Ok Im mad!

A friend of mine (thanks Penny) had this posted on her blog and I about died... ok not really, but I felt REALLY LAME for having NOT known this... I havent even gone in my kitchen yet to check and make sure this is for real... Im not up for the shame tonight... Here ya go...

Was this something we were supposed to learn from our Mom's?????I can't believe it's been there all this time. I had to go into the kitchen and check this out for myself.Whoever looks at the end of your aluminum foil box? You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box.Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over.The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.Well, I would like to share this with you.Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it, and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, Press here to lock end.Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place.How long has this little locking tab been there?I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too.I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too!I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out,when I was trying to cover something up.I'm sharing this with my friends.I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this. I know you're going to go and check your boxes, so go ahead!

Playgroup

Ok so I have been thinking about doing this for a while and finally decided to just do it. I started a very small playgroup (just to see how it all works out) to meet once a week for an hour or two. Along with this I found out that the library across the street from us started up a 6 week session for infants/toddlers and their mommys, of songs, story and playtime. The best part is, its FREE!! So once a week we meet at the library for this playtime - and it turns out that many other mommys already knew about this, for there were about 20 of us there!! It was so cute and fun for the kids! After these sessions are over we will be finding other fun things we can do with the kids either outdoors, indoors or at someone's home. We are all so excited and I think this is going to work well. If any of you reading this want to join, you of course can... dont be offended if I didnt tell you about it - I really just wanted to try it and see how it worked first. Im new at this. So far it looks like Thursdays at 10:30am at the library works and when the library gig is over we may or may not be changing the day and time. We shall see. So fun and Im so glad I did it!!

Elders Quorum game night

Last weekend we had an Elders Quorum game night - Salomon's first activity as the EQ president... we were not large in numbers, but all who attended had a great time! The most popular game was a children's game in which you place different colored half cirlces around the room and hold in your hand an item that tells you which color to race to next. It was a timed test and so funny to watch the presidency (and others) run around the gym as fast as they could to see who could finish the fastest. So funny!! The kids had a good time too. Overall Id say it was a success!!

Happy 3 Year Anniversary!!

Salomon and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary today! He is working half a day so we can go out for a late lunch and see a movie (something we havent done alone since we had Liane). 3 years ago today we were sealed in the San Diego temple for time and all eternity... what a beautiful and fun day that was. 3 years have come and gone since then and we have seen how we have grown and changed for the better. As in all marriages, we have had good times and bad, joy and sorrow, happiness and heartache, fear and hope, but through it all we have stuck by each others side, never doubting that God placed us in each others path for a reason. That reason is to help each other grow, overcome, and progress to eternity. To do so with love, kindness, compassion, understanding, support, empathy, and forgiveness. I am so blessed to have Salomon as my husband - we are not perfect, but I dare say, perfect for each other. Where I am weak he is strong and where he is weak I am strong. We have been nothing less than commited to one another and will continue to do so for eternity. I love Salomon with all of my heart and am so excited to see what experiences this next year brings for us... I do know that no matter what, we will go through them together and come out stronger and closer in the end. Te amo con todo mi corazon para siempre!! Xoxo

Liane's first pigtails (hair just about long enough to do this) and being a typical kid getting into anything and everything she can!! Gotta love it! Everything is a photo op in our home!! My poor kids!!

Oooooh paint!!

What kid doesnt love to explore paint?! Well to be honest I wasnt sure if Liane would since she totally rejected my fingerpaints. But as the pics tell... she loved it!!

Foam Stickers!

I got these foam stickers at Walmart... kinda a tough concept for her (she wants to eat them), but she got the hang of it. See, yet another use for the rolls! Save em ladies!! See how easy it is to incorporate the color and shape theme with this one? Love it!

Circles!

Here is one of our circle activities... I save my finished (sounds better than used) toilet paper rolls, cut them into smaller circles and plastered her paper with glue so that no matter where she placed a circle it would stay. As you can see in the pics though, Liane found yet another fun use for the rolls... try with all your might to make it into a bracelet! Such a girl!!

Fingerpaints

I made some homemade fingerpaints last week and I thought that Liane would be all over it... well I guess I have a clean girl (so far) and she really wanted nothing to do with it... so I played with it instead. Oh well. Im sure one day I wont be able to stop her! So easy to make though!!

Fingerpaint

3 tbs sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 cups cold water

food coloring

Mix the first two ingredients and then add water until blended. Heat in pan until the mixture is opaque in color ( it will thicken up - it will be obvious when it is done) Divide mixture into 4 or 5 portions and add a different food coloring to each. Let cool a bit. ( I put these in my old washed out sour cream or yogurt containers - anything plastic with lid... and keep them out on the counter or closet to store. I tried keeping it in the fridge, but it gels up and you have to microwave it to get it soft again) Either way works!

Poor lil' sick baby...

Poor lil baby! Liane came down with a cold again... we cant tell yet if it is teething related ( with EVERY tooth she gets a cold) or just the common cold that everyone seems to have (including us). Regardless, poor lil thing was so tired and had a low fever and fell asleep on her Dora couch. Bless her little heart. We have had a couple of rough nights because of this ( which is what makes me think its a teething thing) - last night being the worst. I was able to just hold Liane for about an hour as she threw the royalist fit ever (poor thing!) from being so uncomfortable and it broke my heart to see her so sad. I loved being able to hold her and comfort her. There is nothing like Mommy when you are sick! She is doing better and hopefully will be over it all soon. She is such a trooper. Oh and notice how she is holding her medicine as she sleeps... so cute!

Liane's first art project

I am putting my many years of preschool teaching into how I teach Liane... we are now working on 2-3 things per week... this week it is circles and the color red. We also have a Family Home Evening lesson each Monday night and during the week we review the lesson as we go through each day - last nights lesson was "I have a body like Heavenly Father's" and we traced our hands and colored them. This week so far we have also colored pictures with the color red, made circle pictures, played with red legos, read a shape book, sand "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" many times, etc... we plan on making edible red playdough sometime this week too! It is so fun to sit down one on one with Liane and play and learn together... she is amazing and is such a wonderful girl. Again, I am SO blessed to be her mommy!! Here are some pics of Liane's first art project today... too cute!! (she really enjoyed the glue stick and thought that rubbing it on her cheek would be a good way to let me know she was finished :-)

words, signs and sounds

I have been meaning to add these new words, signs and sounds of Liane's, forever... finally getting to it! (sorry if some of these are repeats of previous posts)

words:
Dora (ah yes Dora the Explorer)
cheese (when taking a picture)
spicy
hot
hola
shoe shoes
awesome
pee boo (peaka boo)
turn
fishey
cheerios
ta-da!
heavy
open
Kix (yes the cereal)
help

signs:
please
more
milk

sounds:
dinosaur
dog
pig
lion
cat
train

Lessons learned and goals made

Lessons...too many to count.

*we are on this earth to learn and grow and we do that mostly by trial and adversity

*we are in the families we are in, and especially the marriages we are in, for a reason, and that is to help us overcome our weaknesses, develope our strengths and help uplift and support one another as we progress here in this life, with the ultimate goal to help each other reach eternity together (oh yes of course to make beautiful babies too :-)

*you dont always have to be right, and even if you are always right, you dont have to point it out

*strength, true lasting strength and power comes from litterally letting go of our troubles, sorrows, and pride and giving it to Christ who has felt the pain of all we will ever go through and so much more so that He can support and comfort us as we go through hard times

*if we get a grasp of who we really are and why we are on this earth, we will find no need for misery or unhappiness... if we really truly get the point and can move mentally, emotionally and spiritually beyond what happens to us here on earth and see the eternal perspective, we will only have cause to rejoice and be happy - no matter what happens to us from day to day

*happiness is a choice

*God has a plan for me and wants me to be happy and has given me all that I need to do so... now I just need to get to work on it

*I am stronger than I think I am

*I cannot do it on my own

Goals...

*happiness daily

*service

*letting go

*eternal perspective

*enriching activities

*constant companionship of the Spirit

*read each months Ensign cover to cover before I get the next months issue

*enjoy each day no matter what

*love

*get back into running/races

and oh so many more... 2008 was an interesting year, good times and bad times... here's to hoping for a better 2009!!

Just for fun...

Liane having a good time around the house... she is so stinkin cute and fun! How blessed am I?! (no need to answer that, I already know!! :-)

Liane is going to be such a great big sister... NO, Im not prego!

Liane LOVES children... especially babies!! As soon as she gets up in the morning or from nap, or even when we come home after being out, the first thing she does is gets her baby. She usually takes my dish towel off the handle on the oven and uses that as her baby blanket. She carries the baby in her arms and places its head on her shoulder and says "shhhh, shhhh, shhhh" as she carries it around the house. She even makes pretend cry noises for the baby and shhhh's it herself. She also loves to put the baby in the baby buggy she has and takes her for a walk everyday as well as gives her a drink of her own milk. Liane is such a good little mommy! She is going to be an amazing big sister and so much help to me once we have another one. So cute!!

Christmas... again

This year we celebrated Christmas a few times... once on Christmas Eve with Salomon's family, once in California (my family did not do the usual gifts for each other since we were all spending money to go to California together and for Christmas my parents were kind enough for pay for us to go to Disneyland and most of our meals during our stay in CA), and once again when my family got back from CA (since we came home earlier than they did, we did not get to spend Christmas day together) - this time just for the kids ... oh and my birthday too. Here are some pics from that event (Christmas for the kids and my birthday - although there are no pics of that part... just the kids :-)

New Years Eve and Anniversary

On New Years Eve we celebrated Salomon's parents 34th wedding anniversary (which was on the 30th) along with, of course, New Years itself. We surprised his parents with the video of their wedding (which was on 16mm film and had to be converted to DVD - I found a great person to do this in Orem if anyone needs it done) which they had only seen once, 34 years ago. It was a wonderful surprise for all. We enjoyed a simple dinner and watched a movie after Liane went to bed. It was probably the most laid back New Years Eve Ive had, but that was exactly what I was hoping for this year. Salomon and I were even in bed before midnight! Here are some pics taken as we surprised them with the video...