So Maybe Steve Martin Really IS Mormon…

Here’s an SNL clip that could be shown in General Conference. I know we need to sign up for the program, along with the rest of America. What do you think?

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Matt, Rescue Ranger

Hunter got this CD, Another Long Semester by Aaron Durr for his birthday from Nana & Papa. Aaron is a talented friend of my brother Matt from high school. His song Matt, Matt Rescue Ranger is our favorite. Hannah even asked to listen to it the other day. Matt says this song is not about him, but to us it is! The CD is very clever in both the music and lyrics; and I think he does all of the instruments and vocals himself. We always have fun listening to it. It’s very catchy, go to his homepage and click on “listen” at the top. I think he has great promise and wouldn’t be surprised to hear him on the radio soon!

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Super Cool Science Party

Hunter has such a great time planning his ninth birthday party with me. We talked about the budget we had, and then found things that would fit within it together. He also helped make the cake which was decorated with a beaker of red liquid and M&M bubbles coming out of it. When the boys arrived yesterday we had a bowl of beads and a string of yarn in a bowl waiting for them. These were not just ordinary beads though. They were UV beads! They’re white until they hit the sunlight, then they instantly turn colors. When the kids finished making their necklaces, we put some extra beads on a paper plate and sprayed them good with sunscreen. We observed that they did change color, but it was a much lighter color, and that led to a short discussion on the importance of sunscreen.

Then there was the lemon experiment. There’s a double meaning in that because it involved lemons and because it didn’t turn out so well. We cut small slits into a lemon for each child. One slit held a penny and the other a paper clip. If you touch your tongue to the metal it is supposed to give a mini zap of electricity. It didn’t work for all of us, but some figured it out.

Following that we had the muscle memory experiment. Each of the boys stood in the narrowest doorway we have and put there arms straight and pushed with the backs of their hands against the doorway as hard as they could for 30 seconds. Then they stepped forward and tried to put their arms at their side and couldn’t! They described it as feeling like they had wings.

Next was the bottle rockets. I found a kit online for making water rockets and vinegar/baking soda rockets. We walked to the park behind our house and set them off on the large lawn there. The kids had a blast, and Rob was such a good sport being totally soaked with both water and vinegar paste by the time we finished. I even heard one of the kids say, “this is the best party I’ve ever been to!”

After this, we walked back home and watched Flubber while the kids ate candy, cake, and ice cream. What fun they had, and to top it off they all left for home with their Biohazard goody bags filled with: a growing body part, latex gloves, a face mask, Fizzy Color Tablets, Rainbow glasses, and Safetyglasses! Thanks again Nana for donating the biohazard bags, face masks, safety glasses and gloves! I don’t know how we will top this party next year. It was perfect!

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A 100 Day Challenge

For a few weeks I have been thinking a lot about a goal that I never really thought I’d make because I was too scared. It is to learn Italian. It’s scary to me because: 1. Rob is fluent so he knows everything already, 2. I hate to make mistakes, and 3. let’s face it, I’ve never been good at taking criticism from those close to me… Right Mom and Dad? But it has really been on my mind, and I even started listening to a podcast called My Daily Phrase Italian. Ok, I listened only twice but had a great lesson from Rob on pronunciation and spelling Italian words. He has gotten excited to teach me and even got me a dictionary and grammar guide. But, as I am likely to flake out on this, the universe has given me another push.

A couple of days ago, I read a post by another Amy, that she calls The 100 Day Challenge. She gave herself this challenge after discovering all that her son, a kindergartener, had accomplished in his first 100 days of school. She then challenged herself to work on a goal for 100 days, and has made her next challenge to recruit 100 people to take the challenge on. Read a better explanation on her blog.

So here I am publicly committing to work on learning Italian every day for the next 100 days. That will put me ending on September 22. Maybe by then I can have a real conversation with Rob and Holly! Or even better yet, I’ll add to my goal getting a passport so I can try speaking with people in Italy! If you’d like to take part in the 100 Day Challenge let us know what your goal is, and go to Amy’s blog and tell her too 🙂

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Function Before Form

So there are a couple of things in my house that might seem odd to a visitor, but are huge time savers for me. The first is that I have a pencil sharpener permanently attached to the wall in the playroom. A manual crank kind, nothing that would need it’s batteries replaced. This is because I was getting so sick of hunting down a sharpened pencil every day at homework time. For some reason pencils are attracted to toddlers like magnets, and they will usually break the tip off within seconds of picking it up. (They also like to bite the erasers off, but that’s another problem.) So I have a small flower pot that is used to store the pencils, and a pencil sharpener right next to it. This has been a huge help in getting homework time moving without frustration.

The other one is a little more strange. I have a hairbrush tied to the door knob of the downstairs bathroom. Every morning part of our routine is the question, “Has anyone seen a hairbrush?” We have probably half a dozen in the house, but can never seem to find one. I decided that we would always know where one was if I tied it tightly to the doorknob with a three foot length of ribbon. Now the kids have to stand right by the door to brush their hair in the morning, but it has saved a lot of stress!Anyone else have some time saver tips?

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Mom’s Brainwashing CD

I have wanted to put together a CD of some of my favorite songs for the kids for a while now. They aren’t necessarily my favorite songs, but they are all songs that either have meaning to me or that have lyrics I want them to hear. I’ve thought it would be fun for them to have songs that will trigger positive memories of their Mom. Heaven knows that in all of those therapy sessions in the future there will be plenty of memories of the mistakes I made! So this way I can plant positive messages in their growing brains as I play it over and over. Now that it is finished, I can already tell there will need to be a Volume II because there are so many great songs out there! I am also wanting to make another mix CD of some of our family’s and friend’s favorites. Tell me what yours are and help me make my next musical masterpiece!

Here is the playlist for “Brainwash:”

1. Skinamarink by Green Week – A cute song I like to sing to the kids at bedtime; this is a Rock version

2. I Just Wanna Be Happy by Gloria Estefan – A fun song to dance to and brings memories of living in North Carolina

3. Respect by Aretha Franklin – This is a song about how to treat each other

4. Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield – An inspirational song about choosing what your life will be

5. You Can’t Hurry Love by Phil Collins – I have three daughters, there are bound to be some broken hearts

6. Captain Vegetable by Sesame Street – I couldn’t pass it up because it’s about veggies and very silly

7. Sunshine Medley by Greg & Steve – You are My Sunshine & This Little Light of Mine: Two of my favorites

8. Light in Your Eyes by Sheryl Crow – All about acknowledging your Maker

9. I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder – Because Mommy loves you

10. Jesus, Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood – Let the Lord guide you through life

11. Come, Come, Ye Saints by Gladys Knight – An unique version of a traditional hymn of faith

12. You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban – This is a religious song for me about how the Lord can make more of us than we can of ourselves

13. I Hope You Dance by Leann Womack – My hopes for my children as they realize their potential

14. Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel – This could be from a mother, but also applies to Christ’s role in our lives.

15. What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong – Such a peaceful song about enjoying the world around us.

16. So Big by Hap Palmer – I remember my Nana and Poppop loved to play the game “So Big” with the little ones.

17. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Baby Einstein – This is also a song I’ve sung at bedtime for all of the kids.

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