P is for Pirate - Peter Pan

P is for Pirates, Peter Pan, & Pixie dust...

So this was positively the perfect week to watch PETER PAN!

THIS WEEK...
Church Theme: Prophet

Primary/Church Song: 'Follow the Prophet'

Preschool Song: 'Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me'

Book: How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
Movie: Peter Pan

Monday:
I saw that it was supposed to be rainy Thursday & Friday so we did Field Trip Friday on Monday while we were out running our errands...
We dug for buried treasure (pennies) at the park. I hid them in the sand & Little Dudeman used his shovel to dig them out.

Tumbling Tuesday:
We played follow the leader while on a treasure hunt around our house.

Word Wednesday:

P letter sheets

We made a pirate hat, pirate hook, & spyglass so that we could be all piratey.

Think About It Thursday:

P math sheets
We learned about shadows & made shadow puppets on the wall.

Friday:

We stayed inside and watched Peter Pan while eating our Muffin Tin Meal...

It consisted of fish sticks (because Hook is a codfish), a pirate pb&j sandwich w/ pepperoni patch, a pirate hat tricorne cookie, pirate's booty, chocolate gold coins, & x-marks-the-spot pudding w/ vanilla wafer sand.

Hope you arrr having a great week!

O is for Ocean - The Little Mermaid

O is for Ocean & Octopus so this week's movie was...
THE LITTLE MERMAID

Not only does most of the movie take place in the ocean, but the villain resembles an octopus!

THIS WEEK...
Church Theme: Obedience

Primary/Church Song: 'Love Is Spoken Here'

Preschool Song: 'My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean'

Book: Tickly Octopus by Ruth Galloway
Movie: The Little Mermaid

Monday:
We pushed the muffin tin & movie back a couple days since Little Dudeman showed a random interest in potty training again. I wanted him to stay focused so that it could actually happen this time around!
He's "shown interest" a few times before, but it disappears & then he has no desire to go for weeks, sometimes months... I decided that him randomly waking me up in the middle of the night saying that he wanted to go was proof enough that this is THE time!

Tumbling Tuesday:
Potty training continues every 20-25 minutes, but is quite successful. Only a couple accidents all day!
Sebastian crab walk
Flounder fishie faces

Wednesday:

We used a dinglehopper to eat mac & cheese shells, an octopus hot dog, goldfish & starfish crackers, ocean shaped cookies, swedish fish in blue jello, & a peanut butter fudge starfish while watching The Little Mermaid.

Thursday:

O letter & math sheets
We made an Octopus windsock by coloring it & counting how many O's we could find on it, then we cut it out & taped it together.

Field Trip Friday:

We went to Beach House to eat some frozen yogurt & watch the ocean waves without having to drive 2 hours to get there... (:

Did you know that Ursula only has 6 tentacles?
This means she's technically not an octopus based cecaelia unless you count her arms...

Gazpacho

Gratitude Journal - My Hubby

11/2/11 (fb) - I am thankful for Justin & for all that he does for our family! He is such a wonderful daddy, & an amazing husband! I'm so lucky to have him for eternity!!!

__________________________________________________♥__________________________________________________

1/15/13 - Once upon a time, back when I was in high school, my Dad & I would have Daddy/Daughter counsel dates from time to time. Sometimes we would just chat at home, & sometimes we would go out for ice cream or something else. During one of our stay-at-home chats when we were talking about boys, I distinctly remember him telling me that the name of my future husband would be Gazpacho.

Yep...
Cold tomato-vegetable soup.

I, being a teenage girl at the time laughed off the idea that I would ever meet anyone with the name of Gazpacho or anyone that would even want to go by the nickname of Gazpacho for the sake of marrying me. Besides, I had other plans. I had my silly teenage infatuations & had no intentions of marrying young anyway. (When I was still in elementary school I had once said that I wasn't going to start dating until I was 30. That was caught on tape & it makes me laugh every time I think about it since here I am in my mid-20's & I'm married with 2 kids.) I didn't even like Gazpacho, so I wouldn't be attracted to anyone named Gazpacho. But things changed. I grew up. I went to college & met the love of my life.

Don't be fooled by that last statement though, I didn't meet him at college. I met him online.

But I didn't meet him on an online dating service. We met on MySpace. He was bored & flipping through random profiles one day when he saw this pic of me drinking this energy drink called Bawls...

He sent me a message on Valentine's Day 2006 (which I have framed in our hallway) asking where I found them (since my profile said that we were both in Tucson & he hadn't seen them since he had lived in the midwest). I explained to him that I was going to college at BYU-Idaho & that I found them at one of the gas stations out there. From that first message he sent I had no idea that we would get married or that our friendship would really go anywhere. After all, it was a long distance relationship, we had never met, & he wasn't my ideal husband either since I wanted to be married in the temple and he wasn't a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That didn't stop me from dating him because I was truly in love with him; but somewhere deep, down inside I knew that I wouldn't feel quite right about marrying him knowing that we wouldn't be able to be sealed for time & all eternity in the temple and that I wouldn't have a priesthood holder in the home. We continued talking, eventually met, fell in love, I invited him to church, he started taking discussions with the missionaries and got baptized, & the rest is history! I'm really grateful that he took the time to pray about his decision to join the church and that he gained his own testimony instead of just getting baptized for me. He actually helped me strengthen my testimony and grow closer to our Heavenly Father through his example, & we've been helping each other do that ever since. Once we were engaged, I told him about Gazpacho & I guess he was in love with me enough to take upon him the nickname.

One of the best days of my life was September 7th, 2007.
That was the day we were sealed in the San Diego temple for time & all eternity.
I simply cannot express the joy I felt that day when I saw him across the altar knowing that we would be together forever!

I have yet to try gazpacho (the soup), but I think my Dad was right in a sense.
You see, I used to be an extremely picky eater & never thought I would like gazpacho. I'm still not much of a soup person so I like to think that my hubby is more like this Raspberry Kiwi Gazpacho dessert (;
In all seriousness though, I married someone that I never thought I would marry & am growing to love him more and more every day! He's better than I ever imagined my hubby would be!
I'm so grateful that he sent me that MySpace message almost seven years ago, because whether he realized it at the time or not, he has made a huge impact on my life and I definitely would not be the person I am today without him. I love him with all my heart & feel extremely blessed to be his eternal companion.

xoxo

N is for Nest - Willy the Sparrow

N is for Nest.
This is the first week that I'm straying from a Disney movie.
Shocking, I know...
but that's because I have an awesome nostalgic movie to share instead!
I'm interested to see how many of you have seen WILLY THE SPARROW...

I loved this movie growing up, and it has a wonderful message about being kind to animals & respecting all living things. I was so excited when I saw that I could borrow it from our library!

THIS WEEK...
Church Theme: Nephi

Primary/Church Song: 'Nephi's Courage'

Preschool Song: '5 Little Chickadees'

Book: The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman
Movie: Willy the Sparrow

This week definitely didn't go as planned.
Both kids were sick, so we did a lot of taking it easy. Last year we barely got sick at all so I guess this year it's only fair that we have a constant cold running around our family.

Monday:
Our little Princess had a constant fever & congestion from Saturday until Tuesday, so Monday was filled with lots of cuddles on the couch.

Tuesday:
Congestion continues, but we made a giant nest in our living room with rolled blankets & pretended to be birds.

Wednesday:
We needed to run a few errands so we did our field trip a couple days early & made a quick stop at the park to count all the different birds we could see. We didn't stay long though because I didn't want them to get more sick than the sniffles they already had & although I remembered their sweatshirts, I forgot mine.

Thursday:

I got about 4.5 hours of broken sleep Wednesday night after dealing with 2 stuffy, tossy-turny kids that couldn't sleep. Little Dudeman got hit with the fever so I gave him some medicine to help bring it down and in doing so, got a tiny drop in my eye as he was trying to spit it out. He was absolutely miserable all day & just wanted to cuddle on the couch, watch movies, & play Sonic with me.
Yep, you heard me right, he was asking for me to play Nintendo...
How could I not when he asked so politely?

Friday:
Fevers & congestion continued throughout Thursday night, but we got more sleep so that was good. This morning there was lots of congestion & our little Princess developed a tiny cough. Not terrible, but no fun nonetheless. We weren't going anywhere & Little Dudeman wasn't as miserable as the day before so I decided to do the Muffin Tin & movie today...

While watching Willy the Sparrow we had a sliced egg, a ramen noodle nest, grape 'eggs', a Peep, a butterscotch nest w/ JellyBelly eggs, & Reese's eggs.

Hopefully the kids feel better next week!

FYI... If you want to stick to the Disney theme,
I can't think of any good ones that have a lot of nests,
but you can always use The Three Caballeros since they are 3 birds.
(although I plan on saving that for Cinco De Mayo)
If I think of something better, I'll let you know...

Check out other awesome muffin tin meals @ Another Lunch

M is for Monster - Monsters Inc

M is for Monster

This week we learned that monsters aren't really all that scary while watching MONSTERS INC...

THIS WEEK...
Church Theme: Miracles of Jesus

Primary/Church Song: 'Tell Me the Stories of Jesus'

Preschool Song/Rhyme: 'Little Miss Muffet'

Book: Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
Movie: Monsters Inc

Monday (New Years Eve):
We were out running errands then enjoying our little New Years Eve party

Tuesday (New Years Day):
Tickle Monsters (Hubby didn't have to work so we hung out at home & had lots of tickle fights)

Wednesday:

We did M letter & math sheets

Thursday:

We ate a deviled egg eye, Mike Wazowski apple, laffy taffy (I ended up eating it since I realized it may be too chewy for Little Dudeman to eat), Boo's monster-o's (fruit loops), eye scream, & monster munch (pretzels and m&m's) while watching Monsters Inc.

Friday:

We went grocery shopping,
then we came home & made monster slime... 2/3 c cornstarch, 1/3 c water, food coloring

I'd say we had a pretty awesome week (;

Milk Chocolate Fondue

Milk Chocolate Fondue. New Years Eve deliciousness. 'Nuff said.

1 bag of milk chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

A dash of salt

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and salt until chocolate is melted. Stir/fold in the oil, milk, and vanilla until mixed well. Serve warm.

(Tastes great with strawberries, apples, marshmallows, pound cake, bananas, pretzels, cheesecake, etc...)

Cheddar Cheese Fondue

I love cheese fondue but we tend to make it only once a year on New Years Eve.
It's a shame I don't make it more often because it is simple, delicious, & I love cheese.

1 1/2 cups chicken broth or milk (I like to use 3/4 cups of both)

2 cloves garlic, chopped (optional) (I use 1/8 tsp garlic powder instead)

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

8 oz mild cheddar cheese, shredded

2 Tbsp cornstarch

In a fondue pot over medium heat, heat the broth/milk with the garlic until bubbles appear. Toss the cheese lightly with the cornstarch & add to the broth/milk mixture. Stir until cheese is completely melted. Keep warm over low heat.

(Tastes great with sourdough bread, french bread, lil smokies, meatballs, carrots, pretzels, broccoli, cauliflower, etc...)

Happy 2013

Happy New Year!

Last night to ring in 2013 we ate way too much fondue & we played Candyland!

It's one of the many traditions I grew up with that we decided to carry on.

You see, we don't play Candyland the same way as most families...

We get to eat the candy as we pass it on the board as if we were actually in the game.

That means that we get these goodies when we pass the following spaces/areas on the boards:
Plumpy & the Gingerbread plum trees (sad - our version doesn't have Plumpy): Gingerbread cookies & plums (we used to get a spoonful of plum babyfood sometimes, but we can't seem to find it)
Rainbow Trail: Skittles
Mr Mint & the Peppermint Forest: Candy canes

Jolly & the Gumdrop Mountains/Gumdrop Pass: Gumdrops
Lord Licorice & the Licorice Castle: Licorice
Gramma Nutt & her Peanut Brittle House: Peanut brittle or some kind of nutty treat (this year we used Butterfingers)

Princess Lolly & the Lollipop Woods: Lollipops or suckers
Queen Frostine & the Ice Cream Sea (She's Princess Frostine in our version, but she's still a Queen to me): Ice cream
Gloppy & his Swamp (He used to be a molasses monster, but I guess now he's into chocolate): We used to eat a molasses cookie or a spoonful of molasses, but now that he's a chocolate monster we have chocolate of sorts. (Last night it was chocolate lava cakes, but next year I think we'll do Lindt truffles. You know, the kind that turn to pure liquid in your mouth...)
King Kandy & the Candy Castle: We don't typically do anything when we get there, but I'm thinking next year that we might have one King size candybar that we can all share as we get to it.
I think you get the idea...
It's a lot of fun (:

Here's the yummy cheese fondue that we ate for dinner.

You can find the Cheddar Cheese Fondue recipe here.
& don't forget the Milk Chocolate Fondue...

Scrumdiddlyumtious!

We were going to slice some granny smith apples to eat with both the cheese & the chocolate fondues but I completely spaced it! Oh well, I get to enjoy them with all our leftovers today (;

Well, I guess it's time to take a look a last years resolutions to see what I've accomplished & what I need to continue to work on...

2012 Resolutions:
1. Read scriptures daily (I did really good until our little Princess was born)
2. Have personal prayer daily (I do this, but I want to get back into the habit of praying on my knees)
3. Be a better & more loving wife (Hubby thinks I was silly to have this as a goal since he likes me the way I am, but I feel there's always room for improvement)
4. Read, sing, & play with the kids more (Again, there's always room for improvement, but I've made progress since last year)
5. Have more park days (No excuses... I need to get out more)
6. Keep our home clutter-free (Work in progress, right?)
7. Complete daily chores (Yes, that includes maintaining the dishes...)
8. Be a better visiting teacher (I'm at least making it out there now)
9. Try making a new meal once a month (Did great at first, but I started slacking)
10. Be more patient (I feel as if I may have actually sort of achieved this goal!)

2013 Resolutions:
1. Read scriptures daily

2. Kneel for daily personal prayers
3. Create a better budget & stick to it
4. Keep our home clutter-free
5. Have family home evening every week
6. Exercise & play together as a family
7. Have more park days
8. Read at least two books
9. Invite people over
10. Be a better me (wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, leader, etc...)

We'll see how I do...
Wish me luck!