Friday, February 29, 2008

Shen's Birthday Article


Mr. A's sister was a feature in her local paper. Her birthday is February 29th and her neighbor wrote the story about her. It was a huge event for the family, we received several emails regarding it!

Every four years, a few events are worth celebrating n presidential campaigns, the summer Olympics and Shenille Harmon’s birthday. Friday marks the seventh time she’s actually had birthday cake on the day she was born. While most offer sympathy for her leap year misfortune, she is smart enough to take advantage of it.“I like to celebrate on the twenty-eighth and the first for good measure,” she said. “My husband may grumble, but I remind him my birthday is the day after the twenty-eighth and the day before the first, so it’s always a two or three-day thing.”Shenille’s uncle is also a Leapling so they “call and wish each other ‘Happy Birthday’ at least every four years,” she joked.


Shenille’s mother watched the calendar in trepidation as her pregnancy extended beyond her due date giving her daughter the same seemingly unfortunate birthright as her brother.“She told me she just hoped I wasn’t born on the twenty-ninth,” Shenille said. As a result, “My parents tried really hard to compensate.”She remembers two extravagant surprise parties especially one when she was six years old that included a singing telegram from an oversized monkey.“It was a little embarrassing,” she said. “And I did not want to sit on the monkey’s lap.”During a leap year in high school, Shenille was called down to the principal’s office with other Leaplings.“There were two or three of us with the same birthday. We were nervous and had no idea why we had to see the principal,” she said. “But they thought it was funny to bring us in and gave us some sort of card … it was kind of weird.”Shenille said there might be one person in the world who is jealous of her leap year birthday n her sister.“My sister’s birthday is six days after mine. I always felt bad for her because I’m sure she felt slighted,” Shenille said. “She never had the surprise parties or got her own birthday cake because we just had mine. But I think they might be a little better about that now, I’ll have to ask her.”With her mother’s birthday on Halloween and her father’s birthday on the Fourth of July, “We were never normal about how we celebrated,” she said.Now with small children of her own, Shenille will most likely honor her seventh true birthday with simplicity.“We’d like to think we’ll go out to a nice restaurant or something, but in reality with our young kids, we’ll probably just stay home.”


Reporter Stacie Duce can be reached at 363-3300 or sduce@ravallirepublic.comLittle known “Leapling” facts• There are five Fridays in February 2008 n the month begins and ends on a Friday. Between 1904 and 2096, leap day occurs on the same day of the week every 28 years, so the last time February had five Fridays was in 1980 and next time will be in 2036.• The chances of a leap birthday are 1 in 1,461 n long odds for getting the short end of the stick. Imagine waiting four years for your real birthday and hearing endless jokes about being 3 when you’re really 12.• The longest time between two leap years is 8 years. The last time this happened was between 1896 and 1904 and it won’t happen again until 2096 to 2104.• According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are about 200,000 Americans born on Feb. 29 and 4.1 million people worldwide.• Norway’s Henriksen siblings are recognized by the “Guinness Book of World Records.” The three siblings were born on three consecutive leap days. Heidi Henriksen, 1960; Olav Henriksen, 1964; and Leif-Martin Henriksen, 1968.• The Keogh family has three consecutive generations born on Feb. 29. Peter Anthony was born in Ireland in 1940; his son Peter Eric was born in the United Kingdom in 1964; and his granddaughter Bethany Wealth was born in the United Kingdom in 1996.• The Worldwide Leap Year Festival is a four-day event hosted every four years in Anthony, N.M. and includes a parade, golf tournament, carnival and a birthday breakfast and dinner.SOURCES: http://www.leapyearcapital.com/, www.leapzine.com/FamousLeapies.htm, www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html, inventors.about.com, findarticles.com, marriage about.com, http://www.leapyearcapital.com/

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Food Storage

Our ward started this really great idea for food storage from the cannery. Monthly they have a specific time to meet at the cannery, everyone pre-orders what they want based on just 3 items and then whomever goes to the cannery packs the cans. If you cannot attend there are enough people to pack up your food for you. It has been a great way to work on the items you need! They even deliver it to your door!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Activity Days - Journals


Today we had the girls over at my home for Activity Days, there was 8 of them. We talked about the importance of keeping a journal. I found lots of information on the activity at http://www.theideadoor.com/ they even had cute bookmarks that I printed off for the girls with ideas about things to write in their journals. We decorated small notebooks that I found at Walmart for $0.97 with colored scrapbook paper and foam flowers. We also put flowers on the end of each pen with florist tape so they would be more motivated to write. We had them each write a short biography of themselves and their families. I made Carmel popcorn to snack on, the new microwaveable kind cannot be beat (so simple)! It was a fun project and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Valentines Day!

To make Valentine's Day special for All the kids, we made cookies and decorated them with frosting, sprinkles and candy! The children loved the activity! The older kids had Valentine's card and candy exchanged at school. They both came back with enough candy for a months worth!!! Jack-Jack's biggest contribution was licking the spoon!
The children displaying their hard work and messy faces!

Obi enjoyed the Fun Dips candy as you can see.
Jack-Jack was seeing if we needed anymore cookie sheets. HAHAHA

Cute cookie by the princess!

Obi decorated and ate all his hard work

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Bella's 1st Dentist Visit

Bella went to her first dentist appointment with Dr. John Albrecht. She came away with a few treats, a Disney princess toothbrush and sparkle toothpaste! Her teeth that she still has in her mouth looked great! She'll probably need braces when she's gets older but she'll have healthy teeth.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Grandpa B's birthday party!

My mom threw a birthday dinner with cake and ice cream for dessert to celebrate Grandpa B's birthday! B was going to have his birthday celebration also but he got the flu instead, ugh. It was a fun party! We only used a candle in each balloon so as to not set off the fire alarm! Grandma & Grandpa B seemed to enjoy themselves!

Boy, I am looking forward to the teenage years!

I don't think Jack-Jack has eaten a meal without making a complete mess of himself yet!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Recipes: Homemade Canned Pizza Sauce

25-28 tomatoes, peeled & pureed
4 Large onions, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon Juice
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp celery seed
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp summer savory (optional)

1. Put olive oil in deep pan and saute onions and garlic until transparent, add other ingredients. Stir well to blend. Cook on low until mixture is reduced by half the size. This will take approximately 2 hours.

2. When sauce is done, ladle into HOT pint size jars. Clean the rims and do the seal process for 25 minutes in water bath. Yields: 4 pints

Monday, February 4, 2008

Snow In St George

Yes, it actually does get cold enough to snow in St George sometimes, but I would like to mention that SL received over a foot of snow when we got about an inch. It was slushy and wet so the kids didn't like to play in it. Obi says it isn't supposed to snow here!



I wanted to take a picture to show that each one of the kids are a head taller than the next but Jack-Jack and Rex weren't into participating. Fortunately, Mr. A helped them out, Rex was rather ticked off by the whole thing. Isn't that how all two year olds are?!?

Brotherly love! I made these capes and gave them out for Christmas awhile back. The boys love to run around in them!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Jack- Jack's 1 year Pictures

We took Jack-Jack in yesterday and had his pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids.
This is my personal favorite!
He was climbing to the top of this ladder.

This is the best traditional picture!

Sweet baby boy!