A Hedgehog, a Reader, and a Snowman

Andrew got this very cool Sonic the Hedgehog hand-me-down shirt from his cousin Bryan. He thinks Bryan is so cool and that Sonic is supercool too (he didn't even know who Sonic was until he got this shirt). When I do convince him not to wear the shirt, he always asks if he can still be Sonic and if we will still call him Sonic. He was wearing it this morning before we got ready to go to church, and he decided he would be "Sunday Sonic" when it was time to put the church clothes on. I should have taken a picture of it the last time he wore it before this picture. He had dug it out of the laundry hamper- it was stinky and dirty and even had a smear of stain-stick on it. This picture is from the day when I finally did laundry (I actually did a smaller load sooner than I normally would have done) and washed the shirt for him. Thanks Bryan (and Laura)!


Eden has been learning how to read. We've been using "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", and she really enjoys it. Now she's about two thirds of the way through it and is reading pretty big stories. She's even starting to read words around the house and trying to spell things out with the magnets on the refrigerator. Way to go Eden! We weren't able to start her early in kindergarten this past fall (her birthday is a couple weeks past the cut off), so hopefully she's not too bored next school year.


We've had some more snow here. It seems to snow everytime I finally move the snow boots from the entry-way to the bedroom closet shelf. Since its not quite so cold, the snow stuck together a little bit better, and we were able to make a small snowman. The kids were a little disappointed at first, we thought the bottom of this snowman should have been the head of a much larger snowman, but the snowballs didn't stick together so well when we started rolling them around to make them bigger. In the end, they were happy with how it turned out. Eden wanted to stay outside longer and make a snow-family, but Andrew was ready to go back inside after this one was done.



GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEKEND

Eden's Ties and Andrew's Fingerpainting

This weekend was great! Friday Scott got to come home early because the base passed the ORI this time. Then that evening we went out to eat and the kids got to play at a friends house. Saturday morning Scott put together a Deck Box we bought to store the outside toys in and the kids cleaned-up the backyard.

We got the kids excited for General Conference by having our FHE lesson on prophets and talking about the fun things we would do this weekend. We made the layered bean dip in "The Friend" magazine before the first session (we were actually finishing it up while we watched the Solemn Assembly). Then let the kids start on their Conference Activity packets the primary handed out last week (similar to the one making the rounds in email). Eden was really excited about coloring the ties of the prophets and apostles, so she paid pretty close attention (for a five-year-old) to every session. By the end of the last session, she only had blank ties for Elder Cook (he spoke in the Priesthood Session) and President Faust (who was on the page by mistake). I bought new crayons and markers (thanks for the idea Saundra!), so even Andrew colored a lot more than he usually does. We went to a baptism between sessions on Saturday, then I stayed at the church building while Scott and the kids went home. Eden and Scott listened while Andrew took a nap. That night, Scott went to the Priesthood session and the kids and I made Snickerdoodles.

Sunday morning we had sticky buns and scrambled eggs, then got ready to go to the church building to listen to the morning session. The kids worked on their packets again (I was surprised how entertained it kept them, since their were quite a few activities for older kids), I also printed out some of the coloring pages that are in "The Friend" from lds.org. Andrew kept the older couple behind us entertained, he somehow managed to stay really quiet while he was playing handgames with the husband. Sunday afternoon we had veggies and ranch, and more bean dip while we listened to the last session. The kids also got to play with MoonSand (not less messy than playdough, by the way), and fingerpaints during that session, which kept them pretty quiet and at the table with us while we listened.

It was wonderful for all of us to be able to participate in the Solemn Assembly and sustain our new prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and a new apostle, Todd Christofferson. I hope we can keep this tradition of making Conference Weekend something the kids look forward to, so that it can become meaningful for them. We are so blessed to have a prophet today, and even more blessed to be able to listen to the inspired counsel given by him and by others who have been chosen to lead this church, in our very own homes!