Orchard Heights Talent Show

On March 16th, Olivia & her friend Marlowe performed a jump rope routine for their school.  I can't get the video clip to upload for the blog.  So if you want to see their performance in action, go to my facebook wall.  They did a great job & had a BLAST!

This picture was taken in the bathroom where they got dressed.  Ugly paint job, if I may say so myself.

Ahhhh, much better background wouldn't you say?

Marlowe biffed it the day before & cleaned the skin right off of her lip & chin.  She also lost a tooth in the fall.  At least she got a new DVD & a visit from the tooth fairy for it!

They are announcing themselves to the audience:  "Hi!  I'm Marlowe.  I'm Olivia.  We're the Jump Rope Girls and we're gonna MOVE IT!"

And boy, did they move it!  Great job Jump Rope Girls!

First Grade Presentation

In February, Livvy's 1st grade class invited all the parents to come to class with them.  The teacher they had at the beginning of the school year became too sick and had to retire in December.  Their new teacher, Mrs. Sunny Willson, will be there for the remainder of the school year.  She is wonderful!  She's organized, firm-yet-loving, and she pushes the kids just enough to allow them to progress with self confidence.

Each day the class sings various songs about nature or our country.  They do actions along with the songs.

I got to listen to Olivia read.  She's so silly:)  

Olivia & her friend read out loud together for the whole class.  I don't remember what they said though.

Olivia made me flowers!  Thanks Livvy!

Yep.  Good 'ol thumbs up!  Thanks for inviting me to your classroom!

Animals & Lady Bug

This year I wanted to make each of the Squirrels an stuffed animal to put in their Spring Baskets.  Here's what I came up with:

I made this Rainbow Bear for Emma. It's made with the same yarn as the blanket I made for her last birthday. Emma loves the color orange, so that's what I crocheted the ears, paws, & feet. I found cute peace sign ribbon at the store that had splashes of color that matched the yarn. Perfect. The bear is 10.5" tall from head to toe.

I made this Lady Bug for Olivia. The pattern was for a finished size of 2". But I increased each step to make it much larger. Finished size is 5.5"x9". There are 8 spots that I made & sewed on separately. I also added antennae. I used Simply Soft Caron Yarn, colors Autumn and Black. Even the legs are slightly stuffed.

I made this Sock Monkey for Brynn. She loves monkeys! And when I saw this pattern I just couldn't pass it up. I love the tail. It curls around at the end & is just as long as his arms & legs. This project was the funnest to put together. But the other ones were fun in their own ways.

Finished size is 23" from head to toe. I glued on wiggly eyes and added more hair. I also added brown ribbon with blue & lighter brown squares. The blue was perfect because that's Brynn's favorite color.

I made this Rainbow Bear for Kara. It's made with the same yarn as the blanket I made for her last birthday. Kara loves the color blue, so that's what I crocheted the ears, paws, & feet. The bear is 10.5" tall from head to toe. Same as Emma's. It was fun to sit the bear on top of the Lady Bug as if it were getting a ride.

Emma wanted both hers & Kara's bears in a picture together. I thought it fitting that the bears are the same pattern, yet different in color placements and the shape of their noses. The same-yet different.

"Crosses of the World" Adventure

2 Nephi 9:18 reads "But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever."  

I used the scripture as the foundation of an unexpected family adventure.  It will take a while for me to type it all out, which is why it isn't done.  So rather than continue to tell myself that I'll get around to doing that, I'm just going to summarize and let you watch the slide show.  I'm sure that I won't be able to explain it all as well as when we were actually participating in the adventure.  Please accept my apology and maybe you'll be able to hear about our experience in person another time.

Crosses of the World:  jealousy, immodesty, anger, greed violence, pain, drugs, alcohol, divorce, etc.....

Rocks represent the crosses (burdens) of the world we each must carry while here on earth.  The girls gathered rocks to begin the adventure.  I then read the scripture above & we each made our own list of "crosses of the world".  We all had similar lists with a few things that maybe a 7 year old wouldn't think of.  We shared a couple from our lists and talked about them.   We then put our rocks ("crosses or burdens of the world") in our back packs and went for a hike.

We stopped 3 times on our hike.  Each stop consisted of consuming one snack while we talked about spiritual things we can do to help us endure the crosses of the world.  We then would unload 2 or 3 rocks from our back packs & gave them back to the Lord by tossing them into the water or the side of the trail.

Our first stop was about service.  We then looked for garbage while we hiked & collected it.  We also served one another while exploring the trails.  The second stop was about scriptures.  I likened them to a recipe given to you from your mother and how silly it sounds to call her & ask her how to make that specific recipe when you already have it written down & given to you.  The directions and answers are in the scriptures Heavenly Father has given to us to guide us here on earth.  The 3rd stop was about following the prophets.  We were almost out of rocks by now and eager to get to the end of our adventure.  Our 4th and final stop was about prayer.  Just as we need physical nourishment (snacks) to keep our bodies full of energy to get things done, we also need spiritual nourishment (service, scriptures, following the prophets, & prayer) to give us the energy to allow Jesus Christ to lighten our loads here on earth.  Even though doing these things may seem like a lot of work, we actually feel lighter & happier despite the crosses we are sometimes required to bare.  We then threw the rest of our rocks in the water, finished our snacks & enjoyed the rest of the time just thinking about our experience.  It was a wonderful afternoon and hopefully an adventure that the girls will remember when life is hard.

I'm thankful to my Heavenly Father for answering my prayers & guiding me, through the power of the Holy Ghost, in nurturing my family.

Ducky

Ducky sits at 11" tall.  His hair-do was inspired by my dad.  Love ya, dad!  He needed a splash of color, so I made a hot pink daisy for him to hold.

HAPPY SPRING!