Always Be Prepared

So, this fabulous Parenting Class I've been taking...oh I wish you all could experience it. I leave feeling uplifted, encouraged, and full of great ideas to implement.

So here is one for you LDS mommies. With General Conference Weekend upon us, I have been preparing some Conference Notebooks for my kids to keep them busy (read quiet) and maybe help them pay attention during the sessions.

And if you go to http://www.sugardoodles.net/ they have some GREAT resources for any church thing you can think of practically. Also a good site is lds.about.com

The point we talked about for Sunday's and Sunday activities is for it to be DIFFERENT then the rest of the week. Let them color with markers on Sunday and crayons the rest of the week. On Sunday, watch home movies, but not the rest of the week.

I loved that these are ideas I can implement even though my sweet hubby & I aren't on the same page "church"wise. So, do what works for your family. I'm working on my conference notebook and will post pics when I'm done. TIP--best time to buy binders is during back to school shopping, otherwise they are ridiculously expensive and hard to find. So a family tradition was born--you get a conference notebook the fall conference after you finish 1st grade--cause they have to have a binder in first grade that they don't need for 2nd. So--there ya go--way to recycle right?

Brotherly Love

Okay, so last week I started a Positive Parenting Class at the Institute (cause who couldn't use a little parent pep talk every now and then hu?) Anyway, one of the things we talked about was the importance of siblings bonding together. That they are closer with siblings than school friends. **not that it isn't important to have friends**

Anyway, yesterday was just a wonderful, proud moment for me watching my boys.

Here's the story (and a lot of back story)
The kid's go to a year round school. One of the kids that goes to our bus stop always brings his Dog and Brother (who is a bit of a bully--well both boys are--the older one poked Ethan daily with a tack on the kindergarten bus last year) and Mom with baby (who is very tolerant of their wild behavior "boys will be boys").
They are on a different track than we are, so when they are on track break I have no problems at the bus stop. When they aren't on break, I try to avoid the bus stop. 1. they are mean 2. it is hard to control Isaac when he is running after their dog to pet it.
But yesterday, I didn't have any errands to run after the kids went to school, so I opted for the bus. Isaac brought a little toy with him to occupy him.

We get to the bus stop and there are the boys and dog--mom off talking with other moms. So we line up and the little brother starts asking--more like demanding--Isaac to give him a turn with the toy. Isaac, being the diplomatic 3 yr old that he his, ignores him and walks away. He stands by Ethan at the back of the line. The boy comes up to Isaac again and demands his turn. To which Ethan replies, "He doesn't have to! It is HIS"

I was only a few feet away, keeping a very close eye on the little bully's reaction--he stood there quiet, opening and closing his fist very slowly, then pushes Ethan hard so he falls over. I put my hand on the boys shoulder and said "No! that is NOT okay" He runs the 30 ft to his mom.

I couldn't hear if she said anything to him, but he did walk over to Isaac and said "Sorry". To which Isaac replied "You go tell Ethan sorry" And he did.

While I will go back to my avoidance of the bus stop for awhile, I was SO proud of my boys for standing up for each other.

This picture is from last winter (hence the snow boots).

My little garden

Okay, so this spring I wanted to plant a garden. I chose a square foot garden as to not get in over my head. I researched all the materials I'd need, decided what I would plant, and bought the supplies.

I got the seeds/plants planted by June. And enjoyed watching my little seeds grow. Well, nothing could quite prepare me for what I would get out of those little pumpkin seeds I planted...

Okay so over on the right you can see the box I used to plant everything in. It is a 4' square garden. The pumpkins were only planted in 1' square.

All I can say is, I'm glad I planted them in an outside square and not an inside one.

At last count I had 11 pumpkins growing. It is my most successful garden item. Apparently I'm growing baby carrots and 1 ear of baby corn ;)

better luck next year I suppose.

Calling all Mom's of daughters

Any of you who know me & Liberty, know that I struggle keeping her hair cute and out of her face. I have often wondered why I never came across a good "hairstyles" book. Well, my good friend Amy sent me a link to a blog and from there, I found more hair blogs.

Oh the ideas! Granted I spend much more time on Libby's hair these days, but it turns out SO much cuter! At least, when she walks out the door. It is still messy when she comes home.

Anyway, this blog Girly Do's is having a drawing for free hair stuff, but it ends tomorrow. So, go enter and tell her I sent you!

First Day of Preschool

I can't believe it! Isaac is off to preschool! He is only 3 1/2 but is already brilliant (if I do say so myself). He knows his letters and letter sounds and I couldn't possibly keep him out of some type of school for another year. He can hardly stand to watch Libby and Ethan get on the bus in the morning. The bus driver thinks it's hilarious to watch Isaac stand at the door at wave and holler to Ethan & Libby.

Anyway, he was very excited for his first day and says he had so much fun!

We were so excited to find out Libby's preschool teacher was going to do preschool this year. She is a friend that is a teacher here locally and hasn't done preschool since Libby's class (3 years ago) because she was going to teach full time at the Charter School near by. Well, this year she got moved to Kindergarten and felt she had time in the afternoons to do preschool. Music to my ears! I don't think we'd have Isaac in preschool already if she wasn't doing it. But she is SO good. I would not be surprised if Isaac starts reading this year.

Oh, and I really enjoy the afternoons to myself ;)