Intertube fun

Kids always find an alternate use for items. Becca brought the intertubes in the house and the girls found them to be great "movie watching" chairs.

 

However, it wasn't long before Lydia was sound asleep on the floor and Becca opted for a more comfortable chair to watch "snow white". 

  

I am so in love with these pictures. I'm excited at how well they turned out. I read an article about light source for taking photos and it an A+ tip, look at the light in those photos - completely unedited. Here is a link to that article if anyone is interested.

Tom

Tom is a cute kid who doesn't want to hold still long for the camera. I want a nice photo of each of my kids to hang on the wall (I didn't buy school photos, I figured I could do my own, but here it is the end of February and I still haven't done it, until today). He asked if we could just take two pictures and then he could be done. I told him it would be a few more than two, but it wouldn't take too long. After I had taken 10 shots, he asked if we were done yet. I said, "not yet, I need to get a good photo" and cute little Tom said, "they are all good pictures". Right you are Tom, all of your pictures are great because you are such a cute boy and that came out in each of the photos.

becca

 Becca is such a beautiful little girl. She is fun to photograph and it is so easy to get fabulous smiles out of her. Becca is three years old and full of life and fun. She laughs easily and loves to get others to laugh too. Becca is my story girl. She always is wanting stories read to her or told to her. At bedtime she likes me to make up stories and have everyone she loves be in the story. Becca also loves to dress up. This pink dress, in the photos, is in her dress up box and she has changed into it about three different times today, with other outfits in between each time.

Lydia

It's been a long time since I have done any digital scrapbooking. Ever since we moved (last August) my photoshop elements has not been working. Last week I took my computer to the Mac store and the wonderful people there got it working (for free) and now my kids and husband wonder if they will ever be able to separate me from my computer again. I just have so many months of catch up to do, and some relearning since I am rusty. I was brushing up my skills doing some tutorials on one of my favorite digiscrapbook sites (Jessica Sprague) and it inspired me to make this layout of my sweet Lydia.
Lydia is turning 18 months old this week, which means she goes into nursery at church next week. Jeremy will be glad for that, since he is the one that has her for the last two hours of church, while I am in Primary doing music time. I think she is excited. She has gone in there a few times when Jeremy or I have gone in to help and today when I told her about nursery she smiled and said "yea".  Lydia really is pure sweetness. Her sweet smile says it all - she really is as cute and sweet as she looks in those photos. I hope she always keeps her sweetness and her even temper, I need at least one child who is calm and sweet, I get too much drama from the others.

Florida Field Trip

I took the kids to an orange farm where we could pick our own oranges.

whole wheat bread

I had a fun time today making bread with friends. Some of my friends have expressed interest in learning to make bread and this week I finally did something about it. We got together this morning at my house and we started with grinding the wheat and then experienced the process of making bread - which after it was over they realized it's really quite easy and not time consuming to make bread. I can go from start to finish (bread out of the oven) in 1 1/2 hours, with only about 15-20 minutes of my time involved, the rest is rising time and cooking time. Of course our favorite part was eating the bread when it came fresh out of the oven.
Sharing this experience with my friends reinforced how much I love homemade bread and how much I love making it. Later I went over to help Kandis make bread at her house and Kara came too, and despite having spent the morning making bread there wasn't anything I would rather be doing. It felt so great to have a skill that I can share with others. Bread is such a yummy skill to have. Here's my recipe.

Perfect 100% Whole Wheat Bread
4 Cups WW flour
1 Tbls dough enhancer
1 Tbls high gluten flour
2 Tbls instant yeast (SAF brand is best)

    Mix the dry ingredients well and then add:
4 Cups water - hot, but not too hot

   Mix all together well and then let "sponge" for 15- 20 minutes (sponge= let sit without disturbing)
   Add in
 1 Tbls salt
1/3 Cup honey ( or sugar)
1/3 Cup oil
6-8 Cups WW flour

Add the additional flour one cup at a time until the sides of the bowl are clean and no dough is sticking to the sides. Be careful not to add too much flour - you don't want tough dough.
Knead bread in mixer for 7 minutes.
Make into 4 bread loaves. Let raise for 30 minutes (or until double in size, don't let it rise higher than the sides of the pan, it will rise a bit more while cooking).
Cook at 350 F for 30 minutes.

If you don't want to cook all four loaves at the same time, freeze some of them. After shaping, put in loaf pans and put in the freezer. After they have frozen wrap in plastic wrap. To use, let them thaw and raise and then cook them. I prefer to cook all the bread and after it cools, wrap and freeze some of the loaves and then pull them out an hour or so before needed, or can quite defrost in the microwave.

This dough also makes excellent rolls. I shape the rolls at the same time that I shape the loaves, but I let them rise until the bread is done baking (1 hour total) and then I bake them 15-20 minutes - I put them in as soon as the bread comes out.

Take time to laugh

Have you ever watched Brian Regan - he is the funniest comedian- my sides hurt from laughing. The video labeled "walkie talkie" is short and sooo funny.
Enjoy!

Cookies and mustaches

Charlie made mustaches for Tom and himself, I thought it was pretty clever. Tom wanted to make cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip is our favorite, and of course the dough is our favorite, the cooked ones are okay too, but really, it's all about the dough.

Fingerpainting

 

We did fingerpainting with Becca and Lydia today, we took off shirts so they didn't get dirty, but maybe I should make them some smocks to wear. The finger paint is homemade, I found an easy recipe. The girls enjoyed mixing the colors - Becca was all about making purple, and they loved how the  paint felt to smear around. I'm usually against messy projects, but I think I would do this one again with them.

Precious

How is it that the littlest, messiest, noisiest people are so precious? Lydia is such a stinker. For instance, right now while I am trying to type she is screaming, climbing all over me and trying to help me type, and mad that I won't let her.  But she is also so sweet. Just a moment before all the trauma she was giving me smiles and kisses. And now she is back to laughing and giggling and snuggling with me. 

I love her little feet - so little, so chubby, and the cute little toes.

I love to make her laugh - she has the cutest laugh.

She has crazy hair, not as crazy as Becca's, but still, it's crazy, although, it has a slight curliness  to it, I don't know where she gets that from. 

Lydia is my constant companion, she doesn't like to be out of my sight. Sometimes that is obnoxious, but I remind myself to enjoy it, although my little shadow is less than helpful sometimes (hands in everything while I'm trying to cook, pulling folded clothes on the floor, pulling things on the floor that I just put away) she won't stay little for much longer and soon I won't have a baby anymore

It's real

Yesterday was Jeremy's first day in his master's program. He went to orientation all day and then we went to an evening orientation for the students and their spouse. We met a few other students that are from Utah (I guess there are 8 students from Utah in Jeremy's class, this is becoming a popular school for Utah people, it's nice to have others from "home", it makes home feel a little less far away).
Today is Jeremy's first day of class. He has class all day Tuesday (three classes) and part day Thursday (one class). The rest of the time is study time.
Although we moved to Flordia 4 months ago, it finally feels like we are here for what we came for. It was nice to come early and get settled before school started, but it never felt real until now.

Camping

Last Monday Jeremy took Charlie and Tom camping. They went with some friends, Aaron and his boys Luke and Jordan, and Art and his son Nathan. They left Monday afternoon and returned Tuesday afternoon. They came home smelling like campfire, so I think they got the fire going okay, I think they even did smores. The dads all came home exhausted - sleeping on the ground is rough - Jeremy said he is going to get a cot before he goes camping again. The boys had a fabulous time and it is definitely one of the funnest things they have done recently.

The Good News

The following was so heart warming and uplifting that I wanted to share it.

"The Good News is that He who commands us to love is the most loving being in the universe. He is also the pleasantest. Heber C. Kimball provided a wonderful window on the soul of God:

Often when I have been in the presence of brother Brigham, we would feel such a buoyant spirit that when we began to talk we could not express our feelings, and so, "Hallelujah," says Brigham, "Glory to God," says I.  I feel it and say it.
Some of the brethren kind of turn their noses on one side at me when I make such expressions, but they would not do it if they knew God.  Such ones do not even know brothers Brigham and Heber; if they did they would not turn a wry face at us.  I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being.  Why?  Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit.  That is one reason why I know; and another is--the Lord said, through Joseph Smith, "I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful countenance."  That arises from the perfection of His attributes; He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man. (Journal of Discourses, Vol.4, p.222, emphasis added).

Was there ever a more ennobling and encouraging doctrine than the reality and goodness of God? Regularly each Latter-day Saint sings glibly that “I am a child of God.” When the significance of that truth settles into our hearts, it changes everything. We travel life’s byways under the watchful eye of a Father who understands us, loves us, and wants us home with Him. 
Knowing the character of such a Father, helps us progress. We are never more like our Heavenly Father than when we love others as He loves us. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (I John 4:11). "

Beach

We went to the beach twice this week. The first time was on Wednesday, late afternoon. We got there in time for sunset. The ocean was calm, the water was gently lapping the shore. The colors in the sky were soft pinks and blues. The sun was a deep orange. It was so peaceful and beautiful. If Lydia wouldn't have fallen in the water and gotten soaking wet and if Becca had eaten dinner instead of falling asleep and as consequence was now so hungry she didn't want to stay at the beach, we would have stayed longer to enjoy the beautiful evening. But, it was short lived and after 15 minutes we left, I was sad to leave such a beautiful scene.
Yesterday was our second time at the beach. While the boys were at school the rest of us decided the day was warm enough ( 80 degrees) that the beach should be pleasant. It's interesting how the ocean is so different from day to day. Wednesday it was calm and serene. Today it was quite the opposite. The waves were crashing into the beach and there was a dense fog that limited how far we could see - not even a hundred yards before the fog engulfed what was beyond that short distance. Although the air was warm, the water was cold. It was shocking the first time the water lapped my feet, but as always, it doesn't take long for the once cold water to seem pleasant. Walking along the beach with children, especially toddlers, who literally toddle along. There are shells to examine, and sand to scoop (and throw, that is Lydia's favorite thing), waves of water to chase and people to wave to. As we walked down the beach, away from the groupings of people who set up near the parking lot, the fog even further separated us from other people, and except for the occasional passerby who was also walking along the beach, we felt like the beach was our own private sanctuary. The fog made it seem dreamlike and the overall effect was so soothing.

Sidewalk chalk art

How are your skills in sidewalk chalk art? Check out this youtube video of some sidewalk art from two missionaries in Moscow Russia.

New Year

Happy New Year! Is it really 9 days into the new year already? How time flies. It's been rainy and cold so we've been indoors more this week. We wanted to go for a bike ride today, but it rained all day. The kids got to play with some friends this morning and then they spent a majority of the rest of the day building with legos. This picture isn't from today, I unfortunately didn't get a photo of today's creation. Jeremy and the boys come up with some great things. Just yesterday we added to our lego collection with a bucket of legos we found at a thrift store. All of our legos are second hand. They are too expensive from the store, so we keep our eyes out for used ones and so far have four buckets of legos, which apparently is enough to build large creations.

I wanted to share a link to Book of Mormon charts to mark off as you read the Book of Mormon. One in particular caught my eye. It is in the shape of a temple and by the time you read the whole Book of Mormon the temple is colored in. I want to post it in the living room and use it for our family scripture study so we can see our progress this year.

I don't want to grow big

Parenting comes with a big learning curve. Even with four young children, I sometimes forget that growing up is hard for little ones. We just think they are throwing a tantrum or trying to rattle our nerves, but really, it is a challenge for them to deal with all the emotions and complexities of life. I was reminded of this tonight when I was putting Becca to bed. I was trying to get her to stay in her bed and go to sleep, and I was sitting in the hall waiting to herd her back to her room if she came out, but she just sat on the floor and cried. I asked if she wanted me to tuck her in bed, but she didn't say anything. Finally she said, "I don't want to grow big mommy, I just want to stay little". I think she is really feeling the transition from babyhood to preschool age. She turned 3 a few weeks ago and life has been changing a lot for her lately. She is potty training, next week she will be in Sunbeams instead of nursery at church, and in general she is just getting older and definitely no longer a baby. I get frustrated with her tantrums and her attitude, but after tonight I think I will be able to respond with more empathy and remember what growth spurts felt like, and how sometimes you just need an extra hug and a little extra understanding.

Charlie just lost his other bottom front tooth. It fell out during primary. I am the Primary music leader and I was doing singing time and he was trying to get my attention. Finally I called on his franticly waving hand and asked him what he needed to share, and he pointed to his empty space in his mouth. On the way home from church he lost his tooth in the car, so he didn't have it to put under his pillow. I told him he could just write a note and the tooth fairy would come. He woke up this morning and he said, "the tooth fairy didn't come". Oh, that forgetful toothfairy, that wasn't the first time she forgot. I asked if he remembered to write the note and he said no. Well, now we know why the toothfairy didn't come, there was no note and no tooth. Lucky tooth fairy that she gets a second chance to get it right.

2010 Family Home Evening Lessons

On Sugardoodle website, Angie Campbell has posted weekly lessons for the year of 2010. Click here to go to this great link for simple FHE more geared to younger children.
Although this is not mine to give, it is free and available for personal use. If I could, I would print one out to send to my friends and family as Christmas gifts, but I guess my gift is letting you be aware of this and you will have to print it out for your self.
Merry Christmas.

Enjoy the Show

I love Christmas lights. Some people have too much time and money, but I enjoy their creativity. This video I got from youtube is a must see for all Christmas light lovers.

card

I put my scrapbooking skills to good use and helped my friend Kara make this for her Christmas card to send to friends and family. I also took the pictures of her cute family. I am happy to be able to use my skills to help other people. The great thing is they think I am helping them, but really they are helping me. My skills are able to grow and expand when I am challenged and I was happy to see that I was able to put together something that is beautiful to me and Kara seems happy with it too.