Butterfly Garden

We had a butterfly garden nine years ago, when Emily was just five-years-old.  It was a delightful experience. As you can see from the photos, one butterfly landed on Emily's arm before flying away.

I have a few younger kids who didn't get to be a part of that experience, and since we are studying arthropods, I thought tthis was the perfect time for such a project again. It is so cute to see the kids' interest. When James woke up the other day, the first thing he asked to do was check on the caterpillars.  It will be fun to watch as they turn into butterflies.   In the future, we'd also like to get milkweed plants to attract butterflies to our garden.

Here's a helpful website that talks about butterfly migration.  We'll have to look more into the painted lady butterfly, which I realize, after getting our kit, is the kind of butterfly we are growing.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

With Thanksgiving being so late in the month (November 28th), Christmas came quickly!

This holiday season I especially enjoyed picking out gifts (even though I have so many to pick out), decorating the house, and baking.  I baked mixed berry pie and pumpkin pie--a simple recipe but one that all my family enjoys--and I tried a new recipe for blueberry pie that turned out delicious and a little tart with the addition of lemon juice and zest.

Another recipe we made that uses lemon juice is sugar cookies.  As we do most years, the kids and I baked and decorated a few dozen sugar cookies.  Typically I will make the dough, the kids will help cut out Christmas shapes, and then we all will decorate them after they've cooked and cooled down.  Little two-year-old Natalie liked to eat them while she is decorating.  I think the rest of us enjoyed decorating them the most; they are so sugary it takes us a few days to eat them.

Here is the recipe we most often use for sugar cookies.

FHE Sugar Cookies*

3 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cubes butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon juice

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Cream remaining ingredients together in a big bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the big bowl and mix all ingredients together well. Chill.
2. On a floured surface (or directly onto a cookie sheet), roll out dough and cut into shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

*Taken from my copy of the Yakima 5th Ward Cookbook, recipe submitted by my good friend, Laura Ridd

Fun at the Discovery Children's Museum

We took the kids to the Discovery Children's Museum in Vegas on Labor Day.  We stayed in town for the three-day weekend, so this was the perfect day outing to check out a new place that wasn't too far from home.

Kate and Nat's favorite spots were toddler town and water world. 

 Robbie, Tess, and Katie

 Making some glow-in-the-dark drawings

 Building wooden structures to see if they can withstand the earthquake!

 Creating some artwork in toddler town

 Tessa the pirate in the pillory at the fantasy festival exhibit

The older kids' favorites were probably the License to Spy exhibit and going around in the summit.

We were going to have a picnic near the park (it's a lot easier to pack a picnic and let the little kids run around at a park than to take them into a restaurant) but we decided to eat in the car and head home.  All in all, everyone had a good time and had lots to explore at the museum.

Katie turns 4!

We celebrated Katelyn's birthday this week. She was so excited for her birthday, she could hardly wait. Katelyn's favorite color is pink, so we went with a pink unicorn theme. Grandma Carol didn't know this, but the gift bag and dress she chose for Katelyn happened to match our decor, too. 

I took a video to send to my parents since they sent a gift but cannot be here to watch her open it. I often do this with all the kids. Sometimes I just get a video of them after they've opened a gift so that they have a chance to say, "Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma!"

Everyone watched intently as she had the fun of opening presents. Robbie is being silly with his birthday hat--the kids enjoy celebrating a sibling's special day. What a sweet smile Katelyn has!

 Katelyn modeling some clothes she got from Grandma Carol.

Tess and Katelyn playing with new Playmobil toys. 

Here they are a couple of days later after they'd made crafts from a craft set Grandma and Grandpa Anderson gave to her. She also received a coloring book and sunglasses from the siblings.

It was so fun celebrating Katelyn's birthday. She is such a delight! She brightens everyone's day. We are so happy to share each day with our now four-year-old girl!

Father's Day Post

Father's Day 2019 we celebrated Adam and the wonderful father he is. We also sent a card to my dad, with a nice message, and I contributed money toward a gift that Marta put together for him with chocolate and mint-scented soaps, cookies, and other goodies. Below is the watercolor Emily painted for him. I encouraged her to paint something that reflected his life in the Northwest (he worked in the logging industry and enjoys hiking), and I really like what she created.  She also made a nice watercolor for Grandpa Anderson--I'll find a photo (from Adam's phone) and add it later.

Father's Day and Mother's Day are some of my favorite days of the year.  Adam and I so enjoy having the time with our family and the way the kids spoil us with thoughtful, usually homemade gifts, cards, and even cute coupons.  Adam is the best dad, and our family is blessed to have him!

Family Trip to San Clemente Part 2

The Airbnb we stayed at had surf boards and boogie boards for us to use.  Adam and Emily tried the surf boards, and just about all the older kids had fun boogie boarding.  I think the photos show just how much fun it was!

 Tessa heading out to boogie board with Dad

Tessa

 Robbie

 Emily

Here are just a few more random photos from our trip.  We really enjoyed our Airbnb, eating out at a local pizza place, and walking along the pier in the evening.  We also had a doughnut shop across the street from our house called Surfin Donuts Coffee House.  Most mornings Adam and a couple kids walked across the street to buy a few yummy doughnuts for the day.