Frozen Viewing

Frozen came out digitally this week and we decided to have a little Frozen Viewing Party with a couple of Payton's school friends, Riya and Dorie.

We had pizza for dinner and some fun movie snacks to munch on while watching the movie.  The girls AND boys had a lot of fun.  Lots and lots of giggles happening in our house tonight.  Love it!

There was a show both on screen and in our family room with the girls jumping up to sing and dance with each song.  They are so cute!

A Budding Artist

The artist and is masterpiece...Payton's bedspread.  GRRR!

Story Time

I walked through the family room to find the kids holding story time with their stuffies.  Really cute!

Family Walk

After doing the typical Saturday chores we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go for a walk on the trail close to our house.  So much fun watching the kids explore, run, and ride on their scooters. 

Minute to Win it II

This week has not turned out to be anything like what we had expected.  With Dave in China and the kids out of school, we had planned several play dates and activities to occupy our time.  However, when we thought Payton had ring worm plans were changed and/or cancelled because of her being contagious.  The kids were so sad.  So when we found out that she did not have ring worm we decided to try and organize a last minute play date.

Fortunately, my good friend Jessie and her kids were able to come over for the fun.  we decided to recreate our Minute to Win It competition from Valentine's Day.  We had lots of fun.  Here are a couple snap shots from the day.

Daddy came home tonight!  In addition to candy and the little travel pouches they give you on international flights he also brought a little activity from China.  They were little kits that helped you create masks,  I think the both ended up with the horse one.  The LOVED them.

Camping

Dave has been in China for work this week.  The kids have been begging and begging to sleep with mommy while he is gone.  I think I learned my lesson last time...Lincoln ended up sleeping half on Dave's nightstand and half on the bed while Payton enjoyed pretty much the whole bed and gave me a tiny sliver on the opposite side.  Never again.

So we came up with a compromise, I let them "camp" on the floor in my bedroom tonight.  They were so excited.  They tried to squeeze so much stuff into their tents that there was barely any room left over for them.  Haha!

Butterflies - Day 2

Today we embellished our butterflies using paper and jewels we found from one of Payton's birthday parties a few years ago.  Boy oh boy are they creative and surprisingly good with a glue gun.  Who knew?!?!

Austin was quite the helper "organizing" all the jewels. 

I have to say, I think mommy rocks the whole kid's craft thing.  :o)

Ring Worm?

Had a little scare, thought Payton had ring worm.  Turns out it is something called Pityriasis Rosea.

The good news is that it is not contagious.  The bad news is that it could last for up to two months.  Oh well, at least it doesn't seem to bother her.

Butterflies - Day 1

I guess this is a week to work on things that the kiddos have been asking and asking to do.  Payton has been saving back toilet paper rolls to make butterflies.  She patiently waited until she had enough rolls for everyone.

We had to split up working on this project over two days.  First cut out the wings for the butterfly and then painted the toilet paper rolls for the body.  It was then we decided to stop because we had to let the paint dry.

They decided that they wanted to paint the inside of the toilet paper roll too.  Oh geez, what a mess.  Haha!

Volcanos

For some reason Lincoln has been asking and asking to build a volcano.  I remember building a paper mache volcano in grade school a LONG time ago but never had the opportunity to make it explode because I got sick and missed those days of school.

Enter Pinterest.  I love Pinterest for things like this.  In five minutes I found that I had all the things I needed for the kids to make their own volcanos AND explode them. 

They had fun putting them together and even more making them explode.  What is even better we go to explode them several times.

Valentine's Day

Valentine Hair!  Got the idea from Pinterest, and after seeing a friend of mine doing it with her girls hair I gave it a try.  Payton was very excited to have "heart hair".

Dave and I decided that we would make Valentine's Day a family affair and play Valentine Minute to Win It.  I have to admit that I didn't think we were going to pull it off.  I went to four different stores Valentine's Day morning before finding any of the candy I needed for the games.  Who knew everything would be gone already.  I am so glad that Ralph and Michelle were able to make it, we had so much fun!

Here are some shots of the games.

Heart a Stack - Stack candy hearts as high as you can in a minute.

Puff Ball Race - Blow a puff ball from one side of the room to the other in a minute.

Candy Corn Stand Up - See how many candy corns you can stand on end in a minute.

Candy Heart Relay - Using a spoon carry hearts from one cup to another on opposite sides of the room.  How many hearts can you move in a minute.

Valentine Mummy - Who can do the most wrapping in a minute. 

Can I just say that we loved how Austin participated in every game.  He is so cute and a Ralph was a perfect teammate.

Marshmallow Toss - How many Marshmallows can you toss into a bowl on the other side of the table, which turned into how many marshmallows can you toss into Daddy's mouth from across the table.

I love the joy in the kid's faces in these pictures.  Awesome!

They had to see how many marshmallows they could fit into their mouths...

You can't have all this fun without treats!  Yes, those are the Oreo Cookie Truffles.  Dave was so  nice to share with all of us.  :o)

What a fun night!

Oreo Truffles

I have never been really good at buying Valentine's gifts for Dave.  I don't know why but I am horrible at it.

This year I decided to make some Oreo Cookie Truffles for him.  The kids were more than excited to help, especially when they were told they could have a cookie. 

We tried regular Oreo Truffles and Mint Oreo Truffles.  Payton and Lincoln were excellent helpers and offered their services during every step, then licked their fingers clean when done.

Valentine Gone Wrong

You know that moment when you have spent two hours working on something to end up hating it.  Haha!  That was me with putting together the teacher valentines for the kids.  The picture on the left is what I spent so much time working on.  I thought that the boxes were going to be so cute.  But I used paper that was too thin and ended up printing the little message on the top of the box backwards so that you couldn't read the words when the box was closed.  BOO!

Yes, I re-did them, and so glad I did!  The picture on the right shows the new box next to the old one.  I liked the new ones so much better than the first ones.  Yay!

Valentine Decor

So I finally put up our Valentine decorations, less than a week before Valentines day.  Haha!  Oh well, I guess better than not at all.

We also worked on Lincoln's valentines today.  He was so excited to give his friends sticky hands.  And even more excited to play with them.

Ted

Lincoln, Austin, and I went to my friend Jessie's house for a combined play date and craft group.  While there I got everything ready for Payton's Valentines so that when she got home she could quickly put them together.  Then prepped everything for Lincoln and Austin's, now all I have to do is cut them out and assemble.  Yay!  So glad I was able to get that done.

Another exciting thing about being VIP is that you get to bring home Ted for the week.  He comes with his own backpack with clothes and a travel journal.  The kids get to document what they get to do with Ted.  Tonight Ted joined us for FHE.  We had a lesson on the creation and how we can show gratitude for all the Lord's creations.  Good times!  Hope Ted had fun.  Haha!

VIP

Payton was selected to be the her Kindergarten classes Very Important Person this week.  As the class VIP she gets to complete a little book about her likes and dislikes and also gets to bring a bunch of her favorites things that she will be able to share a few of everyday in class.  She was SO EXCITED.  She packed a whole Costco bag full of things. 

She looks older in the left picture than I see her normally.  Yikes!

Lululemon

Um, so we found ourselves at the Lululemon Outlet today.  Haha!  I told Dave that I wanted to look for a jacket that was warmer than the Scuba Hoodies he has gotten me in the past.  Sometimes you just want a jacket that is soft, fuzzy, and warm and I had seen a few jackets when we were there last week.  I also told him it could be my midway celebration for doing well on our Healthy Habits Challenge...a week early.  Haha!

I was so lucky to find this cute jacket.  It isn't the soft fuzzy jacket I was originally thinking about but it was way cute nonetheless and surprisingly warm.  I love the color!  Plus on top of that it was just over 75% off.  Sweet!

Grandma Day

My mom came up to spend the day with us.  It was cold!  We were going to go for a walk on the trail again but decided we would wait for a warmer day.  :o)

So instead, when we got home we worked on Payton's homework.  Haha!  I know.  I know.  Homework doesn't sound like a fun alternative but Payton LOVES doing it.  This week she had to draw a number line and then we had to ask questions and stand on the number that represented our answer (1 = Always and 10 = Never).  We got quite the kick out of Lincoln answering that he always ate his dinner.  Haha!  How about NEVER eats his dinner.

 

Lincoln tired of the game pretty quickly and decided to draw a self portrait with sidewalk chalk.  He says, "Look it's me!" and then a few minutes later we looked over and he was writing his name.  He is a genius!  :o)

Payton couldn't be out done.  She had to do her own self portrait.

Austin having fun, playing peek-a-boo.

Visiting Teaching Treats

I am so grateful for an abundance of Truffles from our Cooking Group!  My companion, Heather, and I boxed those puppies up and delivered them today.  I hope they all loved them.  :o)

This past weekend we found ourselves at the Lululemon Outlet in Gilroy.  They have a line for little girls called Ivivva.  Some really cute things!  Payton found a few items that she loved and wanted to accessories her dance leotard.  Today was her first chance to show them off.

Cooking Group

Today was one busy day,  we moved from one thing to another to another.  What is that saying, no rest for the weary?

We started by dropping the car off to get the oil changed and while that was being done I took the boys to McDonalds for breakfast.  They LOVED it.  Lincoln went to preschool and I went to a Primary Presidency Meeting.  Picked up Lincoln.  Picked up Payton and her friend, Emery, for a play date.  Made treat boxes for Cooking Group.  Cleaned the house and got things ready for Truffle Night.

Somewhere during all that Lincoln started having a hard time getting along with everyone so I had him go into my room for some quiet time to reset.  When I went back a few minutes later I found him passed out.  I guess he was a wee bit tired.  Haha!  So cute!

 

 

I was so proud of myself, I had the kids fed, teeth brushed and flossed, scriptures read, prayers said, and everyone in bed by the time everyone got here for Cooking Group.  I only had a few little hiccups along the way, this being one of them.  I had to take a few pictures before I reacted because I knew I would laugh about it later.  :o)  Yes, he did unroll a roll of toilet paper.  And he was having a blast with it...

 

Cooking Group was a lot of fun.  We had a great turnout and learned how to make Truffles and Macaroons.  Why do I do this to myself?  The Truffles all looked absolutely delicious and smelled even more delicious but I did not have a single one.  I have come this far on my Healthy Habits journey I can't throw it all away now.  Haha!  I will save one for my sugar freebee.  :o)

 

I learned a lot from the guy who came to teach us.  It didn't seem too difficult after watching him do it.  I look forward to trying out my own combinations...in the future...when I am on a break from the challenge.  ;o)

 



Make it Monday

My friend Jessie and I are trying to reinstate our Make it Mondays.  A day we can get together to visit and/or work on a project and the kids can play.

I wasn't sure what I was going to work on and actually planned on just visiting.  Well, I ended up surprising myself and finishing two blankets for my nephew Maddix and completing a skirt I have been working on for a very. long. time.  Yay me!

 I have to share that I finally got a genuine positive response to my cooking from one of my kids.  I made beanless/cheeseless chili and Austin took one bite and said, "MMMMM, good."  Haha!  it took me by surprise.  And when he couldn't get anymore out of the bowl he pushed the bowl toward me, handed me a spoon, and said, "More."