Luke Being Cute and Funny

Luke: I need more aftewards.

Me: After what?
Luke: WORDS!

Me: We need to have some lunchy-lunch.  Am I right?
Luke: You're always right.

Me: You're one smart kid!

Luke and I put together this Lincoln Log house and when he wanted to play with it,
I grabbed a bunch of different figurines.  I think Buzz and Superman would like frontier life.

Pops gave Luke these little bug holders for Christmas and
Luke and Eliza decided to put them out in the front yard with
leaves and grass inside, hoping to trap some bugs.  Unfortunately
for them, we don't see a lot of bugs in Utah in the winter.

Breakfast.

When I needed to lie down for just a minute, Luke decided to snuggle in with me.
I didn't mind.

Luke, whispering: A killer whale!
Me: Where do you think it came from?
Luke: It's made of paper.

The other day when my neighbor needed me to help her with something,
she showed Luke where her children's books were and he sat down looking
at books the whole time we were there.  I didn't hear a peep out of him.

Except when I sat down and we looked at her (permanently arranged) Christmas
figures on a shelf and I asked him who the people were, and what the wise men
were bringing to the baby Jesus and Luke replied, "Gold, mirth, and franken."

"I'm testing all of them."

"I'm drawing A-T-A."

"This is all blood."

Reattaching the beads that fell of his school project.

"I need more paint, Mom.  I'm running out."

"Mom!  I'm a pillow!  Come lie down on me!"

"Close me in the box!"

This one doesn't qualify as cute or funny, but I'm including it here
anyway.  When I was vacuuming the other day, the vacuum suddenly stopped.
I immediately saw Luke by the outlet, looking sheepish.  He'd stuck this
quarter onto the prongs of the plug and the impact was strong enough to leave
indentations on both the quarter and the plug.  Luckily, the fuse tripped
right away and Luke wasn't hurt.

And I saved the best for last...

Luke is reading!  He's probably been able to read these simple Bob Books for a little while

but I finally sat down with him to see how he did a couple of weeks ago and he was great!  Hooray!

Saturdaying

 

Not pictured: cousin pizza & movie night

Eliza's Preparation

Eliza has a big day coming up in a few weeks.  She'll be turning 8 and will be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  This means that she is making covenants with Heavenly Father to live in accordance with His commandments, helping other people and building her own faith and testimony.  In the LDS Church, we believe kids are capable of taking on this responsibility at 8, because by that time most children have developed the maturity and understanding to be held accountable for their actions.

One of the things I do with each of my kids as they prepare for this special occasion is to take them to a temple of their choosing (we're spoiled to have several nearby) and do a little photo shoot.  Last week I took a look at the weather forecast and saw that our unseasonably warm weather would soon be ending, and proposed that Eliza and I go take pictures during a small window of time we had between activities on a Thursday afternoon, before the cold weather hit the next day.

I asked Cat to help Eliza get ready so that I could practice piano with Jack, and the girls got so involved in primping (which included not only curled hair, but also mascara, lipstick, and blush) that our small window of time became an itty bitty window of time.  I took the following pictures during the 15 minutes Eliza and I were at the Mt. Timpanogos temple, but I think they still turned out pretty well.

When I sat down to write this blog post I started thinking about how Eliza's preparation for her baptism has involved a lot more than taking pictures.  Here are just a few examples of the positive things Eliza is doing that are helping her to build strong character and become a good member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Eliza is a good friend, and she's very loving and patient with younger kids.

Eliza tries to be a good student.

These are pictures from her "Math Facts Challenge," when she and her friend challenged

each other to answer the most questions in a minute.  Eliza won by one question.

Eliza is obedient, helpful, and appreciative.

I found this little scribble the day after I'd stayed up making muffins for the

kids to have for breakfast on a morning when Ben and I would both be gone.

Made my heart happy.

I'm so proud of Eliza and the good choices she's making.

Sunday Snow Fun (which sounds like "Sunday's No Fun" but I'd never say that)

There was still plenty of snow on the ground the following day, and as we left Stake Conference with our friend and neighbor, Ms. Teri (who had helped Ben and Suz with getting my kids to the meeting and behaving for the first hour until I could get there since Ben was out of town) she told us about Snow Cream.  I had seen a recipe for this sweet treat online but we'd never tried it, so we were glad to have Ms. Teri teach us all about it.

Step 1: Don all your snow gear and test out the snow to see if it makes good snow balls.

Step 2: Gather the middle layer of snow by discarding the top crust and

scooping up only the softer snow above the grass.  Do not collect dirt.

Step 3: Dodge Snowballs

Step 4: Retaliate at will.

Step 5: Test the depth of the snow on the picnic table.

Step 6: Add milk to the snow until you've reached your preferred consistency.

Step 7: Stir in sugar, vanilla, fruit, and any other flavorings (we tried

peppermint extract) to achieve desired taste.  Frequent samples are essential.

Step 8: Enjoy!

Step 9: Repeat as necessary. For example, if the first batch gets gobbled up

while the youngest is in the bathroom, you'll need to make more.  If there is

any left after the second batch, freeze in popsicle molds to enjoy later.

I know that is a long process and you might be tempted to skip a step here or there, but don't do it.  Each part is essential to the deliciousness of the Snow Cream.

Since Ms. Teri grew up in this area and knows all about Snow Things, she also advised the kids on snowman-building.  I think our problem in the past has been that we were eager to try to make a snowman when the snow was fresh but it's so powdery when it falls here that it wouldn't pack for us.  Sunday afternoon was sunny and a bit warmer so the snow was melting a little, which meant it would be better for making a snowman.  Jack did most of the work to assemble our little snowman, whom he named Billy Bob Joe, as much as Luke kicked and fought and tried to destroy him.  But the snowman was finally completed in the evening and it stayed in our yard for a few days, until the kids were playing outside one afternoon and decided to help BBJ go the way of all the earth.

Thanks for sharing your expertise, Ms. Teri!

Of Yellow Snow and Tempting Fate

We woke up to a beautiful blanket of several inches of snow Saturday morning (our first significant snow of the winter!) and the kids couldn't wait to get out in it.  One of their very favorite things to do in the snow is make snow cones using fresh snow and fruit juice, so right away they got bundled up and I supplied them with cups and a squirt bottle of apple juice, and they were quite happy.

Then later in the morning, while Jack was at a birthday party and Cat was practicing piano before a babysitting gig, Eliza and Luke had a cold-weather play date with Whit.  Thank you to Suz for sharing her pictures!

After general snow-play, Ben and Suz put an extreme spin on the day by bringing the kids to the hot tub in their apartment complex.  They didn't just stay in the hot tub, though, they also did a reverse-Polar-Bear-plunge.  I was more than a little nervous that someone would end up sick from this little exercise, but Suz was right and nobody has gotten sick, so that's good.  Also, they had a blast!