Don't Let This Pass By

This book cover may look familiar, that's because I already blogged about it HERE.

HOWEVER, that post was published before I had devoured the book

and now I am back with a report.

REPORT = Oh it so, so good.

SO GOOD that if I could I would buy a copy for EVERY parent I know!

I read it once through on my own and for a second time with Cody.

 

  Cody even agrees that this book is fantastic...all of it and well worth the 

twelve or so bucks you will pay to own it.

It's an easy read and I am confident that ANY parent will find the information
within it's pages profound, useful and extremely relevant. 

In fact I believe that if Americans, including government institutions,

understood and implemented the concepts found in this book 

we could solve MOST of our economic crises!

After much discussion and preparation we are implementing our
"family economy" mid-November and you can too after you read this book!

To get a brief feel for what's in the book listen to THIS podcast or check out THIS article.

On a completely different note, these chocolate covered bananas  
from Trader Joe's are to die for!
If you have a Trader Joe's near you I suggest you give them a try. 

And on one final note...

Aspen attends a home preschool program one morning a week and absolutely loves it!
Miss Andrea is very organized and having a background as an  
elementary school teacher she runs her preschool complete with monthly/weekly themes, circle time, story time, sensory time, snack time with children participating in their individual
"snack time responsibilities"
and much much more.

She also sends weekly newsletter updates with pictures like these taken during preschool time. These pictures were taken yesterday morning during sensory time when the kids were practicing fine motor skills by grasping Halloween objects with tweezers and inspecting those objects with magnifying glasses. Thanks Miss Andrea, you are great!

Family Pictures 2011

My super talented friend Charlotte took these pictures a couple of weeks ago.
See her photography blog HERE!

PS- Check us out in this Parenting Magazine!

Happy Birthay Sweet Aspen Girl

Aspen turned THREE today!

Her Halloween themed birthday party was on Saturday.

She had been talking about the big event for months and when day 

finally came she was elated.

The party guests arrived in full Halloween attire ready for some spooky fun.

Aspen made a last minute costume change from Princess to Leopard.

Activities included:

Hot Potato (Aspen's favorite game)

Pumpkin and Skeleton candy necklace making

Cupcake decorating

Pumpkin place mat coloring project

AND

Pin the ghost on the pumpkin

When it was time for gift opening Aspen struggled to sit still for upon the opening present chair. Instead she enthusiastically bolted from gift to gift opening each one as quickly as possible. This was after all the moment she had been waiting for!

I had a last minute idea to take a picture of each party friend to accompany

thank you cards. Here are most of the children.

Brinley and her friend Marnie were our official "party helpers" 

and they provided great assistance, especially when it came to candy necklace creations!

Aspen was determined to make her necklace by herself. 

Eventually the time involved took it's toll and she opted to simply eat a majority of the candy pieces instead of threading them on the string.

An additional game of Hot Potato finished off the party with giggles 

and we said good-bye to Aspen's party friends.

It was three years ago today that we welcomed

OUR LITTLE BUNDLE

into our lives and we had no idea then what sunshine and joy she would bring to our family.

We love you dearly precious Aspen.

Ladies Weekend

I just returned from a fun-filled weekend in Chicago 

with my sister Kelty, SIL Jill and BFF Paige!

After arriving Kelty and I headed to visit 

my cousin John, his wife Ashley and their 2-year old son little John.

They JUST relocated from California and the movers had delivered their boxes only 

one hour before we stopped in. It had been so long since I had even seen Johnny that it was wonderful to catch up, get to know his wife and meet their baby boy!

Jill arrived with baby Grace, her third child, late on Thursday night.

It was the first time I was able to hold my five-month old niece. I soon discovered that what everyone was saying about her was true,
she IS a very happy and content little baby!

Weekend Highlights: 

*Enjoying time with inspiring women whom I love!

*The enormously sprawling Chicago Botanical Gardens which boast an endless array 

of floral beauty of every sort.

*The Chicago Zoo. You can guess what was there.

*Attending a play called "Violet" which may have very well been the  

most amazing off-Broadway production I have ever seen!

 

 *Delicious food at a variety of resturants and at the Johnson home.

*Watching "The Help" at the Theater Downtown.
A little motherhood frustration can be easily cured with some good 'ole video gaming!

*Spending a special overnight at the Hyatt Place 

with Paige to celebrate her 30th birthday.

*Hanging out at Pagie's new apartment on the 29th floor and reuniting 

with her two kiddos and husband!

*Snuggling and kissing Gracie.

*Reading to and rocking Rella. Observing her sweet personality emerge, 

a personality that tends to be quite the opposite from my girls - 

calm, patient, quiet, self-entertained and observant.

(this is an interior wall of one of the restaurants we ate at)

*Learning about Duane's new 3-d printer and how on 

earth he will create things to print.

Whew, we fit a lot in!

A BIG thanks to all of the husbands and the variety of other helping hands in Ohio, 

Chicago and Nevada, who helped make our girls trip happen!

***And another big thanks to our driver extraordinaire, Kelty, who managed directions and major traffic jams beautifully and even made several front door and curb side stops 

for this waddling pregnant lady!

Love you guys!

Conference Weekend

We always look forward to Conference weekend!

I get ready by printing off fun age appropriate activity packets from THIS site

and buying Conference bingo treats at the grocery.

The girls make sure that we don't miss even one minute of
of the four sessions, which are two hours each. It was so cute to watch Aspen run to the potty yelling out "pause it pause it, wait for me to go potty." Thank goodness for DVR!

Even though at this time in the children's lives Conference is mostly
special because of the family time in front of the TV, the art activities, treats and enjoying
lots of back tickles from Daddy...
we know that someday they will come to realize and internalize  
the wonderful messages and guidance we receive during this time twice a year.
We can already see Brinley starting to really listen and understand the talks.

Some of my favorites during this session included:

Forget Me Not by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Elaine S. Dalton's talk about Father's and Daughters

President Monson's talk about  
Keeping The Commandments in these Latter-days!

Other weekend happenings included making Aspen's birthday party invitations. 

Oh she is just so excited about her Halloween themed party.

She hand delivered each invitation and said "Will you please come to my Birthday party" upon handing over the envelope containing the invite. It was really quite darling to witness.

On Sunday morning before Conference started our kitchen turned into an owl factory!

Each of the girls were given special tasks in helping to create these fun little 

teacher and friend treats.

At one point, after carefully cutting out all of the orange totsie roll noses, 

I turned around from what I was doing to discover  

Aspen with a huge mouth chock full of them! 

She was clever, I was ticked. 

Avery was in charge of making the owl's eyes. 

She carefully smashed down each mini marshmellow and colored a black dot 

in the middle with a black food writing pen.

Brinley carefully cut out every single owl (32 owls in all) with a cookie cutter. 

She was also responsible for flattening the totsie rolls with a rolling pin for the noses.

Aspen was in charge of a variety of HELPFUL, oh little ones are so helpful, 

bits and pieces. 

I think she may have asked 356565 times "can I eat an owl now."

This is the finished product!

  They have now been delivered throughout the neighborhood and to 

teachers and office staff at the girls schools.

For Sunday night dinner I made THIS recipe,

it was delicious and I am loving THIS site a friend turned me on to!