Evelyn's Sweet Artwork

 Ev shared this beautiful set of pictures that she made at school.  Each square represents something different.  Top left is her drawing that represents what is peace.  She said it's being outside with the grass under her feet and listening to the birds.  Top right:  What represents her friends.  She drew getting mail from her friends.  2nd row left:  Something beautiful--this sweet girl drew me.  The love of a child is the most amazing miracle and I'm so glad that I have such wonderful kids.  2nd row right:  Something that feels good.  Ev drew walking on the beach.  3rd row left:  Somebody that helps you--Ev drew her daddy helping her.  He's holding a glue stick and a bottle of glue.  He is fixing her doll. 3rd row right:  Something that is interesting.  She drew a picture of rainbows with a leprechaun's pot of gold at the end.  4th row left:  Something that you haven't used in awhile.  She drew a glass of water that she left on the counter, haha.  Bottom right--your favorite color.  She drew a pink stuffed animal.  Love this little artist!

Getting to Hear All About School

 One of my favorite things is listening to Jase and Ev relive their school day.  They show me every single paper and read through each one, going over spelling words and paragraphs that they wrote.  I love that they love to learn and that I get to share this time with them.  Usually we do it right when I get home, but tonight was busy so Ev and I snuggled on the couch before bed and she read to me about what she has learned about Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Socrates and Plato.  I think I first heard about all of those in college.  Well, I learned about Socrates from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" but other than that...

Missionary Activity

Tonight's primary activity was all the activity boys and girls combined.  Brother Brownell and Brother Stucki planned a really fun night where the kids had name tags and got mission calls.  Then they got to learn about Brother Tester's mission in Germany, Brother Molen's mission in the Phillipines and they got to learn to teach the gospel by the sister missionaries.  I loved it and I know the kids loved it.  Evelyn was very impressed that Brother Molen had the hand of a monitor lizard that he passed around.  Watching the kids teach each other the gospel was pretty amazing.

 

Preschool Fun!

 Every Tuesday, when I start my work week, I always walk in to a fun activity set up by the Speech/Language Pathologist, Kayla Dean.  Today we made marshmallow snowman and I wish I could post pictures of my students, but I'm just going to have to remember the cute way they made the snowmen, and how when Dallin walked into the classrom, he said, "Ms. Debbie"!  Our kids are not very verbal so the fact that he knows and says my name is pretty cool!

Snowflakes and Frosty!

Tradition!

 

Airplane Flying Contest on Year 13

 Max was helping me cut squares for making snowflakes, but he started folding paper airplanes.  So, I asked if we could have a paper airplane contest and channel that creativity and I could still get my help cutting squares.  First Evelyn had to color her paper.  Then Max helped her make an airplane.  The ladder was very helpful.  First, we saw whose airplane would fly the furthest.  Then we looked at the style of the flight.  

Tony and I talked with the kids at dinner time about the miracles we saw after his plane crash 13 years ago.  The fact that we had a paper airplane contest on the anniversary of the crash made us laugh.

Tiger Lily Helps Us Decorate

 

Bowling Turns into Video Games

Sometimes the best laid plans...

This weekend, we've been decorating for Christmas, doing some cleaning and had a game night with the Jasinskis.  Saturday was pretty rainy so we planned a trip to the bowling alley with the Hanes.  Little did we know that it was a tournament night at all the local bowling alleys, so we played some video games and won some tickets instead.  

 

Nutcracker Battles

 Our nutcrackers always have battles.  Now they hang out too high for battles once we get them on the cabinets, but until that happens...

Thanksgiving 2021

With the end of our Covid quarantine ending right before Thanksgiving, we were unable to host Seth, Lauren, Ely, Nora, Riff, Ben, Kara, Zach and Olivia.  We were still able to spend Thanksgiving with the Hanes and we switched it to their house in case Matt needed to rest his back.  We missed seeing cousins but the Hanes are our family too and we are so glad they are close and we can spend Thanksgiving with them!

We did a photo scavenger hunt and these are a few of the pics

Huff and Puff Before We Stuffed and a Turkey Bowl!

 Our ward has a Turkey Bowl every year and the boys wanted to join.  So Tony, Ev and I walked around the field and playground while the boys played.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  Max still believes that he is always best doing defense, in all sports, but he did catch the ball and run with it.  Jase even got the ball and got a few yards for his team.  All three boys were great sports!