Daisylyn Turns 1

Daisylyn is one of my cute nieces that turned one this year.

She put on her party outfit and was ready for presents.
The presents were ok, but she liked eating the paper more! :)

We ate daisy cupcakes....

.....and ladybug cake.

We sang her Happy Birthday and then she got her own cake.

It didn't take her long to figure out what do to with it.

"WHAT?!"

She didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

She quickly figured out that cake was YUMMY!!!

As Sydney came by (another one of my cute nieces who turned one this year) she offered her an OREO cookie and some pink frosting. Sydney gladly accepted and kept coming back for more.

"ALL GONE!"

She ate the WHOLE thing!

Daisylyn you are so sweet and we love you very much.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Grandma McKinley!

April 12th was my mom's birthday (a.k.a. Grandma McKinley).

We invited her over for an evening of birthday celebration. We ate dinner, opened presents, had FHE, ate cake and ice cream and even watched a movie together.

One of the gifts we gave her was this cool princess book. It had so many details; an envelope with an invitation to the ball, a castle with windows to open and see inside, explanations of different types of ball gowns/crowns/hair-dos, inset jewels, types of fabrics for gowns, and much more. It may become a favorite to read at Grandma's house.
My kids love to make and give gifts. Rylee gave grandma a book and a bookmark she made, Abree gave her a paper sack puppet, Treyson drew her a picture and Taylee made this puppet. If you know grandma, you know she LOVES puppets!

We decided together that this puppet was named Sherbet. She's the pondering type. She wonders about many things.... "I wonder if the kids at school are nice?" "I wonder if anyone will play with me?" "I wonder if I'll like it there?".

Originally, Taylee was thinking it would be a hand puppet, but as she sewed it together and turned it right-side-out, the opening became too narrow to put your hand in. We improvised and used a wooden spoon to get Sherbet to talk to us.

She's sooooo cute!

We sang Happy Birthday, as Grandma thought of a good wish, and then blew out the candle. Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and Tin Roof Sundae ice cream. YUM!

HaPpY biRtHdAy GrAnDma McKiNleY!

We LOVE you!!!

Kindergarten Practice at Pre-school

Karen had to go out-of-town quickly to be with her family, so I volunteered to take pre-school. Being last minute, I didn't know what I was going to do and then I got an idea.....

KINDERGARTEN PRACTICE!

The school had sent home a packet, which included a list of things children should be able to do BEFORE entering Kindergarten and what to expect from the Kindergarten year. I thought it would be fun to pretend we were in Kindergarten and work on some of those things.

Of course students need desks, so I turned our coffee table into a make-shift desk, including a name tag for each girl.

In Kindergarten, they have "centers" or different areas in the room where learning and play happen. The school packet mentioned these 4 centers; Puzzle, Art, Blocks and Dramatic Play. So of course this meant our Kindergarten Practice needed these too.

In circle time, we read these books that talk about going to school. We also practiced and practiced and practiced sitting "criss-cross-applesauce", so everyone could see and not be bothered by their neighbor. We also practiced raising our hands to speak, listening to the teacher and had a line leader as we moved from center to center.

The girls LOVED sitting at their "desk".

After they finished their "assignment" (writing their name/writing the alphabet), they turned in their papers to be "graded". They were thrilled to see a sticker and "Great Job!" on their papers as they got their assignments back.

The first day, we made puppets in the Art Center. The next day, the girls could make what ever they wanted using the supplies on hand. Fun, fun.

I was surprised how much the girls liked the Puzzle Center.

At our Dramatic Play Center, we had a variety of flannel board pictures and magnets. I'm guessing the Dramatic Play Center at school might be dress-up or a miniature kitchen, but this worked for us.

I HATE the mess dress-up makes! :)

At the end of the first day, the girls were given HOMEWORK. They were SOOO excited! Their homework was to practice their address, phone number and tying their own shoes.

All of these were listed as things children should know when entering Kindergarten.

I "tested" them the next day. They each had learned some, but had room for improvement. They received a fruit snack for good work.

It was fun to see the difference in behavior these 2 days.... more mature. If they ever got too loud or forgot how to play nicely I'd ask, "What do you think a Kindergartner would do?" or "If you were a Kindergartner, how would you act?"

Abree and I have continued practicing our address and phone number. I think she's got our address mostly learned.

Abree- "Mom, I just keep thinking 3695, 3695, 3695."

Me- "Our address is 3695 Legacy Common."

Abree-"Oh ya, that's what I thought."

SPRING!

My Easter grass project, as promised.....
Originally, I was going to make a SPRING banner for my mantle, but then I came up with this great idea.

I LOVE it!!!!!

Conference Weekend & Easter Sunday

"We thank thee O God for a Prophet to guide us in these latter-days....."

Early Saturday morning, Treyson came into my room and asked, "Is it time for General Conference to start?"

"Not yet, go back to bed or go read a book or something. Let me sleep."

Minutes later, "Now is it time?!"

"No, I'll let you know. You won't miss it... I promise."

Then it was Abree's turn. :)

Since our FHE lesson on Monday, Treyson and Abree had been tag-teaming me with the same question over and over. I was pleased that they were excited about General Conference, but wasn't showing it that early in the morning.

In the last few years, my kids have shown more interest and have started looking forward to General Conference. It could be combination of many things, maybe one of these; getting older, conference activity booklets/BINGO, quiet play items and SNACKS.

Whatever the motivation, I am proud of them. They were the ones to call to me when it FINALLY started that morning.

Saturday, we stayed in our jammies all day.

Except for Treyson who couldn't stand it any longer and had to get dressed, about 2 hours before it would be time to get them back on.

We brought our blankies, pillows and note taking items into the family room and got settled in for a quiet day of instruction.

After both sessions, we briefly discussed what we had learned. It was interesting to see what the kids had listened to. Each of them could come up with at least one talk, story or point that was their favorite.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Easter Sunday

Our wheat grass was this tall Easter Sunday!

I was relieved that it actually grew...and in just under 1 week.

You should see it now. It's a lot taller. I'll be posting what I did with mine.

Between conference sessions on Sunday, we ate our traditional "Jerusalem Dinner". This year we had tuna fish pitas, hard-boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, almonds, dried apricots, figs, olives, carrots, juice AND the highly anticipated GOAT CHEESE. Seriously, my kids look forward to the goat cheese all year. The olives and hard-boiled eggs are also another favorite.

We also did our traditional "Easter in an Egg".
This example isn't exactly the same one that we do, but very similar.

I'm so glad that we have established these Easter traditions. I feel good about focusing on Christ AND have fun together.

No more goat cheese...... until next year! :)

Easter Treats

Coconut nest

Very sweet, but I liked the slivered almonds and coconut in these.

Chowmein noodle nest
This one has crunchy chowmein noodles, peanutbutter and butterscotch chips. Chowmein noodles and butterscotch chips aren't my favorite, but this seemed to be the "crowd's favorite".

Which one sounds good to you?