Sunday, February 27, 2011

He Waited Until I Painted

I've been lucky to have children who haven't used walls for their artistic canvases. Maybe once or so but it's been no big deal. Of course there was this fun adventure here but normally, it's not a problem. Until...the boys all left to go to an Aviation Fair and I basked in having the house to myself to get some serious painting done. I cranked up the tunes and painted away. After the boys had been home for awhile, I found out that Ryan had found a dry erase marker and done this
From February 2011

No big deal. I still have plenty of paint, I'm nowhere near done and it will probably even wash off--I just thought it was amazing that on the day where I'm getting my walls to look really nice...well..yeah! :)

And now for some dress-up cuteness:
From February 2011

Ryan likes the costumes we borrowed for joy school as much as Max!

Cool Website

I really like the website lds.org because it has tons of resources. I just found out that there's a new website, youth.lds.org which has a youth music library. You can just go to the music section, click on a button and have a great playlist of uplifting music. I love having it play in our house.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Snow Day

We played outside when it wasn't AS cold (and the snow was on it's way out).
Max wanted to play with the rescue helicopter we have on loan. He likes the "helicopter song" (music from the show Airwolf). So here is is "singing" the "helicopter song". I guess to him since he's playing with a helicopter, that's the thing to do.

Here is my snow buddy
From February 2011

From February 2011

We've had flowers popped up since mid-January so the snow on them is kind of a sad sight. I can't wait until Spring!!!!
From February 2011

Two Things

I wish wouldn't have happened tonight...

Max asking me, "Mom, may I wipe my boogers on my arm?" Thanks for asking but NO.

Ryan seeing an ant and eating it before I could even blink an eye. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

A New Shelving System (and it IS blog worthy)

Where there are dark spots in this picture, there used to be a shelf that started coming out of the wall.
From February 2011

And then it looked like this
From February 2011

And now it looks like this
From February 2011

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From February 2011

Seriously so much room to store things. And this has opened up so much more room in my cupboards. I can access things and it's organized. I do love being organized. Shelf Reliance, you had me at hello!

Playing Around

Here are some pics of the boys at a play date.
From February 2011

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Playing With Grandma

My wonderful mother-in-law came this weekend to watch the boys while we did our Portland getaway. Here are some pics of the boys and Grandma playing while we were around to take pics. Ryan started saying "Namma" this weekend and he still says it. I think he's wondering where Namma went. Max keeps saying he wants Namma to come back and "stay a long long time".
Here is the cool airplane box Grandma made with them

From February 2011

Aviators need goggles
From February 2011

Ready for takeoff
From February 2011

Taxiing down the run way
From February 2011

Art with Grandma
From February 2011

From February 2011

The People in Our Neighborhood--Joyschool

Today we started where we left off from our past lesson, "how we can show love by serving others". We went on a service walk around the house (because it was cold outside) and I found different pretend scenarios for the kids to think of ways to help people (a little girl fell down, a neighbor was raking leaves, etc.) We also pasted pictures of different ways to help others, smiling, hugging, etc. We then learned about the Holy Ghost and how he comforts us and helps us to do what is right and serve others.
We talked about how there are people in the community who serve us. I showed them a youtube clip of Sesame Street's, "Who are the People in Your Neighborhood" song. We opened a bag and talked about the different things inside, doctor's kit, chef's hat, army hat, construction hat, police outfit and firefighter's outfit. Then we read a book about police people and one about fire fighters. We sang a song about fire fighters. Then we had free time playing with rescue vehicles and doing puzzles.
Next came the counting to 19, and the letter bag. We learned about G and read Goodnight Gorilla. Then we traced and colored the letter G. We also did patterns and the kids were really good at them. I did different sequences of fire trucks, police cars and mail trucks and they got the patterns every time. Then we colored a big poster of the people in our neighborhood and played red light green light.
We missed you Caramel!
From February 2011

From February 2011

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Happy Birthday Tony!

We celebrated in Portland together and then at home with the boys and Mom Epps. Tony received another card and two more packages in the mail today. I love it when birthdays (or any holiday) linger like this. Here are some great pictures of Tony...
A pre-cake wrestle
From February 2011

I LOVE that smile!
From February 2011

Everyone's excited!
From February 2011

Eying the cake
From February 2011

From February 2011

All these pictures are because I love his smile so much!
From February 2011

Yummy ice cream
From February 2011

From February 2011

And a post-cake wrestle
From February 2011

Monday, February 21, 2011

Portland Anniversary

Tony and I were married in Portland and spent the first night of our honeymoon there. The next morning we drove back to Tacoma to catch our flight to San Diego where we spent a week in the sun. We've been back to the Portland area many, many times in the past 6 years but never as tourists. I've been to Powell's Books once and the Saturday's market, but that's it. So, we went and enjoyed great two days and night in the City of Roses (before they bloomed).
Breakfast at the Country Kitchen, just a little moment thinking of Grandpa Bob. This was a frequent stop for him and Grandma.
From February 2011

At the Portland temple
From February 2011

At the Pittock Mansion
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The view
From February 2011

We drove through Washington park and the west hills.
In downtown Portland we saw this awesome sign
From February 2011

We never went into Voodoo because the line was always ginormous, but maybe another time
From February 2011

And we went to the awesome Powell's books, the regular store and the tech store
From February 2011

We walked around Mt. Tabor
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And loved the view
From February 2011

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We visited the waterfront and went to Tony's former thinking spot. Here he is as "The Thinker"
From February 2011

So many bridges
From February 2011

From February 2011

And we defaced property
From February 2011

At Pioneer Square
From February 2011

From February 2011

We tried to see this street performer, Mr. Statue, since I love silver guys-used to watch them in San Fran, but he was eating lunch so I had to settle for seeing him on youtube.com.

At Chinatown
From February 2011

And Pizza Schmizza.
From February 2011

A fun weekend together!