Grandma is Coming Today

MaryAnn was sitting on the couch next to me, and was singing over, and over,”Grandma is coming today.” I was a little confused, because Grandma had already been her, and left already. However, it was really cute, that she was singing. Rebecca walked into the room and said, “Do you know what she is singing. I said, “Yes” with a confused look on my face. Rebecca said, “It is an All-About Family” song.

We love “The Allabout Family” and “Scriptures Scouts” and “Alexander’s Amazing Adventures” I mention all 3 of these together because the same artists wrote all of them. My kids have learned so much about the scriptures, the gospel, and good values by listening to these over and over. They have helped to create some really neat spiritual experiences in our home.

Apparently they have been listening to the Allabouts the last 2 nights as all of the kids have been sleeping together on the trampoline. MaryAnn picked up on the song quick – and has been singing it.

Unfortunately, I can’t find anywhere online where you can purchase the CD’s. I highly recommend them if you ever see them.

Grandma is Kisses,

Grandma is Hugs,

Grandma is coming Today!

Sleeping under the Stars

I am making memories with my little ones tonight, they wanted to sleep on the trampoline, so it is just Mommy, Kevin and MaryAnn, sleeping under the stars. It is moments like these I know that we  will treasure forever, and it makes all the rough times so worthwhile. I enjoy cuddling with them, and listening to MaryAnn sing, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” until she fell asleep.

I kept trying to sleep, but to know avail, so I pulled out my laptop and kept scrapbooking. I love my laptop that Brad got me for my birthday. It has been so handy. The wireless connection even works good outside on the trampoline!

 

Portland Vacation

We are getting super excited for our vacation to Seaside Oregon. We leave in about 1 month.I finally found my pictures from our last vacation - I converted to a digital camera about a week after we got back from that vacation, so I had to have all the pictures scanned.

It's been 10 years since this vacation. Isaac was only 4 months, Emily 2 years, and Rebecca 3.5. None of the kids remember seeing the ocean, going to OMSI, being surprised to see Multnohomah Falls and having time to stop and enjoy it. We loved finding new parks, camping out, and having Fruit Snack Attacks.

I used this Yin Template #253 from Simply Yin

Designing Debut

I have been digital scrapbooking for a long time, and have never had the guts to try designing a kit before. However, my daughter, Emily, has been learning photoshop and has been wanting to design a kit for awhile now. We decided that since we both love all the kits from the LDS Blog Train that was a good place to start, so we each put together a little kit to share.

It was a lot of fun, and challenging, to come up with my own ideas for papers, and to then to get to play around with some of the tools in photoshop that I don't really know how to use. I have no desire to go into designing anytime soon, but who knows, you may see more kits from Emily sooner, rather than later.

Emily's Kit (click on preview to download, I hope)

Nancy's Kit (click on preview to download, I hope)

I'm not sure where you've come from to get here - but you can find another part of this kit at The Adkins Family Blog .





To catch the whole train go to LDS Blog Train.





Thanks for stopping for a minute.

Dancing !

I downloaded my video camera and found these cute videos of MaryAnn that the boys had taken, so I edited them together. Enjoy!

School Bus

We were at Rebecca and Emily's volleyball game and MaryAnn walked up to me, hit me, and said, "school bus". She then proceed to hit me again, and again, each time saying "school bus". It took me a couple of times to figure out what she was saying, and when I laughed at her, and said, "school bus" back to her, she again hit me and said, "slug bug".

I laughed and laughed and informed her that there were no school buses or slug bugs in the gym and she didn't need to hit me. Can you tell that we have been in the car a lot lately.

Points!

I started a new point system last month for the kids. It is an excel spreadsheet that basically gives them credit for everything that they do in a day, from brushing their teeth, to kitchen chores, to school work. It allows them to set weekly goals, and then track their progress towards earning them. All of the kids have old cell phones, no phone service, just fancy mp3 player, but it is also a mini computer with spreadsheet capabilities. So they can be seen walking around the house checking their handhelds to see what they need to do next.

It is a great little system and the kids have really taken on more responsibilities for what they need to do, and I am doing a lot more praising and a lot less nagging.

Last week, I found Emily in her bathroom at 10:30, way past bedtime, cleaning of all things. She was trying hard to earn her points for the day. We had been gone most of the day, and I had neglected to tell the kids that it was understandable that they hadn't earned their daily points, dinner at church doesn't exactly require the kids to do dinner dishes. I was able to praise her for her dedication to earning her points, and send her off to bed.

However, my favorite story will probably always be this one -

Brad had me ROFL (literally) tonight. I don't remember more than 1 0r 2 times in my life that I did that. I told Isaac he had to earn 5 more points to go watch TV with Grandma tonight so he rushed off and brushed his teeth, and did a few jobs in the bathroom. He came back and reported that he checked the toilet paper and the towels. I was good with that, but Brad went all wacko - I checked the toilet - it's dirty - POINT! SInk - Dirty - POINT! It was so hillarious. I was on the floor for nearly 15 minutes laughing and tearing and laughing again. It was so funny. Not only was Brad loud and obnoxious, he was making faces and jumping around! Of course, he was right also, Isaac did need to do a bit more than just check things, but I was working on the baby steps principle of lets start at least thinking about it before we get to stressed about it. Anyway, Brad took Isaac into the bathroom and laid down the point law - you must use CHEMICALS! to get a point! That of course started us all laughing again, everytime that Brad said, "CHEMICAL". It was a great time - and Isaac even survived yet another lesson on how to clean his bathroom.