fun super bowl game...

Name that Call

Go HERE and click on the different ref calls. Print out on a piece of white cardstock and write the call name on the back. I fit about 2 pictures on one piece of paper and then cut and laminated them. They should last for years to come! The aim of the game is to see who can guess the most calls correct by just looking at the picture. It is super easy and fun to do during half time! See how much your husband really does know!

max...3 months...

read-a-thon...

Okay...don't get me wrong...I LOVE to read...I hope that my kids will love to read too! It opens new and exciting adventures with out ever leaving your home.

At school they are having a jazz read-a-thon. Each kid is supposed to read a certain number of minutes each day. If they reach their goal as a school a Jazz basketball player will come to the school and read to them. In Noah's class they will have an ice cream party and depending on how many minutes they read they earn their ice cream stuff:
200 minutes=bowl
300 minutes=spoon
400 minutes= 1st scoop...etc...

Noah is supposed to be reading an hour a day! He is in 1st grade! 1 hour seems crazy to me! Zach is supposed to read 40 minutes a day! Now here is my problem with this...when are we supposed to get all this reading done? It would be one thing if my kids were older and could read that long on their own, but they still need my help. Especially Zach! So on top of cleaning, laundry, cooking, feeding a baby, and homework, I now have to make more time to sit and read with the kids. I would love to be able to sit down for a few hours everyday and read to the kids, but the reality is that there are other things that need my attention too! Every night I sit and read a few chapters out of a book to the boys. Right now we are reading My Side of the Mountain. I thought we were doing pretty well reading wise...Well...I am glad that the read-a-thon is just for a short time!

Hey...I'm just being honest!

inspiration...

It is time to get inspired!
Wanna know what is inspiring me today?

This

(I totally want to make everything but especially the half moon hand bag and the small satchel)

&

This

(My friend always has such great ideas...I think I am ready to tackle our bathroom now...)

What inspires you?

hate...love...

oh boy am I sick! My throat glands are the size of golf balls! It started yesterday with the sore throat followed by a fever and the chills. Last night was miserable! I hate being sick. I hate that even when Travis is home to help and has everything under control I feel guilty for just laying in bed. I hate that seeing me almost throw up scared my kids. I hate that ibuprofen isn't even touching the pain. What I love is that Travis can use his sick days even when I am sick. I love that he can do his meetings over the internet so that he is still staying on top of his work. I love that I have a good reason to take a nap in the middle of the day. Do you remember those days when you were sick as a kid? Being sick was awesome!! No school, meals in bed, your other siblings had to do your chores, no worries! Now I feel the pressure to hurry up and get better. So I am going to lay here and focus on "hurrying up" and getting better!

snowman...

In light of all the snow we are getting these were just to good not to share!

what the?...

Seriously?

Seriously????

THIS is unbelievable!

i'm out...who is with me?...

Honesty is the best policy right? Well...this last week has been really crappy! So today I was thinking back over the last week and wondering why I was feeling so blue and then it dawned on me...It was the first week of the new year. " Why would this make a difference you might ask?" Tis the season for new years resolutions and setting goals right? Really, if you ask me, that is just code for picking yourself apart and focusing on all that is wrong, or that you aren't doing well, and how your going to fix it. Now I know that resolutions and goals aren't always this way, but for me the first few weeks of each new year come with the overwhelming feeling that I am failing. Somehow I am just not doing enough of what I should or want to be doing. I am always trying to do better. Everyday I wake up and try to do better. Why should the fact that it is the beginning of a new year make any difference? Why should I beat myself up just because it is a new year? So I have decided that I am out. I am passing on making a list of goals and resolutions. Instead I am going to focus on trying to be a little better each day. Instead of hanging a "goal" over my head I am going to take each day as it comes. Some days will be good and some will be bad, but I refuse to have a "goal" hanging over me making me feel like I am failing. Just typing this makes me feel free of the pressure. I'm out...who is with me?

a new year...

Wow! It is another new year. As I pulled down my 2008 calendar to put up my new one I glanced back over the last 12 months of activities and milestones. It makes me anxious and excited for what this new year will bring.

We set lots of goals. Some we did...some that flopped. One goal that really really worked for our family was our FHE monthly topics. We started this at the beginning of last year and I was really surprised at how great it helped us with our goal of having meaningful FHE as a family. Having a monthly topic helped us have a focus for the month. Then each week we would pick a certain aspect of our topic to learn about. Preparing a weekly lesson was so much easier when we didn't need to think about what to teach.

So we are doing it again this year. Last Monday we sat down and asked the kids to think of some topics that they would like to learn about this next year. It was cute to hear the things that they were interested in. So here is our 2009 list of FHE topics:

• Jan-The Atonement
• Feb-Charity and Love
• Mar-Jesus' Miracles
• Apr-The Resurrection
  
• May-God's Creations (Bailey wanted to learn about birds!)
• June-Faith
• July-Pioneers
• Aug-The Holy Ghost (Noah will be baptised in Oct so we wanted to help him get ready in the months leading up to his birthday.)
• Sept-Baptism
• Oct-CTR-Covenants
• Nov-Music (We will spend the whole month learning new hymns, how to lead music etc...)
  
• Dec-The Star-Birth of Jesus

I type up a little poster with our monthly theme and hang it on the white board hanging in our loft.

christmas catch up...

On Christmas Eve we started off the evening by reenacting the nativity. My sister Rachel and her family came from Texas so we actually had enough grandkids to pull it off. Bailey being the only girl grandchild was a shoe in for the roll of Mary. My nephew Jesse was Joseph. Bailey kept saying that she was "married" instead of Mary.

They looked so cute dressed up. Who knew that a towel would look so great!

All of the kids were so good as they listened to the scriptures. Jesse and Bailey held hands the whole time. They took their roles very seriously.

Zach was a shepherd and Noah was the angel. Travis typed up the words that the angel said and Noah read them himself.

Okay...so I should have known that the more kids you have the harder it is to get a good picture....so here are the best we got...

My mother-in-law got the cutest Christmas jammies for Max. The flap really opens too!

A tradition that we have incorporated into our traditions from Travis' side of the family is all the kids waiting on the stairs Christmas morning while Dad goes down to see if Santa came and get things ready. They know it is time to come down the stairs when they hear Jonny Mathis sing "Drummer Boy".

Travis' parents got our family one big family gift....a Wii. The boys were so excited! We set it up the night before so that they could play right away!

All of the silly grandkids! I just loved seeing all of the cousins together. They had so much fun!

This was the first Christmas where Bailey was just as excited as the boys. It was so fun to see her face light up!

We got so much snow! It was really really hard to keep up with the shoveling.

In some places we had drifts up to our waists!

I thought this was the most darling picture. My Dad was able to get Max asleep and soon fell asleep too. So precious!

Travis' sister Jori sent the cutest hair clips for Bailey. She makes them out of felt and ribbon. Check them out HERE . I know that you can't really see them in the picture, but this is the look that Bailey walked around with on her face. This is her "I feel so pretty face." Thanks aunt JoJo! We love them!