Tinfoil dinners and our FHE

For our pioneer primary activity we wanted to serve lunch tin foil style. Since we can't start any fires we came up with idea of making pigs in a blanket using buicuit doe, hot dogs, tin foil and cooking it on the gril. With the help of the other primary counselor and Anthony and Madeline we figured out and experimented with the idea. I am happy to say it worked and ever since then my children ask for pigs in a blanket for lunch or for dinner. The critical step is spraying the tin foil with cooking spray for easy release after the pigs are done. So the first step is to take the biscuit dough (we used the ones that come in a can in the ref. section of the store). Flaten it out smooth and then place your hot dog in the middle. If you want cheese cut a slit down the middle but not all the way through and then add some cheese. Take the buscuit dough and wrap it around the hot dog like a taco shell. Then take the tin foil and wrap it burrito style and then place it on the gril about 6 min on each side.

For FHE this evening, it was Madeline's turn to do the lesson and boy was she so excited. We did the story of Nephi hunting for food in the wilderness. I wrote the story for Madeline and she colored the pictures that followed the story. I have included a video of Madeline giving her lesson.

After the lesson we took animals like Nephi would have hunted and with a bow and arrow we hunted like Nephi. The kids had fun hunting animals and knocking them off the coffee table. At first I was going to use clip art of different animals and attach them to a block, but forgot so I found some inexpensive plastic animals from the store. It was fun to use our imagination and pretend to be like Nephi. We were able to talk about out Nephi did not give up when he was faced with a hard task, but instead he asked Heavenly Father for help and Heavenly Father helped him. We also talked about how Heavenly Father did not just give Nephi the bow, Nephi had to work hard but Heavenly Father helped him to know how to build a bow. We related this to our own life that Heavenly Father just doesn't give us something, but instead we still need to work hard and Heavenly Father will help us.

It is neat to do stories from the scriptures and then help the children see in their own lives how they can be like the various prophets in the scriptures. I feel this helps bring the scriptures to life for the children and for them to be able to see how the scriptures can apply to their lives.

Anthony was sick during Pioneer Day so we were not able to have our Pioneer Day party so we will have this weekend. I figure the pioneers were still coming into the valley. So I will post pictures after our party.

How would you define Grant

Grant --

[adjective]: Extremely extreme!

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

How would you define Sandra

Sandra --

[noun]: A person who is constantly high

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Update on our life with Pictures

Princess Madeline. Madeline loves to dress up in her dress up shoes or as she calls them "princess shoes" her butterfly sunglasses, and any jewerly she can find. It is her favorite thing to do. This is funny because her mother is far from princess type at all. Her mother is more of a tom boy so to have a girl that likes all the "girly" stuff is amazing. However, she prefers jeans, shorts, and t-shirts to dresses so there is still a little bit of me in there. Madeline loves to be the princess and she even calls herself princess Madeline.

The time came for me to cut Spencer's hair. The curls around the ears were just gettin too long so off they came. Because I have curly hair all of our kids do too. I am not too big on curls on boys and so I keep the boys hair short. Afterwards by baby looked all grown up. His hair is thin enough that you can't really tell that he got a haircut.

What child doesn't love spaghetti. Spencer is no different. After his spaghetti episode we just took him outside in high chair and all and hosed both of them off, which he just loved. He absolutely loves the water. He loves it spraying in his face, he loves splashing in it, he just loves the water. This kid has no fear when it comes to the pool and water.

This summer we signed Anthony up for swim lessons at the local water park. It was only for two weeks so I wasn't expecting an Olympic swimmer, I just wanted him to at least give swimming a try without his life jacket. He is more comfortable in the water and will swim without his life jacket when he can touch, but he is more apt to put his life jacket on when cannot touch. However, with a little bit of encouragement he will take of his life jacket and go swimming and then after a few minutes you find him in a corner putting on his life jacket. His life jacket has become his security blanket. He amazes me sometimes. He loves the roller coaster slides and the other slides at the water park, but when it comes to swimming in a regular swimming pool without his life jacket you would think his best friend died. I think with more encouragement he will get the confidence he needs to kiss the life jacket good bye.

Spener's favorite thing to do is get in the hiking backpack with his dad and mow the lawn. He gets so excited when he sees his dad get the backpack ready. The other day I mowed the lawn for Grant and I am not so nice and don't carry around a child that weighs 26 pounds on my back and so Spencer sat at the back sliding glass door banging on it protesting that he wasn't out there mowing the yard. Grant has done this with each of our kids. Starting at around nine months he puts them in the back pack and they mow the lawn together, it has been their tradition together. We get all kinds of looks from the neighbors as they drive by, but it is something the kids have all enjoyed.

Madeline's new artwork

This summer I have been working with Madeline on recognizing letters in her name and then showing her how to write the letters in her name. It is one of her goals for the fall at school. Knowing that this was a goal, I thought I would start working on it thinking that the teacher will still need to work on it in the fall. Well the other day Madeline brought me this:

I wrote her name on the top on the page and she copied the letters herself. I was so proud of her. I didn't even know she knew how to write the letters of her name. It really made my day. Madeline is also on a new kick. She loves to draw people. She has a notebook where everypage she has drawn someone in the family. She draws the pictures and then tapes them up on the wall in the living room, in my room, and in kitchen. Here is an example of her artwork. This is a picture of me and she even signed her name with "M"

This is a huge imporvement because for the longest time she would just draw lines and circles and in a whole bunch of scribbles and then one day she drew a person. Everyday time she draws someone she adds more detail. She will watch us or her brother and then copy what they draw. Grant drew curly hair for Madeline so now everyone that she draws has curly hair. She has grown so much!

Navigation Bar

My Navigation Bar is working for FHE and Sharingtime. Still working on our Family Web Page.

New Changes

I have made a few changes to my blog. You might notice that I have a navigation bar under our header, I am not finish with updating the links so they do not work yet. This all takes time and right now my time is limited. I hope to finish it soon and when I do I will let you know. It is my goal to share my FHE lessons as well as Sharingtime lessons that I put together for our primary. I hope you enjoy the changes!

A caption of our Life

We have had a pretty relaxing summer. Grant's parents, sister, and Grandma Smith came for a visit for a couple of weeks. It was a lot of fun having them here. Anthony and Madeline sure enjoyed it, and I think Spencer just got use to it, though he was unsure every morning when he woke up and saw them here. Madeline loved to sit on Grandma Smith's lap and have her read books. Anthony enjoyed playing games with his Grandparents and swimming with his Grandpa. Madeline liked to have Grandpa hold her in the lazy river at the water park. While they were here we were able to celebrate Madeline's, Evelyn's and Bob's birthday. The children enjoyed giving their Grandparents their gifts and being able to see their reaction. The joy for me was enjoying my children with their Grandparents creating memories and forming a relationship with them. I am sure Spencer will warm up to them as he gets older.

We got season passes to the local water park for the summer, and as a family we visit it at least once a week. The kids enjoy playing for about an hour, which is nice when you have a season pass because you don't feel obligated to stay the whole day. Grant has taken the kids on one on one dates, Anthony especially loves this because he can go on all the water slides with his dad. Madeline enjoys dates with dad because she can do only the things she enjoys. The last time Madeline went on a date with her dad, as they were walking out she told her dad to stand under (one of those cones that dump water on you) so he can take a shower. Grant said that was the first time he got wet on his date with Madeline. Madeline on the other hand informed her daddy that she was going to stand on the near by sidewalk and watch.

Each day during the summer I have tried to do a little lessons for the kids. It has been tricky to involve both kids and have things that will work for both their levels as well as keep Spencer entertained. I have found that what works the best is have writing and reading time. Anthony writes in his journal while Madeline and I work on learning and writing the letters in her name. Madeline has picked up on it really well and often times during the day she fills scrap pieces of paper with letters from her name. She knows pretty much all the letters in her name, now we are just working on putting them in order. This is easier said then done, since her mother gave her a name with eight letters. Anthony's spelling is great! I am amazed at how well he can spell, I rarely need to help him. His reading is doing great too! He enjoys reading! There have been several days where he just sits on the couch with a pile of books reading. He loves to read the scriptures, which is a joy to see as a parent.

This week we are going to celebrate pioneer day with doing pioneer activities throughout the day culminating in a pioneer party in the evening. I think the children will enjoy it! I will post our acitivities after I have them a little bit more organized. I also have a few more FHE that I have put together that I want to share, but with it being 10:00 at night I need to get some shut eye so I am ready for when the kids wake up. Before I go I will share more pics which give a better idea of what us crazy coopers are up to.