Fun With Cheerios

The other day I was making Cheerio cereal treats, and West wanted to help. I let him pour the Cheerios into the peanut butter mixture. When that was finished, I let him play with Cheerios for awhile. It was a great sensory activity, and of course he had fun. Even though Cheerios were all over the floor, it was an easy clean-up job with one sweep!

January's Craft

I've been wanting to come up with something fun to decorate the large blank wall above our bed. I got the idea to use lyrics from the song Michael and I danced our first dance to at our wedding years ago. I used scrapbook paper, buttons, and bird-shaped wall decorations for the project. I did the calligraphy myself.

Rainy Day Fun

Today we had an unexpected rainy day, so Westly and I spent a cozy day at home. First, we painted with watercolors and practiced our colors.

Step One: wet the brush

Step Two: choose a color

Step Three: show Mama

Everyone wanted to be in the picture with Westly

Westly was feeling too crowded

Story time!

Current fave book: Panda Bear Panda Bear

Goofy, especially, found the book exciting

January Date

One of my Christmas gifts from Michael this year was a year of dates. He has planned out one date for each month, complete with baby-sitting cash and a theme for each date. This month, our first, was 'Country Bumpkin Date'. He started the date with a bouquet of little roses.

 

 

Then we enjoyed a great country steak at the Far Western

 

Michael gave me a little gift: a lovely charm necklace

 

We ended the night with a little chocolate dessert

 

I am definitely looking forward to our monthly dates of 2013!

Finally a New Year's Resolution

Alright, so I finally landed on my New Year's Resolution for 2013: memorize at least one Bible verse a month. I struggle with memorizing Scripture and I know it's important to do. I just never seem to get to it. I tried memorizing our church's weekly fighter verses, but a week is too short for me. I would finally get a chance to do my quiet time and start on the verse only to realize it was already Friday!

But I think I could do one a month. I really want to take this to heart. I want to meditate on the verse, apply it to my life, and let the Lord use it to transform me.

I need to come up with some fun, effective ways for memorizing it though. Any ideas?

My Janurary verse is 1 Samuel 12:24:

Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider what great things he has done for you.

Veggie Tales

I want to start eating a little healthier, mainly by adding more fruits and veggies in my diet and making wiser choices on snacks. Part of the reason I have a hard time eating more produce is because I'm lazy and can always find an excuse to grab a quicker snack. Today when I went grocery shopping I loaded my cart with veggies--not just potatoes-- and when I got home I took time to prep my veggie snacks.

 

First, I washed and sliced everything

Second, I made little snack bags of veggies. I even poured ranch in a little container ready for dipping

 

I made separate snack bags of just celery for peanut butter

 

I placed the snack bags in a bright pink basket that will catch my eye

 

Then I placed the basket right in front in the frig.

 

I have veggie snacks prepped for the whole week, so I have no excuse not to eat a healthy snack each day. I hope this does the trick!

Discovery Museum Part 2

Last week we took Westly to the Children's Discovery Museum here in town. He had gone a few months ago and loved it. Since we had a few passes, we thought it would be a fun vacation thing to do with Daddy. Auntie Kay and cousins Cass, Chris, and Cody joined us too!

Venturing up the stairs

 

In the belly of the whale!

 

Whew! Made out in one piece

 

 Cody was all smiles going down the whale slide

Even though West has one of these shopping carts at home, he found it more fun at the museum.

 

He loaded his cart with fish and pushed it all around the museum.

 

He thought he was being quite sneaky snatching fish from the bins

 

He enjoyed the gaint bead maze

Fireside Picnic Dinner

The other night it was very chilly, so we thought it would be the perfect night to light a fire in the fireplace. Westly loves it, too. We ate a simple dinner next to the fire and enjoyed an evening of building blocks and doing puzzles. Hooray for family time!