Portland Temple Visitors Center

The Portland Temple just got a new Visitors Center.  We took the opportunity to go see it for Family Home Evening.  Granny, Grandpa, Kaitlin and Tenley went with us.  It is a small, but beautiful place.  We learned more about the temple and its importance to families.  There were displays about Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon and the Prophet and General Authorities.  We also saw a new movie about families that was a definite tear jerker.  The color a temple display was a huge hit with the kids.

Most striking and beautiful was the Christus statue that greets you at the entrance.

It was a little busy the night we went.  It will be nice to go back and spend more time there, but we were still able to feel the spirit of the temple while we were there.

All Aboard!

A few weeks ago we found ourselves looking at a Saturday with nothing on the calendar, a rare occurrence indeed.  I read in the paper about a hobby train show that was going to be at the Portland Convention Center on that Saturday.  We knew it would be something that Isaac would love and Grace would enjoy, so we decided to check it out.  We were right, they loved it.  Emma was a good sport and even had some fun herself.  We saw lots of trains that morning. 

Our favorites were the huge and elaborate Lego train set-ups.  There were several and they were really cool.

Isaac and Grace were extremely excited whenever they saw Thomas train sets.  They also liked any trains that actually blew steam and sets that had buttons they could push to make things work.

We did a lot of picking up and holding and several shoulder rides so they could see the train sets.  We were thinking the guy who brought a collapsible stepstool for his grandson was super smart.

Isaac and Grace were thrilled to get a ride on Thomas.  They also liked the play area.

It was a fun morning.  Isaac and Grace were happy, Emma was a good big sister, and we got to enjoy being together.

As Isaac would say, “All aboard, tickets please!”

A Girl Named Gracie

This is what Grace said to me in the car today: “Mom, you always wanted a little girl named Gracie”.  It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.  I told her that yes, I did.  Then she asked “are you glad Heavenly Father gave you your three kids?” 

Oh, how glad I am!

Piggy Party

I have fond memories of snuggling with Emma on her bed and reading Charlotte’s Web to her when she was the same age as the twins.  I remember Emma loving the book and I loved sharing one of my old favorites with her.   Isaac, Grace and I made similar memories as we read Charlotte’s Web together (only this time we weren’t snuggled in bed since they are STILL in their cribs!).  Just like Emma, Isaac and Grace were enthralled with the book.  They begged for more chapters and followed the story very well.  I told them that when we finished the book we could watch the movie.  It slowly evolved into watching the movie and having a party—a Piggy Party.  When we finished the book they were so excited!

We spent that day getting ready for our Piggy Party.  First Isaac and Grace colored some Charlotte’s Web coloring pages. 

Both Isaac and Grace liked to recite the words that Charlotte wrote in the web to describe Wilbur.  I helped them to make their own glittery webs and they thought of words that described themselves to put in their webs.  Isaac decided that he is “cool” and Grace thinks she is “funny”.  Grace also insisted that they put spiders in their webs, so we quickly came up with some cute spiders.  When the webs were done they were excited to use them and the coloring pages to “decorate” for the Piggy Party.

I made some piggy cupcakes for the refreshments for our party.

After dinner we were ready to celebrate and we ate our cupcakes while we watched the movie.  Grace was a little bummed when she realized that the party only included our family, she thought we were having friends over!  She got over it and was so engrossed in the movie that it took her forever to finish her cupcake.

It was a fun day and a great way to celebrate finishing our book.  The next day I found Isaac and Grace looking at the pictures in Charlotte’s Web and discussing the story.  So cute!

I think Grace liked the book a little too much.  She has decided that she REALLY wants a pet pig.  Her dad suggested she name it Bacon.  She thought that was a great idea and so she is convinced that she will soon have a pet pig named Bacon.  Oh boy!

Blue Fingernail Polish

When we found out that one of the twins was a boy, Emma’s first response was excitement that she could torture him by painting his fingernails while he slept.  In her almost 9 year old mind she thought that would be the perfect thing for a big sister to do to her unsuspecting little brother.  So she was surprised when Isaac recently ASKED to have his fingernails painted.  Emma was painting Grace’s nails and he spied the blue polish.  He immediately started bugging Emma to paint his nails blue.  Isaac is pretty sure that blue is a boy color so it would be perfectly fine for a boy to have blue painted nails.  Emma obliged.

He was thrilled with the results and was very proud to show off his blue nails. 

The next morning he woke up and started crying.  When I went to see what was the matter he was terribly upset that some of his blue nail polish had chipped.  He wanted new polish but I was able to distract him and hoped he would forget.  Not long after that he looked at his nails and declared that he wanted the polish off, now.  He didn’t like it any longer and was done with the blue nail polish.  Lee was relieved.  Emma was a little bummed.

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day takes on a whole new meaning with kids.  It has become a celebration for the whole family!  We started the day with waffles.  I don’t make hot breakfast very often on school mornings, in fact I make breakfast for dinner way more frequently.  When I served Isaac his waffles he about had a meltdown because “waffles are for dinner, not breakfast!”  I think I have totally confused my child.  He finally gave in and ate them.

Isaac and Grace found new puzzles in their mailboxes and Emma got a new shirt.  Those puzzles were a great idea because they provided a lot of quiet time over the next few days.  Emma even enjoyed them and so did her friends.

Emma went off to school with some brownie points for her teachers, but no Valentine’s for classmates this year.  :(

Isaac and Grace and I headed off to their first day of swimming lessons, more on that later.  Then we went with our playgroup to a local care facility to pass out Valentine’s we made the week before.  This was my favorite part of the day.  It was so cute to see the little kids pass out the Valentine’s.  The elderly residents loved it and you could see their faces light up when they got their heart.  I was surprised at how willing Isaac and Grace were to approach the people and they smiled and said “Happy Valentime’s Day!  What a great activity, thank you Janeece!

Later that evening we had our traditional “romantic dinner”, complete with a heart shaped pizza and candlelight.

Isaac and Grace were most happy to blow the candles out.

Lee was happy to get his giant heart cookie.  He looks forward to it every year.  He surprised the twins and I by coming to swimming lessons earlier in the day and bringing me flowers.  He worked from home the rest of the day and it was nice to have him around.  I sure love that husband of mine!

After dinner we played some conversation hearts games.

Then we put the little ones to bed.  Crazy kids…

We played some more games after the twins were in bed.  They obviously required some concentration.

Then we savored some heart shaped pizzookies.  Oh yum!

What a great day, full of love!

Mommy School-Valentine’s Day

We mostly just read lots of Valentine’s Day books for Mommy School.  We did fit in a few projects.  I loved these easy and fun giant Hershey Kisses we made.  idea here

For the tag sticking out I wrote their names.  Grace concentrated so hard and traced hers really well.

Their kisses were just as good as the real ones!

One of the books we read was My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall.  We loved looking at all the animals made from heart shapes. 

I had planned to just copy one of the animals from the book, but then I saw this Lovebird project and decided it was perfect.  Isaac and Grace had fun putting them together.

Grace’s Lovebird hurt her leg so she put a band aid on it!

I made them a special Lovebird lunch to go along with it.

We also read Ten Rosy Roses by Eve Merriam. 

I shamelessly copied the activity we did along with it from storytime at the library.  We retold the story with 10 roses of our own.

Then we made celery print roses.  They turned out so pretty!  We made them into cards and delivered them to a few special people. idea here