I Think I Can Arrange That

Sadie: "I want to go on vacation!"

Bethanie: "I want to go to Holiday World!"

Brady: "I want to go to day care!"

They Came and Went

The butterflies emerged from their cocoons last week. We let them go on Wednesday.

But Kraft Macaroni is the Cheesiest!

Good thing I bought Kraft macaroni in bulk. : P

When asked what Bethanie wanted for lunch, she replied, "I want macaroni, but I want it to not be so cheesy."

I Have a Witness

This happened. Sean is a witness.

Brady had his first official "time out" of his life. At dinner he decided it was very entertaining to repeatedly spit his food at me. I had enough and he was sent to his bed.
After some "thinking time" (aka- time for mom to cool off) I walked in and told him I was sad that he made a choice that wasn't good. He said he was sorry and gave me a hug.
After I got him out he looked at me and said, "Mom, I am not a peacemaker. I'm not."

Taking Bets

Brady has gotten  in to trouble at an average of every ten minutes today. Sadie is bawling because she can not draw a proper flower. I got three hours of sleep last night and have a long to-do list today.
Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes before I blow?

Feeling Bogged Down?

Sadie: "Mom, for breakfast this morning I will be needing something with extra fiber."

Get Creative Day #2 / Father's Day!

We're so glad that Sean's the dad.... and we know he loves us too! What a fantastic dad he is!

This week we took the perfect opportunity for our craft day to make up some fun little gifts for Sean for Father's Day. He loves to read. He usually jams some random piece of paper in to his book to mark his place. The kids made him some nice little bookmarks and we laminated them.

We also made Sean a fun candy bar poster.

We topped it all off with some framed pictures of his family that he can take to work with him.

Happy Father's Day to Sean as well as our wonderful and amazing fathers, Jed and Calvin. We love you!

Fun With Friends Day

Another one of our theme days is "Fun with Friends" day. We invite friends to play at our house or we take a little field trip. For this week's fun with friends we met up with some friends and went to see "Amazon John" at the local library. We learned about a lot of different animals. We also got to see (and sometimes pet) an alligator, Great Dane, box turtle, ferret, African pied crow, bunny, crab, hermit crab, and a python.

Service Day #2

Today the kids and I made some Oatmeal Wheat Bread for our service day. Even Brady wanted in on the action. It turned out very yummy and I highly recommend it.
We decided to sample one loaf to make sure that the bread turned out well, and then we took the second loaf to our brand new neighbors that just moved in.
It was only slightly awkward when they came to the door half dressed and slightly disheveled... and told us that my kids weren't allowed in their yard. Ha! Good thing my kids still felt the warm fuzzies of service.

I'll Take One of Everything

This last Saturday Sean and I went over to look at lawn mowers. We took Brady along with us. Sean and I have been married for over 9 years and he has never owned a new lawn mower. We usually get half working hand me downs from guys who really want an excuse to buy a new one. On Saturday he had just had enough of playing Mr Fix-it.
We got to the store and Sean said, "Brady, let's go look at mow-lawners."
Brady said, "No dad, let's go buy one!"
Within 30 seconds Brady had chosen the one that he wanted. Unfortunately, we had to go with a smaller model. ;)

Swimming Lessons

My kids are taking swimming lessons right now. Brady is pretty sure he is an Olympic swimmer already. That is a problem, because he runs right for the deep end and jumps in with no thought at all.
Bethanie, on the other hand, thinks she could drown in a cup of water. She is not as daring.
Sadie seems to fit right in the middle. It doesn't bother her to get her face wet, but she is still unsure about what the teacher is trying to show her.
The other day the teacher was trying (very hard) to get Sadie to float on her back. Sadie's response? "I'm sorry, my body just doesn't float."

My Little Dinosaur

Brady woke up in quite the mood yesterday. I had an ominous feeling when my mother in law asked that we all go shopping together to see if we could find some clothes for the kids.

It wasn't pleasant. I was the mom chasing her child through the Old Navy that you were visiting yesterday. Yep, that was me. Did you hear the desperation in my voice as I yelled for him? Did you enjoy listening to him shriek, "Stop! Stop, mom! Stop!", when I finally caught him and was cruel enough to make him hold my hand? Did you laugh when he got away 30 seconds later? Fun times.

My son even got in to my makeup bag again yesterday. Have I not learned? I will be watching my doors and sleeping with one eye open. It looked like he had some sort of covert operation he was preparing for.

Science Day #2

The kids and I received our caterpillars from insect lore in the mail on Friday. There were 4 live caterpillars in a little cup, complete with food. We have had so much fun watching them over the weekend. Today the last of the 4 caterpillars hunkered down in to his chrysalis.

We studied our little friends and read a book called "From Caterpillar to Butterfly" together. I have actually learned a lot! We hope to see our Painted Lady butterflies by the beginning of next week!

Get Creative Day!

Our creative/ craft day was easy this week! Grandma came in to town to visit us on Thursday. We wanted to make sure that she felt very welcome.
We are also working on breaking Sadie of some of her perfectionism. She did help with the chalk drawings, but has a tendency to not like anything that she creates. I thought her blue flower looked great!

Agency

I know that in the life before this one we voted for the "Plan of Happiness", aka, the Plan of Salvation. We chose to be able to exert our agency and make our own choices while on this earth.
My daughter Sadie must have been one of the spirits that fought the hardest. Case in point;

Grandma: "Sadie, I don't think you should eat 10 links of sausage. It isn't good for you."
Sadie: "Is your name Sadie?"
Grandma: "No, my name isn't Sadie."
Sadie: "Do you make Sadie's decisions?"

This just may be a long summer.

Service Day #1

For our first service day this summer we took the opportunity to help a family in the area. I received an email a few days before from a lady at church who knew of a family of 3 that had been homeless and had just secured an apartment. They were in need of the necessities. Two of the three people were kids, so I knew my kids would take a real interest in this.
We went to the store and picked out some clothes and games for the kids. My girls were very excited to drop off their bag of goods at our friend's house so she could deliver it.
Sadie and Bethanie mentioned that they were already looking forward to the next service day.

You Look Just Lovely

Brady had a good time with my mascara and eye shadow yesterday. Although I used 3 wipes to get the make up off, he still looked like he was wearing eye liner at his swimming lessons last night.

Summer At Our House

A couple of summers ago I was blessed with the great idea of having theme days. My kids needed something to look forward to every day and I needed some guidelines. Over the last few summers we have tried out some different theme days. I choose 5 themes every summer and once a week we take a day and work on a theme.
Installment #1 of Summer of 2010 theme days; Science Day!

For our very first science day we learned about plants. What do they eat? How do they grow? What is a plant and what is not a plant? Our activity consisted of each of the kids helping me to prepare the garden and choosing 4 fruits/ veggies to plant. We are excited to enjoy the fruits of our labors later on this summer!

My favorite quote of the day came from Bethanie: "Mom, I feel so good after I work hard on something."

(Here is where I do a little dance inside my head.)

How Do You Plan to Accomplish That?

Sadie: (While sprawled out on the floor.) "I am not going to do anything today."
Me: "Then go take a nap on your bed, Sadie."
Sadie: "But that is something and I said I am not doing anything."

28 Months Old and Already Has an Ego!

Brady: "Mom, I am always right. Always."

Please Send My Regrets

Sean: "Sadie, did you know that Aunt Sarah is getting married?"
Sadie: "Yes. I will not be going."
Sean: "Why?"
Sadie: "I will not wear another stupid wedding dress."

"Ma-boo"

We spent Memorial Day weekend in beautiful "Ma-boo"! (Nauvoo, IL)

We all had so much fun and Brady keeps asking us when we will be going back.

A Decorated 1st Grader

Bethanie's last day of school was on Friday. We were told that she would be receiving an award at that award ceremony that morning. My parents and I headed over and were pleased to watch Bethanie receive not one, but FOUR awards.
She received a math award, a guiding principles award (citizenship), an ambassador award, and was the only first grade girl to receive the award for music.

Not only is she brilliant, she is beautiful too. ;)

(Bethanie with her teacher)

Sadie Graduated

Sadie graduated from preschool last Thursday. The entire day was proclaimed "her day". She insisted that I run right out and buy her ramen for lunch. She also told Brady that it was her day so she got the first pick of the toys.
She says she is never going back to school again.