Wednesday Night

So most everyone knows that I always work on Wednesday night at Jim's office, who is our insurance agent and where I worked full time before having Damon.  I've gone in on Wednesday nights every week for over 10 years.  And so everyone knows how hard we work, here's a video that shows some of what we do.

Sorry, its a little messed up.  Candy was flying everywhere and those things hurt more then you would think.  I also turned it to get Jim and Aiden in the shot with Grayson but it didn't self-correct like I thought it would. 

FYI, Grayson started it.

Valentine's Day

 Thanks to Pinterest I got this brilliant idea to make our own valentines this year.  However, I waited until last minute to get everything we needed so they didn't go quite as planned.  But still turned out cute if I do say so myself!   Monday night for family home evening was spent making all these beauties.

Since Xavier is our bug guy we made these for him. 

 You just glue a toy bug in the middle. 

 

 We made arrows for Damon's class and for all of the boys' teachers. 

They had Starburst jelly beans in them.  

(They were suppose to have plain m&ms but NO ONE in Manhattan had any for sale! 

Lucky for me they make Valentine Starburst Jelly beans and Target still had a couple bags.  I've never seen them before until Monday!)

For Aiden's the original plan was to make dinosaur ones similar to Xavier's but it says, You make my heart saur. But I couldn't find any little dinosaur toys.  So quick brainstorm and I came up with this idea all on my own and thankfully with the help of Google images it didn't take much time.  One side was the cute dinosaur picture and the other side was a black and white image that can be colored.  

Inside we put a small pack of crayons. 

Even though making our own valentines was kinda a pain in the butt.  They all got rave reviews from their teachers and classmates.  



Tuesday mornings we always have playgroup but this time we did something a little special since it was Valentine's day.  One of the moms teaches a music movement class so she did that and then I brought cookies and goldfish for the kids.  I didn't take a pic of the cookies because sadly they weren't as cute as my Christmas cookies.

Since Adam and I don't celebrate Valentine's day we always do something a little special for the boys.  This year I grilled steak and roasted potatoes that I cut into heart shapes (Pinterest is turning me into an insane person!) with green beans too.  I also made red velvet cookies for dessert.   Then the boys got a little box of chocolate and a toy.  

Cotton Bowl

Adam took Damon and Xavier to the Cotton Bowl.  He met up with three of his brothers and members of their family too.  Even though our team didn't win the boys had a great time at their first college football game. (They both went as babies but of course don't remember them so its hard to count.)

The next day they met up with more family and went golfing and hung out.  They also got to spend time with our nephew Ross who had just come home from his mission in California.  

The pics are out of order but I don't care.  :)

January

 No January was not a really boring month and that's why I didn't post anything.  If just all went by really quick.  So here are some random pictures of the boys...mostly of Aiden and Grayson because they are the only ones that let me take pictures of them on a regular basis. 

 

My Mommy Burnt the Cookies

This is my friend James Thomas Taylor (many people call him Jimmie or Jim-bob, but I've always called him Jims).  Jims wrote a children's book dedicated to his mother.  His mom is one of the sweetest, nicest women ever created.

Anyway, his children's book is adorable and has a great message too. My three oldest boys watched it and loved it.  I bet your kids will like it too. 





He would love to have it published, if you know a publishing guy (or gal) then please send them Jimmie's way.  You can follow him on Twitter at @TheBurntCookies or like the book on Facebook.   You can also learn more about the story behind the book by reading his blog.

I can read!

I've never been much of a reader but I'm starting to kinda like it.  So for the first time in a long time I've actually read a couple of books this year.  I finally have a little more time on my hands with the 3 big boys being in school and Grayson taking good naps in the afternoon (and All My Children being cancelled).  So here are the books I've read this year.  I know its not that many but in all fairness, I didn't start until summer.



The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

I know everyone else read this by middle school but I finally read the whole series this summer and actually enjoyed it.  Some books I liked more than others and I did like the ending of it as well.
I've never read anything by CS Lewis (very surprising since most baptist kids adored him) and I'm pretty sure it was the first series of books I've read as well.  They maybe pathetic but growing up I read a lot about planes, sharks and other interests I had.  I never read much fiction.







I Will Carry You by Angie Smith


If you are needing a good cry, this is the book.  It is Angie's story of carrying to term their 4th daughter even after being told that she would not survive.  Angie started a blog around this time called, Bring on the Rain, that I used to read.  She is a very good writer, especially when telling her own story.  My favorite quote, "Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ."  Angie quotes this in the book but doesn't share the reference.  She also writes about how to help others in a similar situation and how to help children grieve.  One of the chapters is also written by her husband so you can see the difference in how each of them grieved.



What Women Fear by Angie Smith

 
I wanted to like this book but I just couldn't get into it.  I'm sure most of it was religious differences but it just didn't seem to be that deep nor that doctrinal sound.  I loved the premise, taking the natural fears we have and how people from the scriptures handled those fears and were able to do miracles in spite of them, however most of it just felt like it was her opinion with no scripture to back up her thoughts.  I did love the last two chapters of the book.  One was on Peter walking on the water and the last one was on fearing God.  I did like these two thoughts as well, "He (Christ) can be glorified in spite of our mistakes." and the one from Peter walking on the water, "God will still be God if you stay in the boat.  But He won't be your God unless you get out."
I also liked how she shared her personal stories in the book to prove her point.  She had some funny ones.



The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I loved this book and probably the one book I read the fastest, (except for The Da Vinci Code, I read that in 2 days but I only had 2 kids to ignore, its much harder to ignore 4).  I remember hearing about this book when it first came out but never took the chance to read it until I broke down and bought it so I would HAVE to read it.  (Which is kinda not true because I own a LOT of books I've never read but it did give me a push.)


Also, the real reason I read it so quickly, it was written in such a way that it left me with two questions, What the heck did Minny do to the pie and Why was her maid fired.  I couldn't stop reading until I knew the answers.



(Kari look away for this little book review.)

How to Raise the Perfect Dog by Cesar Millan

 

We went crazy one day and got a dog and not just any dog, a type of dog that is known for their hyper, crazy personalities.  Because of this, I decided I needed to read some dog books.  I had watched this special on tv and decided to read the book.  It was worth it the most just to hear that 8 months-3 years is the adolescent period of dogs.  We currently have a teenage jack russell in the house and I need to have patience!  We have used some of his ideas on how to raise our little Lockett but we are not as strict.  Maybe we wont have the perfect dog?  But I just want one that doesn't poop in my house. 





For scripture reading I've been able to finish the Book of Mormon, the New Testament
and the Doctrine and Covenants.



FYI, in case you can't tell, all images are from Amazon.