Activity Days - Hands

Our Activity Days night was really enjoyable. The girls seemed to get very excited about the topic of sign language. I had twelve young girls, between the ages of 8 to 11, over at my house last night. They have been a rather large handful lately and always seem to have a hard time settling down! I have researched many websites and found some great ideas to keep their minds occupied. The girls were all smooshed into my front room. Each girl introduced themself as there has been many new faces join us lately. We went over the alphabet in sign language twice and then I had each girl fingerspell her own name while the others girls practiced doing it with them. It got us to practice many letters in the alphabet.

After they thoroughly learned each others names, we watched a video that teaches lots of different signs that you may use everday! It is called "I Want to Learn Sign Language," I checked it out from the library. It was rather cheesy but was wonderful at teaching us signs! They all seemed to enjoy themselves immensely.

As they practiced the many signs while watching this video, I gave them the Jam Filled Butter Cookies. The recipe comes from allrecipes.com one of my personal favorite websites! The cookies were great and they all wanted more! I've included a copy of the recipe if anyone wants to try it.

Jam Filled Butter Cookies

(allrecipes.com)

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit preserves, any flavor

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger or an instrument of similar size to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with 1/2 teaspoon of preserves. (put preserves in a ziploc bag and cut a bottom corner to make it easier to fill cookies)
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Jack-Jack's official birthday

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Jack-Jack is officially 1 year old now!!! The kids were afraid Jack-Jack wouldn't know it was his birthday today so we went to the store and bought everyone some ice cream to celebrate. You would think cake and ice cream on Sunday was enough but not for them!
Caught licking the bowl!
Just cannot get enough!!!

Spending some birthday time in his "birthday suit"!

Jack-Jack loves taking baths so when he saw Rex in the bath he started clawing off his clothes and tried jumping in!

Jack-Jack's 1st Birthday Party!

We decided to celebrate Jack-Jack's 1st Birthday on Sunday after church as that would be much easier for everyone to attend. It was a nice party and Jack-Jack loved his presents. He was a little tired during the party as it was his naptime, it took him about 5 minutes to realize that we gave him cake to eat! He was very happy and loved playing with everyone.

Little Jack-Jack finally digging into the cake!

It took my mom a little time to figure out our camera so she could take a picture of Jack-jack with the cake. Fortunately he was so tired he barely noticed that we pinned his arms down so he wouldn't grab the hot candle! My mom and SIL
The boys and Grandpa B Obi & my little brother

his eyes are drooping in this picture!

Dad & Grandpa B

I made him a cute chocolate cake that looked like a drum. I also made a cupcake that Jack-Jack could dig into so he would be nice and messy for the pictures!

Kids doing the dishes with Mr. A observing on the sideline!

Sweet baby boy!

Visiting Family

Mr. A's little brother came home from his mission at the beginning of January. We were finally able to go visit during Martin Luther King Day because of the three day weekend. Unfortunately due to a heavy snow storm we left a little earlier than planned and missed a birthday party for our niece. Since we have lived in St George for the past 2 1/2 years we have not been use to the heavy snow lately and after passing several wrecks on the side of the road we decided it best to try our way home before the weather got any worse. This is Mr. A with his two little brothers. They haven't been all together for over three years!

The kids were able to build a snowman with the snow that had already come on Friday. With the Monday snow fall they would have been able to build a whole civilization of snowmen. The kids were thrilled to play in the snow.

On the way to SL and back we always stop over at the Shell gas station in Fillmore. There is a nice rest stop with a playground right next to it. The kids always seem to get antsy about half way through the trip so this is the perfect stop! Here is Jack-Jack enjoying the slide.

Rex just loves the outdoors and really was thrilled to get out of the car and play for a little while!

The older kids were chasing each other the whole time and I caught them actually enjoying being together for a moment. They were struggling being by each other during the car trip. The traditional "She's touching me" game was very annoying! Well we survived the trip and enjoyed playing with cousins on both sides. We stayed the night at my sister's home and spent the day over at Grandma B's home.

We got to meet Mr. A's sister's newest addition! We also met Mr. A's brother's fiance, as he is getting married in August. She is a very quick wit and loves babies. He is very happy and she'll keep him on his toes! I kept leaving my camera in the car so I didn't get very many pictures, darn it! This picture was one that Mr. A's mom, put on the family website.

It was a fun but quick trip and we are glad that we made it. Maybe next time the weather won't be so bad and we'll be able to stay longer and play!

Book Review: The Christmas Shoes

Christmas is always full of wonderful treasures. This Christmas the Harmon family gave us gifts of books. I decided to read the book, The Christmas Shoes, that they gave to our entire family. After reading the entire book in one evening, I believe that I used the whole box of tissues! This book is as emotional as the song it was written about. The lives of the characters in the story are so diverse. The author really got into the thick of the lives of both the young boy who wanted shoes for his dying mother and the frustrated shopper who forgot the meaning of Christmas, this story is very well written. As for the Harmon family, we thank you for bringing an extra bit of Christmas spirit in our home! If you want a nice cry, I suggest you spend an evening or two reading The Christmas Shoes, written by Donna VanLiere.