more this and that

This is  totally Millie and Ziva, so funny.  When they go out together Z comes back a mess every time and Millie just tip toes through the tulips and comes back with a little dew on her paws.  It cracks me up.

This morning I went to scripture study group, although this time we only read one chapter and spent  a lot of time talking, they were gospel centered converstations.  Then we went to Okada for lunch, it was Jodie's birthday on Wednesday.  I think we had 20 people there, which usually is too many to really get to visit but they have nicely shaped seating so it was okay.

After school both E and G went to play with friends.  They like to roam around the neighborhood and play soccer and eat snacks at every house (the boys).  The girls stayed here and taught Z tricks.

Pete and Katherine came over tonight to HT us.  I made homemade oreos, for the first time ever.  Val makes them all the time and they were so good.  R said it was one of his favs now.

OREOS

• 1 and 1/4 cups (160g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (64g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CREAM FILLING

• 1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup (48g) vegetable shortening, room temperature
• 1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Random

Random this and that.

We got home late and ate dinner late, roast and potatoes.  After dinner R and I took the girls on a walk and it was chilly outside.  I enjoy our walks together.  We always talk.  We got home and found these three snuggled together watching Dr Who.  They are not always so sweet to one another so I grabbed my camera ;)

Jenna instagramed this picture, she is taking a cross country ski class and I know she enjoys it a lot.  

Grace and I took some funny pictures.  She is growing up.  So who knew but you can take horseback riding vacations, all over the world.  It's an amazing idea.  You can go on a horseback safari, or ride through the glens of Ireland.  Amazing!  She and I started planning to take a trip, when she is big.  Today she said, Mom what if you don't still like horses?  You'll still like me and you'll want to go right?  I do like her, my little blond caboose.

Court of Honor

Tonight was our first boy scout court of honor.  Ethan has been a boy scout for 7 months so I don't know what the delay was but none the less tonight was the night.  It was nice.  Lots of boys got awards.  There was a super cute skit, chocolate chip cookies at the end.  Nice night.

Here's Rob presenting some awards to the varsity's.  He is the assistant Varsity leader.

Bro Lyons presented Bub with his tenderfoot, 2nd class and a couple of merit badges.

He's a good boy.

Congratulations to Michael and JaNee!

Last night Baby girl Arhets joined the family.  With her arrival the cousin count is 10 girls, 8 boys.  So exciting!  They have some wonderful, priceless days ahead getting to know her and taking care of her.  This Auntie can't wait to cuddle and kiss our new little princess!

Scarlett Jeanne

Wanna build a snowman?...

Yes, and then have school until the 4th of July.

This morning the dogs and I went on our early morning business trip.  Most of the snow we walked through was fresh and clean and unmarred by previous passers by.  A few folks were out shoveling.  When I came home only little Lu was up, she was sitting at the table waiting for breakfast and watching a video on the laptop about the symptoms and treatments of snake bike.   She says she wants to be a vet, maybe she will. 

Now the kids are shoveling our driveway.  

Subbing today

I decided to start subbing again, on a limited basis. Hannah and I have a fun trip to NYC planned and I wanted to earn a little extra $ because it is an expensive place to visit!  So today I am back and it's fun to see everyone again and to hear the enthusiastic greetings but it's not so fun telling kids what to do all day long...I guess that's why it's called work. If I had to work every day i would do something different , that said you can not beat the flexibility and a lot of the kids are cute. ...is it 4oclock yet??

the Penny Channel

someone commented on an instagram photo of Dani's and said she wished there was a Penny channel so that whenever she needed a dose of cuteness she could turn it on and watch.  I agree.  I miss that little Penny Jane!

Our day of rest was, as usual, quite not restful.  We got up at 5 and headed to the airport, R and I both went and they dropped me at the stake center for stake council then dad headed the rest of the way to the airport and helped them get settled. Then he came back to wait for me.

Stake Council was wonderful.  I had the very special and uplifting experience of hearing a freshly returned sister missionary give her mission report.  She served in Riverside, CA.  The Spirit was so strong in the room as she shared her testimony and talked about missionary work.  Then we had a presentation from the area public relations team.  This was very interesting. It is a real privilege to attend this meeting and I always leave instructed and uplifted.

Since R was there we got the chance to sit and council with Bro. Reed.  Also a very good experience.

Then we came home and got the children ready for church and went to church.  The Hart's spoke, I enjoyed both of their talks and in RS Jennifer Lyons taught about mental health.  Grace invited Madison to come with us and she was a reverent guest.

In the evenings we had our YCL meeting, Jodie and Becky went.  I went to bed early.

Today I did some laundry and cleaning, walked the dogs, met R for lunch, went to the MVA (a story that if I elaborate on will end up a complaint), went to the barn for an icy riding lesson for Lu (which we both still enjoyed), had pizza for dinner, had FHE, went on another dog walk and talked with cute JaNee on the phone who is being induced tomorrow.  Can't wait for the newest little baby in the family to be born!

Saying Good-bye

We went to Cheeseburger in Paradise for some yummy last supper together. It was, for me, a great visit! Loved having them here; loved it!  This year we have plans to see each other twice more, which I am very grateful for.

Dani and I were tired, looking in the picture and in real life:)

Beehive Conference

our craft, the girls painted and did the wording however they wanted

We are had a great conference.  Beehives are always so sweet and happy and easy to please.  They are brand new to YW and everything is exciting and new!

Our keynote speaker was Charity Tillemann Dick and she did an amazing job, I was very pleased with how the whole thing went and I know the girls had an amazing time.

Me and Tara and Jodie, Becky was out of town for a funeral

One of the best parts is that Dani got to come with me to help.  I've really enjoyed spending this last week with her!

Another snow day

We had another day off from school. Today we went to get Han some

tennis shoes. We also went to Target and Panera. Grace bought a remote control helicopter and flew it around.

Tonight we went to the airport and picked up Bub. It's good to have him home!

Update: his flight was four hours late and we just got home at 12:30. Way too late for the night before the Beehive Conference, but I wouldn't change a thing. He spent most of the drive home telling us things he learned and he learned an impressive amount of stuff!

Frozen

So it has been cold.  17 degrees tonight as I drove home from the stake center, but to cancel school and have the children home for these last 8 days in a row with 3 more ahead of us.  That seems a little unnecessary.  Not that I don't love having them home.

on the ice

Today Dani and I went out to lunch, for sushi.  It was delicious and fun to sit and talk.  The girls went out on the little pond in the back yard and went "ice skating".  We did more crafts, watched some movies, read some books, cooked some food.  I have been getting stuff together for our Beehive Conference and we have been grateful for a warm house and the time we can spend together.

Hannah and her snow lump

Space Camp day 5

Space Camp

 Bub called this morning all excited because he gets to buy a rocket to bring home and build and shoot off!  He is full of happy news every time we talk to him.

He also says, "love you mom" every time.  Which is sooo sweet.

Message from the teacher:

Astronaut Wednesday

We had a chilly start to our day today, but the kids are troopers and bundled up to face the day.  We had a rare opportunity today one of which has never happened in all the years we have been coming to Space Camp.  Our group was asked to attend a briefing at Marshall Space Flight Center by Commander Chris Cassidy, who returned from the ISS in September.  He discussed what made him decide to become an astronaut, his raining, and his missions.  Following the presentation, we took a brief bus tour of Marshall.

Today we had one group of kids experience what it is like to walk on the moon using the 1/6th chair.  The other two groups had the opportunity to see what it is like to move through space using an MMU.  Students received a new mission today and id a dry run.  The will complete it tomorrow.  A few teams braved the cold temperatures and launched the rockets they madeyesterday.  The kids also looked at shuttle history and completed their Mars presentations.

 Blurry pictures of him moon walking.  I wonder if he'll be an astronaut now? I'm also happy to see him wearing pant instead of shorts like yesterday :)

one more snowy day

We woke up to a snow covered ground, which meant of course that we didn't have school.  The girls were thrilled.  We spent the day doing a lot of nothing really special but of course it was special because we had the little pumpkins here, and Dani here.

We walked the dogs, did some crafts, Dani made some delicious Thai soup, did some laundry, laid on Hannah's bed reading books, played horses, played with baby dolls, had a dance off, painted, built a snowman, sledded and now we are watching a movie.  I love having these girls here.  It is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup

1 1/2 lbs chicken

cilantro

1 T ginger

1 onion

1 cup frozen peas

2 T red curry paste

2T fish sauce

1T lime juice

2t peanut butter

2 T brown sugar

put in crock pot and cook until done, serve over white rice in a bowl.  Yummy!

Space Camp

bonus day

Hannah and Penny ready to go to lunch

School was cancelled today because of "snow".  The girls were happy for an extra day to play with the little girls.  I would have liked them to go to school because our little Miss Sarsaparilla is having a hard time being jealous of the grands and it's been trying.

So we slept in, then picked up a little and then went to lunch at the Great Wall.

When we came home Miss PJ got a nice nap and we watched a movie and made some projects.  We read the Giving Tree then made a tree with thumb print leaves and pointer finger apples, then read via a you tube video, Papa Please get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle.  I couldn't find my copy :( but luckily Grace had the good idea to look on line and we found a teacher reading it on you tube so there you go. Painting and putting yourself into art is always a good time.

Tonight we are having Cincinnati chili and putting children to bed.

art projects

Cadet training day 1

It's super strange to me how even though we have a house full of people we still miss the one that's gone.  One thing I am really glad of is the pictures and updates we are getting from Ethan's teachers.  It's so nice to know what he's doing and to see the great time he is having.  Also he has been calling for  just a minute each night to check in and he is having such a great time.  I was very surprised to hear him say how much he liked the simulators.  He hates carnival rides and roller coasters so I thought he would hate them as well.  He said he "loved them!"  His teams mission is on the space station group, he was happy with the assignment.

from the program guide; "During the five-night program, trainees participate in two 1-hour simulated shuttle missions. Students in mission control will monitor the progress and safety of the mission, those in the shuttle will successfully launch and land the spacecraft, and those in the space station will conduct science experiments while learning basic scientific principles."

We had a beautiful day for all the teams to get to ride all of the outside simulators including Space Shot and G-Force.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get photos from all of the teams but the ones that are there are pretty good.  The rest of the week looks like it will be getting colder so it was good to get those in today.  The teams also rode on the infamous M.A.T.s!!!   

Mission trainings were also completed by all teams and the kids seemed really excited about their positions.  We did one of two of the IMAX movies, hit the gift shop, learned about the early missions of Mercury and Gemini and finally a lesson on how to find and identify constellations.

Nifty Nine!

Today is Grace's actual birthday.  To celebrate Dad took the day off of work and we went on a field trip.  I had one thing in mind but Lu wanted to do something different so we went with her plan.  We went to the National Aquarium, which we love and then she chose to go out to eat at PotBelly, her 2nd favorite restaurant.  Subway being her first favorite.

Grandpa and Penn

the birthday girl with her daddy and her niecey

Hannah playing the pipes at a cute little park right by the water

Nine things about my Nifty, neat and nice nine year old baby girl!

1. Grace loves all animals.  We spent a long time talking to the dolphin trainer and while Lu wants to be a vet I think she was very interested in all she was being told.

2. Grace is an excellent student with a keen mind for math and science.

3. Grace is musical and can pick out songs on many different instruments.

4. Grace has a good sense of humor.

5. Grace likes to be busy and thrives on having lots of activities.

6. Grace likes electronics.

7.  She loves girl scouts and activity days.

8.  She likes to swim and boat and fish.

9. Lu and I like to read out loud together each night before bed.

I am grateful for my sweet girl!