread it over the cup on the end you cut off. Now when you pull on the balloon tail and let go it shoots the pompom. Set up a basket and have contests to see who can pop their pompom into the basket the most.

I cannot recommend these books enough. My kids are OBSESSED. Literally they will work on them for hours. Like hours and hours for weeks now. Jacob just turned five and he'll say things like, "Mom, does one thousand and twelve come after one zero one one?" Some of them go up in the thousands so it's been great for Jacob and Charlie to become so familiar with how numbers work.

You gotta click on some of these to see them up close. They are really neat.

This one is Jacob's.

Beauty Everywhere

Haven't posted a dresses in a while. 

                                                       This fancy one may be my all time favorite.

Love the colors.

I found this birdie puzzle for my mom. She and I and Tim did it together.

I posted a picture of a bracelet, just like the one I'm wearing above, a while back. My friend Melisa somehow figured out the pattern and made me one. She even made it the same color. One day it showed up in my mailbox. Needless to say, it was the best surprise ever. Even in college she was always making things for other people- she's sweet as can be. It was quite the inspiration too. I had never even heard of "tatting" but I soon found an older sister (old as in 80's) in my ward who knew how and she offered to give me lessons. This Sunday was my third lesson so I'm hoping to be able to surprise Melisa soon with a treat in return.

My hot brothers in Hawaii. Tanned and ripped. I love having three brothers.

Baby Isabelle turned 1 this weekend. She is as Beautiful as you get.

Snuggled brothers is beauty.

This is a picture of my dad as a little boy and his family. I think it's so exotic. He is the cute little boy in the front, middle. 

This is Souror. She is a designer and a lovely Aunty. I've only met her once, when I was 4 yrs old,  but my mom tells me that we are just like each other and that makes me happy. 

Breathing Books

Jane and I are reading "Strawberry Girl" By Lois Lenski right now. It won  a Newberry in 1945.

We are reading Farmer Boy By Laura Ingalls Wilder with Charlie too.

Jane's Obsession

 Jane loves Mozart's Magic Flute Opera so much so we studied Mozart's life to give her some background. She learned that it was composed during the last year of his life.

Devotional

We had a devotional this week that must of got the kids thinking because they had so many questions after. I heard this story and mental noted to share it with them because they love anything about animals, especially scary ones.

THE ONE YOU FEED

There’s a well-known legend about two wolves:

A Cherokee elder was teaching his children about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to them. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandchildren thought about it and after a minute one of them asked, “Which wolf will win?”

The elder simply replied, “The one you feed.”

We happen to have wolf puppets so I put one on each hand while I read the story. Afterwards, I gave examples of good decisions or bad decisions and they took play food and fed the corresponding wolf. 

Castle

We took the kids snowboarding for their first time. We had a great time. It was a beautiful day and the kids caught on so fast. We were super impressed. 

We ran into our old friends too which always adds to the fun.

Poor Jane had to wear my coat.

This is when Jacob was done with it. He unstrapped and took a sled ride down on his last run.

For some unknown reason, when Jacob took off his boots his feet were all wrinkled. He couldn't even walk, it was funny. We were happy to see that they'd go back to normal.