The three bears . . .

Liv chillin' in the office chair

I found the boys this morning in the same position! They both had their knees up, both had their heads turned the same way, both had their hands folded the same way, both sound asleep. I thought it was cute. :)

PINEWOOD DERBY!

Calvin is the cute little scout with the hat and neckerchief on.

FOURTH PLACE!

Calvin came in fourth place and was very excited about it.

It was a fun little race and we are looking forward to next year.

Easter

Happy Easter!

Here is our day!

Our baskets really weren't that big, so it gives the impression that they are stuffed to the hilt with goodies. :)

The white stuff you see on the table is glitter . . . perhaps the easter bunny left it there??

Liv's got toys and baby spoons!

The boys got a giant Hershey's kiss, a chocolate "woodland animal" and some toys - bubbles to blow for Liv and some pencils and erasers.

After church (Greg came home shortly after we did - miracle of miracles) and he hid the easter eggs . . . the first time I think he ever did that. This year our eggs didn't contain candy. Credit for the following idea comes from the Ensign Magazine. I put pictures of Jesus and scriptures in each egg. As the boys opened their eggs, we talked about what each picture was and their thoughts - we read each scripture. One egg was left empty. That was the best one of all . . . to help us remember the emtpy tomb on Easter.

I just love this time of year - I think more than Christmas! Jesus lives. He lives; I know he does! I hope you all had a wonderful day as well.

http://www.jesuschrist.lds.org/

My Good ideas

Yeah, yeah - sometimes I DO get good ideas . . . mostly I just see seomething in a magazine or hear of another idea and and adapt it to suit our needs. :)

Here are my latest ideas... (as I learn and remember better visually, I am posting photos to show. :)

We "read our way to bowling". For each book the boys read, they earned a bowling pin for the wall - - at the top was a bowling ball that said "Family Bowling Trip" Once we reached the bowling ball, we got to go bowling- hence the photos posted earlier with our bowling trip. :) It got the boys reading and was fun to see the books we read!

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March 17th FHE: Shamrock scavenger hunt - the boys LOVE scavenger hunts and this one ended at the oven with cupcakes! (Ignore Josh's crazy eyes. :)

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Okay, so Calvin is working on memorizing his multiplication tables, so I jazzed it up a little . . . I saved several dollars and made our own flash cards. I taped them to the wall in the kitchen, the wall in the bathroom (yes, the bathroom) and even on his bedroom ceiling. See the quarter taped to the door? When he completes a number set and has them all memorized, he can take the quarter down and it is his to keep (most kids would ask for more than a quarter, but Calvin is not one of those kids. lol.) When he has a fact memorized he can turn the card over to hide the answer.

The bedroom flashcards? Well, credit goes to Family Fun magazine for that idea . . . Calvin gets a flashlight for bed and has to spend time each night shining his FLASHlight on his FLASH cards to memorize them .

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Our "Get up and GO" Chart. credit goes to Supernanny for this one. This is a bad photo, but the boys each have a wooden pirate piece and each morning their pieces start at the bottom of the poster. First thing is to read scriptures (with mom), then make bed, take bath (if needed), get dressed, brush hair, brush teeth. We use velcro to move the pieces up to the Pirate Ship. They both love it and it makes the morning go so much more smoothly!! We keep scripture sets in their bedroom so as soon as they are awake enough, we move to the floor and read.

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Another idea that doesn't have a photo . . . credit goes to my mom for this one . . . I sometimes wake the boys up with a cup of hot cocoa. I got so tired of "begging" them to wake up, that I started bringing a mug of cocoa to their beds. They sit right up and start chugging. Josh will often wake up and announce that "The cocoa is coming!" Each time I have woken them up with this technique, they get right up and our day is bliss!!!
As an aside to this, I used to make our morning cocoa from scratch (the best way to do it), but was lured into using instant cocoa by KBB - talk about carnal security! Sheesh.

FREE SAMPLES FROM WALMART

Who doesn't love a freebie?!
Free sample of Dove Hair Care
Free sample of Glad Trash Bag
Free sample of Curel Moisturizer
Free sample of Vaseline Intense Rescue Lotion
Of course you can always just go to http://www.walmart.com/ -->in stores now -->free samples

Now, you have to enter your birthdate, but I NEVER give out my real date.

btw, Mom and JJ: I already ordered your trash bags for you.

Liv's laughter

Josh has a special way of making Liv laugh - almost scream laugh. It is so funny to watch.
Enjoy!

Pinewood Derby Time!

The race is fast approaching, and Calvin is hard at work. Calvin designed the car, Greg cut it out (roughly), and Calvin has sanded it (actually, we have all sanded a bit. Each time I walk by the car, I will pick it and and sand some more - I have even seen Josh sneak a sanding in. Does that count as cheating? :) Anyway, I guess the next step is to paint and weigh. A lady in our ward has a scale that I think she will let us use.
FYI - Calvin is wearing his scarf as a mask so he wouldn't inhale the sawdust - Greg's idea. :)

Liv's cute face

Just thought I would share - Liv likes to show off her teeth. :)
The tooth count for now: 6
Oh, and she is clapping, waving, saying "uh-oh", saying "bye, bye, bye", crawling, pulling up on things, laughing, screaming at her brothers (they like to see who can "outscream" the other), pushing buttons (mostly on toys, but sometimes she'll push mine!), sleeping in her own bed at night (!), has stopped taking food from a spoon and will only take it (forcefully, almost) through a medicine dropper (hopefully this is only temporary), and....I think that is it. She is the happiest little thing in the world - I need to record her laugh b/c it is so cute.
K, enjoy!

50 Accelerated Reader Points!

Much thanks to Greg, Calvin earned 60 AR points recently! At his school, the 50-point level earns a yellow silicone bracelet and a "Star Reader" book bag. Calvin was awarded his goods on the TV morning news at school, and so of course I was on scene with camera in hand (and baby on hip). He was way more excited than he looks on the picture. :)
FYI - for those who don't know . . . AR is a program that allows students to test on books they have read. Each book is assigned a point value (ranging from .5 to 15+), and the test score determines how many points a student will receive.

Mr. Beatbox

How cool is this??!