Friday, April 30, 2010

Field Trip to Gateway Science Museum

Chico Center for Learning went to the Gateway Museum in Chico on Thursday.  Ryan was so happy!  He got to have a play date with his buddy before the field trip and was super glad to have me along with him and his class at the museum.  We enjoyed looking at all of the fun displays.  He and Matt put together the ant puzzle - okay I helped...  Ryan and Jamison had fun checking out replicas of giant teeth. Ryan had me read every word in that museum!  I couldn't believe it!  He loved looking through the microscope at a variety of slides.  Then he did rubbings with Alexa.  He said that he did "16."  That seems to be his favorite number lately.  We are so sad that this year is almost over for him.  He's loved every minute of this class!

Dancing in the Rain

On Wednesday, we had a weird day of weather.  It was a crisp sunny day, then all of a sudden, pouring rain!  The kids went out and had a grand time dancing in the rain.  It was so windy that the rain was coming at them sideways!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

John Loves Brownie Cookies

Travis and Janel came over for a BBQ on Sunday night.  We all ate on the back patio - even John.  We pulled his high chair outside and he had a blast.  His favorite was the brownie cookie at the end.  He was even dirty in his ears!  I had to strip him down and put him in the bath after he finished eating!!

Is It Summer Yet?!?!

The cousins came by for our first swim party of the year.  It was a bit low key as it was ridiculously too cold to swim.  Ryan was blue.  I only took this one picture of Jaycee in her swim cap and visor with goggles.  She's too funny.  The kids are SO ready for summer!

Friday, April 9, 2010

My Family's Service to Enloe

For as long as I can remember, my family has been involved at Enloe.  My grandpa has served on committees and boards.  I'm not even sure what all he has done, not to mention all of the money that he has donated over the years.  My grandmother volunteered forever.  She ran the gift shop at one time.  I remember my mom making bow after bow after bow for the gift shop.  As soon as I was able, I volunteered at Enloe and plan to one day volunteer there again.  My Aunt and Uncle have been involved in Enloe as well.  I know that my aunt was on the fundraising committee and now is on another committee.  My Uncle runs a fundraiser out at the golf club every year.  If I've learned anything from my family it's the Golden Rule.  My family wants to help the community at large and individuals.  They want Chico to be a great place.  Their way of making that happen is to support Enloe.  
Enloe is putting something about them in the Stethoscope for the summer issue and had their pictures taken for the article.  I wish we had more nice photos like these.  Thanks to Enloe for getting them together and taking these nice photos!!

Mac is in Webelos and a Scientist! Oh, and a Poet!

Mac has been promoted to Webelos.  He loves scouting.  He also got the World Conservation Award with a panda bear on it that I will soon sew into his shirt.  He is standing in front of his science fair project in the photo.  He earned second place in the Chico Science Fair.  He was very excited.  Unfortunately he was sick, so we didn't get to go to the awards assembly.  His mummified fish even made it on the local news.  Way to go Macky!!
Macky's class celebrated Shel Silverstein yesterday.  All of the children memorized poetry and then they put on a show for the school and parents.  Mac and his buddy Sean did one that involved lots of jokes.  It was great fun!

In order to have some free time in order to blog, I asked Ryan to play with John for 15 minutes.  I set the timer.  When I went to go and get John, he looked like this.  Ryan said it was an accident.  

Monday, April 5, 2010

John's Latest Video

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Well, today I am 32.  I've had a great birthday.  I had a great time shopping with Kayla.  She was a great sport and didn't let me buy anything ridiculous.  She watched me try on a zillion pairs of jeans.  It was great.  I loved watching conference.  I loved dying Easter eggs and watching the kids drop eggs.  I loved eating like a mad woman!!  Everyone has been so thoughtful and nice.  I've eaten super spicy Thai food and gorged myself on Indian food.  YUM!  My favorite thing, however, was the Smith family party on Sunday night.  Doug cooked AWESOME food for everyone.  But, the best part was when everyone sang the birthday song to me.  It was just overwhelming how loved I felt.  I'm so thankful to be here in Chico close to family and good friends.

Easter Fun!

On Saturday my brother and his girlfriend came over to start celebrating my birthday and to get ready for Easter.  We thought we should color some eggs.  John ate muffins and watched. 
We tried dying some brown eggs along with the traditional white ones.  The brown ones had a nice rich color.

Aunt Jenny's Egg Drop

This year I decided to do something a little different.  The kids had Friday off of school and Sabra was coming up for Easter/Conference, so we needed a party.  Rather than doing an egg hunt, we did an egg drop.  The kids all got a raw egg and a bunch of odds and ends and wrapped up their eggs in order to protect them from a nasty fall.  The idea was to hang out outside and drop the eggs and see whose would survive.  Unfortunately, it rained.  So, we wrapped our eggs inside and set up the ladder under the eaves in the backyard.  The kids had a great time!  At first I thought we should all do one and then all go together in the backyard to watch them drop.  Then eggs started breaking.  So, as soon as you prepared your egg, you could go outside and drop it.

Here are the kids wrapping up their eggs. Empty plastic bottles were the hot item.

I believe that Ryan was the first one done. His egg broke before he got outside...








Everyone got a package of peeps from me for participating.  

Meanwhile, Aunt Shannon put Lily to sleep.  

After dropping eggs, the kids decorated Easter cookies.
Eliza put a ridiculous amount of sprinkles on her cookie.  Then she ate the ridiculous amount of sprinkles and left the cookie.  It was so gross and funny!!
I couldn't get Allison to smile at me, but she did let me take this picture.  She liked the cookies.  

Eliza was dyed pink.  Too cute!!

Ryan's Tomatoes

Ryan and I grew these shoots from seeds.  We planted them together with some help from Maddie and even John.  Ryan smashed half of them with the shovel, so I hope they still grow!!  He was very serious and maybe he'll even eat a tomato if he grows it himself.

Happy Birthday Jaycee!

We got to have the gang over for Jaycee's birthday party.  Doug cooked and we provided the place.  I was just starting my diet, so it was a bummer for me, but everyone had a good time!

Easter Photo