The Summer is Almost Over

It has been a long summer for me as a single mom. I am super-excited that school is beginning next week. I don't know how so many moms do homeschooling, but I do know that I could never be one of them.

Elementary School Awards Day For Kayley and Samuel

Kayley's Kindergarten awards day was May 5th and Samuel's was May 6th. Kayley received 2 awards: Citizenship and a completion of Kindergarten. One girl and one boy from her class were chosen for this award, and she was the girl. Samuel received the Honor Roll for all year award. I am pleased with both of my social butterflies for  a wonderful job. 

Kayley was much too quick for me to snap a shot of her when she was actually receiving her awards, but I was able to get it all on tape, just no snap-shots. It also didn't help that Kelsey started pitching a fit because I wasn't sitting right beside her so that she could rest her foot on my leg. She has this quirky little habit of resting one or more of her feet on you (whether it is me or Aaron or Kayley). She also thinks that we're supposed to kiss her feet whenever she lifts it up towards our face. She sometimes kisses her own feet, with shoes on and all. I guess she has a foot fetish at an early age, but only for her feet. She is such a funny little girl.

Biloxi Ward Youth Temple Trip

     We had the privilege as a youth group to visit the Baton Rouge, Louisiana temple on Saturday, April 30th. Nearly all of our active youth were in attendance, and all were happy to be there. It is truly a wonderful thing to have youth ready and willing to serve the Lord on a Saturday morning. I am always grateful to have the opportunity to be in The House of the Lord and partake of the haven of peace within in this chaotic world. I know that Lord's work is done within these walls, as such is my strong testimony.

Wherever the Sheep Go, the Lambs Will Follow

In our latest family home evening, we watched the conference address of Richard J. Maynes entitled "Establishing a Christ-Centered home."  http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/establishing-a-christ-centered-home?lang=eng. Something we all definitely needed to be reminded of. In this talk he shared a poem entitled, "The Echo."

’Twas a sheep not a lamb

That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,

A grown-up sheep that strayed away

From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek

And earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:

They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,

Wherever the sheep may stray.

When sheep go wrong,

It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead

For the sake of the lambs today,

For when the sheep are lost

What a terrible cost

The lambs will have to pay.

This poem is what stuck with me the most, even after watching this address more than 3 times already. It honed in to me the huge resposibility I have as a mother, and it ever reminded me to strive to do better. Being "in tune" as he is, Aaron retained my services to make some home decor to ever remind us of this poem and it's truth within. If you find yourself wanting to make one these yourself here are the instructions:

- A wood board in the size you prefer (I used  6"x 36" board purchased from Hobby Lobby) 

- Lettering cut from a cricut (I used the font, My Own Topher at the size of 1.5 inches)

- Sheep and lamb images: sheep from http://nicholasgomez.com/blog/bo-peep-sheep/,

  Lamb image from the Animal Kingdom Cricut Cartridge
- Acrylic paint in color of your choice

- Black and white cardstock

- Glossy Modge Podge

- Foam brushes

Step 1: Paint the board using about three coats, let dry in between coats, and especially before step 2.

Step 2: Apply Modge Podge over entire surface of the board (this will act as your glue for the letters).

Step 3: Place letters and images in their appropriate places, paying close attention to spacing.

Step 4: Let modge podge dry, when dry, apply another coat or 2 of modge podge, remember to let dry in between coats.

Step 5: Whola, you have your decor.

A couple of projects and a few pictures

As most weeks are, this week has been rather busy one. I was able to do a couple of projects that I've been meaning to do for quite some time. Our palm tree died about a year ago, and I've been meaning to get a new one. While I was shopping at the Commissary on Thursday, believe it or not, they had one for $5.99. Since I already had the pot, which is the biggest investment anyway, I was able to get this project off of my invisible checklist and add a nice shade of green to our living space. I hope I can keep this one happy for endless enjoyment, hopefully, and for making my days just a little brighter.

Yet another project on my invisible list was making some granola bars from scratch from things I had in my pantry.  Kelsey and Kayley are my two granola bar eaters, they are also the very picky eaters, and I often have to supplement their meals with these. We go through so many every week that I can barely keep the pantry stocked with them.I found the recipe in Taste of Home's latest bar recipe book. It's at most grocery store checkout stands. Here are 24 homemade granola bars with chocolately goodness, bagged and ready for school and home snacks alike.

 We had a friend and her two kids over for a dinner a couple of weeks ago, and Kelsey got to sit in the big girl chair instead of her own high chair because their little boy was younger than her and he needed a high chair. She hasn't wanted to sit in her high chair since then, and I finally gave in to her wishes. So here she is, our "big" little girl sitting at the table eating her meal. She is liking it so much better and her appetite seems to have picked up since the change. Here the girls are enjoying their leftover Ham and AuGratin potoatoes and devilled eggs, the only two things they liked on the Easter Menu.  

I peeked outside yesterday when I was working on the granola bars, and this is the sight that I saw. Kayley was swinging Kelsey in her lap. She was being ever so gentle so that Kelsey would be safe, and they were laughing and enjoying themselves.This is the first time that I've seen them play like this on the swing, and it made my heart so happy to see Kayley being the little nurturer that she is and Kelsey loving her big "sissy" so very much.

A Cole Kids Easter

These are our dyed Easter Eggs. All of us pitched in to get them dyed in these vibrant colors. Samuel and Kayley did most of the painting on our eggs. They are quite the little artists.

  

All of the kids were super-excited to finally get outside and put some eggs in their baskets. Gabriel and Samuel took it slow to allow Kayley and Kelsey to get some eggs. Kayley thought she was supposed to get all the eggs including the "MONEY" egg. She did not find it, Samuel did, and it ruined the rest of her egg hunting experience as you will see in the rest of the group photos. Kelsey loved running around the yard carrying her purple basket. She loves carrying things around. She adores carrying purses and baskets. You can see her exuberance in the photo below. It is priceless. . .

 The rest of the photos were taken after the egg hunt. Notice the amount of eggs in each basket. Kayley totally took advantage of the boys taking it slowly. We'll have to do something about this next year. . .

Kelsey is trying desperately to get her egg open so that she can get to the candy inside. Kayley gave me a little bit of a smile because I told her if she smiled she could have a cookie when we went inside. The things we do to get our kids to smile for the camera.

Kelsey wasn't quite ready to go inside, so I took advantage to take a few more shots of her cute smiling face.

Mostly happy kids after our Easter egg hunt.

Easter Morning before church, we were able to snap a few shots of the kids in their Sunday Best.

My Beautiful Little Girls

I was finally able to get a few shots of the girls all dressed up in their church clothes. What a blessing it is to have beautiful girls, inside and out. Kayley and Kelsey are the girls I always dreamed of having. They love dresses, shoes and jewelry.