Memorial Day

Thank you to all our troops, both past and present, home and overseas, living and passed on. We thank you for allowing us to live in this free country where we can speak our minds, elect our government, and live as we please. You are the true heroes of today, sacrificing yourself, your time, and your families to fight for the right. Thank you!

In honor of memorial day, I decided I wanted to continue a tradition my parents started with me. We visit a local cemetery. Growing up we didn't have family graves nearby but we would go and leave flowers or flags on the graves of veterans. Here in Logan though we have some ancestors graves to visit. They didn't fight in any wars, but I think today is a good day to remember our families who have passed on as well. The morning started with the girls and I taking a trip to the Smithfield cemetery to visit some Greene's.

While we were at the cemetery I took the chance to show the Princess' all the graves with flags. We talked about how those men and women fought in wars so we could live in such a wonderful world. Princess V really liked the flags. I have to say I was very impressed with the amount of people at the cemetery. It pleases me to know that the holiday is still celebrated and not just used as a vacation day.

After our little trip we went to the park to get some sun and exercise. The Princess' loved it, and Princess R just kept on sleeping. We got home around lunch time so we had some popcorn chicken. After lunch we wrote some letters to our present day heroes - Great Grandpa, Grandpa, and Uncle Billy. Great Grandpa and Grandpa flew planes in the air force and Uncle Billy is currently serving this great nation. We thank you and Love you all! (If you're reading this, your letters will be in the mail tomorrow).

Once we got done letter writing we made some sugar cookies for our barbeque. The Princess' love helping me cook! Princess C got put in charge of mixing the dry stuff. "Look at me! I stirring!" She is so cute! Princess V helped me with the wet stuff. She has gotten very good at cracking eggs. She did it all by herself and not one piece of shell fell in! I was very proud of her. They both then helped me roll the dough into balls. Princess C had fun poking holes into them, and Princess V would then reroll them. Ahh, the simple joys of childhood.

This evening we had some friends and family over for a barbeque. Daddy made some steaks and hot dogs on the grill. And we just had an all around fun time eating and talking. Our wonderful day has ended with Princess V and C watching 101 Dalmations and Princess R filling a diaper (she suffers a little constipation, poor girl!).

We hope you have all also enjoyed your Memorial Day and hope that you've taken a moment to remember our troops.

Catching Up

I'll try and catch up a bit here. There's been a couple cute things I wanted to blog about, and just haven't found the time.

Princess V impresses me more and more everyday. I was watching her color one day earlier this week, and noticed she holds the pen correctly. No one taught her, she just holds it right. It made me think about how I learned to hold the pencil correctly. I remember sitting in first grade and my teacher made me use one of those pencil grips because no matter how hard she tried I wouldn't hold it right. I hated those things, but am thankful that I was able to learn how to hold a pencil correctly through them. Then yesterday we were all having some free play and I hear Princess V belting out the Articles of Faith. It is such a reassurance to know that she listens in church and home and loves the scriptures. Although I think we still need to work on #2 "We believe that man will be punished for Adams trangression....Now let's sing it". Thank goodness I was in a different room and didn't have to stifle my giggles too much. Princess V spent the rest of the day handing out "flowers". Daddy kept eating his. I planted mine but forgot to water them, so I had to water them. Then we found a real flower growing outside in our vase. We thought they had all died, but one has pulled through.

Princess C is a hoot! Everywhere I go I get comments from people how they just love her. Her hair and her personality. We were out with the neighbor kids yesterday blowing bubbles. One of the moms gave Princess C her own little thing of bubbles. she walked around trying her hardest to blow those bubbles. I wish there were adequate words to describe what she looked like, but only a picture would work (and of course I didn't have the camera on me!).

1 Month old

I can't believe how fast the time flies! Princess R turned 1 month on Sunday. When I realized how old she was I almost immediately started seeing a difference in her. She's bigger, she's more alert, she's attempting to get on a sleep/eat schedule. She's just all around different than a that newborn stage. She brings such a joy into this house. Both Princess V and C love hanging around her, and want to play with her all the time. Yesterday we let Princess V help feed Princess R her first bottle. That was fun to watch, and Princess V thought it was pretty cool too. Of course once she was on the floor, Princess C thought it was her turn and got close to shoving an empty bottle in her mouth. Next time we'll have to let Princess C help out.

Up, Down, Turn around

Princess C has been having a difficult time with up and down. She constantly asks us to "help down" when she wants to be picked up. So, I had the brilliant idea to get winnie the pooh's help! OH yeah, introducing our morning exercises.

While we were out running some errands, we drove past a dance studio. In big letters they were announcing summer dance registration. I decided we should call and see how much and if they offered children classes. Sure enough they do. And even better it's the best price I've found anywhere!! $45 for 1 hour a week classes for 6 weeks, AND the shoes and stuff isn't required since they don't do a recital with the summer classes. Princess V and I went in to check it out and see her reaction. It was a good one. She actually cried when we had to leave, even though no one else was there dancing, just an empty dance room. Yep, we're signing her up!

Princess R has been working on lessons too, as well as teaching mommy some things. Princess R does not like carbonation or things with tomato bases. It was a sad day when I had to give up my pizza's and spaghetti. I'm learning to get a long with alfredo's though. And after 48hours of no carbonation as well, we have one pretty happy little princess. She has been learning to sleep longer at night, and go back to sleep after eating as well. Last night we had a good 5-6hours of sleep. Her body seems to be regulating to night and day now. She has one nice long midday nap, and then cat naps periodically in the morning and evening (one of which is right now!).

Family Trip

Yesterday Daddy decided on a whim we should take a trip to Bear Lake. So we packed up the

Princess', made a picnic dinner and took off. We sure had a lot of fun. On the way home we stopped for some famous fresh raspberry shakes. Mmm Mmmm delicious!

Weather

I don't remember if I posted about it or not (and I just don't have time to go check), but awhile ago we made some weather pictures. We had rainy, cloudy, sunny and snowy. Sadly we had no place to really display the weather each day. So yesterday I decided to revamp our chart. We had lots of fun making this, and now it hangs by the door. Each morning the Princess' will get to go outside and check the weather.

Shapes and Charts

Slowly we're getting back into a routine. Pricess R is taking up quite the time though. We sure love having her around, even if we don't get to focus much on schooling right now.

So last week we went to the library. The local library has finally finished renovating the childrens area and we wanted to check it out. WOW! It is absolutely amazing and so much better then the way it used to be. We let Princess V play on the computer and Princess C helped me pick out some books and movies. One of the movies we got was Sid the Science Kid. This is such a fun preschool age show. One episode talks about charts and why they are important. So yesterday I thought it would be fun to make a chart with Princess V. I drew the chart and then told her what needed to go in it. So in one column I wrote different shape names. In the other column I asked her to draw me the shapes to go with the names. She did pretty good, until we got to the triangle. She kept practicing though and eventually got a pretty good looking triangle. She later went on to draw her own chart. It was lots of fun.

With Princess C this week, we've been working on drawing circles. She has had so much fun and really enjoys showing me her circles. I think it's opened up her creativity as well. earlier today she drew us a "shark".

I am so glad I get to stay home and watch these Princess' learn and make these little milestones.

Pretties

Every Princess needs a pretty! I've tried my hand a little at making hair bows, but none very successfully. So when a friend of mine told me to fan Bows N'Twirls on facebook, I thought sure. Little did I know that by fanning them I would win a free hairbow! How pretty is this -

Princess V loves dressing up, and this new bow has just added to her happiness. Thank you Bows N'Twirls!

FHE Monday

I realize it's not monday anymore, but I wanted to post about our lesson. We've been working with the Princess' to teach them more about gratitude. Especially in our prayers. We want them to remember to thank our Father in Heaven for all that He has blessed us with. So for FHE (Family Home Evening) we had an object lesson.

What you''ll need:

-A pitcher of water

-a glass

-an empty bowl

Place the glass in the bowl. Go around the room, and ask what each person is thankful for. After they say what they are thankful for, have them pour a little water into the glass. The water represents our blessings and happiness. As we remember to thank the Lord, He will continue to bless us and keep our glass full and overflowing.

The Princess' had a lot of fun pouring the water and watching the cup overflow.