Pages

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Earth Day

Blowing Springs, Bella Vista, AR

We didn't do to much for Earth Day! Landon's class walked from their school to Blowing Springs for Earth Day. Landon was so excited when he came home for school. He really wanted to take us all. So, he could show us all of the caves and spring. I decided why not. We jumped into the van and took off for Blowing Springs. Landon gave me step by step directions and we made a quick trip over to the springs. The kids had some much. I tried to get them to go up with me into one of the big caves but Landon was really worried about bears living in the caves. No luck getting him up into caves but Logan decided to be brave and join me.

One of the greatest ways to get kids excited about nature is just to take them to beautiful places and let them go off and explore. The kids couldn't get enough of the spring and the running water. Talk about Heaven on Earth. A great way to get away from the world but still be close to home.






I Know My ABC...

Logan officially learned the letter "C"! I was hoping to learn one letter each week but it has proven to be challenging. I'm going to change my game plan. We will learn one new letter every two weeks. I need to take things real slow with him.

The other day, Logan was busy looking at book. He pointed out correctly that the title of the book had two "C"! I'm so proud of my little guy. We will slowly get thru the Alphabet.

I'm currently, working on pulling together materials for the letter "D". We will be learning all about Dinosaurs for "D" week.


Logan working hard on how to make a letter "C"!
Stamping and Stamping!!!
Finish Product!
Using the rods to make the letter "C"!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

Kicking Up The Dirt

What I love about having boys! Getting down and dirty! Trust me, mountian biking riding is serious fun. Leroy can't wait to get a bike so he can join in the fun. I need to get the boys some helmets but overall the kids aren't to crazy on their bikes.



One Wet Rainy Day

The kids sat bored out of their minds. Logan came up with a great idea to keep himself busy. He grabbed an empty box from the garage and started to get busy building himself a house. Little sister had to join in the fun. She ended up getting her own box. Leah and Logan have spent all morning coloring and cutting their boxes. Logan's house even has a garage and a chimney. I'm not sure what exactly the final product will look like but at least the kids aren't bored anymore.


























Sunday, April 26, 2009

He Did it!


Logan finally did it! He wrote his name for the very first time. He decided to draw me a picture of a giraffe. He was so proud of himself. Then, he told me he wanted to write his name on top of the paper. He came back and I was surprised to see he did manage to write his name but only backwards. He does this all the time. Writes his letters backwards each and everytime. Any ideas? How can I get him to stop doing this. He writes his letters or words from right to left instead of left to right. I'm not trying to complain. Any thoughts?

Race for the Cure

A first time for anything. I decided to run in my very first 5k race this weekend. I didn't know at the time, that my sister would be diagnosed with breast cancer. I don't believe it was an coincidence. Like many of you know, I have been working hard the past couple of months to get healthier and more physical fit. Yesterday, I ended up getting up real early to Pinnacle Hills Promenade for the race. It took me a while to figure out where the registration tent was located at but I finally managed to get my t-shirt and race number. I was starting to get worried I wasn't going to make it to the big race. It turned out to be very emotional event for me. I ended up running into an old friend from church who is no longer active. We cried, hugged, and just talked. It was very special experience.

Before the race started, they had all the breast cancer survivors parade together. I was a complete wreck. I'm not normally an emotional person but my heart was pounding. I hope and pray that next year my sister will be able to attend the race for the cure and walk in the survivors parade.

At the beginning of the race, they ended up released white doves and were playing "I will survive"! I ended up being fairly up close to the front. I turned around and all you could see where thousands of heads. I think close to 18,000 people were out to run the 5k. I started off to a slow start. With so many people, everyone was walking. I didn't know if I would be able to get around anyone to start running. My friend suggested I just go up on the side walk and start running. So, that's what I did! I thought it was a run but it seemed like most people were walking. I found it a little bit annoying. I had to keep running around people.

The race went up and down hills. It wasn't easy. I found a nice steady pace and took off. So many times I wanted to stop or slow down but I didn't. I just kept telling myself my sister is suffering so much more. What's a little pain. Well, I managed to make it in strong. I some how mustered up enough strength finished with a strong sprint to the finish line. My time was 32 minutes 11 seconds. I was hoping to make it under 30 minutes.


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Prayers Needed!


My older sister Amy found out this week she has breast cancer. I haven't had a chance to blog to much this week because of recent events. My sister is 39 weeks pregnant with her first baby. She meet with the breast surgeon today. They are thinking, this Friday to remove the cancerous lump. The surgeon feels that my sister catch the tumor very early. They will put her under probably on Friday and remove the lump. They will check her lymph nods to make sure it hasn't spread. The baby could go into dis stress and they would have to do an emergency c-section. Please pray for my sister and her unborn child. I have FAITH that Heavenly Father will make sure everything will go okay.
Also, this Saturday, I'm going to run in my first 5k for the race for a cure.
I'm still in shock about this whole cancer thing. Send encouraging words and prayers my way for my sister Amy.
Thanks,
lara

Monday, April 20, 2009

I think you forgot something?



I was busy inside the house working on something on the computer. When I heard the sound of water running. I stepped outside to see who had the water on. That's when I discovered Leah watering the flowers in the front yard. It wasn't too long, when a neighbor pulled over to inform me that Leah forgot her clothes. Oh, what will I do with this child?

Mommy's Little Helper!

Good Job, watering! Next try putting on some clothes!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Day One-ChaLEAN Extreme

I'm going to start my new exercise program today! I just finished drinking my 2-day Fast Shake. I decided to go with Chocolate and it's super yummy. Hopefully, I wouldn't be too sick of it by tomorrow. My hubby really wants me to lose the weight so I had him help me do the fitness test and weight/body fat measurements. Turns out, I was doing the push ups all wrong. I wasn't going far enough down. So, I'm going to have to turn my hubby into my personal fitness couch. Its very easy to do things in the wrong positions and not realize it. No cheating either! Of course, he had show off how many of everything he could do!

I found out one of my arms is measuring bigger than the other arm. Leroy thought he had measure it wrong and redid the measuring tape. Nope, I must of been favoring my right arm. While, I was doing the fitness test. I was doing the overhead shoulder press. My smaller and weaker arm started to shake and my other arm was fine. I'm going to have to work on building up both side.

Here are my stats:

Day One:

Waist: 31"
Hips: 37.5"
Abductors: 37.5"
Chest: 36"
Right Arm: 10 3/4"
Left Arm: 11 1/2"
Right Thigh: 21 3/4"
Left Thigh: 20 1/2"
Weight: 137
Body Fat Percentage: 30.9%

Once, I'm done with my two day fast. I'm going to kick start my workout plan! I'm hoping to drop a couple more pounds and shrink my stomach.

Oh, I did take before pictures. I will not be posting them at this time. Hopefully, if I can get in really nice and tone shape. I will post some pictures than.

Wish me luck!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Rainy Day Activity

One of the many things, I'm working on with the kids is teaching them to entertain themselves. Logan for the past of couple of weeks has started to show interest in writing messages and notes. I found the kids busy in the living room writing notes for daddy. Logan usually just writes wavy lines but I have noticed him attempting to write a few letters like "X" and "O". Logan will write a message but he always wants me to read it. I have tried several times for him to read the note to me but he always claims he doesn't know how to read but he can write? So, the kids were busy making notes which eventually made their way to daddy to read.

The little ones figure out that notecards are prefect for writing notes!

The little girl is already a pro at holding the pen. She didn't want a pencil but a pen.

Landon decided to join in the writing note mission! Landon really starting to take off with writing real complete sentences. Sentences that begin with Capitalize letters and end with correction puncation.



Thursday, April 16, 2009

Flubber Time...


All three of my kids where home together this afternoon. This doesn't happen much any more. We used to have so much fun together in the afternoons reading chapter books together and doing science experiments. I came across this idea from a friends blog. It's called Flubber or as slime. The kids don't remember this but last Spring while in TN at the Children's Museums we made slime. I couldn't for the life of me remember how the lady made it for the kids. I was so excited when I came across the directions to make flubber. The kids were so excited. They didn't really know what we were going to make but knew it was going to be FUN!

I started out with Landon pouring the glue into the bowl. Landon has really turned into such a good helper!

We added one cup of warm water to the glue and added green dye! Logan and Landon both wanted the same color. Prefect! No fighting!

Landon and Logan had a hard time sharing the mixing spoon. They managed to work it out amongst themselves. If you look closely its turning into flubber.



Of course, Leah had to have a turn! She will not be denied from any experience!

Ta-Dah! Flubber
Don't ya just love her chubby little hands!

Wow, this stuff is sooooo cool!

The kids stuff the flubber into those empty Easter eggs. Surprisingly, the flubber took the shape of the egg. I knew all those plastic eggs would be good for something!

Working hard!
Super Stretchy!


FLUBBER
1 8-ounce bottle of glue
2 cups of warm water, divided
food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoon Borax powder
bowls for mixing
Pour the whole bottle of glue into a big bowl then fill the empty bottle with 1 cup of warm water and add that to the glue. Stir it up until it thins out.Then add several drops of food coloring and mix that in.In a separate bowl mix the Borax and the second cup of warm water until the Borax dissolves.Stirring CONSTANTLY, slowly pour the Borax into the bowl of glue. Stir and stir and stir until it forms into a goopy, slimy, mass.Remember to store it in an airtight container or it will dry out.






Painted Lady Butterfly

Guess what came in the mail...Our caterpillars!!!!!!!!! The box said we would either receive monarchs or painted lady butterflies! I decided to keep Landon home from school today! He really wanted to go back to preschool with Logan for the day. I told him I wasn't sure if the teacher would allow it or not. So, we pulled up to school and she asked Landon what he was doing in the van and not in school. I told her he wasn't to happy at school at the moment. I decided to let him have a break from school. So, Landon asked if he could join Logan and she said it would be okay. Landon came home so happy from preschool. He told me he played with all of his old favorite toys from school. When we came home from school. Logan discovered the box. Landon opened it up and we discovered we received painted lady butterfly caterpillars. Landon said that was his favorite butterfly from last year. His preschool class last year did Painted Ladies. So, it will probably take about three weeks before we get butterflies. I will keep you posted.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

First Note Ever!

Landon wrote me a note. This is the first time moment. I thought it was really funny message! This is what Landon wrote:

This wus not wut we had in mine!

Translation:

This was not what we had in mine!

Some Real Tree Climbing Adventures

My son the scaried cat climbed up a huge pine tree! I still can't believe. My neighbor was over visiting with me and we walked out the front door this is exactly what I say. I was in complete shock. Never in a million years did I think I would see my son climb all the way up a tree. I ran back inside the house and grab my camera to take some pictures! I ended up showing the picture to Leroy when he came home from shooting! He was like "what the h***!" Ya, our son is gaining more confidence in himself. I'm not quite sure how I feel about him climbing trees. I was really worried about him coming down the tree but he managed to do just fine!Look at the smile on his face! The little guy was just beaming!



Look how high up he is? Isn't this what being a kid is all about. I remember my sister Amy used to climb trees all the time. Brings back sweet memories!

Logan decided to play it safe not climb a tree but the mailbox!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Learning My ABC's!

This weeks challenge is for the kids to learn the letter "C"!

I pulled several different activities this morning for Logan and Leah!

I'm pretty sure that Logan's already knows this letter but I can't seem to recall.
I have mostly stamping, playdoh, sandpaper letters, and books about the letter "C"!

I'm going to be focusing on two books. One is called "The LIttle Cookie" by Margaret Hillert! Its basically the gingerbread man story but its just a little cookie. This is Logan's all time favorite story-the gingerbread man. He never gets tired of it. The second book is called "The Caterpillar and the Polliwog" by Jack Kent. Don't ya just love Jack Kent books! Logan informed me that he already read at book at preschool. That's okay. It never hurts to reread books. We are going to make caterpillars out of egg cartons. Thanks, mil for that idea!

We are planning on hitting the sand park after preschool. I'm going to have Logan practice writing his letters in the sand!

Hopefully, this will work out good and I will try to keep this up!





Monday, April 13, 2009

Family Home Evening

FORTIFYING FAMILIES


If your like me trying to plan something for FHE lesson is difficult. I'm not sure what exactly my problem is but I have a really hard time coming up with uplifting and spiritual lessons for my family. Due to the fact, that I have three kids under the age of six. Trying to keep the little ones attention can be difficult and down right frustrating. My little two year is always trying to help me with the lesson. It can be so hard. I decided to make a new goal for our family. We are going to try to have FHE every Monday. Last week, FHE only lasted for about ten minutes. I was completed flustered mostly with my hubby and his poor attitude. This week, my hubby and I decided to give it another try. We decided to try sitting down on the rug and in a circle. To make it warm and inviting atmosphere for the kids! It worked! I literally pulled this lesson together in the matter of minutes. I discovered this wonderful website called Family Home Evening Planner blog!

I absolutely loved the fact that all of the lessons have wonderful messages to share with your family and great object lessons.

I started our lesson with a milk jug. The kids were very quite and interested in how the milk jug would work into the lesson. I asked them what a gallon of milk is "Fortified with..."! We talked about what fortified means and how fortifying helps to make something stronger and better! How vitamins are added to milk to make our bodies stronger!

The next step was to read the story of the Three Pigs. I couldn't locate my copy. I decided to search YouTube and found this old Disney version of the story.


After, we watched the movie we talked about how the third house was the strongest? Why?

Then, came the fun part! I had the kids all take a turn building their own houses and we took turns trying to destroy the different houses. We talked about how next time we could fortify our homes to make them stronger. Just like in the scriptures, we talked about all the things we can do to fortify our homes like reading scriptures, saying our family prayers, and no fighting with each other.

The kids loved it and I'm planning on using this blog for more FHE ideas in the future.


Building a house of Cards!

It turned out to be very difficult to make a house out of cards. Remember, the Brady bunch episode where they end up building that huge house of cards. We were trying to recreate the same thing but all we could come up with was two learning up against each other! I didn't take much to huff and puff and blow this house down!

Landon built this house out of Lincoln Logs! Dad did manage to Huff and Puff and Blew a few of the roof pieces off his log cabin.


Logan built his house out of plastic blocks. Everyone tried really hard to blow his house down but it wouldn't fall down! Logan's house was the most fortified