It's the size of their head!

Snowing

 I knew the playroom was a mess, but when I walked from the living room to the kitchen and saw this I was floored. The took an entire bucket of foam letters and it was all over the floor. I asked why and Ashley said, "They needed snow".  They were from my stove to the doll house.  They were very good and picked them all up, but then I kept finding them even in my kitchen sink.

Letter A week

I think we had a fun week.

Monday is A is for Ashley and had her party

Tuesday is Letter A day

We practice writing the letter. Ashley matched the letter A  crawled through a tunnel to find an a word. Rachel learned the am family, and the sight word am and then read "Pam and Sam"

 Wednesday- A is for Ants

We did preschool on a picnic blanket and had lunch. We read two books during lunch; One Hundred Hungry Ants and The Magic School Bus: Ants in Pants

Ashley shooing away ants

Game: Roll and Build an Ant

Craft: Ants in Pants

 Thursday: A is for Apples

Apple Picking

We did preschool at the orchard.

We read a book Apples to Applesauce and made our own.

Game: Rotten Apples

"Win Rachel, Win Rachel"

 Friday- A is for Alien

We started by reading books; The Way Back Home, Aliens in Underpants (Rachel decided she likes aliens in this book), and then You Can't Eat Princesses!

During naptime aliens invaded the girls underpants

the girls followed the trail outside to find aliens

and got the aliens to surrender.

 That night after Ashley's birthday dinner we had a family movie night and watched Lilo and Stitch.

at home preschool change

So for the last year I've tried to do a themed preschool morning once a week for the girls. It's not as easy to plan things for two different ages but we made it work and the girls love it. We had thought about putting Rachel into an actual preschool this year since most of her friends started kindergarten but with the current circumstance that was out of the question.

The other concern is that we're home a lot. The girls just play and I'm not involved unless they can't resolve an issue, someone gets hurt or they want food. So I wanted to find a way to be more involved daily. So our new weekly preschool is a letter a week. The first day we'll practice writing the letter (Rachel knows them but needs work writing on lined paper and Ashley has a desire to learn them), for Rachel sight words and word families and for Ashley the sound the letter makes.  Then the rest of the week will be a different theme starting with the letter and keeping it shorter. Some I will probably still get carried away but I wanted something fun to brighten each day.

This was our first week and we did letter reviews. Monday was labor day so we took it off (already days off). Tuesday we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and made our own tree, Wednesday we had an letter egg hunt (I have Easter eggs with the top a capital letter and the bottom a lowercase), Thursday we read a couple ABC books and then played letter bingo- Ashley won, and Friday we read Dogs Alphabet Adventure and practiced spelling their names with foam letters. Ashley actually managed to do it without help once. Then at dinner when I asked her how to so she could show daddy she said, A, B,C then I stopped her and said that's the abc's how do you spell your name and we sang the song I taught her and she spelled it like this A-S-H-I-E-Y. Close. We'll keep working on that.

I didn't take any pictures this week but I'll get back into the routine of that too.  Next week the letter A.

What a week

It's been quite a week. I started my 4th triology (that doesn't have the last book out) in the past month. Camp is official over after Wed. night's camp recap/celebration (still need a post about camp). My 9 year streak of not being pulled over ended Thursday- no ticket just a written warning which is really good since I was doing probably 45 in a 25. Friday the girls got free ice cream sundaes that another table bought at Red Robin. We then put the girls in the same room. They both were finally asleep around 10:30pm. Ashley was up at 6:30am and Rachel was up at 7am. Wish me luck today I might have some very fussy girls.

4th year hike

Happy Birthday Aunt Donna

My Aunt Donna and Uncle John flew out of Las Vegas after dropping their son off at school in Arizona, I believe, so they could see us. :)  That same day was my Aunt's birthday so we had to celebrate it. Rachel asked how old she was and then proceeded to tell her that we couldn't fit that many candles on the cake! I love little kids and their uncensored comments. The funny thing is that she's not old. After singing the girls assisted in blowing out the candle.

 We had a nice visit. The girls got to really meet them for the first time, since the last time we were in Jersey to visit was over 4 years ago. Before bed we needed to get at least one picture since we don't know the next time we'll see them but I have a feeling it'll be sooner than 4 years with my cousin living closer to us than to them. 

 As nice as a posed picture is my girls and husband can't resist a pillow fight. 

 Thanks for making time for us to come and visit and we hope you had a nice birthday!

PB&J

As I set out the lunch stuff to make the girls a sandwich I had it arranged just as shown in the picture (I actually paused making lunch to take it) when I realized that their choose in pb&j are as different as their personalities. Rachel is artsy with very good find motor skills. Right now she's also defiant towards us but will make Ashley happy. Ashley has to move around and loves the large motor skill activities unless she's cuddling. She loves to be tickled and to make everyone but Rachel happy. Rachel is all torso while Ashley is all legs. They may be different but they are still similar. Just like the ingredients to the sandwich are different yet still pb&j.

Getting into the Olympics- Go USA

Friday morning in hopes of getting the girls excited for the next 2 weeks of Olympic competitions that I knew I wanted to watch so I did a preschool on it. And it worked! They are asking if we can turn it on, not that they sit for most of it but they like the idea of it.

We started of talking about what competition is and how it can be good or bad if people break rules or fight. We looked at a map of where the 1st Olympics were held and where they are now. We talked about how we could get there. Rachel said we'd have to swim when Mike asked if we could walk.

We looked at the Olympic flag and talked about the colors and countries that compete. We colored our own flag and then made our version of one of the posters this year.

We then moved on to the torch and had to make our own of those too. Just a note don't give Rachel fire to play with. She got mad at me later that afternoon and picked up her torch and said, "I'm going to burn you!" I'm hoping she said that because she knows that real fire burns but hers is pretend and that she would never think of really hurting someone.

Then our Olympic games began

Basketball toss (R-3, A- 2)

Discus throw (R-Won)

Javelin throw with straws (R- won)

Hammer toss with tennis ball in Mikes sock (A- won)

Sprinting (R- won)

 Next we talk about the medals and made our own chart of countries and yes we're keeping track of the Trojans too. This is the girls favorite part and the reason for them being interested in the Olympics because they get to change the medal count. Rachel even adds up how many they have total and see's who's in front. With out the Chinese on here we're doing great. Go Team USA!

Interesting note about USC and the olympics and the reason we're following is because of this information: you may be interested to know that since the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, 396 Trojan athletes have competed in the Olympic Games. These athletes have brought home 123 gold, 78 silver, and 61 bronze medals. If USC competed as a country, its 262 total medals would place it seventeenth among all nations in the world. In terms of gold medals, and again if it were a nation, USC would be twelfth. To date, USC Olympians have represented 57 different nations and have participated in 28 different sports.

what I thought would be simple

Sunday night I laid awake listening to the only sound in my house... drip, drip, drip. Yep we have a leaky bathtub faucet in the girls bathroom upstairs. Mike's out of town until Tuesday night so I thought lets google it and see how hard it might be to fix it. After watching a youtube video it looked really simple so I went to Lowe's got what I needed an attempted my first home repair project.

However I for one didn't have enough upper body strength to get anywhere near this. I went to the street to shut off the water (the only place to turn off the shower water is to cut off all water to your house) and couldn't turn the knob, so the guys brother across the street came and did it for me. So next step is to remove the handle with an allen wrench not a problem I know what an allen wrench is and Mike has a set with all the different sizes and marked so I knew exactly which one is needed. I took my dad's advice and used a toothpick to clean out any residue in the bolt so I could get the wrench in and then I pulled and pulled and couldn't get it to do anything.  So I called a friend and borrowed her husband who happens to live just across the street and 2 doors down.

He gladly came over and after half an hour, and trying many different things he was finally able to muscle it off.   So I'm back on track. Next part remove the silver sleeve. Bingo got it off. Next comes the nut that holds in the cartridge. Yeah that wasn't budging by hand and so I was headed back to Lowe's for a pipe wrench because after trying it with what I had at home they were not working. I did google pipe wrench so I would know what I was looking for. So gather the girls up and head to the car and I see the guy across the street, who happens to work on cars, so I take a gamble and ask if he has one and he does, but can't find it. He does however have this pole looking thing with a chain that he said I could use, my reply was that I wouldn't have a clue where to even begin with that thing. So he came and did it for me. Thus far I've done very little on my home repair project and it's been 2 to 3 hours.

But we're there at the cartridge all I have to do is use a screwdriver and pop it off. I get it off but only half of it comes out. I can see the part I need to change so I do so and then try to put everything back together. I can't get the top part of the cartridge back on it won't go. I try taking the bottom half out of the pipe but it's in there really tight and don't want to break it. So I lube up the top to see if that will help and it's a no go. So after talking to my dad and him watching what I watched I used pliers and pulled and wiggled and slowly got the bottom out. Put the pieces together and push it back in and it fit! But then I realize I've got it in backwards so our hot and cold water would be backwards. So pop the cartridge out and only half comes out again. Repeat the pulling and wiggling to get it out. Put it all together correctly this time and start putting the handle all back together. Oh wait of course the pipe moved and is now sitting on the faceplate so I can't slip the sleeve back in place.

Call dad to see how much pressure I can put on a pipe without breaking it. Apparently I would need more muscle strength then what I have. So I pull and push until I finally get it back. At this point it's been 4 hours working with this and I'm determined to get the water back on before my girls go to bed. Put the handle on, go to the street and try to turn it with no luck. Go back to my friends house and borrow her husband again. Water is on. Go and test it.

The handle is leaking now! Give it a minute to see if the seals need a second or what and no luck. I'm sitting on the tub trying to decide what I want to do now, when I hear what sounds like water running. The bathtub water was turned off. So I listen to the tile and it sounds like it's in the wall! I go to the other side of the wall in my craft room and I can hear it. But the AC is on so I listen to a different wall and nope it's not the AC so quickly I call my friend and no answer so I go to the street and try to turn it and I'm not having luck. I look and my friends car is gone so they must have left and the guys across the streets cars are gone. So I'm alone with water running down the inside of my wall. I give a quick prayer for extra strength to get that knob turned and it turned.

So now the waters off. I call my dad again and tell him and get advice. He said to look in there and see where it's leaking from and probably it coming from where I had to pull the bottom half out of the pipe. One of those bottom o rings probably needs to be replaced which means the whole cartridge needs to be replaced. It's $40 bucks and still cheaper than a plumber. But at this point my girls are falling apart they didn't get a nap or much attention and they need to go to bed. So decision time do I run them to Lowes anyway, then put them to bed and hope to solve the problem when they are asleep or go to Albertsons and pick up some water so we have it for the next 24 hours until Mike gets home and let him deal with it.

I call Mike... he's getting ready to go get dinner I hope I don't ruin his evening or make him mad at me. I tell me my story and he laughs and tells me to call a guy in a ward. So I do and he and another guy come over and take a look. Yes it's definitely leaking in the wall and they cut a whole in the craft room so they can see exactly where it's coming from.  The problem turns out to not exactly be my fault. The sodding jobs are all corroded and one of the joints has a hole where water is spraying from. Wonderful.

So the guy talked to one of his co-workers who is a master plumper this morning and he will be here late afternoon. So my simple fix turned out to need a plumber anyway. The guys from church said that from looking at it, it was going to happen anyway from how bad it is. That it's probably a good thing I tried to fix it and had it go while I was looking for problems because if not it could have gone in the middle of the night or while we weren't home and then had bigger problems but as it is I do have a bulge in the playroom ceiling where water leaked downstairs.

On a happy note my goal of not listening to it drip worked (since I have no water at all) and to have it fixed before Mike gets home was met too (just not by me and a little bit more expensive). Do not call me Mrs. Fix It.

Vegas does get rain (warning all the pics are blurry)

It's raining

 It's pouring

 the roads are flash flooding

 and this blur is Mike rescuing a floating trashcan from the top of our street.

We got rain like this the following evening too. There is a whole section of our rock from our front yard that got swept away. We didn't hear the rain after awhile it was just the rushing of the river. We met some neighbors that were out enjoying the experience that night too. We had the garage door open, listened to music, and drank and IBC. It was actually a really enjoyable Saturday night.

secret hideout

Sunday morning the girls were playing nicely while I was washing dishes and talking to Mike. I turned off the water for a minute and then noticed that the girls voices were muffled. I wondered where they could be as I glanced over the playroom wondering if they were upstairs. It dawned on me that the little people toys were out of the toy cabinet but the cabinet doors were shut. I immediately turned to Mike and told him where they were and the camera came out. They obviously we not wanting to be seen in their secret hideout.

couch pals

preschool-turtles

We themed the preschool lesson around turtles so of course we had to read the Tortosie and the Hare. We even watched a new movie called Tortose Vs. Hare where they rematch. It was cute.

After the movie we had our own turtle races.

Rachel won most times. She figured out how to hold the string high for it to slide.

Then we read the Dr. Seuss classic Yertle the Turtle and used blocks as our turtles to see how many we could stack before they all fell over. 

Ashley got 6 high

Rachel got 7

 They painted a section of an egg cartoon to turn it into a turtle I didn't get a final picture but they were really cute. Rachel is learning how to mix white with other colors to make a different shade and to mix brown or other colors to change the tone of the colors. 

We read a non fiction book and talked about the different types of turtles and tortoises and even learned 2 new words; extinct and endangered.

The last activity was finding the sea turtles eggs that were buried in our backyard that needed to go back to the beach.

What goes around comes around

Who gets to sit in Daddy's seat for a meal that he's not around for is a fight between the two girls. So just about every breakfast and lunch they are arguing over who gets to sit there. Normally Ashley wins out because Rachel is kind enough to move and give her the seat (after a lot of crying on Ashley's end) or Ashley is stubborn enough to pretty much say haha I got here first.  Well what goes around comes around... but today in a good way.

Ashley is sitting in the honored seat and Rachel is whining and I'm ignoring it since this a daily thing. All of a sudden Ashley is saying "I can move."
My reply, "That's nice Ashley please sit still". That's another of Ashley's habits to wiggle the stools and gets excited when she's in a seat that wiggles.
But she goes "no mom look I moved so Rachel can sit there".
Ashley gave up her seat for Rachel!

Rachel keep up the good work on being kind because it's starting to rub off.  I just heard Ashley even apologized for making Rachel mad. Rachel said "you didn't make me mad". Ashley said, "Oh so you were just whining and crying?" Of course Rachel then insist that she was not whining or crying.

10 minutes till nap time.

Bristlecone Loop

One of the fun things about being the Ward Camp Director is I get to do all the fun things the girls do. Like prepare for the overnight hike with our 4th year girls. Today's hike my ward was in charge of drivers and a Priesthood leader so Mike got to go. This loop is 6 miles. It's the first 6 mile hike I've ever been on. It was a good hike. 

The group from my ward at the beginning of the hike

Mike and I at the overlook

showing off our muscles(?)

the view from to top

Mike on the trail enjoying the hike

bristlecone pine trees

We've decided we need to do more things like hiking that we enjoy. We stopped once we had kids since we haven't figured out how to hike with them. This morning we got a babysitter and it worked. It was a wonderful realization that you can get a sitter in the morning and instead of having a night out we just have a morning out. A hike is cheaper and healthier than dinner and a movie and really how many times can you do that.