Whale Watching With Lani

Leilani and I went whale watching in Newport with her biology class.  We had to be there by 8:45 am, so we left our house about 6:30 am.  Once we all got there, we got on the boat and went out on the ocean.

 It was a pretty calm day on the ocean - only 2-4 foot swells - but I still had some motion sickness.  I took a pill, but I should have taken two.  Leilani wasn't bothered at all.

 We were able to see some whales.  We watched a mother and her calf for a while.  I couldn't get any pictures - it was too hard to anticipate where they were going to come up, and snap a picture fast enough.  I did get a little bit of the whales on video, though.

 We also saw sea lions, seals - see above - and dolphins.

 The kids also got to dissect squids.  Leilani watched, but she refused to touch it.

 They also caught crabs and learned about them.  Apparently you can tell male and female crabs apart by the markings on their abdomen.  Male crabs have  marking that looks like a lighthouse, and female crabs have  a marking that looks like a beehive.

 Leilani was willing to hold a crab, and she helped throw them back in the water after they were done studying them.

They finished up the ocean cruise by studying some plankton. Leilani helped pull in some ocean water, and then they looked at it under a microscope.  It was interesting to see all the things in the water sample that were not easily seen with just our eyes.  It was a fun field trip!  We both really enjoyed it, and we learned a lot too!

Primary 2 CTR A Lesson 10 - I can speak with Heavenly Father in prayer

For this primary lesson, I used some of the ideas from this website: http://www.laughingandlosingit.net/primary-2-lesson-10-i-can-speak-with-heavenly-father-in-prayer/

I made a large boy who could fold his arms and raise his hand, to demonstrate how we can act reverently.

Then I made smaller ones for the kids in my class to have.

I made enough for each girl and boy in my class.  I used gold paper holding brads to hold the arms together at the shoulder and elbow.

The kids loved them!  They all made sure that their person had their arms folded for the closing prayer.

I glued this poem about prayer on to the back of each of the handouts (the boys and girls above).  It is also found on the website above.  It is originally in color, but I printed it grayscale. 

 

I also had the kids color the picture of the praying children that is found at the back of the lesson.  I had some other activities ready, but we ran out of time by the time we sang, went through the steps of prayer, and told the stories.  It turned out to be a good lesson for my class.

Easter Ideas For My Husband and Kids

I have been saving and printing Easter ideas for my family, and decided to blog them. I usually wait until I have made them to share, but I figured maybe someone else could use the ideas this year if I post early enough. I will have to put my own pictures up of the finished product when I complete them.

I love this Easter egg bouquet found here:

 http://www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/love-note-egg-bouquet/?inf_contact_key=b8734b16dbd3cfdd5b8d7ebbeb48e9e8f0331b17ace686d52fd751b6ef7a53e2

It combines candy and Easter eggs - with love notes inside each egg.  She even has printable love notes and banners to help this craft along.  You could even hide the eggs for a scavenger hunt (egg hunt I guess) instead.  But the notes are definitely for husband only!!!  (I am really loving this website!  Signing up for their emails was a good thing for my family and marriage)

I also love this pop bottle dressed as a bunny found here:  http://www.thedatingdivas.com/erika/love-no-bunny-but-you/?inf_contact_key=07b983525b2156bb23a79ea348eefda80938e4ea2b487490b7f6f91918e0c3f1

I am thinking about making one for my husband and kids.  It would be something different than what they usually get, and they all LOVE pop!

This link has a fun printable bag topper to do a bag of cotton candy and then label it bunny cotton tails.
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/food/easter-family-fun/?inf_contact_key=7bf5f819d22bf8f0760ae59df66afc3cd0e59b7e2059fb314386a8b1ad609548

It also has a fun pin the tail on the rabbit game to print out.

I also have Easter treat ideas on my Pinterest, and a cool Easter egg garland to make (out of plastic eggs).

The garland can be found here:  http://eclecticallyvintage.com/2013/02/spring-mantel-and-colorful-diy-egg-garland/  along with other cute decorating ideas.

 

 I thought I had a lot of time until Easter, until I realized that March ends a week from today. So, I decided I better get busy!  :)

Frozen - A Scavenger Hunt

We bought the movie Frozen today.  (For those of you who are hesitant because of some of the controversy out there, I saw it with Leilani, and I thought it was a good - clean - movie.)  I am going to wait and give it to the kids next week for spring break (only Leilani has seen it, and she LOVED it), and I found the cutest scavenger hunt that someone made up to use on a blog called "My Sister's Suitcase."   You can find it here:  http://www.bombshellbling.com/frozen-scavenger-hunt/

I am going to cut out the cards (love free printables!), set them on a scavenger hunt, and they will find the movie at the end.  Hurray!  A fun, easy activity to keep them entertained.  Just thought I would share in case anyone else wanted to use it.

St. Patrick's Day 2014

I had a good time with St. Patrick's day this year.  I have been inspired by Pinterest lately.  I made a cute "pot of gold" appreciation for my husband, cute notes that went in my kids' lunchboxes, cute notes for my primary class, and two decorations for my house.  I also did Elisabeth's hair really cute in "shamrock" style. 

 

 My Husband

 I found this cute and easy printable to use for my husband's gift.  I downloaded it here: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/st-patricks-day/your-free-march-printable/   Technically you are supposed to sign up for their emails to have access to this printable, but I can forward you the email with the password if you are interested.  Just let me know.

 

 After you cut out the hearts, you are supposed to write something that you love about your spouse on each one.  Then you punch a hole in them and tie them together.  I used a small metal ring that I had around.

 You finish it by filling a container with gold wrapped candy - because the last heart says "you are my pot of gold" - and putting the stack of hearts in it.

 

This is how mine turned out.  I was pretty lazy with the container, but my husband loved it anyway!

My Kids

 I found these printable St Patrick's day notes here: http://blog.chickabug.com/2013/03/free-printable-st-patricks-day-school-lunch-notes.html  She has plain ones to write your own notes with, and printed ones that you have to finish the sentence.

 I used the already printed ones, and then personalized it for each kid.

I attached one of these gold candies from the dollar store, and slipped it in their lunch box as a surprise.  They were pretty happy.  Benjamin and Elisabeth came running to the car excited and thanking me when I picked them up.  The two older girls were more nonchalant about it, but you could tell they liked it.

My Primary Class

 For my primary class, I used these free jar lid printables that I found here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Computer-is-My-Canvas/131615706876321?id=131615706876321&sk=app_208195102528120  ( I think you actually have to "like" her facebook page to access her free printables, but it is totally worth it!  She has lots of cute ones listed, and adds new ones periodically).

I added the words "in primary" at the bottom, and glued one of the gold candies from the dollar store on it.  I actually handed these out in my class on Sunday, since it was the day before, but I don't think the kids cared that it wasn't actually the real day.

My Crafts

 

 I bought some wood frames at Goodwill to paint and frame some of the free printables that I have found online.

 I found these two St. Patrick printables that I really liked.  I found the "kiss me" one here:  http://www.thetomkatstudio.com/photo-styling-ideas-for-hgtv-st-patricks-day-decorating-craft-ideas/  (she has other cute ideas too)  and the St. Patick subway art here:  http://todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/2011/02/st-patricks-day-subway-art-prints.html (she has the same subway art available in several color combos)

 This craft went fairly quickly.  I painted the frames, and popped the artwork in.

Quick and easy!  It doesn't get any better than that.

Elisabeth's Hair

This is how we did Elisabeth's hair.  I didn't take a picture in the morning, I forgot, so this is how it looked at the end of the day.  A few of  the rubber bands had broken, and the hearts falling out a bit, but overall not too bad.

It was supposed to look like this, but I am not a pro obviously.  Elisabeth recently got her hair cut, and it was really hard to do the heart shapes on her short hair.  I needed to wet and gel her hair first, but we didn't leave enough time.  Also, when we put her hair in a ponytail, it didn't leave enough hair for the hearts, so we had to do a half pony tail instead.  Oh well, it will be fantastic next year.  People still seemed to think it was cute.

We have never really celebrated this holiday much, but I think I will from now on.  I already have some cute placemats saved for next year, and several ideas in my Pinterest folder.  It was kind of fun to make the day special for everyone.

Benjamin's Baptism

Benjamin was baptized on Feb 1, 2014.   He had been looking forward to that day for a long time.

 

We made it to the church early so that he and Alan could get jumpsuits and change.  We didn't figure out until the night before that Benjamin didn't have any plain white underwear (they all have characters on them).  We went shopping around town, and the best we could do was white with a light gray waistband, and even those were hard to find.  I guess plain white is not a popular choice right now.

After they were dressed, we had to take the traditional pictures that the girls took when they were baptized.  We like the pictures of Jesus around the church.

I loved how excited Benjamin was about everything.  It was a very special day for him!  He was VERY excited about his new scriptures and his new scripture bag.  He also had on his new tie tack - a sword and shield to remind him of the armor of God with a CTR to help him remember to choose the right. The baptism was different this time for me, because I didn't help anyone change and get dressed after they were baptized.  I just went in to wait with everyone else while everyone got dressed.

Benjamin had both sets of grandparents there, some aunts and uncles, and lots of cousins too.

 (Many of the kids are eating cupcakes and cookies because we had refreshments in the gym afterwards)

 Benjamin was baptized with two little girls in his primary class.  He and Lilly (the one on the left) were born a day apart, and were in the hospital together.

They have grown a lot since then!  :)

Here is Benjamin on Sunday with the family members who were in his confirmation circle.  He was glad that Uncle Chris and Uncle Kelly were there along with his grandpas, but he was not enjoying the pictures in the sun!

 After church I made the kids take some pictures together.  They are all pretty well trained by now, but they still goof around a bit!

As long as I get what I want, they can do what they want.

My dad was able to get a family picture of us after the baptism too.  I am sure that we will all look a lot different by the time Robert is baptized.  It will be fun to compare the two pictures.  It is weird to think that I could have married kids or even grandkids by then...I guess we will see what the future holds!

Benjamin Turns 8

I can't believe that Benjamin turned 8 last month.  It seems like yesterday that he was turning 2.  They tell the truth when they say time goes by fast, so enjoy every minute of your kids' childhood.  I am trying to do that, but it still seems to zoom by.  It wasn't as hard for me as I thought it would be to have Benjamin turn 8.  I think Robert helped with that, because it isn't my baby turning 8 anymore.  I still have a ways to go before I reach that milestone now.  Before it seemed like my kids were almost all grown up.

 The kids had activities on Benjamin's birthday, but when everyone got home, Ben opened his presents.  He was pretty happy and wanted to open them all right then.

 However, we hadn't eaten yet, so we decided to go to Papa's pizza  - even though it was already 8pm.  We get birthday coupons each time it is someone's birthday, and we decided it would be less crowded to  go that night then to wait for the weekend.

 We all enjoyed the pizza treat.  Our tradition is that the birthday person gets to pick the flavor pizza.  Benjamin is a pepperoni only pizza guy, but none of the other kids complained!

 Robert thought the play area was so much fun!  It is great to have lots of siblings to play with you.

 The other kids thought the play area was pretty fun too.

 We celebrated with the rest of the family on Sunday.  Leilani made Benjamin's birthday cake.  She made a basketball (as he requested) with a hoop and backboard.

 He had lots of fun, and received nice gifts (the bullets in the picture were not his gifts, though).

Last year, Grandma Bevans started giving the kids the same amount of money as their age.  She gave them $1 bills last year.  This year, as you can see above, she is giving them gold dollar coins.  (I guess anyone else in the family reading this won't be surprised now - sorry!)

Uncle Jeff gave Benjamin one of his puzzle kits.  Ben is excited to put it together.  We are supposed to have a "friend" birthday party this year, because Benjamin has never had one, but it hasn't happened yet.  If it does, I am sure I will post pictures.  We have thrown some pretty spectacular birthday parties in our time!