Frog!

Every once in a while my husband comes home with a frog. My kids love this because they get to play with them for a few minutes then we always take them to our neighbors pond and let them go. This is the first time Hayden has ever been big enough to "enjoy" this. I say "enjoy" because she thought the frog was sooooo funny, as long as it did NOT get close to her. If it got close enough to touch her she would cry! So no pictures of her holding the frog. This one was pretty big too!

Amelia with her "Frog Prince" I tried to get her to kiss it for the camera but I probably would have gagged if she had!

Close up of FROG!

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes!

ery Wednesday I take my girls to story time at the library. The lady who does it does an fabulous job! IT is always very well attended! Some times a little to well! But we love it regardless! Anyway I love watching my children develop in this setting (since I have taken all my kids since Ethan was 18 months old!) Hayden has gotten to the participate phase just recently and I love watching here. There is always a movement part to story time where we do Ring around the Rosie, Head shoulders knees and toes, and other moving kinds of things. She also has songs in between all the books. This really helps kids stay focused! Anyway Hayden just today I noticed she started doing head shoulders knees and toes only all she ever touches is knees and toes but I love it! Her other favorite part is ring around the Rosie and she has loved that part for quite a while! She has started doing hokey poky too! But I just had to get her on video doing head shoulders knees and toes. Oh and I don't think it shows up in the video but after story time we were headed out to the car and Hayden and Amelia always race me down the side walk to the car and Hayden was running and tried to stop at the curb and her feet stopped faster then her face.... she has some nice pink road rash on her nose, forehead. It was soooo sad. It happened in slow motion and I couldn't stop it. She cried like it was awful but there wasn't to much blood.... I think she will live. Here is the clip! Sorry you have to listen to me sing. You may want to turn your volume down!

Cookies, Conference, and More

I have been pretty lazy about posting lately. Partly because I have been BUSY! Now that one major primary duty is done we are working on our Primary program for church. This is always a big thing for me, I shouldn't stress over it so much but for some reason I do, then I seem to crash as soon as it is over. So in a week from Sunday I will be feeling a lot better! Anyway on to things that are happening now!
Last weekend was our Church's world wide conference where we spend 2 days listening to our leaders. They give us direction, inspire us, and so much more. I have found with 4 kids it is just to much for them to go to the church and listen. We have been listening for the past few years at home from our Internet. Because we do this I try to have special things for my kids to do to help them listen to parts and then when they are to noisy I send them away so I can listen. I also make tons of cookies the day before so that they have something yummy to snack on and I don't have to think of what there is, can they have more. I just make so many they can eat as many as they want. One of my dear friends and I have made it a tradition to scrapbook together while we listen. (I actually listen better if my hands are busy.) She was on her way home from Disneyland this year so I was on my own :( Conference was so amazing. I felt like so many of the talks were written for me to hear. My heart felt so full I didn't want it to end. You would think that after 8 hours of listing to talks anyone would be done but I could have done it for another 2 sessions easy! The spirit was so strong, and I can't say enough about the primary choir! I doubt I was the only one in tears each time they sang. I felt kind of funny sitting at my scrap table with tears running down my face but it truly was beautiful and it sounded like a choir of angels! I don't ever remember there being a primary choir before but I loved it and I hope they do it again! Last week there was a conference just for the women and I went to that and came home and told my husband that Presiden t Ukdorf (sp?) told me that I needed to scrapbook more. Or at least that was what I heard him telling me. He talked about women having the need to create, and make beautiful things, and make unorganized matter into organized matter and make beautiful things for the world to see. I have a closet full of unorganized matter just waiting to be made into beautiful things for the world to see! (My friend Denise told me she thought this meant we were suppose to have more babies but I told her I didn't hear that part and she should not tell my husband that!:) Anyway I got so much done while listening!!!! I was so excited I finished 20 layouts!!! (To be honest 9 of these were done and I got them from a swap all I did was put pictures on them and added a title if it needed one, maybe journaling...) But 11 of them I did from scratch!!! Yeah me! I felt like I accomplished so much. I didn't really want to put my table away I felt like I was on a roll. But My house had suffered enough. But then I realized I have a month to finish a quilt for Hayden! (I always make a quilt for my kids when they turn 2. Because when they turn 2 we move them from crib to big kid bed. I don't know that I want to with Hayden because she is confined and there isn't a baby on the way to take over the crib so I think I am not ready. But I am going to do the quilt anyway and if the big girl bed is a problem it will wait. I had bought the fabric a month ago thinking I better get busy... Well now is the time. So Monday I started cutting and by Monday night I had all 30 12x12 squares pieced together! (Don't be to impressed I only sew strips of fabric together I never follow a pattern!) But I think it is cute! So today I cut the sashing and got all the squares put together and now have the top all the way done! I picked up a frame from my friend this afternoon and hope to have it all on the rack tonight before I go to bed. I would have it on already but someone had to fold laundry! I hate house work when I have other things I would rather be working on. (Oh wait I always hate house work! JK Not always I like a clean house I just let other things be more important sometimes!) Anyway We got the clothes folded so maybe I can get it on the rack tonight and start quilting. This is one of my favorite steps. Mostly because it doesn't involve my sewing machine that comes untreated, gets jammed, and I sew kind of crooked.... And I don't have to measure, or even think much I thread the needle and go to town! I have and excuse to have the tv on. (Not that there is anything to watch during the day anyway!) But I like it none the less. My sweat friend who I borrowed the quilt rack from offered to help me with the binding! This is my least favorite part! I am just not great at getting the angle cut right and getting the huge thing sew together very well. Once I have it together getting in on the quilt is my other favorite part. More hand stitching. This is funny because I don't ever hand stitch anything else like needle point or anything (it involves a pattern!) I am not much of a pattern person. Like with the quilt top I just do some basic geometry and make up my own thing. I like that part better then trying to figure out a pattern. Maybe I am just bad at following directions. I don't know what it is but I enjoy it more this way and it works for me! Anyway I am excited about the quilt. The colors are the same as Amelia's only different fabrics. I wanted them to go together since they will share a room and it is purple also!

Full of Hot Air!

Yesterday morning while I was loading the truck with stuff to take to the church for our primary activity I saw a bunch of hot air balloons floating very close to our house I ran in and yelled at the kids to come and see. They were all so excited and watched for a few minutes. I left and 2 blocks away I realized I forgot one thing so ran back and saw one landing in the park just a block away from our house so I told them to go see. They all went down there with my husband while I went to set up. When they came to the church an hour later they were so excited because they had gotten to go for a ride! I wasn't there and I had the camera so I have no pictures of my own. If you want to see some of my boys in the balloon you can go to Shawn and Denise's blog. I am going to try to get some of the pictures just for scrap booking and I might get a few loaded here too! We will see!

Primary Activity

I Hope they call me on a mission!

Yesterday we had our primary quarterly activity. It was all about missionary work. We gathered the kids in the primary room and Sister Allen helped the kids memorize D&C 4:3. She had them singing it to the tune of ABC's and they had it done in just minutes. It was really great. Then we gave them their little bags that Sister Jackson made them that had little pass- along cards (these are cards that tell about what our church believes, so that you can give away to share our beliefs with others.) We also gave each of the kids a Book of Mormon and challenged them to pray about someone to share it with. Then each of them drew a "mission" out of the bowl. There were four places to go, Japan, Argentina, Sweden, and Winter Quarters. But first they had to go to the "MTC" the Missionary Training Center. Where they learned some great skills.

Here is Ethan learning to "shave." All the kids shaved a balloon with a Popsicle stick. (This was lots of fun!Here is Amelia learning to sew on a button.
This is some of the primary children writing letters to some of the missionaries from our ward and while they were there they were setting a goal or setting the date as to when they would be prepared to serve their mission or they were choosing which temple they wanted to be married in!
They had a fun relay race of getting dressed to be a missionary. The boys put pants, shirt, tie, and shoes on and the girls had a dress, top, socks, and shoes. It was pretty fun to see the little girls walking in heals!
They then boarded the "CTR Airline" plane to take them to their missions. This Brother made it lots of fun for the kids. They even ran into some "turbulence!" And of course their had to be some in air snacks of pretzels!We had some wonderful members in our ward offer to teach the children about the wonderful places they served their missions in. This one served in Japan and the kids loved his station, He had their shoes off, on the floor, and eating rice with chopsticks!

This brother served in Sweden and taught the kids some Swedish phrases, and fed them Swedish meatballs! They had the room very dark because he was telling them at this time of year there it is very cold and dark.

Argentina was really great to . He had tons of pictures of places he had lived and told the kids all these wonderful things about his country, and his service! He had lots of stuff for the kids to look at!

This Sister served in Winter Quarters Visitor Center and had a great time teaching the kids about the pioneers. She had them loading a "hand cart" aka coolers full of the things they might take if they were going on a trip. The kids had a lot of hands on fun in her room.
In the end we gave them each a package of M&M's because now they were ready to be "Mormon Missionaries" It was a fun day and we had lots of wonderful people help make it be such a fun day!
Today we practiced our Sacrament meeting program for the first time. It was about par for the course.... There were just so many kids missing it was hard to get a real feel for how it will actually go. We have one more week to practice I hope more of the children are there!

Weighloss

So some of you might have noticed my little weightloss ticker on the right this week. It just sat there saying "I lost 0 lbs!" I am sure you might have thought what that was all about. Well, a few friends and I are trying to loose weight together. (This is the only way it will work for me!) There is money involved, winner takes all! And this helps me be motivated, accountable, and I thought posting it would help me be humiliated enough to keep at it long enough to get it off. Sure my goal isn't "big", but for a person at a whopping 4 foot (almost) 10 inches, 18 lbs is a lot of weight to carry. So it has to go! For health, sanity, and clothes reasons. So I am off and on my way! One of the friends I am doing this with showed me the web site I am using to count calories (this is one thing I have NEVER done before!). If you want to see the web site it is myfitnesspal.com I am actually loving it, it lets me know where I am at. Monday I recorded my dinner and I had over eaten by 40 some calories, not a big deal right. Well I wanted to be under. So I got on my elliptical and burned them off and then some. That is helpful for me to actually see where I am each day. But I only weigh myself once a week. I can get to crazy about it if I do it more then that! I don't want to talk to much about it all. I am not doing any crazy or restrictive diet, I know that won't work for me. If I am told I can't have something I only want it more. So I am just counting calories so that I can use some "moderation in all things!" I even had ice cream one night (my weakness!) but I had like 400 calories left at the end of the day so I could and guilt free!!! So I will record my weight each week and my ticker will go down down down I hope. After all I lost 2 lbs in 5 days!!! I would post a before and after shot but I don't want to scare anyone!

A Day at the Races!

This So Hayden's new favorite thing she, has started racing! She loves it and always wants me to race with her. She will say "Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom" While she is pushing me back up against where ever she wants to race from and then say something that sounds a lot like "Ready set, GOOOOOOOO!" I decided to try and get a clip of her doing it with her brother's and sister last night!


This is the after math of racing in the house. Amelia is holding an ice pack from banging her head on the table! It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt!

Brock's Lost tooth!

Brock lost his very first tooth Saturday Night just before bed! It was very exciting! He had been working on it for weeks and Daddy just pushed on it and it literally popped out of his mouth! He couldn't wait for the Tooth fairy to come!! She is way more generous then when I was a kid. I remember getting a quarter. Now days kids are getting $1. (At least that is what the other mom's told me...) He is so happy to be sporting his toothless grin and is hoping to be missing the one next to it by Halloween so we can carve a pumpkin to look like him. (The other one is very loose and I am sure it will be out by then!) Yeah Brock!

Crafty Pictures

Work shop Pictures! Sorry there are so many pictures but I needed to get it all displayed... I will put titles over everything so you can let me know which thing you are interested in. If you got my email you will have all the prices, dates and what each kit comes with! Thanks! you can email me if you want to do one of the workshops! Thanks!!

These 2 pictures of the elf card are called Merry and Bright! They are the Card kit Workshop!
These next 6 card are from the Stamp A Stack workshop. Pick which ones you want to make and how many!
Nativity
Warm Holiday WishesJOYBlue SnowflakeBaby, it's cold outsideGreen Snowflake

The next 2 pictures are of the "Explosion Box"

The next 8 are the Christmas Memories Scrapbook workshop. They may not be in order but I tried!!!

Moving on and lots more!

We have tried to pack in as much activity into the last part of this summer as possible! Both to keep me sane, and to enjoy the last bit of freedom. Things don't slow down for me when the kids go to school, at least not with my calling. This is what lots of primary presidency's refer to the crazy season. There is so much to be done the last quarter in primary! But I am not going to dwell on that much on this post because I get overwhelmed just thinking about it all!!! Anyway we are moving on... as in getting over the rough patch and getting into good things! The joys of being a mother and stay at home mom! There are lots of pictures on this post because I haven't really posted much lately other then gripping so I am getting "caught up."
This was last Saturday's project. Larry, the girls, and I went and picked apples while the boys were at a birthday party. Then we came home and canned apple sauce like crazy! at 10:00 p.m Saturday night I was mopping up the mess! I think the word mess is an understatement as to what happened to my kitchen during the process of doing apples. (Definitely the messiest fruit so far!) But ohhhhh sooo yummy! It is like apple pie in a jar! MMMMMM!
This is my project yesterday (the 4th) and tomorrows! They weren't all ripe so I have to finish them tomorrow!
Yeah the first day of school was the 2nd! Usually here they start with half days the first week and they have conferences all week in the afternoon. But this year they started with a bang, all day every day!!!! Sweet relief for me! That sounds awful I know, I love my boys but with two little girls at home it is so quiet, peaceful and ohhh so nice!!! (Now the question is, is it so nice we want anther one or so nice we should stop and get to the point where they are all in school sooner.... We shall see!)
Brock is in 1st grade and his best friend from last year is in his class again this year! He is happy about that! He has a new to our school teacher this year. So far I really like her. It was a new experience for me to walk in and think.... "she looks young!" No doubt younger then me! I guess I am hitting that age where I am the "old mom" at the school! (Not the oldest!!!! But I am not the youngest!!!) After all I will turn 30 before the end of this year! OUCH!
Ethan enjoying our traditional first day of school home made cookies. I love to have homemade cookies for my kids the first day of school. I do it more then just the first day but I try to be sure that we do that day! They love it. (So do I!!! Yumm!)
The day before school started (Labor Day) we decided to go to the Zoo. Brock won free tickets at the library this year so we have been looking forward to this! Hayden loves all animals and gets very excited to see them on TV, or in real life! She has a toy elephant that is her most favorite thing. She will sleep with it and carry it everywhere if I let her. On top of that the elephant at the Portland Zoo just had a baby! (days ago!) So we thought fun we will go see the baby! We knew it would be crowded but we figured it didn't matter what we did we would have the same problem. So off we went. We could see the baby but Hayden couldn't because he was asleep and the momma had covered him with sawdust. She has a hard time seeing things unless they move, or are really big. But she saw the big ones and was soooo excited! We are really trying to get her to say words other then NO, Don't, out, off, cheese, mom... I want her to say elephant, and her siblings names. But my kids just will not perform! None of them ever would! But she had a great time pointing at every animal!

I just thought this was funny how a giraffe bends over to eat off the ground!
This was last Friday's project. They were so yummy! I think I ended up with 49 quarts and then I did about 12 pints of jam!!! It tastes soooo good but for some reason didn't get very thick? I haven't made peach jam for years so I am not sure if there was a trick I forgot or not but it still is really good on pancakes!!! It is like fresh peaches!!!!

Before doing the applesauce last Saturday we had some old bread so we took it to feed to the ducks and geese. Again because Hayden loves animals we knew she would love this activity! She laughed a lot it was pretty funny!

Amelia's marshmallow face!The weekend before Labor Day we took the kids camping at Green Peter Lake. It was so much fun! We got there kind of late in the evening and all the camp sites are taken (of course!) But if you have ever been there there are lots of places you can just pull over on the side of the road and camp. They even have fire pits for you to use. So we figured we would just do this. And if you don't want TMI don't read the next few sentences! When we were pulling in Brock asked us "Where will we go to the bathroom?" I told him "On the trees." He paused and said.... "what if we need to poo?" I told him "well you go on the ground and berry it." He made the funniest face and paused and declared "THAT'S GROSS!" I can't say that I disagree but sometimes you do what you gotta doo doo! Anyway as soon as we got out of the truck Ethan started running around saying "We are like wild people!!!" Larry and I could help but laugh and figure we were better off not in a camp site where our rowdy kids could disturb other people!It worked out great and the kids had a blast. Unfortunately I let them eat as many smores as they wanted and they ate an entire bag of marshmallows and we had a heck of a time getting to sleep! But they all had fun!

Brock and his favorite food!
(Brock's middle name is Marshal and Ethan started calling him Brock Marshmallow a year or so ago and now it seems to be soooo fitting since he loves them soooo much!

Trying to get to sleep after pumping the kids full of sugar!!!

In the morning we cleaned up camp and went water skiing. Ethan really has become quite the skier! He goes for a long time and is trying to figure out how to cross the wake! He is like 10 years younger then I was when I learned how to water ski. Which still wouldn't have happened with out the wonderful Ditto Family! It was a nice weekend just with our family relaxing on the lake!