Brushin' to the ABC's

We have been brushin' to the ABC's (or This is the way we brush our teeth) for a couple of weeks now. Teeth brushing time goes so much better. They don't run from me or fight. And if I don't start the song right away they tell me to sing. I love it!

Ice Cream & Cousins

Keaton, Claire, Benjamin

Sydney and Emma

Ice Cream & Cousins: Two of our favorites

Silver at Scootney

Emma was so excited about this opportunity to collect silver to help the people that were affected by the Earthquake in Haiti. She has no idea what that is or where it is. I think the first time she talked about it after school (Scootney is the name of her elementary) one day she thought it was the name of a girl. They're doing a fund raiser at her school only collecting silver coins. They will count the money up and give it to the American Red Cross to help the Haiti victims. This is what we collected this morning. Roughly $20 - I didn't actually count. She went to school with a heavy backpack.

Keeping Guard

Benjamin and Claire have a hard time going to bed and staying in bed. So now I put a folding chair down the hall and read my scriptures and write in my journal. This way I don't get as frustrated that I have to go put them back in bed and they don't get out as often. It is working.

It is 3:23 am - Jason came home from work and asked what I posted today. That's when I realized that I hadn't quite finished my post. So here I am, keeping up with my goal of one a day.

Homemade Pizza

*******Just a note (Julie this is for you! :) )- the banana bread recipe did not come from my mom. It was given to my sister-in-law by a friend when she had her baby. It was so good that we hounded the friend for her recipe.*******

There's just something about homemade pizza with its weird shape and homemade sauce.

I love Pizza Hut and Time Out Pizza (exclusive to Othello). You can ask Jason about me always trying to find a way to have take out. But lately, our homemade pizza has tasted soooo good. Tonight I thought I would save us some money and make it at home. (And then, at the sauce stage, I realized we didn't have enough cheese. So my good neighbors, the Gentry's, came through for us in our dire need. Thank you!)

It's Levy time! I love voting and especially for the schools.

Aaaahhhh!

Jason, me, a day at the temple:
I don't think I need to say any more.

"What? I'm just lounging with my Dad."

a "handful" of flowers

Today Emma didn't have school because they're doing parent/teacher conferences. So of course, she wanted to do a project. I love that I've helped her to want to do crafts and be creative, but sometimes (like this morning when I had other things I wanted to accomplish) I think I've created a monster. :) Emma found an old Family Fun magazine and proceeded to mark all the things she liked and wanted to do. She decided to make a bouquet of flowers for her teacher. You trace your hand and use it as the main part of the flower. She loved it and could do most of it on her own.

Sunday Best and Bedtime Buddies

We got Paul this really cool zipper tie from the LDS bookstore. This is how he wears it most of the time.

As part of our sewing adventure that I recently posted about, my mom also made Emma a new dress. We got the pattern and material with the original intent that it would be a time for me to try out my skills and learn some things. Well with the kids and the shipment of clothes (that's what it seemed like because there was so much to go through), my mom ended up doing all of it past setting out the pattern pieces and cutting them out. I think she did a fantabulous job and Emma loves it.

Bedtime Buddies

Benjamin and Paul don't always get along during the day, but tonight they were Bedtime Buddies. After Paul falls asleep, Benjamin will go over and confiscate Paul's books and trains. Sometimes he'll sit up on the bed with Paul or he'll just take what he wants back to his own bed. The hot item tonight was the Lakeshore magazine (toy catalog) that you see in the photo. Ben went over to get a closer look and just couldn't fend off the tired bug. This is where I found Ben when Claire came to me asking, "Where Benny go?"

Stir Fry and Dress-Up Slippers

Dinner. We got home right at six from a trip to Tri-Cities for my niece's birthday. We are 5:00 pm eaters, so this was late for us. I thought, chicken nuggets for the kids and stir fry for me. And even though I probably didn't sit down to eat until after 7:00 pm it tasted oh, sooo good!

Dress-Up Slippers

Emma was playing dress-up and had these beautiful gold numbers on. She asked, "Are these like the slippers you wear at the Temple?" This launched us into a discussion about the Temple and the symbolism of wearing white and being quiet to represent being clean, and pure, and reverent. I talked about how we have to be striving to keep the commandments and do what is right to be able to enter the Temple. She said, "It sounds hard, doing all that stuff to be good." To which I responded, "Yeah it is, but it's fun. It's fun to be good and to go to the Temple." Who would have thought that dress-up slippers would have gotten us there. She's a thinker that Emma.

Visiting Teaching Gift

As part of my Keeping Christmas all year long goal, I am working to be more diligent in my Visiting Teaching. Yes, I want to make sure that I visit them each month, but I want to do something more to let them know that I am thinking of them. So throughout each month I'll think of little ways to stop by or drop a note that doesn't coincide with our visit. Plus giving to the women I visit is an easy and fun way for me to serve.

I found these tins forever ago when we lived in Ellensburg at the dollar store. Great dollar store there - miss it! I just knew that they were cute for something. In my cleaning out I decided to make some hot chocolate kits and finally put them to use. I'm so excited to deliver them.

Refashion Show

It's a long one tonight. I'll start with these first and then get to the long part.

Straight from the Tap

Nothin' like Tap water straight from the tap

JibJab update

Here's a JibJab of Paul with Claire. Ben would not cooperate.

Refashion Show

If you do a little of blog browsing, I'm sure you've come across the new thing - to re-fashion old, unusable, or Good Will finds. You take a shirt that has stains, cut out the cute decal and sew it onto another serviceable shirt. We recently received A LOT of clothes from a friend. As I was going through them I was thrilled to find some things that maybe we could use to try out this refashion technique. Plus my mom was here - so I came up with the idea/design and she was more than happy to do the sewing. We made a great team let me tell you. Here are some pictures of what we did with Emma as my model. (There weren't any new hand-me-down-clothes for her because she's too big. So these refashioned pieces made her day.)

These

Become theseThis skirt was also a halter top dress

TheseBecame thisThis skirt was also a halter top dress

ThisBecame this skirt

This just became an ice cream shirt

And as I've finished going through more clothes, I have some others too.

My JibJab Babies and Hands on Sewing

In our ward they took pictures of the kids when they came into nursery and then blew up their heads and taped them to the wall. It was fun to see all the dear little faces around the nursery room. At the end of the year they gave us the pictures. Claire came around the corner holding hers in front of her face and startled me so. I wasn't expecting to see such a large head on her shoulders. I had Ben pose with Claire for this hilarious JibJab shot. I just found Paul's picture, so I'll have all three pose together tomorrow.

Hands on SewingMy mom was here with us and oh did we have a lot of fun. More on that tomorrow. She brought her sewing machine, because mine just doesn't cut it for her (ha ha!), and helped mend things and sew some new things as well. The kids would not stay off the table or keep their hands off the machine. Here's Paul driving Lightning McQueen across the top.

All tied up and Hand-Me-Down Claire

My laundry loves to play tricks on me apparently. I accidentally sent Paul's really nice church belt through the wash. WE found that quite a bit of the laundry and the belt was all tied up. I tried to stretch it out, but I don't think it's serviceable.

Hand-Me-Down Claire

A friend of ours gave us a whole load, and I mean load, of clothes for Benjamin, Claire, and Paul's sizes. We spent the evening sorting through them and the kids had a blast. Claire was in a good trying-things-on mood and so this is how she went out to play - in a 5T sweater, with pink gloves, 3T pants she's still working to fill out, and 9-10 size slippers. She loved it! (And I thought she looked rather cute.)

Knitting 101 and Red Robin

My sister showed Emma how to crochet a simple chain and Emma has loved creating all sorts of chains. Just recently she was bugging me to learn how to knit. I bought these looms to make hats a couple of years ago. So I showed her how to make a hat and now this is what she does all the time. She takes it in the car and does it while she watches TV. It's nice because she's occupied and she's having a blast. She's showing her very first hat.

Red Robin

We got to go out to dinner at Red Robin with my sisters tonight. Thanks so much to Mom and Dad Erickson for watching our kids. It was nice to get out.

Baby Allie

We went to Tri-Cities for the blessing of my brother Kent's baby - Allie Marie. It was so cute when Emma asked to hold her. She didn't want to give Allie back. We reassured her that soon she'd have all the baby time she wanted.

Grandma's new dog

There's a new dog at Grandma Erickson's house - Tally. The kids really like her most of the time. It's just when she gets excited and jumps on them that they get startled.

and there was plenty...

We were out of milk and eggs this morning so that left pancakes for breakfast. I knew we were low on mix, but decided it would be enough for the kids because it had to be. And sure enough there was just enough for each kid to have a pancake and even one for me. Just like the story in the Bible where the poor woman's meal did not run out (1 Kings 17:12-14 KJV).

Stompin' it Up!

Paul was drawn outside to our huge mud puddle. He had a blast tromping and splashing around.

ProjectsLast summer Jason made these awesome bookshelves for Emma and Paul's rooms with his brother over in Selah. Jason's brother Wade has started his own furniture business and makes quality pieces. He made us some really nice shelves that we just recently hung up - I'll post a picture here soon with a link to his blog. I have absolutely loved the bookshelves. They match the beds and will also match the night stands and dressers that are to come (maybe this summer?!). I'm looking for some baskets to put on the lower shelves. I have an idea for Jason to make me some using bead board. Then they'll be sturdy, they'll match the bead board theme we have going, and we'll be able to paint them whatever color we want and not pay $40 a piece.

The canvas squares are also a recent project that I finished yesterday. Although, as I post this I realize that I'm going to have to redo the middle one so that the trains are all going the same direction. Darn it! Paul has been bugging me for some time to put some vinyl up on his wall. He and Benjamin are so excited. As am I; they were fun to make.

Meet the Neighbors Follow up
So we went back to one of the two neighbors that we missed yesterday this evening. It turned out to be so much fun. We met our neighbor two doors down and she had the most welcoming and loving spirit and personality. I just wanted to give her a great big hug even though I haven't ever met her before. She invited us in and had us sit down for a little chat - yes, we had all four of our little children with us. They were well behaved though. She said that we were welcome to come back in the summer and use their pool. We were all happier as we walked away from their door.

Meeting the Neighbors

As part of my goal for Keeping Christmas all year I want to give something each month. One thing that is easy to give is baked deliciousness from the kitchen. I got this new banana bread recipe from my mom - which is excellent! by the way - and decided to share it with our neighbors. So we made up three plates to deliver them to the three houses to our right. We've seen the neighbors and spoke here and there, but I thought that would be another good part of keeping Christmas - to reach out to others, to get to know our neighbors. The kids had a lot of fun carrying plates for me. Unfortunately two of the three weren't home so we get to go back tomorrow.

I strongly suggest you try this recipe. We love banana bread and usually stick to the tried and true recipe from my mom's ward cook book. I think this one has passed the test though.

Look at that crispy, sugary goodness on top-yum!

Banana Bread

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup smashed bananas (2-3 bananas)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
Mini chocolate chips


Add ingredients and mix well
pour into loaf pans
sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar
Bake @ 350 for approximately 40 min
Bake time varies so watch closely towards the end

We found Annie!

So Paul got these two box cars for Christmas. They are Thomas' box cars, Annie and Clarabel. Paul loves them almost as much as Thomas himself. One day we lost Clarabel. The day we found Clarabel, we lost Annie. Today we found Annie! It was bed time and Emma decided to look in one place just before lights out. I didn't really think she'd come back with anything, but look who's here again! Now we just need to find his Hiro of the Railways. Gotta love Thomas!

sWeEt InDUlgeNCe

These are one of my absolute favorite indulgences. Just look at that box. I don't really think I need to say anything more. Except there's this recipe for Nutty bar cheesecake on the back of the box that I want to try. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Guest Chef

Jason made dinner tonight before he went to work. We all took a nap and I didn't wake up with a lot of energy. It was nice not to have to make dinner.