The Daley News

Natalie’s Tangled Party

2013-01-22T17:04:00.001-05:00

Natalie celebrated her 6th birthday on Saturday. We went with a tangled theme. Nothing I did was revolutionary, but I thought I’d blog about it, and if anybody in the area wants to borrow my décor or games you’re welcome to it. I decorated with purple pom poms, yellow streamers, a sun flag banner and vellum lanterns ( vellum painted with the star, wrapped around mason or spaghetti jars).

We started off with drawing on the walls like Rapunzel in the movie. (Dollar store wrapping paper)

We took some pics in the photo booth. I made a huge wig of blonde hair for the girls to pose with. Some loved it, some were scared of it. I’m still untangling it.

We tossed some apple bean bags to Maximus, tangled each other up in streamers (Girls favorite game by far)

We panned Flynn Rider with blindfolds on (oops no pics!), And danced with streamers to the Tangled songs.

We made scores of lanterns from vellum and purple construction paper.

The girls ate cinnamon roll and cheesy Italian bread braids. Natalie loved the donut tower.

The girls went home with satchels, chameleon party blowers and some felt and silky flower clips. Plus their lanterns and dance streamers.

All in all, it was a great party, and I was proud of myself for doing it in less than 2 weeks. Hooray for Tangled!

Sophia’s Owl Party

2013-01-22T13:48:00.001-05:00

Sophia’s turned 8 in November, and I’m finally coming around to blogging about it. We had a Night Owl party, all her 2nd game friends came over and we partied until 9 pm. So laaaate.

We stuck owls all over. And made a owl cake that is un naturally pink.

The birthday girl balloon and owl plates (from walmart of all places!)

For games we tossed around a soccer ball with questions on it (What’s your biggest dream? Is Justin Bieber cute? etc)

Grandma stayed and played with Leo. We decorated bags with owls to put our treasure hunt in.

We ran outside to find candy and glow sticks that I’d scattered outside. Sophia blew out the cake.

I had sewn up spa masks for everyone, we decorated with felt stickers.

And the girls promptly fell asleep, lol.

They kept their spa masks on and played Marco polo, then had a rousing game of “Down by the Banks” frog song. Leo “slept” through it all.

Last but not least, the girls went home with fleece owls. I spent a week sewing em up, and had some extras for the other cousins.

And that was day 1 of Sophia’s weekend of birthday fun. Loved having these girls to party with (almost) all night long!

Grandma Jackie

2012-12-08T10:30:00.001-05:00

Yesterday my Grandma passed away.She lived in Alaska her whole life, and so I saw her every few years as we visited my Mom’s extended family to visit. I was named after her, but I dropped the “I" in Jackie in middle school. When she saw my new spelling, she dubbed me “Jacki with an ‘I’.” and never let me forget it.

Obviously she was much more to our family than an occasional visit. I heard about her all the time from my mom. I heard stories of a young mother doing her best on a mining camp, shoveling out her second story window so they could walk out on the snow. I heard stories of a woman leaving her husband, in a time when that was not socially acceptable. I heard stories of a mother having babies the same time as her oldest daughter. I heard stories of love and heartbreak, of hard work and duty to her six children. She wasn’t perfect, but she did the best with what she had. She joked that her kids were going to get her into heaven, all her daughters are religious and spiritual.

From my visits to Alaska, walking into her house was like walking back in time. She was OCD about everything in that house, where the vintage cracker tins sat above the cupboards, which afghan hung on the back of the chair. I remember sitting upstairs, looking at the books from my mom’s childhood, the foot pedal singer sewing machine, the huge quilts and the all the antique crocks. Jackie had a huge wood fire burning stove in her home, where she served us moose meatloaf on my honeymoon. When John said it was the most delicious meatloaf she said “Don’t try to brown nose now.” Her bathroom smelled like Ivory soap and tobacco, she tried to sneak smoking in there, like we didn’t know. Her garden was huge, full of lettuce and potatoes and her flower garden with lines and lines of snapdragons. She hated when the summer humidity made her take her sweatshirt off while gardening, she was accustomed to Alaska weather through and through.

Grandma Jackie had a close relationship with my cousins who lived next door, always there to watch over and entertain or put them to work. She had a path through the woods to their house, something I loved walking through as a visitor, it made her property so much like a setting in a storybook. My mom started printing pictures of my kids off the blog and sending it to her, it always touched me that she would ask about my kids and wanted to see pictures. She has so many grandchildren and great grandchildren, and a few great greats, I thought we might be lost among them as the far flung kids in the lower 48.

Her last few years have been plagued with hospital visits from her ailing liver. I am glad she’s free from the pain and suffering she’s endured from the last few years. I hope she is at peace with her husband and their friends that she’s watched go before her. Rest in Peace Grandma Jackie.

Carrie is married!

2012-08-17T15:53:00.001-04:00

My sister was married this past weekend.

Here are some highlights from a jam packed week.

Bachelorette Party in Gettysburg- Pizza, cupcakes and a Ghost Tour

My sister’s colors were robin egg blue and creams and coral. Gray suits and bow ties with Gray Van sneakers, wildflowers and burlap for the flowers.

Some tips for taking pics of kids at weddings. Have them do some smile poses, then whatever they want. It keeps em happy and into the shoot.

I enjoy taking all the candid and funny shots, and leaving the huge list of group shots for the official photographer. My favorite shots of the group shots were all the silly ones- or the bridesmaids below, where we were told to laugh hysterically, some of the girls thought we were jumping, and the aftershot and reaction was priceless.

I made the girls dresses with white cotton fabric embroidered, and sewed them dresses so it would fit and be cool enough, yet have sleeves. I also wanted a lace underskirt.

Leo’s vest and shorts were from a pattern, but I shortened the shorts to be a little past the knee.

At the wedding dinner with our close families, the groom’s family had Carrie and Keaton play a game. They faced away from each other, each holding a shoe of their own and their spouses shoe. Then the caller would say “Funniest” or “Most organized” etc, and each would hold up the shoe of the person that fit the description. It was hilarious to see what they agreed and didn’t agree on.

We also played a musical chairs type game, where each person had a wedding related word, and the person in the middle called out half a dozen of the words, and all those people had to get up and find a new seat. It was a great game for a variety of ages to play together.

At the reception,we had tents set up at a family friend’s farm. When guests arrived, they put their gifts and cards in the back of an old pick up truck.

Jenga blocks were signed along with the guest book, and little pieces of paper for writing down your “favorite memory of us” “date ideas” and “marriage advice” in mason jars.

An old oven had the wedding cupcakes waiting to be put out. The wedding topper was a wooden M with buttons all over.

Drinks were in a old canoe with ice, and hanging from the trees were burlap art with button messages.

One of Carrie’s good friends made this Moon, with a chair behind, so you can take a pic of you and your loves “over the moon” with love. I missed pictures of the teapot centerpieces filled with flowers and the twine bows on mason jars with tea lights.

Last but not least, the highlight of my week wasn’t the wedding, which was wonderful, but spending time with my mom and her sister Sally, my sister, and all of us having fun together in the midst of the crazy.

Hooray for weddings and big parties! Congrats Carrie and Keaton!

California Classics

2012-08-17T15:13:00.001-04:00

We went on a classic vacation- Beach and Disney, grandparents and fun games, too much food and never enough sun. We loved the beach weather and 75 degrees all day every day. Disneyland was fun yet exhausting. It was my first trip, so there was a learning curve after the first day- but our second day was so much more fun. Everyday we’d have some breakfast at our beach condo, go somewhere, beach or disney or on a walk or church, then eat dinner together. At night the kids and John would go to bed, and I’d live up to my night owl nature and hang out with the other families at their condo across the courtyard. Hope you can feel the excitement, joy and love from these photos!

Girls Camp “Illuminate”

2012-08-04T22:14:00.001-04:00

This year the Girls camp theme was Illuminate. It was based on a talk by President Thomas S Monson, “Be a Light to the World” . The Camp Director designated each day a separate theme-

Tuesday= Flicker- Light from Birth, Divine Nature

Wednesday- Kindle your testimony with everyday habits

Thursday- Radiate your light and let your light shine as an example

Friday- Glow and rely on Christ for your light.

All week long we learned about kindling our inner light- and practiced it with service, practicing scripture study with reading groups, daily prayer as a level, etc.

My responsibility was over the 4th years. We were the Holly wood Stars. One of my assistant leaders took my idea for a Hollywood type sign for our area and made a great big sign that was perfect. Another friend has the red carpet, which came in handy during the awards at the end of the week.

I bought yellow vinyl from Joann’s for Hollywood walk of Fame stars. Each girl wrote their name in one, then we wrote inside jokes and love notes to each other, then cut it apart at the end of the week to take home.

I took some neon lycra and cut it into 1 to 2 inch strips, and sewed them into a loop for neon headbands. It was fun to have something for just our year to stand out in the crowd in. We also had oriental trading neon sunglasses and some fun pens, plus VIP passes on our lanyards.

We made journals with a Hollywood star on them, and some note cards, for the girls to write encouraging notes to their friends.

Other light themed activities included:

Glow worm with a glow stick, with a quote about letting your light shine.

Firefly lanterns

Glow in the dark paint inside mason jars

Mason jar lanterns with etched spray paint

Arise and Shine pillowcases for the Assistant Directors

Necklaces with clear crystal beads, accompanying a fireside about reflecting Christ’s light to others.

So, let me walk you through some of our memorable activities.

Camp wide get to know you activities- Get to know you bingo

The knot puzzle- take hold of two people, then try to untie without letting go.

And the M&M game: Everybody gets a snack size bag of M&M’s or skittles, then each color corresponds to something you tell about yourself (pre determined ahead of time) Like….green is something you love about nature, blue is something you did yesterday, red is something you hate to do….etc.

The stake YW presidency led an activity with each year, where they discussed divine qualities they have and want to develop. Each year decorated huge pieces of butcher paper with the words “I AM…” with qualities all over. They wrote down a quality they had or wanted to develop, then at the end of the week a photographer came in and took pics with them holding a sign with their quality on it. A slideshow is to come.

100 year celebration

This year was the 100th year of camp. After dinner we had a program that described the requirements and activities the first years of camp, a visit and talk by Bev Jones, a leader who’s attended camp over 50 years, and we released 100 yellow balloons into the air. Plus we had birthday cake.

This year we also introduced the spirit stick, given to the year with the best cheer at roll call. It quickly became the spirit curse- you were supposed to carry it everywhere and not leave it behind.

Crafts this year included Friendship bracelets,

tissue paper decopauge onto globe lanterns,

and foil leaf pictures of the future Indianapolis temple. (picture printed on transparencies at Staples, spray adhesive onto transperancy, apply silver leaf and frame)

The girls are spoiled and only have to make meals for themselves one night for certification cooking. We made chili and baked apples over the fire and cherry and pineapple cobbler in box ovens. The first years made foil dinners. Mmm Mmm.

The Fourth Years, my girls, went rock climbing and ziplining at nearby Camp Yale. We painted bathrooms and helped with other chores for a service project. Then we made and ate dinner, then climbed and zipped and finally roasted starburst at the campfire. I was so proud of the girls

Skits- Each of the members of the Stake Presidency was in charge of a group of girls from camp, to put together a talent act, singing or a skit. One group performed a skit about a little bee that goes to Hollywood. Every punchline in the story was accompanied with a song lyric sung by the peanut gallery behind the skit. It was awesome.

Another group handed out kitchen recyclable instruments (drums, spoons, etc) to sing a song in a round and add in instruments each verse. They sang the song “Catch a Falling Star.” It was pretty and the perfect calm song to end the night of crazy.

The most hilarious skit was a group acting out “For the Strength of Youth” – the mp3 played in the background while the girls in groups of 4 acted out the lyrics. So funny.

My year made up a parody to the Ellen show. One girl came out and did stand up about some characters at camp, we danced, then performed some “viral videos” of people letting their light shine. A kangaroo attacked an old lady and was rescued by Beyonce. A homeless lady is given food by Dolly parton in onesie pajamas with a fur hat on. A football player is helped by some super fans. Basically we made skits from random props and they were hilarious. Only at camp.

The skit night included a game for the bishops- all week long a set of Youth Camp Leaders polled the girls questions about bishops and then made a Mormon Feud game for them to compete in. Instead of ringing a bell they had to dance. It was awesome.

All week long I had the privilege of watching the girls interact and love each other, through my photo lens. I love seeing the light in their eyes as they laugh with their friends, attack their leader’s elbows, help each other, as they are so quick to love and be silly.

My sister Carrie came to camp and made a slideshow out of the pics we took all week. Knowing we wanted a pic of each girl made me look for the beauty and light in each girl. It was fun to be the eyes of the camp all week and “creep” on everyone, seeing what they do best, in a setting that allows them to let their light shine.

One of my favorite quotes about the theme of Light comes from Nelson Mandela “When you let your own light shine, you unconsciously give others permission to do the same.” I saw that all week long- girls being kind rather than gossiping, girls being silly, being reverent, sharing their feelings or their testimonies in scripture study, and I saw how their light shining in those moments let others relax and do the same.

As I reflected on camp and all the many things about it that are amazing, I thought of this quote from Dieter F Uchtdorf. He gave an address titled “The Love of God” in Oct. 2009. I love what he says about hearing Heavenly Father’s voice:

“As you reach out to your Heavenly Father, as you pray to Him in the name of Christ, He will answer you. He speaks to us everywhere.

As you read God’s word recorded in the scriptures, listen for His voice.

During this general conference and later as you study the words spoken here, listen for His voice.

As you visit the temple and attend Church meetings, listen for His voice.

Listen for the voice of the Father in the bounties and beauties of nature, in the gentle whisperings of the Spirit.

In your daily interactions with others, in the words of a hymn, in the laughter of a child, listen for His voice.

If you listen for the voice of the Father, He will lead you on a course that will allow you to experience the pure love of Christ.

As we draw near to Heavenly Father, we become more holy. And as we become more holy, we will overcome disbelief and our souls will be filled with His blessed light. As we align our lives with this supernal light, it leads us out of darkness and toward greater light. This greater light leads to the unspeakable ministering of the Holy Spirit, and the veil between heaven and earth can become thin.

This is what I think happens at camp. We are able to hear Heavenly Father’s voice all week long, in devotionals, in quiet moments, in the voices of our friends, in hymns and songs and acts of service. And we are so filled with light and goodness, our spirits soar and we feel God’s love all around us. That is why I spend months preparing for girls to come to camp for a week. So they can feast on the feelings of Heaven for a week.

Hooray for Girl’s camp, and all the awesome girls in it.

Summer Fun School

2012-08-03T16:04:00.001-04:00

So, after joining pinterest, I quickly cataloged lots of great activities for the kids and I do to in the summertime. I have two main boards- Summer Fun School- Yet to try and Daley Approved Activities (things we’ve loved). We made a calendar at the start of summer of major trips and things to do

We tried everyday to do an hour of chores, then go somewhere (park or pool or shopping) and then come home and do something fun- make something, do an experiment, something to cook, something fun to do outside. And everyday tried to work on things for camp. Sound exhausting? It was.

Here’s some highlights:

We exploded Ivory soap in the microwave, then squished it, molded it and made some soaps.

We boiled up some rock candy….and it didn’t work. Sophia learned to read a recipe and helped make cookies a few times. She’d get out all the ingredients for me and was a great helper.

We stuck pool noodles onto dowel rods and made some soccer goals and truck tunnels.

Fire in my belly!

We went camping with some friends and had a day of boating…while John started our fence. What a great husband.

The start of something good….

We built some forts and Sophia quickly became the designated storyteller for Leo. We made marshmallow catapults (clothespin with popsicle stick and bottle cap) while our friends were visiting. The girls loved flicking and eating the marshmallows.

Balloon volley ball was a hit…as was sitting in our pajamas all day long.

We visited the splash pad and yelled at the water with an apple in our hands. Oh wait, that’s just Leo.

Lots of bubbles and digging in the sand.

We also had some family visit- John’s sisters and their families came to visit for a wedding.

We showed our cousins the local sites- the children’s museum, the backyard of awesome little tykes toys, and some sushi. Welcome to the club Mark.

My sister came with my mom to take care of my kids while I was at camp- and ended up coming! Here she is with her vintage engagement ring power!

End of the Year Preschool Party

2012-06-07T23:04:00.001-04:00

This week we celebrated the end of preschool with a get together at the Splash Pad. All the older siblings are out of school, so they came along for the lunch and party. One of my friends compiled all the teacher’s praise for each student onto a certificate, and read the comments aloud. Natalie’s focused on her enthusiasm and artistry. She was beaming the whole time.

The last day of school I had the students pose with different objects to make up the ABC’s. I took emails from the field trips and lessons throughout the year to make up all the letters, then formatted it with a simple letter and caption, 4 to a page. Printed on brochure paper (glossy two sided paper not quite as stiff as cardstock), with a laminated cover. It was a huge hit. What kid doesn’t want to see themselves in a book? It was fun to reflect on the year behind and how much they’ve grown. If I do something similar in the future I’ll be sure to put my pictures in preschool folder on my computer each time I upload pics, and email all the Moms to get pictures the last month of school.

Last but not least the kids presented their moms with necklaces they made from wooden beads. Here’s Natalie posing with me wearing the necklace. You know, right behind some kids head. We took more shots, but Natalie’s eyes are closed, the Daley curse. Is there a photoshop action to open kids eyes? J/K.

Hooray for preschool! It’s been a great year.

Around the Daley house, in the month of May….

2012-06-07T22:54:00.001-04:00

John and I celebrated 9 years together at a local restaurant. The next weekend it was all about Mormon Prom. John’s calling in the Stake YM presidency warranted his participation. My friend Sarah and I crashed the party (her husband is in the presidency too). We danced a little, John and Jeremy made a few hundred snow cones, we marveled at the light show…and got a dance picture taken.

Fun times. Even if we left an hour early. Getting old I tell ya.

Other news- Leo got a haircut, everytime I cut his hair he looks like such a different kid. He’s becoming Natalie and Sophia’s little shadow, following them around, picking up leftover cookies and doing whatever they do (if it looks fun enough).

Leo’s newest words are READ! and Book! So that’s what we do all the time. Natalie can’t read but has memorized most of our top books, and she tells a dang good story, so she entertains Leo.

Also, pool noodles mean lots of fun sword fights. And schools out means camping in the playroom.

Last but not least, the last day of May was the last day of school. Sophia got an award for having all A’s all year long. So proud of her and all her hard work this year. Natalie can’t wait to go to Kindergarten next year and join in on the fun. That is, when she’s not saying she’s sad preschool is over and scared that she won’t make friends. But mostly excited.

We’ve been busy this week- chores every morning, piano and reading lessons, then a place to go and a thing to do almost every day. I’m sure I’ll do a mega post in a few weeks with evidence of all the things they’ve enjoyed.

Wooden Beaded Necklaces

2012-05-26T23:28:00.001-04:00

Over Christmas I scored the crafting jackpot at the Goodwill outlet, and bought a HUGE box of wooden beads, spools and balls for 50 cents a pound.
I finally got around to doing something with them- painted beads for necklaces. We painted a lot of beads, enough for Sophia’s teachers (first grade, and her specials teachers) and the other Mom teachers in our preschool co-op. Plus some for the other special ladies in our lives….act excited if you get one as gift, k?
We’ll also be doing thank you cards, but that will be another post for another day.

I spent one naptime and after bedtime listening to After the Jump radio show and painting beads. After the second coat, on day 2 I arranged them on dowel rods and a box to spray paint with clear varnish in the garage.

Then today Sophia picked beads for necklaces. I used leather cording from Hobby Lobby. My personal faves of the necklaces have only 3 or 4 beads to match an outfit. It’s super easy to switch them out if you make them for yourself.

For preschool next week the kids are going to pick out beads and assemble necklaces for their Mama teacher. I considered having them paint the beads…but I wanted it to be something the Mom could wear (outside the house!).

Hooray for teachers, crafts and pretty beads.

Mini Scriptures and Treasure Chest

2012-05-26T23:16:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow’s lesson for sunday is titled “Jesus Christ’s Teachings are a Treasure” or something to that effect. It’s all about treasuring the scriptures and a mini review lesson of stories from the past 5 months.

I decided to go literal.

In keeping with the theme I found a treasure chest paper craft from a Friend lesson.

I could print out jewels with scriptures on them, but why not put mini books of scriptures inside?

I could put blank pages inside, and have them write or draw a scripture, or I could peruse the pictures catalog and put in mini pictures. The gray borders are the cut out lines, the middle line is a fold line. Each strip is folded and glued to make a double sided page, then layer the 2 pages into the book of scripture and staple.

Assembled books, with staple in the middle.

Compared to my hand. Sorry for the nasty yellow pictures. It’s late, all my lights are not natural, and we’ll just pretend they’re trendy and taken with instagram!

Finished in treasure box. This was the small one- I sized it up the box pic a few inches in publisher so it filled up the page. I suggest you do the same.

Hooray for the scriptures!

Z is for Zoo and Zebras

2012-05-22T15:19:00.001-04:00

Today we did the letter ZZZZZ…..Which was appropriate because I am TIRED! But we didn’t take a nap, we learned about zoos instead.

First we did some activities from some online zoo packet.

We matched letters to beginning sounds.

Zoo packet by Oopsey Daisy

Zoo packet by 2 teaching Mommies

We read some books about zoo animals- like Polar Bear Polar Bear, What do you Hear? Then we watched it on youtube:

We also made a mini zoo for our animal crackers:

And rolled an animal dice and graphed our results.

When we got flamingos we yelled “OH YEAH”

And when we were feeling out of sorts, we kind of went nuts. Natalie needed some alone time today, like all of preschool.

We also made some Zebra bread aka Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread

Mini loaves and muffins.

I wished we had been a little faster and had time to take a zoo out of your stuffed animals, feed and pretend to take care of them.

Hooray for the letter Z!

I'm Happy to Say that You're my Grandma....

2012-05-13T19:35:00.000-04:00

For all the Grandmas out there....we sure love ya.

Happy Mother's Day!! Love, the Daleys

Go Dog Go! Party

2012-05-10T17:14:00.001-04:00

Leo is a huge fan of this book, so it was a natural choice for a party.

The first step was an invitation…

We printed and folded up into a book (I split these up to print on a paper double sided, but you can rotate the top 180 degrees to print on one side and fold)

We made some decorations. I scanned in pics of the book to make a wall decoration. Blue wrapping paper from the dollar store, and some glue….

It hung on the walls in the dining area.

I used the tree from Candyland party for a DOG party tree.

For party items, I downloaded a Scholastic Party Kit –it included tags for doggy bags, hats, and more….

The kids party bags had a dollar store jeep or matchbox car, and a stop and go little sign to play games with her cars. We had party hats and blowers to play with too.

I also made a Go Dog Go sign with Sophia, so we could all be in the book.

When the kids arrived we played outside, they fought over cars, and played with shaving cream and cars. They loved getting the cars clean in water after getting it messy.

I also had plans to read the book, play Stop and Go with cars, give our cars a wash with sponge balls, and race cars on wrapping paper tubes, but they were playing so well we didn’t. I try not to impose the games on the kids if they’re not complaining. There are so many things you can do though- decorate hats, have different races (on skateboards, bikes, hopping, etc), and so many transportation games from preschool lesson plans. I tried to keep it fitting to the 2 year old guest list.

For lunch we had salad and fruit, and some chocolate covered granola bars. I saw a post where mini candy bars became cars with the help of teddy grahams and mm’s. It worked out pretty well, but many of my homemade granola bars fell apart in the dipping. So they were totaled cars. Still tasted good though. Another cute idea was to take apple slices and grapes into cars, but I didn’t have any lemon juice, so I couldn’t make them this morning before everyone arrived, without them browning. Oh well, I’m sure there will be more transportation parties in the future.

For the cake I made banana chocolate cupcakes, then frosted with green frosting and green tinted coconut. The scanned pictures of the book were scaled down to fit on toothpicks. I thought it came out pretty cute.

Leo did his best dog impression in front of everyone after enjoying his cupcake.

And he played with his new toys for a solid 2 hours before taking a nap this afternoon. (Zhiu pets are super exciting to a 2 year old, just so you know)

Our rainy day plan for the party was to play with his new train set. After getting these two sets for 1/3 of the market price at the local second hand shop, I am so in love with kids consignment stores.

We were so happy to have our friends come and play. Hooray for good books like Go Dog Go!

I’ll take a Slice of May with a glass of ice cold root beer please….

2012-05-10T16:11:00.001-04:00

Swings and Popsicles.

Trikes and new patio sets.

Trampoline jumps at our neighbor’s house.

Budding scrabble players

Chapter book reader.

Curious george lover.

A mama duck guarding her eggs. And leading her hatchlings to their first swim. And she left two eggs behind.

Letter X. Q tip skeletons, x-ray handprints, tic tac toe.

Dancing Princesses.

Silly kids.

Something about the mirror behind reminded me of French Impressionism paintings with a mirror behind the bar. Love these girls.

We’re going to love him.

2012-05-10T15:57:00.001-04:00

The other day, as we were getting ready for the day, I was exasperated with Leo’s tantrums and demands.

Leo! What are we going to do with you??? I said in total exhaustion.

From the table Natalie says to me “I know, Mom. We’re going to love him.”

That’s right. The only thing you can do, you love him.

So we went on with our day, to the Children’s Museum. It was a random day off school for Sophia, so we went to see the new exhibits.

We went all around the museum, saw the Mr Potato Head exhibit and the Lego exhibit, and had a blast.

After lunch we went to the Carousel and hall of Mirrors. We waited in line at the Carousel, and when it was our turn the girls went around the whole thing and missed their chance to get a horse that goes up and down. Natalie immediately threw a monster tantrum when I she realized they were all taken. I was all set to let her go another time, talk her through her bad behavior, then she hit me. I felt my face getting red, my heart racing. I took her off the horse, off the carosuel, and guided her out of the carousel area, while she screamed as loud as possible. I felt the looks of all 50 of the other guests watching me.

I found a corner, sat her in it, and every 30 seconds she would get up and try to hit me. But I kept my cool.

After the carousel was over, Sophia found me after her ride, and everyone else was getting off too. A woman came up to me and said “I want you to know, you’re a good mom.” Then I got emotional. It’s so hard to know that in the midst of your children acting….well, like children. I’m thankful to that woman for helping me through that afternoon. I’ve always been so worrisome about saying the wrong thing or something offensive, and I’m realizing more and more the value of simply saying something in these hard situations. “Thank you. I’m so excited to see you. You’re awesome. I know it’s hard, but it will get better. I’m so proud of you.” These words stick, I need to work on saying them more often.

After that emotional turmoil we went to scienceworks and played with the big rocks and wheelbarrows.

Love the museum, and love these kids. That’s all they really need, love.

Indianapolis Indians

2012-05-10T15:32:00.001-04:00

We recently went on a tour of the Indianapolis Indians ball field for preschool.

The little boys did great hanging out while we heard about lawn care, suites and other stadium business.

Indoor batting cage

Sitting in the dugout.

From the suites

From the press box

A huge bat! We ate lunch outside. It was a fun day.

Natalie- Solo Musketeer

2012-04-25T15:23:00.001-04:00

Natalie is so many things- full of energy, determination, full of imagination, poise and imitation. She is quick to laugh and be silly, loves to do anything that I wrinkle my nose at. She is determined to do everything her big sister does, and is so proud of herself when she can do the big kid things. She’s doing two preschools this month, and we’re trying to figure out kindergarten for next year.

She loves to make model walks and pause with her hand on her hip. She is always pretending she’s the host of a show, or selling a product, or teaching a class….any role that puts her in the position of knowledge and authority. She will hold onto huge words and use them terribly out of context “Mom, my toothbrush is crazy off it’s hinges…” or “Mom, you mop like a Roman Army…” Or “Leo, you’re so indefensible.” We laugh, which only drives her fascination with big words to new levels, to make us laugh.

Natalie is so dramatic it hurts. I’ll compliment Leo and immediately hear, in a strained semi sobbing voice “Mom, I wished you loved me too!” Or “Mom you make the best popcorn ever!” with a big kiss. Or “Mom, I’m grumpy because I’m just having a really tough day today.” ( After a day of playing and watching tv and absolutely nothing hard at all) Or “Mom, I’m trying to be an ice princess but it’s so hard when you never take me ice skating” or my favorite, upon telling her to hurry up and put her pajamas on “I can’t Mom, I NEED to make all my dreams come true, and I never have enough time to wish upon stars….” I love seeing the world through her black and white and pink sparkly view of it all.

Recently she attended a 3 musketeers party and absolutely loved it. Strong yet stylish (one of her favorite words), she’s always loved Barbie and the 3 musketeers. But after her friend’s party she knows moves and a sequence for fighting. And she has a real sword.

The 3 musketeers party was put on by a good friend- the girls decorated masks, learned some fencing and rules for play fighting, and played with ribbon streamers. They went home with a play sword and some other goodies. Kudos to my girl Alli for the great party and cute pictures. One girl with a sword in a princess dress is cute. But 8 of them? I can’t handle all the cuteness.

Hooray for strong and beautiful little girls!

Preschool–Paints, Libraries, Volcanos!

2012-04-25T14:29:00.001-04:00

Recently for preschool we learned about letter P. So of course we had to paint!

We also took a trip to our down town Indy library. The old part of the library is amazing, and pretty much Belle’s library from Beauty and the Beast. The new addition is amazing too.

We went outside and had lunch in front of the war memorial.

Sarah found a column with a stair case in front of a tree- perfect for taking pictures. Jacob was so excited to be a creeper.

Yesterday we did V- we studied vegetables, cut pictures out of the newspaper ad, made a volcano, and did some colored vinegar onto baking soda. The kids loved it- I think we’ll do it next year after dyeing eggs.

Love our mini preschool days and all the fun stuff we do together. Hooray for preschool!

Tour of the Midwest- Stop Number 3- Michiana!

2012-04-24T17:13:00.001-04:00

All of this driving, you might be wondering- who are these wonder kids in the car?

Um, there was lots of napping. And movies. Sometimes the girls wouldn’t tell us the movie was over and they’d press play again on the dvd player. Silly tv rabbits. Leo pretty much needs a companion to play and give him toys and food and que up iphone apps. After a brief stop in Kirtland we went to a sit down restaurant, had dinner while tag teaming taking Leo outside, and then went to the hotel. Our kids were so happy to have a swimming pool the next morning.

We traveled onward to our good friends in Elkhart. Our best friends from college still lives there, so we visited our friend’s mini farm and had some outdoor fun. Leo was in tractor and four wheeler heaven.

The girls loved the oxen. Natalie was having a fun time trying to brush them without getting an electric shock from the fence. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, so this was great training to how to deal with large animals.

We also dyed eggs and had a great time with our friend’s little girl.

The next morning I woke up to find three happy kids eating cocoa krispies. Leo’s newest obsession is milk and cereal. Can you spot Natalie’s crazy curly hair? It’s kind of ridiculous every morning. So if you see her and her hair looks a little crazy, but not quite like carrot top, you’ll know it could be a lot worse.

So fun to visit old friends, plan our dream homes, and spend time outside and on the farm. Hooray for Michiana!

Tour of the Midwest- Stop number 2- Kirtland!

2012-04-24T16:58:00.001-04:00

Or more specifically, John Johnson’s farm. Our church honors and reveres it’s founding fathers, and John Johnson gave a home and meeting place for Joseph Smith, our founding prophet, in the early days of our church. The sweet senior missionaries gave us a tour and treated us like their long lost grandchildren.

Sophia and Natalie tried on the milk maid yokes. Let’s just say we won’t be starting a farm anytime soon. We’re weak city folk.

We saw a small room off the main room that was for pregnant women coming to give birth and stay for a few weeks.

The picture on the right is the original stain found underneath layers of paint during restoration. I’d never seen any stains like that before, it was beautiful.

Joseph Smith’s office, and the main room where Emma and Joseph would sleep.

Upstairs study where Joseph and Oliver had a significant vision of deity and the three degrees of glory.

Even though I’d heard the accounts of events of these rooms half a dozen times, there’s something significant about seeing the space and imagining the events right in front of you.

our family, outside on the front porch, where Joseph would preach.

At the visitor’s center in Kirtland we saw an exhibit by Liz Lemon Swindle, of sketches of the Savior’s Life. They were amazing. I love that style of art, the attention to detail and the emotion comes off the canvas so strongly.

There was also a display of items that you could look at and touch from the Savior’s life- tools used in wood carpentry, hammer and nails like those used in the crucifixion, gauze and fishermen’s nets. The girls loved being able to see everything up close.

From the exhibit upstairs you could see the main street of Kirtland.

We also visited the temple, owned now by Church of Christ. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside. I almost did anyways, but I couldn’t set a bad example for my girls. The inside was beautiful, and I would have bought a book of pictures, if the store was open past 4 pm.

Also, on our way to our friends house the night before, we stopped by the Columbus temple, so I could attend while John watched the kids. One of the main reasons I go to the temple is to feel peace and to feel closer to the Lord. It never dissapoints in calming my soul.

Hooray for Church History!

Tour of the Midwest- Stop number 1: Ohio!

2012-04-23T17:15:00.001-04:00

Once upon a time, there were two cute babies, whose parents lived next door to each other. Their moms worked out and talked all the time together, their dads talked about engineering like the day is long.

The girl moved away and back and away again, and then they were old enough to play and have fun like nobody’s business.

Then they moved apart again, forever apart but still growing up like nobody’s business.

A long car ride and an air hockey table brought them together at last. They glanced at each other over dinner, in that shy who are you showing off for way.

The other kids had fun too- the little babies now grown up, got lost in their world of make believe and princess dogs.

Leo found something with wheels. He was happy for the rest of the day.

And they played on stairs and outside on chairs and made funny faces like old friends.

We had so much fun at our old friend’s home, nothing like seeing people who’ve seen you fat and skinny, poor and not so poor, struggling with the hard things in life, and sitting around watching our kids play in the summer kiddie pool. There’s something so comforting about people who still laugh at your jokes, and who are like family, but don’t have to be- they want to be.

Love you Mackrory’s.

Oh, and if you’re a fan of Jane Austen, the mother of these adorable children wrote a book with an alternative plot. To be released in one week! Writing and editing a book with 3 kids is no simple task, and Karalynne makes it look easy.

Hooray for good friends and fine literature!

Easter Eggs

2012-04-23T15:35:00.001-04:00

Right before Spring break a friend organized a little Easter egg hunt- older kids hide the eggs, the younger ones go and find. Low key hunt with lunch and some playing at the park. Hanging out with friends makes any old occasion better.

At home we did a mini egg hunt in the backyard. Leo remembered the candy inside, and thus lost interest after eating some of the candy. Sophia helped guide him around.

The pictures above of Natalie are for future posterity, when her children wear the most random clothes and she is bewildered, I will show her these pictures and prove its genetic.

After church we went to the Daley’s for some yummy food and much needed Cousin time.

The day after Easter we had family night and dyed eggs. This was two weeks ago, and I finally ate the last hard boiled egg. Today I went to make a salad and there were none- and I almost boiled more! Luckily I snapped out of that insanity and ate cheese instead.

Regardless of the limitless egg dyeing tutorials and variations I’ve seen around the interwebs, ombre and a white crayon are still my faves.

Natalie was making up all kinds of stories about eggs and their magical powers and how she “dyes them and you can buy them and give them away to all your loved ones, stop by my website to find out more information and to sign up with coloring pages and more”…..

Sophia was excited to write things in code and see them appear after you dye the eggs.

It’s so refreshing the differences in these two. Love them both, they wear me out and stretch my mind in different ways. Variety (in children) is the spice of life.

Hooray for Easter traditions that have nothing to do with the real reason for the holiday!

Life at (almost) age 2

2012-04-23T15:14:00.001-04:00

This is me, Leo. Every morning, I wake up with a huge smile on my face, wait for my mom to come and get me, then run away as fast as possible. I’ll only stop running for a few things- oreos and food are one.

A lot of times when I’m eating Mom wants to take a picture and ooh and ahhhs over it like she’s never seen anybody eat a chocolate brownie this cute before.

Most of my mornings are spent attacking Mom while she exercises or trying to escape the jogging stroller while we run. Sometimes she lets me push it around. If we ever have to cross the plains, I know how to push.

When I’m really lucky we stop at the trucks site or the park after we run. I know every sound of these trucks and make these noises all the time. But everyone is CAR! to me. You have to use your gut to say it, all deep and low for the R like you’re from new england.

Hills are one of my favorite things. I scope the cul-de-sac for steep drive ways to run down, or if I find a ramp and can go up and down over and over, of if I’m lucky, a huge hill. There’s not much in Indiana.

I’m obsessed with cars, and driving them, and I try to never leave the van after we get home so I can make car noises and turn the lights on and off and pretend I’m plowing through the house.

This trike is pretty fun too. We bring it inside when its cold outside. And I race down the street in it as soon as the garage door is open. I’m usually 5 houses ahead of Mom as she’s yelling “Who opened the door? Dang it Leo I don’t have shoes on!” It’s pretty funny. Seeing her outside makes me go faster.

Last month Grandma and Grandpa Daley came to visit from their mission. We tried on hats and snuggled.

Grandpa Ingram comes to visit sometimes when he has to visit Kentucky. He’s pretty fun. I like to poke at his computer and snuggle with him. She shows me videos and makes bear noises. Then I make faces at his HUGE camera.

At night Daddy will play guitar and I’ll rock out with him. Sometimes you’ll find me just hanging out singing my guts out.

I’m pretty good at strumming. Most of my songs sound like a bear attacking someone.

Daddy’s got a new lawnmower, which is pretty much the coolest yet scariest thing ever. I had to protect everyone against the scary lawnmower snort. Luckily I had my sword that’s almost as big as I am.

I am Leo, and my life’s pretty sweet.

Indy Zoo

2012-04-22T23:19:00.001-04:00

We went to the Indy zoo with some friends on the first day of Easter Break.

Giraffes taking a rest and the rhino getting up close and personal. At least 5 times while we were at the zoo, I’d walk away from an exhibit and then the animal would start doing something or walk right up to the fence.

Racing the cheetah.

After our friends left we went into the Gardens next to the zoo. My girls are totally crazy over flowers, so they were so excited to smell and sniff and inspect all the flowers. I liked having something vibrant to photograph.

Leo loved the fountains and dancing animal statues all over. Below is Sophia pretending to be a dancing turtle.