Spanish and Ice Cream

Hyrum has been tearing down our deck to make room for a new one this summer.  Yesterday the kids helped him haul the wood scraps to the front and into a dumpster bag.  He mentioned to me he thought about taking them for ice cream since they were such good helpers.  While I made dinner last night we held an entire conversation in broken Spanish decide if going for ice cream was the best thing to do.  It was pretty great.  I didn't think we knew enough Spanish to actually converse but it got the job done.

Our decision:

Kid's Workshop

The first Saturday of the month Home Depot hosts a Kid's Workshop for kids to come and build something.  Over the past several years our family has made some pretty colorful creations.  This past Saturday was the day for March so I told the kid's we would go when their chores were done. 

They finished them up so off we went.  This was Spencer's first workshop experience and he loved it.  We arrived just as the first rush of people were finishing so we had to split up for seats and share hammers for a few minutes but pretty soon things cleared out and we just about had the place to ourselves.  I primarily helped Spencer by lining up his nails and getting them started, then he proudly hammered away until they were well hammered. 

The kids moved on to painting and came home with some beautiful wagons.  They have used them to take their stuffed animals for a ride, move wooden blocks all over the house and have wagon races. 
All home depot projects are not worth the time but these little wagon have been a pretty good source of fun this weekend.

Quiet Book

With our pending trip to Europe, I have realized that we won't be bringing a lot of toys with us and hope to come home without a lot of extra stuff.  I also recognize that sometimes kids just need something to do that doesn't involve walking around a city and quiet time with their hands so I decided it was time for me to make a quiet book.  Hyrum's mom is very good at making quiet books so I grilled her for information, tips and tricks.  I scoured Pinterest and the internet and I think I found a pretty good group of pages and made some up on my own.  I'm not completely done and I will add a post when I finish but this is what I've been doing a bit of this month.

The picture on the left was my mistake.  I am using fabric transfer sheets for any writing I want on the pages.  I'd printed a mirror image but I'd forgotten that each of the numbers were  individual boxes so when I flipped them for their mirror image they didn't flip across the clock face.  So I sewed another circle over it and put the flaps on that will cover the minutes. (You can kind of get the idea between the two.)  I have more printing to do so I'll wait until I'm all done and then add the rest of my words since they don't hold up well to the ironing and I'm doing a lot of that in making these pages.

Not pictured here are a jack 'o lantern page, Math, Blokus, and shapes.  I'm hoping to get a number page, patterns, colors and a few others.  I also made some marble mazes.  I'm hoping these will be light weight things that can keep my big kids and little kids occupied as we travel and days when we just need a break. 

I will put up a more in-depth post once I finish it.  I'm really excited about it though.  It's looking really good.

Wedding Reception

Adam and Rachel's Wedding Reception was the weekend of President's Day and Valentine's Day in New York.  Hyrum was out of town that week so we waited until Saturday morning to head up there.  the drive was a little crazy for a bit while we drove through snow and windy conditions.  Thankfully it stopped about 30 miles south of Erie and we made it in good time.   We then went to the fire hall where they were holding the reception and set up the decorations. 

 I made the hearts in coral and navy and then lined them in the opposite color.  I wrapped navy twine around the top of mason jars and made a small A&R for the jars.  My mom cut about 100 tree branches for us and we put those inside the jars in the paper shreds.  We then hung the hearts on the branches. 

These were vellum luminaries with small hearts printed on them.  We put battery operated tea lights inside to give a little glow to them.  There were navy and coral table runners and squares on the tables.  It all ended up looking nice.  A bit simple but still gave the room a nice touch.  I'm sad I didn't get pictures but that is one habit I'm not very good at. 

It was nice to spend time with my parents and Adam.  I haven't spent much time with him since I went to college nearly 15 years ago so it was nice to get to know him as an adult a bit better.  It was nice to get to know Rachel a bit better two.  They are a good pair and we're excited for their future together. 

We celebrated Valentine's Day with conversation hearts, and I made my family chocolate covered brownies with mint and orange filling.  We also attended church together.  Rachel's parents came for the reception so after dinner of reception leftovers we sat and talked with them for several hours. 

Monday we took our time getting ready that morning and enjoyed a tasty breakfast.  We broke in my mom's doughnut pans with vanilla and chocolate doughnuts.  After doughnuts,  Hyrum and I took our family, minus Ben, to a great hill and spent about 45 minutes sledding.  We'd forgotten a pair of boots so we had one unhappy child on our hands after the boots she was wearing feel off so we didn't last long.  It was fun though and after we got back to my parents' house, Hannah and Jonathan spent at least another hour playing in the snow. 

We packed up the car and headed out around nap time.  We enjoyed the weekend and it won't soon be forgotten.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

February marks the anniversary of my birth. I can't believe I'm 32.  I certainly don't feel that old.  The kids and Hyrum were good to remember my birthday with signs all over the house and special Happy Birthday wishes all day. 

I celebrated by going grocery shopping and ordering pizza for dinner.

I'm grateful for this mortal experience.  I sure learn a lot every year and I'm so grateful for the time I get to spend with my family.