About 3 months ago, Megan, the enrichment coordinator in our ward, passed around a sign-up for people interested in a Family Home Evening Packet Exchange. The gist is that you pick a gospel topic and make a packet with a lesson, and stories and activities, songs and song aides, coloring pages etc. Then you do your packet for everyone in the group and then you get one of each of theirs. I thought it sounded so great that I eagerly signed up. Who doesn't want a bunch of ready-to-go packets for FHE? Well... it turned out to be A LOT more work than I ever thought it would be, and, it cost WAY WAY WAY more than I was anticipating, but....................................
We exchanged our packets last night and they are SOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!! I can NOT wait for FHE! We almost wanted to rush home and wake up our kids to do one of our awesome packets. Every night is FHE at our house now. :-) My friends are SO creative! I can not believe how awesome these FHE lessons turned out! I have the funnest, coolest library of packets now that are ready to go on a moment's notice, especially for Shea's age group and so awesome. What a great way to teach Shea these important Gospel topics. WAHOO! In fact, we loved them so much last night that we decided to do ANOTHER exchange before we move. This time with scripture story lessons. I'm so excited!! (Maybe this time I won't procrastinate until the week before and it won't be so stressful!)
P.S. - Amber, Kamalani, April and Julie Jan - we should DEFINITELY talk about how awesome these are and I can forward you all the info and requirements and a sample so you can do them in your wards. They are AWESOME!!!! Let me know!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Family Home Evening Packet Exchange
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Doc Sorensen and Dr. Meyers
So Shea had TWO FIRSTS this week. He went to both the eye doctor and the dentist for the first time. He LOVED both!!!!! Forget Dr. Bailey, (who we all really do WORSHIP by the way) these two doctors were FUN FUN FUN!!!
We visited the eye doctor on Monday, just to be sure that the frisbee didn't do some eye damage. ( I know, I know, we're a little bit paranoid, but especially when the eye is concerned, better safe than sorry.) Shea was a super star at Dr. Meyers office. We don't get the Friend yet, but I really need to order it, because he loved it! We read the whole thing while waiting. Then when we got in the room he thought he'd entered kid paradise. All those turny buttons on the eye thing and a chair that goes up and down, WOW! When the Dr. arrived he told me that Shea was way too young for a vision exam, but they'd flash the pictures up just to see what he did. He was AMAZING! Not only could he see them all (perfect vision!) but he knew what they all were and told the Dr. every single one. My favorite was actually a hand, but it was drawn kind of weird and Shea told the Dr. that it was a peacock! :-) Funny boy! The Dr. said he did "exceptional" for a child his age. I sure love hearing that about my little guy. :-) So yeah, no eye damage (whew) and they got a vision exam in and he's 20/20! :-)
Then on Wednesday he had his first dentist visit. We got to the office and there was a mechanical horse outside, which seemed like a good sign, but then we got in there. WOW! It was THE COOLEST Dr.'s office I've EVER seen. (For anyone local who needs a pediatric dentist. Dr. Sorensen in Spanish Fork is the place to go!!!!!!!) His business cards say Doc Sorensen for a reason I guess. The whole office was decorated like a gigantic barn, in really cool red, green and yellow colors. He has a train that runs a track up along the ceiling, a giant mechanical cow on the wall that looks at you and moos, a silo, and cow dental chairs!!! All the "rooms" open up in this big space so it looks like their stalls in the barn. It was really way cool. When Shea got in his chair and they laid him back, there was a flat screen on the ceiling and headphones for him to watch a movie (or play PS2, if he'd been older) while they cleaned his teeth! They sure didn't have that when we were kids!!!!!!!! He loved it and did really good. He let the Doc: take X-Rays, do an exam, clean his teeth and even floss them! And... NO cavities, which is really quite a shocker considering the amount of candy consumed by him and his daddy. :-) So mommy was happy. He got a cool little kiddy bag to take home with a Pooh toothbrush, toothpaste, a token for the horse! (a bit hit!), a gift certificate to Dell Taco (for having no cavities) and a thing of floss (which he tried to entirely empty of its contents as soon as we got home :-) So, good job baby Shea, no cavities and good eyes!
We visited the eye doctor on Monday, just to be sure that the frisbee didn't do some eye damage. ( I know, I know, we're a little bit paranoid, but especially when the eye is concerned, better safe than sorry.) Shea was a super star at Dr. Meyers office. We don't get the Friend yet, but I really need to order it, because he loved it! We read the whole thing while waiting. Then when we got in the room he thought he'd entered kid paradise. All those turny buttons on the eye thing and a chair that goes up and down, WOW! When the Dr. arrived he told me that Shea was way too young for a vision exam, but they'd flash the pictures up just to see what he did. He was AMAZING! Not only could he see them all (perfect vision!) but he knew what they all were and told the Dr. every single one. My favorite was actually a hand, but it was drawn kind of weird and Shea told the Dr. that it was a peacock! :-) Funny boy! The Dr. said he did "exceptional" for a child his age. I sure love hearing that about my little guy. :-) So yeah, no eye damage (whew) and they got a vision exam in and he's 20/20! :-)
Then on Wednesday he had his first dentist visit. We got to the office and there was a mechanical horse outside, which seemed like a good sign, but then we got in there. WOW! It was THE COOLEST Dr.'s office I've EVER seen. (For anyone local who needs a pediatric dentist. Dr. Sorensen in Spanish Fork is the place to go!!!!!!!) His business cards say Doc Sorensen for a reason I guess. The whole office was decorated like a gigantic barn, in really cool red, green and yellow colors. He has a train that runs a track up along the ceiling, a giant mechanical cow on the wall that looks at you and moos, a silo, and cow dental chairs!!! All the "rooms" open up in this big space so it looks like their stalls in the barn. It was really way cool. When Shea got in his chair and they laid him back, there was a flat screen on the ceiling and headphones for him to watch a movie (or play PS2, if he'd been older) while they cleaned his teeth! They sure didn't have that when we were kids!!!!!!!! He loved it and did really good. He let the Doc: take X-Rays, do an exam, clean his teeth and even floss them! And... NO cavities, which is really quite a shocker considering the amount of candy consumed by him and his daddy. :-) So mommy was happy. He got a cool little kiddy bag to take home with a Pooh toothbrush, toothpaste, a token for the horse! (a bit hit!), a gift certificate to Dell Taco (for having no cavities) and a thing of floss (which he tried to entirely empty of its contents as soon as we got home :-) So, good job baby Shea, no cavities and good eyes!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Baby Shea's first BLACK EYE
Ok, so it's not that bad, but it was his first black eye. Saturday morning was the fathers and sons activity for our ward, so about 9:30 I sent my boys off to the park for a morning of frisbees, fun and games. About 30 minutes later as I'm cleaning the kitchen there comes a frantic knocking at the back door. I walk around and there's Chris, holding my little guy, who is bawling his head off and who has blood and tears streaming down his face. Apparently a frisbee went awry and hit him in the eye and knocked him flat on his back. It hit him just at the corner of his eye and split the skin. He was pretty upset and so was his mommy, as we haven't had any accidents with Shea yet. I'm so grateful that I can say that this was the first real wound of his life and it was just tiny. I'm so so so so so so so grateful that I'm not one of the mom's who's been to the hospital on multiple occasions. AAAAGGGHH, too scary! He did get a black eye but it wasn't too bad. While very noticable in person, it was hard to capture in a photo, but here are the pics. :-)
CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS!!!
HE DID IT!!!
He officially passed the Masters Exam yesterday. WAHOO! The test was on over 150 works of French literature, philosophy, artistic movements, major people and events in French history etc. It consisted of a 4 HOUR written exam that he took last week. And a 2 hour oral exam where he was grilled by 3 PhD's from the department on his analysis of a poem, his written portion and any and all other questions that they felt like throwing at him from the GINORMOUS amount of info he was to have read and internalized. WHEW! What a monkey off his back! Now all he has to worry about is finishing that thesis. :-)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
"Mommy, I drive a hepicopter!!!!"
So, last week as Chris was studying for his Master's Exam at the kitchen table, he saw a helicopter land in the park next to our house. He was curious, so he walked over to see what was up. Apparently they had landed to pick up a couple of teachers from the near by elementary school for some recognition lunch. While they were waiting, the policemen were letting the kids in the park take turns sitting in the helicopter. Well, knowing how Shea feels about helicopters, Chris ran next door and stole him from Hilary who was babysitting, to let him see the helicopter. I got a call at school a few minutes later, from an absolutely ECSTATIC little boy who spent five minutes telling me all about how he got to "drive the hepicopter" and "sit in the hepicopter" and how the "hepicopter flying around." WOW! :-)
(Thanks to Megan for unknowingly letting me steal the photo she took and posted of the big event.)
Friday, May 18, 2007
Edamame
Ok Girls!! Here's a post you need to pay attention to.
Have any of you ever tried edamame? Now, we all know that I am no health food nut, so me touting the AMAZINGNESS of soybeans is not a normal occurrence. Chris and I first tried these at our FAVORITE restaurant - The Happy Sumo. They take the edamame, the young soybeans in the pod and steam them until warm, then sprinkle them with Kosher salt and serve. Every time we go to The Happy Sumo we'd see table after table after table of people popping these little guys, so we finally tried them. DELICIOUS! Absolutely, totally DELICIOUS! Shea could not get enough of them, he ate at least 1/2 the bowl himself. So, I finally made it to CostCo and got a huge bag for home, and I did a little research....
"The first written record of soybeans is almost 5000 years old! The Chinese have been cultivating the multi-use plant for thousands of years. It plays such an important role in China that soybeans are considered one of the five sacred grains, along with rice, wheat, barley, and millet.
Soybeans arrived in America in the early 1800s as ballast aboard a clipper ship from China. They were regarded as curiosities. Eventually, farmers who experimented with planting the beans found they flourished in hot, humid weather. By 1900, many farmers were growing the crop for forage. Americans were slow to catch on to the nutritional value of soybeans for human consumption. It wasn’t until the 1920s that soybeans gained popularity.
While most soy products are manufactured from dried soybeans, edamame (ed-ah-MAH-may) are a special type of large-seeded soybean bred to be eaten fresh. The fuzzy pods are harvested while still green and the edible portion is the bean seeds inside the pod. Their flavor is sweet, buttery, and slightly nutty.
Edamame traditionally are eaten as a snack or appetizer. Place them in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. The beans will be bright green. When cool enough to handle, remove the beans from the pods and sprinkle with a little salt. Edamame can also be steamed or microwaved. Cooked and lightly salted, they are a popular snack in Japan served with cold beer.
The popularity of this bean has grown in the past decade and is now easily found frozen in most major supermarkets. Edamame is something of a wonder vegetable because it is the only vegetable that contains all nine essential amino acids. This makes edamame a complete protein source, similar to meat or eggs. Edamame also contain isoflavones which are currently being studied for their potential to help stave off breast cancer, and for their positive effect on bone health."
So, not only are they the "Wonder" vegetable, sooooo incredibly healthy, they have a really low calorie count and are absolutely DELICIOUS!!!! I would rather eat a serving of these than any potato chip, popcorn or any other salty snack, hands down any day!! (I really, really love them. :-) But it's not just me. After I brought them home yesterday, I put them right on the stove to steam, I put in 2 cups of pods. A serving, since you only eat the beans, is 1 1/2 cups of pods, so I put in a serving and a little more because I was hoping Shea would eat a few. HE ATE THE ENTIRE BOWL! I think I got 4! I don't know if it's just that they are delicious, or that they're so fun to eat, but he LOVES them!!!
You should all try them, your kids will love them and you'll feel like SUPERMOM, that your kids are devouring "the wonder vegetable" with the relish heretofore reserved for only sickeningly-bad-for-them sweets!!!
Have any of you ever tried edamame? Now, we all know that I am no health food nut, so me touting the AMAZINGNESS of soybeans is not a normal occurrence. Chris and I first tried these at our FAVORITE restaurant - The Happy Sumo. They take the edamame, the young soybeans in the pod and steam them until warm, then sprinkle them with Kosher salt and serve. Every time we go to The Happy Sumo we'd see table after table after table of people popping these little guys, so we finally tried them. DELICIOUS! Absolutely, totally DELICIOUS! Shea could not get enough of them, he ate at least 1/2 the bowl himself. So, I finally made it to CostCo and got a huge bag for home, and I did a little research....
"The first written record of soybeans is almost 5000 years old! The Chinese have been cultivating the multi-use plant for thousands of years. It plays such an important role in China that soybeans are considered one of the five sacred grains, along with rice, wheat, barley, and millet.
Soybeans arrived in America in the early 1800s as ballast aboard a clipper ship from China. They were regarded as curiosities. Eventually, farmers who experimented with planting the beans found they flourished in hot, humid weather. By 1900, many farmers were growing the crop for forage. Americans were slow to catch on to the nutritional value of soybeans for human consumption. It wasn’t until the 1920s that soybeans gained popularity.
While most soy products are manufactured from dried soybeans, edamame (ed-ah-MAH-may) are a special type of large-seeded soybean bred to be eaten fresh. The fuzzy pods are harvested while still green and the edible portion is the bean seeds inside the pod. Their flavor is sweet, buttery, and slightly nutty.
Edamame traditionally are eaten as a snack or appetizer. Place them in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. The beans will be bright green. When cool enough to handle, remove the beans from the pods and sprinkle with a little salt. Edamame can also be steamed or microwaved. Cooked and lightly salted, they are a popular snack in Japan served with cold beer.
The popularity of this bean has grown in the past decade and is now easily found frozen in most major supermarkets. Edamame is something of a wonder vegetable because it is the only vegetable that contains all nine essential amino acids. This makes edamame a complete protein source, similar to meat or eggs. Edamame also contain isoflavones which are currently being studied for their potential to help stave off breast cancer, and for their positive effect on bone health."
So, not only are they the "Wonder" vegetable, sooooo incredibly healthy, they have a really low calorie count and are absolutely DELICIOUS!!!! I would rather eat a serving of these than any potato chip, popcorn or any other salty snack, hands down any day!! (I really, really love them. :-) But it's not just me. After I brought them home yesterday, I put them right on the stove to steam, I put in 2 cups of pods. A serving, since you only eat the beans, is 1 1/2 cups of pods, so I put in a serving and a little more because I was hoping Shea would eat a few. HE ATE THE ENTIRE BOWL! I think I got 4! I don't know if it's just that they are delicious, or that they're so fun to eat, but he LOVES them!!!
You should all try them, your kids will love them and you'll feel like SUPERMOM, that your kids are devouring "the wonder vegetable" with the relish heretofore reserved for only sickeningly-bad-for-them sweets!!!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Dear Heavenly Father...
My little angel says the sweetest prayers I have EVER heard. He says them all by himself every night and I am amazed at what he remembers from his day to thank his Heavenly Father for. I can tell you what I thank my Heavenly Father for! This little boy is such a miracle in my life.
Here was tonight's prayer:
"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for mommy, thank you for daddy, thank you for Shea, thank you for GG (Chris' grandma, Shea's great grandma, hence the GG), thank you for President Hinkey, thank you for popcorn, thank you for basketball, thank you for the Wonderpets. AMEN!!"
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Shea's Shoe Obsession
At least once a day Shea will grab whatever shoes are on top of the shoe basket, put them on and walk around. He LOVES shoes! His shoes, mommy's shoes, daddy's shoes, Courtney's shoes, everybody's shoes.
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