February 2012

 Here's a glimpse of February. We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day, taking a pottery class at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, painting, shopping, dressing up and losing a tooth.

Scott getting sleepy after filling up on a yummy dinner.

 Super Scott saving the world one milk jug at a time.

 Playing in the kitchen at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Elli dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi lost tooth number 3. She worked a long time on loosening it and finally letting Mom pull it out. The Tooth Fairy knew how hard she worked and how patient she was and rewarded her with 2 dollars!

 Scott discovering fingerpaints. He loved squishing it through his fingers. By the end it was all over his head.

Wearing hearts for Valentine's Day. They picked different shirts with hearts every day for the week before Valentine's Day. Sammi is making a heart with her arms.

 On a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby. These three are such cuties all together when we are out.

I went through a box of papers from graduate school and found this paper where I doodled my name and Brent's. I think this was before we were engaged. It even has Scott up there in the top right corner. 

February went by so quickly and I can hardly believe it's April already. The children are growing fast and learning so quickly. Sammi is starting to read more fluently. She's moved into first grade math. She's learning to roller skate at our homeschool co-op. Elli is also learning to roller skate. She writes her name. She knows all her letters and tells me frequently that she'll learn to read tomorrow (already a procrastinator!) Her favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Scott loves all sorts of balls. He loves for me to bounce a ball off his forehead. He's started stacking blocks instead of knocking them over.

January 2012

January was a busy month. We started it off with Scott's birthday and ended it with Brent's birthday. Both celebrated their golden birthdays (where they turned the age of their date: Scott turned 1 on the 1st and Brent turned 31 on the 31st). I meant for there to be great amounts of celebrating, but alas, life was busy and we didn't do much.

Scott turned one and ate a marshmallow! No cake for this gluten-free boy. It still seems to bother him. Scott has become so playful. He loves to follow his sisters around and play with them. He loves fruits and veggies, especially mixed together in a smoothie. He's now in 18 month clothes, though some long 12 month pants still fit.

Elli started the new year of with lots of crafts. She is not a fan of formal school time so we do lots of songs and imaginative play. She knows all her letters and their sounds but isn't ready to sound out words yet. She does like to play with Sammi's school supplies so we have fun all together doing school. Elli loves her ballet class and often sachets around the house to her own soundtrack.

Sammi is continuing to grow at a very quick rate. She's lost her bottom two teeth and by the end of January another was getting loose. Sammi is also learning at a quick rate. She is reading early readers but doesn't really like to read. She'd rather I read a more complex book to her. She's also spelling like a champ and a whiz with numbers. But her true love is art. She must do art projects everyday. She enjoyed Grandma Devine's visit where we learned to doodle and she got to watch tons of art videos with Grandma.

Brent went back to school on the last day of his month, a.k.a. his birthday. After having been out of school for 9 months he was glad to get back. We celebrated his birthday during family home evening the night before his birthday. At church Brent is still teaching the gospel principles class, now on his third time

I'm busy with the joys and fun of homeschooling, having three little ones and all the other responsibilities that pop up throughout the days and weeks. At church I am still the Primary President. We started the year by giving the children a journal to keep track of what they learn during sharing time this year and to help them memorize the scriptures that go with each month. The kids love them! We also participate in a homeschool co-op and I volunteered to teach two classes this semester: art to 3-5th graders and an animal science class to the K-2nd graders. My part of the animal science class is to do a craft each week related to the animals we discuss. I love all the focus on art! And Sammi loves to help me plan and prep the lessons, too.

Dear Amazon

I have issues with the US Postal Service. On December 12th we attempted to mail a package from Harrogate, TN to Amazon in Lexington, KY. This shouldn't take long. In fact, according to Google it should only take 15 hours to ride my bike from my house to Amazon's Lexington offices. I could leave and get home in less than two days if I had the stamina.

Unfortunately the USPS decided to ship to Memphis, then Cincinnati, and currently I have no idea where it is going. All I know is it left Cincinnati on December 20th and has not made it to Lexington yet. This seems like poor planning on the postal service.

 All they needed to do was follow that red line. It would have taken about 3 hours... maybe less, but now we are sitting on 15 days. Oh Amazon, I hope you get my package soon.

Sincerely,
Brent

Monster Pancakes

We had a deliciously fun and Halloweeny breakfast this morning.

The girls loved creating their own monsters.

To read more about our monster day (and see pics of the kids), check out Because Babies Grow Up!

Studying General Conference

Elder Richard G. Scott

Brent and I started our official review/catch up/study of General Conference. He missed the Saturday morning session and one of the talks that inspired me to action was Elder Scott's talk in that session. I loved his powerful testimony of the scriptures and their value as friends in our lives.

When I was studying at the University of Utah I took Teachings of the Latter-day Prophets. In it our instructor had us watch different conference talks from the general authorities. He consolidated the talk onto one page and gave it to us to use while we watched the talk. I really liked marking up the written text while feeling the Spirit through listening to the general authorities teach the gospel.

I decided to do the same thing to study conference. It really helps me stay awake! As we watched Elder Scott's talk tonight I was reminded of the power of the scriptures. I loved his analogy that the scriptures "can become stalwart friends." Here are my favorite quotes:

"Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high."

"To memorize a scripture is to forge a new friendship."

"A memorized scripture becomes an enduring friend that is not weakened with the passage of time."

"Jeanene (his wife) confirmed early in her life that those who consistently read the Book of Mormon are blessed with an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a greater resolve to obey His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the divinity of the Son of God."

My plan of action for this talk is to memorize the 8 verses Elder Scott quoted in his talk and then to re-memorize the scripture mastery scriptures from seminary.

If you want the one-page version of Elder Scott's talk, you can download it here.

The next talk I want to study is Elder Ian Ardern's talk, A Time to Prepare. Here's the one-page version of his talk, as well.

What talks inspired you to action?