Valentine's Day

Look at the CUTE wreath hanging on my door.  Brynn made it!

Thanks to my good friend who knows how to throw a grand party for girls!  Brynn had a blast making this conversation heart wreath, and I am grateful for Amber and her fun ideas.

My amazing sister-in-law (actually, ALL my sister-in-laws are amazing, but a couple actually blog about all their coolness) Andy from Poppies at Play posted this cute idea for cupid's arrows.  We adapted her idea a bit into this:

I found small and large hearts and we thought it looked cute without even having to cut the back part of the bow.  I had small bags from something I did years ago so we put a couple arrows in a bag with a sticker I made and now all the kids have a cute Valentine to share with their friends on Monday.  Every year Kaitlyn and Brynn want to make their own Valentine's, but it always seems that they lose their interest after making about ten, and then I have to step in and help them finish up. This was a perfect Valentine for them to make--they never tired of it!

I had to make Jared's sticker a little more manly--he's really excited that he's giving arrows for Valentine's Day. 

Snow Days!

Last week we had FOUR snow days!  We also had record breaking FREEZING temperatures, and were colder than many parts of the country.  I do not like the cold.  I think the schools were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday because of the snow (although most of the snow was melted by Wed. anyway).  On Thursday we woke up like it was a normal day and went about our morning routine, and then Scott left to take the kids to school--apparently we weren't the only ones who missed the memo that school was cancelled.  Scott said there were five or six other cars trying to drop their kids off to an empty school!  We hadn't received the automated phone call from our school district that we usually get when school is cancelled or delayed, and it hadn't even occurred to me that school might be cancelled again since most of the snow was melted.  Apparently, the buses wouldn't start due to cold weather.  And then New Mexico was facing a shortage of Natural Gas, and many customers were without gas to heat their homes, so APS cancelled school again to keep the thermostats down and conserve gas. 

So now instead of getting out of school before Memorial Day, the kids have to attend school through June 3rd.  Kaitlyn actually thinks that is cool since that is her birthday, and she doesn't usually get to celebrate her birthday at school.

The kids played in the snow, and Nathan was screaming to go out too.  He loved it until he slipped in some wet slushy snow and fell face first in it. 



Photos courtesy of Brynn



I know Nate's coat is way too big.  He doesn't have a really good snow coat that fits him, and I had just bought this one on clearance for him to wear next year.  At least it kept his hands warm.  He also had no patience for me to even try to get that tag off--he just wanted out as fast as he could!

I read a lot to the kids, and even taught them how to make homemade cinnamon rolls.  Everyone was part of our "cooking lesson" and I had a fun time with them. 

We made ten loaves of bread.  Thanks to a good friend who has a kind, serviceable heart we got to share in the joy of donating most of the loaves to a homeless shelter.

We also spent A LOT of time on science projects!  They are due on Monday...hallelujah!

Happy 8th Birthday Brynn!

 
Brynn turned 8 on January 31st--she will be baptized in March.  She is sad that she has to wait a whole month until her baptism, but our Stake is not having Stake baptisms in February due to Stake Conference. We gave her scriptures for her birthday since she has to wait awhile before her baptism.  It has been fun to see her read them everyday; I hope she keeps it up.

Brynn is a joy!  She is super responsible, but very silly too.  Her teacher loves Brynn's sense of humor, and so do we.  She makes us all laugh!  Brynn has a great desire to make good choices, and she is very sensitive when she thinks she has done something wrong.  She is also very kind to others.  She loves to play on the bars at recess, and she's really into owls.  As always, Brynn loves to craft and create things--I think she may use my glue gun daily!  She seems to always be making a house or a bed for someone's stuffed animal when she sees a cool box that I put out in the recycling bin.

We made these cute owl cupcakes for Brynn to take to school on her birthday.  She loved them, and it sounds like everyone else did too.

Brynn wanted scones for her birthday dinner, so we ate scones with strawberries and whipped cream, honey butter and powdered sugar.  It was like having dessert for dinner--no wonder Brynn likes scones so much!

This was Brynn's year to have a family birthday party.  She chose to go roller skating at the new skating rink here in Albuquerque.  She and Kaitlyn got roller blades for Christmas, and they had a blast trying them out at the skating rink.  Afterwards, we ate at Dion's for dinner--another one of Brynn's favorite things.

Brynn wrote the following poem at school about herself:

September 10, 2010

My Poem
I am respectful to everything.
I want everyone in the world to be nice to each other.
I worry about fires in my house.
I dream about being an artist and author.
I try to choose the right things to do.
I am respectful to everyone.
I wonder if I'll be an artist and author.
I cry when my feelings get hurt.
I hope to have five children when I grow up.
I understand how to play soccer.
I pretend that I'm an animal with my friends.
I am respectful to everything.
I am crazy about soccer.

We sure love this girl, and are so happy she is part of our family.  Happy Birthday cute Brynn!

Everyone's Gotta Have Some

Because everyone needs a turn licking the bowl....

I Have a Dream Fort

Since the kids had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off of school they BEGGED me to let them build a fort and sleep in it.  I've let them do this before.  I know exactly what it entails--a huge mess, a brood of tired kids the next day, and a ton of fun!  I figured if Martin Luther King, Jr. could have a dream--I shouldn't squash my kids dream, so I caved.  It was all the things I expected.  Scott help them build it big enough that all the kids could fit under it.

Every blanket and pillow in the house succumbed to the pressure...not to mention the sleeping bags, flashlights, headlamp and lantern. 

The kids stayed up way to late...Ellie finally gave up and went to her own bed after awhile.  At three in the morning I heard my name being yelled--someone had apparently stepped on everyone else as they made a bathroom run. 

But the next morning, we huddled under their fort and read Percy Jackson together, and later I heard a few of the kids say in their prayers that they were grateful that mom let them sleep in their fort. And that made the ginormous mess all worth it.

Christmas Memories

As seems to happen often, December flew by in a flurry.  We decided to visit family in Utah before Christmas this year so we could see Scott's sister and her family who were visiting from California at that time as well.  It was a bit hectic trying to get everything ready to go.  I wanted to leave Thursday after school and go half-way so we'd have more time with family before we had to come back home.  The weather became ominous the day we wanted to leave--luckily I was able to get everything ready and we left shortly after the kids got home from school--just as it started to snow on our route.  We had an hour or so of snow on our path, but we were able to get ahead of it and make it safely all the way to Moab where we spent the night in a hotel.  Hotels are always fun--for one night.

We didn't bring our camera to Utah--one of the things we realized shortly after we left, but with the imposing storm we didn't feel like we could turn around.  Luckily, Kaitlyn and Brynn both got their own camera so hopefully they will help me capture 2011 memories.  Here are some of our Utah highlights:

• Seeing the reindeer and lights at Thanksgiving Point with my family.  For those of you there with us you know the truth--not worth the effort, except still nice to be with the ones you love!  There were two reindeer who stood in the middle of the corral and didn't move.  After buying some food from a little candy machine to feed them Brynn remarked, "That was the biggest waste of a dollar!"  The reindeer were obviously well fed and turned their noses up to our offering.
• Porter family Christmas Eve.  We always draw parts from the Nativity to act out.  We get just a few minutes to run around the house and come up with a costume.  Scott was a sheep, and I loved his creativity.  He draped a Kleenex over each of his ears to mimic sheep ears--it was pretty good.  My mom got a present for each of the grand kids to open.  As much as Scott and I try to teach that it is better to give than get--getting is always so much fun.  When we asked the kids their favorite thing from Grandma Porter's house several of them announced it was opening a present from Grandma.
• Cousins!  Cousins!  Cousins!  Seriously--they are the best!  Whenever we visit family the kids run off together with all the cousins, and they love every minute of it.  We got to meet my sister's newest, Dodge, too.
• Having lunch with my Grandma and Grandpa Porter.
• Sledding with Grandpa Esplin.  Of course, no sledding could take place until Grandpa Esplin had cleared the driveways from snow of just about everyone in Provo with his four wheeler. What a great example of service he is.
• Shepherd's dinner with the Esplin's.  Grandpa wanted to make the experience more genuine, so he cooked up some lamb.  Our bunch wouldn't have made it well as real shepherds with the taste buds we all have.
• Bowling at BYU.  My kids love doing this every time we visit Utah.  This year was especially nice, because it wasn't very crowded.  Jared loved bowling and smoked even the big kids.
• Granny B's tour.  I've been wanting a tour of Granny B's since Jeff bought the company.  It was amazing to watch the production line of all the pink frosted cookies.  And seriously, they are the best tasting too--so go buy some now :)

I love to visit family, and always feel a bit melancholy when we leave.  Some of the kids left teary-eyed as we drove away too.  We feel so blessed to be part of such wonderful families.

Parent/Teacher Conference

Last week I went to parent/teacher conferences for Kaitlyn, Brynn and Jared.  I came home beaming, and feeling so grateful that my kids are doing so well right now.  Each child's teacher spent the time telling me how wonderful they are.

Kaitlyn's teacher says she is extremely responsible, and always on task.  She said she is very strong in math and language arts, but she especially shines in her writing.  Her teacher was impressed with the voice she has in each writing piece.  She was one of the only students to score very high in both math and language arts on their DBA test. 

Brynn's teacher thinks Brynn is so funny.  She said she is also always on task, and a very good leader.  She is able to help others, and can explain things so the other kids can understand.  Brynn's Enrichment teacher said Brynn is the most responsible second grader he's ever taught. 

Jared's teacher thinks he is one of the sweetest boys.  She showed us his journal and the darling pictures he is drawing.  He has improved so much since the start of school!  He is kind to everyone, always attentive and on-task too. 

When I was a teen-ager I remember after showing my report card to my parents my dad would remark something like he was proud of my good grades, but then he'd say he'd love me even if it wasn't filled with straight A's.  One time I asked him why he always asked me that.  He said he didn't want me to think his love was contingent on a perfect report card.  I did (and still do) tend to be a people pleaser, but I had an intrinsic desire to do well.  And really, I don't remember that it was very hard to get good grades. 

My dad proved he meant what he said when after my first summer semester at BYU, I called home crying with a {gulp} 'C' in American Heritage.  (For the record, that was my one and only blemish on my BYU transcript).  My parent's weren't upset, and even offered comfort!  It was great to know that my parents did in deed love me--even though I wasn't perfect.

Now, as a mother, I have the same feelings as my dad.  I sure love to go to conferences and hear that my kids teachers can see how special and neat they are.  And I am proud of their success.  But, I also want them to know that even if they are not perfect (since none of us are), I love them no matter what.