Choose Your Own Clothes Day

Today is a (lovely) stay home day. On those days I let the girls pick their own outfits. Here are todays wearings:

Things to note:

Tessa *always* wears Greta's clothes when given the option of wearing whatever she wants.

The pants she has on are size 12 month. (How can a 4 year old even do them up?)

The shirt is 12-18 month.

Greta usually wears Tessa's clothes when given the option. But today she chose from her own drawer.

She has 3 layers on the bottom: a pair of 12 month capris, a 3 month diaper cover and a size 6 month pair of shorts. (oh and a onesie)

On the top she has the onesie, a jammie top and a T-shirt.

So Stylin'!!

Things to Do!

The other day the girls and I were at Chandler's music program at school. Tess suddenly decided it was a bit boring and without any warning decided the playground would be more fun. So she took off. I might have caught up with her sooner but Greta was quite sick (with a fever) and cradling her made it more difficult to catch up with her than normal (even in normal circumstances it is hard because Tess is so fast). By the time we made it back to the program Tess was. not. happy. to. be. there. (I'm sure it was a nice addition to the video they were making for parents!) Thankfully a nice lady next to us offered some take home reading books she had in a bag. Life saving.

Something good came out of it all. . . .one of the books was on how to make a cardboard doll house and it grabbed Tessa's attention. She pestered me to make one. Since I didn't read the book I googled for some ideas. After gleaning ideas, here is what we came up with:

I didn't realize when we put the dolls in that the only one Tess deemed as a boy (she wanted all girls, but I told her a family needed to have a daddy) was sitting on the couch with an adoring mommy! Recipe for a happy family!

Chandler made most of the furniture--the TV, aquarium, computer and couch. He loves this kind of stuff and did a really great job with them. I so appreciated his help because I needed to get going on dinner and the girls hadn't quite had their fill on working on it yet.

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With that Google search, I walked away with many links to blogs of fun things to do with my kids. After adding them to my blog roll, first on my list was finding ideas to keep little girlies quiet during conference this weekend. Here are a few of them:

(These are just links to the posts I'm using , if interested, click on the blog title to get entire blogs of fun things to do with young (or older) children.)

Puzzles. I bought some large bird & fish cut outs in the party section of Hobby Lobby to do this with. I used a floor puzzle I had to trace my pieces so they are interlocking.

Tumble Bunnies. Something I can put my boys in charge of doing and they will have as much fun with it as the girls.

Sensory bin. There are lots of sites with ideas for sensory bins, but I loved this one because once it's over, I can toss it out and I don't have to store it.

Cardboard! This site is awesome! I haven't decided what project I'll have the girls do, but whatever it is, I'm sure a few big brothers will be interested in helping. We'll be revisiting often. (Ironically, I followed the tutorial for catapult earlier last week from this site, but didn't click on the blog to see the whole thing.)

I'm still searching for more ideas so if you have some, send them my way please!

Pinewood Derby & Delaware

Two recent projects from Chandler:

A state report on Delaware:

A pinewood derby car:

iPhone, Jimmer Generation

Chandler knows it is impossible to have a competitive car with the parents he's got. But he knows the sky is the limit for a cool looking car. He had a neighbor help him cut it down, I created the screen in photoshop for him--to his exact specifications, he painted it and added the scroll button, volume buttons(on the side), camera and logo on the back and Tom helped him put on the wheels. It was one of the easiest and cool cars we've done!!

This is going to be the slowest car there! He didn't want to put any weights on it because then the back wouldn't look like an iPhone. We were joking at breakfast this morning that the older boys could be at home and we could call them when Chandler started it down the track and they would be to the church before it got to the bottom. No matter, he's got his own iPhone with Jimmer on it and that's better than winning!

FHE lesson by Tess

A preface first.

We have this book from the library. The girls have loved Tom reading it to them. (It's written in comic book style so I don't really enjoy reading it.) It is about a boy who wants a 'cool' school picture, but his mom makes him get a normal haircut instead of one with pink spikes like he wants. Because he is so disappointed with his haircut the barber gives him a bag of slurpy fun pops. Billy discovers they turn your teeth whatever color the pop is. He takes them to school and shares them with his friends right before the picture so all of the kids in the picture have brightly colored teeth.

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When I told Tessa that she had the lesson for FHE last night she knew exactly what she was going to do. She wanted to tell us everything Sister Hunsaker taught her about baptism the day before. She wrote everyone a letter, each with a fact about baptism that she learned. She put them in envelopes and for her lesson she had everyone open them and share. (As a note, because Tess couldn't see for so long, her fine motor skills are severely lacking for a 4 year old--Greta colored better than she did. We have been working intensely on that and the improvements she's made in the last two months are impressive.)

(The brown is the goggles, the pink is crossing out the goggles showing you can't wear them.)

Notice the fold marks on the paper--she is very independent and knows what she wants!

She also told us how she did a demonstration for her Primary class about how you get baptized. I'm sure that was enlightening and effective!! It was one FHE where everyone was engaged and entertained!!

Preparation

The conversation I had with Tess a few years ago about what she remembered about Jesus (see here & here) has spurred a study on the topic of organization and the two sister topics of order and preparation. Something from my study journal I feel like I need to post:

June 2010

Subject: Order, Preparation

Source: Alma 13:3 (my own interpretation is inserted)

"And thus is the manner {order} after which they were ordained--being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding great faith and good works. . . "

Heavenly Father taught us and watched us premortally for long enough to know which of his children would exhibit great faith and good works while on the earth. And then he organized us into families and time periods and set into action experiences that would shape us and mold us to become mortally what we need to become. He also put into place responsibilities and "missions" for us to accomplish while in mortality. We were called and set apart premortally to these responsibilities. And then we were prepared. Now that is an awesome thought! Each of our spirits were trained and conditioned, probably extensively to meet the challenges and demands that we would experience here. What a kind and loving Father!!

When I think about one way that Heavenly Father prepares us for challenges I think of the Brother of Jared and his people. It says in Ether 6:5-7:

5And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a ^afurious wind blow upon the face of the waters, ^btowards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

6And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

7And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being ^atightlike unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ^bark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

The Lord had prepared these 'furious' winds to take the Jaredites to the promised lands (as is typically the ONLY way to promised lands. . .) BUT, he had also prepared them. In Ether 2 we learn of a few of these preparations. They had seed and animals (at least honey bees). They had water-tight vessels. They had a way to get air. They had been promised that they would be taken to the promised land (therefore not needing to map their direction and steer). They had light. And I might add: they had been obedient--so other blessings were allowed to flow.

These preparations were sufficient. We read in Ether 6:8-12:

8And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were ^adriven forth before the wind.

9And they did ^asing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did ^bthank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.

10And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither ^awhale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.

11And thus they were driven forth, ^athree hundred and forty and four days upon the water.

12And they did ^aland upon the shore of the ^bpromised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his ^ctender mercies over them.

If you haven't noticed, life is challenging. Unending in challenges in fact. But preparations have already been laid for our success--mortally and premortally. For me, there is comfort in that. I can trust Heavenly Father to the end. His plan is sufficient. I just need to trust and allow His plan to shape me.

I Didn't Cry. . .

But I wanted to.

I was gone just a second. . .

I came back to 2 year old independence.

While I'm thankful it wasn't a full gallon, 1/3 of a gallon is still A LOT of milk to clean up.

(And I was thankful the largest flow off the counter missed the scripture tote right below.)

Greta's Birthday

I'm so late in getting this posted. . . .

Little Greta turned 2!!! She is a delight!

What a sweet little thing she is. While she is mellow and easy going, she definitely has some spunk too!

She loved her new dress up clothes and then a few real clothes as well.

She is also talking quite a bit more. She still only uses one word at a time and you have to be a pretty good guesser to figure out what she is trying to say, but she definitely knows and after you figure it out, you can see how she arrived at the pronunciation (most of the time--she calls Caleb RuvRuv).

2 year stats:

20lbs. 6 oz. (at least this made her curve curve up again)

31 " tall

One great new thing: Greta can now put on her own glasses! It is so cute! Here is a little video. (You might also note her independence of dressing herself in coordinating classics!)

Here's to another great year, Sweetie!

Secret Admirer

The other day Tess drew this picture. She came to me to write on it. I asked her what it was. She wouldn't tell me, she just wanted me to write on it "From Your Secret Admirer". So I did. She folded up and put it under her daddy's pillow.

As soon as he came home from work she started jumping up and down and took him back to his room and squealed, "Look under your pillow!!!" He did and asked her if she knew who his secret admirer was. She said she didn't.

About an hour later, she couldn't contain herself and said, "Daddy, I'll give you a little hint about who your secret admirer is. Her name starts with T."

Tom guessed a few wrong names and she said, "NOOOO! Her name is spelled T-E-S-S-A!"

She is definitely good at admiring, not so good at the secret part.

Utah State Senate

A few weeks ago we were visiting Tom's parents and were talking about how there is no recognition for earning all of the merit badges. Tom's dad said, "Well, I'm going to call Michael Waddoups and see if he will recognize him on the Senate floor." So he did and arrangements were made and on Wednesday we went to the Utah State Senate.

Cache got to lead the Senators in the pledge then sit on the stand by President Waddoups. They read an official Senate citation honoring Cache.

After it was read, the Senators gave him a standing ovation.

(For locals, John Cannon is standing at the back of the room against the wall in the above photo.)

All in all a very cool event. (To see more pictures click here.)

In preparation for this, I had to get all of his merit badges onto one sash. The long sashes only hold 120 badges so I had the idea that if I could unpick the bottom, I could add a little bit more from another sash and give me room for the remaining 9.

It was a fantastic idea, but unfortunately it wouldn't be that easy. BSA changed all of the colors a bit ago, so I ended up buying two new sashes and unpicked the 117 badges sewn on his old one. Thankfully my mom offered to come down and help me. (She knew the few day time frame I had but was also well aware of my sewing skills!) With the two of us working together it ended up being a good 6 hour job (and that was not unpicking time). With the interruptions I have with the little girlies, it would have taken me at least a week to do it on my own and the addition onto the sash would not have looked as good. (Thanks mom!!!)

Ham Fried Rice

I realized that I was untruthful in my last post. The first Chinese food I cooked was actually Ham Fried Rice. I had forgotten! (But it was still my Formosa experience that led me to this recipe.) When I worked for Community Education in Pocatello they had a class at a local Chinese restaurant on how to cook Fried Rice. Since I was an office employee, I got to go for free. I still remember the guy's name--Poo Huey. He called the office from time to time to talk to the man over Community Ed (they were friends) and it was always announced really loudly "Mr. Kawamura, Poo is on the line". Gave me chuckles.

Anyway. . . I don't have a real recipe, but I do have directions: (in approximate proportions that I use now--to feed a bunch of hungry boys who love this)

Cook some rice (3 cups dry) After it is done, add soy sauce and stir. Season to your taste; I probably use about 1/4-1/3 cup for this amount of rice, but that is just a guess since I never measure.

Cook large chopped onion in 2 TBSP peanut oil, when it is nearly done, add 2 cups chopped ham. Cook until onions are transparent. Slide the ham and onion to the side of the pan and crack 5-6 eggs in the pan. (I cook this in an electric skillet and prop the two legs under the ham up on small plates so the eggs don't run into the ham.) Generously salt and pepper (key to happy fried rice). Stir and scramble. When they are done, mix them together with the ham and onion. Add cooked carrots and peas (I just use from the frozen mix and use about 1-2 cups). Add your seasoned rice. Cook together. For drier rice, cook with lid off for longer than to warm things; for moist rice cook just until warmed. Add more soy sauce if desired.

Poo added very thinly sliced lettuce at the end of the cooking, but I often forget that. Sliced cabbage is also very good in it, but I don't always have it on hand. (add cabbage at the same time as the peas and carrots)