A post of Pictures

Yeah this will be a picture heavy blog post. I have been so busy with finals and birthdays and all that writing abgout it would take forever, so I will post some pictures and explain them. And I will be skipping the easter pictures. I just have way to many!

for starters, Remember the monster paper I had to write? Well thsi is what happens when 3 children ages 9, 3, and 2 are left to play outside without mommy watching every minute...











Yeah a big mess for mommy to clean up. lol and FYI I have no clue where the marker was found. She also "decorated" her bike, the cement, and the brick on the house. Yep I have an artist in my house. As for the toys on the lawn, It doesn't look like much, but the lawn had yet to be mowed...this yeat. So alot of it was hidden in the forest. lol. Also, there were more toys on the back lawn. I just didn't find them until after i put the camera away.


Next we will post some pictures of Beck'a birthday.
First we have her party (and only one picture. of Her and her cousin Creg. Their birthdays are 8 days apart and they are best friends. Because of that they wanted to share their birtday:



Yep best friends. Next we have Becka modeling her dress that grandma made. She is also showing off her puppy. We took her to build-a-bear on her birthday and this is what she made.(p.s. ignore the messy hair. She was just so cute trying on her dress I didn't take the time to redo it. She had just pulled her ponytail out. lol)








And Just for fun, A picture of my cute niece. She has grown so much since she was born . She now weighs about 8lbs. She is growing so fast!

Isn't she cute! She is 2 months old, and yet is still smaller tham my last two babies were when they were born (8lb 7oz born one week early, and 8lb 14oz born three weeks early)

anyway that's all for today. enjoy the pictures!

Like to read?

If so then here is the list of books I had to read for my two classes this semester. All I will say is I am glad it is over (except for my final papers which are due Tuesday and I really should be working on them, but I needed a break) Also a brief one - two word rating.

Contemporary American Literature:

Song Of Solomon, Toni Morrison - not too bad
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison (read for my final) - Sad, but pretty good
The White Boy Shuffle, Paul Beatty - Funny if you don't mind the F word
White Noise, Don DeLillo - Confusing, does have some funny parts
Play it as it Lays, Joan Didion - Still trying to decide
Bone, Fae Myenne Ng - Pretty good
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie - Funny
also read various articles about these novels.

Adolescent Literature:
(sorry, I don't have all of the author's names for these books)

Shadow of a Bull - Boring
Go Ask Alice - I Liked it, But Very touchy subject
Nightjohn - Ok
The Watsson's Go to Burrmingham - 1963 - Very good, funny
Walk Two Moons - LOVED this book
The Outsiders - Who doesn't like this book?
Tuck Everlasting - Very good
Stuck in Neutral - Sad, but interesting and good
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes - Really liked this one too
Seedfolks - Good
Breathing underwater - Good, but intense
Forever - I really liked it, but very strong content
Catcher in the Rye - Didn't really like it
Esperanza Rising - Realy liked this one
The Magicians Nephew - Good
Corner of The Universe - Very good
The Last Book in the Universe - Interesting
Freak the Mighty - Very funny
Invisible Enemies - Freaky
Shipwreak at the Bottom of the World - Interesting
The Chocolate War - Didn't care of it.
Out of the Dust -I loved the way this was written
Missing May - sad
Faherenheit 451 - Didn't like it at first, but Do now
The Giver - Loved it

With each book I read I had to write a response. In my Contemporary Lit class it had to be 2-4 pages, With the Adolescent Lit class we had to either write a one page response or Do something creative. I ended up doing photo collages, a words search, look and find bag, and lots of other stuff. That is the class I loved this semester. It is the one I will use the most as a teacher. The other one, well it was required. lol, and I did learn a lot, but I can't say i enjoyed it. It was my stress class. lol. Anyway I am done now (except the final paper for the Contemporary lit class, you know that 15 page paper I mentioned before, and a narrative response on how I liked his class. Yeah, kind of worried about that.)

I have read a lot since Jan when the semester started!!!! And just for the record, I also read a few other books on my own because well, Hubby gave me one for Valentine's and I just love to read. lol. Anyway If you want to know about any of those books, feel free to ask. I don't have time to talk about them right now, but maybe I will do that next post, at least a few of them...

Anyway, my point was just wanting to prove that I was really busy and wasn't just ignoring my blog. lol. I have lots to talk about later, after Tuesday when things start to slow down. Until then Enjoy the list!

I'll be scarce...

for the next few weeks. A quick rundown of what I have going on from now until the end of April. (I don't want you all to think I am ignoring my blog. lol)

• Ryan has to have his wisdom teeth out this week. don't know for sure when. Maybe Wed, Maybe Friday.
• I have to have three books read by the end of the week, two easy ones, and one more difficult (only because I don't like it).
• A wedding on Saturday.
• Easter on Sunday.
• I have 4 papers due between now and Next Tuesday.
• I have another paper due next Thurs.
• My nephew's birthday is the 17th (he is eight days older than Becka)
• My dad's birthday is the 20th.
• I have a huge research paper (10-15 pgs) due on the 25th ( that I really need to start).
• Also have two finals on the 25th
• Also have another paper due on the 25th
• The 25th is Becka's Birthday (she'll be four)
• Becka has a Dr's appointment the 26th.
• We are taking Becka to Build a Bear for her birthday on the 26th, just mom, dad, and Becka
• Cassidy and Ryan have Dentist appointments on the 28th
• Cassidy is having her teeth cleaned, sealant applied, and 4 teeth pulled.
• We are also going on a ward campout on the 28th.

And sometime in there I have to have a birthday party for BeckaSo all of these things, not to mention Becka's preschool, Cassidy's school, Cassidy's Activity (or is it achievement) days activities, FHE, Church, and date nights. Add in all of those things and you can tell I am super busy for the next few weeks. Once my finals are over with, I'll be more consistent, but for the next few weeks, I'm going to be very sporadic...

Chore Chart Mania

The past few years I have tried numerous tactics to get my children (mostly the oldest one) to do their chores. I tried the poster board & sticker/stamp/smiley face. Then I went one up and laminated the poster board and used dry erase markers. I tried rotating chores. I tried just yelling and screaming "get your chores done" (that one was least effective BTW. What to do? Well, I also subscribe to Family Fun Magazine . One issue showed this really cute idea for a chore chart. SO I tried it. Here is the result:




You move the hearts from the to do side to the done side. Much easier than the stupid poster boards.

It took me three months to perfect my chore chart. First I had to find the magnetic white boards, then the hearts, then the magnets, the paint, and paintbrush... Then I actually had to paint the hearts. Let me tell you I tried to paint them during naptime for a reason. Too bad I hadn't finished, and also too bad I couldn't find my camera... anyway One they were painted I found out I didn't have a sharpie any more. It was smashed on out driveway (yeah that was fun to clean up), so I had to go buy a sharpie. Once I had all the chores written on the hearts (and hearts left over so I can add chores), I had to wait for Hubby to put them on the wall.

Yeah I'm still waiting for him to help me. I figured three months was long enough, so I did it myself; without a level, without nails. So yes they are not centered on the wall like I wanted. And Yes, they are glued to the wall (doubled sided foamy stuff) and yes when I decided to move them I will probably have to sand the wall and repaint, but I DID IT!!! And I don't think they look too bad.

New doors and video tapes

Over conference weekend we finally got our new doors put on. We have had them for three months, just haven't had time to get them installed. So now we have new doors. Both front and back. Very nice. Hubby's comment was, as he was standing by our back door an the tile floor, "SuAnn, Look, It's not even cold here! there's no draft! and the window isn't cold either!" Well I guess changing the original doors from 1960 something-or-other would help.

The down side: our poor Cat; Houdini, affectionately called Dini. Since we got rid of the old doors, we no longer have a pet door. Since we don't have a litter box (because she always used the pet door) we couldn't let her stay inside. So poor Dini sat outside the door looking at it, and scratching it, acting very confused and looking for her pet door. Yes it is a sad day for Dini. Anyway, Here are pictures of our new doors, at least from the outside. Keep in mind I still have to paint them. What color do you think I should go? The old doors were white, and the brick is red (obviously). I was thinking white, or maybe a tan?? If you want to see the whole front of the house look here.






Now the other story. Video Tapes. Have you ever wondered what you can do with old video tapes once you have switched over to DVD's? If so I have the anser for you, Ok so Actually, Becka has the answer...







As you can see, they make great building blocks. And they build very good castles. (please ignore my dirty floor. I hadn't vacuumed since we were putting in doors and there was sawdust everywhere) Also She is swatting Sarah away. This was her "castle and she didn't want Sarah in the picture.

As you can see, this "castle" was almost as tall as she was. And I don't think the pictures do it justice, but she had them stacked in such a way that I do not know how it didn't collapse on itself. So anyway, My little architect says that Tapes make very good blocks, Just make sure they aren't ones you actually want to watch. Yeah. that sucks. lol.

well that's all for today. Have a great day. :)