Saturday--part 1

Saturday was a very busy day for me.  I got up "early" (about 7:15) & showered.  After I ate breakfast & warmed up the van, I put some more air in the back tire of the van (it has a slow leak that needs fixed sometime soon).  Then I drove to Terreton (about 40 miles away) to the LDS stake center for the World Wide Training broadcast.  It was a follow-up from the 1st one in November & it was awesome!  Gave me more insight on the new church handbook & inspired me to act more on my "feelings" & promptings from the Holy Ghost.

I got home from the broadcast a little before noon, fed everyone lunch & mixed up the sugar cookie dough.  It has to chill in the fridge for a few hours.  Then I picked up my Bountiful Basket (it was a nice one with 2# strawberries, lemons, apples, bananas, oranges, cantaloupe, spinach, broccoli, leaf lettuce, red peppers, mushrooms, & carrots--and maybe some more that I can't remember?).

Then Rusty suggested we go to the land so the kids could sled.  It was a nice, sunny day--& the temperature was close to freezing!!!  (funny when 32 is warm!)

But I was so tired--Friday was our temple assignment day & I had a headache most of  Friday (even with medicine).  I know some of it was from lack of sleep.  But the kids wanted to go, so I helped them get their snow clothes on, and was getting ready to get mine on when Rusty said if I wanted to stay home & take a nap, he would take them out by himself.  Brienna was in Terreton for choir practice, so she wasn't here to help with the kids while they were sledding.  But, I decided to jump at the chance & stay home.  After I finished a load of laundry, I went in my room to lie down.  About 15 minutes later, Brienna came home & so I asked if she wanted to go sledding (because I could drive her out if she wanted to), but she said she didn't. So I laid down again, and this time I fell asleep.  And I got a nice 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap!

And this is what the kids did while I slept:

 I love Ben's face in this one!!

 Rusty said that Ben & Emmalee had a blast just sliding on their bottoms!

They stayed for over an hour, came home wet & tired out (& hungry), and littered the floor with their wet clothes.

After I got up from my nap, we made the sugar cookies.  that post will have to wait until tomorrow, though.

To Ski or Not to Ski...

We (Rusty, Zane & myself) decided to go cross-country skiing at our land (3 miles away) this morning  (Saturday).

The weather was sunny & in the high 20's.

then we got to the land.....and:

the wind was howling & the cold was just biting my cheeks!  We didn't even get our skis on before we decided to head back home.  And of course when we got back into town, there was just a breeze.  I am thankful for the trees to protect us from the winds!

Ben & Zeb's video

I think I got the video to work--try it again  (it is only about 3 seconds!!)
You can go down 2 posts, or click here

Benjamin--January 2011

Benjamin--ready for church.  What a handsome little boy!

He absolutely L♥VES nursery!!!

 Emmalee & Benjamin

 You know he is getting ready to jump!

 Brienna playing "Guess Who" (a game) with Benjamin.  He sat on her lap for over 20 minutes, finding the matching people.

 She was teaching him to find the person, and them put their picture down until he found all of them.

 He is quite smart, and very independent.  He didn't want help putting them down, even when he would accidentally knock others down.

He is starting to see a speech therapist.  At his 2 year doctor check-up, I was a little concerned about his expressive speech, so he was tested last month.  He scored above average in all areas (motor skills, developmental, receptive speech....) but 10 months behind in his expressive speech.  He has gradually stopped saying words he used to say months & almost a year ago.  So he goes in for a hearing test next week to be checked & to make sure there isn't built-up fluid.

We have a few "strategies" we are working on to encourage expressive speech, but we are mostly waiting for the hearing test & results. 

Ben & Zeb

Rusty had our dog, Zeb, in the house today.  Ben was having fun sitting on him & playing with him.

So I asked Brienna to take a picture of Ben sitting on Zeb. 

But my camera was on video, so we got this instead: 

(I know it's blurry, but it's funny!!)

Ben & Zeb wrestling.  Now if only I had video of Ben watching this & laughing over & over.

Pinewood Derby

Last week was our Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.

Callum & Rusty worked on his derby "car" for about 2 weeks.   Callum picks unique vehicles to make.  Last year he made this.  

Two years ago, he built dad's little Toyota pick-up.

So this year, he decided to make:

The back-hoe.

 He had a lot of fun making it with Rusty.  And he did a good job painting it!

 He actually had stayed home from school all day, because he had an on-going headache.  He tried to get dressed to go to school at lunch-time, but he felt dizzy & worse when he wasn't laying down.

 Usually we tell the kids if they are too sick & can't go to school, then they can't go anywhere else.  But we told him he could still go to the Pinewood Derby if he felt well enough.  

This is the first year since we moved here that I wasn't cubmaster & in charge of the derby (7 years of racing!)

 Callum (& Matthew) watching the race.  Although Callum didn't have the fastest car, he definitely had the fastest back-hoe!!  About half-way through, he told me he felt cold & so he put his coat on.  He looked pale, but finished the night.  The derby lasted about 1 1/2 hours, and was a good success!

Here are the 12 (out of 16) Cub Scouts from our pack.

And here is a video of one of his races.

He ended up feeling even worse when we got home, and even missed his field trip to Blast-Off (to play laser tag & other games) on Friday.  He also missed Little Bobcat basketball on Saturday morning along with church on Sunday.  And I have a feeling he won't be going to school in the morning.

Where is Benjamin?

So after piano lessons (just about 20 minutes ago), I asked Brienna where Benjamin was (after all--it was her day to babysit the 2 youngest).  I knew the 2 boys were outside in the snow working/playing.

Brienna was at the computer.  And Emmalee was in the living room.

So Brienna said:  "I bet he is in my room"  (he loves to climb the bunk beds).  

Checked there & no Benjamin.

So I tried my (closed) door, found it was locked, unlocked it & found:

A sleeping Benjamin.  This is a first!!!  Glad he didn't wander away(door knob covers on outside doors) or get into anything dangerous!

Snow Caves

Zane (& Callum) are working on snow caves in Grandpa's yard.

 Zane has been good to take Emmalee & Benjamin over to let them play too.

 Emmalee thought it was fun to poke her head up.  Zane decided the snow was too thick, and he barely fit in.  So he dug a hole through the top & is putting a board over the hole.

 It's cold!!

 Cheese :D

 Ben & Zane

 Benjamin fit in just fine!

 And he loves to be outside, no matter how cold he gets.  I love the pink gloves he is wearing--we couldn't find his gloves, so we just let him wear Emmalee's.

 Zane made him a spot to sit in the snow--and then gave him snow to throw at me.

 He wanted more snow, but couldn't quite reach it!

So Zane kept supplying him with snow.  and then Zane joined Benjamin & threw lots of snow at me!

As you can see from these photos, we have had lots of cloudy days.  I was so grateful when we had a couple of sunny days (or mostly sunny days!)  It was so sunny one day that I was tempted to wear my sunglasses in the house :)

Baking on Our Wood Stove

For Christmas, we got a fun new "gadget"--a Dutch oven dome.  It is meant to be used camping on a cook stove, but we have been wanting to try to find an oven that goes on top of our wood stove.

 So this is the metal plate.

And here is the dome.

And here is the bread that came off the stove--well, I baked 2 of the loaves on the wood stove.  The other 2 I baked in the oven.  Bet you can't tell the difference!!!

 So I am excited that it worked.  And not only did it work, but it didn't take as long as baking in our oven.

 So Brienna decided to make cupcakes (from scratch) & we baked those on the oven.  Don't they look yummy!!!  The first dozen we baked for 18 minutes, and just as the timer rang, I could smell burnt cupcakes.

But it was only the bottoms.  So for the next 6, we set the timer for 15 minutes, and they were not as done, but still a little too crispy on the bottom.  The last 6, I set the timer for 12 minutes & they were perfect!

So now we need to buy a dutch oven trivet so the metal plate is just a little bit higher off the wood stove.  

And we have baked pizzas & pizza pockets on the wood stove too.  I can't wait to bake some more goodies!