Fun, cheap, easy craft

I was in need of a Relief Society Activity for November and saw this craft on this blog and thought it would work well.

So I made it...and Maylee looks adorable in it!

Yes, she has a black eye...long story...she's better now...nuf said!
We're making them at my house this Tuesday...bring 1/3 yard of fleece and matching thread...it so simple a toddler could make it!

Joy School

My kids love joy school...and when I say love...I mean Isaac jumps up and down Tuesday night so excited for school the next day. Maylee gets so excited she wants to go to school with Isaac! She calls it..shool.

This week I was blessed to teach both Isaac's class and Maylee's class. Isaac's class consists of 5 kids...3 adorable girls and 2 boys who are best buddies. At my house we practice letters. I spend the night before class making each kids name out of dotted lines, so they can practice writing their names by connecting the dots. I try to have some sort of snack and craft. This week I went all out!

Not only did we practice our names, but we wrote out our phone numbers. One of the little girls is a rock star at this! (she does have 3 older sisters) Isaac did pretty well. All week long we have been focusing on how to make an "s". Up until now the "s" has eluded us. So for his letters, he only want to do his "s". He would write the "s" while saying, "squiggle, squiggle"

For our snack we had homemade Maraschino Cherry Cookies. They were very yummy.

Then for our craft...we made turkey hats. Thanks to Family Fun, we did this...

Isaac loves his so much, he wore it the whole afternoon, evening, and even this morning!

Maylee enjoyed her's, but not as much...

(he looks like he's being tortured in this picture!)

I feel bad. The younger class did not get to do something this fun!

Maylee's class consists of 3 girls and 2 boys (twins). Ranging in age from 13 months to 27 months. (the teacher has her hands full!) We each try to focus on something these little kids need to learn, I try to teach them their colors. We worked on flash cards...played with blocks, colored turkey pictures, eat yummy popcorn and cookies, sang songs, and read books about colors.

I guess I was just too burnt out after the big kid class yesterday to do anything to stellar! I guess that just proves that there is no way I could homeschool.

Mickey, Minnie, Goofy...and friends!

Mickey and Minnie's Friends: bottom row (L-R) Addie the Ladybug, Clara aka Annie, Shaelyn aka Cinderella, Maylee aka Minnie, Caroline aka Cinderella, and Isaac aka Mickey. Yes, he is a stud with all those ladies!

Just Maylee

I have always wanted to try curling Maylee's stick straight hair. She actually sat still one morning and let me curl it...


I think it turned out pretty well.

Then, Kevin got a hold of her one evening. Maylee has a problem keeping her bangs out of her face and I am constantly pushing her hair out of her eyes...here was his solution...


Not bad for his first ponytail...

Maylee's vocabulary is increasing rapidly. She now yells at me from the potty, "Mommy, I done!" She has also said she needs to go potty on a consistent basis! I think we've finally turned a corner!

When we were up in Mt. Airy for the Autumn Leaves Festival, we spent the night with Grandma Hiatt. We got up for church on Sunday morning thinking we would only last for Sacrament Meeting, but little did we know Maylee had other plans. After the closing prayer was said, she looked up at me and said, "class." She went to class in a ward she didn't know with people she didn't know. She sure is a good example to all of us!

Tonight (Wednesday) when I was tucking Maylee in bed, I asked her if she knew what tomorrow is and she looked at me and said, "church?" I love that she loves to go to church.

Maylee has slept at nap time twice with no diaper...just her panties! It's hard to believe how quickly she's done this potty training thing.

Maylee watched Beauty and the Beast this last week for the first time, she loves Belle. Last night we were watching the ending of it and she started singing along with Mrs. Potts. Except she can't quite say all of the words, so she just kept repeating "beast".

I love the way my kids sleep. This is how I found Maylee...too funny!

Just Isaac

During this past session of General Conference, the kids were playing pretty well together. I hear Isaac pushing this toy box into the front room and Maylee crying. (this toy box is Maylee's and the toys in it were her's) I told him he had to share with her, and instead he climbed inside the box!

"These are my toys I got from her room." he said. hum...


So I guess this is how Isaac shares!

I walked in to Isaac's room today and he and Maylee were playing at the foot of his bed. I asked him what they were doing, and he replied, "We're playing General Conference." He then asked me to bear my testimony.

Today in Sacrament Meeting we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" for the closing song. This happens to also be one of the songs on Isaac's Primary CD. He heard the organ start to play and looked at me with a BIG grin on his face and said, "It's Families can be forgether forever!" Then he made my heart leap with joy when he sang just about every word to both verses!!

Isaac has learned to wink. He even winked at me during the Primary Program!


Isaac got into bed with Kevin and me this morning. I put his arm around my neck and snuggled in the crook of his arm. I said, "Do you like to snuggle like this?" He replied, "This is how I snuggle with Maylee."

I was working on Isaac's costume today and he was sitting at the table next to Kevin with his hand on Kevin's knee and a big grin on his face!

To kill time when we're in the car, I have been counting to ten in Spanish. Isaac is having fun learning this and recently has started counting on his own. "Uno, dos, siete, ocho, dies." Maybe he needs a little more practice?

We go out walkin'

The kids and I have started going walking in the mornings. For those of you who have never been to my house, there is a HUGE hill you have to climb up to get to the main road. I have loving deemed this hill Mt. Vesuvius.
There is no way I could push Isaac and Maylee up that hill in a double stroller...I would be pushing almost 100 extra pounds! I know I'm buff, but not that buff!

So we get all bundled up...


and I make Isaac walk...

after he climbed this hill he was only half way done...


He was such a trooper and climbed this hill! (I think he liked being out walking on his own!)
Then, we turned to walk around behind the Food Lion close to our house and this is what we saw...


So we've discovered a new walking route...no train tracks involved, but also not much to see. We enjoy our walks...the kids get out and mom gets some exercise! I had been doing really well until I came down with this cold...but Monday I'm back at it!
PS. if you're trying to get to our house, call first for directions around the detour!

I heart old family pictures!

My dad sends me forwards on a regular basis, most of them I just delete without even looking at them, but for some reason I decided I would open these emails.

And I am so glad I did! I opened up family treasures! Old family pictures that someone had scanned onto the computer and sent my dad, and he felt the need to share them with me. And I am so glad he did. I guess I will open all of his emails from now on!

This is Eliza Roxy Bond Pew. She is my dad's maternal grandmother. She's also the woman we are naming our next little girl after.

This is her and her father, Joseph William Bond.

Eliza is the one on the far right.

This is my Grandma O. She is my dad's mom. She looks a lot like her mom, huh?

My Grandma O is the second from the right. That's her brother next to her and her dad, Ellis Harvey Pew is on the far left.

There is something about old family pictures that I love. I love to see the faces that go with the names I have heard all of my life. I love to hear stories about my family members who have passed beyond the veil. Maybe it's all a part of "turning the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers."

My Grandmother Wright (my mom's mom) sent me a photocopied document in the mail all about her Grandmother, Martha Marilla Tryon Fuller. She is the grandmother we named Maylee after. Her nickname was Maley. I loved that name and it fit so well with Rose as a middle name that it stuck. Maylee Rose is named after two of my Great Grandmothers. (Maylee also happens to share my middle name) Now I feel as though I am more connected to her now that I know who she was and what she enjoyed doing.

After I got the pictures of my family, I started looking back in old emails for pictures of Kevin's family and came across a few gems, too. We can all see where Kevin gets his good looks!

This is a picture of the Hiatt family. My mother-in-law is the toddler. Her dad is Talmage (looks a lot like Kevin, just with hair!), Aunt Tama is on the far right, Aunt Sharon is the younger girl, Uncle Craig is on the far left, the taller boy is Uncle Kenny and Grandma Hiatt has her hands on Sharon's shoulders.

On the couch are Ethel Mene Puckett Hiatt and David Lafayette Hiatt. Kevin's grandpa is the second from the right. I know how Kevin will look as he gets older...and I'm okay with what I see!

This is Kevin's Great Grandpa David Hiatt 1973

This is my mother-in-law's Grandma Hiatt on the far right, and her mom's parents Grandma and Grandpa Williams on the far left.

I love old family pictures...and I can't wait to tell my kids the stories that go along with their family names. If only I could get my hands on a picture of Isaac Henry Bowman.