Brandon(s)

We found out about an author signing from our school librarian and because it was an author we just finished reading, along with the illustrator, I took Elizabeth Wednesday night.  Actually, I only read the first Fablehaven with Elizabeth for our mother-daughter book group and since then she's been all excited to read and is partway done with book four of five.  They aren't easy-to-read books either because they are a lot of pages and the words are extra large sometimes, but they are exciting and fun.

Brandon Mull (author) and Brandon Dorman (illustrator) with Elizabeth.

Both Brandons spoke and then took some questions from the audience before signing books.  It lasted an hour and a half for the talking part and then we had to wait in line to have the books signed.  Elizabeth and I sat near the front of the auditorium that we were in this weekend for the BYU performance and there wasn't many people (maybe 50 in a room that could hold 752), but Elizabeth waited too long for other people to get in line and she didn't cut, so we were nearly the last people in line.  We knew the lady in front of us though so it was nice to visit with her.
We enjoyed learning from Brandon Mull and Brandon Dorman about the process they went through to become as successful as they are and their encouraging words for others who are aspiring authors and illustrators.
Previous to this event our Wednesday was PACKED!
-Dropped the girls off at school for class picture day.
-Went to Target and Walmart looking for the fifth Fablehaven book so Elizabeth could have it signed without luck.
-Dropped Vincent off at preschool at a friend's house.
-Abby and I went to Hastings to look for Fablehaven #5 and found success.  Elizabeth asked for this book as part of her birthday and I knew they'd sign it so I needed to find it.
-Abby and I stopped in at a smaller bookstore and found Fablehaven books for the same price as Hastings, but didn't need it anymore.  It was more curiosity to see if they would be cheaper at a new/used bookstore.
-Abby and I got gas in the van and went home for a half hour (potty break).
-Picked Vincent up.
-Lunchtime.
-Naptime for Abby.
-Dinner prep.
-My friend Ally came over to hang out with Vincent and (sleeping) Abby while I went to the doctor for a physical so I can go on the Trek this summer.  I seemed to have passed the test and now have a fresh tetanus and whooping cough shot to boot.
-Visited with Ally and held an adorable, sweet, sleeping baby Luke for awhile.
-Talked with my former walking buddy on the phone for a long time and it was wonderful.  I wish she still lived a half mile away instead of 1,859 miles...
-Naptime over and the girls got home from school. Vincent wouldn't clean his mess up.
-Started making some pasta for ravioli dinner.
-Made a bunch of little cheesy raviolis.  I used the flour noodle recipe from our chicken soup instead of the semolina flour recipe I used last time.  They were delicious and easier because I always have flour.
-Elizabeth and Olivia take over potty-training duties.
-Andy home and makes table bigger and makes Vincent clean up.
-Fed the missionaries dinner 5pm) and they liked the ravioli, salad, and green beans.
-Andy's group of boys from church come over for mutual at our house due to a cancellation of the court of honor that Andy was going to take Olivia, Vincent, and Abby to so Elizabeth and I could go to our thing (at $3 a person).  The Priests and Teacher groups both came over with their leaders and learned about gun safety to prepare for a clay pigeon activity in a few months (with empty guns!)  Then they ate some M&M cookie bars I made Tuesday night, drank some pop Andy bought, and watched Strange Brew (and left a nice mess that Andy and I cleaned up.)

Okay, now I'm really tired.  Time to make some lunches, retuck some kids in bed (they all seems to end up with just one blanket when they're asleep), and get ready for bed.
Tomorrow's looking much less busy!  Except I need to make a few more I Spy Bags that someone ordered this week (YEA!) and finish a jean quilt and probably some laundry and activity day and jujitsu...
Wait, now it's looking busy again!
Such is life, my life anyway and I kind of love it!

Abby Progress

We started potty training Abby Friday afternoon.  On Tuesday afternoon, she's already telling me when she needs to go potty (and doing it!)  Here's a little bit of pre-bathroom proof.  

M&M's may or may not have something to do with her enthusiasm for potty training.  However, she even pooped in the potty for Elizabeth and Olivia while I made dinner Tuesday night, so I'm taking it!

Monday I threw away an old mascara.  Look who is spending entirely too much time in the bathroom and knows how to open things?

This girl is way too smart!  She even put it ON her eyelashes without a mirror.  If she can do it this well at two, just think what she'll do at 20!

BYU Ambassadors (with a very special guest performer)

We went to the matinee of the BYU Ambassadors performance of "Harmony The Music of Life" Saturday.

I got an email a month or so ago from a lady in our ward who was in charge of setting some details up ahead of time asking if my girls would like to be involved.  They only wanted kids 5-8 though so Elizabeth was too old.  I didn't even think of Vincent until we were there because at the time he was still 4.  

Anyway, Olivia was asked to show up an hour early to learn something onstage with the performers.  

Elizabeth and I waited in the foyer where we hung out during Nutcracker sometimes.  Elizabeth brought her Fablehaven book to read.  She finished the third one Friday because she stayed home with a sore throat and stuffy nose, but it fine now.  

I wasn't sure what the dress code was (or if there was one), but Olivia and I went to a baptism for a girl in our ward Saturday morning so we just stayed dressed up.  It's always better to be overdressed we say.  There were plenty of people in jeans though so if that's what you like, you'll be comfortable in that too.

Because we knew ahead of time that Olivia would be involved, we invited a few people.  Both Grandmas were able to come with us making it a great girl day.  

After the kids practiced, they brought Olivia and the four other kids (two boys were from our ward) and told us that they would all be in the second song and just Olivia would be in the third as well.  Ummm, AWESOME!

The show was excellent and so much fun to hear their beautiful singing and watch their wonderful dancing, all set to terrific music played by ten musicians onstage.  They sang songs to show the different stages of life.  Childhood was first. Olivia was in a scene where the kids were playing and followed a few performers around the stage.  Then the other kids left and they walked Olivia over to a rocking chair and sang/read her a fairytale while other performers danced and acted it out.  Then the stage erupted with more performers, they walked Olivia around the stage some more, danced around a man on stilts, and settled back into the rocking chair.  It was so great and of course I was smiling/grinning the WHOLE time.  Olivia did a great job.  She's never nervous onstage.  I met her backstage as soon as she was done and she came to watch the rest of the show with us.

Olivia asked for autographs after the show and I took some pictures.  This performer is Sarah Russo.  She was super nice to Olivia.  Elizabeth was nearly as tall as her even though they are both wearing high heels.

 This performer is Becca Petersen.  She was the princess in the scene Olivia was a part of.

Me and my two older girls.  It's so much fun to do things like this with them.

Abby started potty-training on Friday.  This is sooner than I have ever started before, but she is acting ready, so we bought some little tiny underwear for her.

She started after her nap on Friday (about 5pm because she laid down late).  As a reward for trying to go, she gets an m&m.  If she actually goes pee, she gets two m&m's.  And if she poops, she'll get three m&m's.  No accidents on Friday and she went potty eight times or so.
Saturday was not nearly as nice and all six pairs of underwear are now in the washing machine.  She was home with the boys all day and doesn't say when she needs to go yet, but anytime Andy took her, she'd go and then pee more ten minutes later.  He was done with that struggle when he laid her down for her nap, so we'll try some more with her tonight and hurry those panties up to dry.
I'll keep you all updated in this crazy endeavor.
How 'bout our little performer???  I wish we could have taken pictures and video of her onstage.  It really was just fantastic.

Who Loves Science?

If you don't like it now, maybe you'll like it a little more after you see our fun night at the school.

I already posted about Elizabeth's science project here, so if you want to read it or watch her presentation, go there.

We went over to see her poster next to the others on the cafeteria tables.

Abby was very interested.   I like how she's holding onto the edge of the poster with her little hand.

In addition to displays of projects by the students, there were scientists and other fun things to do (using science).  Andy helped Elizabeth get this wheel moving.  Once it was going really fast it was hard to turn it.

Olivia wanted to try it out too.  Elizabeth was spinning it and we decided we'd better pull Olivia's hair out of the way!

One of our friends shared his display about trains and how they are strong and heavy and fast and not to play near them.

Elizabeth and Olivia both tried out this static electricity ball.  It didn't do much, but I'm sure it was tingly. I felt my hair get frizzy just standing near it!

Elizabeth teacher brought her pony out again this year.  She's had him since she was in third grade.

The 4-H group in our town brings their guinea pigs and bunnies out to share with the kids (along with hand santitizer!)  That bunny on the left was playing dead for most of the night.

There were even earthworms for Vincent to touch.  They made him giggle when they tickled his hands.

Abby liked to pat the bunny, but wasn't all that soft.  She patted instead of petted.  She needed supervision.

And for the most fun of the night, the hover craft!  This went down one of the hallways and floated them on the plywood while they steered it (sort of).  

A guy from our ward ran this with his son.  He said Elizabeth could take Vincent with her if she wanted to.  Elizabeth even let Vincent help.  They loved it.

And finally on the way out, there was a telescope set up.  Unfortunately, it was aimed at a street light across the playground because it was too cloudy for stars.

Elizabeth and Olivia walked home quickly with me.  Gotta love squeezing in the exercise.
Thursday morning was spent renaming picture file names on the computer.  I take so many pictures and I do have a system, but I'm not always good about keeping up to date.  I did half the year last year so I renamed the pictures from September, October, November, and December today. I'll do summer soon.  My system is this:
Each year has a folder.
Each month has a folder.
Each picture is named like this: 2013_0221(001) for the year, month, and date and in parentheses is the number of the picture from that date.  They continue in order until the next date of pictures and then the numbers start over again.
I like this because when I print pictures from Winkflash, they print the file name on the back of the picture, so it makes it easy to know when the picture was taken and I don't have to write it in when I get pictures back.
Soon I'll make a few DVD copies of all of our pictures again to put away in our safe and one to send to Andy at work.  No taking chances on losing pictures here (and they're all on my blog too).

Anyway, do you love science now?

Sewing, Eating, Undressing, Comparing

Monday we had sewing club at our house with some of Olivia's friends.  They designed dresses and then tried to sew them together with assistance from Elizabeth.

Olivia did the sewing on this dress.  She was trying to make a cape to fit, but it didn't quite work.  She only wears makeup at home when we aren't going anywhere else for the night (the more she uses the faster it's gone!)

Three outfits made.  The other two girls weren't quite so interested this time.

Elizabeth with her Hawaiian creation.  The skirt is fun tropical print, while the bodice is fleece with a fleece cape and fur/fleece collar.  Elizabeth probably has 25 shirts in her drawer, but wears this Texas one the most (obviously).  It is a regular around here and she probably wears it three times a week.  I'm too good at laundry, I guess.

It was a successful day off of school for the girls.  I made some great banana muffins.  I'd been craving them for weeks, but our hungry kids keep eating all of the bananas! I really do like that they eat, but I wanted some banana bread!
Vincent went to bed a little early on Monday night because he was having fits.  Just before I put Abby to bed, she snuck into his bed and covered herself up.  She thinks she's ready for a big bed.

Abby started taking off her clothes and diaper while she naps.  Then I get to change her bedding and wash her special bunny again.  It's a great cycle.  The last time she did it, she took off her whole outfit, took off her diaper, and then put her outfit back on before going back to sleep.  And then she pooped.  It was disgusting.  I cleaned her the best I could and then made her shower.  She didn't like the shower and hasn't taken off her diaper since then.  We had a talk about who has permission to take her diaper off and she knows only mommy or daddy can now.  Then Wednesday morning I came out of the shower to find Abby in JUST her diaper and Vincent in just his underwear in the family room pretending to be gorillas.  At least they were still wearing the required clothing... And then they got dressed again.
Monday night Andy helped with a PTA fundraiser for our city's council of driving dealership cars back to their regular location from a park.  He said he drove a really nice Mercedez and a few other sort of nice cars, along with one car (I assume it was a trade in) that wouldn't shift to the gear he needed it to and he had to go slow with it and another car that was a hybrid that didn't have any power at all.  He enjoyed driving the cars, but it took a long time.
Tuesday morning I worked on the last jean quilt for a sister we didn't get one to last year for her birthday.  The top is now finished and I need to buy some more batting.  It'll be nice to have that off of my list. Tuesday afternoon was BUSY.  Olivia had her regular ballet at 3:45, Elizabeth had a doctor appointment at 4:10, and we were scheduled to sign papers with someone to refinance our house at 5pm.  I sent Olivia with the boy we usually take to ballet, took Elizabeth to her appointment and we were done and home right when the guy came to our house to sign papers and Olivia was being dropped off.  House refinanced and payment is lower along with our interest rate.  We had a leftover spaghetti and meatball dinner before Andy took Elizabeth to Jujitsu and the other kids had a bath.
After the kids went to bed, I worked on cleaning my craft room.  Things have gotten piled up in there with holidays, stashing things for parties, and more.  I had to sort through the things the girls put in there that didn't belong and throw out boxes once it was consolidated.  Now it's all clean and fresh again and I can start crafting for the Ransom Made Design Spring Event April 19th-20th.
Wednesday Vincent had preschool at a friend's house, so Abby and I dropped him off and headed over to see Grandma Zora.  We accidentally joined a meeting of two of my aunts and an insurance guy planning out Grandma's estate and inheritance things.  One aunt asked a question to everyone and the insurance guy said it made sense, the other aunt said she was just an inlaw, and I said I wasn't even supposed to be there!  It wasn't anything super secret, just legal stuff.  I kept thinking he was almost done and then it took nearly the whole hour we had.  Oh well.  I guess we'll visit for real with Grandma another day.
We picked Vincent up, went to the library, and then mailed a gift to cousin Jack in Utah before coming home for lunch.  Today was the first day I've taken a nap all week!  It was nice.
Wednesday night's dinner was an easy one.  I made rice (our favorite is the parboil kind because it doesn't clump together) with chicken, refried beans, corn, and a Campbell's Skillet Creamy Chipotle packet to go on top of the rice.
Everyone liked it except for Vincent.  He hadn't even touched it after an hour!  He did end up eating a few bites of rice.

Meanwhile, Abby put him to shame!  She ate SIX (Abby-sized-about the same as Vincent's) servings!  I guess she really was hungry enough for the apple she asked for as we set the table!

Back to Elizabeth.  Olivia came home with some drawings she made at school with her sewing club buddy for Elizabeth to make.  Elizabeth loves this kind of challenge.  (See she's wearing a different shirt!  Sometimes I purposefully don't put the laundry away until after the kids go to school just so she doesn't wear that Texas shirt...)

At her doctor visit, she was weighed and measured.  At ten years old, she is 56 inches tall.  That's four feet, eight inches!  She's only eight inches shorter than I am.  The doctor thinks she'll pass me by.  She weighs 86 pounds.  She is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight which makes her proportional.  When she laid down on the table so the doctor could listen to her chest and feel her ribs and do the doctor checks, the doctor was impressed with Elizabeth's six-pack.  She is one strong girl!
Just as a little comparison here is a picture of me when I was almost nine.  My pants were so rad!  Mind you, this was in 1991.

 I got the fancy trading cards that had my stats on the back.  I only weighed 49 pounds at almost nine!  Vincent is already 45 pounds at five years old and my kids are not chubby either.  I was just teeny tiny, probably like Olivia is.

Then in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades I weighed 75 pounds.  Yeah, I didn't gain any weight at all for three years (except maybe a half pound in seventh grade.)  I used to be a skinny girl.  One day I'll be skinny again, but I'm sure I'll still be at least double that!
Tell me how awesome my hat and "uniform" are and yes, I do still have my hat and t-shirt.

Sweetheart Dance

Friday evening we went to Walla Walla to a Valentine's dance with my parent's ward on my dad's birthday.  They had childcare there too.

I wore a dress my mom made for me years ago! We had a good time visiting with my parent's friends, eating yummy food, and we even danced a little.  They had a photographer there to take pictures.

 We even took a picture with my parents.

Saturday morning Elizabeth came grocery shopping with me so she could pick out a gift for a friend's birthday party that afternoon. We had a half hour in between to eat a quick lunch and then we went to the party.
Elizabeth eating her ice cream and pineapple.

 Olivia trying out the cupcake and mint chocolate cookie ice cream with the birthday boy's sister.  They used to live close to the school, but moved a few months ago and changed schools.  It was good to see them again.

When we got back from the party, Andy and I got ready for a visit to the Temple.  Our buddy Nathan came over to babysit our kids again.  We planned on having game night Saturday night since we were busy Friday night, but Nathan had work he needed to finish, so we just had pizza with him and then he went home.
Olivia had the Family History Moment in Primary Sunday morning.  She called my parents Saturday night to ask for a story from each of them.  She chose to use the story about my mom's Grandpa.
Here's what she said:
William Brown
Olivia Ransom Family History Moment 2-17-2013
My Grandma Mary Crowther had a grandpa named William Brown who would come and visit her in the summer. He was blind. He liked to ask my grandma to go to the store nearby and buy him candy. He would give her a bill and ask her if it was a 5 dollar bill or a 1 dollar bill. If she told a lie, hoping to keep the extra money from a 5 dollar bill, he would catch her because my grandma’s mom folded down the corners on certain bills so he’d know which bill was which.
Another interesting thing William did was count the coins of change that my grandma brought back to him with the candy. He knew which coins they were by feeling the size and the edges of each coin and he’d know if my grandma tried to keep some for herself.
My Grandma Mary learned to be honest from her grandpa.
This is a picture of William with his wife Florence Adell Butterworth Brown.

Sunday night we were invited to Andy's Aunt Nancy's house for dessert.  Andy's home teaching companion set up appointments at the same time, so he went there.  I walked over to Aunt Nancy's house (1.18 miles away) and Andy picked us up when he was done.  I walked/ran home with Elizabeth.
Monday is President's Day and there is no school, so the kids are playing, I just made banana bread and boiled eggs, and we have a sewing club meeting set up for this afternoon.

Donuts and Olivia Award

Friday morning was Morning with Mom that our PTA puts on each year (Donuts for Dad was last month).  I asked a friend to take our picture and then took one of her and her daughter. I love donuts!  I've been thinking about Morning with Mom all year!

Andy stayed home with Vincent and Abby and went to work a little late so I could go to the school.  When I got home, my plan was to immediately start cleaning because I had laundry and dishes and some bathroom cleaning to do.  Instead I decided to check my email.  It was a good thing I did because there was an email from Olivia's teacher that she'd be getting an award at 9:30am.  We had about 40 minutes until it was time for that, so I got Vincent and Abby ready and headed back over there.
Our school has a C.A.R.E.S. program and each teacher picks a student each month who they think showed the characteristic of what they're working on that month the best.  The characteristics are Cooperation, Attitude, Respect, Effort, and Safety.
Olivia won the Respect award for her class and got a pencil, pin, and certificate.  They also take a picture of the whole group and put it up in the hallway.  I love that they still do some individual awards and they aren't all just "participation awards".

Olivia with her teacher, Ms. Marchell.

 Olivia with the principal, Mr. Jisa.

Other C.A.R.E.S. awards are posted for Elizabeth and Olivia.  Click on their names if you want to read them.
Way to go, Olivia!
PS.  Did you see Vincent playing behind Olivia in that picture of just her?  He stayed there with his car while Abby walked down the main hallway with the first graders... I knew she wouldn't get too far away, but thought she was still in the main room. I was happy when a paraeducator brought her back.
It's my dad's birthday today and their ward is having a Valentine's Dance and childcare so we are going to celebrate with them tonight!

Elizabeth's Science Project

Our school has a science extravaganza each year and it's required for fourth and fifth grades, so Elizabeth had to do it this year. She did it a few other times, but skipped it last year.

ELIZABETH'S PRESENTATION VIDEO AT THE END OF POST!

She started on her project a little late, but had a decent idea.  She wanted to test which cleaner would clean pennies the best.  Here she is working on filling the cups.  

There are three pennies tested with each of five methods.  She used Andy's dandruff shampoo, lemon juice, vinegar and baking soda, and apple cider vinegar.

Andy helped Elizabeth find pennies that were all old and about the same dirtiness.  Three are extra so Elizabeth could compare them to the clean pennies afterwards.

Elizabeth's poster that was due Friday morning.  I took pictures for her while she worked and had them printed Thursday night. She typed up the words and then while she showered I arranged them and made the size bigger so they would fit on the poster.  When I picked the pictures up at Walgreens Valentine's night (happy Valentine's Day!), the lady at the photo counter said several other project pictures had come through too.  Elizabeth and I arranged the paper and pictures on her board and then taped and glued them down.

Cleaned pennies.  If you want to find out which on cleaned the best, watch the video below.

Elizabeth's presentation.  She'll present to her class Friday.

Well, how do you think she did?  And yes, the project was three days because of procrastination and that's how much time we had....

Valentine's Day

Olivia's Primary teacher helped her class make this craft after their lesson on Sunday and shared her picture of them.  Cute.

We had Rory over to play a few times this week.  One afternoon after lunch, Vincent and Rory were hungry and asked for a snack.  Rory wanted a corndog that her mom brought over with her (this is after regular lunch, but she ate it.) Vincent asked for a celery and carrot sandwich.  He wanted the celery to be like the bread and the carrot to be like the jam.  Rory ate some of his celery when he didn't finish too. In the back of this picture you can see the flowers Andy brought home on Tuesday for his girls.  He always divides up a bouquet and puts them in vases for each of us.

On the real Valentine's Day we had a preschool party and invited little siblings and some extra friends.
Abby liked coloring.

Abby liked putting her little valentines into people's bags.  Vincent put his in too, but mostly he just played.

The balloon was exciting for Vincent, especially when someone showed him how he could rub it on his head and make it stick to the wall.

Abby taping the heart on the cute giraffe poster.  She played this game several times.

One of my friends took a few extra pictures of my kids and emailed them.  I think I need a comfy sweatshirt like Vincent's.

They were impressed with Abby's looking at the camera and saying "Cheeseeeeeeeeee."  (Yes, I know her nose is runny, but that's the season, isn't it?  At least it's clear!  Somehow we've avoided the flu and worse colds and Abby still has never had an ear infection.  We'd like to keep it that way!)

Valentine's day went alright for us.  We don't do too much.  Andy gives me flowers and I made a special dinner, but this year my dinner was not so good.  I tried a new recipe and it was just mush and not great.  Abby stuck a Nintendo DS game into the DS backwards and Andy tried to fix it, but it appears to have wrecked the DS.  We'll see if it can be fixed.  Vincent keeps going into the off limits places and getting things out that he shouldn't, so he had a nap.
I made sugar cookies for the preschool party (so my pregnant friend wouldn't have to) and had a ton leftover (since my recipe makes 105 heart cookies).  A different facebook friend asked if anyone wanted some rolls for Valentine's dinner because she accidentally doubled her recipe, so I traded her some frosted cookies for rolls.  I think I like this bartering thing!