craft: Volcano

Who remembers this oldie but goodie? Salt Dough!

1 Cups Salt

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Water

Combine salt and flour then add water SLOWLY until you have stiff dough. To color dough, add food coloring to the water before mixing. Create then bake at 325 for 2 hours to make your form permanent. If you desire, color your creation after it has baked then coat with a layer of lacquer.

We made a VOLCANO! Look at it EXPLODE! (Baking soda and vinegar. We added a little red food coloring to the vinegar to get read "lava")

craft: Masks

Love these masks. Simple as pie! I was hoping to get a picture of us all in our cute Goldilocks and the 3 Bears masks but Lil G wouldn't keep his on =(. Here's how we did it:

Materials:

Paper Plates
Scissors
Hole Punch
Markers
Construction paper
String or elastic
Easter basket filling or gift bag raffia or yarn, for hair
Glue

Cut out 2 eye circles in a paper plate.
Decorate silly, sad, happy, or mad.
Punch a small hole on each side of the face, close to the edge, just higher than the eyes.
Tie a piece of string from one hole to the next for a strap to keep your mask on.

"Remember Lot's Wife"

Our family is sick today-each with something different. As J lies in bed trying to survive, I took the children out to our living room and provided activities for both. I settled in with a blanket and started my Sunday with a BYU Devotional. BYUTV was broadcasting “Remember Lot’s Wife” by Elder Holland. At the end of his devotional he recounted a personal story in which he compared himself to Lot’s wife. In essence his young self said, "Let's go back, let’s give up, let’s go home." Isn't that what Lot's wife did? Longed for Home although there was a better place prepared for them? Elder Holland explained, “What was wrong with Lot’s wife is that she wasn't just looking back, but that in her heart she wanted to go back....[Lot’s wife] doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she had.” In contrast, "faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ is the 'high priest of good things to come.'" How grateful I am to live in this place. This GREAT place where there are so many opportunities, so many good gifts, and so many great examples. I will always long for family but I am going to start longing for my future here, with my husband, friends and opportunities for growth.

Adoption

Some of you may notice that I have added a few adoption links on my blog. I love, love, love, reading these amazing women's stories. If you'd like to check them out click here and here.

foster: Loving Children

I LOVE this quote from "Unable to Have Children" by Areth G. Kapp: "You do not need to possess children to love them. Loving is not synonymous with possessing, and possessing is not necessarily loving. The world is filled with people to be loved, guided, taught, lifted and inspired." We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. I hope that we can find room in our lives to make Heavenly Father's Children feel "loved, guided, taught, lifted [or] inspired."

fun: Discovery Gateway

Monday of Spring Break we went the the Children's Museum in SLC. It was so fun! We spent about 3 hours there but the kids could have stayed ALL day! The downstairs has a lot of imagination play: A store, a house, a farm, a construction site, a model of the water system. This is by far what both kids liked the most. We spent the most time down there. Lil G was able to play and I could keep an eye on G. It was soooo CROWDED, mainly because there were at least 3 school groups there with us. OI! By the time we made it upstairs to the Media section, so had 2 school groups. It was too crowded for G to get to do much but we did have fun making animated movies! Next time I'm bringing a MOM friend with me. Oh, and I'll go during summer when, hopefully, there won't be many school groups!

trip: Moab

Last week was SPRING BREAK! What a blast. We did so many fun things but G's FAVORITE was CAMPING! Our friends invited us to stay in camp ground with cabins and a SWIMMING pool. It was a little cold and windy and miserable (for the Adults) the first few days. Luckily, Saturday warmed up and G was so excited to swim. We will have to get a pool pass this summer.

Because this was my first time camping with kids I thought I'd opt for one of the $40 cabins. These cabins were PERFECT! They had 2 full beds and heat. G had a blast with campfire cooking. She was so excited to roast a hotdog over the camp fire. And of course she loved the SMORES' and hot chocolate! Lil G did great learning about fire. He was so careful around the fire by the time we left. He loved being "ou-side" all day!

We had a chance to visit Arches NP. We are so lucky to live here in Utah with so many beautiful things to see and so many opportunities for children. Here are some pictures of the arches we saw. We all can't wait to go back and visit again!

While hiking in Arches we saw these cool Ute Indian drawings!

G was so excited to tell all she knew about rocks. I regret not preparing to do some teaching while there. You learn so much more when learning corresponds with seeing or doing. Oh well, next time!

foster: Keep or Not to Keep

I had a friend tell me the other day that she hopes we get to adopt the kids. I had an opportunity to share with her my feelings on the foster care program in Utah. Utah's foster program is geared toward reunification with the family. I whole heartily support that goal. As long as the family situation is safe, children should go home. I believe that no one can parent a child as well as that child's parent (again as long as it is SAFE). There are some people who abuse their children and parental rights are frequently terminated. There are some parents who just make some choices and are unable to give the children proper care. Those children need a safe environment while Mom or Dad or both get the help they need. This doesn't mean Mom and Dad shouldn't be parents. It means they have a problem that they need to solve before they can be good parents. I sincerely hope that G and Lil G get to go home to a safe environment.

The last few weeks Lil G has been calling everyone MaMa. Me, J, G our neighbors we spend a lot of time with, anyone he thinks is cool or special gets called MaMa. I think it's funny. We'd like to teach him MaMa E- for me, and sister for G. That way it isn't confusing when he goes home. J is trying to get him to say DaDa J. He'll call J "JJ" sometimes but not consistently. Pretty Cute!

HAPPY EASTER!

I hope that amid all our fun Easter activities the children have not forgotten that we have a wonderful gift from our Heavenly Father. He sent His Son to earth to show us how to live. Christ died and was Resurrected so that we may live again. I hope you have a wonderful Easter filled with Love, Family, and the Spirit of Truth!.

craft: Easter Cards

We made these cute Easter cards yesterday. G had a blast giving them out to her friends today at church. Let's Explore gave us this great idea with the Origami Bunnies. I really like G's "fancy" one she made for her Grandma!

fun: HAPPY BIRTHDAY J!!!

J turned 31 today. Happy B-Day Honey.
Here's his special Birthday Easter cake. The frosting between the layers is every pastel imaginable. I was lucky enough to have leftover frosting from cookies last week!

He spent his Birthday with the 4 Runner. Here's the story:

Thursday I get up and get the kids ready. It's the last day of tutoring so I wanted to leave the house early and go get the girl I tutor a book. It 's raining/snowing and I step in this HUGE puddle that gathers on our walk way. Great. I get in the car turn the key and NOTHING happens. Again. Nothing happens. Great. I call J and tell him we've got a broken car. He comes home from work and gives me a jump and thankfully that works. I get to Wally world in a HUGE hurry now because I have 20 minutes to pick a book, drop Little G off and get to the school. Out of the car I go and SPLASH right into another puddle! What is my DEAL! I finally decided on getting a FANCY NANCY book. This ones a cute book about girls exploring. It's got some words that my pupil won't be able to read on her own but I decide to get it anyway. Thankfully the car starts and off we go.

The next day I get in the car to pick up G. I'm running a little late because I didn't want to wake Little G. I turn the key and NOTHING. Great. I call J and he comes and gives me a jump. We go get G 10 MINUTES late and she's standing on the sidewalk all by herself with RED eyes. Great.

We decided something was wrong with the 4 Runner. We call our mechanic for a diagnosis-hoping for a battery and not an alternator. This morning he's able to come and whooooo, it's the battery. A new battery and we're as good as new right? Yeah that's what I thought.

I've procrastinated planning Easter Dinner so I knew I needed to go to the grocery store for a few more things. I hope in the car with Little G and off we go. SLOWLY. I had to gun it to get out of the driveway. Great. We call back out mechanic and he comes over, drives it, and pronounces a diagnosis. A new fuel filter. What are the odds that both of these things go wrong on the same day?

I feel so lucky to have such great friends in S and A. They are always willing to help us out. Thanks S for spending your day fixing our 4 Runner!

fun: Easter Eggs!

Today we spent some time with an elderly woman in our ward decorating Easter Eggs! It was so fun to see the many creations G came up with. i don't think many eggs will make it all the way to Easter. Little G and G have been chomping on them all day!

foster: Pictures

Some of you may be wondering why you haven't seen pictures of adorable Little G and G. I've been taking pictures but I feel like it is an invasion of their privacy to place their pictures on our blog on the WWW. We'll try to get pictures of all the fun stuff we're doing this week though! We are soooooo excited for spring break!

upgrades: Last Year...

"J" (really E) got a new dishwasher and microwave for his birthday. This year...


A french door bottom freezer FRIDGE! We got it for a STEAL off KSL. I wont tell you how much, but I will say, it cost about the same as a new, small, SS, top freezer refrigerator. You know those ones nobody wants anymore-the ones that you only see in apartments. Plus it's the $2400 (ON SALE) model I wanted! It's got some minor scratching on it but once the critical eye is gone it doesn't matter! I'm so excited! No more towels on the floor to sop up water from the fridge!

craft: Easter Eggs

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these dyed eggs on Our Best Bites. We are definatly doing this this year. Can anyone say DI for Ties! If you decide to do these beautifull eggs in your house I'd love to see how they turned out!

foster: Random Mom Moments

I'm sure most of you LDS parents know this-watching 4 sessions of General Conference in your living room with 2 children is HARD! Plus trying to explain what is going on and why we are listening so closely is tough when a child has limited knowledge of the Gospel. I basically gave up the first half of the Sunday afternoon session. After 3, 2 hour sessions the kids were DONE. I was DONE. After being the regulator, clown, jungle gym, and vending machine, I let J watch with the kids while I took a shower.

Sometimes I get a little crazy being mom. Everyone wants my attention all the time! Not to mention my house is a complete MESS all the time. I confess I am not a GREAT housekeeper. I like my house to be clean but it isn't always tidy. Now I have no hope of clean-I'm just going for tidy! It looks like a bomb has gone off in EVERY room. Bath toys and towels are on the bathroom floor. Snacks, trains, blankets, pillows and cards all have a place on my living room floor. The kitchen sink is overflowing with the effects of 3 meals a day. (Anyone who knows us will know that this is not unusual, but it's worse and also includes the counters and the floor!) I'm exhausted and say, at least once a day, "I don't know what I was thinking!?" J is a big help with the children but the house cleaning (and recleaning) has fallen to me. I feel like one of those Russian dolls. You know the ones with out legs. You push them over and they just bounce right back. I will clean up the house, vacuum, unload and load the dishwasher, start a load of laundry. Next thing I know the chores have magically bounced right back like I haven't done anything at all! Isn't this the definition of INSANITY? Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result?

At least the children are happy and healthy. Little G is starting to put two words together- usually it's accompanied by sign language. I've been teaching him the basics. "more" "eat" "milk" "please" "up" "help". It seems to be helping his verbal vocabulary as well.

I'm still struggling to get G to put things away. She is obedient but she will often put me off to finish a show she's seen a MILLION times. We've set limits on the TV but she's always asking for MORE. I'm hoping that the sunshine these next couple of days will help us watch less! We are reading library books together and like I said in earlier posts we try to do a project every day. She is a fun girl. She's smart and creative. She is very attentive to her brother and helps him do big kid stuff.

In short, I want to know who would ever think that being a MOM isn't a full time job! From sun up to sun down you are on call. I’m working harder and am busier then I have ever been in my life and am daily finding room for improvement!

fun: General Conference

I knew G would have a hard time finding LDS General Conference fun and exciting. Trying to find something she could do AND listen to conference led me to the Internet. I was hoping to do a bingo game but I hadn't thought of one as cool as this. This game coupled with some Easter candy and we are in business! She has to listen closely to the speakers and hear the exact words. We've been using double sided tape to stick the pieces to the boards. That way little G's fingers don't mess G up. Every time she gets a bingo she gets a piece of candy. If she gets a blackout on the same board then she gets 4 pieces. (I know it's a lot of candy but she's listening and having fun.) Take a look at the cool boards!