Celebrating the Irish

We celebrated St. Patrick's day with rainbow jell-o (which took me forever), Corned beef and cabbage (courtesy of Brian), and of course...

Green cupcakes. The cupcakes were very addicting. I asked Brian what it was and he said, "The frosting. The frosting. The frosting." It was the Betty Crocker Rainbow chip. Yummm!!!
I set the table with recycled brown paper for our guests to color on. I drew four leaf clovers under the glasses. Oh the small things that get me excited. The girls really liked the Jell-o. I think we have some new traditions.

Celebrating Love, Snow and the Year of the Tiger

For Family Home Evening last week we talked about the two greatest commandments. We read Matthew 22: 36-40. We made Valentine votives out recycled baby food jars, old tissue paper and mod podge. We put battery operated tea lights inside and then attached the scripture on a heart with ribbon. We gave them away today to Grandma Val (It's her birthday!), to a few of the widows from our ward and an older Brother in our ward. He was so giddy to receive a Valentine. He said that he hadn't gotten one since he was a little kid. Brian and I liked this service project and will be doing it again next year (a new family tradition).



Brian took me to see Leap Year. It was cute. He also took the girl's and made me this Valentine. If you click on it you can see it larger and read it a little better. It brought a tear to my eye and touched my heart. I love my family!!!


For the girls I made these felt cupcakes. My first attempt. I think it turned out pretty well. Lexi saw the box and asked if she could have one. I said go for it. She tried to be careful to take one out and then she went to take a bite and was sad to discover that they were fake. I then gave one to Ellie. She took a bite and glared at me with her signature pout. It was funny.



We took time to celebrate the snow. Brian really wanted to take the girls sledding. I stayed in the van with Mikey other than taking the photos.


We had company on Friday and of course I had to try a new recipe. I made Easy Raspberry Chicken with Coconut Rice. It was so yummy and our company asked for the recipe. I love when that happens. There wasn't any leftover because Brian kept piecing on it after we had finished dinner and our company had left.


Happy Chinese New Year!!! This is the year of the Tiger. Grace bought Alexis a jacket and Ellie an outfit that I thought would be great to wear today to celebrate. Thank you Grace. Brian and I wore red for the New Year and for Valentines.


Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!

From Friday to Today...Hooray!!!

On Friday while Brian was gone the kids and I built a fort. I was thinking to myself "you know, I haven't built a fort in ages" so I did. Ellie loved it!!! I called Brian (I don't remember where he was) and asked him to bring home some pizza and to have his camera ready. He so good. He did and started a new tradition. Once a month we will have Fort Friday.





For Family Home Evening we talked about how Jesus loved us so much he created the Earth and all it's creatures (lesson from Behold Your Little Ones). Then we made bird feeders. I cut out cardboard letters. I had everyone spread the letters with peanut butter and then we dipped them in a bird seed mix. We also made feeders by emptying orange peels and then putting seed inside of them. I hung the feeders up the next day on the clothes line and in the tree.


Ellie was compelled to grab handfuls of seed and drop it on the table and then swing her arms fast so that the seed went everywhere. When I decided to this activity I knew it was going to be a mess, but Ellie really got into it. I think that in the spring we will take a bin outside for a sensory activity that both Ellie and Alexis can enjoy (I guess the birds and squirrels too).




Today marks the halfway point of winter. We are so much closer to Spring now. Brian invited Justin Torrence and Eric Petty (my former Seminary students) over to play the Wii and to jam out to Weird Al's Greatest Hits.



So to celebrate us getting closer to Spring I made Melting Snowman Soup. Really it is just Potato Soup. I also made banana bread using this recipe.



Also today is my mother's birthday. It is so hard to be away from family. I am so grateful for the technology that has been made available to allow us to talk over the internet. Alexis looked forward to this all day. I made a Better Than Anything Cake, we got Nana on the computer and then we sang to her. It was great!!! We love you Nana!


Alexis and Ellie enjoying the cake for Nana.