Scripture Snacks

My brother-in-law has a great way of helping his kids sit still for family scripture reading - Scripture Snacks. Every night around 8 p.m. he gathers the kids together and makes a milkshake or fun treat for them to eat while he reads from the Book of Mormon. One night while I was watching the kids they asked for something besides ice cream. So I made them "Scripture Smiles." They were a big hit. After we devoured all the apple smiles we just busted open the bag of marshmallows and read our way to the end of Alma chapter 59. I think we might make Scripture Snacks a tradition at our house too!

Sunday Shenanigans 09/25/11

Sorry for missing last week's "Shenanigans." I've been commuting back and forth to Utah to care for my niece and nephews while their dad was on business trips so I've been very busy. In between the Utah trips I took the girls to Idaho Falls to feed the geese and ducks one Saturday morning.

Annie was mesmerized by the birds. She couldn't take her eyes off them. She was really enjoying watching them until one ate a cracker out of her hand and pinched her finger.

This is how we spent out days in Utah - outside playing - all....day....long. Lily got a good tan on her arms. She really enjoyed having someone besides Mommy to play with and has been asking for her cousin Jasmine ever since we got back on Friday.

I got to enjoy being a soccer mom one of the nights. While my nephew practiced with his team, the kids and I explored the playground.



And then we had some snacks.

Lily was happy to find a card from Puna and Papa in the mail. She wanted me to read it to her over and over again until she had the words memorized and could "read" it to herself.

We let Annie try eggs and bacon with us on Saturday morning. Mmmmmm bacon! Look at the bliss on that face. At first we thought she might just suck on the bacon but she managed to eat almost the entire piece and she cried when we took it away. This girl loves her bacon.

It has been an exhausting two weeks for Mommy and the girls. But we really enjoyed playing with our cousins and helping Uncle Jake. We're looking forward to getting back to our routine and enjoying the cooler weather of fall.

Picking Apples

Whew! Picking apples is hard work - actually it isn't so bad, goes really fast, and is fun to do as a family. BYU-I has a beautiful apple orchard as part of their gardens and the public is welcome to come and pick the fruit. You pay 50 cents per pound for the apples. It is a great deal.

The girls mostly wanted to eat the apples. Jeremy had fun climbing into the trees looking for the perfect fruit.

There were plenty within Lily's reach. She thought it was so cool to pull an apple right off the tree.


Of course after all the picking we were ready for lunch! We took the girls to a pretty spot in the gardens and had a nice relaxing lunch.




What a fun day. We plan on going back before the end of the season so I can pick enough to try canning applesauce and apple pie filling. But today was a fun family memory.

11 Months Old

Our often cranky, very inquisitive, already walking girl has turned 11 months old. She seems to be making rapid progress in a short time. She is fully walking, saying "hi", feeding herself, waving, playing peek-a-boo, eating table food, singing & dancing to music, sleeping through the night, and growing teeth at the speed of light. This month she got sick with her first cold. She is wearing size 2 diapers and size 9-12 month clothes. She can barely keep her feet in size 1 shoes. I had to give her a hair cut because her hair was in her eyes. She loves to be messy and make messes. Her favorite things to eat are: bread, popcorn, watermelon, and popsicles. She likes to talk on the phone - especially to Puna and Daddy. Where has this year gone? In a few weeks she will already be one!

Sunday Shenanigans 09/11/11

We had a fairly quiet week around here. The rest was needed after having such a fun weekend over Labor Day. Annie is really trying to feed herself. Her latest craving is frozen blueberries. We think they feel good on her swollen gums. She can sure get messy!

This week our favorite babysitter from Meridian moved to Rexburg to start school. Lily was so excited to see Cassandra again. We got to spend some extra time with Cassandra this weekend too.

Lily loves her do-rag from Puna and Papa. She insists on wearing it under her helmet to ride her bike. Apparently she needs head gear to eat her dinner safely.


We know the warm weather will be over all too soon so Mommy is spending lots of time outdoors with the girls. We spent a morning at Jefferson County Lake. There were some rude children there who kept splashing the girls. Mommy had to physically get involved to make them stop.

The girls were alright after the splashing was over. They played hard in the sand and loved having a picnic lunch. Then we all got dry and changed our clothes and rode home on the bicycle. Both girls totally fell asleep during the ride.

Lily loves to look like a princess. I think we need to get her some more dress up clothes.

If you zoom in on this picture you can see two of Annie's new teeth. She has two on the top and two more on the top starting to emerge. She has had some rough nights lately with all the teething, but it is kind of nice to get them all in fast and get it over with.

On Saturday we took a trip to Reed's Dairy in Idaho Falls for their famous ice cream. It was so rich and delicious. Daddy got Huckleberry and the girls shared Strawberry. Next time Mommy wants to get a Chocolate cone all to herself! We will be back there soon for sure!

YUMMY!

Annie is climbing and trying to walk and crawling like crazy. She either wants to be on the move or in our arms. She is making slow progress on walking - only three to five steps at a time. But that is more than Lily was doing at this age. They are growing so fast. In one month Annie will be one and Lily will be three. Where does the time go?

Sunshine Fun!

We took our friends the Nielsens to two of our favorite parks in Rexburg. On Saturday we visited Porter Park. The kids tried the splash park but it was a little chilly so we ended up on the playground.



Annie really enjoyed the playground. She found this little yellow tunnel and was happy to stay there for almost half an hour. Lily was tired and grumpy. I encouraged her to climb this red wall. She did a great job. I felt like she had the hang of it after three climbs so I let go to take a picture and she lost her footing and slammed her chin.

She was sad and I felt bad. By that point Annie was tired too. Daddy thought we all looked funny sitting in the grass and crying. Here are his sad girls after a day of too much fun. We all took at nap in the car on the way home.

Rexburg has a great water park. It closed the day after Labor Day so we decided to make one more visit before closing. Usually Lily and Annie don't last more than an hour in the water, but we stayed for three hours. It helped to have buddies for the girls to play with. Lily even tried some new slides she has been afraid of because she wanted to keep up with her friend Erik. Annie warmed up to the water right away and wanted to play and explore all afternoon.

Sunday Shenanigans 09/04/11

Lately Lily has been wanting to wrap up in a blanket like a baby. Daddy gave her a deluxe wrap up Monday night. She looked like a burrito. Daddy called her "Lurrito" (Lily+Burrito) the rest of the night.

We set out in search of huckleberries on a nice night. Jeremy and I couldn't agree on which berries we found were actually huckleberries so we didn't bring any home. But Lily loved picking flowers and trying to find animals.

Lily has been helping more with dishes and laundry. She offered to set the table by herself for dinner too. Mommy set out all the things Lily would need and let Lily do it all on her own. This is how the table looked. Great job for a first time Lily!

Mommy made cupcakes for her Primary class. There were a few leftover so Lily and Annie got to share one. We try to encourage a love a chocolate early in this family.

The girls were in heaven!

Daddy got to have a fun team building day with his coworkers. His boss took them on a hike. the weather was beautiful and Daddy said he had a great time in the mountains.


Lily wanted to wear Daddy's hiking boots and go to the mountains too. We were too tired for a hike so we let her wear the boots until bedtime.

Annie is still trying to walk. She'll take one or two steps and then resort to crawling. The chickens came by this week to give her a walking tutorial.

Lily wants to make her own fashion choices now. We try to let her make as many decisions as possible. This one was too cute so we took a picture.

Lily loves painting and drawing. This week she made eight masterpieces with watercolor as her chosen medium. Then she helped mommy hang them up in the house. We love our budding artist.

For Labor Day weekend our friends the Nielsens drove from Meridian to see us and stay with us. We played and relaxed and tried to show them some of our favorite things to do in the area. We were so busy enjoying our time together that we didn't get many pictures. But sometimes it is better to just live in the moment rather than capture it on film. Thanks Paul, Casandra, Erik, and baby Jillian for a great weekend. We miss you already.