Activity Days: Each One of Us Is Unique

This idea came from sugardoodle.net by Stefani Neeley

We played a game with one girl in the center while the other girls are sitting in a circle around her in chairs. The girl in the center says something about herself, ex: I have brown eyes then everyone who also has that in common with the girl in the center has to stand up and change seats including the girl in the center. The girl left standing is it and she states something about herself and it continues. Next we read The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane DeRolf, it's about a box of crayons who cannot get along with each other because of their difference and then are shown how wonderful each one really is. We then talked about difference and similarities of the girls in our own group and how special each one of them is to us. Next everyone was given a snack size baggy full of one type of treat one girl had cereal, another chocolate chips and so on. On their own their still great but when we mixed everything together it was great! They all got their baggy refilled with the mix and enjoyed their treat!

HIking in Dixie

Since no one had school Monday morning we took the kids over to hike up on the hills. It was a rather windy morning but we beat the storm that poured down later in the day. The kids loved being able to climb and hike all over. It had a great view of Saint George from the top of the hills/mountains.

Easter Celebration

We started our Easter celebration with a family home evening lesson on the symbols of Easter. I had 12 plastic eggs with an item that symbolized different aspects of the resurrection and a scripture to go along with it. The kids liked opening each egg and learned a little on the way. We were spoiled with a 4-day weekend to celebrate Easter and General Conference. We're not accustom to so much time with Zack but loved every minute! Friday night we had a BBQ in our backyard with Jennifer and her family! It was lots of fun for the kids and cousins. Saturday morning we went to breakfast and then headed over to the Walmart Easter Egg Hunt. It was very busy and crowded!! We have several Easter Egg Hunts to choose from here and each one is so different. Next year we're going to the Vernon Worthin Park to see how that one goes. Later on the girls and kids played at my parents' home while all the men went to the Priesthood Session of General Conference.


Sunday morning the kids were mysteriously visited by the Easter bunny with a sand pail filled with treats! They loved it! Matthew decided that he liked Joshua's football more than the dump truck so we made a quick swap before Joshua even knew! He was sleeping in; a case of the snooze you loose?!? In all honesty Joshua loved the dump truck and filled it with all his candy. When there are four boys close enough in age sometimes deciding which items goes to which can be a toss up, fortunately Matthew cleared that up for the Easter bunny and it worked out nicely! It was fun to see how excited all their little faces were when they saw their treasures! We watched general conference, ate a big breakfast and munched on candy all morning. For the afternoon session of conference we headed over to my parents for a Easter party! We had a potluck dinner, Easter games and of course an Easter egg hunt. The kids enjoyed themselves and so did the adults. It seemed to work out really well!

Activity Days: Easter

We started out with a cute story about the true meaning of Easter. There were even cute felt board pictures to go with it. Then we took the girls out to the backyard for an Easter egg hunt. The eggs were filled with candy and a slip of paper that had an activity. We let each girl eat the candy and then take turns telling which activity to play. We had pin the tail on the bunny, an egg roll, Easter egg relays and a few others to do. After we finished up all our activities we headed back inside for Easter egg decorating. We used undiluted food coloring and q-tips for decorating. The colors were very vibrant and they could put more details on with the q-tips than normal dunking in the dye.

Toothfairy Woes

The toothfairy has been rather busy in our house. She's been visiting a lot lately, both Katelyn and Taylor have kept her quite busy! They both lost a tooth this weekend and keep showing more loose ones to come. Maybe I'll have to start serving them mush if they loose many more.

Taylor pulled out his own tooth yesterday at Grandma Belt's birthday party with the help of his cousin Braxton and Uncle Cameron. It looked like he was a little shaken after the whole ordeal but waking up with money under your pillow seems to relax the nerves!

Katelyn has been loosing teeth left and right. She's got a rather small jaw like her daddy so these grown up teeth are finding some fun places to peak out at! Maybe I should have married an orthodontist instead!

Zack's new side job!

After a rather yucky November and December we thought it best to find another "extra income" position for Zack. I was steered toward craigslist where I found a part time position as a GED tutor at Stevens Henager College here in Saint George. After going through all the hoops he started working there at the end of February. He seems to be enjoying it and the schedule is much better for both of us! We knew when he decided to pursue teaching that he would need to supplement our income since we both felt it was very important that I stay home with our babies. We have always been blessed with great opportunities for Zack and our family. This newest adventure is no different, we have been well guided by the Lord!

Soccer Coach

Katelyn and Taylor both loved soccer last year so I didn't hesitate to put them in again this year. Taylor's team needed a coach and since I'm not watching Jaerick anymore I thought why not? Actually I was a little reluctant but the organizer sounded really motivating plus a friend of mine down the street was willing to partner up with me so... Here I am Taylor's soccer coach! In charge of 12 little six year olds teaching them soccer! I am really enjoying it! We've had a couple practices and won our first game which happened to be against our other neighbors who live a couple blocks away. Wish me luck!

Activity Days: Chores

I found many ideas for Developing Talents #7 from the website goanddoactivities.com, created by a lady who was an Activity Days leader for 3 years. She has lots of information and fun ideas!

First we cut strips of the words from Exodus 20:12 and D&C 58:27, we unscrambled the phrases to complete the scriptures. I then asked the girls questions in regards to these scriptures and talked about how helping around the house is important for each one of us.

Second, I set up a chore relay for the girls to do including picking up and folding towels on the bathroom floor, wiping off the mirror (I used a little dry erase marker as the smudge), make a bed, change a diaper (don't worry it was just a doll), hang up a shirt and put the toys away. We timed them and they all cheered each other on. It was highly competitive!

Third, I had the girls list 5 things they do around the house and 5 things they could do around the house. We then made coupon books using our lists. It worked out well!

Spring Break 2010!

Our Spring Break was rather eventful without much traveling. I made sure to keep everyone quite busy. We played, watched movies, read Harry Potter with the older kids, built wooden puzzles, did crafts, planted our garden and a half dozen trees, took care of my parents dog while my parents were away, played with cousins and kept Zack doing lots of fun projects. He set up a laundry line, planted several trees, put trim around the front windows, built shutters, added closet doors to the kids' closets, built a shelf in our shed and built me a wooden bench for our entryway!

I figured if he was home for a week I better get him working on the honey-do list before he was too busy again! It rained most of the week so we had many activities to do indoors until the weather cooperated. I was amazed at how much Zack accomplished in such a short time, I think I'll keep him! My camera is not working properly and I've been working with it as much as I can but I think it is time it gave up the ghost cause my pictures are suffering and we have many pictures to take in our future! If you have any recommendations please let me know.

Activity Days: Cleaning the nursery toys

As a service project for our Activity Day girls, we had them clean the toys in our nursery using disinfectant wipes. They worked, played and gabbed while doing some much needed service. After they finished we played a game of tag in the cultural hall and then fed them yummy rice crispy treats!