Joseph's Birthday

Last week Joseph turned 32.  For some reason he has wanted to be 32 for the last 3 years.  I don't quite understand it, but now he can live his dream!  Joseph had taken the week off from work so we enjoyed having him home all week.  It was actually a working birthday because he and I finished painting our family room the morning of his birthday.  You can see the evidence of our painting in the background of the pictures.

I felt like I didn't really do anything to make Joseph's birthday special because our week was so busy, but Joseph said he had a good day and enjoyed his presents.  I did put up the birthday decorations and the presents were wrapped!  I also wasn't very excited about the presents he wanted so maybe that was why I didn't feel it was special.  I thought he wanted "boring" stuff, but maybe now I know how he feels when he complains about my birthday wishes!

"Fancy" new camping pants that turn into shorts.

Joseph gave me the best compliment by saying that my dinner was better than eating at a restaurant 

and that we would have paid at least $40 for our family to eat out for food of lesser quality.  I totally agree and that it why I almost always prefer to eat at home rather than going out to eat.  I always end up disappointed with my food from a restaurant.  We had Joseph's standard birthday fare--chicken enchiladas, homemade refried beans and rice.  

All Joseph's plate needed was a little tomato for color but he
wouldn't let me put any on.  His loss! Tomatoes are heavenly.

Even dessert was not birthday-ish to me since Joseph just wanted banana splits.  In my opinion, ice cream at birthdays is not necessary.  I'm not a big fan of "cake and ice cream" unless it is an ice cream cake.  If I'm making an amazing birthday treat, which I usually do, why mess with a good thing by adding ice cream. This year Joseph didn't even bother with the "good thing" and just went straight to ice cream this year.  The banana splits were good, but I think I'll stick to a more traditional dessert for my birthday.   .  I think more than anything, I just didn't get to show my love for Joseph by making him a nice dessert.  Making nice food and desserts is one way I express my love for my family so just having ice cream made me feel a little cheated.  I did try to make it feel "special" for me by making a strawberry sauce instead of just opening a can of pie filling.

Ready to make a wish and eat!

We love Joseph and we are so glad he is the husband and father in our family.  He does a great job supporting our family and the kids love the time he spends with him.

Preschool Graduation

This week Kimball graduated from preschool.  It was an exciting day for us, especially Kimball.  Preschool ended May 17, 2013 and Kimball surprisingly didn't seem too sad about the end of preschool until graduation day.  After graduation day he said he would miss school.  I know Kimball will miss having the social interaction 3 days a week, but he is much better suited for Kindergarten.

Kimball with his teacher, Mrs. Colburn.

In front of the preschool sign on the last day of school.

 The graduation program was nice but a little long.  The teachers did do a good job making each child feel special and recognized.  The kids sang about 10 songs and then were all acknowledged.  There was a slideshow to finish up the program.   Kimball also received a very nice certificate and a 5x7 graduation photo.   I tried to talk Kimball into wearing a short sleeved shirt since it was a warm day and the gym wasn't air conditioned, but he didn't want to.

Singing songs for the audience.  Kimball actually did little singing.
I think he felt shy in front of so many strangers.

Smiling for us.  We lucked out in our seating. We just happened to sit on the same side
that Kimball was sitting since seating for him and us was random.

Kimball and Mrs. Colburn at graduation.

The cake with the names of all of the graduates.  Kimball's name
is in the top left corner as you look at the picture.

There were 7 kids from church that all went to this preschool so we went to a graduation party for the kids after the program.  The kids had a great time running around and eating lunch.  I didn't get any pictures, but the kids had a fun time.

Trip to the Susquehanna River

This past week we went down to Oakland, PA to the site of the restoration of the Priesthood on the banks of the Susquehanna River.  We weren't able to go on May 15 since Joseph worked and Kimball was at preschool so we went the following day.  The drive took just over an hour and it was a perfect day for it.  The temperatures were warm but not hot and there were just enough clouds to make the sky pretty without it being cloudy.

Joseph and I visited a year and a half ago right after Hurricane Irene had hit the area.  When we visited it was very muddy and flooded with a lot of mosquitoes.  It was much prettier this visit and mosquito free!

Joseph and the kids wanted to feel the water temperature so they went wading.  They wanted to see how cold the water was so they could get an idea of how cold it might have been when Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized.  Joseph guessed that it may have been about 50 degrees.  It was cold enough that all three let out a gasp or commented when they first felt the water.  

Kimball signed his name in the guest book.  For being an "out of the way" church site there have been quite a few visitors.  The book we signed started in 2012 and  quite a few pages were filled.

We found a live crawdad in the river.  It was playing "dead".  We also saw a river otter,
but we made too much noise for it to get close to us.

Kimball and Rebecah sitting in front of baby Alvin Smith's grave.
Rebecah has a great expression on her face!

In front of the Priesthood monument.

We almost had some excitement on our trip.  As we walked down to the river the kids were running ahead of us.  They startled a deer and the deer headed in the direction of Joseph and me.  Thankfully, once the deer saw us it veered off again, but it could have been deadly for Joseph, me or both of us.  I'm sure a startled deer running swiftly would have caused some painful damage.  

One Summer Day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania...

My kids fell in love with the Magic Tree House books in March.  Kimball found them when we were unpacking and I would read 2 chapters at a time when I needed a break.  It didn't take long before the kids had me requesting the books from the library so we could follow the story.

I knew we were addicted to these books when I heard Rebecah quoting from the books when she would "read" them to herself.  It made me realize that certain phrases were repeated many times in the books.  If you have read these books you know that "Jack opened his eyes" multiple times in these short 65 page books.  I LOVE to hear my kids quoting these books and acting out the stories that we read.

Our favorite books.

When we get to the Tree House leaving my kids love to recite that part at the top of their lungs!
"The tree house started to spin.  It spun faster and faster.  Then everything was still.  Absolutely still."

I enjoy these books because they spin true events in these fictional stories for kids.  Reading these books has  helped Kimball expand his vocabulary and improve his reading skills.  The prologue has little variation from book to book so it is Kimball's job to read the prologues to practice his reading.  It has been neat for me to see him pointing out editing errors that I didn't even pick up on until he pointed them out.  I guess that shows who pays more attention to the story line.

It was a good find when I found 2 Magic Tree House books at the library sale for $.50 each.  It was a dollar well spent.  Our total is up to 7 and I'm on the look out for others.

In the last 2 months I think we have only checked out 1 picture book and the rest have been these chapter books.

Reading together.  Sometimes we get through one a day.

I hope my kids will always love reading.  I think reading is one of the most beneficial activities for children.

Cinco de Mayo Party

Yesterday we hosted a Cinco de Mayo party.  We don't have any Mexican friends in the area yet, but we still wanted to celebrate the day with bright colors and festive food.  We invited 2 families to join us and it was a lot of fun.  I made festive food...some dishes more authentic than others, but it tasted good.  I fully intended to take pictures of the food, but I forgot once it was all out.

The weather was perfect...about 75.  In the sun it was almost "hot", but I don't want to use that word to describe the weather when summer still looms in the future and there wasn't any humidity yesterday. 

Here you can see some of the decorations I made and the view from our deck.

 

Closer view of the decor.

We all had fun with the pinata and it was fun to see the two girls hit the pinata delicately and then to see the boys go at it with such vigor.  There were some great facial expressions.

We started with the smallest in the group (18 mos) and worked  up the age ranks to 6.  The 6 year old didn't get it completely broken so I tried my hand at it along with another mom. 

Rebecah hit it so ladylike.  I tried to get her to really whack it, but she wouldn't.

A very determined expression.

Kimball sizing it up.

It was fun socializing with people from church and getting to know them better.  My kids loved running around with other kids and we are all excited to host another party.

Homemade Pinatas

Yesterday we hosted a Cinco de Mayo party and we knew we wanted a pinata for the kids to break but they were more expensive than I was willing to pay for 5 minutes of beating fun.  So we decided to make two of them out of balloons.  I have never used paper mache to make anything so it was nice having Joseph around to help.  He didn't mind getting his hands all messy since the idea is similar to putting on a cast. 

Ready to begin the process.

Joseph hard at work.

All smiles despite the mess.

The pinatas took forever to dry...hanging them in the basement to dry may have had something to do with it...so we weren't ready to decorate them until the day before the party.  I knew the kids would want to help with this part and I wanted them to be able to help so we ended up with two designs:  Design #1 was the fast "Rebecah Friendly" version.  I spread glue on the pinata and she put the squares of tissue paper wherever she wanted without care for color or design.  It ended up being cuter than I first thought.

Design #1.  This took maybe 15 minutes and it was the way to go!

Design #2 was supposed to look more authentic and fun, but it took FOREVER!  I also thought Kimball would be able and willing to help with this one.  He patiently did about half of one of the cones and then declared himself done.  I then spent almost 3 hours applying each little tissue paper square with a pencil or my finger.  It was VERY tedious and if I ever do a pinata again I would use a different method.   As I got more and more burnt out on the project I kept asking myself why I was finishing the project when it would be smashed in 5 minutes, but I just couldn't leave the project half finished OR do a different design for half of the pinata so I just muddled through. It turned out pretty well though and it was colorful.  I LOVED the bright colors.

I originally planned to have tassels coming out of the cones on the sides,  but
after about an hour I didn't care to do anything extra on it.