february 26.  2011

so when our ward throws an event, it’s done to the hilt!  they are amazing, the food(pork, chicken-amazing!, rice, pineapple, salads, rolls, hawaiian desserts), the decorations, and the costumes and dancing(our girls have been learning their luau dance since the fall of last year).

this was such a fun gathering, and at the end, nadia and i had our own little fun by her doing funny poses, me snapping a shot, her looking at the picture of herself, laughing… and repeat about 100 times!

february 2011

while i’ve been working on my next project, unpacking all the toys that have been in boxes in the basement, sorting, selling, and organizing, i gave nadia this little activity, and walked over and noticed she had done half of the clock correctly!  I was happily surprised she even had any idea of where the numbers went on a clock.

nadia has always been a little ahead, speaking 4-5 word sentences at 18 months, full sentences at 2, knows her alphabet and can sometimes count to 20.  Camden taught Nadia the plus, minus and equal signs, and she’ll regularly show us those. She’s also picked up the words to “The Living Christ” as we have been memorizing that during scripture study.  The only difficult part of all this wonderful things are the negotiations that happen with such a child who can speak and express herself so well! 

february 23.  2011

The activity day girls celebrated their 2nd annual princess dinner.  Florence did an amazing job decorating, and the girls and I enjoyed getting to help out.  Madison set the table, Alex origami’d the napkins, and I pitched in wherever needed.  It was such a beautiful event.  Florence had little stations set up to learn about manners…things they had been talking about.  Each got a princess crown and wand.  Each little girl felt so special, you could just tell from their beaming little spirits. 

Miss Nadia was also very helpful in the kitchen.  She helped me ice all the cupcakes.  She’s starting to get more demanding in her requests to help out.  She loves to just jump right in, she’s wonderful!

We’re very grateful for such a wonderful ward that really puts so much effort into events such as this!

february 18.  2011

Oh, how i love chocolate, so the theme i picked…chocolate!!!  We had about 15 people show up, and what a delicious chocolate show it was!  We had such a great variety of desserts, people really went all out!

The recipe i chose to make was homemade moose munch!!!  Oh, if you don’t know what that is…it’s amazing deliciousness.-originally made by Harry and David.  Homemade caramel covered popcorn cooked over an hour in the oven, then after it’s cooled, we covered half of it in chocolate, let it set, and voila…caramel and chocolate covered caramel popcorn!  and of course, i had to mix peanut butter and chocolate over caramel popcorn too…amazing!

february 13-14.  2011

Sunday 13th–  So we were able to celebrate with Aunt Darlene and Uncle Lynn, their 58th wedding anniversary!  Wow, what a marvelous thing to celebrate!

We had a yummy dinner, dessert, and even tried our hand at making our own fortune cookies, thanks to Sandra!

And after we got home late from our activities, I walked into our room to find that my husband is still romantic after almost 14 years…what a sweetheart!

february 2011

If you would have told me, “Cynthia, February would be a great time to organize your pantry!”, I would have laughed, made a joke, and moved on in my day.  But something happens when you just realize to your own self, somethings gotta change!  And it did…

I’m very happy with the results, as is the family.  I’m not embarrassed to have people look in our pantry anymore, but even more than that, it’s aesthetically pleasing to my eyes when I’m trying to figure out meals.  So it really was something I did for myself, and everyone reaps the rewards.  It’s great when things happen like that!

february 2011

We saved most of our science for the end of our school year(we are catching up after having started a new curriculum at the end of the school year last year…so the girls tested for their appropriate grades in the middle of the year, but we had to start their grade at the beginning of the new curriculum and are finishing it up, and are just about ready to get them in their appropriate grades!…it’s been a lot of work, but so worth it of course!  It’s been a great year!).

So Madison and Camden and I are learning about Matter, and how all things are made of matter…and that matter is made up of molecules and smaller parts called atoms.  We learned that when the molecules in the matter are cold or in a solid, they are linked together and move very slowly, but when the molecules are in a liquid or gas or something warm, they move faster and start to let go of each other.

So the test was…to see if the red in the warm water would spread faster than the blue in the cold water, and it seemed to work.  If anything, it helped bring home the whole point.  And for me too!

So I found this list Madison had written in church during her Sunday School lesson, and I had to take a pic of it so we could remember.  I just thought it was so sweet for some reason.  I liked being able to see her thoughts I guess…I mean I do hear a lot of everyone’s thoughts through the day, but this I wanted to remember.

february 2011

Now that our oldest is twelve, she’s old enough to go to New Beginnings, which is apart of the Young Women program in our church.  They are given a booklet to help them achieve goals and are taught to live by gospel standards.  It’s such a crazy thing to me, that our oldest is twelve…and all the wonderful things that come with that.  Alex is such a beautiful person, inside and out, and has so much to offer as a wonderful daughter of God.  We love you!

december 25.  2010