Back to Hogwarts Night

I took the kids to the Orem Library for Back to Hogwarts Night they held toward the beginning of September. Timing was good because Jr. Jr. had been reading Harry Potter books and discussing them with friends and family members.

They had quizzes (O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. Official Exams), crafts and activities, and even a "potions class." 

Our favorite part was going to see live owls.

You know we like birds. Birds are awesome.

When we got home, we got out a non live owl for Jet to play with because... owls are cool and he could continue on the Hogwarts fun. 

 Another nice evening at the Orem Public Library. 

Don't Forget Your Panda Slippers

I don't know if you remember. I blogged about it back on January 11, 2016. Little Lucky at the time wanted a whole bunch of blankets on him and it reminded me of the junk lady on Labyrinth.

Recently, Jet reminded me of that incidence when he brought me a whole bunch of toys and stuffed animals and kept piling them on me.

It was pretty cute.

White Christmas

Last night it started snowing and it snowed... and it snowed... and it snowed... and it kept snowing.  Then this morning it snowed... and it snowed... and it snowed... etc. etc. etc.  I haven't seen this much snow in years.  At one point today I went out with a measuring tape and measured 10 inches.  Yep.  10 inches.  Wow.

Last Winter was very mild with not much snow so this is quite something this year.  We definitely had our white Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas... today was Christmas.  The kids were very happy with all their presents.  Jeremy and I were, too.

Unfortunately, some people didn't get enough sleep last night either from being so excited they kept waking up or they had to stay up anyway because other people stayed up too late. 

"I'll put you to sleep, kids." 

And... too much stocking candy was eaten instead of real food (although we did have salad and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner).  In general, we didn't do as well today with being nice to each other.  Sigh.  We need to do better.  We need to eat better and get better sleep.  And choose to handle things better.  Sigh.

In other news, I did handmade gifts for the kids again this year.
I made Lucky a penguin stuffed animal.

Jr. Jr. used to have some favorite pajamas.  Every time he had the choice he would wear those pajamas.  He wore them so much even though he got too big for them and wore through the feet.  He loved those pajamas.  They were monster pajamas.  I took those monster pajamas and made a monster out of them.  I sewed fleece to the feet to cover them.  I made a monster head to match one of the monsters on the pajamas and stuffed the monster.  Jr. Jr. was so happy when he unwrapped that.

I made Jr. a new scripture bag since the one I made for him before doesn't fit his new scriptures he got after his baptism and the other things he puts in his bag.

For Nichole I made a doll head with yarn hair to hold hair clips and hair ties.  I had one like that when I was young and wanted to make one for her.

The kids and I decorated a bowl for Jeremy.  We traced around the kids' hands and it says, "Love our Daddy!"

I'm glad I was able to make gifts for my family again.  I like doing it.

Winnie-the-Pooh Day 2015

Yesterday, Jeremy and the kids spent a lot of time cleaning up the living room while I was shopping and Lucky was sleeping.  Thanks, guys.
And after celebrating Winnie-the-Pooh Day, this is what the living room looked like today, January 18.

That's right, we got out Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals and Winnie-the-Pooh books and the kids had a fun time with it.
Nichole even made up a song to sing about reading Winnie-the-Pooh books and she danced around singing it.

Originally when I went to the kids room to get out some stuffed animals, Lucky came with me.  I got them out of the closet one by one and he grabbed them and played with them.  I figured it would be easiest to carry them back to the living room if I wrapped them all up in a big piece of cloth.  As I was setting them on the cloth, Lucky sat down right in the middle of them.  He had a blast as I bundled him up with the stuffed animals and carried him to the living room with them.

You can't tell in the picture, but he really was enjoying himself.

And with dinner we had honey along with our cornbread.
And the books and stuffed animals did get picked up at the end of the day.
Some other ideas for celebrating Winnie-the-Pooh Day are:
Play with My Friends, Tigger and Pooh toys
Color Winnie-the-Pooh pages or coloring books

You WILL Like Winnie-the-Pooh

In a family of Winnie-the-Pooh fans, this little guy doesn't stand a chance.
"Join us, Lucky.  Join us."

Photo Shoot!

August 26 is National Toilet Paper Day.  It is also National Dog Day.
Here's how I celebrated:

I guess I could let the kids play, too.  That would be the nice thing to do.

Catch of the Day

Awwww.  They're holding hands.

Interpreting Children's Language

Mommy, can I play with the stuffed animals?

Translation: Mommy, can I dump out all the stuffed animals so I can play in their crate?