Baptisms

We've always lived in a wards where each child can have their own baptismal service.  The parents help the child come up with a program of their favorite songs, prayer and talk invitations, special musical numbers (if any), what to do in between the baptism and confirmation, and  choice of refreshments (if any) afterward.

From my experience serving in primary, I've come up with a few ways that are extremely helpful ways leaders, including VTers, HTers, primary teachers, etc. can help on the day of the baptism, so the parents can focus on their child's baptism and sharing that experience with family and friends who have come to show their support.

1. Photography- Either ask someone to take pictures for you or better yet, if you're a leader with a camera...OFFER!  You don't need to be a pro, just be there to take pictures of the family, the child being baptized, and candids.  I took pictures at a baptism yesterday and thought this one was priceless.

 

Photographs of the actual ordinances of baptism and confirmation are not allowed, but you can snap a few of the child immediately post-baptism, and you'll capture the biggest smile around!

For our son, Thomas' baptism, we asked a friend to take pictures for us.  It was nice to have ALL of our family in photos, and candids of ALL of our family because no one in our family was behind the camera.  Wayne & I both love photography, but we were happy to focus on Thomas and our loved ones rather than be behind the camera for Thomas' special day.

Thanks again, ELLEN!

2.  Food- Simpler is better, in my opinion, but no matter what the family chooses to do for food, friends and leaders can offer to "man the kitchen" so the parents can mingle, visit, and enjoy.  If you're able to have the baptism on Saturday, this enables you to avoid meal time.  Keep in mind that if you are asking others to help, if you choose to do a meal rather than desserts or something simple, clean up alone will involve at least another hour of their time, not to mention the cost is much greater.

Some ideas for food-

• For Thomas' baptism (July), we invited guests to have cupcakes with us on the front lawn of our church property.

 Bonus: With everyone there, it was easy to get a group photo.  
Clean up was easy, we visited for a while, and then went out to dinner with family who all traveled great distances to be there for Thomas.

• A friend of ours simply had their daughter who was baptized write a "thank you for coming" note which they copied and attached to Lindt truffles.  Two of their daughters handed these out to people as they left the chapel.  Simple and sweet!
  
• Another friend chose to serve rootbeer floats.  This was their son's choice as it was his favorite dessert.
  
• Another friend had a sundae buffet....ice cream and toppings galore!
  
• Christina's friend had a sit down Korean dinner that was amazing and true to their culture.  All of the dishes were disposable, so clean up was super fast.

3. Programs- The child being baptized and his/her parents should come up with the content and then get the nod from the bishop, but leaders can offer to take care of printing and bringing the programs to the church. 

4. Set up/Clean up- Leaders can make their service known ahead of time so the parents know that they've got help lined up to set up chairs & tables, and clean up if necessary.  In my experience, usually people just pitch in, but again, talking about this ahead of time lets the parents know they can count on YOUR helping hands.

5. Clothes- Offer to take the wet baptism clothes home to wash them and return them for the family.  One less thing for them to do!

6. Baptism Book of Remembrance- Many kids now have baptism books of remembrance.  We give them out at our Baptism Preview.  You can purchase them through Deseret Book, but they are also simple to make.  A while back Wayne home taught a family and I knew the daughter who was being baptized didn't have anything like a baptism journal, so I put one together for her.  Here's a basic baptism journal.

You can find a nice binder cover or do something very simple and then place the baptism journal pages within your child's scrapbook....or scan the pages after they are completed and put together a digital memory book through blurb, iphoto, etc.

7. Intermission- Families usually have something special planned for in between the baptism and confirmation.  If the family would like the primary's help, one thing that is helpful in maintaining reverence during intermission is to have the primary children sing several primary songs.  They can practice during primary the Sunday before the baptism- songs they already know, perhaps the baptized child's favorites.  This eliminates kids getting restless during intermission, and anyone who has heard a primary chorus knows what a joy it is to hear their sweet voices!  This also eliminates the tendency for chatter to get loud when simply the piano is played.  Mom or dad should be able to help their child change and look spiffy post-baptism and reflect for a moment on the Spirit, so offer to help with whatever intermission plans the family has in mind.  

8. Talents- Offer to play the piano or lead the music.  Offer to play a musical instrument during intermission, using the child's favorite primary songs or hymns.

9. Water- Offer to fill the font!  You'll need a building key or can plan on meeting someone at the building who has a key, but this saves the family a trip to the church while they are most likely hosting relatives and preparing family members for the baptism.

Baptisms can and should be a spiritual event for all attending, focusing on the actual ordinance and covenant rather than anything else!  The child and family should be able to walk away uplifted rather than exhausted.  This is a great opportunity for leaders, VTers, and HTers to offer valuable service to those they've been asked to serve.

Baptisms, I've found are a live and learn experience.  When I came home from a trip to UT when Christina was baptized, a family moved into our ward and their oldest was to be baptized within the month.  I was primary president at the time, but it took having my oldest child be baptized to really understand what the family goes through in planning and hosting a baptism.  I took my experience with Christina and worked with the family to identify where the primary leaders could best serve.  While the family is responsible for the baptism as a whole, they shouldn't be left alone to pull it off.  Baptism day was beautiful, the family was so thankful, and the mom and I have been friends ever since (that's you, Rolana:))!

Favorite Things

One of Wes' favorite things is the very beginning of Curious George when the Jack Johnson "Upside Down" song plays.  Wes has always been a blanket baby....LOVES his blankets- all of them.  So, this morning Wesley was set with three of his favorite things...."Upside Down," soft blanket (vintage 70's- was Wayne's) offered by Thomas, and big brother, Thomas.  Life is good.

The Choice Board

The choice board idea comes from Christina's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. McCoy. We loved her! The point of the choice board is for the kids to have a visual way to see what activities they can do after their chores are done. Some choices like COMPUTER- 1 hour, can only involve one child at a time, so if that activity is clear, a child can put their picture on that choice. No one else can choose that activity until that child's hour is up or until they move to another activity, whichever comes first. Some choices can involve all of the kids. For the choices, I included the name of the activity, the time limit (if applicable), and the child limit (if applicable).

Since our 5th child is 1 year old, he obviously is too young to participate. So, with the extra row at the bottom of our chart I posted reminders for behavior we expect at our home- "take turns, be safe, have fun, listen, be kind, share, be honest."

Some things I love about the choice board:

• It eliminates some squabbles as it gives each child a clear chance to play on the computer, game cube, and in the play tent.
• It motivates the kids to get their chores done quickly so they can get to the choice board as soon as possible.
  
• It's a boredom buster as it visually shows the kids that there are plenty of activities to choose from each day.
• The choice board give the kids independence in making choices of what appropriate activities they do throughout the day, but at the same time it allows me to know what each child is doing and where to find them at any given moment, & the kids know where to find each other.
• TV is not an option, so when I do pop in a movie, it's a real treat.

To make a choice board, map out your choices & kids on a graph on paper and then decide if you want to translate it onto a magnetic board or large poster board. I involved my kids in coming up with the choices and time limits. This way they feel invested in our summer choice board. It's not just MOM's idea.

If using a magnetic board (this is what I chose to do) you can either use colored tape to map out the graph on the board OR use a fill-in-the-blank calendar magnet board (this is what I used). Take pictures of the choices and your kids. Print the images and trim to a size that will work for your graph. Laminate the photos. Attach a magnet to the back of each photo. Arrange kids' photos and choice photos on your board & you're set!

If using poster board, laminate the poster board and follow instructions for magnet board choice board, only use strong Velcro instead of magnets to move the kids around the choices.

Dream dinner

"Life is all about change and adapting to change."

-Sis. Packer

Yesterday was the last day of school and this means adapting our chore schedule.  Our kids will be expected to do more and in an effort to avoid the onslaught of whining, I made a game of adding responsiblities.  To kick of our summer, I made a bunch of tickets with a chore scribbled on each one.  (1. make your bed, 2. put your dirty clothes in the hamper...)  I made 13 of these cards so some big chores like "clean your room" were broken down into smaller jobs.  Why?  Because each chore ticket represented one topping or ingredient in an ice cream sundae.  I threw in some nasties too like Frank's Red Hot and Spicy Brown mustard so the kids never knew what ingredient they were working for.  They could reject any of the toppings they earned, but they could only have the ingredients they earned.  Kapeesh?  Can I just say that I've never seen my kids run around doing their chores as fast as they worked yesterday?  They scrubbed toilets, they vacuumed (didn't know they knew how!), they wiped their furniture, they RAN around like busy bees so they could be done by the time daddy got home.

I really think Wayne thought I lost my mind as I brought out all of the ingredients for our ice cream sundae dinner, esp. with the nasties included among the yummies.  Maybe I have lost it.  Oh well.  All I know is that it was great fun!  As I read off each ingredient, if the kids did the chore they got to say "yeah" or "nay" to the ingredient.  We had neopolitan ice cream, mint chip ice cream, hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, choc. chip cookie chunks, M&M's, gummy bears, sugar cones, marshmallows, peppermint candy crumbs, cherries, strawberries, licorice, shredded coconut, slivered almonds, Reese's peanut butter cups,  bananas, Oreo's, whipped cream, cocktail sauce, Frank's Red Hot, green salsa, spicy brown mustard, and apple butter.

The kids loved their ice cream sundae dinner.  This also ended up being a lesson in nutrition because when it was time for bed we had hungry kiddos.  Apparently sugar dinner is a fleeting fancy.  We're going to do a twist on this dessert for FHE on Monday....check back.  It's going to be lots of fun.

FYI...this will NOT be our kids' motivation everyday.  I'm not THAT crazy.  We are fine-tuning our daily system for chores and activities.  We're all excited about it...details to come.

THANK YOU!

For the teacher appreciation luncheon, I made 300+ magnets.  The bulk of the magnets show Christina's school initials, and other magnets read, "teach," "joy," "inspire," "ABC," "xyz," and "A+."

Our kids made cards for their teachers and TA's and put them inside tins and added magnets for their teacher thank you gift...today is the last day of school!  The tins are from Micheal's and directions for making the magnets are in this previous post.

If you can guess how many magnets I made without going over, I'll give you/send you a  tin with five magnets:)  Just include your guess in your comment by midnight tonight.  HINT: I made more than are on the large magnet board, but count if you want.
We are so thankful for the great teachers our kids had this year. We moved here the first week of school and could have dealt with all kinds of difficulties adjusting to new schools and making new friends, but the teachers and schools really were great in taking special care to see that our children made a smooth transition. The other morning Grace woke me up in tears. She said, "Mommy, there are only 9 more days of school! I don't want school to be over!"
Christina was blessed with a team of teachers who at parent teacher conference said, "If your child has a hard time organizing their backpack, we'll work with them for a full week helping them go through their homework assignments to figure out they need to include in their backpacks. Usually after a week they are self sufficient and sick of our help:)" One of Christina's teachers has been battling cancer since spring break and has continued to teach through her chemo treatments.
Thomas' teacher has been so patient and effective in helping him focus, build on his strengths, and establish good peers.

We are so thankful for our teachers this year!

Teacher luncheon notes- We spent most of our budget obviously on the food.  We decided to have it catered since there would be over 100 staff members in attendance.  We found a local catering deli that brought in 5 varieties of boxed sandwich lunches- roast beef, turkey, tuna, ham, and vegan.  We could have done away with the ham and had more vegan sandwiches.  We did have plenty though, but not too much.  6 PTO members brought cut up fruit and we tossed 3 large fruit salads to compliment the lunch.  There was hardly any salad left, so the quantity was near perfect.  In the box lunch (I just saw the ham box, & I'm assuming they were identical sides) there was a small pasta salad, a pickle, and a cookie.  The catering company came, set up the lunch tables, and brought water bottles.  We had tubs of ice ready to keep the cold water bottles chilled.  We had door prizes: all 14 potted petunia centerpieces, a Trader Joe's gift bag filled with their "bestsellers," as well as gift cards for the catering company, a local florist, Au bon Pain, Lala Java, Black Diamond Cafe, and Stop & Shop.  We used the RSVP slip as the ticket for the "raffle" for the door prizes, so we ended up with 99.5% of the staff rsvp'ing right away.  There was a RSVP box right by their mailboxes, so it was easy for them to RSVP.

The teachers loved the magnets-the most popular magnets were JOY, INSPIRE, TEACH, and SMS.  There were extras, so we left all of the SMS magnets with the principal to use on the office message board...or however she wanted to use them.  Another PTO member made nice bookmarks with a nice poem about the difference teachers make which was also well received, so even if they didn't win a door prize, the staff walked away with a nice token of appreciation.

The teachers LOVED having the boxed lunches because many of them needed to grab lunch and go.  They were very appreciative that we made it easy for them to do so.

This staff appreciation luncheon is an annual thing put on by our PTO.  It's casual and just a quick, nice way to say thank you to the staff at our kids' school.  Having it catered made it such a quick and easy set up.  The teachers came, ate, heard from the principal and superintendent, did the door prizes, visited, left and we (PTO) cleaned up all within about an hour's time.  This all went so well, I just might offer to help with the staff luncheon next year too:)

For Dad & for Wayne

Hero...Teacher...Friend...

When I was about 10 years old, our family had a basset hound named Reginald.  We called him "Reggy."  We loved Reggy until he, like all of our dogs, ran away.  I have a feeling our family was a bit too much excitement for some of our pets.  I remember taking Reggy to our cabin in Mt. Baldy.  We had been taught to steer clear of the steep drop off behind our cabin.  From my memory it was a good 24' drop to boulders below.  We scared ourselves with horror stories of people dying from loosing their footing and falling to the rocks below.  On this trip with our dog Reggie, I was sitting on a huge fallen tree trunk with at least one of my siblings.  To my horror I saw Reggie sliding down the drop off, unable to gain footing due to the accumulation of leaves on the ground.  We screamed for my dad to come save Reggie.  Sure enough, my dad carefully slid down the drop, swept a frightened Reggie in his arms and made his way up to where we were.  We squealed with joy that our dad saved Reggie.  I felt right then and there that my dad was a hero, much like Superman.

My dad has been one of the great teachers in my life.  I don't know where to begin.  I will just say that the greatest lesson he has taught me is to seek to know how each trial, each experience, each challenge in life teaches me about Christ and his atonement.  I am who I am today because of that advice.  When I miscarried back in 2001, at first I thought this advice wouldn't, couldn't apply to this experience.  I was too sad to see any "good" to come from this trial.  I prayed to know how I could learn about the atonement through this trial.  Almost immediately I thought of how because of Jesus' suffering in Gethsemane, he knows how to succor us through our trials.  I knew that from the heartache of my miscarriage I could know how to succor other women in my life who would go through the same trial.

I live MILES and MILES from my dad, and with a ginormous family, I don't get to see him nearly as much as I'd like to, but not a day goes by that I don't fully know that my dad is rooting for me, praying for me, and loving me in all of the things I choose to do with my life.  My dad is someone I can talk to about my hopes and fears.  I am thankful to know that I can talk with him about my weaknesses and he still loves me.  He is a true confidant.  I know my name and my family is safe with him.  He is kind where others are critical, and I love that he is this way with every one of my siblings.  He sees me as a child of God and respects me and my ability to make choices.  Even when I fail, he loves me and believes in me.  He is a true friend.

Finally, I want to say thank you to my dad for loving my mom, unconditionally and faithfully.  The way you loved her and cared for her has given me an example of companionship that is hard to find these days.  You were perfect in caring for mom through her battle with cancer.  I love you for that.  Now with your current love, I am thankful for the respect and love you have for her.  I love that you have taught me the wisdom in priorities...God, spouse, children...  

I am sure that because of you and mom, I have been able to raise my family clear across the nation, with more confidence and faith than I knew I had.  Thank you for your support...it has been a constant.  Thank you for being there for Wayne in a healthy, supportive, loving way.

I can't help but think of grandpa as I write these things, but that will have to come another day.  Thank you for honoring your heritage and for making that legacy a rich part of my life.

Happy father's day!  See you in a few weeks!!!

Lots of love,

Becky

For the love of my life....

I have never loved Wayne more than I do today.  I'm sure this comes from experience; through trials, choices, and working through changes together.  I am thankful that in my weaknesses and struggles, Wayne has been patient and loving.   I recently saw a sign in a little local shop that read, "Love is a friendship set on fire."  Wayne is my love, and after all this time together, he still can make me weak in the knees.

I am thankful for the faithful, capable, and wise father Wayne is to our 5 children.  They adore him and I understand why.

For Father's Day today the kids made darling cards.  Grace gave him a paper weight rock painted to look like a lady bug.   We ate too much, but it was all so yummy...peppered tri tip, potato salad, french bread, and lemonade.

We celebrate you, Waynerd and are so very, very thankful for you!

Isn't Kindergarten the BEST?!

Last night was Grace's kindergarten class party.  She has had such a great year, and it's all because of her over the top, amazing teacher, Mrs. B. and her TA, Miss Like.  Throughout the year we saw curriculum supporting projects come home one after another, consisting of a wide variety of different mediums. The parents at the party were gushing and teary-eyed with gratitude for these 2 wonderful teachers for all they gave our children this year.   Mrs. B. showed us a 20 minute DVD of the kids in action throughout the school year.  She gave each child their own copy of the DVD as a keepsake.  As soon as we got home, we put ours in our DVD player and watched it 3 times, pausing to see Grace and all of her projects...what a treasure!

Grace showed us around her classroom and pointed out her different projects on display.  The highlight was a book she wrote and published called, "I Went to my Ama's House."  The cover is textured paint on poster board, glitter included, of coarse.  As Grace read her book to Wayne and I, I was shocked at one of the pages.  She wrote, "My mom took pictures with me and my little sister.  It was fun."  Her illustration was a replica of a candid photo I took of Grace and Caroline 2 years ago!  It's amazing what kids retain!

Once again, it seems that a remarkable teacher has helped our child develop a love for reading.  Grace was interested in reading before kindergarten, but she's really excelled this year.  She is the first to volunteer when we read the Book of Mormon at night, and has to read a book with mommy or daddy before bedtime.

At the open house, I met the mom of one of Grace's friends.  She said that Grace was recently trying to set up a play date and she told Grace that she would need to give me their address.  Grace said, "It's o.k., my mom has GPS, so she can find your house."  We had a good laugh at that.  We're grateful that Grace has made some really sweet friends in kindergarten.

I think I have become the biggest kindergarten fan in the family.

I'm so glad that so far we're 3 for 3 with our kids having a really positive experience in kindergarten...we can't thank our kids' remarkable teachers enough!

In the garden

My little gardening buddy, Caroline was up bright and early with me this morning puttering around outside.  I love working with her in the garden.  We have a few bald spots on our lawn, and Caroline carefully spread grass seeds and watered them.  We did a little weeding, planted another hydrangea, and cleaned up the herb garden.  The nasturtium is brilliant!  I love how it spills over. In the center container, there is arugula surrounded by purple pansies. The arugula is one of my favorite new garden attempts this year. I'm excited to throw it in chicken Caesar salad.

 

TIthing-Temple Sharing time/FHE

We had such a wonderful sharing time on Sunday, and what we did for junior primary would make a great FHE, and the stories are near and dear to me and my family, so I thought I'd share.  The lesson is based on sharing time idea #2 in June's issue of The Friend.

Junior Primary

We read Malachi 3:10 and learned about the word "tithes" and what that verse is teaches us.  We talked about what tithing is, and where it goes (not the bishop's bank account, but to the church for building temples, chapels, and maintaining these buildings, etc.).  We focused on temples since this month's theme is about temples, and this is what I taught:

I held up a picture of the Boston temple and asked if the kids could tell me where this temple is located.  Several pointed out, "It's the Boston temple!"  I asked, "Is this your temple?"  Many were excited at that thought, and I agreed, "It's MY temple too!"  I love the Boston temple.

I shared this story: I attended the Open House of the Boston temple.  The temple is  extraordinarily beautiful with the outside made from granite shipped from Italy, gold leaf decoratively painted near the ceilings to draw our eyes to heaven, stain glass windows designed to symbolize the tree of life and remind us of God's love. I don't know the exact cost of building the Boston temple, but no corner was cut; it is a beautiful.  Our tour guide for the Boston temple told our group that when this temple is dedicated that it will be 100% paid for from tithing paid by the members of the church.  There was an audible gasp in our tour group.  People who were in our group who didn't know much about our faith, were amazed that this beautiful structure would be all paid for from tithing.

We talked about the blessings of the temple and related that to Malachi 3:10.  Perhaps some of the blessings we will see from paying an honest tithe will be material, but the blessings that will make us feel overwhelmed with gratitude will be blessings that draw us to our Heavenly Father.  We'll feel his love.  We'll feel his peace.  I asked the kids to draw a picture of write the name of a blessing they feel they receive because of tithing...temple, church, flowers found on church property, hymn books, etc.  After they finished coloring they were to crumple up their pictures and bring them to me.  The kids looked at me like, "What?!  Crumple up my picture?!"  It was hilarious, but those were the directions.  I thought Caroline was going to cry.  Her friend flat out refused and took her picture to her mom instead; proud of her hard work:)  The kids brought their crumpled pictures up to me and I put them all on a pulpit in front of the group.  I invited a young boy named Josh to come up in front of the pulpit and asked him hold his arms out toward the pulpit.  I read Malachi 3:10, and when I read the part about blessings pouring out, I poured the blessings toward Josh and told him to try to catch all of them- an impossible task.  The blessings fell everywhere because he "did not have room enough to receive them."  The spirit was there and I was able to share my testimony....really a special sharing time.

Senior primary:

I omitted the coloring portion of the lesson and talked more in depth about the Boston temple with the senior primary. 

When the Boston temple was dedicated it did not have a steeple.  However, President Hinckley prayed in the dedicatory prayer that we would have a steeple on our temple.  After the dedication we were encouraged to pray at church and in our homes for our temple to have a steeple.  We did.  A year later, I was driving by the temple and was amazed to see a crane on the property.  I drove into the parking lot and there was the steeple being hoisted up by the crane.  Prayers answered.  I had to run to Christina's school to pick her up and I brought her back to show her the steeple, which by this time was on the temple, and they were now raising the angel Moroni onto our temple.  Prayers answered.  I encouraged the children to remember this story every time they saw our temple.  Our steeple is a reminder that God lives and hears and answers our prayers.

The kids started raising their hands with good questions and comments.  Emily said she enjoyed simply walking on temple grounds with their grandma who lives across the street from a temple in UT.  David remembered helping work with his dad on the landscape of the Boston temple before the grounds were completed.  Cameron said his mom took him to see the temple and she used to go to church right by the temple and loved being that close.  I was impressed that for these children, even the simplest connection to the temple meant so much to them.  I felt impressed to point out the Spirit in our little primary room, and thanked the kids for their reverence so we could learn from each other and feel our testimonies grow.

The kids were interested to hear this Boston temple story as well:

The church was planning on building a temple in Hartford, CT, but again ran into issues with neighbors and it was becoming difficult to progress with building plans.  President Hinckley were here in New England in part because of the Hartford temple.  He met with priesthood leaders from the Boston stake and when the issues of the Hartford temple came up, our stake president, Pres. Hutchins, who is now the temple president, said that he thought that the church might already own the land up on the hill by the Belmont chapel, but wasn't sure.  No one was certain.  Pres. Hinckley's interest peaked and he asked to go up to the hill.  As he stood there on the hill, he was able to look out and see Boston, and the coast where some of his ancestors arrived.  He said that this was the place we would build a temple.  Sure enough the church did own the land, and the rest is history.

We had to close because we were running into closing exercises time, but we could have talked for another 30 minutes.  To have this discussion with the kids ages 8-11 w/ minimal visual aids and no "attention getter" was wonderful.  Even with a linger longer/buffet after church, what a special experience to want to stay and continue our lesson because the spirit was so edifying.  

To adapt the lesson for FHE, the art project/object lesson we used in Jr. sharing time would be great.  Definitely have your kids draw more than one picture because you want a visual image of lots of blessings.  If time is short you may want to write the name of a blessing on each piece of paper, crumple them up, etc.

Take the time to share your testimony and perhaps a special experience or two you've had because of tithing or related to a temple (built with tithing funds).  I find that my children love to hear these experiences because even though they are mine, they are also part of our family history, therefore a part of them.

Eclipse

The Twilight Series was a delight to read.  I have issues that I'm hoping Stephenie Meyer resolves with Vol. 4, but I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing if/how things work out for Bella and Edward.  The rosy part of me wishes they didn't have the issues they have, but this IS fiction, and sci-fi at that, so I just can't dwell on things like the age gap, and what she's choosing to give up if she becomes a vampire.  I'm going to have faith in Stephenie Meyer that she'll pull through with more blushing good romance, resolutions, clarifications, and ultimately satisfaction for Bella by the end of Vol. 4.

I've talked with Christina about this series and said I'll give her my copies when she's older and can understand more objectively the romance woven throughout the series, and see the characters- their values and development objectively as well.  It was a bit too much for a pre-pre-teen, IMO.

Now for catch up with housework!!!

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not only do I not have a lot of time to read, but I'm not a sci-fi fan, so I've got my whole family amazed as I'm whipping through the Twilight series. It's simply addictive!

Meyer does an excellent job of character development and that keeps me reading. While the main characters wrestle with their identity as human, vampire, or werewolf, the reader is caught up in their struggles and of coarse pulling for good to prevail.

While New Moon contains much more heartache than Twilight, the reader will not be disappointed when the romance that reeled you into Twilight comes through in New Moon. What I love about this series in general is the wholesome yet intense interaction between Edward and Bella. Although by the end of New Moon they've kissed only a handful of times, Meyer has a way of being so descriptive, esp. of the senses, and this may send the reader to jump in a cold shower more than once. Meyer has a beautiful, refreshing style of writing... a kind of eye candy of literature.


View all my reviews.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Well I finally picked up Twilight and purposefully didn't keep track of time while I tore through it the past couple nights. It's an easy, addictive read. The romance was thick, but squeaky clean...my kind of novel. There was plenty of intense action and a few questions raised to keep you thinking. I'll be heading over the the library to pick up the sequel today. I'm hooked.

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Baking buddies

 Christina had such a great time at Activity Days last week. She and her friends brought a favorite recipe w/ copies for everyone. They compiled the recipes in their own little cookbooks and decorated them with fun stamps.  There are lots of pages for them to collect recipes in the future.  The girls were encouraged to bake one of the recipes this week, and Christina has been asking to bake since the night she came home from AD. Yesterday she sold me. She said, "Mom, can I make mint brownies? We already have all of the ingredients!" She was so excited and so sure of herself, and frankly mint brownies sounded really good to me.  So, I gave the green light and left Christina and Caroline to do their thing.  This brownie baking bash was significant because it was the first time mommy didn't help AT ALL.  Grace was napping and when she woke she pitched in licking the bowl.

This morning the kids put a brownie in their school lunches. When I saw the middle of the brownies I laughed out loud. The green mint filling was certainly green....Celtic Green; Wally the Green Monster Green!   The brownies were yummy. It was a boxed brownie mix with filling and frosting from scratch.

Our dream pet followed by a Caroline moment

Talk about a perfect pet situation.... the animal makes it's own home, finds it's own food, comes and goes as it pleases without disturbing the neighbors, leaves the yard in tact, makes beautiful music, teaches life lessons, AND goes off to make it on its own without animal control bringing it back to our doorstep. This is the kind of "pet" we got this spring.

A little over a month ago we noticed the beginnings of a nest under our backyard deck. Thomas got mischievous and knocked it over. That led to a lesson from Wayne on the fragility and importance of the nest that the mother robin was creating, as well as the importance of respecting the mother robin and the work she was putting forth to bring life into the world.  Sweet lesson learned.

We observed in awe as the mommy robin brought twig after twig, dried grass blades, pieces of this and that, and created nothing short of a miraculous sturdy nest.  Soon she laid 3 beautiful blue eggs.

  She sat on her nest, every now and then running off for food. A few weeks ago the eggs hatched and 3 baby robins emerged. The mommy would bring the babies food and watch over them.

 

Last week the first baby robin flew from the nest.  Now the nest is empty.  The other night I fell asleep at 8pm....a rarity, and woke at 3:30am.  I thought, "That's what I get for going to bed at a decent hour!  I tried to go back to sleep, but oh my, the chirping that was going on in our backyard "forest!"  We have quite a crowd of robins and they make themselves known in the wee hours of the morning.

I love their chatter.  I thought of our 3 baby robins, now quite possibly part of the choir of chatter in our backyard, and how their little family made our spring all the more special.  I hope our baby robins are safe out there in the big world!

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Noticing Caroline walk out the front door, I said, "Caroline, come inside!"  Caroline hollered back, "Just a minute, Mommy, I'm looking at the world.  Hello green grass!  Hello, petunias!  Hello, flowers that I don't know what your name is!  See you later!"  And she scurried inside.  Sweet Caroline makes me smile.

And the winner is....

...the Balmforth Family!  Didn't you just win Ellen's last blog contest?!  You guys are good!!!  We hope you enjoy your $100 cheesecake.  Wanna eat it at our house?  :):)