Brighter Vision

Thanks to the educational guru, Hilary, she led me to a great find. I was wanting to get some good learning activities to do with Ethan and she suggested that I try out Brighter Vision. Basically they send out a monthly package filled with fun things to do with your children and to help them learn in fun ways. We get a hard cover children's book, a workbook, stickers, sing along CD, and an activity. Each month has a theme and this month was "Let's Eat" so along with this theme, Ethan got a pretend pizza.


It was hilarious to watch him do all sorts of things with his pizza. It was divided into 6 pieces so he counted them, put them in the pan, used the server to give me a piece, he pretended they were hot, he took them to Ry and had him eat them, he pretended to cook them in his make shift oven, he flipped them on his server, and he even made up his own game. We honestly played with this pretend pizza for an hour and he was totally loving it! He even got into my pot holder drawer and pretended to be like mom when she gets things out of the oven. Anyway, I highly recommend Brighter Vision, you get a lot of bang for your buck. Plus the first set is free so you can try it out and cancel if you want and keep the stuff you got. But I bet if you try it out, you'll want to continue. It's a great bonding moment to do these together and watch your child learn and grow. Go check it out!

President Hinckley

I know everyone has already posted about President Hinckley passing away last night, but I'm posting this for my blog book. President Hinckley is pretty much the prophet that I grew up hearing from for just about all my youth and into adulthood. I loved his sense of humor and how straightforward he could be. He always had a fun way to put things. He also helped me to see (along with my parent's guidance of course) that I could do anything that I set my mind to. I remember sitting in the General Young Womens conference during my senior year of high school and I was preparing to leave for BYU and start my endeavors to become a nurse. As I was sitting in that meeting he happened to say this,

The whole gamut of human endeavor is now open to women. There is not anything that you cannot do if you will set your mind to it. You can include in the dream of the woman you would like to be a picture of one qualified to serve society and make a significant contribution to the world of which she will be a part.

I was in the hospital the other day for a few hours. I became acquainted with my very cheerful and expert nurse. She is the kind of woman of whom you girls could dream. When she was young she decided she wished to be a nurse. She received the necessary education to qualify for the highest rank in the field. She worked at her vocation and became expert at it. She decided she wanted to serve a mission and did so. She married. She has three children. She works now as little or as much as she wishes. There is such a demand for people with her skills that she can do almost anything she pleases. She serves in the Church. She has a good marriage. She has a good life. She is the kind of woman of whom you might dream as you look to the future.

I just remember how wonderful I felt about the decisions I was making and that I was making the right choice that would lead me to happiness. President Hinckley will be missed, but I am so happy for his wonderful reunion with his wife.

Jewelry Giveaway

I know many of you are intrigued by giveaways so here's one for a beautiful piece of jewelry!!!

Teresa is running her first contest of the year over at her personal blog. You have a chance to win a win a beautiful turqoise bracelet created by Lori Jaclyn. She’s willing to ship anywhere and that means anyone is eligible to participate and win.

Good luck!

Check Out My New Header

Thanks to my cousin Toni for putting this header together and my wonderful friend Carly for helping me actually get it up there. It was a process!!! I just love the pictures that Toni did for our family back in November so I had to have them on my blog.

Target Is Back On My Good List

Some of you may remember about the "incident" back in October that happened with my dresser and a pair of Target's Halloween socks. Basically the treads ate holes in the top of my dresser. After filing a few reports and talking to a few representatives, I just got my check to get the dresser refinished and the refinishing company came and picked up the dresser just the other day. Hooray! It's not fun to be living without a dresser, but if I don't have to pay for it to be refinished then I can live with anything. Thank you Target, I will be going back soon.

E's Antics

As many of you know, E leads a very busy life. His days are full of dumping out toy bins, turning lights on and off, unloading my refrigerator, helping me vacuum the house, watching his favorite show, talking on the phone with Nanny, brushing his teeth all the time, playing in the bathroom sink, running and running and running, making lots of messes and then helping me clean them up, going on outings, reading Elmer the Elephant 10 million times, and eating lots of food. What a busy boy and that's all just before naptime! Anyway...here are some cute pictures of my little "E" doing what he does best. Making me laugh!

Panjo Super Capes

A few weeks ago I was on and saw a super cute giveaway, a gift certificate for a customized cape from Panjo Super Capes. Ellie is the brains behind this totally fun product and she made the cutest customized cape for E!!! This would be a great gift for your kids, nieces and nephews, grand kids, or your kids' friends.

I got the package right before I left to go down to my in-laws so I took it with me so E could open it up with them. The minute he saw his cape he wanted to put it on and start "flying" around the room. Grandma even got a cape of her own and they were flying around and saving lives. He absolutely loves it and don't be surprised if you see him in it all the time. Here are some shots of E totally hamming it up!


So go check out Ellie's site, Panjo Kids and see all the cute options for a super cape for that super child. Thank you Panjo Kids and Mama Speaks!!!!

Zoo Day

My mom took E and me to the zoo on Wednesday and we had so much fun. The last time we went was back in May and we kind of just breezed through all the exhibits since E wasn't really old enough to enjoy too much. This time was totally different! He kept telling us which animals he wanted to see next and he'd just take it all in. It was hilarious! His favorite book right now is "Goodnight Gorilla" so when he saw any of the animals from that book, he'd just go crazy! He also loved watching the swimming turtles since they were right at his eye level. Last time at the zoo we took a picture of this statue of the Komodo Dragon so I wanted to get another one so we could record how big he's getting. This time he was petrified of the statue and wouldn't go near it, but after a little coaxing from my mom, he got on. Our only problem was getting him away from it after he started to warm up to it. Once he overcame his fear, the statue became his best friend. Anyway...we ended the day with his absolute favorite part, the train ride. I swear we could have spent all day on that thing!

Alphabet Cards from Oneity

I just received a little something in the mail today from an awesome giveaway at Oneity! I was the lucky winner of an entire set of alphabet cards handmade by a local crafter, Julie Davidson. I have to tell you...they are soooo cute! The cards are 4X6 letterboard cards that are great for display or for educational fun. Oneity has them displayed in a really cute case on their site so I'm thinking I may put up the letters of E's name on a shelf. I just wanted to say thanks to Oneity and tell them how much I loved their giveaway!!! Go check out their site, it has tons of cute stuff!

What Happened During Nap Time?

Well, this afternoon I was half way through my cleaning and I needed to put E down for his nap time. So I was in there reading him stories and doing the usual nap time stuff, and then Ry showed up. He was home to pack his bags to go out of town, but he wanted to see E before he left. So I let him take over where I left off and I was off to mop my floors. Of course, E didn't want to go to sleep once he saw his dad, but Ry had to go pack his bags and get ready to go. So I went back in there and finished up our usual routine and by the time I was done and out of the room, he was still rustling around in there. He eventually fell asleep, but after about 1 hour he woke up crying so I went in there to see if I could settle him back down. and this is what I found (see the above pictures). E had smothered his face in Desitin and not just the regular kind...the super thick overnight kind. I don't know if he got into it before he went to bed or after he woke up, but thankfully he got it only on his face and not on his bed or the carpet. Needless to say I was shocked when I opened up the door and his little face was covered in diaper cream. It was just one of those moments that you just have to laugh and get the camera. The minute I put him in front of the mirror and he actually saw what he had done, he cried even more and just kept saying "Sorry Momma, Sorry Momma." I think he understood what he did was not good so I didn't have to do much punishing.

Snape Snape

We learned about the Harry Potter Puppet Pals through my cousins during our trip to Utah back in the Fall. E loved the video clip ever since the first time he saw it and now he loves to sing it or have us sing it to him. I have spent countless nights singing the "Puppet Pals" as a lullaby. Go figure! I finally caught him singing a little bit of it on tape. We were in the car yesterday coming home from Ben's Birthday and E got some party favors with a snowman on the box. He started singing the "Snowman Song" so I tried to film that, but the minute I pulled out the camera he stopped. The song for E goes a little something like this, "Snowman Snowman Snowman Snowman, tall tall tall, melted melted, small small small" and he repeats it over and over. If he's in his room by himself and he thinks no one is watching, he'll do the moves too. Anyway...back to Harry Potter Puppet Pals. Watch the video first so you can get what E is trying to sing.
Okay, now that you've seen it, you can hear E say, "Snape"; "Severius Snape"; "Hermione"; and "Voldemort".

Enjoy!

New Years Eve

Last night, Ry and I were asked to chaperone the youth New Years Dance. Adults were invited so we didn't have to chaperone too much so we were able to go out there and dance. The last time I ever went to a youth dance was when I was a youth so that was 7 or 8 years ago. Needless to say, I am not up on the times when it comes to the latest dances. I was floored when all the kids come running out to this song by "Soulja Boy" and they start breaking it down. Here's the complete tutorial for the dance in case you ever wanted to learn it. So needless to say, I've been on Youtube.com trying to learn this dance so next time I can break it down with all the kids. Also, another dance/song that they were really in to was this "Numa Numa" song that's been going around youtube and I guess this kid is pretty famous because of it.
It's just interesting how things change and why certain things are cool. Go figure. Now get out there and "Crank That" this New Year.