Mother's Day Tea

Nathan's Kindergarten class had an special afternoon for Mothers this last week.  It was a program with singing and several small plays...and then a "Kindergarten Cafe" with placemats and books and other gifts all carefully made by the children.  We were even given a portrait of ourselves painted by our child.  What a lot of work...by Nathan and especially the teacher! 
 

Singing "You are My Sunshine"

Narrator for one of the plays...

The "Biggest Billy Goat Gruff"

Zinoviy and Nathan

A picture of Zinoviy's mom, Marta, who has become a great friend.

Some of the gifts Nathan made...an especially cute "hand" made out of clay and painted...with magnet on the back and holding a carefully chosen flower.

Probably the biggest suprise was seeing my portrait...after secretly hoping mine was the one with the "wind blown" hair in the middle of the top row...I had to chuckle a little at my not-quite-so-wind-blown-and-flowing portrait...the fourth from the left on the bottom row.  =)  (Yes that's me with the really round chin.)

Strawberry Jam

I (like many of you) was excited to find strawberries on such a great deal this last week.  We love making strawberry jam...both for the process and the product!

It's fun to have "helpers" that are getting old enough to actually be really helpful!

The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives

Well...it has finally come...our first day of "organized sports"!  "Organized" is a bit of a stretch.  But, Nathan started soccer today.  It turned out to be a fun evening for the whole family!  Our friends, Isaac and Dallin, came along with us tonight.  Isaac plays with Nathan, and Dallin and Joshua had a fun time on the "sidelines". 

Nathan did great!  We were so proud!

Greg with Dallin and Joshua at an "extra" goal.

Nice save, Joshua!

Elizabeth was a "water girl". She dilligently organized the two water bottles over and over!

Greg met us straight from work...so he was looking a little too good for the field. =)

Tie Dye Experiment

For Father's Day, Nathan's school class is creating a "Rock Star" music video to send home on DVD with each Dad on "Father Fun Day".  This last week Nathan was supposed to go to school looking like a rock star and having practiced dancing to pop music at home for the filming.  (What homework!) 

We decided to try making a tie dye shirt for him to wear.  It ended up being a fun project for us to do with our Grandma and Grandpa while they were visiting this last week. 

At JoAnns these days they sell several tie dye kits.  With a 40% off coupon we were able to get one for about $6.  We used it to do two shirts and a onsie (once we started...everyone needed one).  But, the kits come with everything you need and can do up to 8 shirts.

After carefully considering our options using instructions provided...

We put elastics on the shirts and then with the dye in squeezable bottles executed the plan.

It's so fun that really Greg is definitely the most creative one in our family.  When he's willing to get into these types of things there are always great results!

Elizabeth's 1st Birthday!

It was a great day to honor our special girl!! 

Just can't say how much we love her!

The Birthday Cake

Before and After

Opening Presents

A blanket from Mommy

A blanket from Great-Grandma and Grandpa Christensen

(Before my Grandma passed away...she and my Grandpa made a blanket for each of their grandchildren to pass on to their children.  They wanted the next generation to have something that connected to them and helped them know of my grandparent's love...even if they couldn't be here to show it.)

I've been waiting to give it to Elizabeth...but couldn't wait any longer!  A special thing to -- on a day when we wished we had family here to celebrate -- feel a closeness with "those who have gone before". 

It didn't take long for Elizabeth to "catch the spirit" of opening presents.

You can tell she totally enjoyed it!

Probably the sweetest part of Elizabeth's birthday for me was watching the love for her from "the men" in her life.  

Nathan has had a gift for Elizabeth for weeks...tucked away in his desk. A week or so ago, we were at a party store and he just begged to buy a bow...at first I couldn't think of why...but when I saw the purple sparkles on the one he'd chosen I realized this probably wasn't for himself.  The first present on the table on the birthday morning was Nathan's little treasure box with a glow in the dark star and a note.  (See the treasure box with bow in the top "Opening Presents" picture above and note below.)  For a mom...it doesn't get any better than this!

 

Packages from Grandmas

Friends that helped us celebrate.

A new dress for Sunday.

Family Movie Night

We've tried a lot of different "reward systems"...and so far this is one of my favorites.  Nearly-instant gratification for all!  The idea came from this post on "My Mix of Six" . 

Friday is usually the day I try to get the house in order for the weekend.  For me it's worth a lot to have at least that one day...the children help to get the house clean! 

So, a few weekends ago we announced a "family movie night" on Friday morning ... to happen that evening.  I bought a roll of raffle-type tickets at Wal-Mart (you get 1000 or more for about $6).  Each job the children helped complete earned them tickets.  Then, for the movie that night they had to have a certain number of tickets to "get admission" to the movie...and then there were other things to buy.  Blankets, pillows, popcorn, root beer floats, etc. 

Of all the fun things we tried to do on our Spring Break week here at home...this is the thing that Nathan has talked about most!

(Greg making it official with the "cash register"...
Joshua carefully counting the tickets in his mug.) 

Another Friday since then we've had Nathan and Joshua do "homework activities" to earn tickets instead.  (A way to positively keep them busy while I dashed around and cleaned -- sometimes the idea of "help" is more than I can take.)

Learning Through Play -- Cars!

This week we've gotten the fun suprise of a visit from our Grandma and Grandpa Franson!  I'm still planning to post pictures of Elizabeth's birthday...and now of their visit.  But, for tonight I'll just post a couple quick, fun learning ideas for boys who love cars!

I saw a cute idea on this website...for an alphabet of letters made to look like a road.  Joshua has had a fun time tracing his letters to spell his name.

On this website...they had a cute idea for a parking lot with numbers.  I made a "one digit" version for Joshua and a "three digit" version for Nathan.  I'd call out a number for each of them and they'd "pull in" to the correct parking spot.  (Or of course if you're Joshua you always back in so you can pull straight out.)  By the time we were done we'd added a digit to each of their numbers!  A fun way to get a gauge of where they're really at in learning numbers and help them practice.

Our Birthday Girl!

Yesterday Elizabeth turned 1!!

(More pictures to come...)

Ahoy Mates!

Nathan has a great friend at school named Zinoviy.  This last week we invited Zinoviy and his brother, Maxim (just Joshua's age!) over for a play date.  Sometimes it helps play dates around here if there is one fun "planned" thing to do to help get the imaginations and interacting going.

Playing "pirates" is one of our favorites.  Props include:  eye patches (from dollar store or party store), periscopes (toilet paper tubes covered in tin foil), bandanas (clearance Halloween fabric...cut in triangles), and various weapons as needed. 

Hunting for treasure -- hidden 3 x 5 cards with a picture of a "place" to look next and a few-word hint for the "readers".

Enjoying their "treasure" (snack).

My "Growing Up" Girl

Elizabeth's hair has gotten long enough to get a little crazy lately.  I've tried barrettes and headbands -- nothing stays.  It finally dawned on me we might be on the verge of a whole new level of hair potential. 

Buying piggytail elastics at the store for my own daughter felt like a whole new step of motherhood for me!  I feel torn these days between feeling the excitement of the fun new stages of this girl...and the tenderness that my one-year-old this next week really is growing up! 

We're all excited about Elizabeth's new look...

Joshua thinks it's just hilarious she looks just like a whale!