Activity days The Good Samaritan / Compassion Rolls activity

This week for activity days I planned an activity centered around the parable of the good Samaritan.  I found this craft here: http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/bible_themes_-_g.html#goodsamaritan  We started the activity by watching the Good Samaritan.  Then we discussed it, and came up with ways of how to show compassion to other people.  I bought the girls a little journal for a buck, put a sticker of Jesus on it.  I wanted them to go home and practice showing compassion to those around them, and write down their experiences in the journal.
After we discussed we went into the kitchen and put together our compassion rolls.  I did my own version of the compassion roll.  I used a paper cup to hold everything in, instead of a toilet paper roll.  I used a prayer rock instead of a clip art picture of praying hands.  I used a I know the scriptures are true book mark instead of clip art picture of a bible.  I explained while we were putting together our compassion rolls that they were to share it with someone, it didn't matter who it was.  I wanted them to write down that experience as well in their journals.

The activity went well, it went fast.  That was nice because then I was able to sit and talk with the girls and get to know them better.  I have a really good group of girls, that are a lot of fun!  I really hope that they are learning and having fun at the same time.  I'm nervous because my partner was released, and they called a new person to take her place.  I know this person is reliable, but we both don't know what we are doing.  I hope we will get it figured out quick!

Madisynn lost a tooth!

A couple of weeks ago Madisynn came up to me and said "Look Mom I have a loose tooth!"  I replied back saying "No you don't, you're too little to have a loose tooth already." She insisted that she did, so I checked.  Madisynn was right, she had a loose tooth, a really loose tooth.  I thought maybe it would come out next month. Nope, she lost her first tooth yesterday during lunch.
I was trying to get her to hurry and finish her lunch because her friend Kimmy  was coming over to play. When Kimmy was here Maddie was still eating.  I had forgotten that her tooth was really loose. If I had remembered I would have cut her apple into bite size pieces.  I had cut them into wedges.  When she bit into her apple her tooth pretty much came out.  She came up to me and said I want Daddy to pull my tooth out.  I was shocked!  I told her to go ask him, so she did.  I didn't even look in her mouth cause loose teeth ready to be pulled make me queasy.
Matt told her to go get some toilet paper, and she did.  Kenzie, and Kimmy wanted to see.  Not me, I waited in the kitchen.  Kenzie and Kimmy soon joined me.  Silly girls!  There was no crying or screaming from Maddie.  Turns out her tooth was just sitting in her gums, no blood or anything.  She came running into the kitchen saying look Mom look at my loose tooth!  She was so excited.  I was excited for her!  We put her tooth in a plastic bag to put under her pillow.
Maddie says to me now the tooth fairy will leave a barbie, and a sucker under my pillow.  I have no idea where she got that from.  That wasn't going to happen.  I laughed and told her I think our tooth fairy leaves money so you can buy what you want.  I thought she understood, but she said it again later that night, and this morning.  I told her the same thing, and so did Kenzie.
Madisynn was so excited to go to bed knowing that the tooth fairy was coming.  I sent the girls to bed, and got busy cleaning my bathrooms, and kitchen.  Got lost on the computer while waiting for my sheets to dry.  I was so tired, that I forgot to put money under Maddie's pillow.  I felt horrible when Maddie came running into our room this morning holding her tooth and saying the tooth fairy forgot.  Whoops!  I gave her a hug, and said the tooth fairy must have had a busy night last night.  I'm sure she'll make up for it.  Maddie accepted that answer and went to put her tooth back under her pillow.  Phew!  I will make it up to her tonight.  She will be surprised!

Planking, it's actually a workout

I love this picture, planks are a very good workout.  Planks I hate them, but I love them.  I dread doing them in every Jillian workout.  You do a lot of plank work in her DVD's.  I came across this challenge on Pinterest not too long ago, and had to try it:

I knew that I could at least do 1 minute already because of the workouts that I have been doing.  I started out at 2 min for the first 4 days.  The 5th and 6th day I did 3 min. Day 7: 3 min 15 seconds.  Day 8: 3 min 30 seconds. Day 9: 3 min 45 seconds.  Day 10: 4 min 5 seconds.  It is hard, I wanted to get 5 min, but my arms wouldn't hold.  They were shaking so bad, and my core felt like it wanted to split in half.  I still feel very accomplished, and will work towards that 5 min!

Conversation heart craft

Matt and I did another valentine craft.  I saw it on pinterest and knew I had to make it.  When we were getting all of our supplies we didn't realize that we got bigger hearts than the ones from the post that we saw.  We were just excited to be doing something together, and to have more decorations.  After we were done and putting the ribbon on, we realized we couldn't use as much in-between each heart to connect them.  It would be way too long!  Matt wanted to do something different at the top with it, so I went along with his idea.
This is the picture where we got the idea:

 This is the one we made:

Next time I would make sure to have the smaller hearts so you could use more ribbon.  I think that I like the bow on the other as well, but I really like them both.  What do you think?

Eye appointment

Yesterday Maddie had a follow up eye appointment.  She did very well on covering her eyes one at a time and reading the letters.  Probably the best she has done.  Maddisynn went from 20/50 to 20/40.  She is improving, and it is totally awesome!  Hopefully she can continue to improve, we don't want the eye surgery if we can help it.  Dr. Brad Richards is an awesome doctor, I wish he wasn't so far.  He is almost an hr. away.  Anyways he told us to come back in 10 weeks, yea!  Every 6 - 8 weeks is murder. 10 weeks is doable!  I'm a happy momma. =) 

French dip sandwiches & Peanut butter fingers

Do you remember those days when you were in school, and school lunches were super good?  I do, my favorite lunch was the French dip sandwiches and peanut butter fingers.  They were so good!  I have always wanted to make french dip sandwiches, and have a peanut butter finger like in the school lunch.  Well I finally did it.  I found both recipes on pinterest.
Here is the link for the French dip: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/05/easy-french-dip-sandwiches.html

It was so easy, I can't believe I had never tried to do it before.  I added chopped onion, and fresh minced garlic to it.  So good!
Now for the peanut butter fingers.  Be  prepared the recipe makes a whole sheet pan full.  I had to freeze a bunch so I wouldn't eat them in 1 day. I could totally do it too!  Here is the link for the peanut butter fingers: http://triedandtriedagain.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog  Try making them sometime, they really are yummy.

Here is a picture of the ones I made.  Don't they look yummy?:

What was your favorite school lunch growing up?

Love day

I love Valentine's day!  I love the colors, I love the love, I love to see people smile, It's a fun day.  I told myself that I was going to be prepared for it this year.  I wanted to have the valentines all made and set to go early, I wanted my menu to be planned.  I wanted to have a fun day for our family to remember.  Then life happened.  Sickness, work, family stuff, it all came up.  We managed to pull it off and have a good love day!  We finished the valentine's the night before, along with Kenzie's valentine box.  I got Matt's gift, and the girls' put together.  It was a long night

I woke up early to make the pink valentine's breakfast: pink heart pancakes, pink scrambled eggs, and pink milk.  I made the girls' lunches: heart shaped ham sandwiches that had pink miracle whip, pink cottage cheese, an apple, and a hug and kiss candy.  The girls were so excited when they came in for breakfast, they loved the heart pancakes, and pink eggs.  I told them that they had a surprise for lunch, and that I couldn't wait to hear if they liked it or not.

Maddie liked the heart shaped sandwich, but wasn't really interested in eating it.  Kenzie said she got a little scared when she opened hers up because she thought it was blood.  I asked her "do you really think I would feed you blood?"  Come on now!  I thought it was a cute idea.  Kenzie did say that she liked it, and it tasted good.  

Matt and I really didn't get to do much because I helped out with Madisynn's class party.  He also had to work that night, so we celebrated the day before.  We just went to lunch, went and got a gift certificate for I tunes because we both really wanted more music.  Then rented Real Steel, and The Help to watch later.  Didn't do much more because Matt wasn't feeling very good.

Back to Tuesday after my morning crossing I came back home and gave Matt his gift.  A box of donuts from Rogers bakery.  I decorated the box, and put a message on it that said: donut you know I love you a hole bunch.  He really liked it!  It's been awhile since we have had some tasty donuts.  Red velvet, chocolate cake, white chocolate cake, old fashioned, and glazed with pink sprinkles.  Yummy! 

After my afternoon crossing I took Kenzie to run some errands with me, came back and fixed our pink dinner. Kenzie did her homework, and then we surprised the girls with a valentine's gift from us, which they loved.  They had been looking at the stuffed animals in the mugs and so we got them for them along with a precious jewel, and some hugs and kisses.  Our Pink dinner was pink chicken fettuccine alfredo, salad, and the rest of the heart pancakes with raspberry jam.  I know it doesn't really go with alfredo, I ran out of time.  I was going to make heart shaped garlic bread sticks.  I was also going to make the salad dressing pink, but forgot.  Oh well we had fun, and it was yummy!  We had donuts for dessert.  After dinner and the girls got ready for bed we let them play the DS while we watched The Help until Matt had to leave for work.  A great way to end the day.  Happy Valentine's day!

Valentines:  You make my heart glow!  Hugs and kisses.  

Kenzie's valentine box:

The handle was braided boondoggle 

Teacher valentine gift:  rolo's wrapped up like dynamite:

Matt's present:

Kenzie & Maddie present:

Pink breakfast:

I forgot to take a picture of the pink lunch. =(

Pink dinner:

Valentine Hugs & Kisses Candy Bowl

I learned how to make my own gumball candy machine to fill with hugs and kisses.  I found the tutorial from pinterest of course!

Here is a picture of the one on pinterest, along with the link with instructionshttp://wrapcandy.com/crafts/2011/11/make-a-gumball-candy-dish-craft/

I thought it was cute, and knew that I wanted to make my own.  Matt and I went out together and got all of the stuff that we would need.  It was fun making this craft together!  Extra bonus Matt is able to get all the vinyl lettering through blackhorse design.

Here is the one we made:

 I think it turned out pretty dang cute!  I love that it's got all of the colors red, black, pink, white.  I love that it's got the zebra stripes, and the lips on the ribbon.  I love that the hugs and the caramel kisses match as well! I'm so glad that I have Matt who is better in the craft department than I am to help me.  The ribbon that we got was to wide, so he folded it in half and sewed it with fish line for me.  You can't even tell that he did it either.  He is awesome!  So do you like it?

Lucky or Strong? You decide.

I found this tonight on a fitness tumblr.  I had seen it before and really liked it.  I wanted to pin it awhile ago on Pintrest, but didn't dare because I didn't know what the reactions were going to be.  Well I got brave and pinned it tonight, and lot's of people really liked it.  There were some that didn't like it and left comments saying they were offended, that it was an awful saying.  It made me feel really bad.  I didn't mean to hurt anybody's feelings, it so was not my intent.  I felt so bad that I ended up deleting it.  I know we are all entitled to our opinions, but I couldn't bring myself to comment back because I didn't want to get into it.  This saying really sums up how I have felt for a long long time.  The saying that I found with this tumblr:
I’m so glad I wasn’t “born skinny”. If I had been, I may never have discovered the passion and drive I have for fitness and health! Always remember to push yourself to do more my followers! jump higher work harder run faster and hold on to that feeling after a good workout when the sweat is pouring down your face and your gasping for breath! I believe in you!

I agree word for word of what this person has said.  I have had to fight every day to stay fit and skinny, and for that I feel like I am strong.  It is hard work!  I do push myself  harder, I give it my all during every workout.  I know that there are skinny girls who were born that way that have problems gaining weight, and they work really hard to gain it.  They are strong too! It's the girls that were born skinny and don't care about their health.  They don't exercise, they don't eat right, they slide on by, and it's sad. I'm glad I wasn't "born skinny" I used to wish that I were, but I have learned how to work hard.  I have discovered a passion, and I enjoy every second of it.  I will continue to fight to be healthy, fit, and skinny!  I'm sorry if any of you who read this find it offensive.

100

Today is the 100th day of school, and the girls have been super excited!  I've heard nonstop that it was coming up. At Madisynn's school you bring 100 items. Maddie brought 100 smarties to share.  You also have the option to dress up of how you think you will look like when you are 100 years old.  Maddie really wanted to dress up, so we had to be creative, not really my strong suit, but we tried.  We put curlers in her hair, and got one of my sweater jackets and put it on her.  It was supposed to be like a robe.  It drowned her, but she looked so cute!  Oh and the best part was that she was wearing a tutu underneath it! =)
I was excited to take her to school to see how the other kids dressed up.  When we got there it was sad, none of the other kids dressed up, maddie was the only one. I was thinking it was going to be like when Kenzie was in Kindergarten.  All of the kids were pretty much dressed up.  Some had wigs, some had suspenders, canes, walkers, robes.  In our case it was bright red hair and lipstick, a dress, and pretty jewelry!
Like this every 100 year old woman's dream:

I didn't want to do that to Maddie because that red Halloween hair dye was a real pain-messy.  Very unique though!  Anyways it was just so cute and fun, so it was a real let down to get to school and see that nobody had even tried.
I asked Maddie if she wanted to take off the sweater and she said NO.  She was happy, and I was going to let her be.  The only ones dressed up was Maddie and her teacher.  I really should have brought my camera and gotten a picture of them together.  NUTS!  I hope Maddie has fun, I think she will.  Can't wait to hear about her day.  I wonder what Kenzie's class is doing.  They didn't bring 100 items, or dress up.  It's a charter school so they do things differently.  I hope she fun too.  We will see!

Maddie when she is 100 years old acute 100 year old don't ya think?:

Building Temples

Yesterday was activity days.  For those of you who do not know what activity days is it's a program for the 8-11 year old girls in LDS Church.  I was just recently called to be an assistant activity days leader.  Yesterday was my turn to teach and do the activity.  It was on building temples.  When I saw what the lesson was on all of these ideas start coming into my head, and I couldn't think of where to begin.  I didn't want to make it confusing, or too much, but I wanted it to be fun and a good learning experience for the girls.
I found a couple of ideas online.  I started out by asking the girls why we build Temples.  There answer was to get married!  I said yes, but it's much more than that, and told them why we build temples.  I got my info off of lds.org temple page.  I wanted a hands on learning activity and I found it online. I had a bag full of objects symbolizing things n the temple.  The girls each took turns taking an object out of the bag and telling what it was. I read the meaning of the symbol.  It felt like the girls really wanted to know, and we talked and answered questions.
I saved the best for last we built our own temples out of marshmallows and toothpicks.  You should have seen the excitement on their faces.  I said you can't eat the marshmallows until you go home and have shown your parents what you made.  They all did pretty well following that rule, I was kind of worried!  I should have taken pictures of all the Temple's the girls built.  They were very unique, and well done!  I'm so glad the activity went well and it was a success.
When I got home Kenzie and Maddie were in awe of the marshmallow temple and wanted to eat it right then.  I told them they could either have some later after dinner, or the next day.  It ended up being today.  I told them they could have the marshmallows with some hot chocolate when they got home from school.  They were so excited!  Matt made the hot chocolate and gave them a good portion of the temple marshmallows and left the room.  He came back in to find them sneaking more, the little stinkers.  They ate almost the whole thing, it was a lot of marshmallows too!  I'm glad they enjoyed themselves.  I'm wondering if any of my activity days girls ended up having hot chocolate with their marshmallow temples, or if they finished eating it before they even got home.  I know for sure on a couple that they didn't last!  Fun times, i'm excited to do more activities with these girls, they are fun!

My Marshmallow Temple:

Dead Man's Burpee Challenge!

I saw this and I knew that I had to try it!  I actually ended up doing it twice.  The first time was a couple of weeks ago after Matt left for work, and the girls were in bed.  I was set to do this!  I didn't have a fancy timer or counter so I was using my i pod timer, and counting in head.  That gets hard to do when you are gargling your heart in your throat and about to puke.  I think I ended up doing 100 burpee's around the 8 minute mark.  I couldn't keep going or else I think I would have thrown up.  I was not happy about not having an accurate number, so I was going to have to do it again.
This past Monday was the day.  Matt was home, so I had him time me and count my reps.  What a good man he is to sit there and watch me for 10 min.  I completed the challenge doing 123 dead man's burpee's in 10 min! It is such a hard challenge, but well worth it.  I started out thinking it was a piece of cake, and then by about 20 burpee's I was feeling it!  I may just have to try it again to see if I can improve.  We shall see!  I love a good challenge!

Blood draw

So I went in for my follow up appointment today.  Everything was honky dory fine.  Talked to my Dr, told her I was feeling a lot better.  We both agree that it's amazing what Magnesium and Vitamin D will do for your body.  I have felt less anxious, less depressed, slept better, and have been able to handle stress better.  Anyways she then says I'll send the 'Vampire' in to draw my blood.  I smile and laugh.  I'm not a fan of getting my blood drawn, it's not because my veins have issues, I have great veins.  It's because I don't like to see blood, or needles going into skin.  It makes me queasy.
Today was an odd day though.  The 'vampire'  couldn't get any blood from my left arm, so she tried my right arm.  She missed my vein and it really hurt.  I think she could tell because I tensed up and she asked me.  She tried again, and got it.  Then I started to feel queasy and lightheaded.  In my head I was like please no don't pass out, don't pass out.  I think I told her that, and that is the last thing I remember before I passed out.
Passing out is not a fun experience.  It is so weird when you come too.  It's like you were dreaming.  When I did come too the 'vampire' was shaking me and asking me if I was okay.  It took me a minute to focus and hear normal.  When I was able to I asked her what happened.  She told me that I had passed out.  Then I started to cry.  I don't like passing out, it's scary.  She walked me over to the table bed and had me lie down.  She went out to tell Doctor McBride what happened.  I heard her say "My patient just passed out while I was drawing her blood."  I didn't hear Dr. McBride's response.  I heard the 'vampire' say that she wasn't able to get a full vile because I fell forward.
I cried more when I heard that because I really didn't want to come and get my blood drawn again.  Then the 'vampire' came back in with a glass of water. She asked me how I was doing as she gave me my water.  I told her I was still shaky, and a bit scared.  She gave me a Kleenex, and I asked her how long I was out for. She said not very long.  Then I asked her if she got enough blood.  She said that she wouldn't draw anymore blood from me today, and that I needed to lie down for a little bit.  She had to leave to go help another patient, and said she would be back to check on me.
In the meantime Doctor McBride opened the door to check on me.  She asked me if I had eaten or drank anything today.  I told her yes, and that getting blood drawn and thinking about it makes me queasy.  She then says "if it makes you feel any better I passed out during my first surgery."  Then she left.  I must have been lying down for 10 min or so when the 'vampire' came back in.
She asked me how I was feeling and I said much better thanks.  She says then I'll let you go home.  I then asked her if they would be able to test any of my blood. She told me no.  She told me that if I wanted she could suspend the test and I could just walk in and give them my name and they could draw my blood next week.  What a total bummer that she didn't get enough blood, I really wanted to have everything done and over with.  I guess I can wait 1 more week to see how I am doing.  I just want to hear the words you are healthy, and I will be relieved!  I'm glad that I didn't hurt myself when I passed out.  The last time time I passed out I was sitting in a chair and I fell forward and hit my forehead on the floor.  Not fun!
I have only passed out 3 times in my life.  The first time was when I was in high school and I had my wisdom teeth pulled.  I don't know if I had lost too much blood, or if I moved to quickly, or if it was the morphine I was on.  I'm guessing it was the morphine.  I was kneeling by my parents bed talking to my Dad and the next thing I know he is leaning over me shaking me and yelling my name.
The 2nd time was when I was pregnant with Madisynn.  I had gone in with my friend Alysha to help support her and her daughter Jessica who was having bladder infection problems.  They were going to put a catheter in her.  I was in the room, but wasn't looking for her privacy and because it makes me sick to see those kinds of things.  This is the one where I was sitting in the chair and passed out.  That one was scary.  When I came too on that one I had a bunch of Doctors standing over me.  The doctor that was helping Jessica told me she was about to call a code blue.  Scary!  You can see that I don't do well with medical issues even just talking about it.
The 3rd time was today.  I'm glad it wasn't more serious.  I think that I just started thinking about things and it made me queasy and pass out.  There was one other time that I remember almost passing out.  I was in Junior high.  I had an allergic reaction to some medicine I was taking.  I broke out in hives.  I remember going to dance class.  I started to get that funny feeling and I remember Kristy my dance teacher asking me if I was okay.  She told me that I didn't and to go sit down.  I'm glad she noticed because I most definitely would have.  So that was my very fun eventful day, hopefully no other surprises like this one.  Thanks for reading!

Jury Duty

Every time I hear the words Jury Duty I think of the Grinch.  The part on the movie where he is in the mail room and he starts throwing out Jury duty summons into the who's mail slots..  Jury duty, Jury duty,Jury duty!  Too funny. =)  I hope that's not how it's done, sometimes I wonder.
One day back in December I went to get the mail.  I opened it up, and saw a familiar envelope.  When I realized what it was, I said to myself please don't be for me, please don't be for me.  A sigh of relief.  It wasn't for me, it was for Matt.  It was a Jury duty summons notice.  I have only gotten jury duty once in my life, and I was lucky to have an excuse to get out of it.  My excuse was that we were in the process of moving.  I was immediately dismissed.  Matt, the poor guy has gotten jury duty 7 times since high school. He has gotten it  3 times out of the 5 years we have been out of the military.  He never has a legitimate excuse to be able to get out of it.  Matt has been lucky each time he has called to see if he needed to go in to hear that the court date was cancelled.
This time he wasn't so lucky.  When they mailed back all the info it said there were 24 potential jurors and they all had to show up.  From there they would choose 12.  Everyone was telling Matt that he should be biased, have anger management issues, wear his blues, wear his BDU's like he was getting deployed.  This is Matt we are talking about, I so couldn't see him doing any of those things to get out of it.  Thinking about him doing it really cracks me up.  =)
This was such an inconvenience for everyone.  Yes you get paid, but it's only $40 a day, which we make more than.  We were not happy about this.  Matt had to inform work, so they could be prepared to get people to cover for him.  They weren't to thrilled, luckily they can't fire him or do anything else.  Matt's supervisor isn't that great to work with, she doesn't like the extra work.
Matt was summoned to show up early this morning.  Sunday night he reads the letter again.  He forgot that it said to call the Saturday before.  So he quickly calls the number to get the hotline.  When he came out of the kitchen he breaths a sigh of relief and says I'm glad that I called because it said that the court date was cancelled.  It would have been bad if he didn't call and showed up.
We were all thrilled that he did't have to go in.  Nice to know that we have Matt's full paycheck, and his schedule back to the way it's supposed to be!  Matt's supervisor was very happy that she didn't have to redo the schedule as well.  I don't blame her, what a pain in the butt!  Matt is still not off the hook though, he can still be summoned for one more month.  Hopefully nothing comes up.  We will be praying, and keeping our fingers crossed.  Question for all of you.  Have you ever been summoned for jury duty, if so how many times, and did you have to go in, or did it get canceled?  Thanks for reading ya'll!