Thinking Day

 I have some great memories of Girl Scouts as a young girl, but some of the best memories come from an activity called Thinking Day.  World Thinking Day is February 22 and all over the world girl scouts gather and talk about other cultures and learn and teach about them.  We do this as a district and so about 12 troops get together and each picks a country to learn and teach about.  Since my girls really didn't have an idea about what Thinking Day was about I picked Spain since I had been there and had lots of stuff from there.  Throughout the weeks leading up to this day we learned about flamenco dancers, bull fighting and the language of the fan.  I showed them maps and flags and we talked about what the people ate and did there.  While at Thinking Day my girls took turns staying at the display and teaching the girls coming around.  We taught the other girls about the language of the fan and they could each decorate and fold a fan and learn how to use it.  I loved watching my girls.  They were so eager to teach and share their knowledge.  A lot of the other girls just wanted to quickly get through each booth so my girls got discouraged about teaching, but it was great.  They also loved walking around and learning about the other countries.  They got to try new foods, play games, make crafts and get a SWAP at every station.  They all had fun and that was what I wanted since I had told them how much fun I had had when I was young.  It also made them excited for doing it next year.

Double Birthday Party

 I was so happy when the boys decided to have a joint birthday party again.  It makes my life so much simpler.  Then they also wanted it at the roller rink which makes my life even more simple.  I do love throwing a good themed party, but it was nice to have some one else take care of everything this time.  We had 10 boys total and we started out our house where we had pizza and opened presents.  I didn't like the pizza at the roller rink and didn't want the present mess or play time missed at the fun center.  We were all able to fit into our two cars (the girls went to a friend's house and it was SO nice not worrying about them). 

 Part of the package comes with the birthday kid being in the ticket box and spinning the big wheel.  At first the boys wanted to do it separately but I didn't want to pay the extra money and I am so glad I didn't.  They had SO much fun doing it together.  The big wheel has a bunch of cheap light up toys but my boys landed on the one spot where they won $10! 

 The ticket box was hilarious.  They both tucked their shirts in and just shoved all the flying tickets into them.  They got 80 but it was priceless to watch.

 Even though we didn't have a big theme party, I decided to have a little fun with the cake.  I tried to get a picture of the two boys with this but they were not cooperating. I think it looks pretty good.

 Without the girls around Greg and I were able to couple skate a bunch and chat and hang out.  Greg always like to take goofy pictures.  Always.  I shouldn't wonder where his kids' get it.  The best part about the party was that we dropped off the boys and the house was relatively clean when we got home.  Happy Birthday to my 2 favorite boys!

Chapatis

 The kids bring home books from school all the time.  They read them, usually without me even realizing it and then they go back to school.  There are probably hundreds of books that have come through our home that I have no idea about.  But every once in a while a book comes home and a child gets excited about it and shares it with me and wants to do a little more.  Annabelle was reading a How to Make Bread book and it had a recipe in the back for chapatis, an Indian bread.  She really wanted to make it.  So we did.  They turned out really good with the yummy braised chicken that I made that night and the kids were all sad they only got one.  I love when I have time and am able to get a little dirty and help the kids do something.

Happy Double Digits Ryan!

 Ah, my Ry guy is 10!  I can't believe it!  My computer shuffles through pictures as a screen saver and I have recently noticed a few of Ryan when he was about three.  So little, and now look at him.  Ryan's birthday was on a school day and a girl scout day. He was pretty sure that those two things were going to ruin his birthday for him.  I did everything I could to make that not the case.  Luckily Ryan wanted eggo waffles for his breakfast. I love when they want simple things, especially on busy mornings.  Ryan goes to school at 7:30 twice a week now for choir.  I am so impressed that he wanted to join and I really look forward to watching him perform. 

 For years, I am not joking, Ryan has been asking to do karate.  When he was younger and more crazy I knew that karate wouldn't be good for him.  But at 10 years old, with him still asking about it, we decided it was time to let him try it out.  AS you can see, he was VERY excited!  He went to his first class last night and really enjoyed it.  I stayed and watched this first time and I enjoyed seeing what the class will do for him.  He has a good friend in the class and the while I thought they were a little goofy the instructor told me he would rather have them excited to be there then not.  He also got some books, a new mitt, Rollerblade wheels, and he gets to go with Nathan to the Space Camp on Saturday.  Lucky kiddo!

For lunch I took Ryan out of school and we went to Arctic Circle.  My boys can definitely eat and while the adult combo meals cost more, they can devour them showing me that they have definitely outgrown the kid meal.  While Ryan was at school I made his cupcakes and meatballs so that I would be able to make sure he had a fun day even though I had girl scouts.  While I am glad I got it all done, Ryan was off with friends all afternoon so the girl scouts didn't even bother him.  We of course had my "famous meatballs" for dinner.  Ryan's all time favorite.  With rice and broccoli on the side he couldn't have been happier. 

 Ryan had a great parent-teacher conference as well.  He is very smart according to all the standardized tests and his teacher.  She asked why I wasn't putting him in accelerated classes and I told her it was because I want him to continue to feel smart.  I don't want him to be average in a class of smart people.  Ryan also loves his friends and it would be hard for him to part with them.  And  big reason for Ryan is that he doesn't love work and with the ALL program there is A LOT more work.  But Ryan was very happy when I told him what his teacher said and I am so proud of all his hard work and effort at school and with outside activities. 

Happy #12 Nathan!!

 I can not believe that my Nathan is 12 year old.  Where in the world did the time go?!  I remember being 12.  I am so proud and amazed at this awesome young man!  at our house we get to pick the menu all day on our birthdays.  For breakfast Nathan picked Felix French Toast.  We were even lucky enough to have Grandpa Felix come over for breakfast since it was a holiday.  He hadn't had this family breakfast in years.  Nathan got new roller blade wheels, a Munchkin game, a new baseball mitt (he had been using one of dad's old ones), some books, 12 coupons to go geocaching and a Saturday space camp adventure this weekend. 

 For lunch Nathan went out with Grandma Pam and Ryan.  They got to go to Golden Corral (a tradition) and Grandma said they ate the place clean.  I was worried Nathan wouldn't be hungry for the pot roast dinner he had me make him but he IS my growing 12 year old so he devoured that as well.  He LOVES pot roast and mashed potatoes and is always asking me to make it.  For dessert we had Carmel Pear crumble.  It was delicious and I love that he likes and appreciates good food.

 

I took Nathan out to lunch Wednesday.  We had a great time and talked about lots of things.  He is so fun to talk to.  He told me about games they play at school, we even talked a little about girls and why he doesn't have a phone yet.  Nathan is just a great kid all around.  When I went to parent-teacher conferences last week his teacher had me laughing a ton.  I guess they have to write a bunch of papers at school (I don't know this because Nate gets most of it done at school).  But the topics of the papers are up to the kids.  The first topic question was "Write about something you want to learn more about."  The teacher told me a lot of kids wrote about similar things: sports, Hawaii (their teacher is from there) or celebrities.  Nathan chose the migration of birds.  Then they were supposed to write about a person they wanted to get to know more about and Nathan choose the 19th president of the USA, Rutherford B Hayes.  When Nathan had come home and asked me to get a book about him at the library I assumed the whole class was doing president reports.  But the teacher told me that no, Nathan had just come up with this on his own.  He showed me Nathan's paper and it said they Nathan picked Rutherford by deciding he wanted to do a president because their would be a lot of information, then he went to random.com to get a number.  He got #19 and looked it up and it was Hayes.  So funny.  I love this boy who is no longer a boy anymore.  He is a young man, a tween, and a great person!  Happy Birthday Nate!

Soldier Hollow Tubing

 My sweetheart and I had our valentine's date the next day.  We headed up to Soldier Hollow and hung out with some of his siblings for a few hours.  We went tubing and while the sloped were a little slushy, which made the tubing a little slower, I thoroughly enjoyed this kid-free fun activity.  We went to lunch after at a little Heber place called Spin Cafe.  I really enjoyed it, especially the gelato.  It was a great date and I wish we could all hang out more often.

 While we were gone the boys were in charge.  It was the longest we left them but they did great.  They got a little bored the last hour so we let them watch TV, but overall they did great.  Lots of games, candy experiments, they cleaned the playroom, and just played together.

 

Valentines Day

 I have come to enjoy Valentine's Day more and more.  We have created some really fun family traditions that make this day very special.  First we have heart shaped pink pancakes.  We love pancakes at our house so the pink hearts make them even more wonderful.  Then the kids head off to school for their class parties.  Callie even had a little Valentine Party with her preschool and loved getting and giving valentines this year.  Nathan, my 6th grader, actually didn't pass out valentines this year.  I guess 6th graders are too old for that.  I did send him off with a bag of candy to pass out, becasue what 6th grader doesn't like candy?  I am Ryan's room mom and so I was in charge of his class party.  I worked it so that I could also stop in at Annabelle's party and say hi.  We had lots of fun playing games.  I love watching Ryan take Callie under his wing and play with her at each activity

After school is extra fun because the kids sort through their candy, look at the notes, laugh at some silly jokes and everyone is just in a good mood.  I do hate Fun Dip though.  I really, really do.  I wonder about the moms who buy it for their kids to pass out.  Don't they also hate it?  It is so messy and so sugary.  Oh well, it is only a couple times a year that I have to deal with it.

 This year I got some minky material for really cheap and so I decided to make the kids each a Valentine blanket.  Super simple, just minky on one side and chevron stripes on the other.  The kids knew I was working on a secret project but had no idea.  Callie even knew that I kept it in the corner in my room under a blanket and never peeked.  My kids are awesome that way.  They like surprises, just like I did as a kid.  They were all SO happy with their new blankets.  They are perfect movie or book snuggling blankets. 

 Annabelle has finally allowed other people to use her Rainbow Loom.  I bought a book on how to make some different designs and realized that it is horribly written.  It is much easier to watch a YouTube video.   This is one I made, but I have made the kids some with beads and flowers as well.

 We watched The Little Princess with Shirley Temple that night.  Callie obviously got tired and the movie was a little too loud.  We have a bunch of Shirley Temple movies and thanks to its name Annabelle picked the saddest one.  I had to assure her that the dad came back since she was on the brink of tears.  More dear sweet sensitive girl.

 I love the love notes the kids and Greg and I pass throughout the month leading up to valentines day.  The girls especially were always excited to see if their mailbox flag was up meaning they had new mail.  Greg also writes special little notes for each kid on Valentine's Day and they get that at breakfast.  It is the little traditions that I love, the little things that make us a family.

P is for Pig

 Callie is slightly obsessed with pigs.  Just a little:)  She has so many stuffed pigs, plastic pigs, pigs that make noise and pigs that squeak.  It is fun for me to find new pig things every birthday and Christmas.  These ears are probably the most used headband.  She loves to wear them.  These three pictures are all from this week.  At preschool we finally made it to the letter P.  Callie even wore her pig tail and brought some pigs to show her class today.  I love that she is happy to wear them any time and anywhere.  To the grocery store, friends houses, restaurants.  It doesn't bother her.  And I am glad that it doesn't bother me.  I also love how sometimes she puts flowers on them, all on her own.  She is truly our little Miss Piggy.

No Media Week

 On Monday night we went out to one of our favorite family restaurants, Rib City Grill, to celebrate our week of being media free.  For Nathan's NOVA class at school they were challenged to be TV/video game/movie free.  They also suggested having your family doing it with them.  I was excited for the challenge.  Not because I hate video games as my kids would have you think, but because I had getting on Facebook more often that I was happy about.  And I knew that we could all get a lot more accomplished if she cut back.  It really helped that Nathan had a friend who was also doing the challenged because they played TONS of games together that week.  They build old models and put together some cool erector sets that Nathan hadn't touched in a long time.  Annabelle, who was the one who cried when I told her the challenge, survived not using the Ipad and while my play room is a mess, as is my house, she played great.   It isn't like my kids play that many video games or watch that much TV. They can earn up to 30 minutes a day for getting chores and homework done, and good behavior.  I got tons done that week and spent more time with the kids and Greg and just relaxing and reading.  I should of taken more pictures, but here are some random ones from that week.

 Ryan did really good, even when his friends came over.  They played Lego's and board games.  He made it to Friday night when he had a late night with friends.  HE was really concerned about not being able to go out to dinner with us if he played games that night.  I assured him that 5 days was huge for him.

 Three new Blurb books came in the mail.  I accidentally order our 6 month book too big.  It is giant, but it is beautiful.  I love these books and I love watching the kids excitedly look through them and exclaim over the fun times we have as a family.

 I was cooking one day and turned around and there was Callie, on the counter, chilling.  She is so silly. 

 We tried to play Jenga, and we actually got pretty far.  But after it fell she just wanted to build towers.  She was SO proud of hers!

Annabelle was Star of the Week.  She has a summer birthday so they always celebrate her birthday at a different time in the year.  Usually around February (her half birthday).  She was so cute up with her teacher and I love watching her come out of her shell a little more each year. 

 We finally had the TV back and the kids have LOVED watching the Olympics.  Every night at 7 they jump up from where ever they are and yell, "The Olympics are starting!"  It is fun family time together.  Funny thing is the kids assume we are just as good as Olympians.  Greg has been skiing some times so the kids assume he can do all that they see on TV.  I swim, and the other day Annabelle asked if I just choose to now go to the Olympics.  I love that they think we are so awesome.  I have enjoyed that now I don't get on Facebook as much as I used to.  I get more done and don't worry about everyone else's life as much as my own.