G Day!

Girls day at Garden Club.

They made strawberry plants in burlap and learned about Gardening.

We had some Good Humor Ice Cream :)

 and then went Glow in the dark minature Golfing...  

Lesson for the day - Gratitude.

I started having my kids keeping a Gratitude journal.

 Listing as little as one thing they are grateful for each day.

I think this reminds us all to think and pay attention to the things we are blessed for daily, especially those things we take for granted.

F Day!

We went to the Fire Station for a tour.

The firemen showed us how some of their equipment cut medal, that they use to pry open cars in accidents. The picture below is Kyle trying to pick up one of the heavy pieces of machinery.

We were there for about 15 minutes and they were called to a fire.

Freddy's!!

 Fishing at Sunset Park....

 No one caught a fish, but we caught a duck! :/

 Late night hunger - so of course we ended the evening at Faustos.

My advice for today.... get a fire safety plan together for your family.

Know what to do in case of a home fire and where to meet outside of your home. :)

E Day!

E Day ~ Experiments!

We made Bouncy Balls!

 Tryin out the bouncy balls....

 We also made Soap Bombs! The soap bar blows up into this foam... you can take it add water and shape it into shapes with cookie cutters.:)

D Day!

Dodge ball & Ding Dong Ditching!

We needed team names. I thought it was a great idea to use Ding Dongs as the team names.... the kids laughed it and loved it! And then I realized I was a "Dong."

The "Dings"

 The "Dongs"

Dylin doing a dance cause she caught Dru's ball to get him out! Dru and Kyle were definitely the two Dodge ball Kings.

We went Ding Dong Ditching and left this box on several doors.

The best idea was the Fire Station! Dan asked me if there was an exit around the other side of the station. I said, "yes!" As all three cars & 17 kids sped away....  we came to a dead end! We had to reverse and go back out the way we came, so of course we got caught. We were invited in to get a hat and take a quick photo. They loved that we chose them. :)

(Who wouldn't choose Hot fireman, good call Dylin) 

Your Daily Dose of Dylin

* Dylin's turn to say prayer before dinner....
"Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. Thank you for all our many blessings. Please bless our food, except for Jordyns......"


* We are in the hall at church yesterday and Dylin picks up a tithing envelope.
Me- "I forgot! You still need to pay tithing on your birthday money! Is that why you picked that up? What a good girl!"
Dyl- "I don't have my wallet and how much do I have to pay anyway?"
Me- "You received $130.00, so how much is 10% of that?" (I showed her on paper)....
Dyl- "$13.00!!! Are you serious?!?!"
Me - "Dyl, that's not nice! It helps pay for church buildings, temples, feeding the poor and so much more!"
(Dylin opens my purse)....
Dyl- "Well how about we use your money, I'll put my name down and I'll take the credit?"

C Day

CRUSHING jaws & CICADA safari! We saw the COTTONmouth, CORAL & COPPERhead snakes! Then we ate at CHILIS (forgot to take a pic) and made COOKIES....

 This is a Cicada. Dan asked me to hold something and tried to put it in my hand!!! Luckily it stuck to his hand! Not only do they make so much noise, they look nasty!

 You can always tell when our crew is around.... the mannequins have their zippers down.

The funniest part of C Day...

Dylin has been begging me to buy a coconut. I didn't purposely put it off till today, but it happened to work out. She was like a kid in a toy store. Making a large scene doing a "Coconut Happy Dance"  in the store, telling the cashier all about it, and even put it in a seat belt. I was so hoping she wasn't disappointed by the taste.

Well as you can see, the picture explains the outcome!

She screamed, "THIS IS NASTY!"

Lesson for the day - "Choice & Accountability"

These quotes sum it up.

B Day!

It's Be Kind Day! We went Bowling, ate at Buffalo Wild Wings and got Brain freezes from the free

7-11 Slurpee's! And thank you to the Josh Steven's Foundation, we were given Be Kind Bracelets!

Lesson for the day - Be Kind & Bully Free - share these quotes with your children....

 I'm not sure if I'm the best example to talk to our kids about bullying. ha.

Although I did tell them a great story about how in Jr. High, I stuck up for a boy that was picked on, spit on and had his hair pulled. I remember sitting in the stands during an assembly watching this poor kid tortured and none of the kids around would do anything.  I was in 7th grade. I turned around to a hand full of 8th grade boys (I'll never forget my words) and said,  "Only losers pick on other kids to make themselves feel cool." I thought for sure I was next! But instead, they all stopped. They really did. I'm sure because I was a girl and they felt stupid. I've told that story to my kids a few times. We have to teach our kids to not be the kid that turns their back and walks away.

It's hard for me not to tell my kids to say the really great (non appropriate) come backs that I have in my warped head, but I do give them scenarios.  I want them prepared for all types of situations.

Try it. It helps.

ABC Adventure Day

Here we go again!

ABC Adventures....

throw in some of Mama's crazy wisdom....

plus 6 families...

and we are ready to take over Vegas!

Last night, started off with an easy A.

We went to Reed's All Star championship game!

Dalton has the coolest Elite socks, had to recognize.

Today's quote on Attitudes

Our quick lesson on attitudes...
if you have a bad one???... you won't participate in the next letter! :)

I also had to touch on a HUGE problem that's been in my home...
I think this picture sums it up!
"Hi, my name is Tyler and I'm addicted to Apple products."
It's a serious issue.
There needs to be interventions.

It took me a bit to get down a non argumentative routine.

(I'm lying, they argue with me sometimes, but just roll with this...)

During the school year, my kids can have their phones after school until they start their home work.

Then they get them back again for 30 minutes again in the evening. This changes each night depending on practices, etc. But no matter what, they retire their phones to me at 8pm. All phones are charging in my room throughout the night. (My dresser looks like an apple display case.)

What I've found is, when you take away their phones??...

REPLACE IT WITH YOUR TIME & ATTENTION!!!

Here's a great article for parents to read.

Our kids just need our attention!

http://www.deseretnews.com/m/article/765575928