Canning and drying apples

Today's been a few hours canning and drying apples. Everyone helped with the process. Some was apple pie filling for later and others dried cinnamon apples. Yummy!

She eats apples faster than we can peel them

Pie filling for tomorrow.

Yummy!

Paid babysitters

These two are not out for hire! But they are the cheapest around Ehre earns .25 and Ben .10 for each lesson I teach. Only three rules...1. Be happy, 2. Don't interupt mom 3. Don't let Elise get hurt.

Overall we have great days and as of late they play outside together while I teach....it works out great!

She can't walk...

.....but she is pretty much stair safe :)

Surgeon's update

I saw Dr Snead today because they didn't do a lot of physical therapy over the summer he is considering me a 3 month post surgery patient right now. Which is really good he likes white at he said I'm right on schedule we talked about volleyball he said I could start hitting but no serving and definitely no diving.....ha ha I don't die when I am pregnant anyways.

So now I am looking for a babysitter for Friday night so I can go to couples night with Jeff and start hitting again!!!

Baby shower gifts

I am going to a baby shower tomorrow...she doesn't follow my blog so the gift will still be a suprise. This morning I realized I didn't have a gift and would need to make something.   I first made this owl hat for my friends newborn girl but then I realized that it was more boyish than intended. So I made the complete opposite. Maybe I will give her both... I'm not sure yet. Amy I would send it to you but it is too warm in Thailand.

Due to cold weather...

The hat became an early bday gift.

Friends new board game

(this really is a blog post from me :)

What to try a new game? My friends just put together this one, and you can now buy it.  Its kind of fun to say that you know someone who actually put together something like this and now its in production!  Congrats to the Meservy Family and their hard work. Check it out!  http://www.sharpano.com/

Loops ....Croop

My phone has a spelling feature that corrects my typing but often changes words even when I type them in correctly. :)

Sick Elise

Elise has droop. After a long and horrible night ( jeff and I didn't get to go sleep till 3:30..am) I took her into the weekend clinic at 9 am. By 9:05 the dr said it was definitly crook and contagious . So its a good thing its conference weekend. We will all stay home and relax. Hopefully theme steroid Elise recieved will kick in before tonight.

In the keen time we are having Mary Lou doughnuts because i am too tired to make the traditional Abelskievers.

Elise's handmade christmas gift.

I will make one for each of the kids but I have a goal to make something for each one myself each year.

Elise's new winter bonnet.

She had red eye and I can't fix it on my phone so she looked scary. :) The bonnet is pink so cute! This time it buttons under the chin...no ties to worry about. Now I can start on the families set of matching hats for christmas...they are going to be awesome!!!!

Simple wedding cake.

I have a friend getting sealed to her husband this week. I decided to surprise her with a wedding cake. She was surprised it was a lot of fun.

Fall hat

This is a hat that I made when Elise was a few months old....way to big then but perfect now. I am currently working on a pink winter bonnet.

Elise LOVES board books.

She has worn through a few already :)

Church at home today.

Ben has a 103 fever and everyone but Elise has a cough...all this started last night. :( So we all stayed home.

Passport photo

I lately have not liked any of my photos . So when Jeff asked me to get a passport I was nervous that I would hate the photo and be stuck with it for 10 years....but no I like it :)

Look what came home today....

The butterfly hatched today! These past few days both Eire's teacher and I have explained that sometimes they don't hatch but it did!

Chicken Enchiladas Story

This is one of my favorite dishes...and I never make it. Mostly because I never have the ingredients on hand. But this week just before I went to do my grocery shopping...ok when I was in the WalMart parking lot. I quickly looked up the recipe and wrote down everything I would need. It took me about an hour, and I made two extra sides to freeze for later, but in the end I had a delicious Enchilada dish. (1/2 with olives for me, and 1/2 without for Jeff :)

When we served up everyone's plates, this is the conversation that followed:
Ben: I don't like it
Jeff: You should be grateful your mom made you dinner
Ben: I don't like it.....continued for 5 minutes
Jeff : Ben you should tell your mother thank you for dinner.
Ben: Mom, I am grateful you made dinner, but I am not grateful you served me some (seriously!!!! smarty pants)
Jeff: Just taste it, take a bite.
Ben.......4 bites later, I love it!

:) Oh the joys of trying new dishes on kids!

Side By Side

Ok, maybe they aren't as similar as we thought, but they still are quite cute!!! In these pictures Ehre is 12 months and Elise is 11.

Future Mrs. Clause

I had to pull out warmer sleepers and found this. Elise looks so much like Ehre.

Amazing dress site

Yes, this is Ann sending out this link this time. :) A friend just recommended a site that will add sleves or alter a dress to fit your measurements...all for very reasonable prices. So I am passing on the wonderful news.

eshakti.com

Maybe after this baby we'll look into getting a new dress, since yes, I'm sure I won't fit my old ones for a little while. :)

Indianapolis Temple

We have a layout of what the grounds are going to look like...beautiful like always!

http://mormontemples.org/eng/indianapolis/temple-details

Piano Lessons

I am excited to report that I am teaching piano lessons again. Its been a while but this is going to be fun. I was only planning to teach 2 kids, but then realized there was a need in our stake for more teachers. So I took on a few...12 more. I now teach for an hour every afternoon M-F and a few lessons while Ben is at Preschool. I figure it was less work than my second class (that I dropped) and plus I get paid to do something I like.

Ben is now also taking lessons, and though his are quite short and feel quite scatterbrained (I try to relate the lessons to things that he likes, such as cars, airplanes driving up and down the keyboard etc) he is making progress. He can find all the C's and G's, and is good about finding black cluster keys and black chords. (We refer to these sets of black keys as groups of friends, also we relate them to their white friends nearby...Jeff overheard and I think at first he thought I was racist, till he realized we were talking about the piano!)

 Ehre is still taking lessons, her counting has really improved. She has learned that if she practices 4 days a week she gets to have pizza at school on Fridays. Our first piano recital will be in December, and I am excited. I have a great bunch of kids and this is going to be fun to see them progress with their lessons.

Did I mention, the money we earn goes towards our trip to Utah (for a month) next year? Isn't that wonderful! I've got some great deadlines coming up.....

Bookfair in October
Elise's Birthday on Oct 22
Halloween
Thanksgiving (My parents hopefully visiting)
8th year anniversary
Christmas
Ehre's Birthday
Jeff's Birthday
Ben's Birthday
Jeff's Defense
New Baby arriving
Final offer from CRANE
Packing up and then on May 1st .... moving in with my parents for a month until we start our job in Bloomington.

I love all these little celebrations coming up it makes time pass by really fast!

Celebrating the small things

Today I am quickly blogging to celebrate life's small accomplishments. This will sound dumb but I hope you can relate. What was my small accomplishment?

I cleaned our Master bedroom. I've had a basked of laundry from 2 weeks ago with odds and ends that needed to be put away...but it got put in corner and since then we've added more piles. I've done good at keeping the rest of the house clean but I just shut the bedroom door. So tonight I took up all the fresh laundry, and put EVERYTHING away. Its now nice, clean and relaxing again. :)

See its the small things that count!
Ann

Butterfly

Can you see the cocoon? Ehre found it in the backyard. So we printed of f some info about the monarch butterfly and prepared everything so her class could watch it emerge. So far....no butterfly yet.

I want to make this Volleyball Cake!!!

http://thegoodapple.blogspot.com/2011/09/volleyball-cake.html

Southwestern Salad (Fast and Easy and Super Yummy)

I made this for dinner tonight and have to share, it is sooo yummy. Elise (10 months) even ate the corn, onion, bean, bell pepper and tomato mixture. :)  Ben (4) well he took a little more coaxing and only finished 1/2 but he's not a lettuce boy. Only thing that could have made this better is if everything had come from my fresh garden, but it didn't. (My aunt did supply fresh tomatoes for us!)

Try it, I am sure you'll like it just as much as we did. We served it with fresh cantaloupe (super yummy!) What a healthy dinner all around.  Don't forget your glass of milk though!

Ann

(Found at http://www.skiptomylou.org)
This layered summer salad is delicious and can be made a day ahead. It makes a perfect no cook summer meal!

Southwestern Layered Salad Recipe

1 head of lettuce (iceberg, romaine or your favorite), chopped

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups frozen corn, thawed

1 bell pepper (yellow, red or green), chopped

1/4 to 1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips

Southwestern Salad Dressing

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup ranch salad dressing

1/4 cup your favorite salsa

Mix together sour cream, ranch salad dressing and salsa. Set aside.

Layer Salad

In a trifle bowl layer lettuce, black beans, onions, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, bell pepper, salad dressing, cheese and chips. Garnish with cilantro and tomatoes. If making the day ahead, leave tortilla chips out and add in before serving.

Enjoy!

Ehre's Spelling List

These seem kind of hard for a 1st grader, but I'm sure we'll master them by Friday.
1. dad
2. sad
3. back
4. nap
5. tap
6. sack
7. man
8. mat
9. too
10. over
11. after
12. candy
13. camp
15. family
15. math
16. am
17. down
18. apples
19. grandparents
20. Labor Day

Listening to "fake" music under the desk.

....headphones not plugged in.

Elise and the goats!

...not quite sure about them.

Columbia park zoo

We loved having Jeff with us!

Baby Ultrasound

All went well this morning, we were expecting our due date to be around March 22, but they actually said it would be March 20th. So....minus two weeks and put us having this baby at 38 weeks like the last three, and we are looking at having this little one around March 6th, and somehow we lucked out, Spring Break starts March 12 :)

Here are some images, I will try to load the video next.  I know its not "interesting" to most, but this is a way another journal for me, so bear with.  :)
Ann

Summer video

This was pretty funny.

Baby #4 heartbeat

....its really short because Elise was not thrilled at the idea of being an older sister....can you tell? Jk she had been sleeping and just woke up. :)

Huston we have a problem....

...ok so that's why they included a buckle. Good thing we were all at the breakfast table.

Russon Brothers Mortuary: Obituaries

http://www.russonmortuary.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1243838&fh_id=12577

My cousin lost his wife this week to cancer. Its caused me to do alot of thinking the past two days. Its sad to see a good mother leave a husband and young son behind.

Our prayers are with Ben and his family.

Baby Celine in her hat!

She is soooo cute and super tiny!

Telling the kids.

Jeff printed 12 of these images and placed them on family photos. He even put one on my tummy...it took the kids a little time to figure it out but when they did they were quite excited.

Today Ben told me he couldn't wait for his birthday because after that a baby boy was going to pop out of my tummy. :)

First ouch at church...

....she fell off the bench and hit the hymnal holder....I could hear the nonlinear from the organ. Jeff rushed her out no real damage but it left its mark.

Well, this was a big surprise for us!

No this has nothing to do with Jeff's job, we are still waiting to hear the final details regarding his hiring process and we may have to wait until MARCH, which in my opinion is way to close to his graduation date, and for the fact that in March we will be plenty busy taking care of other things, which happen to include a new baby! We are meeting to confirm with the doctors this week....but looks like Elise will be a big sister in March!

Holding on to our babies

...this was so funny! Its SO nice to have Jeff with is again!!

Baby hat for a friend..

...I hope it fits!

My 1st grader is so stink'n cute!

Elsie's birthday cake.

School Cones...

This is a german tradition you fill paper cones with treats and school supplies. Kids get them on the first day of school. I went ob the small side...some cones are as large as the kid!

"Campfire food"

Back yard camping

Headboard now matches the dressers

Aria is now a big sister!

Learning Without Knowing

Ehre's teacher sent home these ideas, I thought they were fun. Often I am looking for a new simple idea but am brain dead! Enjoy!

Learning Without Knowing…

In the Car and Waiting in Line:

·         Days of the week

·         Months of the year

·         Phone number and address

·         Count to 25, by 5's, 10's, 100'ss

·         Who sees something blue? Green? Red? Etc…

·         Alphabet

·         Alphabet game- who can find the letter a first? B? etc

·         Who can find something that starts with a d? p? etc

·         There are five vowels…what are they?

·         I am thinking of a coin that is copper and is worth one cent. What is it called? What is the coin called that is worth five cents? 25 cents? 10 cents? Is the dime smaller than the nickel?

·         Shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, etc. Give me an example of something that is a circle.

·         Am I turning left or right?

·         Say a word and have your child tell you all of the sounds in it.

·         At a stop light see how many times they can say the alphabet or count as high as possible

·         Read signs on the road and ask what letters or sight words they see.

·         Say a word and have them tell you the beginning and ending sound.

·         Give clues for words to your child. I am thinking of a word that starts with c and ends with a t and it is an animal

·         Practice spelling words

Ways to use magnetic letters at home:

·         Making words

·         Name game

·         Alphabetical order

·         Magazine Match- have children find and cut out large print words they can read and understand from magazines or newspapers. They glue them on a sheet of paper and make them each a magnetic letter.

·         Making new Words-build several words and show the children how to change, add or take away a letter or letters to make a new word.

·         Rhyming pairs- use a magnetic cookie sheet. With magnetic letters make a word such as cut. Say the word and have the child say a rhyming word or make it with magnetic letters below it.

·         Crossword letters- you make a word and then the child makes a word that starts from one of the letters. The word can go across or down.

·         Adding Endings- make an action word such as jump. Invite the child to add as many different endings as possible (jumps, jumped, jumping)

·         Changing vowels make a sample three letter word. Ask the child to change the vowel to make a new word.

·         Syllable Game say a word and then make it with magnetic letters. Have the child say another word with the same number of syllables and make it with magnetic letters.

·         Consonant couplets make a word that begins with a consonant. Have the child make another word that starts with the same consonant.

·         Consonant cluster couplets make a simple word that begins with two consonants together (cr-) have the child make a word that starts with the same cluster.

·         Category words- chose a category such as colors, clothing, food, furniture. Make and read a word in the category. Have the child make and read one and continue to take turns making as many words in the category as you can. Keep a list and read the list together at the end.

·         Compound finish, make the first part of a compound word and have the child finish it. Then reverse the roles. Keep a list of the words you make and read them together.

·         Building words give your child a pile of letters and tell them to make and write as many words as they can.

·         Make and mix have your child make the names of the days of the week. One at a time, mix the letters and have them make them again several times. Repeat with the months of the year.

·         Seasons Reasons, select a season. Make a word and tell why it goes with that season. Have your child do the same.

·         Missing Letters- make the last part of a word such as _ _ _ air and have the child put one or two letters in the beginning to make a real word. Repeat the process with one or two missing letters at the end of the words.

Other fun activities to do:

·         Take a "color Walk" looking for things that are different colors. Walk through your home, neighborhood or playground.

·         Play "I Spy" with your child

·         Give your child a bucket off colored sidewalk chalk.

·         Put sand flour or rice in a shallow baking pan. Have your child use his or her fingers to draw numbers in the pan.

·         Write numbers in the bottom of an empty egg carton and let your child count the correct number of buttons beans or pennies into each section

·         Using a large plate and several pieces of cooked spaghetti  ask your child to make shapes, letters and numbers that you name.

Amy's baby gift

Christy's baby gift.

1st day of school

School cones

Back to school again.......and again....and again....and again....

I went to Utah Valley State College, then the University of Utah, then back to UVSC, and then I finally finished my BA at Purdue. But now I am working on my 2nd Bachelors at Ivy Tech.... I would say that makes me quite knowledgeable about the ins and outs of several different universities...wouldn't you?!

OK, I did drop my Anatomy Physiology class for this fall but I did pay my tuition for my two online courses, English Composition and Psychology....normally I wouldn't have a problem taking these two classes....but I MUST GET AN A...and it is leaving me quite jittery and nervous!

Wish me luck, maybe one day I will be an RN...or at least I will be able to say I tried. :)

Ann

Since arriving home...

Jeff left me Sunday afternoon to return to Bloomington for his internship...so I am trying to get caught up on everything so far I have...

...unpacked LOTS of boxes and suite cases
....several loads of laundry
...made a padded cover for new high chair (really cute I'll sometime post a picture)
... successfully transitioned Elise to 2 naps a day and sleeping through the night....OK its not successful yet but so far its going well.
....paid bills
... spent time swinging Elise out side
... Spent a few hours talking with Jeff
... bought boards so that I can make drawer dividers for Ehre and Elise's dresser
....organized all the kids clothes, pulling out what was too small and seeing they had everything for the school year.
... hung our new and beautifully large photo of Christ (again a photo soon)
... swept the kitchen floor (yes at least 7 times)
... organized pantry
...registered Ehre for 1st grade, she will have Mrs Whithers.
... had 2 play dates with friends
... VT one of my ladies
...practiced the organ
... had a PT appointment and did exercises twice
...caught up on a few missed episodes of Flashpoint
... took a few naps with Ben
... cleaned the kitchen
...grocery shopping

...  and its now Tuesday evening....(Volleyball Time) I "think", rather "hope" my to do list is getting smaller....oh the just the joys that come with returning from a summer long internship. :)

What are you up to? I usually don't put lists like this together, I only check off my to do list...but I like it when the Barefoot Queen makes lists, they are fun to read.

Volleyball.... first time in months!

My surgery was May 9th, and they didn't clear me for working out (elliptical or stationary bike only) till July 10th. I met with my PT (who is Amazing....not like the one I had to see while in Bloomington) and she said I definitely can go to volleyball tonight! She also said I could try a 10 minute run. She's sort of ok with aerobics too but she needs me to work hard on not letting my dominate muscles overcompensate for my surgically repaired ones....so I am supposed to be careful. Sadly thought no serving for at least a few more months. :(

Finally I can start working out again! But really the best part is that I get to go tonight...I even hired a babysitter since Jeff is still in Bloomington. She's worth it!

Ann

Boxing up to go home...

...poor Jeff has 4 more weeks down here. We will only get to see him on the weekends.

Fresh stone ground cornmeal available at every hour.

Pioneer village at Spring Mill State Park.

Such a cool place to visit more pics coming.

Tan lines

This is a modest pic.... but I have to say... its pretty funny to see Ehre at the pool when her swimsuit is riding up. She has all the tan lines from her swimsuit!