merry christmas!

we've been having a great holiday season this year.  i started the month out with our ward's quarterly enrichment meeting.  we had a wonderful speaker, soup, rolls, and of course dessert.  then we were able to work on some really cute crafts.  

on thursday, the 4th, our HOA had a tree lighting party.  they had a petting zoo, balloon animals, santa, carriage rides, and hot chocolate.  we had a blast, and were very grateful for the hot chocolate - it was cold outside!  

the first sunday in december was the first presidency christmas devotional.  we had a family over for dinner that night, and watched the broadcast with them.  it was a great night.  i love starting out the season with words from the prophet.  

the 13th was our ward christmas program, and while i was a little skeptical at first (and even grumbled a bit, i must admit), it was nice.  there was a spiritual program in the chapel, and then refreshments and activities for the kids afterwards.  the only downside was the time.  i put my kids to bed early (saves my sanity!) - around 7ish, and the program started at 7.  they were tired, and pretty cranky for church the next day, but i'm glad we went.  i'm glad for the reminders of the real meaning of christmas.  we had our pictures taken that afternoon.  katie was fabulous, and offered to take them for us.  thanks!  we owe you one, katie!  

i also got released from being the 2nd counselor in our young women's program, and was called as the 1st counselor instead.  not too much of a change, just kind of switching gears.  

christopher had his preschool christmas program on the 17th, which was super cute.  he did a great job.  

we went to our neighboring town's fire safety town, which is a little town built kid-sized.  they had it all lit up, with fun activities.  it was really cold, so we didn't stay for too long, but it was fun to go and see.  

today was our yw christmas lesson, which went well, i think.  i hope it helped the girls remember Christ.  so, that's been our december so far.  

oh, and i've also been baking like crazy!  i'm pretty much caught up, and excited to enjoy this coming week.  i can't believe christmas is almost here!  merry christmas everyone!

p.s. here is a slide show of about half of our family pictures.  *warning* not for people who might get irritated at seeing our faces more that 50 times. :)

birthday party

okay, so i know it's taking me forever to get all this birthday stuff done.  one day i will have a system for blogging, and stay up to date with everything.  unfortunately, that day has yet to come!  so, i will continue with my catching up, and hope that you all understand.  

i forgot about the camera, until katie mentioned it (thanks, katie!).  so, the first half of the party is unfortunately undocumented.  there were about 14 kids in total, and they all ran out to the backyard to play while everyone arrived.  it was pretty crazy - a bunch of 4 year old boys (there were some girls too, but they arrived later) running around the yard in a pack, yelling.  pretty fun to watch, actually.  we were just glad they were letting their energy out in a constructive way.

after they got some of their energy out, we started our super-hero training.  (we had a spiderman theme, as requested by the birthday boy.  i made the invites like a comic book, and spiderman invited each kid to the birthday.)  for our training, everyone took turns climbing up a wall (the rope ladder on our swing set), to rescue the person (one of naomi's dolls) who was stuck.  the kids had a blast doing this - we all cheered for them, and called them spiderman _fill in the name___ (like christopher was spiderman christopher).   next we used their spidey senses.  i had a plate of different kinds of fruit.  they memorized what was there, and then i would take something away.  they would have to remember and tell me what was missing.  after that, we kicked a ball into a target to practice our aim.  

the craziest part of the course was the web-slinging.  i had a can of silly string for each kid, and they all tried to hit a target i had set up.  thanks to dave, it turned into a silly string war, which was a blast, of course.  we also practiced our strength with some of those blow up balloons you can punch.  the final course of our super-hero training was a strength test on a pinata. :)  this is where the camera was finally remembered (thanks for taking the pictures katie! if it wasn't for you, there wouldn't be any pictures at all!).

candy, candy, candy!

(actually, i do have to say that the kids were surprisingly good about the candy.  no fighting or anything.  we actually had candy left over)

the final product

the happy helper :) 

(dave is the guy to have at a party - he did all the outside clean up while we were doing pizza.  he even cleaned up all the silly string from the yard.  that wasn't a small job :)

the girls in the kitchen.  thanks for staying and helping melissa and holly!

naomi enjoyed the fun, but was glad for a quiet house after everyone left

after the pinata, i had pizza dough shaped into individual sized pizzas for each kid.  they got to choose their toppings, and make their own pizza.

while the pizza was cooking, they watched The Incredibles, since they're a super-hero family and everything.

christopher had a great time at his party, and i actually had a fun time too.  usually i'm running around like a crazy person, and don't get to enjoy much.  i did a bunch of prep work this time, and it payed off.  

until next year!

birthday pictures

christopher's birthday was quite a while ago, but i haven't gotten around to posting the pictures yet.  better late than never!  he is still loving his sweet ride, and always wants to go for rides on the walking paths by our house.  naomi is desperately wanting a bike of her very own (or maybe it's just the helmet and pads - not too sure on that one), and unfortunately, scout has destroyed the tricycle.  her stroller will have to do for now. :)  she won't be big enough to even reach the peddles for a while yet.  she loves her big brother, and wants to be just like him. 

isn't he handsome?

i'm 4!

i don't know why these two won't turn.  sorry :)

An Award!

As you might, or might not, have noticed - I haven't been blogging a whole lot lately.  I haven't been posting, and I haven't been commenting on friends' blogs, and I haven't been great about even checking friends' blogs.  Sorry guys!  I still love you!  I'm coming back slowly, and just going to kind of see how much time I've got to invest in this crazy blogging world.  I really want to post regularly - it's a good way for me to journal, and I'll have to see how much else I can keep up with.  

That said, if I had been better about blogging, I would have known sooner that I've received an award!  Yay!  My first award!  Thanks, Holly!  I hope there isn't a time limit on it, since it's taken me so long. :)  I will assume there's not, and proudly proclaim that I'm the winner of the Brillante Weblog Premio - 2008 Award!

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.

Here are the questions:
1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Where is your significant other? office
3. Your hair color? brown

4. Your mother? Louise
5. Your father? Brian
6. Your favorite thing? love
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your dream/goal? improve
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? piano

11. Your fear? spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? bed
14. What you're not? pessimistic
15. One of your wish-list items? travel

16. Where you grew up? Richland
17. The last thing you did? talked

18. What are you wearing? clothes

19. Your TV? off

20. Your pet? scout
21. Your computer? mac
22. Your mood? content
23. Missing someone? family
24. Your car? Explorer
25. Something you're not wearing? jewelry
26. Favorite store? outlets
27. Your summer? fun

28. Love someone? lots!
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? today

I pass the award to....

Kirsten

Sharene

Leslie

Erica

Jessica

Charlynn

Oklahoma (Andrea:D)

Preschool and birthday fun!

Since it's been so long since I've posted, this post will include a few things all in one.  Christopher started preschool this year, and is loving it.  

this is christopher at school, next to his cubby

He goes Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 till 2, which is great, because most of his friends go (to a different school) Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.  Which means we can still have playdates.  (Hey guys!  We should have a playdate :D)  He has two great teachers, and nine kids in his class.  He get to do cooking, math, movement class, music class, chapel, circle time, quiet time, lunch, and a snack.  This last weekend he even got to bring home the class stuffed animal.  Each class's name is an animal, and his is the Tigers, so he brought home Tito the tiger.  Tito came to Oktoberfest with us, and had a good time.

tito checking out the animals

tito and christopher waiting for lunch

tito got tired and decided to take a nap

He come home singing the songs, and chatting about how his day went.  He is really excited about everything, but definitely a lot more tired than usual.  Life feels kind of crazy when I think my baby is old enough to be going to preschool.  I can't believe it's been four years since he was born!

Speaking of which, Tuesday was his 4th birthday!  He had a great day, and I had a lot of fun celebrating with him.  A tradition for Dave's family is to have the presents in the morning, which is a tradition I like. :)  So, we had all his presents in our room waiting for him when he came downstairs.  He was so excited when he saw the spiderman bike in the middle of it all!  The look on his face was priceless!  That was our present to him (along with a helmet and knee/elbow pads, of course.  I'll post a picture of him riding his bike soon.  He is super cute), and he had to run upstairs and get dressed so he could ride it around.  I'm not sure why he needed to get dressed, but as soon as he was ready, he was taking a practice spin around the kitchen.  

From his Ouma and Oupa he got a super cool car (which he hasn't stopped playing with, by the way.).  Thank you!  Grandpa and Grandma and Amy sent him Thomas books for his Storyreader, which he reads every time we go anywhere in the car.  Thanks!  You guys know him well.  He loves his presents!  We went to story time at the library, and then came back home for lunch.  His requested meal was grilled cheese sandwiches, carrots, and broccoli (that's my boy!).  After lunch we got to have cupcakes with his cousins and auntie and uncle.  They got him this awesome wooden fire station with fire fighters and a fire truck and everything.  This is my favorite toy, because he goes up to his room and plays with it, quietly, for quite a while. :)  We went for two bike rides after lunch (in between piano lessons - oh, yeah, I'm teaching piano lessons.  More on that later, too.), and he got going pretty good the second time.  I might have to plan on taking a jog the next time he wants to go, either that or restrict him to going back and forth in front of our house.

My family's birthday tradition is that the birthday person gets to choose what's for dinner.  Christopher chose homemade pizza (which is great, because I make it with half whole wheat flour, so it's at least a little good for us!), which we enjoyed outside, since it's been so GORGEOUS lately!  We, of course, had cake and ice cream.  So, a great day for a little four year old!

He even got to keep celebrating today when I brought cookies to preschool for his class.  I was going to try and do spiderman themed ones, but ran out of time.  So, the kids just got plain iced sugar cookies.  They're four - they don't care, right? :)  That's what I told myself, anyway.  Today was kind of a crazy day.  Actually, my whole week has been super crazy.  I'm looking forward to the last half of the week, since, hopefully, it will be less intense.   

puppets

this got me inspired,

so the kids and i made these:

christopher wanted his to have a mad face

naomi is loving the yarn hair and pink skirt on hers

another saturday

Lately, it seems, all I have been posting about is our Saturday adventures.  I guess we haven't been doing too much else to report on.  I keep having goals to blog more often, and to make this blog so much more than it is.  I want it to be more about protecting home, and family; about keeping a good perspective on that which is most important.  Also, as I have said before, I am absolutely horrible about keeping a journal, and have actually stopped altogether except for this blog.  So I feel like I should be doing a better job recording my life.  But, then again, I am doing a whole lot better than I was before I started blogging.  Once a week is a significant increase over once a year!  So, I might only be posting once a week, but I will try to make it more often.  Recording my life is a good habit to be in.  I think about the day, and have a chance to analyze.  Hopefully with the analysis, I become a better wife, mother, daughter, friend, and person.  One of my new favorite church hymns is "Have I Done Any Good?".  Some of the lyrics are:

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?

If not, I have failed indeed.

Lately, I have been singing these lines to myself at night as I get ready for bed.  It is interesting to think about my day, and think about those whom I have been able to help or touch.  Sometimes I am proud of myself, and glad for the chance I had, and took, to serve someone in need.  Sometimes I look back on the day, and see the opportunities I missed.  I hope that as I think more often about the positive impact I can have on those around me, that I will take more of those opportunities presented to me.  

On to our Saturday...

We cleaned up the house, and Dave mowed the lawn, super fast this morning.  We optimistically got the house show-ready before leaving for our family fun.  It was unnecessary, but nice to come home to a clean house.  Christopher loves to help vacuum with his vacuum popper, and actually cleaned up the playroom pretty much by himself this morning.  Nice!  

He goes through phases of independence, and has been wanting me to do everything for him lately - carry him, dress him, put him on the potty.  All things he can do himself.  I usually feel frustrated when he won't do things for himself, but yesterday I was thinking about how fast he grows, and how he won't be my little boy for very long.  Sometimes it's hard to not get caught up in the daily annoyances.  It's hard to keep a good perspective.  He probably won't be asking me to help him go potty when he's nine (I sure hope not, anyway!), so I decided to just enjoy the stage he is in now, and enjoy the chance I have to be his mommy and help him out.  That mindset seemed to help the day out; we had a (pretty much) tantrum-free day, and enjoyed the time together.  

So, after cleaning, we packed a sippy cup for Naomi and some sandwiches in my purse, and took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda.  I know it's been out for a while, so we're kind of late, but the kids don't know any better! :)  We went all out and got them popcorn and even some candy.  Christopher was so excited he could barely sit still in his seat.  It was so cute to watch.  He enjoyed the movie, and Naomi even sat and enjoyed most of the show.  I had to get up and walk around with her for the last quarter of the show, but still got to see most of it.  My friend Melissa brings her toddler's car seat into the theater with them, which she says works like a charm.  I would have totally done that, except Naomi's car seat is so huge and heavy.  Too much work to get it in and out!  But I think she did pretty well for an almost 17 month old.

My favorite part of the movie was the old turtle

Later that afternoon, Christopher and I made some DELICIOUS cookies together.  I'll post the recipe on the sidebar, but make sure there are a lot of people around to help you eat them - especially if you like chocolate!  I'm restraining myself from going and getting another one right now.  *I tried to get a picture of them, to capture the chocolatey goodness, but I couldn't get one that wasn't blurry.  You'll just have to come over and try one!* Afterwards we played a little Wii, and I got totally whipped by a three year old at boxing.  He loves that he can beat me at that game, so we play it a lot :)  Dave showed us all how tennis is done.  All in all, a very nice day. 

stockyards

Saturday, we took a trip out to Fort Worth to get a little bit of authentic Texas experience.  We went to the Stockyards, and had a blast.  We saw the daily cattle drive, and then the parade afterwards.  Christopher was so excited to see all the cows in the parade, but then a little confused when we had to tell him that they were actually horses.  He apparently needs to get out of the city a little more often.

After the parade, we took a look around at all the fun shops.  I was so excited to find my very own cowgirl hat.  I don't wear hats very often, but this one might just make it out in public on my head every once in a while.  Dave also found one, but in a little more Indiana Jones style.  He looks pretty adventurous in it!  Christopher convinced us that he needed one too, and wore his all day long.  He wanted to wear it to the pool, but we convinced him that it might get ruined.  I really wanted to find something for Naomi, since she is the only one of us actually born in Texas, but didn't this trip.  I'm going to keep my eyes peeled, though.

We only made it to about half of what there was to do, but by about 3:00 we had all had enough of the heat!  There were also some museums and other attractions to look at that we didn't make it to, but we sure did have fun with what we made it to.

(courtesy of here)

Until next time, ya'll!

new recipe

new recipe on the sidebar

happy cooking!

naomi's first haircut

I know I've been blogging about hair a lot lately, but here's one more post, and then I'm done for a while.  Promise. :)  

I had finally had enough of Naomi's hair, so I trimmed up the back.  It was getting pretty long and wispy and ratty.  So, while I wait for the top to grow long enough to catch up to the back, I figured I'd keep it trim and tidy.  She did pretty well.  I sat her in her chair, wet her hair with a spray bottle, and went for it with the scissors.  It came out a little shorter than I was planning, but hey, it was my first time!  All in all, I think it's pretty cute.  I hope her curls keep coming in, even though I had to cut them off.

she's such a busy girl - this is one of the best shots I could get of her hair

the carnage :)  i gave her snacks to keep her entertained, but most everything ended up on the floor in the hair.  i had to be very careful where i put the scissors.

the final product

six years!

Apparently, according to wikopedia anyway, the gift for the sixth wedding anniversary is supposed to be iron.  I have never really understood that whole thing, I mean, how unromantic is iron??  I guess I could open my mind to the possibilities, and get a little creative.  I know you're not supposed to actually give iron, but something made with iron.  Since we already celebrated (and spent all our allocated funds :D), I don't have to worry about it this year.

Anyway...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, DAVE!  We had a really fun day today.  We got up early to clean the house and get it show-ready, since we had a showing today.  Then packed snacks and drinks, swimsuits, and towels and headed over to Hawaiian Falls to spend the day.  We had such a great time!  It was great to spend time together as a family, and just relax and have fun.  The only thing we worried about was how often to reapply the sunscreen, which apparently, wasn't enough.  Neither Christopher or Naomi got burnt, thankfully, but Dave got a little pink, and the back of my legs are nice and red.  Who thinks to put sunscreen on the back of their legs?  People who are smarter than I am. :)  We hung out in the wave pool, went down all the water slides the kids were big enough for (multiple times, of course), and rode the lazy river.  Jon and Katie were even nice enough to let Dave and I go down one while they watched the kids.  Thanks!  An extra nice benefit was how easy it was to get the kids to bed tonight.  Nice and sleepy.

Dave is spending the evening watching some fight.  All I know is that it's a big deal - big enough to schedule a guy's night, which must mean it's pretty important.  Aren't I a good wife?  A guy's night on our anniversary.  I should play this one up for a while, don't you think? :)  It's actually the other way around.  Dave is always so supportive and excited for me to get to spend time with my pals, and he hardly ever gets to hang out with the guys.  So, happy anniversary honey!  Go have some fun!  (Not at all meant to be sarcastic!)

Our Trip

I was really lame about taking pictures up at my parent's house this time.  So, unfortunately (or, maybe fortunately :D), I don't have too many to share with you.  We did have a great time, and loved spending time with the family.  Christopher and Naomi LOVED the extra attention they got from Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Amy and Uncle Todd (Jeff we missed you!).

We went to a fun place that had go-karts, a little train, and miniature golfing.  I LOVED the go-karts.  You could floor the gas, and not worry about the corners at all.  I'm not too much of a speed demon, so it was just the right pace for me.  I think a little bit of the reason I liked it so much (okay, maybe the main reason!) was that I made it from the back, up to second.  Christopher got to ride in a sidecar with Grandpa, and had a great time.  Naomi hung out with Grandma, who took the pictures.  David would have liked the cars to be faster, since he's the speed demon of the family, but had fun anyway.

After the go-karts, we took a ride on Thomas (the tank engine).  It was very slow, but had some interesting (read someone went around town looking for weird junk, and put it along the railroad tracks) characters and small log houses to look at during the ride.  The rest of us enjoyed ourselves by watching how much fun Naomi was having.  It was just right for her.

After the train ride, we tried our hand at some miniature golf.  It was the first time we had ever taken the kids, and they had a good time.  Christopher was pretty good, and even got a few "hole-in-ones" :).  Naomi did well until Grandma took her out of the stroller.  Then Grandma's club was commandeered, and the game went a lot faster after that. :)  It was a lot of fun, and we'll be trying again soon (next time we'll get Naomi her own club - I don't know what I was thinking - of course she wouldn't want to sit in the stroller while the rest of us got to have fun!).

Some of the other fun we had was story time at the local library, parks and kits, little animal farms, washing the car (the only time Christopher has ever helped wash a car by hand is up at my parents - we're on water restrictions down here), playing with all the awesome toys, Fast Sunday goodies, and other fun stuff.

On Saturday, my parents were super nice and let us leave the kids with them so we could go on a date.  We took the whole day, and used it to celebrate our anniversary, which is coming up.  We drove to the nearest harbor, and took a ferry out to a fun island, where we shopped, and had lunch, and basically did the touristy thing.  The ferry ride was a blast, and mostly the reason for going to the island.  It's great to watch Dave on the ocean - even frigid, waveless ocean water makes him perk up and enjoy life a little more.

one of the views from the ferry

my happy hubby

enjoying the ride

the ferry

After the boat ride, we drove back up to my parent's house, and grabbed a movie on the way.  We saw Hancock with Will Smith, and enjoyed the experience.  The movie was okay - fun and cute, but the theater was a blast!  We were a little late for the showing that we wanted, but they didn't start the show until everyone in line had bought their tickets and made it into the theater.  They also had a concession stand set up inside the actual theater - not just the lobby.  It was a smaller theater, and it felt like they were really trying to take good care of us.  It was a relaxed and fun time.  It was so nice to have the whole day to spend with my fabulous and handsome husband - just like back in the day when we were dating!  Happy Anniversary, David!  I love you!

I'm Back!

We went on a trip up to see the folks for the past week and a half, which is why I haven't blogged, or posted comments for a while.  So, don't feel bad if you haven't been getting comments from me lately.  We had a good time, and were of course, sad to leave.  More on the trip to come soon.

Another tidbit of information that you might find interesting - our house is for sale!  Crazy, I know!  So, my posting might become a bit shorter and/or more sporadic while the kids and I vacate for showings.  It seems like this experience will be a blessing and a curse.  I want there to be lots of showings, so our house sells easily, but it has already been a pain to have to randomly leave the house (Christopher was throwing up yesterday when we got the call), and we've only had two so far!  Plus I'm not really ready to move or leave everyone here.  More to come on this too, I'm sure. :)  In the meantime, it's good to be back!

p.s. there is a new recipe on the left sidebar.  i made this pasta salad the other day, and am loving that there are leftovers.  i can't get enough of it!

Happy (late) Father's Day!

Okay, I don't usually post on the weekends, so please excuse my late posts for both Mother's and Father's day.  This is just a quick post to let my hubby know how much I appreciate him.  He is such a great father and husband!  He is wonderful with the kids, and they both love him so much.  Christopher was excited about Father's day for about a week, and kept making him "cards".  Very cute. :)  I made dinner Sunday night, which was actually a treat for Dave - he cooks every Sunday at our house.  Isn't that great?  The stuff he cooks is usually really, really good!  (I say usually because he is an experimenter - he doesn't follow a recipe, but loves to come up with his own concoctions.  Usually really, really good.)  I need to start writing down the things he comes up with - otherwise they're lost forever.  So, thank you, Dave, for being the wonderful husband and father that you are!  We love you!

And Happy Father's day to you, Dad!  I love you, and so appreciate your example in my life.  I hope you had a wonderful day, and felt truly pampered.  You deserve it!

And Happy Father's day to you, Donald!  I appreciate how you have raised this wonderful husband of mine, and welcomed me to the family with open arms.  I am blessed to be your "daughter"!

Tagged Again :)

A) Four places I visit over and over:
-washington

-utah

-pool

-grocery store

B ) Four people who email me (regularly):
-dave

-katie

-church stuff

-bills/accounts

C) Four places I like to eat:

-pf changs

-panera

-chili's

-cheesecake factory

-(adding another) anywhere new

D) Four places I'd rather be right now:

-on vacation

-taking a nap

-with friends

-on a date (with dave of course!)

E) Four TV shows (movies) I would watch over and over:

-Newsies

-Transformers

-National Treasure

-Lots others that I can't think of right now

F) Four People I'm tagging:

-chelsea

-sharene

-gretchen

-leslie

Weekly Activity Planner

Now, before I get started, this idea might seem like just one more thing to do.  But, just so you know, it is something that has helped me out a lot, so I thought I would share it with you.  I don't have any kids in school yet, but I was also thinking that this might be a helpful idea for those of you with kids home for the summer.  The idea comes from The Toddler's Busy Book, which has a bunch of great ideas for things to do with toddlers.  I need to update my library and buy The Preschooler's Busy Book to go along with the first one.  (I just looked them up on Amazon.com - don't spend $23 on the Toddler one.  I don't think I paid more than $10 for mine, and I LOVE it!)

Every week (I do mine on Monday - to start the week off right), I pull one of these sheets out (feel free to use this image), and fill things in.  I know there's already a whole lot of stuff to do during the day, and it might seem insane to try and think of things to fill up an already overflowing day.  This idea really does help your day go smoother!  I promise!  Once I fill in the days with things I have to do, or that are already planned (for example, grocery shopping on Monday, babysitting on Wednesday and Thursday, storytime, playgroup, swimming lessons, etc.), then I add two or more activities to the day - depending on how busy it already is.  Then, at any point during the day, I have an activity already planned.  That way, when boredom sets in, or I have something that really needs my attention, the kids have an activity to keep them occupied.  The activities don't have to be anything spectacular - just entertaining.  I love being prepared when I babysit.  The day seems to go much smoother when the kids are occupied.  

You'll see that on the right side of the page is a section to list what needs to be bought.  I've found this is handy to list out, right as I'm writing down the activity (could be felt, or googly eyes, or whatever), so that I can have all the supplies handy when it's time to start the activity or craft.  You can take the planning page to the store (dollar stores work well for kid's craft supplies), or transfer it to a shopping list you might already have.  Sometimes I just get my supplies from Target when I find a good deal, or when I don't have enough time to make an extra trip somewhere.  Another helpful hint, that most of you moms probably already know, is to stock up on craft supplies, and just keep them handy.  Things like glitter, popsicles sticks, glue sticks, kid scissors, stickers, construction paper, paint (watercolor, fingerpaint, tempra paint...), pipecleaners, and the list could go on.  You can also use things you find around your house - like cotton balls.

So, that's my idea for the day.  My week is pretty full, so I didn't plan too many extra activities.  Here are some of the ones I do have down, if you're interested. :)  Making Father's Day cards, learning about the letter "H" with some activities from Preschool Themes and Lesson Plans, and chalk drawing on black paper.

Here is an example of one of the activities from The Preschooler's Busy Book.  I found it here.  Isn't it darling?  And easy and cheap, too.  You can't get better than that!  She used it for her kids on a plane trip.  I think I'll have to create some myself, for our next airplane trip.

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Ponytails

I posted a week or so ago about a hair blog I had found, and that I was going to try some new things with Naomi's hair.  It's nothing amazing, just that I was motivated to actually do something with her hair.  So, here it is in a cute little baby ponytail.  She didn't seem to mind getting it in so much.  Mostly the trouble was just getting her to sit still.  After it was in, all I had to do was tell her how pretty she looked, and she left it in all day.  She loves compliments. :)  

She has a natural fringe at the front, that just hasn't grown as fast as the rest of her hair.  I like it - especially since she has the recessed hairline going on.  In the second picture, you can see how the back of her hair curls up in little ringlets.  I love it!  

As for my hair, I have still to get it trimmed or anything.  I'm going to follow everyone's advice and keep growing it and/or keep it the same.  Sounds good to me - no color to pay for - just a trim, and go.  I think I can handle that. :)