Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

I am sadly lacking in Valentine decorations, so while Zane worked today, the boys helped decorate.  After firmly setting down the no licking your hands rule for Gavin, we got started with finger painting hearts.  I had to keep cutting out more and more because they loved it.  Dallin isn't really into crafts.  At preschool, the craft time last 5 to 10 minutes (and 10 minutes is pushing it).  I hear a lot of, "Am I done yet?" especially if there is a lot of coloring or painting.  Finger painting is different though.  The boys lasted 20 minutes.

They weren't into making a design, mostly mixing colors and seeing how messy they could get their hands.

 I forgot to establish the no rubbing paint up and down your arms rule.

We also folded the hearts to squish the paint and see what new symmetric design we could make.

We also worked on some crafts I had left over from preschool.  These involved glitter glue which was a lot of fun for Dallin.  Gavin mostly just watched us and made a mess on the table.

Much more festive right?

I made my Valentine breakfast this morning just because we had more time to eat as a family.  I did the Double Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce and our family has come to the conclusion that we are not double chocolate people.  These were good but too chocolatey for our family.  Next time I won't add the chocolate chips or put a lot less in.  The berry sauce was really good and I think I will start putting that on our go to pancakes instead of syrup from now on.  (By the way, I love, love these pancakes especially with blueberries.  My boys love them and I know they are getting whole wheat and oatmeal for breakfast.  These pancakes keep me full until lunch and they are so easy to whip up in the morning since you already have the dry ingredients mixed up.  Try them out!)  More Valentine's fun to come!

Know How to Have Fun

 We have had some crazy weather this winter.  We may start the morning off in winter clothes and shed them by the afternoon and a couple of times we switched out our summer clothes for winter ones by the afternoon.  There has even been a few days where I'm thinking about turning on my AC (if you have a two story, I'm sure you had to turn on your AC.) We have also had a lot of rain which we really needed.  No matter what the weather is like though, my boys know how to have fun outside.  Some days I feel like we practically live outside.  Whenever the wrestling, jumping, or running starts rising dramatically, I know it is time to get outside!

While Gavin napped, Dallin enjoyed the rain.

 And he convinced me to join in too.

You can see that this was one of those days where we were shedding clothes (Dallin with our neighbors.)

Gavin has decided that mom takes too long to come help him climb the ladder, so he now takes matters in his own hands.

He climbs to the top, turns around on his own, then slides down.

Gavin is really into balls right now.  He love, loves to be outside and gets very angry when it is time to come in or Dallin sneaks out first before I get Gavin's shoes on.

 

Riding a bike for the first time!

Isn't he adorable?

Dallin has just started being interested in sports.  This was his first football lesson that lasted more than 2 minutes.

Zane's definitely got his workout chasing Dallin around carrying an extra 25 pounds.

 The lesson was also in tackling.

I'm not sure this is legal???

 

I'm not sure what we would do if we lived somewhere where it was too cold to go outside....

A Love Story--Reposted and Hopefully Fixed

My grandparents met at a bus stop.  Thank goodness my grandpa was wearing a hat.  He asked my grandma out and she accepted.  When my grandpa picked her up, the hat was off and Grandma realized he had red hair just like her!  I am glad she still went out with him and gave him a chance despite the worry about what their children would look like.  Grandpa must of swept her off her feet because soon the red hair didn't matter anymore!  They have been married 64 years (almost 65).  My grandma passed away last November, and my grandpa passed away (at the age of 89), a month and a half later.  I bet the first thing my grandpa did when he saw my grandma again in heaven was kiss her.  At my grandma's funeral, my grandpa kissed her goodbye and announced that she kissed him back! 

 My grandpa's story is remarkable.  His father abandoned the family when he was young (around 8 years old I think).  During high school, my grandpa worked three jobs to support his older twin sisters and his mom during the depression.    Hard work describes his life.  He served in the Army Air Corps then went to college and became a sales man.  My dad remembers money being tight growing up, but my grandpa always worked hard to provide enough for his wife and six kids while saving for later.  By the age of 62 my grandpa could retire.  My grandparents frugal natures paid off and they lived comfortably as retirees serving a mission to California and traveling around the world.  I'm grateful for his example and what I have learned from him.

Each one of the grand kids wrote down their memories of my grandparents.  I wanted to share one story here about my grandpa saving my life.

Although I was too young to remember, I have heard the story many times.  I was around two and had wondered into Bear Lake by myself on a float tube.  It was probably one of those freak accidents when my mom was distracted with a newborn on the beach and my dad was distracted with my older brother or talking to someone.  The tube flipped over and I was under water.  Grandpa had his back to the water and in his mind saw the whole incident play out.  He turned around, ran into the water and saved my life.  How grateful I am that he listened to the spirit and rescued me. 


When Dallin was born, he met all four of his great grandparents.  Our next child will only know one (my mom's mom who is in great health thank goodness!)  My hope is that my kids will still know their great grandparents though pictures and stories so that they too can learn from their examples.

Paci Problem

 We know it is time to get rid of paci.   We can't bring ourselves to do it because Zane and I are enjoying uninterrupted night sleep.  We are worried that without paci, Gavin's will have a really hard time going to sleep and if he wakes up during the night, he won't be able to put himself back to sleep.  Right now we are focusing on only having paci while he is sleeping. 

One problem is that Gavin doesn't need just one paci; he wants to have as many as possible.  He will lay in his crib before going to sleep trying each paci out.  He will often times fall asleep with one next to his mouth (once he falls asleep, paci falls out) and one in his hand. Multiple paci's started because when Gavin woke up during the night (which is use to do a lot), he could find a paci anywhere in his crib, put it in and fall back asleep allowing Zane and I to keep sleeping uninterrupted.  I think his paci's are his favorite toy. 

Another problem is that Gavin doesn't quite understand the no paci outside of the crib rule yet.  He will disapear throughout the day and I will hear him in his room whining as he tries to reach for paci or squeeze behind his crib to find a paci he threw behind the crib (he likes to throw his paci's over when he wakes up and then gets frustrated that he can't get them back.)

The biggest problem though is that Dallin loves to find paci's for Gavin and give them to him.  If I hide them in a drawer, he will find them and the next thing I know, Gavin is walking around with three paci's in heaven.  You can see why Dallin is his favorite.  He is Gavin's hero.

Dallin understands Gavin.  He was a paci lover too (and he knew just where to look to find one!) 

Preschool Fun

 Crab Walks

 Jellyfish (or sea jellies)

Making donuts on Letter D Day

Future Veterinarians?

I love teaching these boys!

Annual Aquarium Trip

Once a year the home preschools takes a trip to the downtown aquarium.  We get a steal of a deal and invite our friends and neighbors to join us.  This year I was in charge of organizing and collecting the money for the trip.  We had 240 people come!  It took some time to organize, but it was all worth it because we love...

the shark train (Dallin is growling like a shark)

and the carousal and ferris wheel.

The aquarium is great too and the white tiger at the end is always popular (I'm not sure how a white tiger fits in at an aquarium).   A friend took Dallin through the aquarium while I passed out the tickets and I could never convince him to leave the rides to do it again with me until I told him it was time to leave.  By then though Gavin was done, so I missed the aquarium.

Dallin didn't like this ride as much.

 In fact, after this above ride, I think he was embarrassed or felt a little sick and so saw a friend going down to the other rides and ran after him.  By the time I grabbed Gavin to follow him, I couldn't find him.  I started panicking and running around calling for him.  After 5 minutes of looking, my friend found me with Dallin.  A man found Dallin wandering around and took him to a worker saying, "He is looking for Noble."  My friend then saw Dallin and told the worker she would take him to me.  I'm glad it all turned out ok, but it was pretty scary.  We have since had more talks about staying with mom and what to do if we get separated.  We have these talks all the time, but Dallin gets distracted so easily and forgets everything I teach him! 

By the way, asking for Noble wasn't going to help Dallin.  Noble is his 3 year old friend.

Despite not having a nap, Gavin was happy all day walking around and socializing with everyone.  One aquarium worker came up to talk to us and tell us Gavin is so cute that he could kidnap him (he said this in a very joking way.)  I thought it was an extremely weird and didn't find it funny at all.  Believe me, I didn't let Gavin out of my sight!

What a fun field trip!