book worms

So what have I been up to lately? Let's see... reading, reading, and oh more reading. It has been rainy here nearly every day lately so William and I do a lot of reading. (The missionaries informed us tonight that it has rained 16 days in a row.) William has "read" close to 100 books since the start of the reading program (which doesn't even count the ones we've read more than once!) and I've been reading a lot myself. In fact, it's a good thing that I finished my latest because I couldn't put it down! The living conditions of my house have suffered a little as a result. For me it seems there are two kinds of books. First are the books that I can pick up casually when I get the chance... these usually take me quite a while to finish. Then there are books that, no matter how hard I try to convince myself that there are other things to be done, I just can't put them down. Twilight is one of those books. I finished the 500-ish page book in 2 1/2 days. A little crazy, I agree. I just can't help it! I get so involved with the story that I have to know what happens! It's a good thing that I won't get my hands on the sequel to this book for a week because Amy's coming to town and I need to get the house acceptable for guests. Anyway... here are the books I've read in the past month or so. I recommend them all (some more than others)--most of them fall into the children's lit category but are a good easy read.

• The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron


• The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley


• Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Leslie M. M. Blume


• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie


• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson


• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

I have a ton more to read (my sister-in-law has a stack that she has recommended to me)... So, this should be a productive (or maybe not so productive depending on how you look at it) summer. I hope that you all get the chance to read a little something fun too!

celebrating summer

So... summer is here! Thank goodness this summer has not been so brutally hot like last year! Here are some of the things we've done to kick off summer.
At storytime we've been "camping" and to the "beach" We even made ice cream one day! It was so much fun and EASY that I thought I'd share the recipe.

Ice Cream in a Bag

• 1 gallon ziplock bag
• 1 quart ziploc bag (heavy duty)
• 4 c. ice
• 1/4 c. salt (rock salt I think)
• 1 c. whole milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 TB sugar
• cups and spoons

1. Pour the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small ziploc bag. Squeeze as much air out as possible and seal the bag carefully.
2. Place the small ziploc bag down into the large bag. Cover with the ice and salt. Seal the large bag tightly.
3. Shake, toss, and flip the bags for 5 to 10 minutes. If the bag gets too cold to handle, wrap it with a towel or pass it from person to person. Don't open the large bag to check on the ice cream because it may not seal properly afterwards.
4. Open both bags and spoon the ice cream into small cups. (Or just eat right out of the bag!) Enjoy!

Flavor variations:
1. Substitute other extract flavors for the vanilla.
2. Omit the vanilla and half the sugar. Add strawberry or chocolate syrup to the milk mixture.

For our date on Friday night we took a walk around Mitch Park in Edmond. This is the best park ever! There are playgrounds, baseball fields, walking trails... We unknowingly took a different trail than we usually do and ended up walking for an hour! My flip-flopped feet were a little sore.

On Saturday, when William came in all hot and sweaty from doing yard work with Rich he said, "Go swim. Let's surprise Dad." So we set off to fill up our little wading pool and subsequently break it in. William had a great time and thought it was hilarious to splash mom with the cold water.

William now picks out his clothes everyday. He is pretty good at it but has decided to only wear "up-pants" (as opposed to "down pants"). When I tell him to go grab some shorts he corrects me, "not shorts mom--up pants."

I hope that you are all having fun celebrating the arrival of summer!

cougar-in-training

When James was born we recieved "My First BYU Book" from Amy and Jeff. At the end of the book are the words to the fight song. The first time we looked at the book I sang the song for him. William said "again!" So I sang it... and he said "again!" This happened at least 5 times. Now whenever he picks this book he'll find the baby cougar and then speeds through the whole thing just looking for the page with the "cougar song." Then I am told to "sing cougar song." I try to get him to sing with me--usually with no luck--though occassionally he'll chime in on a few words.

Yesterday Rich gave William some random keys with a BYU annual fund key chain on it (so that he'll stop stealing our keys). We told him that they were BYU cougar keys. He was pretty excited to carry his "cougar keys" around. When I asked him if he wanted to go to school at BYU he gave me an enthusiastic "YES!"

Now onto my favorite part of this story. As we hopped into the van yesterday afternoon William showed his keys to Rich and said: Rise and Shout the Cougars are out! I love my little cougar-in-training!!!

why write it?

Tonight we had an Enrichment meeting all about keeping a journal and a personal history. I know, I know... how many times do we talk about this subject? Much of what was discussed was from an Ensign article by Brad Wilcox entitled Why Write It? It was a great talk... if you get the chance you should read it! He discusses how we can use a journal to "become" by allowing us to think, feel, discover, expand, remember, and dream. I loved what he said about THINK:

"Thoughts are created in the act of writing. [It is a myth that] you must have something to say in order to write. Reality: You often need to write in order to have anything to say. Thought comes with writing, and writing may never come if it is postponed until we are satisfied that we have something to say.... The assertion of write first, see what you had to say later applies to all manifestations of written language, to letters... as well as to diaries and journals."

About EXPAND he said:

Writing, like other arts, is a representation of life. Thus, the writer is compelled to live life more consciously. Journal writing will not make passive people miraculously more active. However, regular writing does make it harder for us to remain passive.

I have found that to be true. I am much more conscious of my day to day life since I've started this blog. I find myself thinking "I could write about this on my blog." Or sometimes I just start writing and thoughts start to come. And so if my blogs get random at times it's just because I'm writing first.

I go back and forth. Sometimes I am great at writing in my journal and other times... not so great. It seems that before I was married I wrote at least once a week--now it seems that I am lucky if I write once a month! (I feel guilty when I think of Tanya who, at least when we were roomies, hadn't missed a day of journal writing in years!) Maybe my life was more exciting then or perhaps I had a lot more free time. I am trying to be better though. We made "journaling jars" so maybe that will help me out. (Of course I don't know how many times I've made them at different church functions throughout the years and they always end up on a high shelf gathering dust in my closet!)
The whole blogging thing is helping me to write what's going on in my life. Since my journal is a 3 ring binder I like to print up the blogs I've written for the month and stick them in there--just to have a hard copy. My dad's family all write monthly emails so those usually get put in there as well. Alas, I don't have everything out on the world wide web so the need to actually write in the journal is necessary so I'm resolving myself to do that once a week. We'll see how that goes. I also have a journal for each William and James to write their happenings, milestones, and cute things they do. I'm so far behind though! I don't know if I've even written in James' journal at all!!! I resolve to change that too! Sometimes it just feels hopeless because I'm so far behind but I loved what was at the top of one of the handouts tonight: "If you are a perfectionist--lower your standards. Keeping a record of your life is the goal--nothing more, nothing less." So with that I will try to be better at my journal keeping.

Do any of you have great journal keeping ideas?

YUM!

With strawberries at only 88 cents per pound I'm trying to take full advantage of the situation. Sunday I made a strawberry pie... which was scrumptious if I do say so myself. Good enough that my brother-in-law declared "no whipped cream required." So if any of you have suggestions for strawberries... send them my way. Last night we had a salad that was absolutely yummy so I thought I'd share it with you... salad is always good for summer because it doesn't heat up the house! Plus it's super easy. Anyway, I hope you like this. I don't use the exact amounts for everything except the dressing (which by the way makes the salad... a must have). I use a lot less won tons, nuts/seeds and chicken. Enjoy!!!

Chicken Won Ton Salad

Fry ahead of time: 1 small package of won ton skins. Won tons should be cut into thirds and fried until golden and crispy. Set aside.

In a salad bowl, mix the following:

• 1 head of lettuce
• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 small package sliced almonds, toasted* - optional
• 1/2 c. sesame seeds, toasted * - optional
• 3 green onions

Dressing:

• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 c. rice wine vinegar
• Dash of salt, or to taste

*To toast: place on cookie sheet and broil for about a minute, watch carefully.

Some things I have been enjoying as of late...

• Storytime at the public library. With stories, dancing, crafts and snacks all relating to one theme what more could you want?! Every day when William gets dressed he asks "Go storytime?" This is a horse that we made this week. It used to have a stick in it but William decided that he didn't need that anymore and just put it on his hand. Our library is probably no bigger than our little house but the new librarian is awesome! Plus the summer reading program just started which means prizes for William... and me!

• Rich has named the horse "Frank." He and William sing songs about Frank, "Steve Kong" (a toy gorilla we have and the nicer younger brother of King Kong), and "Michael the bat" (another toy). The songs really make me laugh. William is singing songs all day long--anything from the alphabet song and "old mac donald" to things that he makes up in his creative little mind.
  
• James. Everything from his smiles and laughter to his cute feet and new thumb sucking habit. He is adorable. Plus he slept over 6 hours last night!

• Brothers playing together. The other day I was on the phone and walked into the other room. Apparently James spit up so William ran to get a napkin and cleaned it up. Then William got his toys and told James about them. He even grabbed a picture of my parents and told him "Gamma Fisher."
• Playing games with Rich. With William's new 6:30 bedtime established we have more time to play games before turning in for the night.
• Our new ClearPlay dvd player. It edits out language, violence, sex... you can even set it to block disrespecting parents and mushiness!
• Reading blogs! I've become quite addicted to reading about my friend's lives. Yea for the world wide web!
• William has always been a good helper but since he is so eager to help with the dishes I have given him a new chore. He is the best silverware sorter in the world!
• My walks with William and James.
• Blue Bell ice cream... because it was on sale.
• Surprises--like this one. William was watching a show while I was on the computer yesterday. I looked over and couldn't see him anymore. I looked around the room and found William passed out--he was so tired! Of course, this less than 30 minute nap cost me BIG TIME. It took 2 1/2 hours to get him to bed instead of the normal 10-15 minutes!
• Scrapbooking. I'm terribly behind but I've resolved to complete one page per week.
• Sonic's free rootbeer floats tonight!
• Talking to my family on the phone.
• My Boys... enough said.

what a wonderful world

I'm trying to start a new habit of going on a walk everyday. This allows the boys and myself to get some fresh air, soak up some rays, and tricks me into thinking that a walk around the block counts as exercise. James usually falls asleep soon after we begin our journey and--as long as the sun stays out of his eyes--he is content. William has started to love these walks. First thing this morning--before he was even dressed--he told me "Spiderman shoes! Go on walk." As we begin our trek around the block we pass our neighbors house--William always tells me "need rock". They have a ton of those little white rocks--the kind that we used to write on the sidewalk with as kids. I really ought to buy some of those rocks to replace the 20 or so that we picked up. On our Sunday afternoon stroll William saw his shadow and was making shadow puppets as we walked. Cute. Next we see little frogs. I'm talking itty-bitty. William likes to try and touch them and follow them around for a while. He can spot them everywhere! Even when they blend in perfectly with the pile of dirt they are sitting in. (Those little spots in the pictures really are frogs!)We spy every puppy along the way... and as long as they stay enclosed in their yards we are all smiles. (We had an encounter with a dog the other day which had William jumping into my arms and clinging on for dear life.) We don't just stop for frogs, dogs, rocks, and shadows. William finds wonder in just about anything. Everything is "so cool, mom." Birds, bugs, butterflies, bugs, pine cones, bugs, water puddles... nothing escapes his notice. And ya know... these things really are amazing. What a wonderful world we live in with such diversity and beauty! Seeing the world through the eyes of 2-year-old is a great reminder of the beautiful place in which we live.