A Camping We Go!!

The kids and Grant had Good Friday off so after school on Thursday we headed out for Lake Ray Roberts State Park in Denton for two nights of camping.  The weather was great and the company was perfect.  We enjoyed fishing together, biking together, hiking, cooking smores, and playing along side a man made beach throwing rocks in the water.  It was a lot of fun and a great break from everything.

April Fools

April fools in our house started off with breakfast.  Before Anthony came to the table I put a few drops of food coloring at the bottom of his cereal bowl, covered the food coloring with cereal so he could not see the food coloring, and then pour milk in.  Everything looked normal, but as he started to eat his milk starts changing colors, he had a confused look on his face trying to figure out how his milk went from white to green.  He thought it was pretty funny.  Spencer could care less what color his milk was, he was just happy to be eating.

Need a drink?  This was by far the best April fool's joke.  I made jello ahead of time and put it in drink cups with a straw.  At dinner time I put out their cups with what they thought was a drink.  Spencer was having fun being able to have a cup without a lid.  Anthony seeing a messy situation was trying to get the cup away from Spencer and Spencer was holding on to his prize possession.  Madeline started to take a stab at her drink, but to her dismay she could not get her drink to come up.  Meanwhile Spencer is trying with all his might to get his drink out of his straw.  Anthony skeptically looking on gives it a go and with a confused look on his face on why he cannot drink either.  It was classic.  The kids then got a real drink and enjoyed their Jell-O as a treat.  Meanwhile Spencer never gave up trying to get his "drink" to come up his straw.  

Got Sushi Anyone?

Spencer W. Kimball's Birthday

My Sweet Princess

Today is the eve before Madeline's six month back surgery.  As I prepare my daughter for her surgery floods of emotion run through my mind and heart.  Know matter how routine this procedure is for us, it still pierces my heart strings.  As I hand over my daughter into the capable hands of the doctors, I also hand over my heart as well.  Instead of focusing on what is going on, I try to focus on just loving her.  I learned this while she was in NICU when she was born.  It can be very overwhelming with all the care that goes on for a child in the NICU and as a parent you feel completely helpless.  I would pleed with Heavenly Father what can I do, all I wanted was to hold Madeline in the comfort of our home, but that was not possible at the time. In a quiet voice I was told to just love her, love her only as a mother can.  From that point on that is what I did and that is what I focused on, just loving her.  I allowed the doctors to do their job and I focused on my job-love!  This lesson makes all the hospital trips as well as any procedures Madeline has had and will have easier.  I don't focus on what is going on around me, I just focus on giving my daughter the best medicine, a mother's love.  

However, with this lessoned learned it doesn't mean it is easier it just means it is doable. Madeline is my hero!  She exhibits so much courage, so much strength, and so much faith.  As I was getting her ready for her pre-op the other day and having told her that they may have to take blood out, in a quiet voice Madeline started to sing "I am a Child of God."  This girl has so much bravery and courage.  She is an example to me of how to handle trials and hardships that might come our way, with focus on the Savior and his love for us.  She knows what it means when they "take the blood out," but she didn't complain she just said Heavenly Father will help me brave and started singing a comforting song.   It was a tender mercy moment from my Heavenly Father.

So tonight I will take Madeline in my arms and explain what will happen tomorrow, we will then talk about how Heavenly Father will help us be brave, we will say a prayer, and her father will give her a Priesthood Blessing.  We will then pack her bags, and her special hospital kit filled with new treats and toys and fun things to do in the hospital.  In her kit she will find familiar things, as well as comforts from home.  And then when she is able to come home from the hospital she will find a welcome home surprise.  

How grateful I am for the gospel, for the tender mercies of the Lord, and for Heavenly Father answering a prayer of an aching mother's heart.  Through the gospel I can handle whatever may come my way, and through a mother's love all will be healed.

Let the Games begin!!

On Thursday we went to Greece for the first ever Cooper Olympic Games.  We tried to stay authentic to games they did in ancient greece with a modern day twist.  We had the long jump, in which Madeline barely cleared the timbers surrounding the sandbox, we had disc (frisbee) throwing, we had chariot (wagon) racing, and we shot put (croquet ball), and then we threw in some modern games, baseball and trampoline.  Afterwards we had our award ceremony where everyone came on top and then the kids were able to enjoy gold medal treats that I made with vanilla waffers and pull apart twizzlers.

Tree House Construction

The tree house in the backyard is coming along nicely.  All this week we have had picture perfect weather, which we took advantage of by being outside.  The kids really enjoy working on building their tree house.  They are almost done putting in the floor and Grant helped with the framing of the roof.  

Amazon Rainforest!

On Wednesday we visited the Amazon Rainforest.  I cannot take credit for the decor, Grant did an amazing job.  He read my mind and more.  The kids were excited when they woke up in the morning.  For the rainforest we learned about the Toucan, Three-toed Sloth, Poison Dart Frog, Tapir, and the Manatee.  For our snack we had fruit loops-you know Toucan Sam!

Anthony with his favorite animal, the Tapir.  It also happened to pajama day, so we visited the Amazon in our pajamas....comfort.

Madeline with her favorite the animal, the three-toed sloth.

For the past couple of weeks we have been talking about the Liahona and how it guided Lehi and his family to the promise land as long as they demonstrated faith and obedience.  We then applied this principle to our own lives in returning back home to our Heavenly Father, we accomplished this by talking about some of the things that the Lord has asked us to do to demonstrate our faithfulness and obedience.  

Usually at the end of our FHE lessons I do a recap to make sure the kids understood what the lesson was about.  For Madeline I usually point to objects and persons on the pictures and asked her what they are and/or what they were used for, that kind of things.

Here was our last conversation:

Me:  "Madeline, what did the Lord provide Lehi and his family with so they could reach the promise land.

Madeline:  "The Oklahoma"

Book of Mormon Stories

Spencer's favorite song to sing everynight is Book of Mormon Stories. I thought I would share this clip of Spencer enjoying alittle Book of Mormon Stories. Enjoy!

Family Home Evening Lesson Part II

Here is part two to my Family Home Evening Lesson. We talked about how Lehi and his family used the Liahona to sail to the promise land using the picture from the gospel art kit. Afterwards we played this game that I made. When the kids reached the Liahona symbol they were able to move forward one space. When they got to a space with a statment on it, we read what it said and decided if it was a good choice or a bad choice. If it was a good choice they were able to move two spaces ahead and if it was a bad choice they were to move once space backward. Each time we got to a choice we talked about it and if it was a bad choice we talked about ways that we could make the choice and good one. The kids really enjoyed the game and were so excited when they reached the promise land. This game provided a fun way to talk about faith and obedience. The statments I used were things that we have been talking to our kids about, so it was also a fun way to talk about principles that we are working on with them

Family Home Evening Lessons

For Family Home Evening one night, I taught a lesson on the Liahona using the pictures from the gospel art kit. Madeline does really well with pictures and pointing things out to her and asking her questions. So using the gospel art kit picture I proceed to tell her about the Liahona. We talked about how the Liahona only worked through faith and obedience. I then got out a Liahona that I made and using batteries to represent faith and obedience we then talk about what faith means and what it means to be obedient. I then demostrate to the children how if we just have faith, the Liahona does not light up, we need to have both faith and obedience for the Liahona to work. We then list things that Heavenly Father has asked us to do in our everyday lives. Afterwards, we did a little compass activity. I had a prize hidden and using the compass and following the directions written the kids were able to find their prize which was our refreshment. The kids really enjoyed the lesson and then were able to learn how to use a compass.




















The batteries represent "faith" and one represents "obedience" the light bulb is there to show how when you have both it lights up and points the way. Of course Grant put all this together for me, I just had the wild idea.


















A picture of my "Liahona" a large egg that I found at the store. Thankgoodness for Easter time.

Ireland!

For Saint Patrick's Day we went to Ireland. When the kids woke up in the morning we found a trail of shamrocks leading them from their bedrooms to the breakfast table where they found their breakfast of Lucky Charms with green bowls, green spoons, and green milk. Afterwards, I gave them a message from their Leprachaun where their pot of gold at the end of their rainbow. For Ireland we drew a flag, a shamrock, wrote our names in the celtic language, colored our own Leprachaun and gave him a silly name. We also talked about the Blanery Stone, and each of the kids made their own Blanery Stone. After our trip we enjoyed green oreos cookies with green milk.












































Our green lunch, alfredo noodles with green applesauce. YUM!!!

Africa!

Spring Break is this week and with Madeline's health and upcoming surgery we can't go anywhere, so I decided to do a week long stay cation at home. I have planned trips to an Africa Safari, Ireland to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, South America to visit the Amazon, Greece to experience old fashion olympics, and then on Friday we will rest and plant our garden. The kids are enjoying their trips. I made each kid a book that has activities to do with each of our stops. After our trip there is a snack that fits our destination. Our African Safari we enjoyed animal crackers, Ireland we had green oreo cookies, for our trip to the Rainforest we are having foot loops (Toucan Sam), Greece I am making gold medals out of vanilla waffers and pull apart twizzlers, and for our garden on friday we are having dirt pudding. We also have an afternoon activity to enjoy as well. We had bubble day, we made blanery stones, and I plan on having a day where we can finger paint on some butcher paper covering the kitchen table, and then a day outside enjoying a good game of croquet. The kids seem to be enjoying their break and hopefully they will have lots of exciting things to tell their friends when they get back.



















Our African Safari decor



















This is a fact sheet that I made for Africa; I made the same for each of our other stops as well.



















This is the fact sheet that I made for each of the animals on our African Safari and I made fact sheets as well for each of our rainforest animals.



















These are binoculars that I made for the kids to use on our African Safari to help find our animals.

Texas Day!

The first week of March was Texas Day at Anthony's school. For one of the projects they needed to make the Texas Flag that was at least 12x18 and the only rule was that you could not use crayon. So Anthony decided he wanted to make a cake. We got three cake mixes, added red food coloring to one and blue food coloring to the other and left the last cake mix white. We then assembled the flag and frosted the flag according to the color of each cake. Then used a cookie cutter for the star and filled it in with frosting. Then Anthony wanted to add marshmallows for the white part of the flag and red and blue M&M's for their respective colors. At school he did his presentation of the flag to his classmates and everyone was able to dive in and enjoy the cake, and the best part was that there was not any cake leftover to bring home!

Lost tooth

Anthony lost his first tooth after eating dinner. He didn't realize what he had in his hand. While eating dinner, his tooth fell out and he asked his dad what it was. His adult tooth had already grew in behind his baby tooth. The tooth fairy left his money under his pillow, but did not take the tooth that was sitting on the desk, so in the morning when asked if he found something special, Anthony just replied "No my tooth is still on my desk." Needless to say after dropping kids off at school the toothfairy fixed the mix up and retrieved the tooth. Anthony then found his prize after school and was excited to be able to buy lunch at school with his money.