Piano Recital

I've been teaching piano lessons here for a few months, and had my first recital a couple of weeks ago.  It was really small and simple; I held it in my living room.  Each of the girls played a few songs, I presented a few awards and a small gift, and we had refreshments.  It was definitely super short, but I think it was a good experience.  The girls were very excited to perform for their families, and afterward the kids played while the adults chatted.

Here are two of my students, Mariah and Serena, waiting for the other family to arrive.  They were so cute all dressed up.  Alex and their little brother Nathaniel waited patiently in the background. 

Here's a picture of me (gasp!) with my three students.  Renee and Serena are in the front.  Mariah and I are in the back. 

Once There Was a Snowman

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman,

Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall!

We had another snowfall last week, and the kids played in it for hours during the two days before it melted.  It had been really warm outside before the snow came, so it was a good sticky snow.  Logan and Annie made their very first snowmen entirely by themselves!  I loved their creativity.

Here's Logan's snowman.

Here's Annie's.

Two days later:

In the sun he melted, melted, melted,

In the sun he melted, small, small, small!

Smile

I just love how this kid smiles for the camera.

For Nana

This post is especially for my Nana.

When I was a little girl, my Nana (my Dad's mom) made me this sweater.  I loved it because of the sunglasses buttons and wore it all the time.  Annie discovered it last week and has wanted to wear it everyday.  When I asked her what she liked about it she said, "I like the sunglasses." 

We love you Nana!

Kids Say

When we got Elway, Alex finally started learning some nouns!  His talking has really picked up this month.  Some of his new words are: mine, no, Elway, book, ball, banana, blankie, bite, sit, hot, go

Logan, "We could get Dad a car for his birthday!"  To which Annie responds, "I have an idea!  We could get Dad a envelope!"

Annie, "I can do everything because I am pretending to be a mom."

Logan, "I jumped off that bed and I didn't even break my leg!"

We had the missionaries over for dinner a few nights ago and they were asking Jim what he's learned in his current calling.  Logan piped up with, "I learned that my thumb is my biggest finger!"

Logan after playing with my hair, "I just let out one of your ears."

Annie while cuddling with me one morning, "What was that other smell you are making?"

Logan, "Sometimes I breathe through the whole night."

Stickers

Our home teachers brought the kids some stickers on Sunday.  They loved them...and Alex was especially cute sticking them all over his face.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Last week I was very excited to make my own laundry detergent.  Seriously, I was STOKED.  It was super easy, cost $20 for a year supply (or .037 per load so WAY cheaper than any store detergent), and our clothes smell cleaner than ever.  If you ever catch me smelling my laundry, it's because I'm loving it so much.   

Here's the recipe:  (I am NOT claiming this recipe as my own.  However, I forget what blog it was I found it on.)
-4lb box borax (detergent aisle)
-55oz box Super Washing Soda (detergent aisle)
-3 bars Fels Naptha Soap (detergent aisle)
-36oz OxiClean (detergent aisle)
-64oz baking soda (baking aisle)
I bought everything at Wal-mart and most of it was together on the same aisle.

Here's my picture of the ingredients (skip the purple laundry crystals...turns out they don't add any scent to this recipe).

Grate the soap in your cheese grater.

Mix in a bucket.  This filled about half of a 5 gallon bucket.  (Funny side note:  I put the lid on the bucket and rolled it around to mix the ingredients.  Then I took the lid off to finish mixing.  Alex picked up the lid, took a LONG lick, and walked away with no reaction.  So apparently, this tastes okay too.  Ha ha!)

I put some of it in a smaller container with a spoon by the washer.  Ta da!  It only takes 1 TABLESPOON of the detergent per load.  I wash BIG loads, and this small amount has made them very clean.  Yay!

Quote

I like this quote attributed to a man named Steven Furtick,

"One reason we struggle with insecurity: we're comparing our behind the scenes to everyone else's highlight reel."

So true.  Sometimes when my behind the scenes aren't so pretty, I like to go back and read my own blog so I can see my highlight reel.  Yet another reason I love this blog thing.  :) 

FHE Activity

This is what we made for our FHE activity last night. 

We all raced through it in teams, coming from opposite ends and meeting in the middle.  It sure gets dark in there!  Jim and Logan even bonked heads pretty good because they couldn't see each other.  At one point I knew I was close to Alex because I could hear him giggling in front of me, but it took a while to find him.  We've left it up for now because it was so much fun.   

Another Dog Post

This dog likes to lay in a very strange position.  Check out his back legs.

I think he looks like a person laying on his stomach in a dog costume.