Order In Chaos

Mail!

We have started pen-pal-ing Giant’s Northern cousins (the sweet children of my Hubby’s oldest sister), which entails having our kids colour pictures to sent to each other.

I debated just scanning pictures of artwork to send to them, or having them dictate emails to send to each other.

But not for long.

There is something very wonderful about getting an actual, real live letter from a friend that makes your heart sing.

And boy were Giant’s eyes sparkling as he held his piece of mail, addressed to him from his cousins, all the way home from the post office.

They sent some lovely pictures:

And a little bat, which was promptly added to our tree:

Today is…Monday Oct 18, 2010

We prayed.

We talked about Ruth gleaning the fields, and we related this to helping people in our family:

Then we worked on a Morning Message. Giant was delighted to have a pattern to copy:

and proceeded to erase the message and work on patterns until I forced him to put on his shoes and coat to go to gym. Isn’t it interesting how much easier children learn when they are ready and want to learn?

Giant helped Ettin get ready:

Not that we actually need earmuffs and scarves yet. But its the thought that counts, right?

Finding ourselves with time to spare, I snuck in a story:

Then we were off to the Gym for some exercise, and then we went down to the ParentLink Centre for Make and Mingle—where moms work on projects and the children play.

After Ettin and Galoot went for a nap, I searched some magazines for Hallowe’en craft inspiration:

The trouble with looking to outside sources for inspiration, though, is that I often don’t have the materials needed to do the craft I’d like to do. And since I hadn’t planned ahead and gathered/bought the needed supplies beforehand, I had to come up with an idea on the spot.

I decided on keenex ghosts. We’d sew a string through a kleenex and cotton ball, draw a cute face on top with a marker, and hang it up:

But Giant wasn’t into it.

He played with the needle and thread a bit:

But he didn’t really have the ability to shove the needle through the cotton ball.

So I changed gears.

Instead, we painted paper plates orange or purple (why purple? Because when you mix blue and red, it makes purple. That’s why):

Coloured some faces on them.

Cut them out (Giant felt this was an important step):

TaDah!

Yes, that is permanent marker.

Yes, I let my 4 year old use a permanent marker.

Did you know that freshly applied permanent marker can be scrubbed off the floor with baking soda?

Neither did I. Until today.

Sorry Mommy yelled, Giant.

Photo Tutorial

Lets talk about blurriness:

I’ve discovered a great setting to help sharpen the details on the photos you take:

Its called the Baby setting, and can be adjusted to Baby Held or Baby Down.

The Baby Held setting produces dreamlike fuzzy photos.

The Baby Down setting aids in taking clear and crisp photos.

To adjust this setting from Baby Held (the default setting) to Baby Down you must:

1. Get things ready for your photo so that baby isn’t out of your arms for very long.

2. Turn on the camera. Turn off the flash (so your photo subject doesn’t glow in radioactive ways).

3. Kiss that sweet baby and put him down.

4. Take a picture. Maybe two.

Then quickly reset to the default Baby Held setting by:

1. Pick up the now bawling baby who has taken personal insult to being put down.

2. Comfort him for the next 1/2 hour.

3. Take a look at the pictures and be grateful that you got one, or maybe two pictures that you could use.

Thus ends this photo tutorial.

‘scuse me while I go pick up my baby.

Today is…Friday Oct 15, 2010

We prayed.

We tried looking at our Gospel picture, but Giant was much more excited about a Hallowe’en craft book he’d found:

The main question for the morning was: “When can we do a Hallowe’en craft, Mommy?”

I did manage to sneak in a Gospel picture. Giant’s interest perked up when I pointed out the snake in the picture:

Poor boy has got a bad case of Hallowe’en on the brain…Must take after his Mom 😉 (I LOVE Hallowe’en!).

We worked on our morning message. Giant wrote down a body part of a pet spider, “lagz [legs]”:

And then we were off to the Gym (mommy/exercise group). We exercised, played a fun game of “Going On A Bear Hunt” which involved lots of running and jumping, and then walked home in some nippy Fall air.

We got home, had a snack

of apple pie and ice cream,

and started a Hallowe’en craft:

Green Monsters.

Giant insisted we needed to paint, I tried to convince him that making muffins with mommy would be even more fun (no, I didn’t really want to paint while Ettin was up).

Giant disagreed.

I thought, How bad could it be? And gave them the boxes and paint:

And it was fine.

For a little bit.

So fine, in fact that I decided to make muffins while they painted.

Galoot was happily talking to his reflection in the oven:

And I happily made muffins:

Occasionally reminding the boys to be careful.

My 4 year old told me not to worry.

However, I was soon reminded that while a 4 year old might be okay painting on his own:

a 2 year old (at least one of mine) is not:

May I repeat.

A 4 year old:

is not a 2 year old:

We got cleaned up and changed. Just in time to have our pumpkin muffins for lunch!

(The Hallowe’en mess project was given a proper place of rest, having served its purpose in reminding me that I need to be more attentive during craft time with 2 little boys)

Temple View

The view from my boy’s bedroom window at night:

The little boy I was holding last night:

“Daddy Bee Demple? Demple Mommy?”

Yes sweetie, our wonderful Daddy Bear is at the Temple.

We are so blessed. Both for a wonderful Daddy Bear, and for a Temple so close to home.