I'm going to ramble on for a little bit about... me. You did want to hear what I've been up to every now and then and not just the kids, right? Something like that.
Anyway, this has actually been a very busy month of accomplishments for me. I have been studying the organ and played in church for sacrament meeting for the first time last week. I have to say a big thank you to my husband who supported me in babysitting while I went to practice. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't play better given I had 2 months to prepare. But practicing once a week for an hour or so, and learning as much as I did- well, it was kind of a lot of work. It was exciting to learn a new instrument! I even played pedals and everything! I still feel pretty intimidated by the organ- there's so much to learn. Another thing I learned is how much you have to prepare just for prelude! The thing is, I didn't prepare for prelude- I was so worried about my 3 songs. The first 2 were pretty good, the closing could have been better. But prelude, I just was winging it and that's not good, because you're winging it through about 7 songs! Holy cow, can't believe I had to play that many. It's probably because I notoriously play very fast.
The other big thing I had going on was for our ward playgroup I was planning. I did a Smile Party and talked to the kids about the important of teeth and cleaning them and the dentist is. I decided to open it up to the stake (or mostly just the 3 wards in our building). And we had a great turn out. I think there must have been over 40 people there (from smalles to oldest!). I think there were 29 kids, and then however many moms who came with them. There are a couple of cute pics on our playgroup blog from our circle time. We did circle time, a craft: making crocodiles out of egg cartons and brushing the teeth with white paint, I had a tooth pinata we didn't end up doing, and then we ended with the dentist comeing to visit the kids and we presented each child with a certificate and goodie bag with new toothbrush. It was way fun activity.
I also had to talk in church yesterday, and then taught preschool this morning. So it was a very busy month. Getting ready to move is only going to get more busy, but I'm sure we'll be packing in as much fun as possible before we leave! We're excited to have Jeremy's brother and wife come to visit this week!!
Well, I guess that's enough rambling about me for awhile!
love, Courtney
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Nature Hour
We needed (I needed;) a break from normal routine, so instead for a new adventure on Tuesday, we went to a Botanical Garden in Kaneohe. I don't know how I've missed this cool place for so long. I felt like the first time ever, that I was actually in that lush tropical island like you see in so many pictures. I was loving the landscape! Once a month, the HBG puts on a nature hour. We went a little early to doddle, and we're so excited to see ducks! It's one of the only places in Hawaii where there are ducks I think, most everything is salt water around here.
Sealing Wax Palm. I thought the red at the top was so awesome!
This goose looked pretty fiesty.
I thought this was a super funny looking bird/duck thing! :)
Nature Hour featured spiders this month. The woman did a great job telling about spiders and doing tons of fun activities. The kids pretended to be net spiders, who throw "nets" onto their prey.
Throwing flies and insects into the spider's web.
Spinning a spider web by running around the cones, except the little boy had all the cones stacked up and not in a circle.
Looking at real spiders.
Jumping spider... jumps onto his prey.
Some kind of fishing net spider, who lowers a web kind of fishing line and catches his prey.
Craft time: playdough spider. I love the split pea eye balls!
Sealing Wax Palm. I thought the red at the top was so awesome!
This goose looked pretty fiesty.
I thought this was a super funny looking bird/duck thing! :)
Nature Hour featured spiders this month. The woman did a great job telling about spiders and doing tons of fun activities. The kids pretended to be net spiders, who throw "nets" onto their prey.
Throwing flies and insects into the spider's web.
Spinning a spider web by running around the cones, except the little boy had all the cones stacked up and not in a circle. 
Looking at real spiders.
Jumping spider... jumps onto his prey.
Some kind of fishing net spider, who lowers a web kind of fishing line and catches his prey.
Craft time: playdough spider. I love the split pea eye balls!
Search for the Bishop Museum
Last Saturday was Healthy Kids Day put on by the YMCA at the Bishop Museum, which meant it was free for kama'aina (locals). Couldn't miss it... glad we didn't. But it took some effort. We searched around downtown by the palace thinking we were supposed to find it, for about an hour, and finally found out from someone that we were in the totally wrong place. oops. We're local, yeah, we are.
We finally got to the museum, luckily we had packed heavy on the snacks. We actually did not see hardly any of the museum, so we'll have to go back. But we were totally into all the little health booths and games and activities going on. It was pretty hot, but such a fun family thing. Jeremy is even laughing at me because of course I managed to come home with a prize- I won a T-shirt and Crayola marker set from the EMCEE at the very end for being the first to find a tube of sunblock. It was awesome! ;)
We finally got to the museum, luckily we had packed heavy on the snacks. We actually did not see hardly any of the museum, so we'll have to go back. But we were totally into all the little health booths and games and activities going on. It was pretty hot, but such a fun family thing. Jeremy is even laughing at me because of course I managed to come home with a prize- I won a T-shirt and Crayola marker set from the EMCEE at the very end for being the first to find a tube of sunblock. It was awesome! ;)
Monday, April 27, 2009
You know how girls are...
You know how girls are with their brothers too! I think Lucy convinced Dad to do up these fancy dresses. Then, the music began... 
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Easter Recap
There are a lot of pictures in this post- I guess you could say Easter was pretty fun! We had to dye eggs... princess style of course- poor Willie, everything's princess style.
We did something a little different; I've never done it before at least. We dyed empty egg shells this year. I really like how cool it looks to see the inside and outside of the egg dyed. This idea all started with Freecycle back in November or so. A spanish teacher had posted wanting a few people who could help her save their eggshells for her class. For Easter, she wanted to do a spanish tradition (which I can't remember the name of this tradition, or where it's done, or even the link that she shared about it) where people crack a confetti-filled egg over another person's head for good luck (or some reason?) for the Easter holiday. Neat, I thought and offered to save my eggshells for her, I thought it was the least I could do for the freecycle community. So for a couple months I learned how to perfectly crack egg shells just on the top, rinse them out, and save them. Then, the teacher sends me an email that she's decided not to do the activity with her class. So, what was I going to do with dozens of eggshells? Well, I didn't know exactly. But I kept on saving them and thought, maybe I'll do the activity...
I had acrued quite a lot of eggs, so I had to do something with a group. The best group to use them on was our playgroup. But, I didn't know how smashing eggs on the heads of 2 year olds would fly with the mamas. I wanted to do at least an egg hunt, so I still prepared the eggs. Our playgroup the week of Easter was a park playdate, so I thought, hmm, I can do an egg hunt outside and I'll make the eggs completely biodegradeable so we won't worry to much about clean up. Hence, the eggs filled with Fruity Pebbles, not confetti (stroke of genius if you ask me). Except, again with 2 year olds it's a little diferent story, as some of them were confused and actually bit into the egg shell to try and eat it. (yikes!) I also decided that we wouldn't encourage the kids to smash them over each other's heads, but just smash them open to find the prize. So I had prepared about 72 eggs with a little sticker inside and filled them with fruity pebbles. The park playdate was canned on account of bad weather, so we ended up having the egg hunt at the TAB and also had time to have the kids make little easter baskets to hunt with. Here's the TAB egg hunt:
That weekend, there was an egg hunt at the park next to us, hosted by the community library and a local church group. We took the kids to that and although the hunt was probably finished in under 2 minutes, it was fun.
Happy Easter!
We did something a little different; I've never done it before at least. We dyed empty egg shells this year. I really like how cool it looks to see the inside and outside of the egg dyed. This idea all started with Freecycle back in November or so. A spanish teacher had posted wanting a few people who could help her save their eggshells for her class. For Easter, she wanted to do a spanish tradition (which I can't remember the name of this tradition, or where it's done, or even the link that she shared about it) where people crack a confetti-filled egg over another person's head for good luck (or some reason?) for the Easter holiday. Neat, I thought and offered to save my eggshells for her, I thought it was the least I could do for the freecycle community. So for a couple months I learned how to perfectly crack egg shells just on the top, rinse them out, and save them. Then, the teacher sends me an email that she's decided not to do the activity with her class. So, what was I going to do with dozens of eggshells? Well, I didn't know exactly. But I kept on saving them and thought, maybe I'll do the activity...
I had acrued quite a lot of eggs, so I had to do something with a group. The best group to use them on was our playgroup. But, I didn't know how smashing eggs on the heads of 2 year olds would fly with the mamas. I wanted to do at least an egg hunt, so I still prepared the eggs. Our playgroup the week of Easter was a park playdate, so I thought, hmm, I can do an egg hunt outside and I'll make the eggs completely biodegradeable so we won't worry to much about clean up. Hence, the eggs filled with Fruity Pebbles, not confetti (stroke of genius if you ask me). Except, again with 2 year olds it's a little diferent story, as some of them were confused and actually bit into the egg shell to try and eat it. (yikes!) I also decided that we wouldn't encourage the kids to smash them over each other's heads, but just smash them open to find the prize. So I had prepared about 72 eggs with a little sticker inside and filled them with fruity pebbles. The park playdate was canned on account of bad weather, so we ended up having the egg hunt at the TAB and also had time to have the kids make little easter baskets to hunt with. Here's the TAB egg hunt:
That weekend, there was an egg hunt at the park next to us, hosted by the community library and a local church group. We took the kids to that and although the hunt was probably finished in under 2 minutes, it was fun.
Happy Easter!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Precious (Random) Moments
A moment before church... I curled Lucy's hair with an iron and she of course knowing she looks like Sleeping beauty, said she needed to hold the sleeping beauty rose. Willie's just chillin' GQ style.
A common scene in our house, too determined not to sit at the table for their snack but mom not wanting them roaming the house with food, so here is the compromise. I love it.
Lucy feeding Willie. She thinks it's so fun. She turning into a little mother hen- copying what mommy does, what mommy says... ah me.
One of Lucy's talked-about friends, Sunny. Talked about means a friend that she randomly will just talk about and of course always asks when we're going to see her next. She is a cute girl. This is the first kid that I've ever babysat (besides my neighbors) and I actually was so excited that someone had asked me to babysit! It's funny, but I guess because I'm home all the time I feel like, why aren't more people asking for my help? And babysitting is a chance to help someone. Hmm, should I have said that out loud?! ;)
A friend had a "Princess and Pirate" party at a park. It was so fun! And I loved the opportunity to use Lucy's Halloween costume one more time! I quite liked Willie's pirate costume too. I fished it out just a couple days beforehand with whatever on hand kind of thing, but it was quite cute. My favorite part is the little booty sack with a skull and crossbones on it (made from the bottom of a cut up onesie.)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Vote For Me
Because I know you're just thinking this is the most adorable picture you've ever seen...!! Then, you need to go vote for me!! :)
Some of our playgroup friends will remember this little stoplight I made for our transportation playschool. Being I made it without even having to go to the store, I decided it definetly falls under the "recycled craft" category; and I entered it in this Disney familyfun.com Amazing Recycled Craft Contest! So, do me a favor when you have a minute and go vote for me!!
You do have to create a login in order to vote. Go here to register as a new user. Or, if you happen to already have a login, you can go here.
Go here to vote for my craft!
PS- I've noticed this site does tend to be down quite a lot...it'll say page doesn't exist or has been removed. Which isn't true, but they must be updating it alot because sometimes I'll have to revisit it.
Some of our playgroup friends will remember this little stoplight I made for our transportation playschool. Being I made it without even having to go to the store, I decided it definetly falls under the "recycled craft" category; and I entered it in this Disney familyfun.com Amazing Recycled Craft Contest! So, do me a favor when you have a minute and go vote for me!!
You do have to create a login in order to vote. Go here to register as a new user. Or, if you happen to already have a login, you can go here.
Go here to vote for my craft!
PS- I've noticed this site does tend to be down quite a lot...it'll say page doesn't exist or has been removed. Which isn't true, but they must be updating it alot because sometimes I'll have to revisit it.
My "Ss" Day
S is for sick... which is what my kids are today, so I hopefully will get a few posts up. Here is a sum up from preschool last week at our house.
We started with singing songs about the sun and stars.
We found out whose shoe was smallest.
Last week the kids learned about taste and touch, so this week I decided to add the other senses. We explored the 3 senses that started with s: Smell, Sight, and Sound. There's no picture with sound- we just listened to different sounds off my computer. It was generally a little difficult for the kids. If you're looking for sound effects, this is a great sound effects website, the easiest to use that I found.
Here's Lucy smelling peanut butter. We also smelled: an orange, lotion (flowery scent, I tried to get real flowers, but...), alcohol dipped cotton balls (the kids were close on this one actually!), Irish spring soap, & there was one more....
We played "I Spy" to use our sense of sight. I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the letter s...
We had a special snack...we visited Scotland to have Scottish Scones. Since the mid1800s, scones are traditionally served during tea time in Scotland. We listened to some traditional Scottish music while we ate. Along with the scones, we also had skewered strawberries.
We made seven silly sandwiches... this was quite a big project for the kids to undertake. A few had trouble making it to the end of all seven sandwiches. This is a cardstock cut out backed on cardboard (cereal boxes), then the kids glued different items into the shape of an "S": star stickers, sandpaper, sponges, seashells & sand, spaghetti, straws, and various seeds. We made it into a sandwich book.
I don't know if this will work very well, but if anyone is interested here is a template I used, hopefully you could copy and paste it:
We decided to go on a trip and sail to Scotland in a ship. We converted our papasan chair into the ship and had someone pretending to be the sailor, the sea, the storm, and the shark. It was pretty fun, we "drew sticks" to see who was what part. The sailor got to wear a cool hat.
Four funny sailors making silly faces!
We started with singing songs about the sun and stars.
We found out whose shoe was smallest.
Last week the kids learned about taste and touch, so this week I decided to add the other senses. We explored the 3 senses that started with s: Smell, Sight, and Sound. There's no picture with sound- we just listened to different sounds off my computer. It was generally a little difficult for the kids. If you're looking for sound effects, this is a great sound effects website, the easiest to use that I found.
Here's Lucy smelling peanut butter. We also smelled: an orange, lotion (flowery scent, I tried to get real flowers, but...), alcohol dipped cotton balls (the kids were close on this one actually!), Irish spring soap, & there was one more....
We played "I Spy" to use our sense of sight. I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the letter s...
We had a special snack...we visited Scotland to have Scottish Scones. Since the mid1800s, scones are traditionally served during tea time in Scotland. We listened to some traditional Scottish music while we ate. Along with the scones, we also had skewered strawberries.
We made seven silly sandwiches... this was quite a big project for the kids to undertake. A few had trouble making it to the end of all seven sandwiches. This is a cardstock cut out backed on cardboard (cereal boxes), then the kids glued different items into the shape of an "S": star stickers, sandpaper, sponges, seashells & sand, spaghetti, straws, and various seeds. We made it into a sandwich book.
I don't know if this will work very well, but if anyone is interested here is a template I used, hopefully you could copy and paste it:
We decided to go on a trip and sail to Scotland in a ship. We converted our papasan chair into the ship and had someone pretending to be the sailor, the sea, the storm, and the shark. It was pretty fun, we "drew sticks" to see who was what part. The sailor got to wear a cool hat.
Four funny sailors making silly faces!
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