Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween

 Our Wizard of Oz costumes
Traffic headed from Two Fish's work to our house was a nightmare and threatened to derail our Halloween plans.  We decided to meet up in the opposite direction at my grandparent's house. 
 New Fish needed to be carried to each house and she was thrilled with all of the candy.  Red Fish wanted to RUN to each door and was most pleased with a pack of peanut butter crackers.  They loved trick or treating this year.  It was beautiful weather and we only did one street. 
Festive Halloween hats made by Bockum

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Thank Heavens for Technology

Two Fish was out of town for 10 days on  a cave diving trip. It was the longest we have ever been apart. We missed him terribly.  (Espeically me!)  I don't know how people deal with a frequent traveling spouse.  I'm not cut out for it.  The girls and I talked to him over the internet every night.  Thank heavens for technology!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Little Mermaid

New Fish's impersonation of Ariel, AKA "Princess Sharky."
An extra swimming day today. The terrible twos going on sassy seventeen have hit us with a vengance.  It has been a week of MAJOR tantrums and a lot of screaming. Busy week, tired Mommy. Breathe in, breathe out- it's a phase right?  Good thing she is so darn cute and gives such sweet hugs.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Outings

 We are big on "outings" around here.  We like to go places, two or three times a week.  The girls are young and most memberships are cheap or free for them so it makes things easy.  Now that our outdoor swimming season is over and park days etc. are coming to a close it is time for us to return to our indoor outings.  The aquarium is one of our regular stomping grounds.  We went to catch up with some friends today.  (I don't think I ever got to talk to my friend though because we were so busy chasing very excited kids.)  The girls were especially excited to pet the sting rays and say hello to the penguins.  We hadn't seen them in months!

We also did round two of the Halloween dressups tonight at a party at my Mom's church building.  We went room to room trick or treating and played games.  The girls had a great time.  By the time we have attended all of our Halloween events they may not even want to dress up and go out on Monday!

Spooky Symphony

 The wicked witch and Glenda the good witch. Yes, I know she is supposed to wear a pink dress but at the time we bought the dress, Red Fish was going through a blue phase.  Red Fish decided to carry a little cat in a bag because she said: " Even good witches need cats."  New Fish carried my Toto dog most of the time.

Last night we went to the "Spooky Symphony" concert.  It was great.  We wore our costumes.  My Mom was  good sport about putting together a scarecrow costume to go with our Wizard of Oz theme.  Two Fish has a tin man costume but wasn't here to go with us.  The concert was a little too long- I wish it was 1.5 hours instead of 2.  New Fish didn't quite make it through the whole concert.  They played some fun John Williams' themes from E.T. and Star Wars mixed in with other pieces.  The kids loved seeing everyone in elaborate costumes.  We had a great time.  It was a lot of work to get the kids dinner early and into their costumes, make it through the concert and get them back in bed.  Thank goodness my Mom came with us to the show.  Two Fish has been out of town and I miss him!

*The best part of costume party was that, I didn't see ANYONE who was scantily clad!!  I'm so tired of Halloween costumes becoming an excuse to bare all.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Everyone Else

Saturday, October 22, 2011

One Fish Jumps

Friday, October 21, 2011

Leap

 My friend and Coworker R was the only person I could convince to go with me.  We look pretty spiffy in our jumpsuits.
 They showed me a video with step by step instructions.  Really it was more like the plane door opened and they slid me down the bench and out the door.

Hurtling toward the earth, 13000 feet below at 110 miles an hour.  Luckily some dude strapped to the back of me had a parachute.  It was AWESOME! I loved it!  Checked one off my 30 before 30 list.  I'm running short on time.  I will upload the video when I figure out how to get it off the DVD.
I thought that Skydiving would be terrifying.  I just wanted to do it once, basically to say that I had.  Instead I found it totally exhilerating.  I loved it.  The only really scary part was the actual jump out of the plane and those first few seconds when we were spinning around in the air.  After that the jump was amazing and as soon as the parachute opens it is just peaceful and beautiful.  Amazing.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Leaf Collages

The girls are sick so we've been playing a lot of file folder games, watching too much tv and making leaf collages with contact paper.  New Fish loves making things out of contact paper.  If you do it right after picking the leaves, you don't have to dry them.  If you wait, they have to be dried or they curl up and won't work very well.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Canyon

 We took a drive up the Canyon tonight for Family Home Evening. We were planning on doing a short hike this week to gather leaves but it isn't going to happen. Red Fish wasn't feeling well all day and we needed to get out of the house.  The girls got out of the car for a few minutes so we got a small pile of leaves for some projects this week.  I loved listening to the girls talk about all of the colors driving up the canyon. New Fish was getting really into calling them out.  She was excited about every colored tree.

Blurry pic out the dirty windshield.  The Canyon is still beautiful.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Spooky Dinner

Bat cupcakes & Witch finger dip
 For dinner last night, my Mom and I decided to make a spooky dinner.  We tried to make everything Halloween themed.  I thought it was really fun since I never seem to have time to make a whole Halloween themed dinner myself.  It was good motivation & Red Fish loved helping make everything.  She loves to cook.  Maybe we can make a tradition of a "spooky dinner."
Pumpkin rollups (not as orange as I wanted) & Deviled eye eggs

Rotten Apple Punch & Mummy Dogs (the eyes melted off)


Sunday, October 16, 2011

Congrats J & Lee Lee

New Fish and I went to visit Baby N (I will think of a better nickname later) today.  He is my brother J's first baby and the Fish's first cousin on my side.  He was born at 5:37am this morning and weighed 6 lbs, 5 oz.  He is 20 inches long.  Tall and skinny with chicken legs like his Daddy.  New Fish was really excited to see him and she gave him several big kisses.  I'm afraid Red Fish is coming down with a cold so she didn't get to go and she was pretty made about it.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Pumpkin Patch

 Every year we take the girls someplace to pick out their pumpkins.  We try to buy local at a farm because it's more fun that way.  I love watching them examine each pumpkin and decide which one is the best.  New Fish had a hard time deciding between a little tiny pumpkin and a big one.  She ended up with the big one.  I just a have a few more things on my list of things I wanted to do in October.  I'm hoping to take a drive to see the leaves before they are all gone.

Pirate Handprints

New Fish/Red Fish

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Cub Scout Monsters

New Fish/Red Fish
 For cub scouts this week, we made Frankenstein's monster posters for our ward party coming up.  The kids brought magazines and cut them up to make new creations.  Red Fish and New Fish had fun trying their hand at some monsters as well.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Soccer Star

 This Fall, several of Red Fish's friends were on a soccer team together.  Red Fish was too young to play by a few months.  She was pretty bummed.  Some of her friends couldn't make the season's last game and they didn't want to forfeit so they asked Red Fish to play for them.  She did great, especially considering she has never watched or played soccer before.  She ran her little heart out and she even scored a goal (for the other team.)  It was so funny to watch all of the kids. It is a circus out there.  The goalie laid down when he got tired, the kids are kicking the ball the wrong way, and tripping over eachother.  Hysterical.  Red Fish had a blast!  We will have to sign her up for soccer next year.


Monday, October 10, 2011

Spider Webs

We did the marbles in a try again today.  This time we tried squirting the paint on the sides of the paper and then putting the marbles in.  It was less messy but not quite as much fun as last time.  We used metallic black paint to make it look like a spider web and then the girls painted a big spider on theirs.  Red Fish helped New Fish count her spider legs

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Some of Red Fish's Recent Projects

 Red Fish draws pretty much everyday now, a habbit I need to work on for myself.  The other day she drew a monster to add to our "spooooooky" decor.
We also did some leaf prints with tempera paint.  It worked better for us than using watercolor stamp pads has in the past.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Pumpkin Spice Playdough

 Another cold and wet day (this time with slushy snow) called for something fun indoors.  We made pumpkin spice playdough.  The girls love to help mix all of the ingredients.  We used pumpkin spice and gold glitter in ours this time to make it festive.  We also tried a slightly different recipe.  I think I like this one better.
2 c. flour
1 cup salt
2 T. cooking oil
2 T. cream of tartar
2 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)
Stir ingredients together well.  Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan.  Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.  Knead the dough thoroughly.

Indoor Camping

 The afternoon was rainy and yucky and the girls got tired of playing with their regular toys.  I think they had totally forgotten we have little tents because I don't set them up very often.   They said they wanted to go camping and they were ecstatic when I said they could. I obliged them by setting up their little tents and they happily camped and barbequed the afternoon away.
I love the picnic blanket (their tablecloth off their little table.)  They even set up little beds inside of the tents with blankets and pillows.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Pumpkin Painting

More color mixing but this time I let the girls pick two colors.  They chose pink and blue and were excited to find that it made their favorite color- purple.  We painted on some pumpkins from our co-op and then they finished off on some paper. I love that Red Fish has to cover every last inch of her paper with paint. We are on a good roll the last couple of weeks with art projects that are making everyone happy and not stressing me out too much.  Halloween decor makes things pretty easy that way.  We got out all of the Halloween decorations today and the girls keep going around the house giggling about how "spooooooky" our house is now. 

Princess Bub- The Two Year Old

Dressed for bed in turtle footie jammies covered in socks, mismatched shoes, a tutu and crown
Well this post is very overdue but I didn't want to forget about it.  My little New Fish is so adorable and I need to record some things about what she is like at two years old.  She is so cute that sometimes I frequently have to pick her up and kiss her because that is the only possible reaction.  She can smile at you and make your heart sing. 
• She is LOUD.  She talks loud, screams loud, cries loud, laughs loud etc.  She may be training to be an opera star because this kid has a serious set of lungs.
• She is very imaginative and is always talking about a "mean mouse" and "nice bear" who are always running around our house and up to something.  She blames everything on a dinosaur who also freely roams our house.
• She is crazy stubborn.  I didn't know this level of stubbornness existed and I come from a long line of stubborn people.
• She loves to boss people around.
• Wild woman- she runs around like a maniac and has plenty of energy
• She adores all things princess. She calls all of the princes "Daddy."  She LOVES her Daddy.
• She refers to herself as either Bub or Princess Bubby.  She knows her name but prefers Bub.
• She likes to held a lot still and she always promises to stay my baby.
• She pretends to be a frog frequently.  She hops around the house ribbeting.
• She loves books and music.  She can't hear music without dancing.  Her favorite songs are: Row row row your boat, itsy bitsy spider, I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home and I'm A Child Of God.
• She has a very large vocabulary and she talks nonstop all day long.  She pops out of doors and says "HELLO!" all the time and scares people.  She popped out of a locker after swimming and nearly gave some poor woman a hear attack the other day.
• She asks to "Hello" (call on the phone) people all day long.  She loves to talk to her grandparents.
• She gives wonderful hugs and squeezes your neck extra tight.
• She calls Ariel, the little mermaid "Princess Sharky."
• She loves her best friend "Little Buddy" and all of Red Fish's friends.
• Her favorite art projects include glue.  She spends hours drawing with markers and has a knack for coloring her whole face when I look away for thirty seconds.  Her face is usually dirty from one escapade or another.
• She says "wub you" (love you) in a really sweet soft voice. 
• She loves her swimming lessons and runs to the side of the pool to jump in when it is her turn.
• She is all of her nursery leaders favorite because she is apparently extra sweet in church.
• She is always concerned about where her sister is and if she is alright.  She wants to do everything Red Fish does.
• She thinks it's funny to call me by my first name.
• She loves all things sugary and sweet but doesn't like to eat real food.  She pretty much survives off of whole wheat waffles, chicken nuggets and "Daddy cereal"- Quaker oatmeal squares.
• When she eats something she likes she says: "oooooooh I YIKE it."
• She knows all of her colors, animals, most of her shapes and a lot of letters.  She is starting to count.  Most of these tricks are picked up from listening to Red Fish.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Corny

 Another attempt at making color mixing more interesting.  We rolled corn on the cob to make prints with yellow and blue paint.  The girls thought it was pretty cool when it started turning green.  The corn leaves a fun texture.
When Red Fish got in the car after preschool today the first thing she said was: "I got two pieces of candy today at school so I can give one of them to [New Fishy]! "  She was so excited to share with her sister, I thought it was incredibly sweet.  I love watching them become better friends all of the time.  They still have their scuffles but for the most part they spend their time playing together and chatting.  It's really cute.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Collage Jack-o-lanterns

Red Fish

New Fish
 Now that the Holidays are coming (and by Holidays I mean Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines & Easter- they all seem to be coming already) we have started our monthly collection of foam shapes covered in STUFF. It fills up a lot of time through the month and makes everyone happy My girls seem to get great satisfaction out of the process of gluing stuff and making decorations out of foam and craft supplies.  We started with Jack-o-lanterns for October.
We got the usual jumble of stuff out to use: markers, glitter glue, foam shapes, sequins, feathers, pom poms and stickers.  New Fish is old enough to squeeze and use the glitter glue by herself now and I think she might be in love.

It has been a long day.  I decided to try having swimming lessons and speech together on Mondays so we can have a day with no appointments on Wednesdays.  It makes for a hectic day because I still have to try and squeeze in some work between running everyone around, keep everyone fed and attired for their next activity and the girls are desperate to play by the time we get done with everything.  We went out to ride bikes with friends and then I tried to settle them down with a project while dinner was cooking.  Then it is family home evening time and bath & bedtime.