Bubbles Bubbles, Bubbbles

I made the girls a homemade bubble solution.  It worked soooo well and they had such fun with it.  Here's the recipe:

1 tblsp glycerin
2 tblsp Dawn Ultra concentrated dish soap
1 cup warm water

I doubled this and then let it sit overnight, as the recipe suggested.  We then spent the next morning outside playing with lots of bubbles.  This solution allowed you to make huge bubbles or, as the girls liked to do, make huge piles of lots of bubbles on the back deck swing.  :)

Christmas in July

I heard an idea this summer about celebrating a Christmas in July and thought it sounded like something fun the girls would really enjoy.  So we picked a Friday evening to do our Christmas.  We made a few treats and had a couple of platters of fruits and veges.   We dug out their Christmas dresses, which they thought was so great.  Then we ate and told the story of the nativity with our felt set.  Afterwards we let them each have one gift, wrapped in Christmas paper, of course.  I had just cleaned out our basement earlier in the month and had found several small gifts I had put back for future Christmas/birthdays.  So Alexis got a cloth fairy doll, Emily got a puppy webkinz, and Ashley got a little Dora toy.  Then we all called various family members and sang Christmas carols to them over the phone.  To end the evening we all watched a couple of Christmas shows. 

Cast Off and Recovery!

After six long weeks it was time to get Alexis' cast off.  We were all very excited and nervous at the same time.  Her doctor had told us that she may have to be in a walking boot afterwards and we weren't sure what that would mean for being able to swim.  However, she had received a blessing when it happened that she would heal very quickly and we had said lots of prayers so I held onto that as we went into the doctor's office.  Thankfully the X-Rays showed that she had healed completely and the doctor was very impressed.  He gave us some ideas for helping her get back on her feet and said she didn't even need therapy.  She's still got a little limp, but there's nothing she can't do (including lots of swimming!), which is what we're thankful for.  From past experience we know she'll limp for a few weeks, but eventually she'll be fine.  We have her do various exercises and work with her and we're amazed at her progress.  One exercise we did is putting on ballet music and having her use a chair for support and going up and down on her toes.  Her sisters loved this, as well, and would get their scarves out and dance along.  We're so glad this experience is over and hope this is the last broken bone we see.  :)

Nana and Papaw's 40th Wedding Anniversary

On Monday Evening for Family Home evening we had a surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary for Don's parents.  It took a lot of planning, mostly because they have such busy schedules, it's almost impossible to coordinate.  So after everyone trying to do it three different days, we finally convinced them that the girls had been working on a special family home evening and they really wanted Nana and Papaw and Aunt Debbie to come up to our house on Monday evening and spend the night before they worked at the temple on Tuesday.  So Nana agreed and said they'd be here between 5:00 and 6:00.  So all the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins arrived around 5:00 and Nana, Papaw, and Aunt Debbie arrived around 6:45.  They were very surprised to see everyone, so we were happy our secret hadn't gotten out.  Cyndi had arranged to have pictures of all the grandkids made into a T-Shirt for Dan and a bag for Carolyn that turned out really cute.  We all ate and then had cake.  We had a special cake that had their picture on it.  Then everyone played and visited the rest of the evening.

Beautiful Butterflies

We're raising our own butterflies again this year.  We did this two years and the girls had so much fun with it, we're doing it again.  We received three little caterpillars who made chrysalises and and now have finally emerged as beautiful butterflies.  Their names are Nellie, Skyscraper, and Flutterby.  Alexis cut and arranged fresh flowers for our little temporary pets and both girls have been watering the flowers daily with sugar water.  In a couple of days we plan to release them into the garden.

Skyscaper

Nellie

 Flutterby

Day at The Works

We hadn't been to "The Works" in a while so we all took a little outing there last Friday. Ashley used to just run from one area to the next but now she really got into the little Playspace. She especially loved all the pretend produce. She played for probably 45 minutes with these. Her favorites were the corn on the cob and bananas. She kept counting them and pretending to fix food and bring us food to eat. The two older girls went with Daddy to the Invention Lab and worked with keyboards. There was a very nice elderly gentleman there who taught them all about it and helped them explore all the different parts. Then they made magnets using parts of the keyboard. 

Hill Cumorah Pageant

This past week, Aunt Debbie, (Papaw's sister), from Utah has been in to visit.  When they arrived they stayed overnight at our house and then in the morning, Papaw, Nana, and Aunt Debbie were planning to go to New York to the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  Because Don had to work some of the time she would be visiting we thought it would be fun for him to go with them.  From what I heard they all had a wonderful time and got to see the Pageant, several historical church sites, and Niagara Falls.  Nana told me she was glad Don got to come because he asked Debbie tons of questions on the long car ride and she was able to share lots of old stories and memories that they didn't even know about. 

Sewing A Rag Doll Friend

Alexis has taken up an interest in sewing, lately.  After reading "Raggedy Ann" and "Raggedy Andy" books and some of the "Little House" books, she decided she wanted to sew her own rag doll. So she has been working on this.  I'm also sewing one for Emily so they'll each have their own homemade rag dolls.  They have picked out the hair color and button eyes and when we are finished, they'll pick out material for their dresses.  We have two excited little girls who can't wait for their new friends to be finished.  :)

Churning Butter

We've been reading through all of the Little House on the Prairie series of books this summer.  The girls decided they really wanted to make their own butter.  They first wanted to ask their Nana if they could borrow her antique butter churn .  I convinced them this wasn't such a good idea and told them we could actually make butter using baby food jars.  So we took 3 jars and gave one to each girl with cream in it.  After a good bit of shaking, it wasn't long before we had some yummy butter!  Ashley couldn't quite understand why we were doing this after a while, so she eventually abandoned her jar and went off to play with some baby dolls. But these two kept at it the whole time while listening to "Black Beauty" on tape.

Sand Necklaces and Paper Dolls

The other day we went over to the mall and they had these sand crafts for the kids to do.  It was during Ashley's naptime, so Aunt Becca stayed home with her and I took the two older girls.  They had little necklaces that they filled with different layers of colored sand.  Emily picked out a heart and Alexis chose a dolphin. They turned out really cute.  Afterwards I walked around the mall with them and we ended up finding a cute little Christian bookstore who happen to have a section on Clearance that had these really cute old fashioned paper dolls, so for a special treat I bought one for each girl.  When we got home we played with their new paper dolls together.

Summer Library Program

We love the library and participate in storytimes throughout the year.  This summer we've spent a lot of time at the library, participating in all the fun summer programs.   We've seen a magician, puppets, a reptile guy, guitar sing-a-longs, sand casting, and more.  In this particular picture they have just participated in a program about streams and the creatures who live there, and then created a stamp picture of a stream habitat.  The girls have really enjoyed it. 

Bookclub - The 21 Balloons

Our latest book club book was "The 21 Balloons".  I had never read it before and after researching it I was a bit concerned it may be too old for the girls.  (Most sites had this being a book you read around the 5th or 6th grade.)  However, I couldn't have been more wrong.  They loved it.  Emily did have trouble understanding certain parts.  She was so cute because she would listen for a little while and then she would say, "Excuse me Mommy, but I know something important happened but you could you explain it to me?"  :)  That's how I did much of the book.  I read for a little while and then we talked about new words and what happened.  Alexis was especially drawn to the "invention" theme of the book and was fascinated with all the explanations of the various inventions on the island of Kratakoa.  She's all ready to go invent something herself.  When we gathered for book club we discussed our favorite parts of story and talked about inventions for a little while and what sort of inventions we would like to create.  Then we made little models of our own hot air balloons.  They turned out really cute and after they were finished all the older kids went up to our the top of our banister and let their balloons float down to the ground a few times.  Then every played and the mothers chatted.  They came back at one point and do a mini fashion show for us.  We actually decided to change things up a bit and try doing countries for a while.  So each month we'll pick a country, study it as a family and then gather together and do various projects and activities about that country.  It sounds like something the girls will really enjoy. 

Our Little Butterfly

Our littlest one loves to dress up.  She has a favorite sparkly skirt that she puts on every morning after she wakes up.  She also has purple fairy wings, which she calls, "Butterfly" that she has me help her put on.  And then sometimes she adds a pink dress up shoe to the ensemble.  (Only one shoe.)  She loves to go around like this all day.  The shoe and the wings come and go throughout the day, but she'll leave the skirt on from morning until night.  We love our cute little butterfly. 

Happy 4th of July

This 4th of July Don was out of town so my mom and sister came to watch fireworks with us.  The fireworks were actually on the 2nd and drove over to Heath Gellar park and watched them.  We had great seats and the girls really enjoyed them.  Ashley kept shouting out what color they were as they flared out.  She'd say, "Oooooh!  It pink!"  Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures, but we still got some good memories  :)

Alexis's Cast

On Tuesday, June 8th, we were playing at the park and Alexis was on the monkey bars.   She tried to skip one and slipped and fell.  She landed just right and broke her right leg.  :(  It was a LONG night.  We got to Urgent Care at around 7:00 and they sent us to the ER after some Xrays and splinting it and we didn't leave there until midnight.  Don was out of town so it was just me and my wonderful sister,  Becca, with 3 small  children all that time.  Finally we got home, my mom came up to help the next morning and Don flew home early from work.  She had a cast put on Thursday and she's supposed to have it on for 6 weeks.  We're making the best of it by keeping busy. We have a calendar made out with something special to do each day.  We've participated in lots of fun library programs and shows, we've had  lots of play dates and visitors, been to plays (Miracle Worker and The Canterville Ghost) and to the movies (Toy Story 3), had fun game days, movie parties, Activity nights, book club, a BINGO tournament complete with prizes, video games, done lots of art and crafts, made a real restaurant and menu and served us dinner with Emily, and even got to play outside on a few cooler days.  She's been cheerful through most of it and she's to the point now where she's able to get down on the floor more and play and get all around the house with the assistance of either her crutches or wheelchair, which makes her happy. 

 She had various cousins, (Hannah, Larcy, and Emma), come over and stay the night and keep her company the first couple of weeks.  They all played lots of games, including doctor, of course.  ;)

 We also has a few nice cool days we were able to outside and take some walks.  She's played tea party on the deck with a few of her dolls.

Emily has been her special companion through it all.  She gets Alexis whatever she wants and plays with her all day whatever she wants to play.

 We had to miss the big Grammer family reunion/vacation so they decided to bring it to us a couple of evenings.  We really appreciated it and had so much fun with everyone aound.

Ashley's been another cute little companion for her.  She has been a bit confused about the whole cast and you can definitely tell she's worried about Alexis.  The first couple of weeks she'd cry every time Alexis got up to go to the bathroom.  We figured it was because she expected Alexis to be in pain, (which she was at first.)   She likes to touch Alexis' cast and say, "Pink.  It's soft." and then rub it gently.

The magnetiles Aunt Becca brought up for the summer has provided many hours of enjoyment.  Hopefully this will end the broken bones in our family.  We're glad Alexis was given a blessing to heal quickly and have no bad effects and we're looking forward to having it off.