Disney Family Movie Night: The Little Mermaid

Abi was happy to have a Little Mermaid night. She loves Ariel. This one was a very late night and there are no pictures of the family here as we were all looking... interesting.

This was the night our air conditioner was out. We had our movie and dinner late because Doug was out fixing it but during the movie it still wasn't cool in the house yet.. it was just in the process of starting to cool down. It was a good ninety degrees or so in there.

For dinner we had Les poisson (little fishes) with three kinds of dipping sauce, crab cakes (not real ones- that's just what I called the cupcakes), Ursula octopus', and seaweed. We also had some lemonade. Abi's Ariel doll joined us.

Because we had so much fun coloring on Sleeping Beauty night Abi wanted to do that again. I went online and printed off a bunch of Little Mermaid coloring pages and she and I colored the whole movie.

Maddy

Sorry the one video is sideways- I always forget to turn the camera around when doing video. I like these videos because they are just so Maddy. She loves music, she loves to laugh, and she is so happy!

That huge sigh of relief you heard was from me

Today was a long day but a great day! I wish I had pictures to share... but I don't. I will be catching up later with some of my picture posts that have happened over the past week or so but for now I have to post about what happened this morning.

After all the turmoil and indecision the past few months over Abi's eyesight we have finally found the right thing!

I have been really feeling that I wanted to go the vision therapy route. I had heard about it but didn't know much about it at first. Then I posted about her getting glasses and my friend Julie mentioned a woman in our ward that had a son that just started it. I was able to talk to her and get a recommendation. We still put it off though. It was a lot of money and wasn't going to be paid for by our insurance so I just thought we'd wait it out awhile. Well, then I got a call about a babysitting job this summer that paid for it. I began to research it more, read a book that Amy told me about and all of a sudden I started feeling peaceful. I knew this was what we were supposed to try.

But, let's go back for a minute to where all the turmoil began. I have mentioned that I was concerned about the bi-focals. What I haven't mentioned is how when she first got them I was sure it was the wrong prescription. It was +400. For someone that the dr said didn't have very bad vision that seemed like a lot. Well, I kept asking. I called and asked about it. I asked on a follow up appt. I was always told it was the right prescription. Just as she had to Abi, she always talked down to us and made me feel like she was offended that we were questioning her. I have felt so much guilt over the past few months not having Abi wear her glasses very much.

So, back to today. One of the first things the new doctor told us was that Abi should not have had +400 nor bi-focals. So, what was the difference? She only needs +75. That's right. That big of a difference. Not only that- she doesn't want Abi to wear the glasses unless it is a day when she is really tired or not feeling well and having a harder time concentrating on keeping her eyes working together.
The appointment was amazing. She was so nice and personable and Abi loved her. She had so much fun. She gave us some tools to use at home with Abi to help her to get her eyes to work together and told us with her mild case that she really believes we will see a difference within the month and she could possibly not have a problem anymore at all in 6 months!

She also tested her developmentally on puzzles, handwriting, and a few other things and told us she is at the level of a six year old right now. That was fun to hear. She said that is not always the case when children have this problem so it surprised her.

She also told me of a few tools that I could get to help her as I do my preschool year with her and where to get them. So, we made a trip to IKEA and got a slanted desktop thing for only a couple of dollars and got a viewfinder at Target for $5.
She also recommended a handwriting book that I just happened to win in giveaway over the weekend. If that isn't providential I don't know what is!

I am so happy. It just felt right. Doug felt it too. She explained everything to us.. had us try everything Abi was trying and watching Abi do things to show us what she meant by certain things. It was such a good experience. For now, she will begin to do the exercises with me every day- one is a card game, one is a coloring/workbook, and one is watching whatever tv show she wants to watch for 20 minutes or so... all using these special glasses and cellophane to make her eyes work together. And that's it.
It was a huge weight and guilt trip lifted off of our shoulders today!

Guilty Pleasures Swap

Like blog swaps?
Mamarrazi has some really great ones over at Our Dandelion Wishes. The current one is guilty pleasures!

Check it out here.

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I'll be updating again soon. Time is getting away with me with planning the years school curriculum and the personal progress and sewing and doing fall cleaning (am I the only one that does spring and fall cleaning or does everyone do this?) early so that it's nice before I start our school year.
My babysitting job is almost done so that opens up a lot of time and opportunities so I will be uploading pictures and videos soon!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

A cool giveaway

I mentioned during last years school year that I was using the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler along with my preschool curriculum for Abi. It is so great. She has really done an amazing job creating something really cute and fun. You can check out her blog here.
Mama Jenn is giving away one of Confessions of a Homeschoolers Expedition Earth packets. The Expedition Earth curriculum covers 31 countries and is designed for grades K-3. It is over 160 pages and each country comes with a week long lesson plan.
It is amazing! Check out the giveaway at Mama Jen's blog here.
You can purchase the entire Expedition Earth curriculum for $15.00 or download a sample of Brazil here.

Ask Me Anything: Lora part 2

Lora asked, "What are your favorite things about Wisconsin? What about Chicago? If you could live anywhere, where would that be?"

This made me laugh when she asked me this because I feel like lately I've been complaining a little too much about Wisconsin! It's no secret that I am not a summer person. I like it to an extent but I just love fall and early winter the most.
I know it probably makes me seem crazy to a lot of people but I love a cool feeling in the air. I like it when there is a cool breeze and that crisp feeling you get in the fall. I LOVE the first snowfall. It's just after a couple of months of it that I start to get sick of it :)
So, as this summer has been very hot but most of all extremely humid and I have hardly spent anytime outside because I cannot stand it or the mosquitoes that do not give you a break even if you are lathered in spray... I have just not been enjoying myself as much.
BUT- I actually do like it out here so this is a good way to remind myself of the things I do like.

My favorite things about Wisconsin-
1) The Lake. It is absolutely beautiful. I love going down by it and playing on the beach, just watching the boats, feeling like I am near an ocean.
2)The green. I love being surrounded by green. It is so pretty.
3) The corn fields. When fall finally arrives I love driving around and seeing all the great fall colors mingling with full grown corn fields. It is breathtaking.
4) Our ward. We have a really diverse and fun ward. There are so many great people and I have made a few friendships out here that I am so thankful for and learned a lot from so many people that have come and gone.
5)I have a lot of memories here now that will stay with me forever because Abi was only 8 months old when we moved here.
6)We are close to Chicago.
7) Family visits- although I hate being away from family it is always fun to have family come visit because then we get them exclusively! When my mom comes to visit I get to have her 24 hours a day for a couple weeks. That's so great!!!

My favorite things about Chicago:
1) The city itself- I just love it. I love walking around, driving around, looking at the city. It is a beautiful city and the energy is just amazing.
2) Shedd Aquarium- for someone like me that loves marine life it is a sweet haven. I love dolphins and so it is so fun to be able to go see a dolphin show in the Midwest of all places! It is a great aquarium and a fun way to spend a day.
3) American Girl- it is definitely one of my favorite activities we do with my mom almost every time she comes out here. We just love the cafe and the colors and the excitement it causes in Abi. We love the brand.
4)Lincoln park zoo- such a fun zoo and it's free!
5) There is so much to do! I haven't even come close to doing everything I want to do yet and that is awesome. I am still even finding out things like the other day when I found out there is a Lego discovery center to add to the list.. I'd had no idea.
6)The museums are all so great
7)I love driving the long way from here to the city down Sheridan road and seeing all the amazing mansions.
8) It is pretty obvious that I love Chicago. When we eventually move (if) I think I will miss being near Chicago the very most.

If I could live anywhere, where would that be:

Well, Utah. It even surprises me to write that because that would never have been my answer 4 years ago. I have realized since moving out here that I just miss family so much. I really need to someday be around my family again. Beyond that, every time we visit I just feel so good there. I love the memories, the feeling, the stores, the environment, the opportunities for children, everything. I have come to really love Utah in a way I never did before. So, I would pick Utah over anywhere else- preferably in the Sandy/Draper area or Alpine/Pleasant Grove or Midway.
If I had to live anywhere besides Utah it would have to be either New England (Connecticut or Mass), Pennsylvania, Prince Edward Island in Canada, or Victoria, British Columbia.

One of this weekends projects (updated)

This idea has been brewing in my head for months now and this past week I finally started working on it. I was getting my ideas together into a notebook to figure out exactly what I wanted to do.

Basically, when I re-start school with Abi in September I wanted to start doing some 'devotional' time as well. We did this to an extent last spring but I wanted to make it a little more interactive.. something to teach the character qualities that I most want Abi to understand and learn.

I took inspiration from the Young Women's program in our church. I have felt like I don't want to wait until she's a teenager in today's world to start having her actively setting goals and working on these type of values. So, I decided to implement a sort of personal progress program for her... but at her level.

I picked the 'values' I wanted. I assigned them a color- if they were close to or the same as YW values I kept the colors similar or the same. Now I am putting together the activities and projects for each value.

Each time she completes an activity with me she will pick a prize out of the bag or basket for that value and then there will be a bigger prize after projects and after completion of all. I will let her decide when she wants to do projects/activities and how many she wants to do per month, etc.

I decided on a name for it and created a binder this weekend. Here is a picture of it.

Little Women:

Personal Progress for Preschoolers

The values I'm going to use are:

Virtue

Obedience

Gratitude

Faith (& Reverence)

Joy

Honesty

Wisdom (Knowledge)

Service

and

Confidence

I have also decided to add on 'Home and Family' to the list. It isn't necessarily a 'value' but it includes some things that I feel it is important for her to learn as well as have fun with.

I will post about the program more as I get it completely put together and we begin it. Then I can post about what each value encompasses.

I am really excited about this. I have some really fun ideas for the projects and activities and I know Abi is going to really enjoy it.

Lego Drive In

I thought this was cute. Abi was playing with the Lego castle and the blocks and when I went over she showed me this ... and said these Lego guys were at the drive in.

Disney Family Movie Night: Sleeping Beauty

 I made pizza rolls.  I used the pepperoni for a body and head and then used a slice of cheese over the body for a blanket, shredded cheese for the hair, and some little pieces for eyes and a mouth so they looked like Sleeping beauty sleeping. We also had Briar salad (Briar Rose) and for the pink and blue- pink lemonade and Abi had a blue airhead.

She wanted to pick an activity so she acted out the movie. She was Sleeping Beauty and Doug had to give her a kiss to wake her up.

For the rest of the movie, Abi and I colored pictures. Mine is on the left. Abi's is on the right. She said she colored her face green because she had just pricked the spindle and was falling asleep. In the movie the color looked different when they were asleep.

This is one of my favorite movies so I really enjoyed watching it again. Abi hadn't watched it in a while because the end scared her.. but this time she just closed her eyes and enjoyed the rest of the movie! Another lesson learned: I really had fun coloring with markers with Abi. We need to do that together more often.

Nine months old!

We can't believe Maddy is nine months old already.

She is always sticking her tongue out lately..

She is still such a happy baby although she has had a few mood altering moments because of her incoming teeth. She finally has the first two. One keeps kind of going in and out but the other one is out for good.

She is still sleeping through the night.. usually from around 6/6:30 to 5:30/6. Although Sunday morning she slept from 5:30 Saturday night (she was falling asleep eating in her high chair so I stuck her in her crib early) until around 7:30 Sunday morning. It was amazing and much needed because I came down with a big cold that night and needed a little more sleep.

We had to move her mattress down in her crib this weekend because she was getting tall enough that she was looking over the top of the crib and grabbing the things off her mobile.

You can kind of see one of her teeth in this picture...

She seems to have aged a year in the past couple of weeks. She just wants to do, see, and get into everything! This was the hardest photo shoot yet. She wouldn't sit still. Now that she can crawl, she always wants to be on the go, so I would sit her down and then lean back to take the pictures and she would already be trying to get away. She thought it was so funny!

Like her big sister..

Ask me anything: Julie part two

Julie asked: " Can you post your Cafe Rio recipe before I start licking the computer screen?"

Of course! I got this recipe a few years ago off our friends blog. Here it is:

You will need-
A pork loin (I have also used just a roast and they taste very similar) any size really. We always have a ton of leftover meat that we use to make pulled pork sandwiches or eat over rice, etc.
1 cup brown sugar
1 bottle red Taco Sauce (we use La Victoria)
1 TB cumin
1 can Coke
burrito sized tortillas
black beans
rice
1 bottle of green taco sauce (again, La Victoria)
Mont. Jack cheese (1 block or bag)
1 lime
2 tomatillos
1/2 garlic
1/2 jalapeno
1/2 bunch of cilantro
buttermilk ranch packet (as well as the things you need to make the buttermilk ranch dressing with the packet)

First, put the pork loin (or roast) into a crock pot and cover 1/2 with water. Cook 6 hours on low. Drain. Shred. Cook 3 more hours with seasong.
Seasoning: the brown sugar, the red taco sauce, the cumin, and the coke (I usually just buy a 2 liter of coke because we don't normally drink regular coke and I don't need a bunch of cans but buying a 2 liter is pretty cheap. Then I measure out 10 oz for the seasoning.)
To make burrito: Cook brown beans and rice. Put the meat in the tortilla with the black beans and rice. Wrap up and put each burrito next to each other in a casserole dish. Smother burritos with green taco sauce and the cheese. Heat in oven (350 degrees) for 5-10 minutes. Top with creamy dressing.
To make creamy dressing: Mix together lime, juiced (I usually just use the lime juice from the little green thingy you can buy rather than juicing a lime myself), the 2 tomatillos ( I cut them up into small pieces), 1/2 bunch of cilantro, 1/2 garlic ( The first time I made this is was really garlicy so I tend to only use a few cloves rather than half.. so vary your amount of garlic based on your taste), 1/2 jalapeno (sometimes I omit this as I can't always find good jalapeno's around here.) and the buttermilk ranch packet made as directed ( I usually use the sour cream recipe on the back rather than the buttermilk one.. but you can look at back of packet and decide which you want to use.) Mix all together in a blender and pour over ready to eat burritos.
We always have extra dressing as well and Doug loves to pour it over meat and rice as well as dip chips in it like salsa.

There you go. It is pretty easy to make but it is time consuming. We find it very worth it though. Like I said, it yields lots of leftovers and is so good.

Disney Family Movie Night: The Incredibles

This past movie night we watched The Incredibles. Abi hadn't seen this yet and Doug and I hadn't watched it in a long time so it was really fun.

We had Hero sandwiches, incredichips, and Frozone's sundaes.

I threw together a superhero cape for Abi out of felt so that she could wear it and then have it in her dress ups. She also wore her supergirl jammies.

I printed out some body templates and we all designed our own superheroes.

From the left are: Mine- SuperMommy- she has the power to glow in the dark

Doug's- SuperDaddy- he has the power to fly

and Abi's- SuperAbi- she has the power to help people that are lost or stuck somewhere

Abi liked this activity so much she asked me to print out some more so she could make more superheroes. Here are the rest of hers..

from left: that one can turn people into superheroes into bad people, the middle one has the power to read, the last one has the power to make her head disappear.

Just for fun

I just realized that it is actually hard to tell in this picture but Maddy has a little pigtail on top of her head.

This was on a Sunday morning. We were just hanging out and playing with toys and Abi brought me an elastic to keep her hair out of her eyes. She accidentally brought 3 so I used one on my hair and then thought, I wonder if Maddy has enough hair yet?

So, I pulled it up and voila! It was so darn cute.

Disney Family Movie Night: The Jungle Book

I wasn't extremely creative with the food on this one. Doug made he and I some steaks because I decided that's the kind of food that the wolf family, Bagheera, and Sher Kahn would eat. I know, even Doug said I was stretching it. Abi had some animal shaped chicken nuggets that were actually dinosaurs but we pretended they were jungle animals. We did also have some Bagheera Brown rice and the hit of the evening .. a huge banana split!

We called it King Louie's banana split so that felt appropriate.

Abi asked if she could decide the craft. She worked hard on it during the movie, not telling me what it was until she was done. She drew it, colored it in, cut it out, and taped it to the wall and then told me it was a lantern to find your way out of the jungle.

After the movie we all took turns walking around the room with a pillow on our head trying to balance it the way that the girl and Mowgli do with the jug at the end. It was pretty funny but.. sorry no pictures.

Most importantly

I had just tucked Abi into bed when she came back downstairs and began to cuddle with me.
She says, "Mom, I love to snuggle with you."
"Mom, I love to kiss and hug you."
"Mom, I love to be with you."
"I love that we have a house."
"I love my toys."
"I love you."
"I love Maddy."
"I love Daddy."
"I love Daddy's lego's."
"And most importantly, I love fruit snacks."

Our week in photos

The other day I went in to check on Abi during rest/nap time to find this horrible mess....

but no Abi... I was looking in her closet, wondering where she went when I noticed her toy box lid was a little open. I went to investigate and this is what I found...

She has been in there many times since. Apparently it is very cozy.

Maddy likes to hold her own bottle. She doesn't like it when I try to do it anymore. I think it's so cute to watch her because she always plays with her hair.

Here's the new crawler... so happy and proud of herself!

Now that she is on the move, we broke out the play crib to stick her in with toys when I'm trying to get stuff done. Abi never minded being stuck in this as long as she had plenty to do in there. Not Maddy. So far, she hates the thing and has yet to be in it for longer than a couple minutes. Usually you take her out and stick her on the floor and she is off like a little race car.

Yesterday she actually pulled herself up so she could look over the edge at me.

I finally got a good picture of her 'mad' face. When she is frustrated or mad at me she always squints or closes her eyes. I think it is hilarious.

Toothless no more!

Maddy finally got her first tooth! We've been expecting it for months now- seriously months. She is always drooling and chewing on everything. Then both Monday and Tuesday nights she woke up in the middle of the night crying. I would go in and just rock her for a minute and then she would go back to sleep but that made me think each morning I was going to find one.

Wednesday night she slept fine. No wake ups. No crying. Totally normal.

Then yesterday morning when I'm least expecting it, she laughs and I see a little white line. I finally get her to let me see and sure enough.. one little tooth is poking through!

I would have put a picture of it on here but it is practically impossible to see it- she likes to stick her tongue out when you try to look!

Ask Me Anything: Julie part 1

The first question Julie asked was, "Do you have a most embarassing moment? Proudest moment? Funniest moment?"

Okay. My most embarassing moment.... I don't usually get embarassed too easy but I do have some moments that still make me cringe when I think of them.
The first one that I thought of used to be my most embarassing moment but now I think it's just funny. When I was 17 I went with a bunch of friends to Taco Bell for lunch during school. There was one guy there that I didn't know very well. He was sitting next to me. I liked to wrap my legs around the table or chair legs. I was just eating my lunch completely oblivious when I started noticing that he was kind of looking at me funny and acting a little awkward. That's when I looked down and realized I had wrapped my leg around his leg.

Now for the big one. The one that I still find completely humiliating. About two years ago when Abi was just a wee one, I got up to bear my testimony at church. I have no problem with public speaking. Even though I can be really shy in normal life, I am totally fine with giving talks and things like that... except praying. Praying in front of people makes me really self concious. Anyway, back to the testimony story. I get up with this really cool thought. I had been sitting there and felt the spirit and knew what I wanted to say and why and knew I needed to. So, I get up and start talking about how we have voles in our yard and we had set a trap and I looked outside just in time to see it get one. It was so traumatic. I was not prepared for the way it looked and the feelings I would feel as a rodent hater. I began bawling like a baby and instead of making fun of me like most of the guys I know would have, Doug came over and just held me and let me cry. I realized how lucky I was to have a husband that truly understands me and is kind. I was going to liken that story to the love our Heavenly Father has for us and how no matter how dumb we feel for our mistakes, our feelings, etc he is always there for us without making fun . But before I could get to that part of the testimony, Abi comes running up to the stand and starts knocking over chairs. Doug runs up and grabs her and she screams all the way out the door. I completely forgot what I was talking about. I could not put words together. I had no idea why I was talking about voles. So, I can't even remember how I ended the testimony but I know that I basically got up and talked about voles and crying and Doug. Not quite a testimony. Ughh. Yep, still makes me embarrassed to think of that.

Proudest moment- That's a toughie. I was pretty proud of Doug when I watched him graduate with his Masters after only one year. I was proud when Abi was born and Maddy was born. I am proud every time Abi says or does something that shows how smart she is. But these are all just moments of more than pride.. just moments of feeling really happy for someone and for myself I guess.
I think another specific one would be when Abi had her speaking part in the primary program and got up and did it. I didn't see it coming, I didn't think she would. She is so painfully shy and I knew it was hard for her to do. But she did it. I was so proud.

Funniest moment? Oh there are so many. Almost all of them are centered around Abi and disrobing. There was the time I blogged about when we were at McDonalds playing in the play place and a kid came out and told her parents that there was a naked kid in the toys. I just knew it was her. (thank goodness she wasn't completely naked. She did have a pull up on.) Read the whole post here.
Then there is the time the other day when she came home and jumped in the beanbag saying it was good to be naked.
A while ago Doug was giving her a bath and told her it was time to get out. She didn't want to. He turned off the light thinking that would make her jump up. Instead, she layed back in the tub and said, "Ahh, this is the life."
She is such a funny girl. I feel bad sometimes because so many people don't get to see her real personality because she won't talk around so many adults (and other kids) but if every one could see her when she is being herself you'd see that she is just hilarious.

Julie- you have talked about how you don't watch movies because you have a hard time sitting through them. I'm wondering, are there any movies that you like so much you can sit through them? Do you have a favorite movie?

You can read Julie's answer here.