I Made it for You, Mommy

Ashley is always making projects every day and giving the majority away as gifts. So this evening I walked into our master bathroom and found the bathtub filled with toilet paper. I called to everyone and asked who had done this and Ashley told me she did it. I asked her why and she looked at me with wide eyes and said, "Well, I had to make your telescope." I had forgotten that earlier this afternoon she had given me a decorated toilet paper roll while proclaiming proudly that she had made me a telescope.

Adventures in Kayaking

We decided to go kayaking one evening as the activity for our Family Home Evening.  Don had just bought Alexis and Emily their own kayaks on sale and wanted to teach Emily how to row.  So we headed to Buckeye Lake.  We get there and there are all these people quietly fishing.  Then they get into the water and start rowing.  Then Don starts loudly giving out instructions to Emily.  Then Ashley starts throwing little stones into the water and splashing around.  Emily is meanwhile rowing in circles and actually running into people's fishing poles.  So needless to say, over half the people there ended up packing up and leaving.  It was rather humorous to watch.  But they had a good time.  :)

Springtime at Dawes Auboritum

Thankfully we got these darling pictures before the girls saw a snake - twice.  After that it was pretty much over.  :)

Little Smiles and Coos

Visiting Horses

When our cousins were visiting, we decided to go over to a friend's house to see their horses.  Alexis and Emily decided to stay behind and play with cousins since we had just been there a few days before, but Ashley wanted to go along with Sarah and Sofia.  A few adults came along, as well.  The girls were so cute looking at the horses and the horses were so friendly.  Ashley got to sit on one and she thought that was great.

Adams Blessing

Adam was given a beautiful blessing today.  I won't list it all here, but a few main points was that he was a very choice spirit that chose to come to our specific family.  He was blessed with the gift of having great love and compassion for others and he was told he would be someone who would reach out and serve others throughout his life.  He was told to learn from the great prophets of old such as Adam and also to follow the examples of his grandfathers and father.  He would also have the ability to be a great example to others and be able to distinguish between good and evil and help others.  After church the family gathered back at our home for dinner and visiting.  It was such a nice day.

Picnic in the Rain

I woke up one morning and decided at the last minute to surprise the girls with a picnic in the park for breakfast.  I packed breakfast foods, told them to hurry and get dressed and do their morning chores and they would have a surprise.  So they rushed and we got into the car and drove to the park.  Before we left I checked the weather and there was a 0% chance of rain until noon.  So I thought we would be safe.  We ate breakfast and then headed to the park.  We were there all maybe 2 minutes and it started to POUR.  We ran to the car and Ashley was crushed.  She REALLY wanted to play.  But it was raining hard and showed no signs of stopping.  So instead we went home, got out our umbrellas and took a walk in the rain.  Then we played "Wilbur".   It's a make believe game we made up a long time ago about a little ghost named Wilbur that comes to visit.  It ended up being a very sweet, fun morning after all.

The Best Way to Practice Spelling

Emily takes every chance she can get  to hold Adam.  So this means holding him even when doing her lessons.  Alexis does the same thing.  Definitely a great advantage to homeschooling.  ;)

General Conference Time April 2013

One of our favorite weekends of the year is General Conference weekend.  It's a time to hear words of inspiration and snuggle together as a family.  We set up a tent, had a crate of fun quiet activities for the little ones, treats, and enjoyed a spirit filled weekend.  We had lots of discussions on the things we heard and the girls all complained when the weekend was over.  I can;t blame them.  Oh, well.  Only 6 more months until October!  Until then we'll re-watch talks and do a fun General Conference jeopardy for Family Home Evening!

Easter 2013

For Easter this year we did something a little different that was really neat.  Usually on Easter Sunday we focus the day on Christ and do a bunch of Christ centered activities.  But a friend of mine was doing a countdown to Easter by watching a different video of Christ from lds.org every night and reading the corresponding scriptures.  We thought this was great idea to incorporate Eater the WHOLE month and so we did it as well.  The girls really enjoyed it and we all felt the spirit throughout the month.  We ended on Easter Sunday and did some fun crafts and activities focused on Christ, like usual.  A few days later the Easter Bunny visited us (he usually comes the day before Easter, but Don was out of town that day so we arranged for him to come a little later in the week.)  The girls searched for eggs, ate yummy chocolates, and played with their new Easter toys.  We watched fun Easter shows and had such a nice, peaceful, relaxing day.