Cookies and Sledding Fun

I was in a cookie making mood so I made Valentine cookies.  I like to make the dough and cut out the cookies and bake them and then the girls help me decorate them.  Nathan always decorates a cookie or two which he promply eats and then moves on to do something else.

Melissa with her cute cookie

                                                         Some of our yummy cookies!

The girls have also been busy creating Valentines out of paper.  These are all hanging in our kitchen.

Holly and Emily went sledding with the YM/YW over the weekend.  Here is Emily with the other Beehives in our ward.
And here is Holly with one of her Miamaid friends.  It was a beautiful sunny day in the mountains.  We haven’t had any snow where we live so the girls really enjoyed getting to play in the snow.

Today I am thankful for
*friends for my kids.  We have been having lots of play dates.
*a new skirt for me that I got for just $16 at Ross.  Score!

*fun books to read.  I just finished Because of Mr. Terupt and Mr. Terupt falls again.  Both books are about a fifth grade teacher and his class.  They were quick, fun, and touching stories. Thanks Jill for
recommending them.

So Long Little People

We got so many new toys for Christmas that we decided it was time to let go of some of the toys we don’t play with anymore.  A few months ago we sold the My Little Ponies and this time it was the Little People.  We listed them on Craigslist for $60 and later that day a nice grandma came to our house to pick them up.  Megan and Melissa had a fun time taking some close-up photos of the toys so we could always remember them.

Do you see Santa by the tree in this picture while the family sleeps upstairs?  His sleigh is up on the roof.  Also the dog is rummaging through the family’s fridge in the kitchen. 
Today I am thankful that:
*Nathan is happy to just look at toys instead of begging me to buy them.  This is the one he wants to get next.

*Scott took Megan to the store this week to buy some new shoes that she can wear when she plays basketball.  I love the bright color!

*Megan joined a 3rd grade basketball team at her school and had her first game today.  She did a great job defending and thought the long t-shirt she got was pretty funny.  Hopefully I can shrink it a bit before her next game.

A New Playground

We had this small neighborhood playground near our house. It wasn’t much (and had a few broken pieces of wood) but we had fun playing there. Recently our homeowners association decided to replace it with a newer playground. They were able to get someone to come and tear it down and haul it away for free on craigslist. It was weird visiting the playground area when nothing was there.

Last week the new playground was put in.  It is a rainbow play systems playground complete with swings.

My kids had a fun time trying out all it’s features.  Nathan was too worried about the big boys down the path to play.

Melissa liked collecting berries from a bush nearby and taking them up to the top of the structure.  Megan loved the trick bar and the monkey bars.

We feel really lucky to have this new park and can’t wait for warmer weather so we can visit it more often.

Spiders and a Puzzle

Our Christmas tree was very dry by the time Christmas came around so we decided to take it down just a few days after Christmas.  As we took the decorations off a little black spider climbed to the top of the star.  You can see the spider in this picture.  When we first brought the tree into our house at the end of November about 6 tiny spiders climbed the star.  We killed those spiders but I couldn't kill this spider. It felt like part of the family since it had lived in the tree all month.  It was there watching us act out the nativity and open presents on Christmas morning.  I carefully pulled off the star and took it outside so the spider could climb off and find a new home. 

We continued our New years Eve tradition of putting together a 500 piece puzzle.  Holly was at a New Years Eve dance but got to help with the final 100 pieces the next day.  This puzzle is of a zoo.  I have decided that I like Robert Dowdle 500 piece puzzles the best.  Over the years  I have purchased about 8 of them and we just rotate which one we do each year.  Sometimes we put two together so more people can get in on the action.

My girls sure can be cute when they want to be.

 

I just read another good book but it was a real tear jerker.  You probably remember hearing about the father in Utah whose wife and two of his children were killed when a drunk driver collided with their car.  He forgave the drunk driver immediately and later met with him.  Well this book is the memoir that the dad wrote about the experience and the changes that have happened in his life since.  It was amazing.

 

Holly Fixed it!!

Holly fixed my blog! She's a GENIUS!!! I can now finally upload images from my computer- this is the first picture she saw, so she decided to post it.

The way she fixed it was by pushing a button that I hadn't even bothered to attempt to push. She tells me that her motto is,

push every button you see until something works!

Wise words.

Thank you Holly!

 

 

A fun book and blog frustration

Last week a facebook friend of mine recommended the book Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson. She said it was a new book by an LDS author and was similar to Jane Austin style books. It sounded good to me so I went to my library website to see if I could put a hold on the book. When I tried to put the hold the system said that I couldn't because the book was already on hold for me. It turns out I put it on hold a few months ago and it was now ready for pickup. Hurray! I went to the library that very day and picked it up. I started reading it and I finished it the next day. I think it was about a 5 hour read. It was a great story! I recommend it to all of you.

 

Now on to blog frustration.  I cannot get photos from my computer to upload to my blog.  The button to select pictures from my computer is no longer there.  I click on the landscape picture next to the right of link and it shows me where I can upload pictures from but the button that let's you upload them from your computer (which is usually at the top) is not there. I thought it was a problem with my computer but I tried someone else's computer and the button still was not there.  Having a blog that you can't put your own pictures on is no fun.  If any of you have ever encountered this problem and know how to fix it please let me know.

 

Today I am thankful that

*we got to babysit a sweet little girl, it reminded me of my own girls when they were little. My 4 year old Nathan is pretty much the opposite of sweet.

*all my Christmas decorations are finally put away.   I couldn't bear to take down the Christmas cards so they are still hanging in the kitchen.  I love seeing all of my friends faces as I prepare meals.

*we got two new playgrounds in our neighborhood.  The ones we had were old and falling apart.  Now if we could just have a sunny day so we could go and play on them.