Projects!

I've been busy with various projects lately. I finally bought a sewing machine of my very own. My mom was letting me use one of her old ones which you can see is older and doesn't near as much as my new one. I went with a Bernina because I've heard great things about them and lots of people I know, including my mom, have one. Better safe than sorry I guess. Now I just have to learn how to use it!

My first project was to make flannel boards for a little preschool group we're doing. If you're interested, I used an 18x24in. artist panel/canvas, 3/4 yard of flannel, and tote bag strapping bought from the ribbon section at Hobby Lobby. I sewed the flannel like a pillowcase, making sure to make it fit really tight, and then hot glued the open end down neatly. Then, I used the strapping/trim to make a little handle, burning the ends to keep them from raveling, and stapled them to the back of the board.

Then, I decided I need to do some painting so I touched up this tulip painting that I painted a few years ago and have already "touched up" twice. I think I have to stop though, even though it pains me to look at it and see how I could improve it still. Ava saw me painting and said, "I paint too!" She then took a thanfully dry paintbrush and started to stroke on my painting. I quickly got out paper and paint for Ava to try for herself. She enjoyed it - her favorite thing was for me to make purple by mixing red and blue for her.

Cool Website

Have bored kids like mine? Try printing out one of these activities! Ava is currently playing with the kitty one.

http://wondertime.go.com/create-and-play/printables/

County Fair

I'm now helping to plan ourchurch's playgroup. For this activity, we went to our County Fair. It was raining lightly which helped keep things cool...and it really didn't matter too much since most everything we were looking at was inside. We saw part of the dairy cow show and lots of animals.

Gaia, Kate & William...Ava's aunt and cousins.

Here, Ava & her friend Payton are looking at the chickens.

Our frirend debbi held Ava up to get a better view. It was neat to see that several of the chickens had laid eggs.
When Ava saw the camel in the petting zoo they had, she was SO excited. "Mommy, a CAMEL! Look, A CAMEL!...Yummum, (how she says cousin William's name)A CAMEL!" Later, when telling Daddy about the camel, she said, "I saw a CAMEL! - like ALADDIN!" It's amazing the connections kids make!
Ava and her friend Mary at the petting zoo. We spent the perfect amount of time there and even got to pet a rabbit and chicken because we knew the girls showing them. (I think it sounds funny to say you got to pet a chicken...:)

Yumm-Yumm

Now that Elise has passed the 4-month mark, we've decided to let her sample a little bit of rice cereal here and there. She's definitely shown interest in eating. I feel kind of sorry for her, watching her watch us eat and look like she's ready for a bite too. She even put her hand in the popcorn bowl a couple of times the other day.
She really like whatever it was she thought we were doing to her. The only thing is that she's SO messy! She doesn't want to just eat it off of the spoon...she wants to taste it with her fists, rub in on her face and use it as hair gel too. Call it selfish or lazy, but, I'm not giving it to her very often yet because it is just TOO messy. Maybe if I swaddler her first??? kidding!

"A-nastics"

We signed Ava up for Parent/Tot Tumbling this summer. As you can see, she absolutely loved going. The class was very casual, pretty much consisting of us warm-ups & streches, free play, and a group activity at the end of the class. Much of our time was spent going around to all of the various equipment and helping Ava to try it out. Her favorites: the balance beam, vault and trampoline.

Stretches! Chris and I took turns helping Ava and watching Elise.

Balance Beam. I kept trying to get her to put her arms out at each side. At one time, I told her to point - so of course she does a full on point, looking in the direction of which she was pointing..funny to see. Sorry no pic of that.

Oh, she also really enjoyed going across the ladder. It led to the trampoline, possibly one of the reasons she liked it so much.
On the last day of class, they sit all of the kids down (some missing - couldn't get everyone to sit at the same time), and give them certificates. After getting her certificate, Ava found a spot on a mat nearby and lied down, looking at her certificate and just laughing - like she was just so happy. :) It was fun to see her in this class. She learned a few things but mostly just had some fun using her body in different ways.

Meanwhile, baby sister has a new favorite carseat toy to keep her occupied while big sis does her "a-nastics".

Birthday Wishes!

Happy 32nd Birthday, Chris!

Love, Lori, Ava & Elise

New Recipe

In an attempt to eat more whole grains, I purchased a pkg of Gold Medal Whole Wheat flour. Here's the recipe from the back of the bag: I don't think I've ever tried bread with bananas and raisins but it was VERY good, definitely a keeper.

Banana-Raisin Whole Wheat Bread
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3-4 medium)
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup raisins
2/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt (1 Yoplait sized cont.)
1/2 cup fat-free cholesterol-free egg product or 2 eggs (Yeah, I used 2 eggs...actually, I only had one but it was still good...not sure about this egg product stuff)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Move oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of two 8x4-inch loaf pans or one 9x5-inch loaf pan.
2. Stir together all ingredients until blended. Pour into pans.
3. Bake 8-inch loaves 50-60 minutes, 9-inch loaf 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperatue up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days. 24 slices per loaf.

We also tried a whole wheat pizza crust recipe (does contain some white flour too), from oprah.com which was pretty good. http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/food/recipes/food_20030623_dough.jhtml Now I'm on to looking for more whole grain recipes.

Finished

I had to escape the world for a few days to find out how the great Harry Potter book series comes to an end. Wow. I won't spoil the book for you but will say that I didn't want to put it down - enjoyed it thoroughly. Things I thought might happen - things I had never imagined...What a talented author! She created a new world and got so many kids and adults reading for pleasure again. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

In Response...

In response to questions about my source for file folder games and felt/flannel board activities here you go. ( I cannot take the credit for the Felt Board Fingerplays. My friend Rebecca got me turned on to those.)

• Where I bought Felt Board Stories & Felt Board Fingerplays: http://www.bblocksonline.com/
• Where I bought The Busy Book for Tiny Tots: http://www.finchfamilygames.com/ They also have more LDS related file folder games and FHE ideas for older children.
• Kathleen G. told me of a few sites (lots of links on the mormonchic website below) and also emailed me a couple file folder games that she made herself. (I'm sure she'd be willing to share those too).
• http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp Lori Garcia has made some really cute file folder games all in color for you to print.
• http://www.theteacherexpress.com/ - interesting concept. She's scanned felt characters that she's created and put them on a cd for you to print and then laminate and add your own backing. Probably more teacher related.

I've been coloring like crazy. After I color and cut the pieces out, I laminate them and then will back them with felt if they are for my felt/flannel board using spray adhesive.

I started with the file folder games from Mormonchic but do like the Finch Family ones for church especially. As far as books go, I really like the pictures in the Felt Board Fingerplays book, although probably more for preschoolers.

Hope this helps!

Weekend Projects

We've kept busy this weekend with a few various projects.

Here's what I've been doing: making file-folder games & fingerplays as well as flannel board activties. This has actually been one of those projects I've spent time on here and there. I couldn't pass up the 20 cents a foot laminating at Mardels. (normally only 25cents/foot which is incredible).

Here's what Chris has been doing:

Minneapolis

We took a trip to Minneapolis this past weekend to visit our friends Matt & Camie. We had been wanting to go to Minneapolis to do some shopping at IKEA and Mall of America and since Matt was doing his internship at General Mills in Minneapolis, we decided to try to visit them while there and also do some shopping at the same time. It was so great to see all of them! We definitely shared lots of laughs!

We had a great time! We visited, shopped, played and ate!

Lydia & Ava, although 2 1/2 years apart, had a great time playing together all weekend and the adults had fun too. We played with my Cricut, played the board game, Puerto Rico, and even got a babysitter one evening and went out to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian restaurant known for bringing cuts of meat around the restaurant on swords for you to sample. We also enjoyed playing at the beach, walking the lake to the park, and eating Camie's good food.

Since I have so many pics to share, I decided to copy many of you and put up a web album this time. If it goes too fast or to see bigger pics - just double-click on it. Check out Camie's blog (link on right) for even more pics of our trip and their beautiful home for the summer.

Sneaking out

I'm so tired today! We just got back Sunday from a fun, long weekend visiting our friends Matt & Camie in Minneapolis. (more on this soon). I spent yesterday doing all of our laundry and trying to unpack. Then, after the kids went to bed, Chris and I snuck out to the 9:50 showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. My sis, Kelly & brother, Eric came over. They ended up playing the Wii so I didn't feel to bad. I'm very thankful for family close by who are willing to help us out.

We liked the movie but are more excited about the last book. I think we'll have to try this sneaking out thing again...it was so easy....but I'm paying for it with lack of sleep today. OH well.

Blackberries!

For playgroup last week we went to Fieldstone Enterprises to pick some blackberries. (You'll see that Gaia and Livia also blogged about our adventures - links on right of blog). It is the only real thing we'll get to pick this year. Almost all of the area fruit and nut farms were hit hard by the late frosts we had in April. That means no apples, pecans, etc. :o(
We searched for the best, blackest, blackberries. Ava wanted to pick the bright pink ones at first. It was super hot and we lasted as long as we could. Elise was a trooper but Ava got tired pretty quick and most of the kids were starting to whine, so we called it a day.
The highlight for Ava had to have been petting the farm dogs or puppies as she commonly refers to them.
William & Jasmine seemed to be enjoying themselves...no, this is not an advertisement for Visa and Mastercard.
The busy, hot mommies.
I decided to try to make some jam. I have always thought of jam-making as a tedious, laborious, timely project...then I met freezer jam! I've often salivated at the thought of my friend, Camie's strawberry freezer jam. Well, now her secret is out! Freezer jam was so easy! I don't know why I thought it was so hard and never tried it before.
The finished product. I left chunks of fruit in it on purpose and even threw some small, whole blackberries in at Camie's suggestion. Yummmy! I think I'll try strawberry next. This time I'll get the berries from the store - although I did enjoy picking them.

Our Fourth of July

Our 4th of July started with our Ward Pancake breakfast at a local park. That was pretty fun. Ava enjoyed following the big kids around and at one point kept telling us she had to go potty. We haven't done any training with her yet due to new baby, etc. - so we think she heard another girl say it. I offered her the opportunity to do so but she declined.

We ran some errands after the breakfast and then went home and enjoyed some lovely naps. Chris awoke me around 3 in the afternoon, telling me that I had to get up and that the tornado sirens were going off. Not the best way to be woken up! Actually, it brought back a scary memory for me when I was in Jr. High. I came home from school one afternoon and decided to take a nap - the next thing I know one of my family members - I think my mom, was yelling at me to get in the basement. I hear the tornado sirens and freak out...everyone was downstairs except for me. I had no idea the weather had turned. We were fine but that's probably one of my least favorite memories.

Luckily, the severe weather and rain left us to be able to enjoy the 4th. We celebrated over at my brother Kevin and his wife Gaia's place. We did the traditional bbq cookout and then hung around and visited and later ventured outside.


Here's Kate and Ryan (1 month apart in age), playing the piano together. They were very sad when we made them stop...it was just too loud after a while. But they were cute! Here's Ava and Kate playing outside with the lame legal fireworks: poppers and such. I was inside caring for Elise so I'm not sure how Ava was playing outside without shoes. Must be Daddy's fault. ;)
Speaking of Daddy - Here he is acting a fool, getting overly excited with the sparklers. Hey - if you're going to joke around like that - it just might end up on my blog!
Me & Elise. You can't tell in this picture...or most of them - but Ava and Elise had matching skirts on.
The boys (and Ava in back) having oh so much fun with the sparklers. We were all kind of sad we couldn't light more things off. Well, I'm not that sad now that I have kids who need to sleep at night and naptime.
Here's my brother Craig, his wife Vanessa and their son, Ryan.

Group Photo. Ava actually really did enjoy her sparkler.
Here's Ava asking for another sparkler. She had just finished saying, "Pleeeease???"
Daddy & Ava....with Ava wearing shoe this time.

Elise was having fun too. After our fun with sparklers and poppers, some of us decided to go to GR's, a guy from our church, to watch his firework's display. It was actually really good for a private fireworks show. I was impressed. We were sitting really close though...it got very loud and very bright. I had to look away a few times in fear I might have a seizure. ;p
I got one pic of the kids watching the fireworks. I love the expresions in this photo! We brought bean bags for the kids to lay on. It was cute how William & Ava snuggled up with the bean bags and blanket. This pic was taken right after the first few fireworks. Obviously, William loved them...Ava not so sure.

It turns out that Ava thought they were too loud. She asked my sis, Gina, to "hold her ears". Gina covered her ears for a while and then noticed that Ava looked like she was asleep. I think she fell asleep for a while but we're not sure if she just did a good job of keeping her eyes closed and not answering us. Daddy made sure to cuddle her and make her feel safe when she was scared.

All in all, we had a long, but great day.

New Link

I'm adding a new link to my blog (seen on the right sidebar) to http://www.mormon.org/. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (official name), but often referred to as Mormons, Latter-Day Saints or LDS. I know many of my blog readers are also lds but many of of you are not, so I feel this is an easy way for me to share this with you. I've been a member all of my life and have a strong testimony of the principles taught. I tend to shy away from direct mention of my church because religion is such a personal issue. However, I realize that by sharing my source of strength and happiness - that others may grow closer to God/Our Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ and possibly bring more joy into their lives.

http://www.mormon.org/ is an official church website great for people who are interested in learning more about the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints at their leisure. I encourage you to check it out and let me know if you have any questions!

Dress Shopping & Pool Hopping

My sister, Heidi, is getting married in October! She's busy doing EFY this summer so we took the opportunity while she was around a couple of weeks ago to do some dress shopping. My mom and almost all of my sisters and sisters-in-laws and kids went.
I couldn't resist the urge to put Ava in a "princess" dress. She thought it was just great. As soon as we finished in the dressing room, she hurried over to the pedestal that the brides stand on in front of the mirrors and checked herself out!

After the dress shopping, we headed over to my sister, Gina's, pool for some summertime fun.

Here's Ava wearing her lifevest for the very first time. She kept saying, "I do it myself!" Yeah, right little girl.
Covered UP! I'm loving the swimsuit that I got Ava this year from Old Navy because it has sleeves. She also likes to wear her hat so that makes for great sun protection. (Of course, she's wearing sunblock too).
Beep Beep! We bought some inflatables for the nieces and nephews to use. Ava liked the car - it even beeped when you pushed the horn.
Elise got to dip in for her first swimming experience -EVER. She didn't scream and seemed to tolerate it okay. It was kind of lame for me because I stood there with an umbrella to shade her while my mom held her. Don't feel sorry for me though - Elise took a nap shortly thereafter so I got a chance to jump in too.
Here's Elise before getting into the water too much...What a big smile!